Jian Jing instinctively felt that Guo Yifang's case was a little unusual.
Yes, the same clean crime scene, the same neat murder method, the same hidden whereabouts. But, just to get close to Guo Yifang's family, do I need to pretend to be the object of pursuit
"For him, the more inconspicuous the identity, the more hidden it is." She analyzed, "Dating a partner is definitely not a good choice. What woman would keep silent about such a thing."
Monsoon: “Really?”
"Of course, if he doesn't love his family, he will love his friends." Jian Jing was sure, "He took the risk, there must be a special reason."
Ji Feng picked up Guo Yifang's photo, compared it with the person in front of him, and said carefully: "But Teacher Jian, you are completely different from Ms. Guo. In two years, your aesthetic taste has changed so quickly?"
In the photo, Guo Yifang is thirty years old, with a beautiful face, mature and generous, gentle yet resolute, an image of a woman that is highly appreciated by traditional people.
On the other hand, Jian Jing, at the age of fourteen, was at most a pretty girl, far from being a woman.
"In fact, I have always suspected that he is impotent and cannot interact normally with women." Ji Feng said frankly, "Otherwise it is difficult to explain his feelings for you."
Jian Jing was 14 years old when she disappeared, and she was no longer a child. It seems untenable to identify the scarred man as a pedophile. Especially before her, in the case of the Cai family of three during the Mid-Autumn Festival, their daughter was 10 years old, which is more in line with human choice.
The man with the scar did not hurt the little girl.
"He may not be a real pedophile, but he is making this choice out of helplessness," he said. "He cannot date normal adult women, so he has to settle for the next best thing and choose a weaker partner instead."
Jian Jing asked back: "If that's the case, why would he come to me now? I'm not a child anymore."
"Yes, he believes he still has control over you." Ji Feng looked at her and said slowly, "Absolute mental influence."
Jian Jing was silent for a moment.
At that moment, the case records in my mind scattered page by page, turning into black clouds that surged in from all directions, weighing heavily on my heart.
My emotions sank uncontrollably, and a suffocating feeling emerged in my chest.
She couldn't help but take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Only then did she feel better and said seriously, "It's possible that he doesn't like a woman like Guo Yifang, but likes a... mother like you?"
Not a woman, but a mother
Ji Feng thought: "You mean Guo Yifang's loyalty to her eldest son is the root cause of his feelings?"
The families chosen by the scarred man all have a child, and that "child" is most likely the object of his substitution. And the "happiness" he desires must be closely related to his life experience.
"His mother didn't fulfill her maternal responsibilities and abandoned him, or at least didn't protect him well." He tried to guess, "He was disappointed in his mother, and Guo Yifang was the type of mother he recognized, that is, she was weak in character but strong as a mother, so he went against his norm and pursued her - what did he want?"
Jian Jing said: "He saw his own shadow in Guo Yifang's eldest son. He tried to make up for his past self and get some kind of perfection."
After a pause, he asked, "Could it be that every case before has something he wants?"
Ji Feng thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Not really. I have an idea now. You and I agree that his philosophy of life is that living is painful, and the illusory moment of happiness before death is a kind of relief, right?"
"yes."
"That should be his criterion for selecting victims," he said. "Every family is harmonious, but from the perspective of outsiders, they all have certain flaws."
"The Zeng family lost their son and daughter-in-law, the Guo family still has a father, but the child is mentally retarded, and what about the Cai family?" Jian Jing asked.
Ji Feng was familiar with the cases and said immediately, "Both the Cai family members are disabled. The husband is deaf and the wife is mute. Only the child is normal."
She sighed: "Everyone has their own misfortune."
"So, this is in perfect accordance with his theory: the present may be happy, but the future may be unhappy, and stopping the present moment is the most perfect." Ji Feng touched his chin, with excitement flashing in his eyes, "The Guo family's case is indeed very special, and their happiness was accomplished by him personally."
He immediately decided: "We'd better look into Guo Yifang's case carefully. We might find something unexpected."
At night, in the hotel.
Jian Jing received a call from Kang Mucheng: "It's been a week, are you in any trouble?"
Even without being able to see him, one could imagine that he was frowning. Jian Jing quickly said, "Yes, the case was quite complicated, so I went to several places."
"Has he encountered some danger?" Kang Mucheng still had doubts.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Boss Kang, I just went to the victim's family to ask about the situation. What's the danger?"
"Still have to be careful." It would be strange if Kang Mucheng listened to it, "Come back as soon as you're done."
Jian Jing was surprised: "What's the matter?"
"Good news." Kang Mucheng said, "This year's Dream Pen Award nominations have begun. Rose Gold has been selected. I think it will definitely win an award. You'd better finish the things on hand quickly. You'll be busy next."
This really surprised Jian Jing.
At present, there are more than a dozen literary awards of various sizes in China, but only three of them are of high value. The Mengbi Award is one of them. There are six major type awards including romance, history, martial arts, science fiction, suspense, and reality, as well as a grand prize for the best author of the year.
There is no doubt that the six winning books are all outstanding among young novels.
There is no need to be the best author. The sales volume may be average, but the best author must be well-known in the literary world, and most of them are great people who write about history or reality.
Occasionally, he wins awards for martial arts or science fiction, and his works are all blockbusters that are popular in the Chinese community.
There are five nominations for each type of award. "The Rose, the Killer and the Gold" and four other novels were selected as the best suspense novel.
Jian Jing asked: "When will the prize be awarded?"
"The awards ceremony in November." Kang Mucheng said.
Although it is an annual award, it is impossible to delay the awarding until the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Therefore, the collection period of the Dream Pen Award is from October last year to September this year, the evaluation period is in October, and the awarding is in November. By December, the publishing house will start to promote the works of the previous year.
Jian Jing calculated with her fingers and realized it was still early: "I will definitely be able to come back."
She was dreaming too much, so Kang Mucheng issued an ultimatum: "You have to go to the Paris Fashion Week in October with me."
"I'm interested in fashion." Jian Jing declined.
Kang Mucheng said calmly: "You want to buy clothes."
Haute couture dresses are all hand-sewn, which takes hundreds of hours. They are not ready-made clothes that can be purchased whenever you want. From customization to receiving the clothes, one has to set aside time.
Jian Jing: "... Not really." A dress worth tens of thousands of dollars is already pretty good. A high-end custom dress costs hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Wearing it for one night is a luxury that you can't afford.
"I'm not negotiating with you." As a boss, Kang Mucheng was ruthless when necessary. "Come back to work within 10 days."
Jian Jing had no choice but to agree: "I'll try my best."
After getting the guarantee, Kang Mucheng hung up the phone with satisfaction.
Jian Jing sighed and fell on the big bed in the hotel. The joy of being nominated swirled in her heart, but soon disappeared like a sword hanging over her head.
Guo Yifang, a mentally handicapped child, and a man with a scar.
Roses, diaries, death cult.
The messy thoughts were like a merry-go-round, turning around and around in my mind. The passing light and shadows were stretched into colorful and blurred lines, turning into the five-line score of a lullaby.
After days of running around and having a backache from sitting in the car, she fell asleep in a daze.
And I started dreaming.
--
The backdrop was a peculiar lamp, with a brightness that was neither high nor low, neither cold light nor warm light, but an off-white color close to natural light, casting a large halo.
The rest of the field of vision is very dark. It is not pure darkness, but shadowy darkness. I can vaguely see some shadows, but I can't see things clearly.
She blinked in her dream, trying to see clearly where the light was and what was hiding in the shadows.
"Are you awake?" At this time, she heard someone say, "It's time to eat."
Then she slowly sat up and saw a loaf of bread and a box of milk on the bedside.
Picking up the milk, the words on the box finally became clear.
It turned out that it was not because of his dizziness that he couldn't see clearly, but because he was wearing glasses, so he couldn't see the other person clearly.
She squinted her eyes, but the light suddenly brightened and passed through her eyes. Her eyes were stimulated and she couldn't help but secrete tears, blurring her vision.
"Hurry up." His voice was gentle, but he did not allow for argument. "You still have a heavy workload today."
She ate the food quickly.
Of course, because in a dream, one can neither feel hungry nor feel full.
Then the picture jumped, and a large whiteboard suddenly appeared in front of me, just like the whiteboards often used by teachers in universities, with many photos posted on it with magnets.
The photo is gray and blurred.
There are a few outlines written next to it:
The nature of death cult
Is death the beginning
"In ancient times, people were ignorant and had too many imaginations about the afterlife, so they invented a series of descriptions of the afterlife." He spoke slowly, like an old professor, "This kind of 'death' is essentially another kind of 'life', with good and evil, right and wrong, rewards and punishments, which completely distorted the meaning of 'death'."
He looked at her: "If death is the same as life, then both death and life have lost their value."
She asked: "Do you think that life is valuable?"
"Of course, although life is painful, it also has its value, which is that it makes us realize the preciousness of death." He said, "The preciousness of death lies in equality. This is a very simple truth, you should understand it."
She said: "Because when people are alive, they are rich or poor, happy or unhappy. But everyone will die, so it's all the same."
"Yes." He said appreciatively, "So, if someone thinks that death is another beginning, the end of a new journey, then they have completely misunderstood the meaning of death. Death is death, neither heaven nor hell."
She: “Are you an atheist?”
"The so-called God is nothing but human fantasy," he said. "Death exists from birth. It will not disappear because of human fear, nor will it change because of worship."
She asked, “Why do you kill people when everyone is going to die?”
"Honey, I'm a doctor."
He said kindly: "When people are sick, they want to see a doctor, even though many illnesses are not life-threatening. In the same way, I want to reduce their suffering. Suffering has meaning, and the meaning people give to suffering is actually a lie."
"lie?"
"Yes, for example, mothers. Each of us has a mother. Mothers endure hardships and work hard, feeding their children with blood. People praise their greatness so that they are willing to give everything. But is this really the case?"
He asked himself and answered, "No, enduring pain doesn't make anyone great. It doesn't make anyone immune to all diseases, or invulnerable to swords and guns, or water and fire? None of them. Suffering is meaningful, but it is a complete scam."
In her dream, she was very perceptive, but too cautious, and blurted out, "Did your mother ever pay for you?"
His expression suddenly turned gloomy, his eyes were like ice knives, and his five fingers were like iron clamps, tightly gripping her face.
"You don't understand anything."
"You don't understand."
"Are you going to kill me?" She said with difficulty, "If death is a tribute, then you are punishing me with death, which violates your rules. If I am right, then you are wrong."
Snap, the dream is shattered.
Jian Jing sat up suddenly. The alarm on her cell phone kept ringing and there was an unread message.
"Get up, we're going to the crime scene today."