Criminal Investigation Logic

How were they supposed to identify the suspects?

After that string of questions, at the very least, the Chaoyang locals were not the killers, nor should there have been a killer among them.

Was the killer among the other onlookers after all...

"It's late today. Thank you all for your help. Please head home and rest."

Lin Ke cupped his hands. "Please come back tomorrow morning to help me again."

It was too late to continue identifying people.

Lin Ke merely entrusted Wang Lin with a small task, then prepared to head home himself.

Everyone said their goodbyes and left.

Lin Ke returned to the courtyard, thinking the entire way, and fell asleep still turning things over in his mind.

The next day.

News of the murder spread as though it had sprouted legs, radiating outward from Chaoyang Street.

Although Chaoyang Street was only one corner of the Imperial Capital, it still attracted a great crowd of curious onlookers.

Joining in the excitement was human nature.

Only after the spectators had gathered all sorts of information and packed the entrance to Chaoyang Street in layer upon layer did the man at the center of it all finally arrive.

"He's here! He's here!"

"Is that the one who promised to solve the case in five days?"

"They say his surname is Lin. That's a prominent surname! Plenty of them have honored status!"

"Exactly! I heard someone was just granted the title of Imperial Lady not long ago, with Buddhist status!"

"This young Master Lin is quite handsome!"

"What good is being handsome? You don't solve a case in five days with a pretty face!"

"You can say that again! Let me tell you... I heard someone important died this time. If he can't solve the case, young Master Lin might end up as the bigwigs' scapegoat!"

The onlookers pointed and whispered about the man walking slowly along Chaoyang Street.

Chaoyang Street had now been cordoned off. Unauthorized people could not enter, so they could only watch from outside.

"What are you doing? Move aside, move aside! All of you crowding around here-what do you think you're doing?"

Constable Xing approached, grumbling and yawning.

The crowd immediately cleared a path.

It was much like how storytellers had servile status, yet everyone loved listening to them.

Although Constable Xing was a runner with servile status, an expendable tool of the authorities, he at least worked for them. Naturally, he could borrow their might like a fox swaggering behind a tiger.

"Xiaolin, how are things going?"

Constable Xing passed through the crowd into Chaoyang Street and greeted the man approaching him.

"Constable Xing."

Lin Ke nodded to the approaching constable. "We should have some leads today."

Everyone was startled by those words.

Leads today?

It had happened last night, so today should count as the first day, right?

A five-day deadline, and he would have leads on the very first day?!

Constable Xing perked up, all trace of sleepiness gone. "Really?!"

Lin Ke remained calm. "Unless something unexpected happens."

Although he wore plain cloth clothes, he had been steeped in the outstanding civilization of his previous life, then bombarded with twelve years of compulsory education and seven years of higher education. Naturally, he possessed a distinctive air.

That air made it easy for people to trust him.

After answering Constable Xing, Lin Ke said no more and headed toward the Tongfu Grand Restaurant.

Li Chungang and Li Feiyu had stopped going out lately, while Wang Lin, Shopkeeper Tong, and the others had already gathered inside the restaurant.

They were circling the portraits Wang Lin had drawn earlier, writing and sketching in their lower-right corners as they went.

Everyone who had previously visited Chaoyang Street had been drawn here.

"How's it going, everyone? Have you finished recording everything?" Lin Ke entered and asked the Chaoyang Street locals.

"Almost."

"Done, kid."

"Quite a few have visited my Tea Shop. I've done my best."

"Done."

They all answered Lin Ke.

"Good." Lin Ke nodded slightly, then took a sheet of paper and a writing brush from inside his clothes, with a wooden board supporting the paper.

In fact, he had woken up long ago and summoned the Chaoyang Street locals here to work.

Now he stepped up to the first portrait. It depicted a middle-aged woman with a sallow complexion, with a small rectangle marked in the lower-right corner.

Rectangle-Butcher Zhang.

That meant this sallow-faced, middle-aged woman had visited Butcher Zhang's shop.

Not a suspect. Next.

Lin Ke looked at the next person, a skinny, bucktoothed man. There were a cylinder and a square in the lower-right corner.

Cylinder-Wang Lin.

Square-the Tea Shop.

That meant this person had visited both shops.

A suspect. Lin Ke narrowed his eyes slightly and recorded the person's name on his paper.

Next.

They kept at it until almost noon before Lin Ke and the others finally finished screening everyone.

In the end, they identified fifteen people!

"Kid, what's the point of doing all this?" Wang Lin slumped in a chair like a dead dog, propping up her head as she asked Lin Ke curiously.

"These fifteen people are suspects." Lin Ke offered a brief explanation, then spoke again when he saw everyone's puzzled looks:

"These people all appeared in your shops, and each of them visited at least two. People like that are the most suspicious."

Criminal investigation logic!

If the same person or group repeatedly appeared at different key locations in a murder case, then no matter how impossible it seemed, that proved they had some connection to the case, whether deep or shallow!

For example, suppose a grandson died, and investigators eventually discovered that a school bus driver had repeatedly appeared, through all sorts of coincidences, at every place the grandson had been. No matter how many alibis that driver had, he would still be under some suspicion.

The school bus driver could be replaced with anyone else. Even grandparents, relatives, teachers, or classmates would be no different.

Once the suspects had been identified, the next steps were simply to establish the motive, reconstruct the method, and find evidence. That would more or less settle it.

That was precisely what Lin Ke was doing now.

After Lin Ke's explanation, the Chaoyang Street locals understood what was going on, their eyes shining as they listened.

"Not bad, kid!" Wang Lin regained her energy, stood up, and patted Lin Ke's shoulder, her eyes full of approval.

"So that's how it works. This old man has learned something." The old man from the Tea Shop cupped his hands, and the younger man did the same.

"Why's it so complicated? Young fellow, explain it again." Butcher Zhang looked utterly bewildered. He was the only one who had not understood.

"Well done, Lin Ke. Very good, very good! Just what I'd expect from my employee." Shopkeeper Tong beamed.

Compared with their complete lack of leads yesterday, Lin Ke's approach today had given everyone a direction.

It had also more or less established that this young gentleman was not in league with those people.

The next questions were the motive and the method.

Clap, clap, clap.

Just then, a sound came from behind them.

Lin Ke immediately turned to look.

A handsome man with sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, blond hair, and blue eyes walked in, applauding as he entered:

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

"They say crouching tigers and hidden dragons lurk within the Imperial Capital. It truly is so!"

"So what comes next? What's your next step? Shouldn't you be determining the motive and method now? Go on. I'm listening."

The handsome man sat down with a charming smile, immediately drawing the attention of Bingbing, Wang Lin, and the others.

Lin Ke, however, raised an eyebrow, then blurted out, "Holy shit! The criminal's here! Everyone, grab a weapon! Get him!"

He thrust his writing brush toward the man, his expression wildly impetuous, as though he would charge at any moment, though his body remained completely still.

The old man from the Tea Shop, Bingbing, Wang Lin, and Shopkeeper Tong did the same, obligingly lifting tables, chairs, and stools without moving from their places, their eyes darting about.

Only two people moved. One was the young man from the Tea Shop, who grabbed a stool and was about to charge before his father caught hold of him.

Butcher Zhang, however, swiftly hoisted the table beside him and hurled it straight at the man with a whoosh.

Crack!!

With a sharp report, a gash appeared on the handsome man's head, only to heal instantly.

The table, meanwhile, burst apart in an instant, turning into wooden splinters.

"You... y-you..." The handsome man was dumbstruck.

The next instant, Li Hanlin's voice carried into the restaurant.

"Golden Crow Prince? Golden Crow Prince?"

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming? I could have come to welcome you!"

"We know you dearly love your younger brother, and that as his elder brother you're like a father to him, your heart burning with anxiety. But you should at least let me observe the proper courtesies, shouldn't you?"

"Haha! My wife has been wanting two bottles of your Golden Crow Clan's Solar Essence. I hear it enhances beauty and nourishes the complexion."

"That woman has been pestering me endlessly about it. I wonder if this time you might..."

"Hm? Golden Crow Prince, what's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Wait, what's with these wood splinters? Why are you all holding stools and tables? Lin Ke, who are you trying to stab to death with that writing brush?"

"Holy shit, you mother... insolent fools! What do you think you're doing?!"

Li Hanlin was shocked and furious.