A few hours ago, Teng Jie received a call from Lu Wan.
After Lu Wan answered the phone, she asked eagerly: "I remember you once wrote a murder method. The murderer made tools and then used the tools to kill people."
"That's right! What case did you encounter?" Teng Jie knew that Lu Wan rarely called during working hours, so it was obvious that he had encountered a problem.
Lu Wan did not answer Teng Jie's question and continued: "You only mentioned it once. I can't remember clearly. Is there someone who made a murder weapon made of blades and then fell from the air to directly kill the victim?" Dismember the body?"
"Indeed, this was the first novel I wrote. It was published online and was later blocked because it was too bloody and violent." Teng Jie recalled, "It should have been three years ago when you encountered a dismemberment case. , I casually mentioned the killing techniques in my book."
Lu Wan's heavy breathing came over the phone, and she asked again: "Is the murderer in the novel a serial killer?"
"Yes." Teng Jie replied.
Lu Wan asked: "In the first case, was a person's head cut off? He remained kneeling and held his head in his hand."
Teng Jie's eyes suddenly became sharp. He remembered very clearly that he only told Lu Wan the technique of dismembering the body with a blade, and certainly not the technique of cutting off the head.
That was Teng Jie's first novel. He and Lu Wan didn't know each other at that time, and Teng Jie was not famous at that time. He had very few readers, so the novel was quickly blocked. Even though Teng Jie has millions of readers today, only a handful of people have read that novel.
Teng Jie took a deep breath and asked in a low voice: "Is someone imitating the techniques in that novel to commit crimes?"
"I haven't read your novel, but I feel that the truth may be more terrifying than copycat crimes. Come to the police station as soon as possible!" Lu Wan said with a hint of worry in her tone.
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After listening to Teng Jie's explanation, Bai Mo was completely dumbfounded. He imitated the writer's method and committed a crime. Isn't this a scene that only appears in TV dramas?
"Lu Wan told me a lot of details." Teng Jie looked at the two paintings on the wall and sighed: "This man completely imitated the killing techniques in my novel, including the tools that have appeared so far. The difference is that he used The images were recorded by hand drawing.”
It is obvious that the murderers are Teng Jie’s readers, and they are the earliest ones.
Bai Mo's thoughts were opened by Teng Jie, and he asked: "Could it be related to "The Last Supper"? The cover of that book was hand-painted, and the hand-painted form stimulated the murderer?"
"It's very possible." Tengjie said.
Bai Mo immediately showed an excited expression, "You said that you decided to use this cover because I saw the murderer on the cover. Hasn't it been more than a month since the cover was officially announced? The murderer wanted to complete the crime within a month. , he needs to collect a large amount of materials for making tools, we just need to investigate the source of the materials."
"Alas -" Teng Jie sighed again and said with a wry smile: "The first version of this cover came out last year. At that time, I was still soliciting readers' opinions on the public account. In other words, the other party might have met last year. It’s time for this cover.”
The room suddenly became quiet. If the murderer had half a year to prepare, it would take even longer to investigate the source of the materials.
"Since everyone knows that the murderer imitated your novel to commit crimes, what's the point of me drawing these tools?" Bai Mo was a little frustrated.
"It makes sense." Teng Jie said, "These tools are all imagined out of thin air. Whether they can achieve the effect is unknown, so we have to draw every tool, the more detailed the better, so that we can judge the murderer." What materials are needed?”
Bai Mo nodded, then picked up the brush and prepared to paint. He was going to draw out the tools for the second painting first.
What is different from the past is that this time Bai Mo painted not people, but tools for killing people.
Teng Jie pulled the chair next to Bai Mo and reminded him of the details and feasibility of the tools from time to time.
The afternoon passed in the blink of an eye, and with the cooperation of the two, the schematic diagrams of the four tools were completed.
Under the dim light, Teng Jie held Bai Mo's paintings and shook his head frequently. He was sighing at Bai Mo's painting skills. Every tool in the painting is very reasonable and can achieve the effect the murderer wants.
"Brother-in-law?" Bai Mo asked softly: "What is the next murder method?"
Teng Jie explained the idea of the novel, which originated from ancient torture. The first picture showed beheading, the most common form, and the second picture showed dismemberment by five horses. But because dismemberment by five horses was too difficult to achieve in reality, he changed it to Cutting and quartering.
The prototype of the next murder method is Ling Chi.
Hearing the word Ling Chi, Bai Mo felt a chill on his back and goosebumps all over his body.
Bai Mo stood up, but before he could take a step, Teng Jie grabbed his arm.
"Where do you want to go?" Teng Jie asked.
Bai Mo blinked in confusion, "Let's investigate the case! We can investigate the source of the materials and the tramp's trajectory."
"I have a second mission here." Teng Jie said while pulling Bai Mo to the seat. "Until the murderer is found, you cannot leave the police station unless someone protects you."
"Why?" Bai Mo was stunned for a while.
"Do you think the murderer is targeting me, and I am the most dangerous?" After Bai Mo nodded, Teng Jie continued, "I think the murderer is not only targeting me, but he seems to be targeting you as well."
The theory that the murderer was targeting Bai Mo was suggested by Teng Jie.
It has been confirmed that the murderer was imitating Teng Jie's novels. He is a reader of Teng Jie. He has read Teng Jie's earliest works and is aware of Teng Jie's new book. This shows that he has been paying attention to Teng Jie.
His imitation crimes can show his enthusiasm for Teng Jie's novels. For such a person, it is logical that sending paintings directly to Teng Jie's home can best satisfy his demands, but he sent the first painting to the art exhibition.
This reminded Teng Jie of the words he added when he announced the cover of "The Last Supper" - "The murderer is among them, and finally someone saw the murderer at first sight."
Therefore, Teng Jie believed that the murderer was imitating him even in this aspect. The murderer was looking for someone who could understand his paintings at a glance.
Following this logic, it makes sense that the second painting was sent to Bai Mo. The murderer regarded Bai Mo as someone who knew him.
"According to what you said..." Bai Mo grinned, "Is there a possibility that your words also stimulated the murderer?"
This time Teng Jie was confused. He didn't understand Bai Mo's meaning.
Bai Mo said: "He has been your reader since you wrote your first novel. If he had not saved the electronic file of your first novel, after so many years, he could still remember the details of the murder in the novel, and he could be considered yours. Big fan."
"Indeed." Teng Jie nodded, "This has been more than ten years ago. At that time, very few people kept electronic files. After all, no one expected that my novel would suddenly be blocked. If I had to choose, I think He doesn’t have an electronic file, but he clearly remembers all the details of the murder.”
"How do you think a person who admires you like this and is proficient in hand-painting will feel about not finding the real murderer on the cover?" Bai Mo asked in a tone that was very similar to the way Teng Jie guided him to draw just now.
Teng Jie didn't care and speculated according to Bai Mo's thinking, "He will be very angry or disappointed. After all, he thinks he knows me very well."
"No!" Bai Mo said in a deep voice, "He will be jealous, jealous of the person who can spot the murderer at a glance."
