Xiaoxiao's study is huge. In Fudi's four-beds, two-baths, it was quite too s.p.a.cious for her to live alone. So two of the rooms were renovated as a study room. The study layout is simple, with beech wood bookshelves of the same height as the ceiling installed against the wall. The bookshelves are neatly lined with books. In the middle is a large desk and leather boss chair of the same color as the bookshelves. The desk is extremely neat and tidy, with no fancy decorations except for a laptop and some of the commonly used stationery. There's not even a picture frame and is on par with a furniture showroom.

For the first time, Jing Sa entered this study and was shocked by the volumes of her book collection. Upon closer inspection, she found that they are all in English and she couldn't even find one Chinese character. She had also spent time in the United States, so she is fluent in English. She could surmise from the t.i.tles of the books that most of them are  about criminal psychology. A few of them are inferential fiction. There's also a book with a bookmark in one corner of the desk, and looking at where the bookmark is, it should have been just halfway through.

Gold font was on the leather cover that reads: Natural born killer.

Just reading the t.i.tle, she thought the book must be boring.

Xiaoxiao  pulled a whiteboard out of the gap behind the bookshelves, larger than the one at the police station, and she gestured to the whiteboard, “I'll go to the kitchen and cook some dumplings while you organize the data.”

Jing Sa froze, “Huh?”

Xiaoxiao took it for granted: "I'm only in charge of a.n.a.lysis, not collating data.” She pointed again to the drawer of her desk, “There are whiteboard markers there, you can use them as much as you like, but I don't want the words on the white board too colorful. The font should be polished and the content must be concise, I don't want to see c.r.a.p!”

Jing Sa didn't expect her to have so many requirements. Did she think she was doing a PPT?

Fine! Endure it, who let herself have to beg for it.

“Don't worry, I'll do it according to your requests, I won't let you down!”

“OK!” Xiaoxiao hummed as she walked to the door, turning her head, she spoke again, “What flavor do you want?”

Jing Sa snapped back, “What kind of flavor can frozen dumplings have? Whatever you want!”

Xiaoxiao went out of the study, and Sesame circled excitedly at her feet, following her into the kitchen step by step.

Jing Sa rolled up her sleeves and poured the information she had stuffed into her briefcase onto the floor, starting to write and paste on the white board.

By the time Xiaoxiao has cooked the dumplings, she's still struggling through a bunch of files, with the look of a rookie a.s.sistant who's sorting out paperwork for a college professor.

She put the bowl that for Jing Sa on her desk and picked up a few pictures of the deceased on the floor, her dark eyes flickered invisibly. 

“The ropes that bound the children are different!”

Jing Sa raised her head and wiped a handful of sweat from her forehead, "Hmm, the coroner also mentioned that the first and second child were bound with a very thick hemp rope on their feet and wrists. The preliminary finding is that the hemp rope is too thick and inconvenient for tying knots. With the children's small limbs, it would be too easy for them to break free, so later, it was replaced with a thinner rope…. Green nylon rope was used on the third child. We investigated the sources of the rope, but the ropes are too common and would be available in every household, there's no focus at all.”

Xiaoxiao handed her the chopsticks and gestured for her to eat while the food was still hot.

Jing Sa picked up the bowl. Frozen dumplings are really not her type of food, but at this point in time, she had nothing to pick on.

Xiaoxiao leaned against the desk and glanced at the pictures Jing Sa posted on the whiteboard.

“By the fifth child, it was switched again to plastic self-locking cable wire.”

Self-lock cable ties are also common household items. Most of them are used for bundling wires, such as the various lines behind the computer case to prevent them from intertwining with each other. Just tie them separately with this kind of zip, insert the pointed end of it through the lock hole, one pull is all it takes. It won't come loose compared to a rope, it's firm and beautiful.

Jing Sa had some doubts about this, but this kind of cable wire is also very common.

“Why? Do you think there's something wrong with it?”

“A lot of criminals like to commit their crimes in a pattern, especially serial killers, where the details are mostly the same, but this one has a very specific approach, it's like….”

Xiaoxiao frowned and searched for the appropriate terms in her head. She has been living in the United States since she was 4 years old, and only returned at 24. She is probably better at English than Chinese. If her parents hadn't insisted on her speaking Chinese at home, she would have been like many other children who grew up in America, who couldn't speak Chinese. Upon returning to China, it took her a long time to get used to it, banning herself from speaking English every time she speaks. 

She pondered for a moment and finally found the right word.

“Evolution!”

Jing Sa obviously still couldn't grasp it.