CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY

Arc 1: A World of Sand, Chapter 1: Prologue

Chunshui Street is an old street in the southwest of Hongjing City.

Like many other busy streets in the city, there are many shops here, spread from one end of the long street to the other.

As the nighttime approached, the street gradually became even more lively.

In the fish store by the roadside, a crucian carp thumped in a plastic basin and was trying to swim away, but was picked up by the belly.

Wang Chunhua is almost 60 years old this year, and her life is no different from other middle-aged women in the city who are in their 60s. She had just finished perming her hair in the barber shop next door, and now she is going to buy a crucian carp on the way, to make fish soup at home for her grandson.

"Ten yuan! Ten yuan are enough, forgot about the remaining five Jiao!" Wang Chunhua took out a worn out ten-yuan note from her wallet and forced it into the shopkeeper's hand, and was proud of the little fraction that was just deducted. Then she ruffled her curly hair.

The air was filled with the rustling sound of the radio, as if something was being said on the radio.

The fish shop owner shook his head helplessly. He stuffed the banknotes into his apron's pocket, and turned up the radio volume with his wet fingers.

"Now there is an urgent news." A car drove into the parking space in front of the fish store. On the car radio, the female announcer paused and said in her soft voice, "Super Typhoon Yunna will hit our city head-on on the night of the 12th. So the Meteorological Bureau advised us that starting from tonight, citizens and friends should minimise going out."

As if to prove her words, the sun was covered by the clouds and the sky quickly darkened.

In stall No. 18 on Chunshui Street, the fruit shop owner raised his head and looked at the grey sky. As if feeling the moist rain in the air, he suddenly picked up a half-box of rotten apples and then poured all of them into the high-end apples. The apples fell like torrential rain into the box. A few of them accidentally fell, so he hurriedly turned around and chased after them.

The rotten fruit rolled farther and farther along the road, and with a crackling sound a pair of thick soled shoes stepped on it, the apple burst and all the pulp and juice fell on the street.

"Can't you take care of them properly," Wang Chunhua raised her feet and kicked the rotten apple in disgust,"I almost slipped because of it."

The stall owner didn't say anything, he just carried all the apples he had picked back into the store with his head lowered.

When he didn't apologise, Wang Chunhua became a little angry. Just as she was about to walk away, she suddenly caught a glimpse of the fruit stall owner stuffing all the rotten apples into the high-end apples, and thinking about the news of those shoddy shops, she became even angrier.

"You are going to sell these rotten apples together with those expensive apples. Are you mad!" Seeing this, Wang Chunhua ran to the fruit stand and poked the apples with her fingers.

The stall owner just blushed and didn't say anything. Wang Chunhua cleared her throat and was about to sneer again when the wind blew up.

The wind was very light and gentle.

Wang Chunhua stood under the canopy, and the gentle wind blew through her hair, brushed her arms, and landed on her fingers. Then, she felt as if something fell from her hand.

She lowered her head to search subconsciously, then she saw a finger on the ground.

'Where did this finger come from?'

The severe pain came later. She looked toward her right hand, her right index finger was cut off by the roots, and a huge and ugly gap appeared in her hand. She wanted to scream, but someone caught her throat.

The fruit stall owner's eyes were very red, he pressed the long and narrow watermelon knife against her face. She was so frightened that she fought desperately, struggling with all her strength, but she couldn't escape from his hold. Then the stall owner raised the handle of the knife and slashed at her. In an instant, her skin cracked, blood engulfed all her sight, and there was only a gasping sound in her ears.

Hope of survival stimulates the greatest potential of human beings. Wang Chunhua somehow pushed the fruit stall owner away, rolling and crawling, trying to escape to the next store.

An old man was sitting in that shop. Wang Chunhua could barely see anything, only felt that the surroundings were eerily quiet. She arched her upper body and tried her best to climb the threshold. Just as she was about to touch the old man's trousers, she was kicked down again...

The severe pain did not come as she expected. After a while, she looked back and saw that several men were trying to suppress the fruit stall owner who was madly chopping people. The onlookers have faces full of panic and anxiety. They were whispering among themselves, saying, "How can something like this happen?" "He's very good at normal times" "He didn't seem to be mentally ill." and so on.

Wang Chunhua opened her mouth and wanted to speak, but found that she couldn't speak. Her face and hands were covered with warm blood. She propped her elbows on the ground and tried to stand up, but before she could stand firm, her knees throbbed violently, and she stumbled again, hitting the armchair of the old man.

With a bang, the old man fell to the ground.

Wang Chunhua was startled, she sat on the ground and took two steps back, reaching out to wipe the blood in front of her eyes.

The old man still maintained his fallen posture, his grey hair was neat and tidy, and he was wearing a clean old navy blue uniform, like a strange and serene sculpture.

Wang Chunhua held her breath and leaned forward again. She cautiously pushed the old man with her fingers. The old man fell over and lay flat on the ground. The grains of white sand fell from his pocket.

The setting sun followed the edge of the window, cutting the wrinkled face of the old man, making the deadness on his face even more strange. The upper part of his face was covered in shadows and a small amount of light fell on his lower face. There seemed to be a smile on the corner of his mouth.

Chunshui Street was eerily quiet, only the voice of the female announcer was still slowly coming out from the car's radio: "The police recently said that citizens are requested to pay attention to travel safety and be more vigilant..." A magnetic voice filled the air over the entire block.

When everyone's eyes were fixed on the old man, no one noticed that a man wearing a cap lowered the brim of his hat and walked out of the long street where the murder had just happened, against the flow of people.