What was a psychic? In the traditional sense, it referred to people who could communicate with ghosts and gods. Harnessing the knowledge and power of supernatural beings by either requesting or commanding it, they could understand the past and predict the future.

They had the ability to discern a person's thoughts upon meeting face-to-face, and could even figure out their entire life. But whether these rumors were truths or lies-whether a psychic really had these abilities-was still a matter of controversy throughout the world.

Some truly believed that psychics and their abilities were real, while others thought that they were just a group of liars skilled at rhetoric.

It was clear that the members of the task force were all scientific atheists who did not believe in these so-called psychics. They had spent much time meticulously planning and preparing for this inquisition, then had relentlessly fought against Fan Jialuo in the interrogation room, all in order to break through his psychological defenses.

However, when they finally thought that a breakthrough was within their grasp, they received such a ridiculous answer. How could they possibly not be angered and upset right now?

I'm a psychic? What do you mean by that?

So the death sketch and the death notices were just scenes that Fan Jialuo happened to see when he was communicating with spirits? He had nothing to do with these cases? He didn't know the real identity of the killer? Just who did Fan Jialuo think he was trying to deceive?

Liu Tao smiled furiously at the scene in front of him, thumping the table hard in outrage before exclaiming, "What is this? What did he just say? Did I hear it wrongly?"

The two young police officers shook their heads, and they were both confused as well. To go to the extent of mentioning supernatural beings-this was probably the most difficult, bizarre and absurd case they had ever encountered in their career so far.

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, Fan Jialuo sat back in his previous position, moving a sizable distance away from Zhuang Zhen, and then continued to fiddle with the four photos.

When Fan Jialuo's breath dissipated, Zhuang Zhen, who had been tightly locked by that invisible magnetic field only a moment ago, felt that he could finally breathe freely again. The sensation was subtle and mysterious, but Zhuang Zhen didn't want to continue to think too deeply about it.

Fan Jialuo had often gone to see a psychologist, so it wouldn't be unusual if he had also studied psychology in private. If that is the case, then Fan Jialuo just used Psychological Suggestion on me. Zhuang Zhen soon found a plausible explanation for what had happened to him, then refocused his attention back on the on-going interrogation. He settled his mind, gritted his teeth and said, "You are saying that you are a psychic? So, you saw Gao Yize's death when you were channeling?"

"That's right." Fan Jialuo smiled and nodded.

"The deaths of Wang Wei, Zhao Kai and Mao Xiaoming, too?"

"Correct."

"You could see their death, but not the murderer?"

"As I said before, the images were too blurred." Fan Jialuo answered the questions in a soft voice. His attitude had completely changed by now. From the inisial silence to the present stream of asking questions and receiving answers, it seemed that he was finally compromising.

But Zhuang Zhen was not happy with the current compromise. Instead, he slapped the table angrily and scolded, "A psychic? The ability to foresee death? Who do you think you can fool with such absurd words? I advise you not to resist any longer, and confess quickly!"

Fan Jialuo merely smiled and did not respond to this provocation.

In the monitoring room, Song Rui finally couldn't continue to watch in silence. Through the bluetooth headset, he stopped Zhuang Zhen's forced inquiry.

"Lao Zhuang, stop asking, he won't tell the truth. Haven't you also realized it? We've fallen into his trap. He first stirred up our emotions with his silence, and is now irritating us with these inexplicable words. He has succeeded in misleading us, which has made our thinking disorderly. Our outline for the interrogation has been completely disrupted by him, and has instead entered his rhythm. It's futile to ask any more. We won't be able to extract any useful information unless he feels that he has played enough and wants to end the game himself."

Zhuang Zhen was silent. His heart burned with anger, but there was nothing he could do. He had to admit that Fan Jialuo was indeed playing the task force to his own tune. From the very beginning of the case to up until now, everything had been under the control of the other party. The task force had been so busy scouring around to gather the messy trails of evidence, and while they were being beaten black and blue during that entire period of time, he, handling a butcher's cleaver with ease, was carefree.

Zhuang Zhen unscrewed the lid of the thermos cup on the table and filled it with water, in an attempt to calm himself down.

At that moment, Luo Hong also woke up from the magic unleashed by Fan Jialuo and blushed heavily. God, what had happened to him just now? Except for the echoes of Fan Jialuo's voice and the recurring image of his dimples, the rest of his mind was blank. Even if this person was not a real psychic, he was still undoubtedly a terrible existence to behold. Possessing such a strong brainwashing ability, it was no wonder he had been so popular before!

Song Rui rearranged the documents carefully and said, "Lao Zhuang, you take a break, switch with me."

As a consultant, this was Song Rui's first face-to-face interrogation. In the past, he only needed to prepare a plan for the Criminal Police Department to follow during the interrogation, and they would be able to cinch the case, but now it seemed that this particular case was going to become an exception. The person he had encountered was Fan Jialuo-a man with a stable mind and the power to assert instant control over the whole scenario.

Zhuang Zhen was inwardly relieved, but concealed his relief tightly. After drinking the water, he recapped and tightened the lid of the thermos cup, placing it back at the corner of the table. It was at this time that Song Rui entered the interrogation room, and smiled gently at Fan Jialuo.

Luo Hong quickly gave up his seat next to Zhuang Zhen and brought over another stool to sit on while he continued to record.

Fan Jialuo glanced casually at Song Rui, then moved his gaze away for a moment, before finally returning to stare at him firmly. His mouth hooked in a smile that suggested interest.

Song Rui nodded to Fan Jialuo, displaying a very approachable attitude. After sitting down, he simply handed over the documents in his hand to Zhuang Zhen and began to interrogate.

"Hello Fan Jialuo, I'm Song Rui, a psychologist. I've heard that you suffer from multiple-personality disorder. As a person who is an authority in this field, I should be able to help you answer some questions you have about yourself. How about we leave the case behind and talk about your condition instead?"

No patient harbouring multiple personalities could be nonchalant and carry no concern about their own condition, especially a person like Fan Jialuo-one who had a strong desire for control, both over himself and others.

If he was the master, he would indisputably want to find a way to suppress or destroy the sub-personalities; and if he was a sub-personality, he would surely want to find a method to replace the master. In any case, as long as he was willing to speak, Song Rui would be able to find a way to extract information from his mouth, since after all, this was what he was most proficient at.

However, reality showed that Fan Jialuo was not willing to deal with him. After having spent more than an hour in the interrogation room, he was now overwhelmingly bored. He pushed the photos aside, curved his long and thin fingers, and tapped on the desk once. Then he tapped again.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

This light but controlled rhythmic sound seemed to directly knock on the hearts of the people who heard it, unconsciously leading them to look at Fan Jialuo with their ears erected to listen attentively.

This was, indeed, Fan Jialuo's ability. If he so desired, he could easily absorb any person's spirit, even if the other party was Song Rui or Zhuang Zhen, who had a heart as hard as iron.

Zhuang Zhen stared at Fan Jialuo involuntarily, his heart full of fire, but with no place to vent it.

Song Rui's question received no answer, so it could only dissipate into nothingness. All he could do was readjust the golden glasses on the bridge of his nose, in an attempt to ground himself and remove himself from Fan Jialuo's psychological control, but he failed. His state of mind was inevitably in disarray.

When Fan Jialuo sensed that he had fully captured the attention of all the observers, he slowly enunciated, "I'm sorry, my time is limited, and I can't spend any more of it with you. There is no doubt that I am a psychic, and not once have I made any false utterances." Then, he stretched out his left hand, palm wide open and all five fingers spread out, in the direction of the one-way mirror, and closed his eyes for a moment.

Zhuang Zhen, Song Rui and Luo Hong all looked at him with puzzled expressions, unable to understand what he wanted to do.

Liu Tao and others, who were wholly focused on his palm, unconsciously stepped forward towards the mirror, asking, "What the hell is he doing?"

"Using his psychic ability? That's the sort of thing that the psychics on TV always do."

"You don't say, it's a decent posture!"

While the three people inside the observation room conversed in this way, Fan Jialuo's fingers had slowly closed, and his slender index finger had moved a few centimeters to the left. He said slowly, "This one is a man, about forty-five years old, he has a lot of energy in his body, so his temper is not very good."

The corner of Zhuang Zhen's mouth twitched as he watched the scene with cold eyes, waiting to see what other tricks Fan Jialuo would pull.

Song Rui listened carefully, then nodded slightly, assuming a posture that said 'I am listening attentively to you'.

Luo Hong showed an expression of half-doubt, half-belief on his face.

However, the Liu Tao trio, who were standing in front of the one-way mirror, were awed because Fan Jialuo's fingertip was pointing precisely at Liu Tao's nose, and the features of the middle-aged man described in his words were very consistent with that of Liu Tao.

"Who wouldn't be able to say such words full of equivocation? Give Laozi Jiang Jing's banner, and Laozi can also cause people to be caught in a flutter." Liu Tao chuckled while hiding his stiff neck, and dodged away. But in the next second, he froze in place. He froze because when he had dodged, Fan Jialuo's fingertip had also followed in accordance with his movements and was still pointed to the tip of his nose.

Liu Tao: "..."

The two young officers beside him were in a state of uncertainty and bewilderment. "He, can he see us?"

Fan Jialuo closed his eyes and listened to the reverberations in the void, his red lips slightly hooked, and then he spoke in an amused tone, "Fat Fish? Is that what you are called?"

Zhuang Zhen's hardened eyes flickered violently for a moment, because 'Fat Fish' was a nickname that Liu Tao's mother's had given him, and he had used it from childhood till the present day. And, at this instant, he realized the identity of the person standing in that exact position behind the one-way mirror.

Other members of the task force also knew Liu Tao's nickname and had teased each other about this more than once. Logically speaking, Fan Jialuo should not know about such a thing. Where did he get the information? Did he have an acquaintance in the police station who had told him about it?

The members of the task force participating in the interrogation couldn't help but feel agitated and frightened.

Undoubtedly, Liu Tao's heartbeat was the one jumping the fastest. He stood rigidly in place, his eyes fixed straight at Fan Jialuo, his pupils filled with a combination of disbelief, surprise and doubt.

"Fake, is it fake?" Liu Tao whispered imperceptibly, but as soon as his voice fell, Fan Jialuo began to speak again, slowly saying, "In the north, there is a small farmyard. The fence walls are covered with vines, and the vines are covered in red, white, pink and purple flowers. Well, let me look a bit closer. Those flowers seem to be clematis. There is an old woman standing under the wall that looks out in the direction of Beijing City. She is hoping that you bring your wife and children back to visit. She misses you very much."

"The farmyard, the fence wall full of clematis, isn't this my hometown? He saw my mother? No, no, he must have investigated me in advance!" Liu Tao began to doubt life. He originally didn't have much hair left, and in his current distress, he ended up pulling out a few more strands.

"Isn't this too mysterious? I don't believe it at all!" The two young police officers standing beside Liu Tao shook their heads, but their expressions of firm disbelief had somewhat cracked.

And at that very moment, a mobile phone vibrated in the observation room. The three people, whose souls seemed to have been spirited away, quickly came back to their senses and hurriedly searched for the source of the sound, only to discover that it was Liu Tao's cell phone which was ringing. One word was showing on the screen-Mom.

Liu Tao answered the phone in a panic. Before he could say 'Hello', Mother Liu's voice had already traveled over from the other end of the phone. "Fat Fish, during the New Year, you were busy investigating a case and weren't able to come back, so Mom really misses you. Didn't you say you'll come back and visit in early spring? When are you free? Hurry up and bring Qianqian and my grandson over. Mom will make delicious food for you all!"

At his mother's urging, Liu Tao repeatedly promised to return when he had time, before quickly hanging up the phone. He raised his head to look at Fan Jialuo on the other side of the mirror, and slowly a sense of awe rose from the bottom of his heart.

...