After a moment of silence, everyone turned to look at Mu Mian.
Feeling the weight of their gazes, Mu Mian's scalp tingled. She wanted to flee from the room.
Fang Rui came to her rescue: "Dr. Mu, why do you think that?"
Fang Rui's voice seemed to have a magical quality, making Mu Mian feel less agitated.
"Theoretically, it's possible," Mu Mian said, not directly answering his question. "If you create an artificial placenta, add enough oxygen, place an anesthetized cat inside, replace the deceased's placenta with it, then inject the pregnant woman with sufficient oxytocin while maintaining the deceased's strength, she could give birth to the cat."
Mu Mian held up a drawing to cover her face. "Like this. In fact, this is what he attempted, but his design was too crude, and he failed. So he's likely to try again until he succeeds."
Mu Mian's drawing was simple yet impactful—it depicted a pregnant woman with her abdomen cut open, inside which lay a small cat wrapped in a spherical object. The image was both harmonious and eerie.
Forensic Doctor Qin interrupted, "But the toxicology report didn't find any traces of oxytocin in the deceased."
"That's why he failed!"
The conference room fell into a brief silence.
Mu Mian's theory was too absurd, completely unfounded. How could there be a killer who wanted someone to give birth to a cat? It made no sense.
Unless the killer was a psychopath!
Everyone couldn't help but look at Mu Mian, wondering if this was the killer's idea or Mu Mian's.
"Captain Chen, Mu Mian is a suspect in this case. Why is she allowed to participate in our case analysis meeting?" one of the police officers suddenly said. "Many residents in the apartment complex reported that Mu Mian behaved strangely and had arguments with the deceased. She's also a forensic expert skilled in dissection. She's currently one of the suspects."
Forensic Doctor Qin looked a bit displeased. "She's the one who reported the case, and there's no evidence proving she's the killer."
"But there's no evidence proving her innocence either. According to procedure, she shouldn't be involved in this case, right?"
Fang Rui interrupted, "I can prove that Mu Mian is not the killer!"
"Detective Fang, all the current evidence points to Mu Mian as the prime suspect. How can you prove she's not the killer?"
"This is Mu Mian's blood test report," Fang Rui transferred a document to the conference room computer and opened it. "The sample was taken yesterday at 9:35 AM. The report shows a large amount of sleeping pill components in her blood."
Zhang suddenly understood why Fang Rui had insisted on Mu Mian getting a medical examination yesterday. It was for this test.
"And this proves she's not the killer?"
Fang Rui explained, "Based on the metabolism of the sleeping pills in her system, we can deduce that during the time of the murder, she was in a state of deep unconsciousness. She had no ability to commit the crime."
"Ah, no wonder she looked so drowsy that day. The drug effects hadn't worn off!" Zhang chimed in. "I can testify that when we arrived at the crime scene yesterday, she looked like she hadn't fully woken up."
Zhang felt that Mu Mian's previous strange behavior now had a reasonable explanation: her stiff behavior and speech were due to autism; her overall lack of energy was because she had taken sleeping pills the night before.
Zhang wondered, "Could the killer have drugged her? If so, the killer must know Mu Mian quite well."
"No, this dosage far exceeds the normal amount. And she's a forensic expert, she wouldn't have failed to notice this condition," Forensic Doctor Qin frowned. "Little Mu, you're so young, how could you..."
For a normal person, this dosage would be close to lethal, yet Mu Mian was fine. It's very likely that she had been taking this medication long-term and had developed a strong tolerance.
Mu Mian lowered her head, staring at the wood grain on the table, completely zoned out, as if the topic they were discussing had nothing to do with her.
The social guide said that when faced with questions you can't answer, it's appropriate to lie a little. But she hadn't learned how to lie yet, so she could only remain silent.
"You probably couldn't sleep due to nervousness about your new job, so you took sleeping pills to help you sleep," Fang Rui looked at Mu Mian, helpfully explaining on her behalf. "It's normal for people to experience this, isn't it?"
Mu Mian finally snapped back to reality. She looked at Fang Rui in surprise and nodded, "Yes. Most people feel nervous and have trouble sleeping when entering a new environment."
The person who had questioned Mu Mian fell silent. Mu Mian's suspicion was temporarily cleared.
But because of his interruption, everyone chose to selectively ignore Mu Mian's earlier speculation and returned to the motive of revenge killing.
Captain Chen believed that the killer had used such a novel method to conceal their true motive for murder, thereby misleading the police investigation.
So he summarized, "We'll approach this from the following angles: First, investigate the deceased's social relationships. Second, search the garbage bins near the apartment complex to find the infant's body that the killer took away. Third, review all surveillance footage from the complex during the time of the incident to see if we can identify any suspicious individuals. Let's implement these steps immediately."
After the meeting ended, Mu Mian caught up with Fang Rui as he was about to leave. He was walking with Lin Sen, and the two seemed to be discussing something.
Mu Mian remembered Chen Xue mentioning that this Lin Sen was a criminal psychology expert who could even read minds, and was extremely capable. Many of the cases Fang Rui had handled were solved with Lin Sen's assistance.
Mu Mian glanced at Lin Sen, using her eyes to hint that he should leave, but Lin Sen thought she was greeting him and obliviously stood there, even returning a smile.
Mu Mian decided to be more direct: "Consultant Lin, can you read minds?"
Hearing Mu Mian's words, Lin Sen looked bewildered, "You... are you asking me?"
Seeing that he still hadn't left, Mu Mian was disappointed: "Well, you can't." Otherwise, he should have been able to hear her thoughts and obediently walk away.
Lin Sen's mouth twitched. Although Mu Mian's expression showed no malice, he still felt that she was blatantly mocking him.
Who said that psychology experts must be able to read minds!
However, Lin Sen could see that Mu Mian seemed to want to speak to Fang Rui alone, but having just been mocked by her, he stubbornly refused to leave.
Seeing this, Mu Mian could only try to ignore his presence and said to Fang Rui, "Detective Fang, your evidence earlier doesn't completely prove my innocence."
Fang Rui responded with little interest, "It doesn't matter, as long as they believe it."
Mu Mian continued to explain, "You overlooked one factor: drug tolerance."
"Even if I took a large amount of sleeping pills, I might still have been capable of action because I've developed a strong tolerance to that medication. If I really wanted to kill my annoying neighbor, I probably could have succeeded. But I wouldn't choose this method. Because I lack imagination, I couldn't come up with such a creative way of killing."
Fang Rui countered, "So what? Are you trying to prove to me that you lack imagination?"
Mu Mian looked at him sincerely, "I just wanted to point out that your earlier reasoning has a significant flaw."
"Are you the killer?" Fang Rui's blood pressure shot up, as he struggled to resist the urge to pick Mu Mian up and throw her out.
Why had he done all this if not to quickly clear her of suspicion?
He had kindly helped her out of a difficult situation, and she had the audacity to criticize his reasoning for not being rigorous enough!
Mu Mian shook her head, "Of course not!"
"Then you should say thank you to me."
"Alright. Thank you." After expressing her gratitude, Mu Mian looked hesitantly at Lin Sen again, and seeing that he still had no intention of leaving, she regretfully departed.
"I didn't expect you to have so much patience with this Dr. Mu," Lin Sen teased. "It seems you're planning to have her join the Special Crime Unit."
"We'll see," Fang Rui changed the subject. "I think Mu Mian's analysis makes some sense. Could the killer really have wanted the pregnant woman to give birth to a live cat? I previously investigated and found that the deceased had a history of cat abuse. She had killed a cat. Is the killer trying to make the deceased's child pay for that cat's life? If so, the killer might believe in the concept of karmic retribution."
Lin Sen countered, "But his actions are also a form of cruelty to cats. If the killer's intention was to punish those who abuse cats, why would he resort to such a cruel method towards cats himself?"
Fang Rui pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Logically, this type of home invasion murder should be easy to solve. I never expected the killer to be so well-hidden."
"I suspect we're dealing with a serial killer," Lin Sen's expression turned serious. "This type of criminal generally selects targets based on their own criminal fantasies, which introduces a certain element of randomness. That's why it's so difficult for us to catch them using conventional investigative methods."
Lin Sen paused for a moment before continuing, "With only one victim so far, I can't create a criminal profile yet."
