Chapter Fifty-Five: Indeed, There Is Precedent

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. In this world, no one masters a skill without learning, nor can a criminal hide their crimes without careful thought. Every cunning criminal, although acting illegally, has usually improved their methods through repeated consideration and even multiple attempts before perfecting their technique," Lu Xiangdong said in a neutral tone to Qin Ruonan and An Changpu. There was no trace of hatred toward the criminals, nor sympathy for the victims—he was merely commenting objectively on a fact. "You’ve all investigated the bus station, train station, and even the airport. There’s no evidence that either of these two boys left the city through those routes. If the middle schooler hadn’t gone missing later, I might have believed it likely that the criminal used private transport to take that boy named Fang Wan out of the city. But now, with two boys missing consecutively, unless this criminal is reckless and loves to take risks, it’s impossible they used the same method twice to move both victims."

“So, Fang Wan and You Xiaoyang should still be somewhere in the city,” An Changpu concluded, following Lu Xiangdong’s words.

“Or to put it another way, their bodies might be hidden somewhere in the city,” Lu Xiangdong added.

Those words struck An Changpu and Qin Ruonan like a hammer, pressing heavily on their chests. Though they had long known the chances of survival for these two boys were slim, hearing it so plainly from a criminologist’s mouth made the grim reality all the more concrete.

“As I said earlier, for a criminal to improve their methods, they either need meticulous planning or must learn from experience. The latter is more common—practice outweighs theory,” Lu Xiangdong said with a slight sneer, as if telling a cold joke. He didn’t expect the two to laugh but continued, “So, if the perpetrator has committed similar crimes before, that could actually help you solve this. Prior crimes usually mean the plan was less perfect, leaving traces behind. These traces can provide information. You can use these indirect clues and correlations to investigate this disappearance.”

“Dr. Lu, don’t you hope at all that the two missing boys might turn up safe?” Qin Ruonan asked, unable to deny that while she acknowledged the part about prior cases helping the investigation, she found it hard to accept his calm certainty that the boys were already victims.

Lu Xiangdong gave her a clearly perfunctory smile, devoid of warmth. “If good wishes could change reality, I’d gladly switch careers and become a dreamer. But facts are facts, and you can’t change them. Do you think self-deception and optimism will help reverse the outcome? Remember, emotions can’t undo the harm done to victims or bring the dead back to life, but objective analysis can identify the real culprit.”

“I’m not being emotional,” Qin Ruonan shook her head, refusing to admit she was letting emotions cloud her judgment. “I just feel that since the victims are two minors, couldn’t you show a bit of sympathy when talking about this?”

“Sympathy and pity are worthless and meaningless,” Lu Xiangdong said bluntly, ignoring her judgment. “Criminology holds that anyone can become a victim of crime, but victimology recognizes that certain crimes target specific groups. This may sound harsh, but it’s not always the case. In most crimes, victims become victims because they directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, provide opportunities or openings to the criminal. For those who unwittingly fit the victim profile, I do feel regret for their fate. But others, due to their greed, ignorance, or gullibility, actively fall into the traps set by criminals. For those, I honestly cannot feel sympathy.”

“So you mean Fang Wan and You Xiaoyang…” Qin Ruonan began.

“No, I have never made such a conclusion. I don’t know or understand these two boys, so I can’t draw any conclusions,” Lu Xiangdong interrupted. “I’m merely stating a fact. Whether these children are the former or latter type of victims is for you to investigate and verify.”

Qin Ruonan frowned. Lu Xiangdong’s words were too sharp. Even though she knew he made sense, it still made her uneasy—like a blanket everyone knows might have mites, but since they’re invisible to the naked eye, you don’t feel discomfort. But when someone forces you to look at them under a microscope, turning those mites into monstrous creatures from a horror movie, every inch of you feels unsettled.

She took a deep breath to steady herself, unwilling to let the conversation turn into a battle between cold rationality and warm emotion.

“Besides that, do you have any conclusions about the perpetrator in these two cases?” Qin Ruonan forced herself to ignore Lu Xiangdong’s harsh rationality and asked patiently. Secretly, she marveled at how everything in the world seems to have a complementary opposite—like day and night.

This man before her was sharp, cold, and shrewd. It would take someone like Tian Mi, full of warmth and innocence, to get along with him.

What kind of woman would suit An Changpu’s personality?

Suddenly realizing she had drifted off in thought, Qin Ruonan felt a twinge of embarrassment but maintained a composed expression. She refocused on Lu Xiangdong, waiting for his reply.

“There’s too little detailed information about the cases for me to draw any conclusions. I can only say the criminal is cautious in personality and, as you suspect, chose these types of boys for a specific reason. Also, it’s bad to lose focus and daydream when others are asking questions,” Lu Xiangdong answered, then suddenly added that last remark.

Qin Ruonan’s face flushed. She averted her eyes, offering no response but inwardly startled. Lu Xiangdong seemed to see right through her, reading her thoughts as if he were inside her mind.

Just then, as the two exchanged a few words, An Changpu took a phone call. When he hung up, Lu Xiangdong and Qin Ruonan had just finished their conversation. Lu Xiangdong hadn’t caught what they said but noticed Qin Ruonan’s face had suddenly gone oddly red. Curious, he glanced at her. Without that call, perhaps he might have been tempted to pry into their earlier discussion, but now was clearly not the time.

“Dr. Lu, may I borrow your computer for a moment?” An Changpu asked, seeking permission.

Lu Xiangdong nodded and stood, moving behind his chair to let An Changpu sit. An Changpu thanked him, sat down at the desk, and opened the browser on Lu’s computer to check his email. There was an unread message from Tian Yang, just sent moments ago.

“Tian Yang said after contacting the police departments in neighboring counties and searching online for related news, he actually found some useful information,” An Changpu said as he opened the link in the email, while Lu Xiangdong and Qin Ruonan leaned in to see.

A news page appeared—a report from two years ago. The incident occurred in a city far from here, near a sewage outlet. There, a body was found. It was summer, and the corpse had been submerged in water, severely decomposed when discovered, having been dead for over a day. After forensic examination and reconstruction, the victim was identified as a first-year middle school student from this city, who had been missing for nearly half a month before the body was found. Further autopsy suggested the boy had been beaten and tortured before death and may have suffered sexual assault.

As of the report’s publication, the case remained unsolved.

The article included a photo of the boy with his face pixelated. Though his features were obscured, it was clear he was a slight, somewhat frail-looking boy.

“This news report... is far too detailed, isn’t it?” Qin Ruonan said after reading. “Such a graphic account is like rubbing salt into the victims’ families’ wounds.”

“That’s nothing strange. The media always favors stories with low incidence but high violence, using gore to attract attention. Their job is to report; they need views, not to consider the feelings of victims or their families,” Lu Xiangdong explained.

An Changpu sighed and turned to them. “Tian Yang told me he confirmed with the local police investigating this case by phone. The case has yet to be solved, and the perpetrator remains at large.”