Chapter 152 Extra Chapter 9: Su Xinwan's Story: A Talented Criminal Sketch Artist
The lights in the criminal investigation sketching office of the Yan City Public Security Bureau's Technical Brigade are always bright, shining a blinding white light onto the large table covered with sketching papers and case photos. The air is filled with the unique aroma of charcoal shavings and coffee, and a highly focused silence.
Su Xinwan has been in the criminal investigation sketch team for more than half a year.
She was sitting at the corner of the table, her back ramrod straight, holding a charcoal pencil that had been sharpened to an extremely fine point. In front of her was a stack of eyewitness interview records, and on another sheet of white paper were only a few uncertain, slightly messy lines.
Her mentor was Luo Yunchen, a criminal investigation sketch expert transferred from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. He stood not far behind her with his arms crossed, quietly observing her. He could tell that this newly accepted apprentice had extraordinary observational skills and an obsession with details, but she was too nervous, like a taut string that would break at the slightest pressure.
Su Xinwan's fingertips were a little cold, even trembling slightly. She tried hard to concentrate and transform the textual descriptions in the case file into visual images, but those words—"fierce," "panicked," "probably in his thirties," "bright eyes"—were as if viewed through frosted glass, blurry and indistinct.
What disturbed her even more was the nature of the case: a near-unprovoked crime of passion that occurred in a busy downtown area.
The deceased was a young woman who was stabbed to death at the entrance of a busy alley on her way home from work. No valuables were stolen at the scene, there were no signs of sexual assault, and initial investigations revealed a clean and simple social network with no known grudges. The only clue was fragmented descriptions provided by several shaken witnesses, some of whom even contradicted each other.
A crime of passion…no enmity…just a glance, a word, or even the mere presence of the other person ignited a murderous intent. This unpredictable violence, stemming from a sudden outburst of emotion, was strikingly similar to the atmosphere of the home she remembered.
Her stepfather Chu Jingen's violence often came without warning. It might just be because the food her mother cooked was a little too salty, or because she came home a few minutes late from school, and then the terrible punches and humiliations would fall like a torrential downpour. That constant fear, hanging over her head at any moment, was the norm for her, her younger brother Xinyan, and her mother Hu Shuifen for more than a decade.
She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the familiar, suffocating tightness in her chest.
She must not panic.
Jiang Ling recommended her to Teacher Luo because she believed in her abilities. Her younger brother, Xin Yan, has slowly emerged from the shadows and started a new life, and as his older sister, she can't let him remain stuck in the same place forever.
“It’s difficult, isn’t it?” Luo Yunchen’s voice suddenly rang out, gentle and calm, without urging or blaming. “Especially in cases like this that are decided on the spur of the moment, the witnesses are often frightened themselves, their memories are distorted, and they are subjectively manipulated.”
Su Xinwan raised her head and met Luo Yunchen's gaze. His eyes were clear, carrying a rational concern that reassured her slightly.
“Yes, Ms. Luo,” her voice was low and somewhat dry, “their accounts differ greatly. Some say the killer was very tall, some say he was of medium height, some say he was very strong, and some say he was rather thin. I can’t find a definite point of reference.”
Luo Yunchen took a few steps closer, picked up the eyewitness reports, and quickly scanned them: "Don't rush to find an 'accurate' image. Forget about the 'portrait' for now, and try to understand the 'emotions'."
"Emotions?" Su Xinwan was somewhat confused.
“Yes,” Luo Yunchen pointed to a description, “Look at this eyewitness, he said, ‘His eyes were wide open, he seemed very angry, and he seemed very scared.’ And look at this one, ‘He moved very quickly, and when he bumped into someone, he didn’t apologize, as if a ghost was chasing him.’ And this one, ‘He looked very ordinary, the kind of person you wouldn’t notice in a crowd, but that look in his eyes… when it swept over me, I felt a chill down my spine.’”
Luo Yunchen put down his notes and looked at Su Xinwan: "Anger, fear, panic, and a cold, threatening feeling that makes strangers uncomfortable. Imagine these emotions as colors or the texture of lines. How would a person in such an extreme emotional state move their facial muscles? Where would their eyes focus? Would their posture be tense and aggressive, or curled up and defensive?"
Su Xinwan was stunned. Luo Yunchen's words were like a key, gently knocking on the door of her heart that had been closed off for so long due to fear.
Understanding emotions...
Observe subtle changes in body language and facial expressions...
This was almost an "instinct" she was forced to develop while living in Chu Jingen's shadow.
To protect herself, to dodge before the fist falls, and to rush to her aid when her mother is being abused, she developed the ability to detect the most subtle emotional changes in Chu Jingen in a very short time—the angle at which his eyebrows rise, the way his lips twitch, the change in his breathing rate, the strength with which his fingers curl… Every detail could be a harbinger of an impending storm.
That intense tension and keen awareness of danger signals were once the source of her suffering.
Now, Teacher Luo is telling her that this ability can be used to catch the murderer?
Her heart suddenly beat a little faster, not from fear, but from a strange, unfamiliar thrill.
“I…I’ll try.” She picked up her pencil again, and when she looked at the contradictory descriptions once more, she felt something was different. She no longer focused on piecing together a standardized set of facial features, but instead began to try to feel the “state” of the perpetrator at that moment behind the words.
She closed her eyes, trying hard to recall the time and place of the incident recorded in the case file.
As dusk fell and a light rain began to fall, the backstreets and alleys of the bustling city were dimly lit, bustling with people.
An ordinary man, carrying some pent-up, boiling emotions, walks among the crowd.
Then, what happened? Did he brush past the victim? Did they exchange a glance? Did he hear something?
Su Xinwan's pen began to move across the paper, no longer drawing hesitant lines, but quickly sketching a blurry, dynamic figure. A figure with its head down, shoulders slightly hunched, seemingly trying to hide itself, yet exuding a tense "don't mess with me" aura.
Luo Yunchen watched her actions, a barely perceptible hint of appreciation flashing in his eyes. He didn't say anything more, but silently served her a fresh cup of hot tea before retreating behind his desk, leaving her with space to fully immerse herself in the moment.
He knew about his apprentice's past. Jiang Ling had mentioned it to him in general: her stepfather named Chu Jingen, the oppressive villa, and her younger brother who had been abused for a long time. He could see the marks those experiences had left on her: excessive caution, an almost self-protective aloofness, and a deep-seated doubt about her own worth.
But at the same time, he also saw the gifts those experiences had bestowed upon her: an extreme sensitivity to the pain and emotions of others, and a resilience to maintain observation even amidst chaos and fear, even if that observation initially stemmed from fear. These are valuable qualities for becoming an excellent forensic sketch artist, but they need to be guided and honed.
For the next few days, Su Xinwan practically lived in the portrait studio. She repeatedly studied every word of the eyewitnesses, and even requested to re-interview some of them, but the questions she asked were no longer "What did he look like?", but rather "What feeling did he give you at the time?", "What was special about the way he walked?", "If you saw his back from afar, what would be your first impression?"
She compared and verified these subjective, emotional descriptions with her memories of physical expressions related to "danger" and "loss of control." She drew and erased, erased and drew again, until the wastebasket was piled high with crumpled pieces of sketch paper.
Sometimes, she would find herself in a stalemate, trapped in a deep self-doubt. Sometimes, in the dead of night, she would dream of Chu Jingen's murky and cruel eyes, breaking out in a cold sweat, and then staring at the city lights outside the window, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
But every time she wanted to give up, she would see her younger brother Xinyan's increasingly cheerful smile, remember Jiang Ling's trusting eyes, and remember Teacher Luo's words, "Understand emotions."
More than anything, she thought of the innocent girl who died tragically. She was only twenty-one years old, and her wonderful life had just begun, but it was abruptly ended by a chance encounter on the street.
Her life shouldn't have ended so inexplicably.
We must avenge her!
Although the tragedy had already occurred, Su Xinwan was powerless to bring the girl back to life.
But at least she could try to draw the murderer!
The turning point came with a third witness, an elderly man selling roasted sweet potatoes at the alley entrance. The old man had previously said he hadn't seen clearly, only remembering a dark shadow darting past. But during the second follow-up visit, Su Xinwan didn't rush to ask for details; instead, she chatted with the old man for a while, talking about the rain that day and his business.
Perhaps relaxed, the old man suddenly muttered, "Sigh, that day was strange. I felt like everyone who walked by was weird. There was this boy who almost knocked over my stove. He didn't even apologize, just turned around and left. His eyes were so cold, just like my drunken, violent son."
Su Xinwan's heart skipped a beat.
"You have such a cold look in your eyes."
"Just like my drunken, violent son."
These two sentences, like a bolt of lightning, instantly cleaved through the fog in her mind!
The look in his eyes when he's drunk and about to hit someone—that mixture of anger, loss of control, and icy indifference towards the outside world—she knew that look all too well! She'd seen it countless times in Chu Jingen!
She practically ran back to the portrait room, her heart pounding in her chest, not from fear, but from the excitement of getting closer to the truth. She spread out a new sheet of paper, and all the fragmented, contradictory information from before began to come together in a new way.
The previous contradictions about height and body shape were now crystal clear to her. A person in a state of extreme excitement and panic will exhibit distorted posture—shrugging, hunching, or deliberately straightening up—all of which can influence others' judgment. But the core "emotional state" will not be wrong!
She began to write, and her strokes became confident and fluid.
She drew a pair of eyes. Not simply big or small, but the kind of eyes that stare, unfocused, with madness and fear hidden deep within, eyes that send chills down your spine at first glance. Just like the old man said, like a drunkard about to commit violence.
She drew her eyebrows. Her brows were furrowed, conveying a strong sense of aggression and anxiety, but the ends of her brows drooped weakly, revealing a hint of inner weakness and uncertainty.
She drew a mouth. The lips were pressed tightly together, the corners of the mouth turned down, showing suppressed anger and dissatisfaction, but the slightly parted slit seemed like an unconscious gasp, revealing his inner panic.
She drew facial muscles. The taut jaw muscles showed great emotional tension, but there was an unnatural stiffness, as if they were forcibly controlling something.
She even sketched out the most common facial features based on the descriptions of "ordinary" and "indistinguishable in a crowd" from multiple eyewitnesses, combined with the "panic" state of sudden outburst and rapid escape, but endowed it with extremely discordant and conflicting facial expression details.
This is a face full of contradictions. It is both ordinary and striking, both angry and fearful, both fierce and panicked. But all these contradictions are strangely unified in Su Xinwan's writing, forming a vivid image that seems to leap off the page at any moment.
When the last stroke was completed, Su Xinwan was almost exhausted. She looked at the portrait of the unfamiliar yet vaguely familiar man on the paper, and Chu Jingen's past tyranny once again soaked her back with cold sweat.
Luo Yunchen walked over at some point, picked up the portrait, and stared at it intently for a long, long time. The office was so quiet that only the faint sound of traffic outside the window and Su Xinwan's still-rapid breathing could be heard.
“That was brilliant,” Luo Yunchen finally spoke after a long silence, his voice filled with undisguised amazement. “Su Xinwan, you caught him. You didn’t just catch his facial features, but the emotional state he was in when he committed the crime.”
He pointed to those eyes: "This kind of charm is hard for someone who hasn't personally experienced extreme emotions to capture so accurately. This isn't a victory of technology; it's empathy, a reverse, dangerous, but incredibly powerful empathy at this moment."
Su Xinwan listened in a daze, and suddenly her nose tingled with emotion.
Empathy?
Empathy for the murderer? She felt physically uncomfortable.
However, Luo Yunchen's next words put Su Xinwan at ease.
“I’m not saying I sympathize with him. I’m saying that you understand his emotional state at that moment and use your pen to transform that invisible state into visible facial language. That’s the highest level of criminal profiling.”
Luo Yunchen's gaze fell on her, full of affirmation: "This portrait can be sent out."
Based on this sketch and with the aid of technical processing, the police quickly produced an arrest warrant and issued it nationwide. The face in the sketch, full of contradictions and tension, left a deep impression on almost all the investigators involved in the case.
Four days after the arrest warrant was issued, good news arrived. At a train station in a neighboring province, a police officer on duty recognized a man who was trying to cover his face with a hat, but whose eyes bore a striking resemblance to the man in the wanted poster. After a quick interrogation, he was confirmed to be the murderer in the case.
When news of the murderer's capture reached the city police station, cheers erupted in the sketch room. Colleagues came over to congratulate and admire Su Xinwan. She stood there, somewhat at a loss, her cheeks flushed with excitement and shyness.
The murderer's motive was simple and absurd.
That day, he had just broken up with his girlfriend of three years and was also severely reprimanded by his boss for a work mistake, resulting in the withholding of his monthly bonus. Extremely depressed, he drank some alcohol. On his way home from work, he brushed past the victim, whose umbrella accidentally bumped into him, soaking his shoulder. He asked her to apologize, but she, perhaps not hearing him clearly because of the rain, glanced at him sideways and muttered, "Are you crazy?"
The way he looked at her was just like how she looked at her ex-girlfriend.
When they broke up, she looked at him sideways with the same eyes. The lips she had kissed countless times spoke words that pierced his heart: "There's no future with you. Let's break up."
Her words, "Are you sick?" sounded exactly like those of a mean-spirited boss.
His boss constantly demanded that he work overtime without pay, and even ordered him to buy groceries, make tea, and clean. But when he made a small mistake, his boss would jump up and yell, "Are you crazy? Why are you doing this! Deduct my bonus!"
His pent-up anger flared up instantly, and he pulled out a fruit knife he was carrying and stabbed...
When he saw the blood gushing from the other person's chest, he suddenly came to his senses and fled frantically.
As expected, there was no enmity between them, and it was indeed a momentary outburst of emotion. A trivial conflict ignited a powder keg filled with frustration and anger, ultimately leading to tragedy.
After the case report was completed, the team held a small celebration banquet. Everyone was noisy and toasting each other. Su Xinwan was given a few beers and felt a little dizzy, but she felt an unprecedented sense of ease and warmth in her heart.
She walked to the end of the corridor for some fresh air, gazing at the dazzling city lights outside the window. A gentle evening breeze caressed her face, bringing the warmth of an early summer night.
"How are you feeling?" Luo Yunchen's voice rang out beside him.
“It feels like… I had a dream,” Su Xinwan said softly, her voice slightly dazed. “I used to think that the past, those things, were like scars that would never heal, ugly and painful, and I just wanted to hide them away.”
She paused, then mustered her courage to continue: "I never imagined that the feeling of always being on edge, watching people's expressions, and being afraid of being beaten at any moment; that skill of capturing other people's emotions that I was forced to develop... could actually be used to create portraits and solve cases."
She turned to look at Luo Yunchen, her eyes glistening with tears, but her lips curved into a smile: "Teacher Luo, thank you. If you hadn't told me that I could understand emotions, I might never have been able to draw them."
Luo Yunchen looked at her. The Su Xinwan before him seemed different from the girl who always huddled in a corner and avoided eye contact a few months ago. Her back was straighter, and there was something more in her eyes, like a pearl that had been wiped clean of dust, beginning to radiate its own warm and resilient light.
“You did it yourself, Su Xinwan.” Luo Yunchen’s voice was gentle, yet powerful. “You simply used your existing talents in the right place. Your past experiences are not your shame; they are part of you. They make you understand the shape of darkness better than others, so you also know better how to light up it.”
Luo Yunchen originally came to Yancheng to assist Jiang Ling, following his master Lin Weidong's instructions. However, he unexpectedly made a discovery—he found a promising talent for criminal profiling.
Thinking of this, Luo Yunchen was extremely gratified: "Next month, the department will hold a seminar on the application of new technologies in criminal investigation sketching, and I would like to take you with me. Your experience is very representative."
Su Xinwan's eyes widened in surprise. A departmental seminar? He'd take her there?
"Can...can I?"
Luo Yunchen smiled and said, "Of course. Your portrait was the key to the swift resolution of this case." After a pause, he said earnestly, "Su Xinwan, you are very talented and should not be overlooked."
Am I very talented?
Su Xinwan's heart pounded violently at those words, filled with anticipation and a touch of timidity. But looking into Luo Yunchen's encouraging eyes, remembering the sense of accomplishment she felt when she finished the portrait, and recalling the tearful gratitude of the family of the innocent girl who had been murdered when they learned the killer had been caught, she suddenly felt courageous for some reason.
She took a deep breath, as if using all her strength, and nodded heavily: "Professor Luo, I'm going to attend the seminar. I will continue to work hard!"
After the celebration banquet, Su Xinwan returned to her dormitory. Lying on her small bed, she looked at the moon shining softly outside the window and couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
She thought of her mother, a woman who was cowardly her whole life and ultimately paid the price for her cowardice; she thought of her younger brother, Xinyan, a boy who was once trapped in darkness but is now finally struggling to walk towards the light; she thought of Sister Jiang Ling, a role model who guided her like a lighthouse; and she also thought of the innocent girl who passed away…
The night breeze was gentle, and moonlight streamed through the window, spilling onto the floor of Su Xinwan's dormitory.
Su Xinwan placed her hands behind her head, gazing absently at the patch of moonlight on the ground.
Perhaps, like Jiang Ling, I can become a light illuminating the path for others.
Su Xinwan chuckled softly.
After that, Su Xinwan embarked on a rapidly growing career path. The successful sketch in the crime of passion was not the end, but the beginning of her brilliant career.
In 1995, Su Xinwan was awarded a third-class merit by the Yanshi Public Security Bureau for her decisive contribution to the "May 21st Alleyway Murder Case". Under the guidance of Jiang Ling, she began to systematically study and integrate criminal psychology and criminal investigation profiling techniques.
In 1997, during a series of cross-provincial robberies and rapes, Su Xinwan, based on the vague memories described by multiple victims, accurately captured the suspect's habitual crooked mouth and eye scars, creating a composite sketch. This sketch became crucial evidence in the joint investigation, ultimately leading to the arrest of the perpetrator in a neighboring province and the solving of 12 long-standing cases. She received a commendation from the Provincial Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department for her work.
In 1999, faced with the highly decomposed, unidentified female corpse found by a river, the forensic examination revealed discrepancies between the skull reconstruction and a portrait drawn by Su Xinwan, which simulated the victim's possible expression during her lifetime. Su insisted on her opinion, believing the victim had a slightly protruding mouth and a long-standing habit of chewing on one side. Ultimately, based on her portrait, the victim's identity was confirmed, and the case was quickly solved. This case earned her the reputation of "the person who can breathe soul into skeletons."
In 2000, Jiang Ling led his team to the provincial department, but Su Xinwan chose to stay in Yancheng and work with her partner Zhuang Jianbai to support the criminal investigation profiling team.
In 2001, Su Xinwan independently led the sketching of a suspect in a kidnapping and murder case. The witness was a severely traumatized seven-year-old child, whose description was fragmented. Su Xinwan used immense patience and child psychology techniques to guide the child to express himself through drawing. Ultimately, from the child's innocent strokes, she deciphered a key feature: a pendant the suspect wore. Based on this, the police quickly identified the perpetrator. This case was included in the teaching cases of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.
In 2003, she and Zhuang Jianbo, a logical and gentle man, developed an increasingly harmonious working relationship. In a series of attacks targeting women walking alone at night, the police used sketches they had drawn, which depicted women with strong lewd and cowardly expressions, to conduct surveillance and successfully identify and arrest the targets who were preparing to commit another crime.
In 2005, Su Xinwan summarized her practical experience and published a paper entitled "On the Key Role of Emotion Capture in Criminal Profiling" in a domestic core journal. This paper systematically expounded for the first time the theory and method of inferring the psychological state and life experience of suspects through micro-expressions and demeanor, which attracted widespread attention in the industry.
In 2008, due to her outstanding achievements in the field of criminal investigation sketching and her key role in many major and difficult cases, Su Xinwan was appointed by the Ministry of Public Security as a member of the National Criminal Investigation Sketching Expert Group. She participated in guiding the investigation of major cases across the country and began training criminal investigation sketching technicians from all over the country.
Having experienced hardship and trials, Su Xinwan truly became a ray of light that could illuminate the darkness and guide the way.
Where the light shines, evil cannot be hidden.
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