This is the best of times, this is the worst of times.
For fallen people, this world is like heaven. For righteous people, this world is like hell.
Lin En came to this world, became familiar with it, and determined to change. After experiencing the same situation as Eden, she deeply felt her own insignificance and how absurd and unrealistic it was for an ant to shake an elephant.
"I would never say such things to others." Linn glanced at Eden, who was squatting, and kept standing, even though the injury on his back was still aching.
The ashen-faced Eden slowly raised his head and looked at Linn, who was standing tall and straight.
"When I meet someone who has the same ambition as me, I will only firmly tell him that we will succeed. No matter how difficult it is, we will succeed." Lynn did not choose to cheer Eden up with painless comfort, "This
The road may be difficult, and our efforts may not be worth mentioning, but we will definitely succeed."
"...Why?" asked Eden, who was confused.
"Why? Why do you say those depressing words and pour cold water on like-minded friends?" Lin En shrugged, "Don't we all know that this road is extremely difficult? Then the most important thing to do is actually to encourage each other and encourage each other.
Supporting and pouring cold water are things only enemies would do."
Only your enemies will say you are a joke and you can't do anything.
Eden's expression froze.
His eyes swelled.
"We should not be our own enemies or our friends' enemies." Lynn waited for Eden to figure this out.
"We..." Eden looked no longer so sad.
"We will definitely solve this case, and we will definitely change the atmosphere of the Public Security Bureau and make the world develop in a good direction." Lin En gave a demonstration, "Isn't it?"
"...Yes." Eden took a deep breath and stood up again.
"That's right." Lin En glanced at that house and walked downstairs.
"Where are you going?"
Lin En kept walking, raised his hand and waved: "You continue to investigate, I will try to find another shortcut."
After leaving the residential building, Linn stopped and sighed.
It is easy to understand others.
It's quite difficult to inject yourself with a cardiotonic drug.
Fortunately, he is more resistant to pressure than Eden.
If Eden cannot solve the case, he will at most be dismissed from his post, and he will lose his life.
Even so, he did not mess up his position.
After returning to the church, Linn glanced towards the confessional. This time Father Fitch, who was sitting in the confessional, did not invite him in for a chat. He went straight to the library and sat down in a quiet environment to meditate.
What is now certain is that all of the deceased died of suicide.
The instigator is the person who induces and pushes them to commit suicide.
At the moment, it was difficult to deduce the purpose of the initiator from the existing clues, so Lin En simply changed directions and started studying the manner of death of each deceased person.
Since it is suicide.
Why did no one leave any last words?
Why not choose some decent way to die?
Why do some people jump into sewers? Some people want to drown themselves? Some people want to die of allergies?
These different ways of death may be the last answers left to the world by each deceased person.
Lynn started looking back from the first old lady.
When the old lady left, she cleaned the house cleanly. The food in the house was also eaten without any wastage. Finally, at eleven o'clock in the night, she opened the window, jumped and ended her life.
From the cleaning and the fact that no food was wasted, it can be seen that the old lady is taking the fact that she is about to pass away very seriously.
Then the way she dealt with suicide must have been extremely cautious and she had put a lot of thought into it.
Jumping off a building would be too hasty.
Why is this?
What special meaning does jumping off a building have to this old lady?
Linn wrote down this doubt.
Then there was the second one, a young apprentice who died in the bakery.
What special meaning could the bakery have to him? Why would he have to go back in the middle of the night and stab himself to death with a knife?
Especially the third female accountant, why would she think of jumping into the smelly sewer to end her life? Is she disgusted with her body? So what is the reason for the disgust?
…
After some rigorous self-questioning and answering, Lin En listed more guesses on the blank paper.
Finally, he drew a big circle to encircle all the speculations, pointing to the final inference written down on the other side: each deceased had their own thoughts, and the murderer was a person who could easily make them open up.
Only in this way can it be explained.
Otherwise, how can ordinary people know the secrets hidden deep in the hearts of so many victims?
"Who is it..." Lin En pinched the bridge of her nose and tried her best to construct the image of the murderer in her mind.
These people who live alone have no relatives and no wealthy background.
They have no way to find their relatives and friends to talk to, nor can they spend money to find expensive psychologists to help themselves.
Could it be that he is a priest?
The priest is responsible for listening and explaining, so it makes sense that those people come to the priest to confide their secrets.
But if these people are looking for a priest, their first choice should be Father Fitch in this church.
But Father Fitch's corruption value is [-50]. When he meets these people, he should listen to their problems patiently and honestly give practical and reliable solutions as he would treat himself.
Inducing and pushing these people to commit suicide?
This kind of behavior is too difficult to associate with Father Fitch.
And if Father Fitch is really such a person, there is absolutely no need to start committing harm recently.
However, who said that this church only has one priest, Fitch?
If a new priest came to this church recently, then this person's suspicion level would have to be raised very high.
Linn put away the drawings and stood up to find Father Fitch to ask again.
"Dong dong dong."
Just as he was about to leave the scripture room, there was a knock on the door of the scripture room from outside.
"who?"
"Mr. Lynn, it's me, Paul!"
It turned out to be Sheriff Paul, who was working with us tonight.
"Please come in." Lin En took the initiative to step forward and open the door.
What came into view was Paul's panicked expression: "Mr. Linn, Adjutant Eden fainted!"
"Fainted? What happened?!" Lin En's heart tightened.
"He hardly slept during this period. He was probably too tired and under too much pressure, so..."
Lynn didn't know how to evaluate Eden's behavior: "What about him now?"
Paul said: "We wanted to send him to the hospital, or at least take a rest, but he refused and insisted on persisting in the investigation until the murderer was caught."
"Tough enough..." Linn was helpless about Eden's temper.
"We hope you can go over and persuade him that taking care of your health is the most important thing. If this continues, we are worried that Adjutant Eden will fall before the murderer is found." Paul was very worried about Eden's health.
In his view, the reason is simple.
The body is the capital of everything. Only by ensuring that your body is healthy can you do your best to do other things you want to do.
If he falls first, all his thoughts will only stay at the 'idea' stage.
"Let him be." Lin En glanced at his watch, and it was already three o'clock in the morning.
"Follow him?"
"No one can persuade him." Lin En shook his head slightly.
"But if he keeps doing this..."
Lin En said seriously: "If the murderer cannot be found tonight, do you know what he will face?"
Paul hesitated and said: "...I know."
"Now that you know it, as someone who has spent more time with him, you should know better that it will be worse than death for him." Lin En could imagine what it would be like if the mission failed.
When the time comes, he will die due to failure.
Eden lost his confidant, was dismissed from his post due to failure in handling the case, and became an ordinary person.
What will the rest of his life be like?
It is destined to be swallowed up by the torrent of the times and disappear without a trace, as if it does not exist.
Paul also realized something after Lynn's guidance: "...I understand, thank you."
"If you want him to live well, support him."
"Well, do you want to come with me?" Paul asked.
"No, I still have some things to do. I hope one of us can find the murderer before dawn." Linn said goodbye to Paul and returned to the confession room again.
He had never entered a confessional before; after all, he did not believe in any sect.
He went back and forth no less than three or four times that night, which made him quite touched. The place usually used for confession and confession turned out to be one of his inquiry points in solving the case.
"Father Fitch, are you still there?" Linn asked as he sat in.
The wooden board between the two compartments is not sealed, there are some gaps in it.
But it was early in the morning, and there was no light coming in, so he couldn't see Father Fitch's condition through the gap.
"I am here."
Father Fitch responded a few seconds after Lynn asked.
"I have to disturb you one more time." Linn bowed his head humbly and saluted Father Fitch regardless of whether he could see it or not. "Is there any other priest in the church?"
"What's wrong?"
Rushing to tell Father Fitch about his suspicions might cause him to be dissatisfied. Linn deliberately concealed his true intention: "I want to find a few more priests to ask about evil sects. Some of them you don't want to do."
I know, but they might not hear about it."
"I am the only priest in the church," Father Fitch said.
Only Father Fitch?
Linn was disappointed.
Did you infer that you were wrong again?
Why is this mission always hitting the wall? If it continues like this, it would be reasonable for the difficulty to be rated at level four.
"You haven't made any progress yet?" Father Fitch asked. "Logically speaking, if there is an evil sect on Crean Street, I won't be unaware of it. So, you may be on the wrong track."
"You are right, this road is probably a dead end. We finally made some progress before, and found out a person who was suspected of being an evil sect, but in the end we found out that they were just a bunch of liars, and the progress was back to the original point." Lin
En sighed, "Then let me ask you a different question. Do you know of any other churches nearby that are often attended by residents of Clint Street?"
"I don't know. People who believe in gods on Kling Street usually come to my place to pray." Father Fitch sounded a little confused, "Do you suspect that the evil sect is somewhere else?"
"It's not necessarily an evil sect. Based on my current investigation, I suspect that the instigator is a person who can easily let the victims reveal their concerns. And the victims have limited conditions. They have no relatives or friends, and no money to find a doctor who can listen.
I'm afraid the only person they passed by was the priest."
A brief silence.
Father Fitch asked: "Are you doubting me?"
"I didn't mean that, and I'm sorry if I offended you." Linn also pointed to Father Fitch to help him solve the case, so he sincerely expressed his apology, "This is just an idea of mine, maybe other churches
priests, or perhaps a group of people with similar professions that I have ignored."
"I don't know. I think I can't help you anymore." Father Fitch seemed to be unhappy.
"Okay, thank you for your help." Linn had no choice but to walk out of the confessional.
What to do now?
There is really no way out.
Lin En was in a daze next to the confession room for a while, and then decided to join Eden and the others.
But just as he was about to leave, he noticed a small sign on the side of the door of the two compartments of the confessional.
One says 'confess' and the other says 'listen'.
What does this mean?
Refers to the different functions of the two compartments?
Linn looked emphatically at the cubicle he had been in and out of several times.
The sign hanging above it says 'Listen'.
Isn’t it the priest’s place to ‘listen’?
Why does Father Fitch always sit in the confessional booth?
Puzzling for a moment, Lin En gently put her hand on the door handle of the 'confession' compartment and carefully opened it bit by bit.
Halfway through pulling it open, he felt as if his brain had been struck by lightning.
I saw that there were no seats at all in the 'confession' compartment, only cold kneeling steps.
And Father Fitch, from beginning to end, was kneeling on the steps and talking to him peacefully!