CH 13

From easy to difficult, then repeated multiple times…

This was the learning method mankind had mastered over the course of its evolution. Endurance was also a part of learning.

“What? You mean, Yu Yan Qing did all this to overcome her fear of death?”

Fu Hao came in early with breakfast, and putting down the milk and bread, overheard these important words from Xing Cong Lian.

“Have you ever heard of systematic desensitization?” the captain asked smugly, quite proud of himself.

Fu Hao quickly put down the bag he was carrying and crowded Lin Chen, “Systematic desensitization?”

Cong Lian wasn’t angry at being ignored. Instead, he gave Fu Hao an explanation: “Yes, Yu Yan Qing should’ve used this to confront her fear of death…”

“You shut up.” Fu Hao directly interrupted him and turned to Lin Chen, “Brother, what’s going on?”

“In all these cases, the intentions were related to death and presenting a growing sense of fear, which we determined early on.” Lin Chen coughed a little and continued, but not as relaxed as Cong Lian, “But we’ve been missing the clue that puts things together, and it was Xiao Pang who gave this clue to us.” Lin Chen looked at the child sitting on a bench, playing with his fingers, “Judging from the process, Yu Yan Qing probably used systematic desensitization to over her fear. The whole process should be divided into four steps. First, she got close to corpses, imagined her death, and did the relaxation training to adapt, and gradually closed the distance. This is why there were traces of someone sleeping under the stretchers in the morgue, and with the corpse who was dressed neatly, it shows a kind of respect for death.” Lin Chen paused, pondering, “She then watched a brutal murder, observing people’s reactions to death, then personally killed someone. Watching the person die by her hands, she adapted to the process of someone losing their life. This was the motive behind the murder at the  park.”

Fu Hao felt colder the more he listened. His lips stiffened and trembled, “Then finally, suicide?”

“Suicide.”

Fu Hao inhaled and both his cheeks and teeth went cold.

“So, we’ve solved the case?” He asked, trembling.

Yu Yan Qing killed people, wrote a suicide note, then killed herself. It was perfect.

Lin Chen sat on a wooden bench and tapped his fingers on his cup, seemingly unaware of the movement. It appeared as if he didn’t hear Fu Hao’s question.

“It’s not impossible to write a closing report.” Xing Cong Lian rubbed his fluffy beard with his palm then paused, “But I still feel there’s something missing.”

It was like being in a terrible fog, then finally escaping, only to encounter a tall wall.

A mighty wall, towering and domineering.

It was okay to leave things at this, but it didn’t feel like enough.

“I’d like to have another look at Yu Yan Qing’s information.” Lin Chen stopped tapping on the cup.

About half an hour later, a chatty, young technician stood in front of their door, notebook in hand.

He wore a black cap, water still dripping from the edges, his eyes bright. Upon seeing Cong Lian, he said with an aggrieved tone, “It’s the godly typhoon, ah! It was easy to catch a cab.”

Cong Lian bit the cigarette in his mouth and gestured for him to sit and get to work.

Wang Chao chose a seat close to Lin Chen and said, “Mr. Lin, if you don’t know how to play LoL, I can teach you.”

Cong Lian swatted the back of his head and said, “Quick, pull up Yu Yan Qing’s information.”

“I’m telling you, you’re using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Wang Chao’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and a moment later, the woman’s personal information was displayed, “These things you’re telling me to do, even Xiao Long Bao over there could do.” He put the mouse in Lin Chen’s hand and leaned back in the chair.

Yu Yan Qing’s information was detailed. From where she lived in her childhood, to the primary school she attended, and even the recent record of her medical insurance.

Lin Chen’s reading speed was fast. It took less than five minutes to finish everything.

Letting go of the mouse, he reflexively pressed on his eyelids.

Cong Lian went over and asked, “Finished?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the problem?”

“That there is no problem.”

Yu Yan Qing was a very ordinary girl.

Born in a small town at the border, she went out to work after nine years of compulsory schooling. She worked as a waitress and a factory worker. She later joined 「Good Home」labor company and worked as a gardener at the city’s Third Primary School. To make extra money, she worked as a part-time cleaner at the hospital on weekends. Her resume was straightforward, like millions of other girls her age. The only difference was she chose the cruelest method to end hers and the lives of others at such a young age.

This means there had to be someone, or an important event, that pushed her out of her flat life.

However, Lin Chen couldn’t see such a thing in her profile.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Chen spoke again, “Are her parents still alive?”

“Yes.” Wang Chao nodded.

“When she was very young, were there any elders who passed away?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s strange.”

Yu Yan Qing’s life was simple, and her parents were both alive. What did she experience that made her so persistent on death?

“Is it possible something happened at the hospital?”

Xing Cong Lian asked, unusually mysterious.

…

The hospital was the start of all of this.

When Lin Chen got out of the car, an ambulance was parked beside him.

When its door slid open, a medic got out with the stretcher, and there was already another one waiting by the hospital’s entrance. On the stretcher was an elderly of about 70 years old, followed by his pair of son and daughter crying with swollen eyes. Lin Chen passed them and heard them cry for their mother.

Pushing the door open, Lin Chen looked back at the pair of middle-aged siblings.

“What is it?”

“As a matter of fact, each and every one of us has such an experience. However, normal people only feel sad and pained when witnessing the departure of their loved ones. This doesn’t typically produce the fear of death by itself.”

Xing Cong Lian rubbed his beard, hand on the glass door.

A few moments after, Lin Chen looked up, and his expression turned cold quickly, “The first time I received a letter from her was on July 13th and then once every two weeks. The dressed corpse was found on September 7th.” Lin Chen turned to Cong Lian and continued, “You need to find out how many patients passed away in this hospital and how many were on the floor Yu Yan Qing worked at. Everyone who was in close contact with her as well.”

Cong Lian nodded and started to move towards the security department to inquire before hearing Lin Chen’s voice behind him after taking only two steps, “The day should be a Wednesday, and the patient might be on the seventh floor or in the seventh building.”

“Why is that?”

Cong Lian immediately felt like an idiot. Both the 13th of July and September 7th fell on Wednesday’s. She wrote letters to Lin Chen once every two weeks and even the time between the discovery of those dressed-up corpses was seven days.

They thought this was a condition set by the murderer themselves, but now, it looks like it might have deeper meaning.

After Cong Lian left, Fu Hao went over and stood next to Lin Chen. He changed his expression from that of a lackey, and his face appeared serious, “Brother, do you have any guesses to whether this is a simple homicide or…”

Instead of answering him, Lin Chen lifted his head and stared at the hospital’s snow-white walls. His gaze followed the glass windows and ended on a high floor.

“Let’s explore the seventh floor,” he said.

Fu Hao let out a drawn-out sigh. Of course, he knew how tight-lipped his brother was and that everything would remain a secret before Lin Chen was ready to talk about it.

The elevator arrived at the top floor and, when the door opened, the word「Oncology」in scarlet came into view.

Even Fu Hao had an epiphany.

Lin Chen coughed twice, and Fu Hao finally exited the elevator.

The oncology ward was exceptionally calm and quiet. The elderly walked by slowly, holding onto the railings attached to the walls.

Just then, a nurse accompanying an old man passed by, and Lin Chen immediately remembered him as the nurse he saw in the hospital that day. He went over and patted the nurse on the shoulder.

“Hello, I’d like to ask if you know Yan Qing?” His question was ambiguous.

The nurse nodded and said with disdain, “What happened to her?”

“She’s dead.”

The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Suicide.” Lin Chen added.

“I’m not suspecting you. I just want to know, did Yu Yan Qing know a man at the hospital?”

The nurse’s face changed instantly, but he still didn’t dare speak.

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t kill her!”

“I know it wasn’t you.” Lin Chen’s voice was calm as if trying to alleviate the nurse’s anxiety. “I don’t want to know the relationship between you and Yan Qing, that’s your private matter.” Lin Chen whispered, and the murderer’s sand table appeared in his mind, “I want you to recall whether you’ve seen a mother-son pair. They should be the only members left of their family. The son is about 35-40 years old and the mother around 65. The mother is very strict with her son. You once thought such a domineering old lady in her sixties was quite hateful.”

Interpreting the sand table was imagination in itself. Lin Chen associated what he felt when he visited the crime scene too. It was in a state of external order and internal chaos and had a sense of confusion, loneliness, and helplessness. “I think the son left an impression on you. He was so obedient to his mother that it made you think he was a weak mama’s boy.” Lin Chen changed his tone, and his words also slowed, “But he was a gentleman, his conduct was mannerly. So much so that he appeared charming.”

The nurse suddenly looked up, as if remembering something.

“Who?”

“The son of a former patient in Bed 3, Section 7. Yan Qing was assigned that area.”

“What happened to that patient?”

“Gastric cancer, chronic.” The nurse said bluntly.

“That patient… did she commit suicide?”

The nurse was surprised but nodded.