Xu Liang froze. His usually agile mind unexpectedly stalled at this sentence.
After a moment, he discerned that the voice was from the 'contract' officer he encountered that morning.
On the other end of the phone.
Wang Chao looked up at Chen Changchun, Liu Jin, and others who were staring at him expressionlessly as he made a call. He swallowed and forced a flattering smile.
He initially intended to make a big impression.
Unfortunately, he made a stinking mess.
Under the pressure of three squad leaders and one team leader, he had to confess and attempted to inquire about follow-up actions.
He gathered his thoughts.
Wang Chao spoke:
"Just that kind of rope."
Seeing the other side remain silent, Wang Chao anxiously prompted, "One end is the head, what about the other end?"
"It's urgent. Could you please tell me?"
For this?
Xu Liang frowned. He looked at the couch beside him that was spilled with coffee, knowing he had to pay for cleaning fees.
His mind flashed back to a law firm completely surrounded by police, with not a single client walking in. He suppressed the unjustifiable anger inside and gritted his teeth, saying:
"Brother, my time is very valuable..."
"Thousands per minute, don't you know how many crazy clients I have to deal with in a day?"
"Where do I have the time to explain this to you?"
For one case, it takes at least two months in court to see any money.
Currently, he had no cases in hand and owed two months' rent. Considering the time it takes to complete a case and get paid, he would be at least four months behind!
And that's assuming everything goes smoothly!
Where's the time to ponder over anything else...
"This concerns a human life...."
"It'd take at most one or two days of your time!"
At the police station, directed by a look from Chen Changchun, Wang Chao continued.
"Officer Wang, I'm just a lawyer, not a cop. Human lives are your responsibility!"
Xu Liang was a bit speechless.
"I don't have much capability either; what I said earlier was just off the cuff."
"Solving crimes is how you earn your living. You can't stop me from earning mine, right!?"
"This doesn't make sense at all!"
Upon hearing this.
Wang Chao on the other end of the phone found himself lost for words.
What the other party said was true. If one applied moral and obligatory pressure... why don't those famous police officers from all over the country come?
Thinking about this, Wang Chao shrugged his shoulders and looked up at Chen Changchun, saying softly.
"Master, I told you it wouldn't work."
This moment saw Chen Changchun frowning.
He was a bit unwilling.
The case was a bit tricky; the police might solve it, but it desperately needed time.
The golden period for investigation is seventy-two hours. Every second wasted is increasing the difficulty of solving the case!
The police couldn't afford the delay.
And according to Wang Chao, although this person wasn't a cop, he could organize case details a few hours in advance and even predict police actions...
Moreover, what he said was incisively accurate!
Though unverified, what if it was a breakthrough?
But with the current attitude of the other party...
While Chen Changchun was contemplating, Wang Chao suddenly covered the phone and whispered:
"Master, why don't we spend a little? After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Chen Changchun understood this reasoning.
But external guidance in criminal investigations... if the person truly had skills...
This wouldn't be a lunch; it'd be a state banquet!
How much does a state banquet cost? Could they afford it!?
"We could, we could, but..."
"The lawyer profession, as I recall, isn't cheap."
After pondering for a moment, Chen Changchun hesitated before speaking, "Based on how he just positioned his income for himself...."
Thousands per minute?
As a team leader, after excluding benefits, his salary was only two thousand!
Spending twenty or thirty thousand for some assistance?
Where would they find the money!
Solved cases could be justified, but what if they weren't...
Wang Chao suddenly spoke into the phone: "Consultation fee is sixty per hour, deal or no deal?"
Chen Changchun froze, and then his expression changed.
Sixty bucks?
Wasn't this intentionally provoking him!?
He hadn't had time to rebuke when in the next second, a voice came from the other end of the phone.
Xu Liang: "See you on the scene in ten minutes!"
Chen Changchun: ?
...
...
The lawyer profession is harsh.
Intern lawyers and top-notch lawyers provide answers based on the same legal provisions, but the fees differ dramatically.
Xu Liang had just entered the field; he lacked experience, the kind that could raise his asking price, and experience came with cases!
Otherwise, he wouldn't be doing free consultations, fishing for cases like finding a needle in a haystack.
So, if someone is willing to pay now, he naturally has no reason to refuse, even if it's sixty per hour... but this was Eastern Country in 2004, with substantial purchasing power!
Moreover, he knew that the things he planned to say couldn't be finished in less than seven to eight hours, enough to make a tidy sum.
Ten minutes later.
At eleven in the morning.
Xu Liang efficiently returned to the law firm.
Even now, many police officers surrounded the area around the law firm, and the alley where the murder occurred had been cordoned off by the police.
Groups of people moved along the streets, and Old Zhang from the noodle shop across the street watched the commotion as he cooked.
A few police officers in white lab coats and rubber gloves were crouched down, gathered around bloodstains, discussing something.
Liu Jin, who was searching for evidence, noticed Xu Liang and was momentarily surprised. He walked over to Xu Liang, removed the cigarette from his mouth, and said:
"Our boss is waiting for you at your law firm."
Xu Liang nodded and ignored the look from Old Zhang across the street, walking directly into the law firm.
"Squeak~"
The door opened, and two men in police uniforms sitting on the couch came into view.
Upon seeing him enter, the two paused and then stood up.
"Mr. Xu, we meet again."
Chen Changchun said enthusiastically.
"Captain Chen, Officer Wang."
Xu Liang extended his hand for a handshake. He had seen them before when giving a statement, so they didn't seem unfamiliar.
Standing at six-foot-three, Wang Chao now sheepishly hid behind the five-foot-nine Chen Changchun, grinning awkwardly.
Just as Chen Changchun was about to speak.
The person shaking hands with him withdrew his hand, walked over to the printer next to the reception, and tapped a few keys on the keyboard.
"Clack, clack!"
A brand new, warm document was printed out.
Holding the document, Xu Liang turned to look at Chen Changchun and the other person.
"To cut to the chase, I've already understood your demands over the phone."
"But considering this is a specialized consultation, which requires significant effort, a small contract needs to be signed."
Xu Liang spoke earnestly, "Of course, it's still calculated at an hourly rate of sixty, for a maximum of forty-eight hours, during which the service content..."
"Do you see any issues?"
Chen Changchun glanced at Xu Liang, then at the contract on the table.
He pondered for a moment, looked at the busy police officers outside, and said:
"Can we start with the sixty bucks first?"
Inspection?
Xu Liang maintained a professional smile, suppressing the excitement of making a deal, and subtly pushed the contract aside.
"Of course."
He glanced at the wall clock hanging in the law firm.
"It's now June 2nd, 11:07 am, and we'll start the clock from this time point onwards."
"Captain Chen, which aspect would you like to understand first?"
Chen Changchun appeared to be thinking, then said:
"Follow what my apprentice mentioned earlier, regarding how to characterize the case."
Characterizing the case?
If I remember correctly, according to what he said earlier, the Snail Case was a form of passionate murder, yet lacked the intense emotional features of a typical passionate murder.
Why is it considered passionate murder without exhibiting the typical features?
Xu Liang glanced at the homicide scene outside and said:
"Captain Chen, what do you think is the core of passionate murder?"
"Emotion, there's no need to elaborate on that."
Chen Changchun replied.
Xu Liang nodded.
"Exactly, it's emotion. Rather than saying passionate murder is a rapid emotional surge, it's more about a particular emotion exceeding the body's control limit."
"In other words, it only specifies breaking the limit causing loss of control, without pinning down the time frame."
"It's like a bottle overflowing after three seconds of pouring, or the same bottle overflowing after three years of pouring, the capacity is actually the same."
Looking at Chen Changchun, Xu Liang smiled a godly smile.
"What if humans are like this bottle, and emotions could be stored?"
Emotions... can be stored!?
Chen Changchun paused, suddenly thought of some cases, and squinted his eyes.
"Are you implying..."
Xu Liang nodded.
Wang Chao looked at the two, scratched his head, and said gloomily, "Why are you speaking in riddles?"
"How can emotions be stored? Aren't they gone after a sleep?"
He felt like the two were targeting him.
Xu Liang felt choked, fortunately, Chen Changchun explained.
"He's a fool." Chen Changchun whispered.
"I understand..."
Xu Liang nodded, patiently explaining:
"Emotions can be stored!"
Here's an example.
Western America school shooting incident.
The cause of the shooting was bullying among students, but the shooting wasn't caused by a single bullying incident, but multiple ones!
Why didn't a single bullying incident cause someone to erupt?
Why does multiple incidents lead to murder?
Because for the bullied individual, a single targeting doesn't increase emotions beyond their reason.
Like a 100 ml water bottle with only 10 ml of water, it cannot overflow.
Normally, as time passes, the body's memory protection mechanism will let this 10 ml of water evaporate, and the associated negative emotions and memories will dissipate.
But...
"What if the water is increased by another 10 ml before it evaporates?"
Xu Liang suddenly spoke again.
"Now the bottle has 20 ml of water, continuing to increase until it reaches 90, then finally increasing by another 11 ml!"
"Did the water overflow?"
"It did."
"But it went from 90 to 101, not directly from 0 to 101."
Replace the water with emotions.
Sudden surges of emotions can cause loss of control, but what if it's a gradual increase?
You go from 0 to 90 over three to four years, gradually adjusting.
In the end, just increasing by 11 points breaches the threshold, even if killing begins, the person wouldn't lose control of their thoughts, instead, due to adjustment, they're exceptionally calm!
"These murderers often smile, appearing calmer and more composed than anyone, entirely unlike those who suffer emotional collapse, but their actions are extremely extreme."
"You can refer to the murderers in the America school shooting, they were similar, if not, their emotions were calm!"
Looking at Wang Chao in front of him, Xu Liang did not waste time on nonsense.
He straightforwardly said:
"Earlier I mentioned that passionate murder is like a rope, if one end is 'rapid emotional burst', then the other end is..."
"Long-term emotional accumulation!"
It can be understood as a generally quiet person getting angry, often striking hard while showing no emotions on the surface.
Wang Chao suddenly realized, patting his head, his eyes lit up, and he shouted loudly:
"I got it!"
"The killer and the victim were in a passionate murder scenario, but nothing happened in the alley to make their emotions surge from 0 to 101!"
"The victim merely performed an emotion +11 action towards the other, this might just be a dirty word, which wouldn't stir any waves for ordinary people!"
"But it exactly breached the killer's threshold!"
Precisely because of this, despite the killer committing passionate murder, the expected manifestation of emotional surge did not appear!
Putting it this way...
"Is there a long-standing cross-dimensional contradiction between the killer and the victim!?"
Chen Changchun sat on the sofa, holding a thermal cup, his mind constantly pondering.
He looked towards the law firm exterior, where policemen crowded the crime scene, the alley.
The scene lacked any extra signs of fighting, there were no intense emotions, yet the killer murdered them. From the body and returning to the scene again, murder and death by accident could be eliminated, leaving only passionate murder!
Looking at it this way, it entirely aligns with what was said.
Chen Changchun's heart rate increased, adrenaline started to secrete.
Vaguely, he felt like...
He found a breakthrough in the case!
"So..."
"This is... a passionate murder caused by deep-seated grievances, with an element of accident?"
He turned back, frowned at Xu Liang.
"Should the police investigate past incidents?"
"Investigate which aspect?"
Wang Chao listened in a daze, his CPU was a bit outdated, unable to keep up with the thinking process, but not wanting to lose face, he put on a thoughtful expression, nodding from time to time.
Xu Liang wasn't in a hurry, he pushed over a cup of brewed tea, waiting for the other to calm down.
Then he gazed into Chen Changchun's eyes, pointed to the scene outside, and suddenly said:
"Remember what the killer did after killing?"
"Can you guess why they did that?"