The unexpected encounter with the I.A.R.C. Investigator made Lin Jie completely abandon his plan to continue surveying the cri scenes on the streets.
That brass instrunt capable of detecting "anomalous fluctuations" hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles.
He realized that his greatest advantage—the ability to read mories—was simultaneously his most fatal vulnerability.
Any use of his ability near a cri scene could expose him like a bonfire in the dark night, revealing his position to professional hunters.
A direct confrontation would be like an egg striking a rock. He had to change his approach and return to his area of expertise—information analysis.
That afternoon, using the few remaining copper pennies he had, he returned to the cheap reading room run by the church.
This place was crowded with mixed company, making it an excellent location to disappear among the masses.
This ti, he ignored the sensational front-page headlines and began systematically collecting all newspapers since the first "Jack the Ripper" case.
From The Tis to The Daily Telegraph, and even those cheap penny papers that specialized in horror and sensationalism, he left none untouched.
He needed to build a sufficiently detailed "database."
He disguised himself as an ordinary citizen with a morbid obsession with serial murders, spreading out his makeshift workstation—a borrowed sheet of white paper—in an unnoticed corner.
Without a pen, he could only use a small piece of charcoal picked up from near the fireplace to make crooked marks on the paper.
He first drew a simple map of the White Church District.
This benefited from his accumulation of knowledge as a history student in his previous life, as well as the on-the-ground asurents he had made during his days after transmigrating.
Next, he began organizing all the key information in a way completely incomprehensible to nineteenth-century people.
He created a table.
The horizontal axis of the table was "date of incident," ranging from the first case on August 31st to last night's latest case, with each ti point precisely marked.
The vertical axis consisted of multiple dinsions of "variables":
"Victim identity": He no longer simply recorded them as "prostitutes," but subdivided them into "age," "health condition," "whether they had fixed residence," and "whether they drank alcohol that night."
"Cri location": Beyond street nas, he specifically noted "environntal enclosure" (open street/alley/courtyard), "nearby light sources" (distance to gas lamps), and "number of escape routes."
"thod of killing": He discarded all speculation about "devils," recording only the most objective facts—"throat cutting thod" (single cut/multiple cuts), "type and quantity of organs removed," and "wound treatnt thod" (neat/rough).
"Special phenona": In this column, he only recorded two words—"sulfur sll" and "no witnesses."
When this charcoal-drawn table, filled with modern logical analysis, was initially completed—even as just a rough draft—the patterns it contained shocked even Lin Jie himself.
A clear predation pattern erged on the paper.
The Jack the Ripper UMA's cri intervals were shortening, from several weeks initially to just a few days now. This proved it was either growing increasingly hungry or becoming more familiar with this hunting ground, improving its predation efficiency.
Its target selection was becoming increasingly precise.
The earliest victims still had relatively fixed residences, while the most recent two victims were practically the lowest, most isolated holess prostitutes in the White Church District.
This indicated it was learning, optimizing its predation strategy.
Without exception, all its cri locations possessed the characteristics of "easy ambush, difficult to witness, convenient escape." This proved it possessed high intelligence, understanding how to use the urban environnt to hide itself.
Looking at this analysis chart condensed with modern criminological thinking before him, Lin Jie's gaze grew increasingly profound.
The value of this thing was imasurable. If given to Scotland Yard, it would be enough to completely overturn their investigation direction.
If seen by I.A.R.C. personnel, they would likely imdiately see through his "amateur" disguise.
Just as he was imrsed in his analysis, a tired voice tinged with curiosity sounded behind him.
"Young man, studying these things again. Forgive my bluntness, but these... scribbles of yours confuse more than the nonsense those newspaper writers spout."
Lin Jie's body stiffened, and he turned sharply to find old patrol officer Arthur Weston standing behind him once again, though he didn't know when he had arrived.
His complexion was worse than yesterday's, the bloodshot veins in his eyes more pronounced, looking like he had experienced another sleepless night.
Lin Jie quickly folded the paper filled with analysis, but it was already too late. Weston's gaze had long fallen on that simple map and table.
As an old policeman who had dealt with cri for half his life, he might not understand Lin Jie's analysis model that transcended his era, but he could intuitively sense the logic and systematic organization contained within that chart.
"What are you doing? Drawing maps?" Weston's tone was full of suspicion.
At Scotland Yard, drawing cri scene maps was work only high-level detectives were qualified and capable of doing.
Lin Jie inwardly thought this was bad. His behavior today had indeed been too "conspicuous."
An ordinary Eastern refugee displaying such professional analytical ability was itself the biggest red flag.
His mind raced, thinking of how to respond.
Admit directly, or continue the disguise?
In the end, he chose an explanation that was half-truth, half-lie.
He pointed to his head, then to the multiple cases in the newspapers, finally spreading his hands in an innocent expression that said "I'm scared, I want to find patterns to protect myself."
He deliberately coughed several tis, making himself appear more frail and helpless.
This performance was practically perfect.
Weston's scrutinizing gaze indeed softened sowhat.
He sighed and shook his head: "Child, it's useless. Scotland Yard's best detectives are helpless against this. Doing this will only put you in danger."
After speaking, he seed unwilling to ddle further and turned to leave.
Lin Jie understood opportunities were fleeting. He had to throw out a "bait" substantial enough to pull this old patrol officer into the water at this mont.
He called out to stop Weston.
When the other turned back, Lin Jie picked up the charcoal and, instead of writing English, drew three extrely simple shapes on the paper.
The first was a simple sketch of a woman's profile with a horizontal line drawn across her throat.
The second was an even cruder map of the White Church District, where he circled several known cri locations.
The third, after hesitating a mont, he finally drew a large X in an area on the map where no cri had ever occurred.
Then, using the tip of the charcoal, he heavily tapped that X.
Weston's steps froze in place.
He wasn't stupid.
He imdiately understood what these three shapes represented—victim, occurred cri locations, and... prediction of the next cri location!
"You... what does this an?" Weston's voice carried a tremble.
Lin Jie didn't answer.
He simply pushed the paper with the X drawn on it toward Weston, then gathered his things, silently stood up, and prepared to leave the reading room.
He had done enough.
What he gave wasn't a conclusion, but a "prophecy." An inexplicable yet incredibly tempting prophecy.
If this prophecy failed, he would lose this old patrol officer's trust.
But if... if the prophecy ca true, then he would leap from being an "amateur with strange ideas" to becoming a "mysterious informant" holding crucial secrets that Scotland Yard would have to rely on.
This was a high-stakes gamble he had ticulously planned.
The stakes were his own future, and the life of the next victim in the White Church District.
User Comments
0 comments from readers