No such person [criminal investigation]

Binhu district. In room 403.

Whether it's ceilings, walls, or floor tiles, they're all a uniform dark gray.

The spotless three-legged piano stood in a corner of the living room, not far from the place where Rong Xia once fell.The corpse has been transported away, and a white circle in the shape of large characters is drawn around it.There is also a white circle next to it, which is in the shape of a book, and a sheet of music was once placed there.

Xu Ci raised his foot and crossed the white line, and stood at a position that almost overlapped with the corpse.

After looking around at the furnishings of the room, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine what Rong Xia had experienced that night.

Why would she take an elementary sheet music?

Why did you turn to the page of twelve equal laws?

The page with the most blood on the score is the basic music theory knowledge, which happens to talk about the twelve equal temperament.

It was after Kong Datong raped Xia Rong's body and then stabbed the body, so that the page was stained with splattered blood.

There was no wind in the room, and assuming that Rong Xia didn't make any big moves when she fell, she was actually reading the page of twelve equal rhythms before she fell to the ground. While reading, she walked towards the piano, or bookshelf.

In addition to this, there is another possibility - Xia Rong is holding the music score in her hand, but she hasn't opened it yet.She didn't open this page of the book until she was frightened, her heart hurt, her breathing was difficult, she couldn't stand up, and fell to the ground. She felt extremely uncomfortable and felt like she was about to die.

Either way, this page of the score should be very important to her.

Especially in the second case, she almost exhausted the last bit of strength in her life before she turned the page of the book.

But why?

There are two possibilities. The first possibility is that she knows who the murderer is, so she wants to leave some kind of death message to identify the murderer.

But the first person to walk into the crime scene was Yuan Eryang.

Thinking that he was the real murderer, Xu Ci temporarily ruled out this possibility.As a musician who also understands music theory, if the contents of this page have any hints, Yuan Eryang should directly take that sheet music and dispose of it secretly.

Then maybe the truth is the second possibility——

That book, even the page with the law of balance, is of great significance to Xia Rong, so that before she closes her eyes and loses consciousness completely, there is only one thought left in her mind, and that is to take a last look at it.

Xu Ci remembered what Yuan Eryang had said to Qi Zang—Xia Rong's piano journey was introduced by him.

So, is it possible that the basic knowledge of piano music theory, including what is equal temperament, what is whole tone, and how half tone comes from... Yuan Eryang taught Xia Rong all of it?

When he taught her the piano, both of them were still very young, and that was the most beautiful and innocent period of their lives.

So Xia Rong read that sheet of music before she died because she remembered those days until she died.

Those days should also be important to Yuan Eryang.

When Qi Zang and the others were conducting on-site investigation, the music scores on the ground were not spread out on the page of twelve equal temperament.

Kong Datong said in his statement that he had never moved the music score, which meant nothing to him, and he didn't understand music theory at all.

Kong Datong should not have lied.

Then the person who moved the sheet music can only be Yuan Eryang.

In the early morning of the next day after the incident, Yuan Eryang swiped his fingerprints to open room 403, walked in and saw Rong Xia's body, and also saw the music score next to it.

The opened page of the music score evoked some kind of memory in him.

Human hearts are complicated.Even though he chose to kill Xia Rong in the end, he still couldn't bear it, or dare not face it——

He didn't dare to face the self who loved Xia Rong deeply and the purest time, so he subconsciously turned a few pages of the music score and turned it to other places.

Of course, this matter also exposed a little side, Yuan Eryang did not pay attention to the information that this music score might reveal.He had no time to think about music scores.It was because he was in a hurry to deal with other evidence!

Just a phone call may not be enough to scare people to death.

Yuan Eryang must have done something else.

At this time, Xu Ci suddenly grasped a very obvious clue that he had accidentally ignored before——

On the night of the crime, Yuan Eryang and Xia Rong had four phone calls in total.

And the last call was made by Xia Rong who took the initiative to call Yuan Eryang.

Thinking about it from another angle, if you "scare" people, it's not done over the phone.

Then this phone call was actually more likely that Xia Rong was calling Yuan Eryang for help before she died.

This means... that "terrible" thing happened before that phone call!

Before the agent told those love stories about Xia Rong relying on Yuan Eryang, it was difficult for Xu Ci to think of this.

But it's different now.

Standing at the place where Rong Xia's body once fell, combined with the testimonies provided by all relevant personnel, a complete story is slowly being pieced together. Xu Ci can almost completely substitute himself into Rong Xia, trying to restore her horror on the night of the crime. experience--

Xia Rong encountered the most frightening thing in her life in this room, and there was no one to rely on, except her husband.When she was most afraid, she called him. "Should I escape?"

"No. You are not in a good state of mind, and the outside is even more terrifying. Just wait, I will come right away."

"No. No. I'm scared... I'm too scared. Please show up right away..."

"It will take time for me to drive here. Rongrong, wait, hold on, I'll be there soon. If you're really scared... think about what happened to us back then... think about the music theory I taught you when you first met me Do you remember? I taught you a simple twelve equal law for a long time before you learned it."

"That's not easy at all. You've already talked about the length of sound waves in physics, and the frequency of sound...and mathematics. I really don't understand."

"How about it, divert your attention, is it better now?"

"Yes, I took out all the basic sheet music books... The book you taught me back then is out of print. I bought it from the second-hand market after searching for a long time... No, no, I'm still afraid... This book helps a little, but only a little. I still have to rely on you to save me. Where are you?"

"I'll be right there. Really."

"Don't hang up the phone, okay?"

"Okay. I won't hang up."

"Eryang, my heart hurts...I'm really afraid...have you come? There are more and more of them, and they are getting more and more terrifying! No, I'm going to die soon! I can't take it anymore, I I would rather die now! I want to die!"

"Hold on a little longer, and I'll be there right away. Remember, don't go out, it will only be more terrifying outside! You will die if you go out."

"It's been a long time, why haven't you come yet?"

"Eryang, where are you?"

"Eryang, can't you hear me?"

"It's all around...it's all around...I'm dying...I'm dying..."

Xu Ci continued to close his eyes and try his best to imagine.

——What is that terrible thing?

Xia Rong is afraid of water, does she feel that there is water in this room?

Squatting directly inside the white line surrounding the corpse, Xu Ci slowly opened his eyes.

He had closed his eyes for a long time before, but when he touched the light, circles of light spots appeared in front of his eyes.

In the empty living room with almost no furniture, the dark gray of the floor, walls, and ceiling constitutes the only tone here. Now this layer of dark gray is stained with mottled colorful light and shadow, as if Xu Ci was suddenly drawn into a bizarre strange world. world.

Imagination makes the world more treacherous——

Layer after layer of water leaked from the walls, floor tiles, and ceiling, starting from the bottom of the feet and climbing up.

After a thorough immersive imagination at the murder scene, Xu Ci could almost feel the coldness of the soles of his feet.Continuing to think about it, he seemed to be able to feel the cold water overflowing his insteps, climbing up bit by bit, spreading from his calf to his waist and abdomen, and then continuing, continuing upwards, until he reached his neck.

"Eryang, why don't you come? I'm so scared! I don't want to experience the horror of drowning again..."

"where are you?"

"Eryang! Help me!!!"

"If you don't come, I will die!"

"I can only choose to die!"

But she couldn't wait for Yuan Eryang's response.

The water continued to go up, over the chin, and sealed the lips.

Now she couldn't even call for help.

I can't call for help, I can't hear the comfort of the person I love the most, and I am about to be completely surrounded by the most terrifying water... The water is about to pour into my body from my nose, making me unable to breathe, and making my lungs burst with pain.

no, do not want!

Don't experience such a horrible thing again, never again! !

I would rather die!

Yes, I'm going to die before the water completely covers me!

As long as I die first, I don't have to feel that pain anymore!I will never have to face that horrible feeling of suffocation again!

I, I, I am going to die.

I'm going to die now, right now, right now.

No one came to save me, even Yuan Eryang gave up on me, I could only choose to die.

In the bright and empty room, the dark gray and mottled light and shadow all disappeared, and some only left the blue that represented the water and light all over the world.

Xu Ci felt his body tremble involuntarily, and his lungs felt extremely dull, so that he gasped uncontrollably.At the same time, the heart began to throb and hurt, as if he would really die in this terrifying atmosphere the next moment.

Until there was a bang, and the door was opened——

"Xiaoci? What's wrong with you, Xiaoci!?"

"Xiao Ci, open your eyes and look at me!"

"Xiaoci? Xiaoci! Xiaoci!!"

A strong arm stretched out and wrapped around Xu Ci's shoulder.

Xu Ci's distracted eyes refocused. In an instant, the blue water light all over the world dissipated, and the wall of heaven and earth returned to dark gray. He pulled away from the imaginary scene and realized after returning to reality that he His clothes were already soaked in sweat.

Qi Zang grabbed Xu Ci's shoulders, helped him stand up, and tentatively squeezed his palm, only to find that his palm was cold.

Frowning and looking at Xu Ci who was leaning on his shoulder with a bloodless face, Qi Zang squeezed his hand even harder. "What happened?"

"It's nothing, let me take it easy." Xu Ci took a deep breath and then exhaled.

Reunited with this movement a few times, he slowly returned to normal, then stood up straight, and said to Qi Zang: "There is a term in psychology. I just tried it just now, is it really possible to achieve it?"

"What term?" Qi Zang frowned even tighter.

Xu Ci put on a serious expression, opened his mouth, and said in a weak and hoarse voice, "Intent to commit suicide."

Regarding "ideal suicide", the American psychologist Clutter once conducted an experiment on mice——

The whiskers of the mouse have the function of detecting sound waves, put it directly into the water, it can swim to the shore freely, and then save itself ashore.

This is because after it makes a sound, the sound hits the edge of the pool to form a sound wave reflection, and its whiskers can feel the sound wave, which in turn helps it measure the distance from the shore to its location.

But if the mouse's beard is cut off, it will no longer be able to feel the reflected sound waves after it utters a sound, and it will think that it is in the middle of a vast ocean with no shore to rely on, so it will fall into a desperate situation, and finally give up struggling and end. life. (Note)

There are similar examples in humans.

There was a worker who worked in a high-voltage electrical site. He touched a wire that was not energized, but died immediately, and even had the characteristics of electrocution.

In addition, there is a person who works in a large supermarket, and he was accidentally locked in the cold room by a colleague while he was taking stock.There was no electricity in the freezer that night, but he was still "frozen" to death.

"I read quite a lot of psychology books in order to cope with the psychological examination of Deputy Office Liu. The concept of 'ideal suicide' was what I saw at that time."

Xu Ci said, "From the results of forensic anatomy, it is similar to the physiological reaction of being frightened to death. In the final analysis, it is adrenaline. However, there is a psychological explanation for this concept that is obviously different from that of 'scaring'. Scaring is mainly caused by fear. Yes. But 'ideal suicide' refers to feelings of hopelessness and despair——

"When a person is in a situation of extreme despair, the physiological function will be terminated under the action of consciousness, so as to save himself from the pain of death."

After listening to Xu Ci's high-energy analysis, Qi Zang was always the first to praise him.

Not this time.

Qi Zang supported his shoulders, looked into his eyes seriously, and his voice suddenly became severe. "What did you say? You were simulating that scene just now?

"—Could you be imagining, forcing yourself into a situation of extreme despair, and then forcing you to feel Xia Rong's mood, or even experimenting to see if you will die because of 'intentional suicide'?

"Do you know how dangerous it is? What if I'm late? What if something happens?!"

Qi Zang scolded, especially sharp.

Xu Ci was dumbfounded by the training.After finally waiting for Qi Zang to stop, he said: "First, I just try to get as close to her state as possible at that time through imagination, and experience the feeling of dying. But I just imagine...imagination, there will be no What's the question. Second—"

Xu Ci raised his mobile phone and looked at Qi Zang with a slight smile in his eyes, "I have set '1' as a shortcut key for dialing your mobile number. I know, if I am really desperate, you He will definitely answer my call and come to rescue me as soon as possible.

"So... Unlike Xia Rong, I will not fall into a situation of complete despair, so that I will force my consciousness to kill myself."

Qi Zang was still afraid, and his face did not improve after Xu Ci explained.

He still looked at Xu Ci sternly, until Xu Ci took the initiative to put his hand on his shoulder, patted it, and then squeezed it lightly, then he managed to calm down gradually.

Then he sighed, looked into Xu Ci's eyes and asked. "It seems that you believe me...do you really believe me?"

"Well. I believe you. After the Xueying incident, I have no reason not to believe you. So Qi Zang, I actually want to say..." Xu Ci suddenly stopped in the middle of speaking.

Qi Zang felt suspicious, watched his face for a while, and asked him: "Huh? What do you want to say? You, don't you want to answer the question I asked in the car?"

Xu Ci avoided his gaze and walked outside. "Let's talk about it later. You came here quite quickly. Did you ask the result at the property?"

"Yes." Qi Zang nodded, and wanted to ask more questions, but Xu Ci interrupted him. "Then let's go, Teacher Xia Rong's place should be almost here. Let's go find him."

"Hey, little—"

"There are still many doubts about this matter. From the clues I have obtained so far, I can only guess that the element Yuan Eryang used to scare Xia Rong is related to water.

"But for normal people, even with the influence of mother's superstition and drowning experience, they should not be so afraid that they would rather "suicide" than face the water, not to mention that the water Xia Rong encountered should not be real. of.

"Since Teacher Xia Rong is the only person besides Yuan Eryang who can talk to her, we may be able to get crucial information from him."

"Okay." Qi Zang no longer forced himself, stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "Let's go. Let's go."

·

The off-road vehicle drove into the night again. It drove from the rather desolate suburbs to the bustling urban area full of lights, like a lone wolf running from a silent forest to the hustle and bustle.

"Xia Rong's teacher is called... Zeng Chenghua, right? Have you arranged for someone to investigate his basic information?"

Sitting in the co-pilot, Xu Ci asked Qi Zang like this.

Qi Zang nodded. "He opened the training class by himself, and his men have cultivated many excellent young talents who can play the piano. I remember that... By the way, he used to hold classes near the No. [-] Junior Middle School. Where did you go to? from middle school?"

"You, what did you say?" Xu Ci said suddenly.

Xu Ci's tone of speech is always light and steady, and he sounds like a person who lacks emotion.

This time, his tone of voice when he said these four words was obviously a bit unusual, with an uncontrollable rising and sharp ending. It could be heard that he was very surprised, and he was trying his best to hide this surprise.

"What's wrong?" Qi Zang frowned and glanced at the passenger seat, "Do you know this teacher?"

It took a long time before Xu resigned. "No. I don't know."

At this moment, his tone has returned to calm, and there is no clue.

Qi Zang had a strange intuition, and asked, "If it's not convenient for you...wait for me in the car, or is there any shopping mall and coffee shop nearby, I'll send you there, where are you waiting for me?"

"No. I'll go with you." Xu Ci said, "I was just thinking about some past events, and it has nothing to do with Mr. Zeng. Let's go see him together."

Qi Zang still felt wrong. "Is it really okay? You didn't lie to me?"

Xu Ci: "I didn't lie to you."

"What if you lie to me again?"

"--What do you propose?"

"I don't think about it now, so I'll write an IOU. You lie to me once, and you owe me once. As for what you owe...I'll exchange it when I think about it."

"Okay. Agreed."

At this point in the conversation, Qi Zang looked at Xu Ci a few more times to confirm that there was nothing unusual about him, and then he concentrated on driving.

The two soon arrived at Zeng Chenghua's home.

His house is quite large, with a duplex style.

Almost half of the space on the jump floor was turned into a piano room by him, which was separated from other spaces by soundproof tempered glass.

The semi-open space outside the piano room is made into a tea room.

Zeng Chenghua entertained Qi Zang and Xu Ci in this tea room tonight.

Xu Ci touched up his makeup in the car, and saw that Zeng Chenghua was the exquisitely made-up, dark and cold Zhang Xiaoyu.

Qi Zang said a few polite words to thank Zeng Chenghua for his willingness to provide clues, and he quickly got to the point without introducing who Zhang Xiaoyu was.

The focus of his question was whether Xia Rong was afraid of water and whether she had any mental illness.

"I know that Rongrong is afraid of water. She wasn't afraid at first, but her mother always said that she had suffered a flood and talked about it every day. In addition, she did drown in water, so she has a psychological shadow."

Zeng Chenghua said, "I remember... when she finished the college entrance examination and got the admission letter, in order to celebrate her, I took her and a bunch of children to the beach to play. I wanted her to overcome her fear. If There's always no harm in being able to learn to swim."

Qi Zang asked: "At that time, she didn't resist going to the beach?"

"No resistance." Zeng Chenghua shook his head, "She just doesn't want to go into the sea. But she is still willing to play with the sand on the beach and look at the scenery on the sea."

At this point, as if thinking of something, Zeng Chenghua frowned and said: "Officer, when you ask such a question, I remember... In recent years, her fear of water seems to have become more and more serious. I remember her and As I said, she felt that metaphysics might really exist in this world. She said that her mother was right when she asked the fortune teller, she would definitely die on the 'water'. She said...

"Hey, she said, she slept soundly on the big bed at home, and when she woke up, she found herself in the bathtub inexplicably. The water in the bathtub was full and the shower head was on, but her head Buried face down in the bathtub... After she reacted, she hurried out of the bathroom and called out her husband's name. Then her husband carried her back to the room and comforted her for a long time before she regained her composure.

"That happened in Yuan Eryang's big villa. In my impression, she later renovated the vacant house that she bought before marriage. There was no bathtub in that house. Later, she always wanted to go back to the house. Live in a house without a bathtub.

"Similar things like this have happened several times. When Rongrong mentioned it to me, I thought at first that all this might be her hallucination. But she insisted that it was not. She said that Yuan Eryang saw everything she experienced. Here, you can testify for her.

"So I thought again that she might be sleepwalking. But she said that once she slept at home, and woke up in a lake dozens of kilometers away. If it wasn't for a kind-hearted person passing by to save her , she died. It should be that after those things happened, she completely had a shadow on the water, and when she saw the water, she was so afraid that she wanted to cry, and she was so afraid that she couldn't walk."

In the end Zeng Chenghua gave Qi Zang a business card. "I was depressed before, and I found a very good psychiatrist, here, this is it. I also gave this business card to Rong Rong. But I don't know if Rong Rong went or not...

"Hey, in the past two years, she hasn't even seen me. I called several times, and she always said that she was doing well. Yuan Eryang is the best person in the world, and she is also her only support. Let me rest assured. What……

"Blame me. Blame me for believing her words, thinking that she just gave birth to a child and became a mother, and was too busy to take care of me, a bad old man... I didn't expect... If I cared more for her, maybe this wouldn't happen thing……"

It can be seen that Zeng Chenghua loves Xia Rong very much, and his eyes turn red as he speaks.

Older people have experienced too many things, and they don't shed tears easily, but when they shed tears occasionally, it makes people around them very sad.

The servant who took care of him hurried forward to pat him on the back to help him feel better. "Oh, Mr. Zeng, be careful!"

Qi Zang also hurriedly spoke some words of relief, and promised to bring the real culprit to justice as soon as possible. After a while, Zeng Chenghua finally calmed down.

"Come on, let's have some tea. I'll think about it...to see if Rong Rong has anything else to do."

Zeng Chenghua personally poured tea for Qi Zang and Xu Ci.

Xu Ci took the tea ceremony and thanked him. When he raised his cup and drank tea, he raised his eyes and unconsciously glanced at the piano room behind the tea room.

The tempered glass is pasted with a film, making it hard to see the details inside, but a person sitting next to the piano can be vaguely seen.He didn't play the piano and didn't know what to do in it.

As soon as Xu Ci thought of this, the sound of the piano was played.

The person inside played a very simple piece with an extremely sad melody.

That's Beethoven's "Moonlight."

"The person inside is..." Xu Ci put down the teacup in his hand and asked unconsciously.

"Oh." Zeng Chenghua remembered something and looked at Xu Ci, "That's my student. He and I saw you two walking over on the balcony just now. He said...he wants to see you alone."

Hearing this, Xu Ci's heart suddenly sank.

Accompanied by the song "Moonlight", he stood up and walked slowly towards the piano room, feeling more and more uneasy in his heart.

Until he pushed open the glass door and walked in to see the figure of that person, a certain kind of strong uneasiness deep in his heart was finally confirmed at this moment.

Xu Ci's pupils shrank suddenly, his jaw tightened quickly, his back, shoulders and neck were all straightened, and his fists couldn't help but clenched tightly.

The man was still playing by himself.

It wasn't until half a minute later that his slender fingers slowly left the keys.Looking back at Xu Ci, he smiled viciously.

"Sisehua killed Ye Cen and Jing Ankang, and then wanted to kill their son. At this time, Sisehua discovered that Liu Yang, a big shot in the Public Security Bureau, was looking for their son. in order to protect him...

"Then Sisehua sent you to Liu Yang, asked you to pretend to be Jing Wangyun, and then sneaked into the public security system and became their traitor.

"Xu Ci, what do you think would happen if this play was performed like this. Isn't it very exciting?"