Chapter 109 - 105: Case Closed! Cause and Effect, the Dots-and-Lines Cognitive Bias Deception

Li Jianye was a perfect example of this.

He had just entered the crime scene, and before he could even do anything, the killer had nearly escaped.

He was about to give chase, but then the victim was on the brink of death. He was about to pursue again, but then they found Lin Shan. Before he even had a chance to properly examine the scene, Zhang Ru was arrested, and they all returned to the station.

There was no time to think during all of that.

And when you don’t have time to think, all that information... it gets subconsciously linked together, and you start to trust it without even realizing it.

"Yes, you could call it a form of hypnosis."

Xu Huo nodded, offering his assessment. After a moment’s thought, he added,

"A very crude form of hypnosis, though."

"If it had been anyone else, the whole thing would have been exposed immediately!"

Why wouldn’t it have worked on anyone else?

It was still a matter of connecting the dots.

Lin Shan’s appearance was extremely deceptive!

Honestly, he could probably walk into a women’s bathhouse, let alone a women’s restroom, without anyone batting an eye.

Why?

When you see what looks like a young child, you think ’young.’ How many people would subconsciously wonder if that person was actually an adult?

They wouldn’t. Habitual thinking leads people astray.

On top of that, basic human instinct compels people to perform certain "child-protective" actions.

These actions include, but are not limited to, higher tolerance, greater acceptance, more trust, and a tendency to become angry on their behalf.

It’s like the saying, ’Kids don’t lie.’ That’s a classic example. Adults always place this strange trust in children, even if that trust ends up getting them hurt badly.

So, Lin Shan exploited this psychological tendency.

He made the police lower their guard, if only for a short time.

Subconsciously, they treated him like a child!

If he had been a greasy, middle-aged man, or some kind of creep...

Xu Huo was certain.

The moment Li Jianye saw him on a dog leash, he wouldn’t have assumed he was a victim.

He might have even thought the guy was into some kinky stuff!

Can you change that kind of thinking?

You can’t.

Habit is just common sense, put plainly. How do you change common sense? Do you check whether your water dispenser is giving you poison or mineral water every time you get a drink?

"So..."

"You wanted Zhang Ru to die for you."

Looking at Lin Shan, Xu Huo stated his motive.

The words that came out of his mouth were enough to make one’s body tremble. Even though Qian Hua had been prepared, his heart still sank upon hearing them.

’Have Zhang Ru die for him...’

Who was Zhang Ru?

She was his own mother!

Lin Shan was silent. On his youthful face, a flicker of ferocity and gloom, completely at odds with his appearance, shone in his eyes.

The contrast was enough to make anyone who saw it freeze subconsciously.

"So what if I did!?"

Lin Shan’s expression twisted into a snarl. His small hands clenched into fists, knuckles turning white, and an incredibly agitated force surged from his childlike body.

"She deserves to die!"

Lin Shan dropped the act.

Just as Xu Huo had said.

The case was solved too quickly. Deceiving the police could only buy him a moment of safety.

Given enough time—it wouldn’t even take long, maybe three days—the police would inevitably have their doubts when they compiled all the information.

That’s why Zhang Ru confessed so quickly.

She didn’t want to drag it out. She wanted to die as soon as possible.

As long as she was dead... Lin Shan could live!

"She deserved it!"

"That bitch, she deserved it, she deserved it!"

Lin Shan’s shrill voice rang out. "If it weren’t for her, would I be like this!?"

"Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to go outside looking like this?!"

"It’s all her fault, that damn thing! If there wasn’t something wrong with her genes, how could I have ended up like this!"

"And all those other people, they all deserve to die, all of them!"

"..."

His mental state was clearly unstable, but he was powerless. He struggled frantically, but it was futile against the steel handcuffs.

Xu Huo silently took notes.

After a long while, ignoring the curses echoing from behind him, he led Qian Hua out of the interrogation room.

"Want one?"

Qian Hua pulled out a pack of cigarettes, gesturing toward Xu Huo.

"I don’t smoke." Xu Huo shook his head, politely refusing.

Qian Hua didn’t insist. He stuck a cigarette in his mouth, flicked his lighter, and took a deep drag before slowly exhaling.

The white smoke formed rings that slowly drifted upward, like a small cloud beside him.

"That bastard’s crazy."

After a long pause, Xu Huo finally spoke.

"Let Captain Wang’s team handle him."

Lin Shan had gone mad—not in a psychiatric sense, of course.

His thinking was mad.

He was getting revenge on Zhang Ru.

Although it was unclear whether his dwarfism was truly genetic, that wasn’t important.

What was important was that Zhang Ru, against official policy, had given birth to a dwarf who shouldn’t have been born.

This dwarf’s way of thinking was extreme; he was a complete madman.

Did he want women?

No.

Honestly, Xu Huo didn’t think he was lacking for women.

Zhang Ru was the director of a beauty salon, and his father, Lin Chu, was the head of it. In a family like that, you wouldn’t lack for women even if you were in a vegetative state.

There’s a fitting saying.

If you put out the feed, the birds will come.

Hiring prostitutes or keeping a mistress would have a much smaller price to pay than murder.

In the end...

"It was all just revenge against Zhang Ru."

Xu Huo held his notebook and wrote down the final passage.

He was... getting revenge!

After her eldest son died, Zhang Ru’s maternal instincts overflowed like a torrential river, all of it pouring onto Lin Shan.

And as his physical defects became apparent, her feelings turned to deeper guilt.

In other words, Lin Shan’s personality was a result of her spoiling him rotten, little by little!

His way of thinking was also cultivated under these circumstances!

"You mean..."

Qian Hua was stunned. A few incredible speculations surfaced in his mind, and he couldn’t help but speak.

"He didn’t do it because of sexual desire, but purely for revenge against Zhang Ru?"

"Forcing her to help with the murder, then raping and killing the victim, and finally, trying to make her take the fall and die for him..."

"It was all for revenge!?"

Xu Huo nodded.

Zhang Ru was an abnormal normal person. Her personality was abnormal, but her thinking was rational.

Unsurprisingly, she must have been completely unwilling in her heart, but her sense of guilt led to this situation.

"A... very childish method of revenge."

Xu Huo thought for a moment, then gave a more direct explanation.

"You could call it a form of self-harm."

Self-harm, hurting yourself—can that be considered revenge?

Not really.

But against certain people, it is!

For example.

Almost everyone, at some point in their childhood, has thought about using their own death or injury to get back at their parents.

Lin Shan was the type to actually act on it.

But his revenge was far more thorough. He plunged straight into the abyss and pointed the blame directly at Zhang Ru.

HISS...

Qian Hua sucked in a sharp breath and glanced back at the interrogation room, shaking his head.

"’To spoil a child is to kill a child’..."

Xu Huo nodded.

Indeed. If Zhang Ru hadn’t been influenced by her guilt, which in turn changed her attitude toward Lin Shan, he most likely would have just grown up to be a psychologically disturbed person.

It wouldn’t have come to this.

At the very least, he wouldn’t have become a murderer!

"The piling up of emotions... trying to make up for a past wrong doesn’t lead to forgiveness. It only leads to anger."

"Only time can dull such emotions."

"But Zhang Ru’s actions were constantly emphasizing to Lin Shan, ’You’re a useless dwarf, and it’s all my fault.’"

Xu Huo gave his final evaluation.

The system had named this case ’The Modern-Day Demon’.

In the Jesus case, the ’Jesus’ was a priest.

Who was the demon here?

Lin Shan?

Xu Huo thought for a moment. ’No, that’s not it.’

The demon was Zhang Ru.

This weak, overly doting woman, who even compromised when it came to murder, was the real demon.

She was the one who cultivated an extremist freak like Lin Shan.

"Let’s prepare to close the case."

Xu Huo shook his head and then left.

Hearing this, Qian Hua sighed.

"Alright."

After speaking, he paused for a moment, then suddenly added,

"Zhang Ru’s home needs to be searched, but we’re a little short-staffed for the case. Does Advisor Xu have time to take a look?"

"Or you could just look over some of the items the police found, right here at the station."

As was standard procedure, after solving a case, the police would search the murderer’s residence.

Although Zhang Ru had probably told them everything she knew, there might still be something hidden.

Therefore, this step was still necessary.

Qian Hua had been in charge of it before.

But now that the previous confession had been overturned, he had to redo the report.

Li Jianye was still cursing under his breath while investigating the victims of the ’Corpse Well’ case.

Wang Hu was the same, his focus was on wrapping up the Corpse Well case.

As things stood now...

Xu Huo was the one with the most free time.

"Alright."

Xu Huo thought for a moment, his eyebrows raising.

"I’ll go take a look."

It wouldn’t take long to have a look.

’And who knows, I might find something unexpected!’