Chapter 58 Soul Writer

It was just past noon in the capital. The sky had been clear and blue just moments before, but now dark clouds were looming overhead, and a heavy rain was imminent.

The porters at the small tea stall gradually dispersed, and the stall owner, seeing that the weather was getting bad, took down the tarpaulin that had been hanging over his head.

Before long, a wind picked up on the streets of the East Market, and pedestrians hurried by.

Li Jin casually found a teahouse with shops, ordered a pot of fresh tea, and sat down.

Perhaps because of the bad weather, they were the only customers at the teahouse.

“Last night, Shen Wen found Xia Xiaowu’s place,” he said. “The neighbors also asked around. Since the beginning of the year, an old lady suddenly came to Xia Xiaowu’s house, which he used to live alone. After that, Xia Xiaowu was rarely seen coming in or out.”

"The courtyard is in Hepingfang, in the southwest corner of the capital. It takes more than an hour to walk from here." Li Jin looked at the teacup in his hand and gazed at the reflection on the water, asking, "Jin Shu, what are your thoughts?"

What are your thoughts?

Jin Shu paused for a moment, glanced at the expressionless Zhou Zheng, and then looked back at Li Jin's smiling face.

She didn't really have any particular ideas about this case. Although the killer was clear, she, like Li Jin, was missing the most crucial link.

"If even Your Highness can't figure it out, how could I possibly understand it?" she asked innocently, feigning confusion.

But Li Jin raised an eyebrow and stared at her face: "You lowly person? A fifth-rank official position isn't enough for Mr. Jin?"

Jin Shu was taken aback: "Fifth rank?!"

Li Jin smiled as he poured her a cup of tea, then sat down beside her, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

Jin Shu's eyes darted around, sending countless distress signals to Zhou Zheng beside her.

The expressionless man, who was engrossed in drinking his tea, felt a chill run down his spine under Jin Shu's gaze. He had no choice but to put down his teacup, glance at Li Jin, and quickly utter two words: "Subordinate."

Jin Shu clearly didn't understand and stared at him blankly.

On the other side, Li Jin's eyebrows furrowed higher and higher. Zhou Zheng took a deep breath, raised his hand and coughed lightly, his voice rising a few decibels: "I'm going to the door to get some fresh air."

He got up, bowed, and ran away!

Jin Shu watched his smooth movements, gazing at the straight back of the figure standing under the eaves in the strong wind. She pursed her lips and drank the tea in her cup in one gulp.

She realized that he was supposed to refer to himself as a subordinate.

"Tell me your thoughts," Li Jin said, picking up his teacup and gently shaking his wrist.

The once calm teacup was now rippling with waves.

“The most urgent task is to find Xia Xiaowu,” she said. “Although we are almost certain that the victim was Grandma Xia, we cannot be sure that the murderer is Xia Xiaowu because the most crucial link is missing.”

She pondered for a moment: "If it was him, what was his motive for killing his mother? If there is no motive, then this case will always have many completely different possibilities."

“The first possibility is that Xia Xiaowu killed his mother with his own hands, and when he saw that the truth had come out, he fled to avoid punishment. This makes sense.” Jin Shu paused. “However, it also makes sense if Xia Xiaowu was killed by these people to silence him because Old Madam Xia flaunted her wealth.”

"There is even a possibility that because this old lady Xia often impersonates a member of the Xia family, she might be targeted by the Xia family's enemies, who might then kill her and her son one after another."

After Jin Shu finished speaking, she poured herself another cup of tea, took a sip, and shook her head: "Without motive, there is no direction."

Li Jin raised her eyebrows, a smile playing at the corners of her eyes.

As expected of Mr. Jin, there were no communication barriers, and the depth of his thinking was far beyond that of ordinary people. The more he looked at him, the more he felt that the person in front of him was a rare treasure, gold on the beach.

But Jin Shu didn't see any of his sincere gaze.

She gazed at the approaching downpour outside, recalling every detail of the past few days' investigation into the killer. She hoped to find a clue that would guide them in the right direction.

The tea in her hand gradually lost its warmth, and the rain grew heavier. Gazing at the layers of mist and ripples created by the raindrops hitting the ground, she remained silent for a long time.

Zhou Zheng remained standing at the door, his body ramrod straight, his hand resting on the hilt of his knife, never moving it away.

Dressed in black robes, he blended into the beautiful landscape amidst the gray sky and earth, becoming a painting in the misty capital city.

After a long while, Li Jin raised her head, looked at Jin Shu, and spoke calmly: "Do you know what a profiler is?"

Jin Shu turned around in surprise.

“A criminal profiler.” Li Jin smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.

Jin Shu had heard the term "criminal profiler" frequently in her previous life.

This is an indispensable expert position in major cases. It is a senior technical title that can provide ideas or even new directions when a case is at a standstill.

It is a position that requires extremely professional skills to be competent in, which involves analyzing the methods used in a case, the environment at the scene, and the characteristics of the crime, outlining the criminal's mentality, and further analyzing the characteristics of the perpetrator in various aspects, and even predicting the perpetrator's next move.

Although Jin Shu was already used to the fact that the Six Doors were full of hidden talents, she was still so shocked when she saw it with her own eyes that she couldn't say a word for a long time.

Before me stood a middle-aged man in his forties, holding a tabby cat in his arms. He was Zhang Xin, known as the "Soul Writer" within the Six Doors.

Listening to Li Jin describe the crime scene, to his account of how he gradually uncovered Xia Xiaowu, and to Li Jin revealing other information he had gathered, Zhang Xin, while petting the cat, said decisively, "The murderer is Xia Xiaowu, and he will return to the scene of the incineration sooner or later."

Everyone was stunned, except for the cat, which let out a soft meow and rolled over in his arms.

“In my view, this murder case is a typical ‘disorganized’ case,” he said. “If we were to fill in the gaps in the clues you’ve provided to complete the picture of the murderer, he would have suffered from childhood psychological trauma.”

"They are either people with low social skills who are unable to engage in mental or technical work, or they are 'two-faced' people who act one way in public and another way in private. Their social interactions are often driven by childish motives, they love to play tricks, and they have a very poor sense of responsibility."

“His adolescence was filled with the domination and manipulation of his victims. This time, his crime was completely irrational, and he acted as if he were doing something he was not doing until the present.”

"Considering the disposal of the body, the burning, and the presentation of the scene, the killer is more likely to be the latter. In other words, he is very likely a two-faced person. And coincidentally, the victim's son is the person who best fits this profile." Zhang Xin raised his hand and gently stroked the cat's back with his fingertips.

"His mother controlled his life, but she was also his only support. So after killing her with his own hands, no matter how calm he appeared on the surface, his inner world had already collapsed. He chose to burn her. He thought that by erasing her existence, he could deceive himself. But little did he know that the more you try to erase something, the more firmly it will be remembered in your heart."

“In that case, he will return to the crime scene…” Li Jin paused for a moment, “…perhaps to commit suicide.”

Seeing his words, Zhang Xin's eyes showed approval, but his hands didn't stop. He scratched the cat's belly and nodded: "Most likely, it's for suicide."

"But if that's the case, why didn't he go to the crime scene, but instead went to the body disposal site?" Jin Shu asked, puzzled, trying to pull her gaze away from the cat.

Xia Xiaowu has to confront his past actions and accept the version of himself that he finds most unacceptable. Wouldn't the crime scene itself be the one that would give him the greatest shock?