An unexpected turn of events at the scene caught many people off guard.
Officer Xiao Wang reacted quickly, hurrying to shield Li Bai and stop the middle-aged woman who looked like she'd gone mad. The other officers who'd caught on rushed over and dragged her away.
The distraught middle-aged woman, her face twisted with hatred as she screamed nonstop, was Yao Donghu's wife and Yao Bing's mother, Xuan Jing. She was convinced Li Bai was the one who'd driven her son insane and wanted nothing more than to tear him apart. She even blamed him for Yao Donghu's arrest. Li Bai had been caught in the crossfire through no fault of his own.
The man who'd gotten off the minibus with Xuan Jing and was then placed in a wheelchair was Yao Bing, who'd fallen victim to the Azure Flood Dragon Demoness's innate ability, "Spiritual Eye Illusion." His face was gaunt, and in just a few days he'd lost more than a third of his weight. Perhaps he'd been given sedatives, because he showed no signs of agitation. He just stared blankly ahead and barely reacted, even as his mother Xuan Jing shouted and screamed.
His condition was far worse than the hysteria afflicting the Dong family's heiress. Unless the Demoness lifted it herself, even Li Bai couldn't do anything.
Watching Yao Bing's mother repeatedly lunge forward, only to be stopped by the officers before she could take another step, Li Bai remarked casually, "Looks like Yao Bing's mental illness runs in the family."
"Now's not the time for that. You should leave."
Officer Xiao Wang could see perfectly well that Li Bai was the reason the woman was losing her mind, so he hurriedly urged him to go.
Li Bai paid no heed. Instead, he turned to Officer Xiao Wang and asked, "Officer Zhang said Yao Donghu's keeping his mouth shut and won't say a word?"
Xiao Wang replied helplessly, "That's right! Now get going!"
"What if I can help you get him talking?"
"..."
It took Xiao Wang a moment to react. "Are you a specialist in this sort of thing?"
His expression made it clear he didn't believe him.
Psychologists and criminal profilers shared some common ground, but their fields of practice differed, and there were major differences in the details.
"You're in a hurry, and so am I. Let's go!"
Li Bai patted Officer Xiao Wang on the shoulder, urging him on.
He hadn't planned to get involved. But if Yao Bing's mother was going to cling to him like a mad dog, then he might as well kick them while they were down.
They'd smeared him online, incited people who didn't know the facts to come beat him up, and finally gone so far as to kidnap him. If he kept putting up with it, he'd end up with a turtle's head tucked in his shell.
Li Bai had no interest in dealing with trouble from the Yao Family every few days. Since he'd decided to make a move, he might as well strike hard and wipe the whole family out, once and for all. Otherwise, if he left the snake alive, it would come back to bite him.
When someone fell, everyone piled on. Li Bai had no qualms about lending a hand.
Xiao Wang had been ready to dismiss him, but then he thought of the pressure Old Zhang and the others were under and began to waver. "Don't joke around. We can't just fool around with this!"
"Why not give it a try? It's not like we're torturing him. If it doesn't work, no harm done."
Li Bai stayed right where he was, watching as the officers forcibly led Yao Bing and his mother away. They soon disappeared through the elevator doors.
The district Public Security Bureau had probably brought Yao Bing and his mother over hoping to use one of them to get a breakthrough with Yao Donghu. But judging by the way things had gone, Yao Bing's mother was anything but easy to handle. The odds of that working were slim.
"All right, we'll give it a try. But you get one chance."
Xiao Wang had to admit that the young psychologist had managed to talk him into it.
Ten minutes later, in the interrogation room of the Nanhu District Public Security Bureau.
The room was utterly silent. Yao Donghu sat with his head bowed, his hands cuffed together and his ankles shackled to the chair.
"Is this guy any good?"
Old Zhang wasn't sure about Xiao Wang bringing in a psychologist from the Seventh People's Hospital to help with the interrogation.
If psychologists could handle interrogations, what would happen to old criminal investigators like them? Would they be out of a job?
The interrogation specialist, Jia Zixuan, was eager to see what the psychologist could do. "The principles may be similar, but the practical applications are a little different. Let's see what he can do first."
Separated by a steel security grille, Li Bai examined Yao Donghu closely from head to toe. The two of them were less than a meter apart.
After observing him carefully for a full five minutes, Li Bai turned around and asked, "Can we use torture here?"
"Don't do anything stupid!"
Old Zhang immediately put on a stern face. Was Li Bai trying to make trouble?
He shook his head inwardly. If they were going to torture the guy, what was the point of questioning him?
With the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty, plus modern torture devices like the tiger bench, the airplane, and the electric dog, even the toughest man would talk. But could they use those methods?
Of course not!
"No! If we could, we'd have done it already."
Xiao Wang's face darkened. He wondered if Li Bai had come to help or just cause trouble. If he couldn't do it, he should hurry up and leave instead of wasting their time.
The other two veteran investigators, Chen Chu and Sun Mu, exchanged glances. An amateur was an amateur. Did he think brutal interrogation was a skill?
They liked that simple, heavy-handed approach too, but the law wouldn't let them do it.
Yao Donghu, who'd kept his head lowered, curled his lips into a scornful sneer. Before his arrest, he'd already planned how to handle this. Even if he had to shoulder all the blame alone, he wouldn't give the police an opening.
"Fine, fine, I get it! I was going to borrow a couple of dictionaries, stack them on his chest, then press a pistol against them and fire. Hey, what's with you all?"
Li Bai noticed that Xiao Wang, Old Zhang, and the others were staring at him, wide-eyed.
This guy really had nerve!
Old Zhang drew a sharp breath. Not only had Li Bai casually proposed torture, he'd even dared to bring a gun into it?!
Most people might play at hitting someone's chest through a stack of books, but Li Bai had gone one better: shoot the dictionaries. Never mind that the bullet's impact alone would be enough to put someone through the wringer; just the danger of firing a gun against someone's chest was terrifying.
Even Old Zhang, a veteran police officer, wouldn't dare test out such an imaginative method. What if the bullet went through the dictionaries? Wouldn't that be an execution on the spot?
That wasn't torture. It was a gamble with someone's life!
"Impressive! Very impressive!"
"Now that's creative!"
Chen Chu and Sun Mu both gave Li Bai a thumbs-up. He might be an amateur, but his imagination was impressive.
"You can't lay a hand on him. Don't even touch him with a finger!"
Xiao Wang had to hand it to the guy. He'd been born in the wrong era. A hundred years ago, he might have been a ruthless member of the Six Doors.
"Really? I can't touch him?"
Li Bai abruptly turned around and shot his hand through the security grille toward Yao Donghu, who'd lifted his head at some point. The sneer still lingered on Yao Donghu's face, but now he was staring in confusion. Then...smack!
Time seemed to stop. Yao Donghu's expression froze.
"First question: Am I handsome?"
"Handsome!"
Yao Donghu's voice had the strange, dreamlike quality of a sleep-talker.
"You're absolutely right!"
Li Bai had gotten a perfectly honest answer.
He straightened up, turned around, and spread his hands toward the veteran investigators, who were still staring blankly. "You can start now. No matter what you ask, he'll answer honestly."
"What did you do?"
Xiao Wang felt that after Li Bai snapped his fingers, something about the suspect had changed.
Old Zhang said nothing. He realized he couldn't understand this young psychologist at all.
"That's strange!"
Officer Sun Mu walked up and waved a hand in front of Yao Donghu. "Yao Donghu, who's your contact overseas?"
"Chris Laren!"
Yao Donghu still looked dazed, but he'd just given them a name no one present had ever heard before.
Sun Mu heard the others draw in a sharp breath along with him, then turned around, his face lighting up.
"Hypnosis!"
Chen Chu and Sun Mu, both staring intently at the suspect, blurted it out almost in unison.
"Impressive! Very impressive! We've got a real expert here."
Interrogation specialist Jia Zixuan applauded silently. If he hadn't been afraid of waking Yao Donghu, he would have clapped hard.
"Just a little trick. Nothing special! You carry on. I should get going!"
Li Bai cupped his hands in a salute and stepped away from the grille. His only job was to get Yao Donghu talking. The rest was up to the officers.
"You've been a huge help. Stay a little longer. Lunch is on me."
Xiao Wang was overjoyed, as if he—not Li Bai—had found an expert to help Old Zhang and the others crack the case.
"No need. I've got things to do, so I'll head out first. We can grab a meal together another time!"
Li Bai turned down the invitation. He could tell Officer Xiao Wang wasn't the only one who wanted to treat him to lunch. Old Zhang and the other officers seemed to feel the same way.
If he agreed, he'd probably spend the whole day at a restaurant. He still had to find a place to live and cultivate. Who had time for that?
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