“Hey, don’t look at me like that, you know it wasn’t me,” Ju De waved his hand and pretended to look offended.

“How do you know if it wasn’t something more severe, like the breast or uterus? It's pretty common for sick psychopaths,” Li Yun pondered how Ju De concluded that the finger was taken.

“If it was something more gruesome, there would be more rumors and gossip online. Things like breasts and uterus are pretty noticeable. If the hotel staff came across something like that, they would likely tell everyone else in the hotel, and then everyone and their aunts would know. A ring finger is small enough to slip under the radar.”

Ju De was unusually good at profiling serial murderers, even better than Li Yun. During college, there was a case involving disappearing homeless men. Ju De was able to profile the perpetrator through news reports and they inadvertently ran into someone fitting the profile while eating out at the outdoor food stall. They contacted Bu Tao, who was a sergeant at the time, and the police secretly followed the man for a week. Bu Tao was skeptical at first, but the more they investigated the man, the more evidence they uncovered.

Bu Tao knew of Ju De's darker personality from training at the same gym, but his ability was too impressive to let go. He had once asked Li Yun if it was safe to recruit Ju De to the police force, but Li Yun had advised him against the idea. Li Yun could not imagine the consequences of Ju De becoming a police officer. Maybe he would make a good detective, but at the risk of draining Ju De’s mental health. They would only consult Ju De as the last resort.

Although Bu Tao had given up on Ju De, he was still trying to recruit Li Yun, going as far as listing him as a consultant. It amazed Li Yun how easy it was for local police to hire outside help.

For the latest serial case, Li Yun wasn't much help. He could usually help Bu Tao crackdown a suspect in interrogations, but when there was no suspect, Li Yun involvement was limited.

“They have already figured out that it’s someone with a grudge against married women who cheat on their spouse,” Li Yun explained. “It’s likely that the perp is someone who’s married or divorced.”

“Did you find any previous cases before?” Ju De asked as he munch down on a piece of quail leg.

“Bu Tao has searched the database, but he hasn’t found anything that matched the profile.”

“Can I see pictures?”

Li Yun pulled his mouth to the left, thinking about whether the risk of Ju De's involvement was worth. It had been a long time since the last incident, so Li Yun agreed.

The following morning, Li Yun and Ju De visited Bu Tao at the Yide Police Department. In the lobby, they signed in as guests, and waited for Bu Tao to escort them in. However, instead of Bu Tao, an older gentleman stopped by.

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“Well, if it isn’t Little Yun and Little Ju De!” The man warmly approached the two and gave them each a hug.

“Detective Dan, long time no see,” they responded. From the previous cases, Li Yun and Ju De got to know some of the detectives.

"Here, take these with you," Detective Dan gave them guest id badges, and they headed to the main office.

The office looked like any other regular office setting, except all the desks had radios and were faced toward the door. Police and detectives, in general, hated to have their backs facing the door.

Inside the meeting room, Li Yun saw an average height man with a toned figure leading a meeting. The man, known to everyone as Captain Bu, assigned everyone their tasks. After they dispersed, he shook Li Yun’s hand.

“Hey brat, long time no see!” Bu Tao commented, although they had met each other two weeks ago at the bar.

Bu Tao punched Ju De in the arm as a greeting. They sat down around the conference table, and Bu Tao showed them pictures and files that the officers had collected at the two crime scenes.

“We aren’t classifying these as a serial murder case yet,” said Bu Tao. “The first case is still under investigation by a different branch. The husband is the prime suspect and has a strong motive, but he also has a solid alibi. I am in charge of the second case. We interrogated the husband, and he doesn’t have an alibi. The prosecution wants to pin this on the husband as soon as possible and close the case.”

“I looked at the interrogation video, and although he doesn’t like his wife, he doesn’t have the guts to kill her,” Li Yun explained. “Even if he did, it would still be unusual for him to cut off the ring finger. He’s too timid of a person. If he did kill his wife, it would be either using poison or hired hands.”

Ju De flipped through the pictures of the two crime scenes. It was easy to see that after raping the women under heavy sedation, the perp acted out his fantasies by choking them to death. Afterward, he cut off their ring finger and left.

“Someone with a warped sense of justice, who’s alone most of the time. An educated person, like a librarian who writes novels on the side. If he’s a perfectionist, his first kill might have been too messy to be acceptable. He would either burn the corpse or hide it entirely. You’re better off looking back in the databases for a missing person.”

“Why a librarian or writer?” asked Bu Tao.

“There aren’t that many professions in the world. An artist would have the crime scene better laid out. A medical personnel would be a bit more daring than removing a single finger. An office worker or a lawyer is a possibility. However, a writer would find the hand and fingers to be the most important feature in a person. The chances are higher.”

Ju De looked at Bu Tao and Li Yun who didn’t show much response. “At least try to look impressed.”

“Whatever, we already know,” Bu Tao gave orders to his men to look into cases of missing married or divorced women from age 20-35 in the past three years.

“It’s not going to be enough to narrow on a suspect,” Bu Tao sighed with disappointment.

Serial killers were tough to find. The majority of the time, it was only by pure accident that they were apprehended, rarely by actual police work. Bu Tao managed to arrest the Homeless Men serial killer with Li Yun and Ju De’s help and was promoted to lieutenant.

"1% of the world population are psychopaths, or one out of every 100 people is defined as one," that was what Bu Tao learned at the police academy.

Out of those psychopaths, another small percentage were serial killers. Li Yun and Ju De's encounter with the killer was coincidental, but not completely rare given how many people pass by each other on the street.

Unfortunately, the ring finger case would not be resolved so quickly.