Chapter 56: Chapter 55: The Three Types of Lawless People
What was it that connected a group of people who, by all accounts, should have been completely unrelated?
No one knew, and even if they had a theory, it couldn’t be proven.
But it could be deduced!
First, only a shared purpose could connect people. And a shared purpose would naturally lead to shared actions.
What were the shared actions in this case?
The bombs!
The explosives that killed the three victims!
These people were a bunch of lunatics.
They could have achieved their goal without bombs, yet they still resorted to this method...
Was there something strange about that?
Xu Huo believed there had to be a specific reason.
Time bombs aren’t easy to come by. Nowadays, you’d have to be an intellectual to build an explosive of this caliber, especially one where the blast radius was controlled so precisely that no one else was harmed...
When a series of logical elements combine to form something that seems illogical, it can only mean the police are missing something.
It doesn’t mean the perpetrators were idiots!
"Let’s approach this from a different angle."
"First, let’s set aside their motive for making the bombs. Let’s just think about what the bombs themselves signify, and why all six of them would agree to use them."
Xu Huo pondered for a moment before finding an entry point.
"A bomb. Using one is a death sentence. If it were one person’s selfish decision, that would be understandable."
"But not one of the six culprits tried to stop it. In other words, this was their shared goal!"
"They’re not afraid to die?"
Using military-grade weapons meant the police would use every resource at their disposal to hunt them down. Wang Hu and the others couldn’t believe that someone smart enough to build a time bomb wouldn’t understand this simple fact.
And they certainly didn’t believe that not a single one of the six had realized it!
But the reality was, they did use bombs.
There had to be a reason that made this happen!
"You mean... the killers aren’t afraid of death?"
Wang Hu paused, his brow furrowing as he looked up at Xu Huo.
"They’re not afraid of dying at all, so they used bombs without any restraint!?"
The premise for using bombs is facing a certain death.
It’s impossible for all six of them to be fearless. That’s human nature, and human nature is biological instinct!
And biological instinct is all about passing on one’s genes. To that end, whether through selfishness or cowardice, fear is an inevitable emotion.
Once fear sets in, backing down isn’t far behind.
That’s true for one person, yet somehow, six of them together managed to overcome this concept...
"Then what’s the reason they aren’t afraid to die?"
Xu Huo asked in return.
The others around them fell silent.
Fearlessness... most people aren’t afraid of death as children, because they don’t understand it.
But the killers were at least twenty, more likely in their thirties or forties. For them to be unafraid of death when their worldview should be firmly established... that was bizarre.
"There are many reasons not to fear death, but..."
As if struck by a sudden realization, Xu Huo paused, then steered the conversation back to the beginning.
"Which one fits the conflict between the killers and the victims?"
The one that fits the conflict?
"Sickness."
Qian Hua suddenly spoke up, his mind flashing back to the deductions they’d just made from the clues.
The files on Zhou Dapeng, Sun Qin, and Zhao Guo weren’t just riddled with holes...
Reading between the lines, it was clear they were not good people.
Based on that deduction, they focused their attention on this aspect. The conflict between the killers and the victims most likely centered on this ’sickness’!
"Not afraid to die... sickness..."
Wang Hu froze. His pupils contracted slightly as he immediately understood the connection.
There are many fearless people in the world, but no matter who they are, when death is truly at their doorstep, they will inevitably feel fear.
This isn’t weakness, nor is it cowardice.
It’s simply biological instinct at work!
It’s like how your legs feel weak and you want to back away when you’re standing on the edge of a cliff.
By the same token, before a death row inmate is executed by lethal injection, with very few exceptions, no matter how tough they act, their body’s biological instinct for survival will override their conscious mind and try to save itself.
How does it try to save itself?
It floods you with intense fear, makes you terrified, while your body’s adrenaline levels skyrocket.
You either freeze in terror or... you punch the lights out of the other guy!
But the killers didn’t show any of this.
Their brutal massacre already carried a death sentence.
Using bombs? That’s an even more certain death sentence!
Would the biological instinct, the subconscious that knows everything, not try to stop the conscious mind’s decision?
It would. That’s why Xu Huo found it so incredible that all six people had unanimously agreed to use bombs.
But if you add sickness to the equation...
"What if they were already facing certain death?"
Xu Huo suddenly spoke.
"If they were already facing a terminal outcome, would they still care about the consequences of using a bomb?"
There are three types of people the law has trouble managing.
One, the elderly. Two, children. And three, the terminally ill.
The elderly don’t have long to live, children don’t understand life and death, and the terminally ill are in an even more extreme situation—they might even know their exact time of death, watching themselves get closer to it day by day...
How can you control that?
So if the six killers were already facing certain death, would they still be afraid of the act of planting a bomb?
Certain death plus certain death?
It makes no difference.
After I’m gone, let the world burn!
The greatest punishment the law can mete out is death... and for them, that was already their baseline.
In that case, society becomes a buffet—a buffet where there’s no cost, where you don’t even have to pay!
"So, are you saying the victims are the reason these people are in this situation?"
Wang Hu continued to follow the line of thought.
"In other words, the victims, when they were alive, persecuted a group of people."
"And that led these people to begin their crazed revenge?"
"Then what about the bombs? Why use bombs?"
They could deduce why the killers dared to use bombs, but not what they hoped to achieve by using them.
But...
"That’s not important."
Xu Huo shook his head. He wasn’t going to get bogged down in the minutiae.
Their motive isn’t important. What’s important is information about them!
Assuming our previous deductions are correct—that they are in a situation where the consequences of murder are negated for them...
Then...
...we can now start investigating our earlier theory.
"Then it’s most likely a sickness."
"Looking at it this way, they must have contracted some disease, which put them in a terminal state."
"And it was during that period—between entering this state and losing the will to live and beginning their revenge—that they met the other killers. And so, in the most extreme of circumstances, they began their frenzied retaliation..."
A disease... a long period of time... meeting other patients...
At that moment, even Qian Hua’s mind made the connection.
"Hospitals!?"
They lost the will to live, and only then did they begin their revenge.
Thinking about it from the other direction, that means they must have tried to survive.
Patients, trying to survive... what place can offer survival, can offer a hope of living?
A hospital!
When you’re sick, only a hospital can keep you alive!
"Investigate every hospital in Linlan City!"
Wang Hu ordered immediately, without a second thought.
Investigating everyone affected by the victims would be an absurd amount of work.
But, working backward from the result, the workload was much smaller...
"Prioritize certain hospitals."
Xu Huo spoke up from the side, adding a clarification.
"Hospitals that specialize in internal medicine and are known for treating illnesses caused by chemical exposure."