When Li Xunran wakes up, he sees a obtrusive white mild. He’s mendacity on a shabby little mattress.  He physique is roofed with cuts and wounds.  His arms and ft bounded by lengthy heavy chains.

He coughs.  His congested chest appears to clear a bit. Slowly, he sits up and will get off the bed.  He walks over to the sink on the nook of the room.  He turns the faucet on and drinks some water.  

He hears the sound of a plate being pushed by means of a bit opening on the underside of the steel door.  It’s a plate of sizzling roast duck and rice.  

Li Xunran has misplaced weight. He hasn’t shaved for days. However his eyes nonetheless appears sharp.  He appears on the meals, then walks again to mattress. 

“Nicely…” Comes a person’s voice from behind the steel door: “You’re silly to starve your self.  When you’ve got no power, the place will you get the power to combat me?”

The voice has been processed.  It sounds sharp and creepy.

Li Xunran ignores him.  He closes his eyes.  After some time, he opens his eyes and asks: “The place are the 4 those that have been locked up within the different cells?”

He voice could be very coarse.

The person laughs: “Oh, I’ve despatched them residence.”

Li Xunran stays quiet.

The person says: “There’s no hurry.  You’re going to get 4 new neighbours in just a few days.  Now, have some meals, or else you received’t have the power to counsel them such as you did for the opposite 4 folks.  Huh.. you’re a good policeman.”

Li Xunran refuses to interact with him.

After some time, the person appears to have misplaced his endurance.

“Why are you so cussed?” He yells at him: “Are you able to simply loosen up and have some enjoyable?  … Because of you. I’m caught in Hong Kong. For those who didn’t tip the police off, I wouldn’t be right here.  I hate Hong Kong.”

Then the plate of roast duck and rice is pulled out of the cell.  Li Xunran hears noise of shattering glass.  He threw the plate of rice on the plate.  Then he walks away.

“Click on.” The sunshine is turned off.  The room is pitched darkish. 

—————

The sunshine is sort of a gold mud that’s sprinkled onto this cosmopolitan metropolis.  It’s onerous to attach the grotesque murders with this lovely and complex metropolis, 

Jian Yao stands in entrance of her window within the resort room.  Not far behind her, Bo Jinyan  is having a shower within the lavatory.  

They’ve been very busy since they arrived Hong Kong.  After watching the video, the particular staff made up of elite officers from Chinese language Public Safety and the Hong Kong Police Pressure continues with their investigation and gathers proof concerning the victims.  Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao are taking a brief break of their resort.  

The sound of the water stops.  Bo Jinyan  walks out from the lavatory.  He sits down on mattress.  He’s drying his hair with a towel.  Jian Yao walks over and stands in entrance of him.  

Bo Jinyan  appears at her:  “Would you like me?”  He touches her cheeks along with his hand: “Child, I’m sorry.  I’m not within the temper proper now.  I promise I’ll make it as much as you as soon as we resolve this case.”

Jian Yao rapidly clarifies: “After all not!”

After they left the police station, practically everybody was taking a look at Bo Jinyan .  The staff chief quietly stated to her: “This isn’t his fault.  Please make sure that he understands.  And that he doesn’t put pointless stress on himself.”

She takes his towel from him and dries his hair for him: “I wished to let you know… don’t put an excessive amount of stress on your self.”

He reaches out and wraps his hand round her waist: “Why would I put stress on myself?”

Jian Yao replies: “No.1 declared conflict on you in entrance of everybody.”  Truly, everybody feels the stress.  They know they face a robust enemy.  Everyone seems to be a bit tense.  

“After all he would say that to me, who else on this world would be capable to catch him?”

Jian Yao realises…. as soon as once more, she has underestimated Bo Jinyan .

His self-confidence and vanity, is as concrete  as a rock.  ‘Strain’ is what regular folks would have, not Bo Jinyan .

He by no means even contemplate that he may free.  

Bo Jinyan leans over and pecks her lips: “I’m taking a nap.”  He lies down and covers himself with the cover.  

Jian Yao is a bit stunned: “We’re not going again to the station?”

Bo Jinyan smiles: “What’s the hurry?  We will’t do a lot in the mean time.  In addition to, I’ve to verify I’m in my high type.”

He grabs the sleep masks on the bedside desk.  Jian Yao appears at him. Truly, he hadn’t had sleep for days.

“Okay then.  I’ll take a bathe now.” She says.  Then she hears him say: “Name the restaurant and reserve a desk.  Order some seafood and fish. I’ll want meal once I get up.”

She will be able to really feel it.  He’s going all out for it. 

——————-

Sundown.  

Jian Yao wakes up.

Bo Jinyan shouldn’t be beside her.  He’s turned into his swimsuit.  He’s combed his hair again.  He stands in entrance of the mirror.  He’s prepared.

Jian Yao will get off the bed and hugs him from behind. She rests her head on his again: “What would you like me to do?”

He pauses, then he says: “Put on one thing fairly.”

Jian Yao is shocked: “Why?”

He turns sideways to have a look at her: “I must be in high type.  And in line with previous experiences, each time you gown properly, I really feel happy, and it helps me to carry out higher.” 

He’s severe.  Jian Yao can’t assist however giggle: “Certain.”

—————-

Within the night.  Contained in the convention room of the police station.

Everybody within the staff is there.  They begin with a fast replace:

First, they’ve discovered the our bodies.  It’s dumped in 4 totally different rural places. From every physique, he took away one thing as a memento.

A bit of pores and skin from the again is lacking from the lady.  He reduce off some hair from the outdated man. The center of the person is lacking.  As for the younger boy, he took his pair of arms.

Jian Yao writes down the objects on a whiteboard: Pores and skin.  Hair.  Coronary heart. Arms

Anam managed to make a discovery too.  Despite the fact that  the roads to the place the our bodies have been dumped are in distant areas, he managed to search out some surveillance digicam photos and eye witness that proves that the identical Black Honda 7 seaters has handed by.  

Nonetheless, the registration plate is, as they’ve anticipated, a pretend quantity.  Not one of the photos managed to seize the driving force’s face.  This mannequin of automobile is standard in Hong Kong.  It will likely be very onerous to search out the automobile with the data they’ve.

One of many officers from Hong Kong says: “We’ve requested the members of the family and associates of the 4 victims.  They don’t know each other.  No.1’s appears to decide on his victims randomly.  In addition to that, we additionally discovered the feminine sufferer attends evening college courses, and that the architect is an novice author who has received just a few awards.  However we’re not positive if they’re related to the case.”

One other senior investigator shares his views: ‘I believe his alternative of victims shouldn’t be fully random.  We discovered surveillance digicam photos and eye witness accounts that exhibits that the identical black automobile have been noticed a number of instances within the areas the place the victims went lacking for just a few days earlier than the disappearance.  The feminine sufferer and the kid journey on the identical route each day.  As for the male sufferer and the outdated man, it’s simply by likelihood that they have been within the space the place they went lacking.”

Jian Yao summaries: “So, two abductions are pre-planned, and the opposite two are spontaneous.” 

—————————

The assembly is completed.  The officers have been working round all day.  A few of them are going for a chew.  Others are going residence to sleep.

However for Bo Jinyan  and Jian Yao, their work has simply begun.

They record the info In entrance of them:

Lady, outdated man, man, baby

Torture methodology: Whipping, psychological stress, flesh reducing and animal bites

Reason for demise: Poison, slit the throat, eradicating the center, poison

Memento: pores and skin, hair, coronary heart, arms

Abduction: each preplan and spontaneous

Anam and some different younger officers from Hong Kong are nonetheless within the convention room.  Certainly one of them feedback: “I believe he’s intentionally utilizing totally different strategies to confuse us, in order that we can not set up any patterns.”

One other officer suggests: “Is it a touch that he has a number of persona dysfunction?”

A number of persona dysfunction is one thing that happens continuously in motion pictures.  However in actual life state of affairs, it’s truly very uncommon.  

Then Anam speaks: “4 folks. Three attainable groupings:

From the torture angle:  the person and the lady suffered probably the most bodily abuse.  

From the angle of how they died: He selected a merciless strategy to kill the 2 males.  The lady and baby have been poisoned earlier than their our bodies have been mutilated.

From the angel of abduction: it’s pre-planned for the lady and baby solely.”

Bo Jinyan  asks him: “So, what’s your conclusion?”

Anam shakes his head: “I don’t have one.  I’m simply summarising the info.”

Jian Yao asks Bo Jinyan : “So what are your ideas?”

There’s hardly any pattern or sample within the 4 deaths.  She doesn’t even know the place to start out. 

Bo Jinyan appears to have the ability to learn her thoughts: “You assume it’s too difficult?”

Jian Yao nods.

“Then bear in mind this.  Irrespective of how difficult a case appears, it nonetheless follows the identical precept.”

Everybody within the room appears at one another.  They look ahead to Bo Jinyan to elucidate.

Bo Jinyan continues: “He’s a psychopath.  Irrespective of how a lot he tries to complicate issues,  he’ll reveal his needs and actual feeling by means of his killings. It’s not one thing he can cover.  He’s very egotistic.  He naively thinks he can tame me  to be his associate.  What do you assume he’s attempting to indicate me?”

Jian Yao has some ideas, however they’re random ideas that wants time to be organised and sorted out.  However earlier than she is ready to work it out, Bo Jinyan reveals the reply.

“He’s attempting to indicate me his life.”