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墨書 Inktalez
Old Shao looked down lightly. From a height of thirty-five meters, he could see the cars below, but the details were not very clear. Jiang He walked over gently and leaned down to look as well. At that moment, the blood still dripping from his face was that of the deceased.
A drop of blood fell, catching Old Shao's attention.
Luben did not arrive early or late; after everyone had exited the vehicle, he fell from above. He did not land on another car but directly onto the one driven by a member of the project team. This did not seem like a coincidence but rather a deliberate act.
However, if this person had been murdered, it would be difficult to meet so many conditions. The only possibility was that this person had been waiting on the rooftop, and when everyone parked their cars by the roadside, he chose his target and jumped down. This speculation was bizarre and bold; if there were no special reasons, why would someone jump onto a car occupied by others?
Moreover, this person knew how many people were inside the car and waited until everyone had left before jumping down. If he had jumped earlier, all those in the car would have become his accomplices in death. The roof of the car was nearly dented down by ten centimeters, which was truly frightening.
Jiang He noticed many cigarette butts on the ground beneath his feet.
"Old Shao, look here." Jiang He crouched down, took out gloves from his pocket, and picked up a cigarette butt from the ground.
Old Shao also put on gloves and slowly crouched down.
Jiang He held the cigarette butt to his nose and lightly sniffed it before saying to Old Shao, "Not much time has passed; the smell of tobacco is strong, and the saliva on the butt hasn’t dried in the wind. This clearly indicates that it was smoked just before he jumped."
Old Shao noted certain words in Jiang He's statement; Jiang He used "jump," indicating that in Jiang He's mind, he also believed Luben had jumped.
"Evidence bag," Old Shao said to Guan Deng nearby.
Guan Deng was prepared; he took out an evidence bag and gently opened it for Jiang He to place several cigarette butts inside.
In Old Shao's mind, a scene unfolded:
In the cold autumn with a chilly breeze, Luben arrived at a bustling shopping mall but had no interest in wandering around. He took the elevator straight to the sixth floor; the excitement belonged to others and had nothing to do with him. Old Shao did not know if Luben saw Wutong Square in the distance or what kind of mood he was in.
Luben showed no hesitation. Upon reaching the sixth floor, he immediately found a fire escape. He ascended directly to the rooftop, feeling the roar of the cold wind at that height. He slowly walked to the edge of the mall's rooftop and looked down at the pedestrians below, moving like ants. Sitting at the edge of the rooftop, he took out a pack of cigarettes.
Luben stood smoking, waiting for the arrival of the project team. He remained still until everyone from the team had exited their vehicle. Then, he rose to his feet, took a step forward, and jumped down from the upper floor.
From a height of thirty-five meters, the fall took only two point three seconds.
For an ordinary person, two seconds is hardly significant, but for Luben, it represented his entire life.
Old Shao looked down and counted—twenty cigarettes in total.
Luben had smoked an entire pack here.
Yet, there was a crucial question: how did he manage to see the car clearly below, even recognizing the people getting out of it?
Contemplating this issue, Old Shao turned to Jiang He, who was standing nearby, and asked, "Can you see the car and the pedestrians below?"
Jiang He shook his head. "I can't see clearly."
Shao the Elder replied, "Then that's the problem. Was it merely coincidence that Luben jumped down right onto my car, just as we all got out?"
After pondering for a moment, Jiang He said, "The rooftop of this mall is quite large, with a long edge. Statistically speaking, he could have chosen any point to jump from. But if we add a psychological analysis to it, could he have possibly chosen the entrance of the mall?"
Hearing Jiang He mention "psychology," Old Shao felt an unexpected sense of relief. Jiang He had been with the project team for quite some time and had always regarded psychology as an elusive concept—a completely "fake" discipline. In his view, all psychology lacked factual basis; false premises only led to false conclusions.
However, now that this term had spontaneously come from Jiang He's lips, Old Shao felt a shift. After spending so much time with him, Jiang He seemed to have begun to understand that many criminals share similar psychological traits; this too is a matter of probability. Slowly but surely, Jiang He was beginning to accept this rather "mysterious" field of study.
Old Shao shook his head and said, "Did you notice what he was wearing? He was dressed entirely in black clothing of the most ordinary style. He kept his wallet in his inner jacket pocket and sported a simple short haircut. Analyzing these few details suggests that he is not an extrovert; he does not want to draw attention to himself."
"From this perspective," Shao the Elder continued, "he would likely avoid jumping in crowded places. If no one noticed him in life, the probability of wanting to act recklessly in death is quite low."
Jiang He nodded. "Then I am almost ninety-nine percent sure that this is definitely not a coincidence, but rather something done intentionally."
Old Shao slowly walked along the edge of the stage, his gaze fixed on the ground as if searching for something.
After he turned to one side, Yuan Jun could no longer hold back and asked, "Old Shao, what are you looking for?"
Old Shao lifted his head and replied, "A phone."
"A phone?" Yuan Jun echoed.
Old Shao looked at Jiang He. "Did you find a phone on Luben earlier?"
Jiang He nodded.
"Then that's strange," Old Shao said. "In today's society, even most students have phones. For a twenty-four-year-old young man not to carry one is almost impossible. Jiang He and I analyzed earlier that the probability of Luben accidentally falling onto our car is nearly zero."
"In other words," Old Shao emphasized, "he jumped down intentionally. But look down yourself—can you see the license plate of the car below? Can you see the face of the bystander?"
Yuan Jun took a step closer to the edge of the stage and leaned over to look down but couldn't see anything clearly.
"I can't see anything," Yuan Jun said. "It's too high; my eyesight is only 5."
Shao the Elder continued, "You can't see clearly, Luben can't see clearly, and neither can the Criminal Consultant. So if I were to speculate, the Criminal Consultant is not in the mall; he's somewhere else. When he saw us drive here and everyone got out of their cars, he signaled Luben to jump down from above."
Yuan Jun shook his head vigorously like a rattle drum. "If that's the case, why would Luben listen to the Criminal Consultant? Why would Luben jump?"
Jiang He turned to Old Shao and asked, "Is there really such a thing as hypnosis in this world? Something that can make someone forget who they are in an instant, make them forget what they are supposed to do, turning them into a puppet for the hypnotist—even leading them to commit crimes or even suicide?"
After a moment of silence, Shao the Elder said, "I have seen it once, but I don't believe that a hypnotist can control someone to kill or commit suicide. You know that when we receive treatment from a hypnotist, we need to emotionally imagine that the hypnotist will help us. If you resist, it becomes very difficult to be hypnotized."
"And you need to be in a comfortable environment; it can't be noisy, and it shouldn't be too hot or too cold," Old Shao explained to Jiang He. "Only then can the hypnotist enter your inner self. But even so, getting you to act against your own morals is quite challenging."
"What do you mean?" Yuan Jun asked, scratching his head.
Shao the Elder replied, "For example, if you like spicy food and I hypnotize you to stop eating it, that's easy to accomplish. Because in your subconscious, not eating spicy food isn't particularly difficult; it's a relatively simple level. If you like dogs and the hypnotist makes you like cats as well, that's also easy because it doesn't interfere with your continued affection for dogs."
Old Shao wrapped his clothes around him and continued, "These are all relatively easy tasks. Next are moderate challenges. For instance, if you like dogs and the hypnotist wants you to hate Evil Dog, changing your mindset would be more difficult. However, this doesn't violate your moral judgment, so it might succeed. Similarly, if you've been bitten by a dog and are afraid of them, the hypnotist would need to help you overcome that fear. Although the situations are opposite, the required skills are the same."
"This doesn't violate your morals; it's considered medium difficulty," Old Shao added. "Next comes the really difficult hypnosis because your subconscious will strongly resist. If a hypnotist tries to make you kill your dog that you've raised for ten years, that's hard to accept. If they want you to hit your mother, that's also very difficult because in your subconscious, these are things you would never do as they go against your moral judgment."
"Is there anything even harder?" Yuan Jun asked.
Old Shao nodded. "The next level is the hardest. If a hypnotist tries to make you kill someone or commit suicide, that's the most challenging task. Moreover, the hypnotist must provide long-term suggestions and brainwashing for you to even consider doing such things. This takes a long time and the results are unpredictable; it's very likely that you won't be hypnotized because human subconsciousness is incredibly powerful."
"But if your subconscious truly desires to kill or commit suicide," Old Shao looked at Yuan Jun and said, "then the hypnotist might be able to guide that desire out of you. Each of us harbors malice within our hearts; there are moments when we might think about killing someone or simply wanting to end it all."
Old Shao sighed. "Wei Demian and his apprentice Criminal Consultant are experts at channeling people's inner malice; they are the evil hypnotists we fear the most."
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