Genius Detective

On May 14th, Lin Qiupu suddenly called everyone into the meeting room. There was an unfamiliar face present. Lin Qiupu introduced, "This is Officer Luo Haifeng from the administrative region police station."

Luo Haifeng greeted everyone and smiled slightly when his eyes fell on Lin Dongxue.

Luo Haifeng began to explain why he had come to the bureau. "At first glance, this may not seem to be a criminal case, but as it’s just too abnormal, I think it is better to consult with you experts who investigate criminal cases. Five people in a middle school jumped off the building and committed suicide this week..."

"Five people jumped off the building?!" The officers were shocked.

"According to our investigation, these five children have no reason to commit suicide at all. They were relatively lively and cheerful, and there have been no major conflicts within their families recently. They also had no history of mental illness. From visiting and asking their classmates, I did find out something. The five children who committed suicide have all bullied a girl in their class, Fan Lixue. That’s her."

Luo Haifeng looked at the projection screen, and everyone also looked. Fan Lixue's student ID photo was projected on it, and six girls' photos appeared below.

Lin Dongxue asked, "Why are there six deceased?"

"No, the one on the far right is Han Jingming, who is still alive. The students in the class all agreed that she was the leader of this small group of girls. Due to the death of these five girls, it was exposed that she had led the others in bullying Fan Lixue. With her friends dying one after another, Han Jingming has suffered a lot of psychological pressure. She has taken leave from school these few days and is too frightened to even leave the house.”

"Officer Luo, what was the order in which these five girls died?"

Luo Haifeng explained and also introduced the background of each girl briefly. Old Zhang said, "Interesting. Assuming that this was murder, the order of the deceased is from the outermost members of the small group to the most core members in sequence!"

"Just like killing the boss, Han Jingming should be the last one." Xu Xiaodong chimed in.

Lin Qiupu asked, "Are you sure they committed suicide?"

"Although no one saw the first two victims when they died, there weren’t a second person's footprints around the areas from which they fell off. There were no fingerprints on their bodies too. The last three deceased had witnesses who also recorded videos. They were indeed suicides. "

"Did you bring those videos over?"

"I did."

Luo Haifeng copied a video recorded by a witness with his mobile phone to a computer and projected it onto a large screen. The video was taken from a classroom and the top of another building could be seen from the window. The person behind the camera pointed at it and exclaimed, "Woah, someone wants to jump!"

As a result, the students who were attending a self-study session flocked to the window and discussed things fervently. They could only see the deceased walk silently to the edge of the building and then fall straight down. The onlookers screamed in horror.

The scene shocked the police officers present. However, something didn’t seem quite right to Lin Dongxue. How could the jump be so clean and without hesitation?

"There are still a few more videos taken by other people from different angles. The content is the same. Do you want to watch those?" Luo Haifeng asked.

"There’s no need right now." Lin Qiupu responded.

Peng Sijue asked, "Have the autopsies been done?"

"The parents of four of the children did not ask for autopsies. Only one was sent to a medical university for an autopsy, and the autopsy results are here." Luo Haifeng handed over a report and Peng Sijue looked it over.

Lin Qiupu queried, "Captain Peng, what does it say?"

"There were no signs of poisoning. No traces of external force, and the forensic judgement is suicide."

"How come…"

Xu Xiaodong raised his hand timidly. "Could this be hypnosis? Didn't you see how the deceased fell straight down in that video? She didn’t even stop once. It must be hypnosis!"

Normally, people would say that Xu Xiaodong had read too many novels, but at present, many police officers nodded in agreement.

Coincidentally, Lin Dongxue had also recently discussed hypnosis with Chen Shi. Lin Dongxue said, "But I remember there are restrictions on hypnosis. No matter how deep the hypnosis is or how good the hypnotist is, the person being hypnotized wouldn’t do something that violates their own moral code or hurt themselves. If the hypnotist instructed them to do so, the person being hypnotized will immediately wake up."

Lin Qiupu wasn’t too sure of it himself, and said, "Look at the video again. Luo Haifeng, please broadcast the videos from the other angles."

The police watched the videos over and over again. Some people thought it was hypnosis, and some people didn't agree. The two sides argued over it. Peng Sijue piped up suddenly, "Let me take up some of your time. I have another video to show you."

Peng Sijue opened his email and downloaded a video so as to start playing it for the other officers. When the video started, many of them mumbled, "The subway station?"

They saw a man walking straight towards the tracks and then falling down. A man in a red vest and a boy dressed as a high school student jumped down from the platform to save him. When the two were about to push the man up, the man suddenly moved backwards.

When they saw the three men being run over by the train, gasps filled the conference room.

Lin Qiupu asked, "Captain Peng, where did you get this video?"

"This surveillance video was taken by the Chenghai Road subway station at 6PM on May 7th. Why is this video in my hands? Because the forensic investigator in that area is my disciple. When this incident happened that night, in order for the trains to resume operation, his superiors asked for the bodies to be removed within three hours, which is why he asked for my help. The incident happened as you saw in the video. The man fell off the platform by himself and two people tried to rescue him. At the critical moment, he suddenly gave up trying to survive and all three were crushed to death. I saved this video because I thought the suicide was a little strange. I didn't expect it to come in handy."

In the midst of the startled murmuring, Luo Haifeng mentioned, "The Chenghai Road subway station and the middle school where the suicide incidents occurred happen to be in the same area."

"Let’s watch it again!" Lin Qiupu said.

Everyone watched the video a few more times and their attention was focused on one point. Why did the man suddenly give up on his life when he was about to be saved?

The quality of the surveillance video was extremely poor, and since it was after six o'clock in the evening, the expressions on the man's face couldn’t be made out at all. They couldn’t figure out the identities of the passengers who crowded around on the platform trying to reach out for them either.

Xu Xiaodong wondered, "This man seems to be avoiding something. Is it possible that someone on the platform pointed a gun at him?"

Lin Dongxue argued, "It is impossible to have a gun in a subway station. You can’t possibly bring it in.”

"I think the point is whether this man was under hypnosis." Lin Qiupu said, "We don't know much about hypnosis. Let’s find an expert to consult about it!"

"I know of one," Peng Sijue offered.