Chapter 78

Stimulated by Sun Guangtian's challenge, everyone's enthusiasm for solving the case actually increased.Fang Rui called a new case analysis meeting and distributed the materials brought from Linzhou for everyone to review.

The case files they had seen before lacked many details, but this material included a more thorough investigation process. Searᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Boss, those two couples from Linzhou also had a social media account to show off their love," Zhang said in surprise. "But they had very few followers, and their videos didn't get many views."

"But the first pair of victims were quite old. The killer probably couldn't have contacted them through the internet," Li pointed out.

"Lin Sen, can you create a criminal profile of the killer now?" Fang Rui asked.

Lin Sen closed the folder and looked at Mu Mian: "Dr. Mu, was there a difference in the intensity of electric shocks received by the two victims?"

"Yes. The male victim likely only suffered one electric shock, but it was extremely strong, causing cardiac arrest. The female victim, on the contrary, endured multiple shocks. Each shock wasn't very strong, but they still affected her organs, leading to organ failure," Mu Mian explained.

"I suspect he's conducting a test," Lin Sen analyzed. "He might be trying to test these victims' love, and the electric shocks are punishment for failing the test."

After Lin Sen finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

"Is it similar to a lie detector test? Get shocked for lying, but no shock if you tell the truth?" Zhang speculated. "But that doesn't make sense either. Why was the male victim only shocked once, but with the highest intensity?"

"The shock intensity might be a variable. He might have set up a gradient for shock intensity, with different behavioral outcomes corresponding to different shock intensities," Mu Mian said. "It's like conducting an experiment. For instance, Milgram's obedience experiment used shock intensity as a variable. I suspect he's copying the logic of this classic psychology experiment."

Mu Mian's words reminded Lin Sen, who frowned and said: "The common point among these three couples is that they were all very loving partners; but their ages, marital status, and education levels varied greatly. There was even a same-sex couple among them. He seems to be collecting different types of couples."

Fang Rui asked, "So why is he testing their love? Is he trying to prove the existence of love, or prove that love doesn't exist?"

Lin Sen shrugged helplessly, "I can't answer these questions yet."

"Could the killer have designed a device similar to a lie detector? He uses this device to test those couples. All those couples failed his test, so they all died," Fang Rui guessed.

"Not necessarily all of them failed. Do you remember the victim named Tian Xin? She was stabbed to death," Lin Sen analyzed. "I suspect she passed the killer's test. But for some reason, the killer still didn't spare her."

Although they had initially analyzed the killer's motive, they still had no leads on how to catch him.

Fang Rui remembered that Mu Mian's hacker friend had discovered that the computer used to set up the website was from the computer lab, so could the killer be from a computer-related major?

Another case occurred in Linzhou, while this case happened in Jiangzhou City, which could suggest that the killer likely had a job transfer in the past two years.

Job transfers among faculty at Jiangzhou University were relatively rare, and the school quickly provided a list that met Fang Rui's requirements. There were more than a dozen people on the list, which wasn't many, but still troublesome to investigate.

Fang Rui soon focused on one person: Zhou Junwei. He was a lecturer in the Computer Science department who had resigned from the neighboring Linzhou Institute of Technology a year ago and joined Jiangzhou University. He was thirty-one years old this year and currently single and living alone.

Coincidentally, he had taken extended leave from the university during the week of the incident, citing attendance at a friend's wedding as the reason.

Fang Rui and Zhang went to Jiangzhou University again. Zhou Junwei had a class in the morning, teaching VB programming to freshmen. Fang Rui and Zhang sat in the back row to listen to his lecture.

Zhou Junwei wore a blue and black checkered shirt, his hair a bit long, half-covering his eyes, making him look lethargic. He lectured with a straight face, his voice monotonous, making people drowsy.

The students in the classroom were either playing with their phones or chatting; almost no one was listening to his lecture. Zhou Junwei didn't seem to care, continuing to recite dry knowledge like a robot.

After class, Fang Rui called out to Zhou Junwei: "Professor Zhou."

Zhou Junwei turned around. Seeing Fang Rui, some emotion flickered in his eyes as he asked, "You're not one of my students, are you? Do you need something?"

"We're from the city police," Zhang showed his badge, "We have some questions for you."

"Alright, go ahead and ask."

"Professor Zhou, is it complicated to create a website?"

"That depends on what kind of website you need. If it's a simple website, even first-year students can create one. It's quite easy."

"Where were you last Wednesday, October 24th?" Fang Rui asked.

"Why are you asking me this question? That's my privacy, you don't have the right to inquire about that, do you?" Zhou Junwei looked at Fang Rui warily.

"We've discovered a fraudulent website, and I suspect it's related to you because the IP was traced to your office computer. So please cooperate with our investigation," Fang Rui lied, not telling him the real reason.

"I don't have time for such things. From October 22nd to 30th, I was on leave. I went to a northern city to attend my friend's wedding. The 24th was actually his wedding day," Zhou Junwei said. "If you don't believe me, you can investigate. Someone must have used my office computer. There are surveillance cameras in my office, you can check those."

Fang Rui and Zhang exchanged a glance. Could it be such a coincidence that he was away from Jiangzhou City during the exact time frame of the incident?

Zhang scrutinized Zhou Junwei for a moment, then suddenly reached out towards him. Zhou Junwei seemed to be startled, quickly stepping back. If it weren't for the podium behind him, he might have fallen.

"Oh, Professor Zhou, there was an insect on your clothes," Zhang grabbed a small flying insect from his shoulder and crushed it. "I've caught it for you."

"...Thank you."

After leaving the classroom, Zhang muttered, "Boss, that Zhou Junwei is strange. He's a grown man, but he has pierced ears."

"Is that so strange? Aren't there quite a few men with pierced ears these days? It's nothing special, is it?"

"He was also wearing perfume! When I tried to touch his shoulder, he reacted so strongly," Zhang thought for a moment, but still voiced his suspicion, "Could this Zhou Junwei be gay? I have a cousin who's gay, and he's a bit like him."

"It's possible. But what does that have to do with our case?" Fang Rui said, "Let's investigate his alibi first."

"Alright."

Based on Zhou Junwei's ID information, they found that Zhou Junwei had flown to Dongcheng in the north at 7 am on the 22nd, and then returned to Jiangzhou City on a flight at 10 pm on the 29th. During this period, his ID hadn't been used to purchase any other tickets.

Dongcheng is over two thousand kilometers away from Jiangzhou City, making it impractical for him to travel back and forth by car or taxi.

Fang Rui also contacted Zhou Junwei's friend, who said that Zhou Junwei had stayed in Dongcheng the entire time, never leaving in between. The hotel he stayed at could also confirm that he had been residing in Dongcheng for those days.

"Boss, it looks like this lead has also hit a dead end," Zhang sighed. "His alibi is too solid."

"It's okay, we've at least eliminated one option," Fang Rui still felt that Zhou Junwei was very suspicious, but he had no evidence. So he decided to adjust the direction of the investigation.