Lin Qiupu looked at Chen Shi in confusion, "You don't really believe in such nonsensical things, do you?"

"Some things are difficult to explain. For example, I fried four small sausages and placed them on the table this morning. When I turned around, it had turned into three. Who would I find to reason with?" Chen Shi said half-jokingly.

"It's a waste of time! There aren’t many people on duty during New Year and we still have to deal with such false alarms. What if there’s a real problem? If you want to go and confirm it, confirm it yourself.”

Lin Dongxue smiled bitterly at Chen Shi. She knew that Chen Shi liked this kind of strange case. From the look in his eyes, he was very interested in it and eager to find out more.

Lin Dongxue asked for permission. "Captain Lin, can I contact the Shiqiao Town Public Security Bureau for a copy of the case file?"

"Yes, but you’re not allowed to take action without authorization. There’s no need to go out for this matter."

Later, a fax of the dossier was sent over. Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi sat down and read the case together. This case can be described as "making one’s blood boil". The case had occurred in late November. There were two victims, Chunqin and her husband Li Tiezhu. The two were sleeping in their own house at the time. When the murderer came in, the big yellow dog kept in the yard didn’t bark at all. After testing the dog’s feces, it was found that it had been given sleeping pills.

Chunqin was raped and then killed. The cause of death was a thin string that had strangled her by the neck from behind. It was suspected to be a fishing line. Li Tiezhu was strangled to death by the same kind of thin string, and his hands and feet had marks from being bound. The police investigated the scene. It was determined that Li Tiezhu had been tied to a pillar facing the bed. A large amount of cotton textile fibers were detected in his mouth, which had the same composition as a rag found at the scene.

The police suspected that the murderer had tied Li Tiezhu to the pillar and stuffed a rag into his mouth before raping Chunqin, forcing him to "watch" his wife's abuse throughout the process. Judging from Li Tiezhu’s ligature marks, the whole process may have taken two hours.

It’s worth mentioning that when the murderer was committing the rape, witnesses had passed by the scene. They were several teenagers who were returning from the Internet cafe. They had seen figures swaying in the window at the back of the house. They were so excited that they whistled and stayed for some time before leaving.

The witnesses' confessions were unexpectedly detailed. They were all unemployed youths in the town. The police seemed to have suspected them at first.

After two hours of torture, the murderer killed the couple in succession and boiled some water before pouring it all over Chunqin’s body. Additionally, the murderer had brushed her skin with a wire brush, seemingly to remove any evidence left behind by him. Therefore, the body had a lot of fine scratches all over.

However, the murderer had actually ignored the most important thing: the semen. The way he dealt with that was to pour boiling water inside of her.

Of course, it was impossible to eliminate DNA like that. From this, it was speculated that the murderer seemed to be an uneducated person.

However, three months had passed since the case happened and there had been no leads.

Reading the dossier, Lin Dongxue said, "The method was so cruel. Chunqin was just an ordinary working woman in a town. Why would a female graduate student in Long'an claim to be possessed by her spirit?"

Lin Dongxue was looking at a list of the deceased's interpersonal relationships. Nobody surnamed Chang was listed on it, let alone Chang Juan.

"Won’t we know if we just go to meet this girl?" Chen Shi said.

"Captain Lin won’t allow it." Although Lin Dongxue’s interest was piqued, she didn’t dare to disobey orders.

"Fool, you can go during your lunch break. A private visit."

"Good idea!"

When it was time for the lunch break, everyone went out for lunch together because the cafeteria was closed. Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue got into the car and hurried to the address provided by Chang Juan, which was her college dormitory.

At the time, the campus was quiet and there wasn’t anyone in sight during the holiday. There was accumulated snow left on the flowerbeds from a few days ago. There were only a few windows in the graduate dormitory building that had lights on. The two went to Chang Juan’s dormitory and knocked on the door. Chang Juan’s voice came from beyond the door, "Police?"

"Yes, Miss Chang, we have come to see you."

"Please wait five minutes, sorry."

Lin Dongxue was very puzzled. There were no outsiders in the room and she wasn’t taking a shower. Why did she need them to wait for five minutes? She kept looking at her watch. Five minutes later, at exactly 1:00 in the afternoon, the door opened on time.

Chang Juan was a short girl with big eyes who wore a pair of framed glasses, and a choker around her neck. Her mouth curled up at the corners as if she was smiling, her hair was dyed a dark brown color and she wore a goose yellow sweater, giving people the impression of being the girl next door.

This was a single dormitory room. The room was very neat and tidy and made people feel very comfortable. Lin Dongxue said, "Miss Chang, why did we have to wait for five minutes? Did something urgent just come up?"

"No." Chang Juan answered calmly.

"Then why..."

"Because the meeting time must be 1:00 in the afternoon. Please come in!"

Lin Dongxue secretly exchanged glances with Chen Shi. Why did this girl feel so weird? Chang Juan turned around and poured tea for them. Chen Shi saw a big bow tied behind her head.

Chang Juan sat down in front of them and put her hands on her knees without moving, staring at them with wide eyes, as if awaiting questions.

"Why report the crime in that manner? How did you know that Chunqin in Shiqiao Town was killed?" Lin Dongxue asked.

"You should change the question." Chang Juan replied. "Ask me who I am."

Lin Dongxue didn't believe it at all. She said, "I called you 'Miss Chang' just now, and you responded, indicating that you’re Chang Juan. I don't believe in things like resurrecting a soul using another’s corpse. How can human consciousness leave its organs to exist independently? It’s ridiculous, it’s as if a computer can run software without hardware."

"A lot of things are invisible, but it doesn't mean they don't exist, such as electromagnetic waves." Chang Juan said calmly.

Chen Shi smiled, "The favorite opening remark of psychic medium scammers. Electromagnetic waves and the soul aren’t the same thing. Don't change the concept."

"Are all police atheists?"

"Strictly speaking, I’m not an atheist, but I also don't believe in these supernatural things, because they are vague and contradictory. Also, the demonstrations of proof are full of flaws. Not to speak of convincing me, you can’t even give a plausible explanation." Chen Shi picked up the teacup. After taking a sip, he noticed that the cup was very cute, and the tea smelled of flowers.

Chang Juan stared at him in a daze, and a few secret voices came from somewhere, which only Chang Juan could hear. "This policeman is too annoying, scold him!", "Haha, scold the police, how funny and interesting. I agree!", "That’s not good, it's illegal, and we agreed that you can't do illegal acts.", "Everyone, this uncle is not a policeman. He’s just a consultant, I know him!", "Then just scold him. It’s annoying to watch him show off his IQ!"

Chang Juan asked calmly, "Your last name?"

"My name is Chen Shi, and I’m a criminal investigation consultant."

"Mr. Chen..." Chang Juan smiled slightly. "Your mother is dead!"