“This sure isn’t easy, is it? The murderer must be facing a difficult problem as well!” Zeng Ke said.
He then added, “After all, it’s winter now. So, where can he possibly find a swimming pool with water still in it? Wouldn’t all of the outdoor ones be frozen by now, if not emptied already for the season? Besides, I’m afraid there aren’t many swimming pools in this small city.”
“I haven’t figured it all out yet…” Zhao Yu frowned at Wu Xiumin. He then asked, “Why must it be an abandoned swimming pool? Why did Han Kuan design such a murder in his storyline?”
“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing…” Miao Ying thought it over and said, “If you want to drown a person and then make it look like a suicide or an accident, the most reasonable place to do so would be near a river or lake, not a pool. Even a puddle is more reasonable than a swimming pool! I think this choice is really strange…”
Zhao Yu nodded his head and agreed, “Yes. I’m not saying that I can read your mind, but I was thinking that exact same thing, too! It’s like there’s something else behind the book and the case!”
Wu Xiumin shook her head and said, “No way! Han Kuan told us that he wrote 11 Kills a really long time ago, when he just graduated from school. He also mentioned that there are many loopholes in the novel. So, maybe this swimming pool is one of those loopholes!”
“No… ” Zhao Yu was still shaking his head. “I don’t think that the loophole has anything to do with the swimming pool!”
“Team leader, actually… I may have found something that says otherwise…” Zeng Ke looked at the computer screen and said, “There are three, very long rivers near the Golden City. So, If he killed people in the wilderness, we could hardly stop him. But, if it’s a swimming pool that he uses, at least we can narrow the possible locations down!”
Miao Ying quickly asked, “Can you narrow it down to one place?”
“I do think that there’s a way! But, I have to get in touch with the Construction Bureau and see their drawings first!” Zeng Ke said.
He then turned to Wu Xiumin and asked, “Wu, did Han Kuan say that it was an outdoor swimming pool or an indoor one?”
Wu Xiumin answered, “I didn’t think to ask that. I can check with him about it later.”
“There’s a big difference between an indoor pool and an outdoor pool!” Zeng Ke scratched his head and said, “It would be much easier if it’s outdoors. If it’s indoors, it will be troublesome…”
Cui Lizhu shook her head and said, “If it’s indoors, would a public bath count? I think an abandoned public bath could be a possible place. And, it makes more sense for the murderer to carry out his plan in one of those! Didn’t you say that the scene of the electric shock case in the Xianghe Home is different from the original plot of the book? Whenever the murderer can’t find a place that fits the plot perfectly, his pattern is to just choose a similar place.”
“If it’s a public bath, that will be really difficult to narrow down! As it deals with a public, government facility, we can only let the police conduct a thorough search for it,” Zeng Ke frowned and said.
“Anyway…” Zhao Yu said with determination, “We must find this swimming pool! According to the plot, the murderer will not kill anyone for the time being, so we still have a little time!”
Miao Ying said, “Speaking of killing, it seems that there is another thing we can focus our efforts on in the meantime!”
Zhao Yu asked, “You mean… The next victim?”
Miao Ying nodded. “The four victims all had conflicts with Xie Tongguo because of agency related stuff! So, this fifth victim is likely to also be related to Xie Tongguo in this same way.”
Zhao Yu nodded. “Okay. I’ll get Ran Tao to find out who else had conflicts with Xie Tongguo!”
“Wow! He had a beef with so many people!” Cui Lizhu bit her lip and said, “I haven’t made so many enemies in my whole life!… And I was a thief! How could a mere real estate agent get into so much trouble with so many people?”
Zhao Yu said, “Although what you used to do is dangerous, you were quite skilled at it. Xie Tongguo is different! He has no financial resources and struggles hard to afford his life. All of the injustices that he has had to face has made him angrier than ordinary people!”
“In psychology terms, it’s called forced reverse pressure psychology!” Wu Xiumin explained. “The reasons for this occurring are very complicated, but it has something to do with low birth weight, poverty, hopelessness and so on.”
She shook her head, then continued, “Xie Tongguo obviously has the psychological characteristics of this syndrome. He has transformed his grievances into hatred, and after a long time silence and stuffing his emotions inside, his anger finally erupted!”
Wu Xiumin then added, “Overseas, more than 60% of the people with such a psychological tendency will commit crimes, most of which are felonies! At school, my teacher once said that this psychological tendency is mostly the result of poor social communication skills. Since patients cannot get along with other people and cannot effectively handle pressure, it eventually leads to a mental collapse!”
“That’s crazy…” Cui Lizhu stuck her tongue out at Zhao Yu, indicating that she could not understand this crazy phenomenon at all.
After rolling his eyes, Zhao Yu said, “Okay, I’ll contact Ran Tao now! Let’s split up and work on this angle separately. Hopefully, we can arrest Xie Tongguo soon!”
After that, they left. When he hung up the phone, Zhao Yu took the opportunity to open a new hexagram. It was two o’clock in the morning, and in order to get new inspiration for the new day, he knew that he couldn’t miss his new hexagram!
After seeing the hexagram, he frowned. Unexpectedly, he had opened the same Gen Kan hexagram as yesterday!
This was weird. He recalled that when he was on Yongjin Island, the system had given him several Li hexagrams in a row. This time, he had been given repeated Kan hexagrams.
If yesterday’s Kan referred to Cui Lizhu, then he had to wonder who today’s would be referring to. He also wondered about the Kan hexagram.
After opening the new hexagram, Zhao Yu added a little information to a white board. Because he stayed up so late working on the case, he felt that his brain was about to explode and he was extremely exhausted. So, he went into the small side room in the office to take a short rest.
As soon as he lay down on the little bed, he fell asleep and had many strange nightmares. In his dreams, he seemed to enter a Gothic dark world, where there were only black, gray, and white colors.
In this gloomy world, old buildings, monsters, bandits and robbers all came out from every corner. Some of them killed people and set numerous fires, and some danced around and sang loudly.
Zhao Yu finally woke up and yawned, then rubbed his sleepy eyes. He didn’t know how long he had slept. When he looked at his watch, he discovered that it was already morning!
The thick curtains blocked the window, so he couldn’t see the sunlight outside. But, as it was still quite early, Zhao Yu knew that it should still be dark at this time.
The lights in the office were already on. When he opened the door and went into the office, he did not see Miao Ying and Cui Lizhu, but only Wu Xiumin and Zeng Ke.
At this moment, Wu Xiumin was standing at the door, saying something to the two Bureau Chiefs of the Golden City Police Station. When the two Bureau Chiefs saw Zhao Yu, they nodded to him, then left in a hurry.
“Team leader, you’re up!” Wu Xiumin whispered, “They just wanted to ask us what we wanted for breakfast. They recommended the Golden City special fried buns!”
“Ahhh…” Zhao Yu had not yet fully awakened, and he yawned again.
After hearing Zhao Yu’s yawn, Zeng Ke immediately stood up from the computer desk and said, “Team Leader, after working all night, I found six possible places! But, I have narrowed it down to one place… That is where Xie Tongguo is most likely to commit his next murder!”
“Here…” He then pointed to his computer screen and said, “Lo and behold, there was an unfinished club in the uncompleted building where Hao Lili was hanged, and there just happens to be a small open-air swimming pool at the bottom of it!”
As Zeng Ke said this, Zhao Yu looked up at the picture of the swimming pool that he had projected on the screen. Although the swimming pool had not yet been tiled, its main body had been completed!
Zeng Ke pointed to the photo and said, “Look…. The swimming pool is open-air, and it has snow and ice inside. If the ice and snow melt, it’s possible that a person could drown there!”
“Hmm…” Zhao Yu nodded. “If I were Xie Tongguo, I would definitely choose this pool! So…”
“Your thoughts are exactly the same as Leader Miao’s!” Zeng Ke nodded and said, “In fact, Leader Miao and Cui Lizhu have already gone there to check it out…”
