Stop Being a Black Lotus, Okay? - Chapter 16

Upon hearing the young man’s words, the people standing around were visibly startled.

“Kid, listen to your brother. Go stay at the hotel and do not make a mess of things,” Chen Shen muttered, a cigarette dangling from his lips as his irritation grew.

He was not the only one. The surrounding police officers and forensic experts found Ying Yulian’s assertive tone somewhat absurd. Most of them had handled countless cases; their experience and professional capabilities were far superior to those of a high school student.

Almost no one believed that Ying Yulian actually knew where Zhou Fu’s body was hidden. They assumed it was simply an excuse cooked up by a child who was desperate not to be separated from his guardian.

Lu Min, however, raised an eyebrow with genuine interest. “Go on,” Lu Min said. “I want to hear your analysis.”

“Lu Min?” Chen Shen ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “Are you going to make everyone stay here and play along with a kid?”

“It is not as if you have any leads of your own,” Lu Min replied, glancing coldly at Chen Shen. “Listening to different perspectives can help broaden our outlook. Perhaps, from our perspective as police officers, we have been stuck in a cognitive bias. Speak,” Lu Min added, tilting his chin toward Ying Yulian.

“This case is very similar to a story a classmate and I wrote before,” Yulian began. “If I were the killer and I came from a poor shantytown, the first thing I would need to do after killing someone is refrigerate the body. Otherwise, the stench of decay and the leakage of fluids would surely lead to discovery. However, given the frequent power outages in this area, refrigeration would be very difficult for me.”

“But it is not impossible. For example, one could cover it with something that already has a strong odor. The fertilizer in the farmland is a perfect choice. The farmland in the East District is located right on the only path out of the area. I would see it every day whenever I left the house; it would be right under my nose. If the police came to search, I could swap or move the body immediately.”

Ying Yulian lowered his eyelashes and continued softly, “It is a blind spot. People generally assume that no one would search a place that is already filthy and foul-smelling. Furthermore, you tend to assume that criminals commit crimes with meticulous planning rather than such a simple, unplanned disposal of a body.”

“At first, I was not certain about the killer’s identity. It was only after you discovered blood splatters throughout the house that I felt the killer was likely someone with a lower level of education, perhaps a crime of passion. He is likely an honest man who is terrified, hiding the body right under his own nose and praying every day that the police will not search his area so the case can be closed quickly. After all, a high-intelligence individual would have a hundred ways to make a person vanish from the earth without a trace.”

When Yulian finished speaking, the entire scene fell into a heavy silence.

Why is everyone quiet? Was my analysis wrong?

Yulian felt a surge of regret. He was just a high school student. How could he possibly compare to these experienced veterans? In their eyes, his analysis was likely nothing more than a child showing off. He felt he had made Lu Min lose face in front of everyone.

“Forget it,” Yulian began, ready to tell everyone to ignore what he had said.

But Lu Min interrupted him before he could finish. “Now that you have heard him, do you have any thoughts?” Lu Min asked, scanning the silent crowd.

“The thought is that the killer likely used the exact disposal method the kid analyzed,” Chen Shen said, narrowing his eyes as he studied Ying Yulian. “Let’s go, then. Let’s find the body.”

Lu Min looked down, the corners of his mouth curling into a slight smile.

Ying Yulian stood frozen in place. Was his analysis actually accepted? Had he finally begun to hold meaning for his brother?