Chapter 39: Chapter 38: The Two Major Psychological Categories: Seeking Attention and Close Proximity
The period between the first and second murders marks a turning point in the killer’s objective.
It’s also the time period when the radio station’s surge in popularity appeared!
During this time, how did this surge in popularity manifest?
Li Jianye paused, a look of astonishment spreading across his face as he whipped his head toward Xu Huo.
"It’s really that?!"
Xu Huo nodded and sighed.
Li Jianye grew even more horrified. His pupils constricted, and a chill ran down his spine.
The radio station’s surge in popularity?
The station director knew better than anyone!
...
...
The station director was panicking, but he was also numb. For the past two days, trying to sleep was like watching a revolving lantern, with past memories flashing endlessly before his eyes.
In just one week, the radio station he managed had skyrocketed in listenership, becoming the most popular channel in the entire broadcasting company, and even in all of Haiyun Province.
The station was a hit...
More popular than the news...
But the director just couldn’t bring himself to be happy.
"According to our projections, at least several hundred thousand people will be waiting tonight. More and more people are flocking in from online after hearing the news..."
The director stared at the document in his hands. His hands were trembling, and his heart felt like ice.
If these numbers had come at any other time, he would have been overjoyed. But since they were happening now, because of the killer, he wasn’t happy at all.
’I want to die...’
But he didn’t dare delay. He let out a deep sigh, then held out the document to the police.
"Here’s all the station’s data from the last few days..."
The Police Officer nodded.
He didn’t understand how the data would help the case, but he knew Li Jianye had specifically requested it.
And that it was something needed quickly, with the utmost urgency.
Without hesitation, he immediately took photos of the document with a camera, transferred them to a computer, and sent them remotely to Li Jianye.
「Anshan Police Station.」
Inside the office.
Li Jianye stared at the data before him. The more he looked, the more numb and silent he became.
According to Xu Huo, the station’s "rise" was simply its essence—its so-called "listenership."
The word "radio" itself didn’t reveal much. But if you stripped away its identity as a medium and looked only at its essence, it was all about listenership!
Listenership, to put it in a more familiar term, is just traffic.
Television, computers, mobile phones, and even radio—they are all mediums for traffic, vessels to carry it!
"After the first murder, the station, which normally only had a few hundred or a few thousand listeners, saw its audience explode into the tens of thousands."
"The number of people discussing it online grew exponentially..."
"It spread widely throughout Jiangsan City, like a hand grenade exploding in everyone’s mind, its shockwave engulfing them all..."
Looking at the file, Li Jianye swallowed hard, his eyes wide and unfocused.
"And after the second murder..."
"The public discussion spread to the entire province!"
"All of Haiyun Province began discussing it on a massive scale. The case became common small talk. Even independent media outlets just chasing clout, not the central radio station, would have their news articles read by the surging crowds."
"A newly established radio station, and in just a few days, hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding cities were tuning in, waiting!"
An explosion...
An explosion in numbers!
After the first "Midnight Return of the Soul" broadcast, the public reaction to the case was like a missile striking everyone with precision, announcing its arrival.
"At the same time, the killer’s M.O. changed."
"This was also the point when the killer’s pace quickened, and his objective was no longer limited to just the victims."
After saying this, Li Jianye fell silent.
’The killer murdered for...’
’To get attention!’
’He’s excited. He’s thrilled!’
Seeing hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people online discussing him frantically, he felt an unprecedented thrill!
His body trembles, his brain floods with dopamine, and he shakes like a leaf. He stares at his target with greedy, crimson eyes, suppressing beast-like gasps as his trembling, excited body murders another person!
Then, he uses the radio to announce it to the world, once again causing an uproar.
Li Jianye was silent. In his decades on the force, he had never encountered someone like this...
’Do people like this even exist?’
’They do!’
Looking back through thousands of years of history, countless officials have rushed to their deaths one after another, all for the sake of leaving their name behind.
Even now, there are hordes of people who would die for fame!
In the last century, in ’74, a case emerged in the Western Country. A fame-seeking killer, after committing murder, would taunt the police, sending a letter to the station after each killing.
The absurd part was that during the investigation, the police arrested three "killers"—all of whom turned themselves in and were fakes.
Why pretend to be the killer?
For fame!
That’s right. Because the killer’s name had become so infamous, so...
even when facing the death penalty, they fanatically rushed forward, willing to be scapegoats for the real killer. And there were three of them!
Even more absurdly, the real killer was very displeased with those who tried to take his place.
He personally wrote a letter to the police, letting them know that the three were impostors, fakes trying to ride on his fame...
"From the looks of it, that’s indeed the case."
Xu Huo also sighed.
He never expected to encounter a case worthy of the global textbooks right here in the tiny Sishui County...
The office fell into an eerie silence.
Zhao Shui was also silent. He had less time on the force than Li Jianye; he’d never even heard of such a thing, let alone encountered it.
Suddenly, a voice surfaced in his mind.
It was the killer’s laugh from after the second call-in, a laugh born of excitement. Before, it had sounded like a taunt, but now...
’It was clearly suppressed excitement and exhilaration!’
"How do we investigate this?"
After a long silence, Li Jianye finally spoke. He looked at Xu Huo like a bewildered old man.
Killing for fame?
No material motive, no physical clues left behind. How the hell do you investigate that?!
Xu Huo fell into deep thought.
He had tried to track the suspect by scent, but unfortunately, Wang Die’s nose wasn’t like a dog’s. Although she could pick up a scent, the resolution was low.
She could track it over short distances, but over long distances, the scent became vague and muddled, making it impossible to follow it to its source like a single thread.
On top of that, the suspect was mobile, with the three crime scenes located far apart, which only made things worse.
’So how should we investigate?’
The killer left no physical clues and no traces on the internet. The public uproar was purely generated by netizens spreading the news.
’Shut down the internet? Shut down the radio station?’
’It’s useless. There’s more than one station. If we shut this one down, he can just switch to another.’
’Not to mention, regardless of whether he’d stop killing, if we really shut it down, the police would lose at least one of their leads.’
Xu Huo closed his eyes, thinking for a long time.
It felt as if countless worms were crawling inside his brain, each one representing a different line of thought.
Until...
"I’ve got it!"
Suddenly, Xu Huo’s eyes snapped open.
"Captain Li, fundamentally, these kinds of people are no different from animals in heat, performing mating rituals!"
"And the behavior they exhibit comes in only two forms."
"One, vying for attention!"
Xu Huo’s mind was perfectly calm as he slowly laid out his train of thought.
Vying for attention. This is a behavior that both animals and humans engage in when they are aroused.
Is that too subjective?
If it is, let me give you an example.
Most people, during their middle school or elementary school years, will do something ridiculous to attract the attention of someone they like!
"That’s the first point, what the killer is doing now. And the second thing he will inevitably do is..."
Xu Huo paused, then said abruptly:
"Close observation!"
Close observation, which also means getting in close proximity.
When faced with a person or thing they care deeply about, people will subconsciously try to get closer to them.
Let’s use teenagers as an example again.
Like when collecting homework, they might even try to place their own notebook closer to their crush’s, so their two names are right next to each other.
Or the ’accidental’ encounters after class.
This is all part of what’s called close observation and close proximity.
The killer is no exception!
So, that leads to the next question.
"The thing he’s observing can only be seen on the internet."
"And he’s a mobile offender, with no fixed place to rest."
"The phones he carries are a PHS and a Nokia. They can’t be used to follow internet trends. He has to log on to a network to check the results of his ’work’."
Looking at the police officers around him, Xu Huo spoke slowly.
’To monitor public opinion, these days, only three places will do.’
’Newspapers, television, and the internet!’
’The newspapers haven’t published anything, and television doesn’t fit the needs of a mobile offender. That only leaves the internet.’
"So..."
"Where is he closely monitoring the case from?!"
"In other words..."
Xu Huo glanced at the time.
The current time was 11:54 PM on September 30th.
If nothing unexpected happens, the suspect will commit another crime by 5:00 PM tomorrow at the latest!
And that was only seventeen hours away.
If they couldn’t capture or delay him within those seventeen hours, then...
the fourth murder would happen before everyone’s eyes!
At this thought, everyone’s brows furrowed in unison.
Time... waits for no one!
"In other words..."
Xu Huo’s words echoed heavily in everyone’s minds.
"Where is he using an internet-capable device to closely monitor public opinion?"
"And this place must also satisfy the conditions of being a mobile offender and being able to use that device anytime, anywhere!"
This place...
What is it!?