Chapter 709: Reflexive Inhibition Death

When they heard there was a bomb, everyone got extremely nervous. Chen Shi said, “This guy is bluffing us. He took a leave of absence yesterday, which is probably when he found out about Xin Bai’s arrest. How could he get explosives in just one day? This scenario is familiar; it appeared in ‘Abyss Detective.’ He’s just mimicking that plot.”

Lin Qiupu said, “The city has strict control over flammable and explosive materials. I doubt he could get any in a day.”

“What if he prepared them earlier? Better to be cautious,” Lin Dongxue suggested.

The simplest solution was to go outside immediately. As they moved out, the phone rang again. Xu Guolong said, “Haha, I was just messing with you. Did I scare you? But what I’m about to say next is absolutely true…”

A woman’s scream suddenly came through the phone, then abruptly stopped as if her mouth was covered.

Lin Qiupu asked, “What do you want?”

“Release him and drop the case! Every day you don’t release him or drop the case, I’ll kill someone. The millions of residents in Long’an City are my hostages.”

“We already know who you are. Do you think…”

Before Lin Qiupu could finish, the call was disconnected, making him so angry he almost threw his phone. When he tried calling back, it wouldn’t go through.

The information department said they couldn’t track the signal because each call was just under 30 seconds. They could only roughly locate it to a certain area, but now the signal had completely disappeared.

Chen Shi said, “This is another method mentioned in that novel. It’s practically his crime guide.”

“Is he planning to use indiscriminate killing to threaten us?” Lin Qiupu frowned, knowing the suspect already had a hostage.

“Let’s just release Xin Bai. He hasn’t committed any crime, so it won’t hurt to let him go,” Lin Dongxue suggested.

“We can’t meet a criminal’s demands. It’s too passive. I’ll mobilize all police forces to find the hostage.”

Chen Shi had little hope. Xu Guolong, who used to be timid and honest, was now openly challenging the police, showing he had “awakened,” like a beast breaking out of its cage. Whether they released Xin Bai or not, someone would die.

The hostage might already be beyond saving!

Lin Qiupu contacted the district’s detectives and officers to search street by street and community by community, posting a warning on the Long’an Public Security’s Weibo page to alert the public.

All investigations were put on hold as everyone scrambled. Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue were also gathering clues on the streets.

After a long day of searching, by evening, a security guard from a community reported seeing a man who looked like the suspect entering the community around 10 AM.

With many buildings in the community, they had to ask the community committee for help, contacting each household. During this time, Peng Siyue arrived with his team.

“We found him!” A call came to Lin Qiupu, and he notified everyone to go over.

When they opened the door, the room was pitch black. In the darkness, a naked middle-aged woman was tied to a chair, her face upturned, a towel stuffed in her mouth.

Peng Siyue inspected her and said, “She’s been dead for about five hours.”

When they laid the body on the ground, Peng Siyue noticed there were no external injuries, nor any signs of poisoning in her pupils, nails, or around her mouth and nose. She didn’t die from suffocation either.

Facing the corpse, he couldn’t make any observations.

“How is this possible? Such a clean corpse…” Lin Qiupu said, accidentally stepping on something. It was the electronic igniter taken from a lighter.

He picked it up, pressed it, and saw it could still produce a spark. But this thing couldn’t kill someone, right?

“Let me see,” Chen Shi took it, examining the area around the woman’s nipples. “I think I know how she was killed. The call came at 8 AM, and the guard said he left around 10 AM. So, for those two hours, he was repeatedly shocking the victim’s nipples with the igniter.”

“Is this another killing method from the novel?” Lin Dongxue was shocked. “This voltage wouldn’t even kill a cockroach, let alone a person.”

Peng Siyue checked the victim’s nipples with a magnifying glass. “I think I understand. It’s reflexive inhibition death.”

“Yes, reflexive inhibition death. I was just thinking of that term!” Chen Shi said.

Peng Siyue explained to the puzzled crowd, “Everyone has particularly sensitive areas on their body, like the soles of their feet or armpits, where a lot of vagus nerves gather.”

“If these sensitive areas are repeatedly stimulated, keeping the person in a state of intense stress and fear, the body will frantically release adrenaline and catecholamines, causing the heart to contract until it stops.”

In the Middle Ages, torture by tickling involved incessantly tickling the victim’s feet with feathers or having goats lick honey off their feet. The victim would suffer immensely, sometimes even dying on the spot, using this principle.

“The victim had two additional reasons for reflexive inhibition death: first, she was tied up, so her body kept sending distress signals without being able to avoid the stimulus, escalating the distress; second, her mouth was blocked. When in pain, people scream to release some of the pain and, more importantly, to relieve stress. If they can’t scream, the stress accumulates in the body,” Peng Siyue said.

“The killing method in the novel is exactly like this,” Chen Shi said. Xu Guolong, now utterly unhinged, seemed eager to try out methods from his ‘killing manual.’

“He’s insane. Carefully check all surrounding surveillance and find eyewitnesses. We must catch him before he kills again,” Lin Qiupu gritted his teeth.

“Captain Lin, I still think we should release the person,” Lin Dongxue suggested. “He’s in the city, we’ll definitely find him. For now, let’s buy some time and prevent another murder.”

Looking at the body, Lin Qiupu sighed, “How can we release him when we can’t contact him? Are you saying that as long as we release him, he’ll somehow know?”

Chen Shi said, “Let’s play along. Release Xin Bai and then assign people to monitor him. That guy will definitely come for him.”

Lin Qiupu called the bureau to process the release and arranged for constant surveillance and protection of Xin Bai, making sure Xin Bai wouldn’t find out. “If the suspect shows up, prioritize the safety of the writer.”

The search for the suspect continued, with the police checking nearby surveillance and interviewing people until late at night. A policeman brought a man who was agitated and said, “I parked my car outside the hospital today without turning it off, with an elderly person inside. When I came back with the medicine, the car was gone, and I haven’t been able to reach my dad since.”

“Which hospital? When did he go missing?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“The nearby Xiehe Hospital, around 3 PM. Please, you must find him. My dad hasn’t had his medication all day,” the man pleaded.