Chapter 55: Gao Ya is a Leatherworker?

Within the crime-solving chat group!

Yoshikage Kira, Jigsaw, and Hannibal all clearly showed immense interest in the murderer of this case.

Serial killers were rare enough as it was!

Yet the three of them, all killers themselves, were now acting as investigators to hunt down one of their own kind, which felt entirely novel to them.

Shen Ting looked at the three messages, falling into deep contemplation as well.

Serial killers came in many varieties.

Some were purely antisocial, randomly planting and detonating bombs.

Others acted based on personal fetishes!

The three individuals in the group essentially belonged to the latter category.

Yoshikage Kira was obsessed with women's beautiful hands!

Hannibal was fascinated by human cuisine!

Jigsaw was passionate about mental rehabilitation!

With different personal fetishes, their criteria for choosing targets naturally varied as well.

It was essentially a corresponding relationship!

The perpetrator of this case had consistently committed crimes on snowy nights, which could also be considered a form of fetish.

Their type likely leaned toward fetish-driven murder.

This was precisely why Jigsaw had asked, "Who are they, and what traits made them attractive to one of our kind?"

Yin Tingxue and Gao Ya meeting last night was essentially a coincidence.

Therefore, the criminal's target should be one of the two.

"Who are they" asked: which of the two was the criminal's target?

"What traits" asked: what was the criminal's fetish?

In other words, what characteristics of the target had drawn the killer in?

These two questions could actually be viewed as one!

Once the criminal's fetish was known, one could naturally deduce who the target was.

This would provide strong guidance for directing subsequent investigations.

However, there were currently no clues in this regard.

Furthermore!

It wasn't even certain that both of them were... victims.

Shen Ting recalled his previous speculation and left a message in the group:

"Is it possible for a scenario like this to happen?

Some people might appear completely normal on the surface, acting just like ordinary folks, looking nothing at all like serial killers.

Yet under certain conditions, without any warning, they suddenly kill?"

Forensic Pathologist Qin Ming: "Of course it is, and there are many possible explanations.

For instance, a serial killer with multiple personalities.

They have one or more normal personalities that make them appear indistinguishable from ordinary people.

However, when the serial killer personality takes control, they commit their crimes."

Hannibal: "There is another possibility!

The killer doesn't have multiple personalities, but rather possesses a switch.

Usually, they appear even more righteous and upright than normal people, yet madness is suppressed within their hearts.

This madness might stem from desires, hatred, hallucinations, and the like.

Normally, they are able to keep it under control!

But once the switch is triggered, it's as if their brain receives a command, and they begin committing crimes frantically.

The so-called switch, for instance, is the snowy night in this case!

This switch is usually closely tied to the underlying reason why the criminal evolved into a serial killer in the first place."

Qin Ming was a forensic pathologist.

Hannibal was a psychiatrist.

Both of their understandings of serial killers carried a high degree of credibility.

And the group members now understood what Shen Ting was getting at.

kikO: "Group Leader, are you suspecting Gao Ya?
(꒪⌓꒪)"

Guan Hongyu: "No way, right ⚆_⚆?!

That Gao Ya looks so gentle and delicate; how could she possibly look like a serial killer?"

Guan Hongfeng (Elder Brother): "Hard to say!

I can roughly guess the reason behind the Group Leader's line of thinking.

Yin Tingxue was confirmed missing this morning, and her phone is out of service.

Yet at noon today, Gao Ya's SIM card was still responding.

And the two of them appeared in that alleyway at almost the exact same time.

If they had been attacked and controlled by the same criminal, there is no reason why only Gao Ya could be contacted at noon."

Yoshikage Kira: "Heh, interesting.

The location where Gao Ya's SIM card responded, as pointed out by kikO, is covered by surveillance cameras.

If Gao Ya was walking normally, she bound to be captured on camera.

Yet strangely, she wasn't found in the footage.

Hehe, which decent person deliberately walks around avoiding security cameras?

Only someone like me would ever do that!"

Shen Ting's mind was in total chaos.

Because he had another piece of evidence supporting the possibility that Gao Ya was the killer.

"Shen Ting, I'm sorry, I like you, but I... Hehe!"

Regarding Gao Ya's final WeChat reply of "Hehe," Shen Ting had initially guessed it was sent by the killer after seizing the phone.

If that were the case, however, the preceding confession didn't make much sense.

Gao Ya wouldn't be foolish enough to confess her love while her life was in imminent danger!

Later, he speculated that "Hehe" expressed helplessness and self-derision.

Perhaps it was because she had accidentally killed Yin Tingxue.

Yet two living people without any major conflict—calling it an accidental killing felt rather far-fetched.

Therefore!

This was why Shen Ting had just asked whether someone could appear normal in daily life while actually being a serial killer.

The answers from Qin Ming and Hannibal had served as an enlightenment for Shen Ting.

The content preceding that reply must have come from Gao Ya—Gao Ya in her normal state.

While the "Hehe" at the end might have come from her killer personality.

Or perhaps, once the "snowy night" switch was triggered, it was her reaction to what she had written just before.

And all the previous missing persons cases on snowy nights were the handiwork of "Gao Ya"...

This speculation made Shen Ting's chest feel heavy and constricted.

At that moment, Tang Ren suddenly chimed in:

"I know now~~

Gao Ya is that skin-crafter!

How could there possibly be so many serial killers in a single place?

Recently, there's only been one skin-crafter in Dajing who keeps a relatively high profile.

Since Gao Ya is so abnormal, she must undoubtedly be the skin-crafter~~

On snowy nights, she abducts people, kills them, harvests their skin, and turns them into all sorts of goods to sell."