Chapter 63: As a Monster
4 am. The questioning session with Situ Yi begins.
Regarding this time of day that Han Chen picked, Jin Xi feels: it's shameless yet it makes sense. It fits the style of a top notch detective. Since they've left the man alone for the whole night, this is the time that he would be the most sleepy.
But Situ Yi really surprises everyone.
Inside the well-lit room, Han Chen and Bai Jin Xi sit down in front of him. He smiles politely. As tired as he may be, his eyes are still bright and he still looks very gentlemanly as if he hasn't once let himself relax.
"hello," he greets them proactively.
Jin Xi raises her head and her eyes meet with his.
His eyes are deep and dark, carrying a hint of a smile and full of gentleness. On top of the fact that he has a beautiful face, even Jin Xi can't stop her heart from beating faster when being stared at by this man.
He is really……a devil.
Han Chen begins questioning.
"Name?"
"Situ Yi," he answers, "My surname is two characters, Situ. My name is Yi written with the characters fire, feather, and white."
Han Chen asks a few more standard questions, and he answers every one of them without showing the slightest bit of annoyance.
"Ye Xiang Qing and Zhou Si Jin were killed on the 7th of last month and 11th of this month respectively. Both of them are on your phone's contact list. What was your relation to them?"
Situ Yi is a bit stunned. His expression looks very natural. His eyebrows are frowning slightly and his pupils seem to have fallen into a daze for a split second. It makes him seem even more gentle like a breeze in spring.
"They were just regular friends," he answers, "What could be the reason for them to be murdered by someone? Has the murderer been caught?"
Han Chen doesn't answer. He smiles, leans against his chair and starts tapping his fingers on the table lightly.
"We suspect that you were the one who killed them."
Jin Xi never thought that Han Chen's interrogation would take a turn suddenly; he's going straight to the point.
But this actually works because Situ Yi's expression really makes one ponder.
His expression is very calm. After a brief moment, he even starts to smile.
His smile is handsome and captivating as usual, but Jin Xi catches a hint of proudness that flashes quickly across his eyes. It's as if a secret that he has been keeping to himself for a long time has finally been discovered by someone. But he's still not nervous. Instead, he's enjoying seeing their reactions.
This cunning smile carrying a hint of mischievousness is completely different from his gentlemanly and mature personality that he was showing just before. But Jin Xi knows very well in her heart that these subtle expressions are the emotions and reactions that a psychopath cannot hide.
He answers, "I know that you guys are suspecting me, otherwise I would not have been brought in for questioning in the middle of the night. But I really can't understand why you guys think that I'm connected to the case. There are quite a few women whom I've had brief relationships with, but we've never gone deeper. I don't even remember what they look like. I am very disappointed in the police's performance today because you guys are suspecting someone who's innocent. What happened to the lady who was with me tonight? You guys didn't bring her to the station too, did you? She must have been scared. Anyhow, I have nothing to do with these two murder cases. The innocent has nothing to hide. You guys can investigate all you want. I have nothing to do with it anyway."
Han Chen glances at Jin Xi. Jin Xi understands what he wants, smiles faintly and says, "Mr. Situ, if they weren't killed by you, what kind of murderer is it that you think had killed them?"
Situ Yi looks at her and smiles slowly.
"I'm not sure. But I think there's probably only a couple of reasons to kill: revenge, love conflicts, or financial conflicts. I suggest you guys investigate these areas. Maybe you'll find their common creditor."
Jin Xi smiles more deeply, "You missed one. In this world, there are some who enjoys taking others' lives through torturing. It's hard to say, but they could have been killed by someone like this. What do you think?"
Situ Yi's hands gripping together on the table tightens slightly. His eyes carry a bigger smile as they look at Jin Xi, making them actually look affectionate.
"Yeah, it's hard to say," he responds, "Although different people chase after different values in life, I believe a life should be cherished and not for killing. Especially women. I can't understand why that person needed to kill them. It's such a shame."
In the monitoring room, Chatterbox, Xu Nan Bai, and the others are watching the whole session. Chatterbox exclaims, "This is really insane. They're actually chatting peacefully with a psychopath."
Xiao Zhuan nods.
Xu Nan Bai smiles instead and says, "Junior (female) Classmate will not let him keep his calm much longer."
Chatterbox and the others are a bit stunned.
As if to confirm his words, Jin Xi stares directly into Situ Yi's eyes and spins her words around, "Not only it's a shame. Their bodies were brutally beaten and they underwent a long period of torture. A murderer like this must have an extremely twisted mind. He holds a grudge against women but feels inferior in relationships. This is why he has become such a psychopath. These women must have hated him very much before their deaths. They must have felt that he was worst than a beast (truly inhuman). Don't you agree?"
Her words are sharp, but Situ remains quiet for a second and isn't worked up from it. He's actually still smiling.
"I read a variety of books. And I've read some related to psychology. There are actually two sides to this. A person's emotion is very complicated. The line between love and hate have always been blurry. Especially women. When we look at a psychopathic killer, we feel that he's nasty. But for the killer, perhaps he/she doesn't have such a nasty mind. He/she simply has a certain kind of desire in his/her heart. He/she is not aware that what he/she is doing is wrong. When it comes to the norm and morality in society, we should criticize him/her. But in his/her own world, how is he/she wrong?"
The moment he says this, Chatterbox and the others are shocked.
"Holy f–k!" Chatterbox curses, "It's clear now. This guy's mind is really crazy, isn't it? He's actually saying this. Such arrogance."
Xiao Zhuan adds, "Professor Xu sure is an expert. You even predicted what tactics Jin Xi would use during the session!"
Xu Nan Bai smiles quietly while staring at Situ Yi.
And at the same time, Jin Xi smiles, but her smile is of the coldest and filled with sarcasm:
"You're wrong. He's not like that. He consciously knows that he is wrong and knows exactly what he is doing. He's not as innocent as you say he is. I can almost imagine how he lives his life daily. He hides his desires carefully. The more insolent he is when killing a person, the more coward and scared he is during normal days. He is constantly searching for his next prey among the crowd, but he can only rely on his looks and money to attract women. Yet he knows very well that he will never be able to win a woman's true love. It's because once a woman interacts with him long enough, she will discover how twisted he is. She will question why he throws temper tantrums like he's a crazy person. And it turns out he's not anything like his appearance. Although he is a refined gentleman on the outside, he is filled with nasty and filthy desires on the inside! Therefore, he is always dumped by women once their relationship deepens, right? It's no use regardless of how much money he has! Perhaps just before the women died from torture, they begged for mercy. But you could actually see it in their eyes that besides fright, they were also full of hatred, right? They were disgusted. The way they looked at you was as if you were a monster, right?!"
It's dead quiet inside and outside of the interrogation room.
Everybody's eyes are on Situ Yi.
He's sitting still. The corners of his mouth are even revealing a smile. But his handsome face finally turns red and then pale. He lets out a subtle "Hmph!" His lips move a bit but he doesn't speak. Everybody can see the fiery that he is unable to hide in his eyes. His hands on the table are gripping into frists very hard where his knuckles are turning white.
Finally, the smile disappears from his face. His expression is calm but carries a hint of maliciousness.
"You're a monster!" he scolds at Jin Xi, "Saying these nonsense things just like a crazy woman! I didn't kill them! Arrest me if you have proof. If you don't, get the hell out of my face!"
When exiting the interrogation room, Jin Xi doesn't follow Han Chen back to the office. Instead, she stands in the hallway alone looking up at the sky.
She feels that a psychopath, especially one who is mentally ill, is really a strange creature.
Just like Situ Yi.
On the outside, he's just like mister perfect: elegant, gentle, mature, and is praised by everyone around him.
But once his disguise is stripped away, it reveals his real personality: immature, cunning, impulsive, and ferocious.
Just like a child.
Perhaps identifying the mentally ill is not hard regardless of what their intelligent levels are. It's because they all have these special traits like they're fated to. These traits are imprinted into their personalities where they cannot be scrubbed away or resisted.
If that's so, has she once had an even more intense confrontation with a mentally ill person?
Which would be why that even though she has lost her memory, everything right now feels so familiar.
When she walks back to the office, she sees Han Chen inside by himself leaning on the side of the table and talking on the phone.
Jin Xi sits down at her desk. She's exhausted nonetheless, so she leans forward with her head down while staring at him.
"Okay, I understand," noticing her gaze, Han Chen ends the call quickly. He walks over and looks at her.
"What's your conclusion?" he asks.
Jin Xi answers, "He's extremely psychopathic. He matches all classic traits: he's articulate but his logic is flawed; he's mischievous; he's even able to discuss criminal psychology with us, but he has no intentions to repent; he's impulsive and has trouble controlling his emotions……Furthermore, when we talked about the two victims, he was very calm and also very excited. If he's not the psychopathic killer, I will chop my head off for you to use as a stool!" (betting her life on it)
Her last phrase is completely like the bold and crude words that guys would use, yet she says it out so naturally. But Han Chan glances at her, pulls out his hand from his pocket and pinches her nape as punishment.
"Look at the way you speak."
Jin Xi looks at him lazily, "You mind too much."
Han Chen pulls over a chair and sits down beside her. He grabs her shoulder and brings her into his embrace lightly. He asks softly, "Sleepy?"
"I'm alright," Jin Xi rests the side of her face on her arm while looking at him, "Can we search Situ Yi's home now?"
"We are still waiting for the warrant."
Jin Xi nods. She moves a little more into his embrace. They are very close together as she blinks and says, "We'll definitely find something in his home. Since we've gathered so much information from the interrogation today, if we find the evidence to lay charges on him, does it mean that I win?"
Han Chen stares at her and taps his fingers on her shoulder.
"Is that so?" he says unhurriedly, "I just received Cold Face's call. He has already found two new evidence. For one, the store that sells the nurse uniform has a surveillance video that caught Situ Yi buying a set of them in June this year. Secondly, we've also found the renovation company. Situ Yi's mansion at the Baiyun Mountain suburbs had once undergone a very strict soundproofing renovation. The company's representative remembers it very well."
"With all this, what else can he say now?!"
Han Chen's eyes reveal a smile, "These are both indirect evidence. They are not enough to arrest him. We can only say that the probability of him being the killer has greatly increased."
Jin Xi gives him a punch on the chest smiling, "This is great."
"Mm……This is great." Han Chen grabs her hand and repeats her words. His dark brown eyes are staring deeply at her, "You interrogated him while I found the evidence. If we can lay charges on him in the end, does it count as you win or I win?"
His voice is deep and mellow, carrying a hint of enticement that she's been hearing these days. Jin Xi blushes slightly. She attempts to pull her hand out, but he hears him pacifying her softly, "Or maybe, it counts that we both win?"
After enjoying a brief moment of intimacy in the midst of their busy schedules, Han Chen returns to his desk looking like his usual self while Jin Xi's cheeks are red and full of smiles.
Chatterbox and the others soon return.
Chatterbox reports another big news, "People who are connected to Situ Yi: his colleagues, his ex-girlfriends who he acknowledges, the two guys whom he beat up last time, and some of his more familiar friends at the clubhouse have all been brought to the station. Additionally, Professor Xu's lie detector test is almost ready. He says that it can be put to use this afternoon."
Everybody including Jin Xi is excited. It's because they'll be able to prove his distinctive traits by asking the people around him. Furthermore, they might even be able to find more direct evidence and be able to lay charges on him. On the other hand, the lie detector test is something new to them. Xu Nan Bai's lie detector test is also very well-known nationally. It is said to be very accurate, so they are also looking forward to it very much.
Han Chen nods, "Let's chat with them first."