WXRG Chapter 29 – Consultant

The files had been prepared in advance in the General Administration conference room.

A rookie from the headquarters who was in charge of bringing in the water secretly observed the situation in the conference room while putting the water down.

So the rookie from the headquarters saw the young man who was personally greeted by Yuan Ju himself at the entrance of the headquarters sitting in the conference room. Everyone was wearing a police uniform. He wore a very casual black shirt. In the tense atmosphere, he smiled when he took the water and said thank you.

After he brought in the water, he closed the conference room door on the way out.

Plenty of people had gathered outside of the conference room. They all seemed to be doing their own things at first glance, but when they saw him come out, the people pretending to print something in front of the printer stopped pretending, and several people quickly formed a circle.

“What exactly is going on?”

“Seems like, said it’s a consultant they invited.”

“……Consultant? One that studied psychology? Doesn’t seem like it.”

“I don’t know, seems to be surnamed Xie.”

“Consultant, surnamed Xie,” someone connected those two keywords, and got shocked, “Xie Lin?!”

The people in the General Administration were sensitive to the word “Xie.” Although they don’t recognize him, they were familiar with the name and deeds.

They weren’t like Ji Mingrui and Su Xiaolan, who didn’t even know who “Xie Lin” was when mentioned.

Ever since they entered the General Administration— no, even earlier, as long as they learned about the case from ten years ago, there was no way for them to not have seen the two words Xie Lin.

If Xie Feng can be said to be the textbook-level rising star of the Criminal Police Corps back then, then Xie Lin, who started participating in criminal investigations at the age of fifteen, was like a cheating existence.

To this day, on the list of all participants marked on the last page of the yellowed old cases in the archives of the headquarters, there will be three words— Consultant: Xie Lin.

These newcomers had only heard of Xie Lin’s name, regardless of how shocking it might be, there was the shock of seeing the rumored person. But those who participated in the old cases many years ago were different. When the old detectives saw Xie Lin entering the conference room once again, they thought they suddenly saw that scene from ten years ago, through the blinds.

In the conference room.

Many things have changed in the past ten years. Like the old-fashioned projection screen in the conference room for example, which had vague shapes and low color rendering, had been replaced with an LCD screen with technological progress, and could be automatically connected to the main computer.

Yuan Ju’s white hair couldn’t be covered by the knot of hair on top of his head. There was also the criminal policeman sitting next to Yuan Ju, who appeared to be only in his thirties, but had many meritorious medals on his shoulders.

Wu Zhibin was a little hesitant while introducing: “This is Captain Yang. You should have an impression of him. Among the people who entered the team that year, him and your brother were the most favored. After your brother passed away…… the position of team captain……”

Xie Lin didn’t speak.

Revisiting a formerly familiar place ten years later, many things have changed.

Just like how the person who was in that position will never come back.

But there were also some things that didn’t change; such as the words on the white wall of the conference room: Law enforcement for the people, police for the public.

“The deceased Xue Mei, after a forensic examination, was confirmed to have died earlier than Yang Zhenzhen, killed approximately a month ago.”

A photo of the fridge at the crime scene was displayed on the LCD screen, the scene of the murder ghastly.

“Although the way the murderer ultimately disposed of the bodies were different, we compared several fatal wounds on the deceased,” the slideshow switched to the next slide, “the fatal wounds on the back of the head, chest, waist, and abdomen are very similar, and Xue Mei was also sexually assaulted before death.”

“According to what the landlord recalled, when she led people to open the door with a spare key, there were no signs of damage to the doors or windows, which means that the murderer did not need to enter the deceased’s room by force. This is the same as the case with Yang Zhenzhen.”

While the reporter was giving the summary report, Xie Lin didn’t make a single sound.

Xie Lin sat towards the back. The light from the LCD screen couldn’t reach him, and the blinds next to him were closed. The Xie Lin who had immersed himself in the case suddenly made people unable to think of the Xie Lin who had accepted the water with a smile just now for some strange reason.

He seemed to like looking at pictures of the scene of murder, arranging the bloodiest ones according to the time of the crime.

Xie Lin leaned against the back of the chair, pinching the ring on one of his fingers with two other fingers and turning it a couple of times. When the reporter stopped and looked at him, he took his eyes off the photo of the scene, saying: “I’m listening, you can continue.”

“We investigated everyone who was close to Xue Mei. Xue Mei’s lifestyle is usually very simple, two points connected by one line. The only conflict might be that she and her boyfriend were on the verge of breaking up a month ago. But her boyfriend is not a suspect, because he wasn’t in the city the whole month, traveling with friends to relax. He claimed that he wanted to calm down and reevaluate their relationship, so he didn’t contact her for an entire month. We confirmed his ticket, and monitored his hotel check-in and spending information. He was indeed not in this city a month ago.”

This once again excluded close acquaintances.

“We are currently still unsure of how the murder managed to leave no traces in the house……”

After learning more about Xue Mei’s case, Xie Lin asked: “What about the cases in Xiamen City?”

The police officer in charge of reporting them said: “There are two suspected cases in Xiamen City, in August of last year and December of last year. Due to a lack of clues, in addition to the fact that the victims were all tenants, there’s a big gap between the time the crime occurred and the time they were discovered…… so the cases are……”

All the information that the reporter said, everyone in the room had already heard before.

Xie Lin, however, extracted the clues that they had missed: “So all four victims were not close to their families. When Yang Zhenzhen was murdered, if the police hadn’t contacted her family, she might have been like Xue Mei, disappearing for a month without being discovered. The murderer may not necessarily be someone close to them, but must be someone who understands their situation. In other words, it should be relatively easy for him to obtain the victim’s personal information by some means.”

“……?!”

Xie Lin showed them what’s called the breakthrough point of a case is also the difficulty of it.

The victims were found a period of time after being murdered, which certainly increased the difficulty of solving the case, but from another angle, it could also be a clue left behind by the murderer.

Xie Lin quickly determined the conditions that the murderer used to choose the “prey”: “His specifically selected women who lived alone, and investigated these women’s family background. It’s very likely— the nature of his work made it easy for him to do this, because under normal circumstances, it’s impossible to get a random woman to confide in you about her family situation through regular social interaction. He was still in Xiamen City in December of last year; his job is very likely to be very inconsistent and mobile.” Sensing that the atmosphere in the conference room was too tense, Xie Lin flipped a page of the file in front of him, saying, “……Of course this assumption is not necessarily for sure, as if it were me, maybe it could be done.”

“……”

There’s no need to show off your personal charm at a time like this.

Wu Zhibin thought about it after hearing this, shifting through a pile of materials, and finally pulled out a photo. The man in the photo had his hair shaved short, a buzzcut, single eyelids, and his face was a bit fierce: “He’s Xue Mei’s neighbor, who works in the logistics industry. That day when we visited him, he acted unnaturally.”

The meeting ended with a final word from Yuan Ju: “Investigate.”

After the meeting ended, Xie Lin unscrewed the cap of the water bottle, took out the phone that had been put on silent mode before, and opened the chat list, wanting to see if a certain someone had sent him a message.

Chi Qing was clearly not the type of person to send people messages; unless something said was overboard, he would not take the initiative to poke Xie Lin.

Xie Lin took the initiative to send a greeting.

– Dear patient, do you need the treatment today.

The other party didn’t react for a long time.

Xie Lin moved his fingers again, typing out two lines.

Wu Zhibin saw this screen: “Who are you texting.”

Xie Lin smiled: “You’ve met him, the one who wears gloves all the time and doesn’t let people touch him.”

Wu Zhibin: “You’re still in contact with him?”

That one sentence revealed quite a bit of information, but the attitude didn’t match.

Xie Lin: “What?”

Wu Zhibin realized he made a slip of tongue: “Nothing…… I just think that someone like him, seems a bit weird.”

“The apartment across from mine was empty when I bought it. I rented it out to him some time ago,” as for the evaluation of “weird,” Xie Lin acknowledged it: “He is a bit weird. He has a disorder, and I don’t know where it comes from.”

Xie Lin’s words seemed sarcastic, but Wu Zhibin sensed some hidden intimacy after thinking about it.

Xie Lin took a sip of water, closed the cap again, and stood up while saying: “I’m leaving, I’ll be back tomorrow when that neighbor is being interrogated.”

Wu Zhibin was the last to leave the conference room.

The rookie detective who came to pack his things saw him: “Bin-ge, you still haven’t left.”

Wu Zhibin came back to his senses: “Ah, I’ll leave right away, you’ve worked hard.”

He had been sitting there just now thinking about the old case. There were actually two victim information sheets in the file bag. He had stopped on the second to last page the last time he flipped through it. The photo on the second to last page is of a teenage Chi Qing.

He didn’t flip to the end, because he didn’t need to see the last page to know— there was a photo pasted on the last page in the same position, and the person in the photo was Xie Lin from ten years ago.

Wu Zhibin didn’t know what exactly the fate between these two people were, surprised that the only two survivors in the old case would meet again after so many years. The result of the psychological evaluation Xie Lin took back then turned out to be high risk, then what about that Chi Qing?

Wu Zhibin thought of the intriguing “long-term follow-ups suggested” in the file.

……Could he be a normal person?

On the other hand, since he slept rather well yesterday, Chi Qing had the rare thought of placing an order on the grocery app. After the vegetable and fruits and a box of frozen steaks were delivered, he got ready to cook.

He rarely cooked, mostly because it’s too much of a hassle.

Chi Qing selected a few knives from the knife holder, putting them to the side for later use. After carefully wiping the knives clean, he took out a pair of rubber gloves from the drawer and put them on, so he could avoid direct contact with the ingredients.

The curtains in the house were drawn closed, and the lights were also off.

A bright red steak laid on the wooden cutting board.

Chi Qing picked up the knife, the gleaming silver tip of the knife cutting into the meat. His hand was steady, cutting down slowly, and the cut was extremely smooth.

The phone next to the cutting board lit up, illuminating the scene.

– Xie Lin returned to the headquarters!!!

– The headquarters! Headquarters consultant!

– Did you know this, I’m so jealous, I’m living under a lemon tree today.

Sender Ji Mingrui.

After Chi Qing finished cutting the meat, he took off one rubber glove.

– Why do I have to know.

Ji Mingrui: Could you reply to messages any slower, what are you doing?

Chi Qing replied with a word.

– Cooking.

– ……

Ji Mingrui had the honor of watching Chi Qing cook a few times, his hair standing on edge whenever he thinks of it.

Honestly speaking, it’s a bit freakish.

Actually, cutting meat is a very common thing, but Chi Qing does it very differently. Holding a knife sinisterly, specially wearing rubber gloves, he knows that it’s because this good friend has mysophobia— but the sense of ritual is so strong, it’s hard to not make people overthink it.

Moreover, he makes each cut very slowly, so slow that it seems like he’s carefully immersing himself in the feeling…… In short, after he saw it once, he felt goosebumps on his arm and made an excuse to leave.

Chi Qing didn’t chat further with Ji Mingrui, exiting the chat, and saw a few unread messages in his chat list.

– Dear patient, do you need the treatment today.

This message was followed closely by two more:

– Not replying to me.

– Running away after sleeping?