Chapter 108 - 105: Case Closed! Cause and Effect, the ’Point and Line’ Cognitive Inertia Fraud

Do people have a scent?

Yes. Body odor, a normal product of metabolism.

There’s also the smell of decaying wood, like that of a person on the verge of death.

And then there’s a pleasant fragrance—the scent your genes recognize when you’ve found the right partner.

But can a person leave behind the scent of a dog...?

"Mr. Lin, care to explain?"

Xu Huo crossed his arms, calmly watching Lin Shan.

He looked at him as if he were a stone, devoid of any emotion.

Lin Shan froze. His expression hardened, and he stared intently at Xu Huo.

He didn’t speak.

Not a single word.

"Not talking?"

Xu Huo scoffed. "No matter. If you won’t talk, I will."

"Let’s start with the case—specifically, what would have happened if things had continued on their current path."

"Assume, for a moment, that I never walked into this interrogation room."

"Where would the case have gone?"

The case would have closed smoothly. The suspect would have been sent to trial, and ultimately, the court would have sentenced Zhang Ru to death.

Three people died, and a fourth nearly did. A crime this severe would undoubtedly result in the death penalty; not even a child would be spared.

However, if Lin Shan had been forced...

...his sentence would have been lighter.

At the scene, he was wearing a dog leash. If he insisted he was a forced participant, a victim himself, he’d get ten years at most.

He might not even get a life sentence.

After all, while the death toll seemed high to the local police, it was nothing compared to Han Shi’s case.

Without special intervention, Han Shi’s death sentence was a certainty. The number of victims was just too high—a quantitative change that led to a qualitative one. Normal legal statutes couldn’t result in an acquittal or a short prison term.

Therefore, the most the police could have negotiated for was life imprisonment.

Unfortunately, the perpetrator committed suicide before it came to that.

"Zhang Ru’s confession was comprehensive. Her logic was clear, and she recounted every detail with extreme precision."

Xu Huo paused, his eyes sweeping over the boy.

"But that’s the problem—her confession was *too* detailed!"

A normal person would hide as much as they could, trying to buy themselves more time.

But not Zhang Ru. She took all the blame.

"Is she not afraid to die?"

"No. At the scene of her arrest, her legs were shaking like a leaf. She’s definitely afraid."

"So, is she the mastermind? The primary killer?"

"In a case this twisted, the killer doesn’t even have the guts to face the police? That doesn’t sound like a true psychopath."

Xu Huo said coolly.

He appeared relaxed, his words flowing without hesitation, yet each one was articulated with piercing clarity.

"Unless, of course, it was an act."

"An accomplice posing as the mastermind? Trading the death penalty for a long prison sentence?"

"Tsk. I doubt anyone would be that stupid for no reason. Which means it must have been intentional."

"And if it’s intentional, there must be a reason."

"What reason?"

At this point,

Qian Hua and the others understood. Their eyes were fixed on Lin Shan.

Their hands unconsciously clenched into fists, their faces grim.

They had almost been fooled.

"Hmm... Let’s talk about the crime scene."

Xu Huo suddenly changed tack, dropping the discussion about motive and pivoting to another point.

"At the crime scene, you were wearing a dog leash. Very clever. You immediately disguised yourself as a pitiful victim."

"But you chose the wrong prop."

"Something tied around the neck, even loosely, will leave ligature marks over time."

"Your neck has none. In fact, you have no signs of abuse at all—only superficial, fresh cuts from a knife."

"These are all holes in your story. Even if I didn’t point them out, it was only a matter of time before the truth came out."

"In fact, if it had been anyone else..."

Here, Xu Huo steepled his fingers under his chin, looking at the child-like Lin Shan before him.

"All this obvious information would have been spotted from the very beginning!"

Was the information really that obvious?

Yes, it was. The story was full of holes, but the police didn’t see them at first.

And yet, if it had been anyone other than Lin Shan, the police would have noticed immediately.

Why?

It comes down to a deeply ingrained cognitive bias.

What kind of bias?

Inertial thinking.

A famous Detective Writer once published a classic work titled *Points and Lines*.

Putting the plot aside, let’s just talk about this so-called inertial thinking.

When a person sees two points, their mind will subconsciously draw a line connecting them.

For instance, see a wheelchair, and you think of a disabled person.

See a scalpel, and you think of a patient in an operating room.

See a white coat, and you think of a doctor in a hospital.

That is points and lines. When you see one thing, you can’t help but associate it with another and link them together.

But in reality, it’s not just disabled people who use wheelchairs. It could be a college student who bought a motorized one because they’re too lazy to walk to class.

A scalpel isn’t just for surgery; it can also be used to cut meat.

And a white coat isn’t just for doctors. It could be a butcher’s apron, or even a fashion statement.

"A dog leash. The appearance of a ten-year-old child. Surface wounds. Tied up and thrown in the trunk of a car."

"A crazed adult, holding a hostage, threatening the police."

Xu Huo’s voice continued, dissecting the flood of information into distinct data points.

"When you process these pieces of information in a short amount of time, your brain subconsciously connects the dots."

How do you deceive a stranger?

You give them tense, urgent information.

Then you rob them of time, taking away their ability to think.

As long as a person isn’t thinking, isn’t using their brain, deceiving them is easy. You can simply let the information guide them wherever you want.