The studio was in an uproar, but Liu Chen reacted extremely quickly. He raised a hand to signal for everyone to calm down, then asked, “How are you going to prove you killed the person?”

Something was stuck in the other person's throat; he couldn't cough it out. He seemed to be rubbing his throat as he answered, “The Profiler,” he stressed, “the Profiler knows.”

Yan Junxun slowly narrowed his eyes, a look of disgust on his face. He dropped his spoon back onto the plate with a clatter and guessed that his Communicator was about to ring. The moment he reached for the Communicator, it rang, just as he expected.

Yan Junxun answered the call but didn't speak.

Jiang Lian heard the sound of the light screen on Yan Junxun's end. He needed to take several deep breaths to maintain his composure. Finally, he said, “Don't pay him any mind, Junxun. This might just be a prank.”

The call in the studio was still ongoing. Liu Chen glanced at the camera a few times, as if he knew what the audience wanted to hear. He asked the other person with great interest, “Do you know the Profiler?”

The other person answered with silence.

His silence left room for imagination, making the Profiler the focus of speculation. It seemed he was targeting Yan Junxun specifically, wanting to issue a challenge to him in front of the cameras.

Liu Chen wanted to turn this call into an interview. He didn't stop his questioning: “Can I interpret this call of yours as a challenge to the Profiler? Or are you saying you kill people just to challenge the Profiler?”

He was doing it on purpose.

That coward was doing it on purpose!

Jiang Lian was seething with anger. He stood up from his seat but couldn't make Liu Chen shut up. The Supervisory Bureau's central light screen was also playing this video—no, it should be said that the entire Docking Area was playing this video.

“He wants to push you in front of the cameras,” Jiang Lian said to Yan Junxun. “I'll report this immediately and request Black Panther protection for you—”

“Black Panther is always around,” Yan Junxun said, staring at the screen and discerning the other person's voice. “They're watching me at all times. Fu Chenghui knows what's happening.”

Shi Shanyan sat opposite him, resting his face on his hand. He finished the bread in his hand and saw that the killer in the video was still silent. The man couldn't even speak fluently, yet he wanted to challenge Yan Junxun in such a radical way.

“No,” the person suddenly spoke up, denying it amid pathological gasps of ‘heh, heh’. “I kill people, not for, the Profiler.” He seemed to gain courage from his own words, and his speech gradually became more fluent. “I kill because I want to kill. Profiler, do you hear me? I'm killing, continuously.”

His ability to organize his thoughts was somewhat poor; his speech was jumbled.

“You have to catch me while I'm killing. I'm going to kill again; I've been preparing for a long time. I've called you before, but your, number was broken. Are you scared?”

He kept starting with “I,” circling around those few sentences.

“Tell Liu Chen.” Shi Shanyan pushed the napkin back into place with his finger and said to Jiang Lian on the other end of the Communicator, “The Profiler wants to talk to him.”

“Junxun can't be exposed to the public,” Jiang Lian said quickly. “That's too—”

“You don't have the authority to decide,” Shi Shanyan said, looking at Yan Junxun. “I am the Profiler now.”

......

Liu Chen's assistant gestured to him from behind the camera, signaling that a call was coming in from the Supervisory Bureau. An “oh” expression appeared on Liu Chen's face, and in an instant, he was certain he had the upper hand. He wanted to use this advantage to negotiate terms with Jiang Lian.

“I need to interrupt you for a moment. The Supervisory Bureau wants to talk to you,” Liu Chen raised his hand slightly, having the camera cut to the call's light screen. “Are you willing?”

The other person thought for a long time. There was really something not right with him; it was as if he was absent-minded, or perhaps slow to react. He said, “Is it the Profiler?”

Liu Chen tilted his head to listen to his off-camera assistant for a moment, then turned back and said to the person, “That's right, it's the Profiler.”

“Okay,” the person's voice was a bit cheerful, “Okay!”

There was no face on the light screen, only a voice. Shi Shanyan had been waiting for a while. He said, “What do you want to talk to me about?”

His voice was deep, and it contained a hint of amusement.

The other person heard it. His cheerfulness vanished, replaced by a hint of anger. He felt that Shi Shanyan's tone was like he was joking, not at all intimidated by his declaration of a challenge. The “heh” sound in his throat started up again.

“I've killed people,” he repeated. “I've killed people!”

“You've killed people.” Shi Shanyan's tone was calm, as if it were no big deal.

“You should,” the person swallowed his saliva, “you should go see those crime scenes, and then, then come catch me, quickly.”

“You'll have to get in line,” Shi Shanyan chuckled. He rubbed his chin with his thumb, looking at himself in a nearby mirror. “All the criminals who need to be caught by the Profiler are waiting in line.”

“I'm n-not like those people, you don't understand at all!” The person was enraged. “I did to them—”

He was panting and stopped at that point. He tried his best to make his voice sound confident, but a tremor had already crept into it.

“You'll put me at the front of the line.”

The conversation didn't continue; the other person suddenly hung up. Liu Chen and the host looked at each other in dismay. He put on an artificial expression for the camera and said, “This is a genuine surprise. Profiler, can you tell us...”

Shi Shanyan paused for a second and said, “What do you want to know?”

“Your relationship with this ‘killer’,” Liu Chen said, watching the live comments on the internet. “Everyone heard it; he's targeting you.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Shi Shanyan said, lightly clasping his fingers, a laugh in his voice. “I'm just cooperating with you.”

Liu Chen was baffled: “Cooperating with me? No, you can't possibly think this is—”

“I think this is a good episode,” Shi Shanyan interrupted Liu Chen. “Next is the interactive segment. Let me see,” he scrolled on the light screen as if picking out vegetables. “ID 'AsksForAPunch' asks if I'm a charlatan. No, I'm very reliable. ID 'IsSick' asks if that was the killer just now?” Shi Shanyan let out a long, disdainful ‘hmm’ before answering, “No normal person would think he's the killer, right? Serial killers who are good at hiding their tracks are extremely cautious. They wouldn't do something like this, not to mention that Liu Chen is a media personality with a strong sense of justice.” He smiled again. “Compared to a murderer, it's more likely he knows a sex offender, since those were all his ‘friends’ in the past.”

Liu Chen felt he was being mocked and wanted to end the conversation.

“Actually, compared to me, who spends a long time at crime scenes, Liu Chen has a broader ‘vision’,” Shi Shanyan's eloquence was on full display now, and he had even become the star of the studio. “I only follow the Supervisory Bureau's arrangements and do as my superiors command, whereas Liu Chen is already sitting here pondering matters concerning the future of The Alliance. Everyone, isn't that a huge gap? Look down at yourselves; none of you are worthy of being compared to him. Liu Chen, I heard your impassioned speech just now.” Shi Shanyan's tone was full of admiration. “You're truly amazing. Your talent leaves me speechless. This innate sense of justice must cause you a lot of trouble, right? Don't be discouraged, keep up the good work. Excuse me, but could you please say again why you're paying attention to this case, this ‘prostitute’ case?”

“To bring attention to marginalized and vulnerable groups,” Liu Chen tried to regain control of the conversation. “This case needs exposure. I heard that those girls...”

“You're an up-and-coming media personality,” Shi Shanyan suddenly lowered his voice, reminding him, “Don't use the words ‘I heard’ to fob off the public. That's too immoral. Do you have any morals?”

“Of course I do!” Liu Chen answered hastily.

“That's great,” Shi Shanyan said. “Please, in your capacity as a media personality, tell everyone: was there sexual assault in this case?”

Liu Chen didn't know. He had absolutely no detailed information on the case; it was all just rumors. He only wanted to use today's momentum to force the Supervisory Bureau to hand him the power to lead public supervision, but the Profiler had caught him completely off guard.

“Of course,” Liu Chen fidgeted, forcing himself to answer, “In this kind of serial murder case, the type of victim the killer chooses is very specific. He follows a pattern. ‘Sex’ is one of the reasons that drives him to kill. Those girls, I'm not saying they're bad, but they are all related to ‘sex’, so...”

“So?”

Shi Shanyan clearly wasn't forcing Liu Chen to answer, yet Liu Chen felt he had to answer this question. He felt an invisible pressure, as if he were in a high school math competition, needing to answer against the clock.

“So of course,” Liu Chen organized his thoughts, “there was sexual assault in this case, just like those cases I've reported on before...” He knew what kind of tone would drive the narrative; missing the opportunity would mean losing credibility. So he said with certainty, “The killer assaulted them first and then killed them.”

After he finished answering, his whole body relaxed.

“Wrong. There was no sexual activity from the killer in this case,” Shi Shanyan gave the live comments enough time to react, then said, “You didn't do much homework on the case you're exposing. You should get on your knees before your audience and admit that you have no morals.”

After saying that, Shi Shanyan hung up.

The Supervisory Bureau's official homepage released an outline of the case right on time. Although the victims' names were redacted, it was still possible to see that one of the victims was a high school girl.

[Liar! Trash media personality!]

[Go to hell, Liu Chen! Spreading rumors all day long.]

[A dog will always return to its vomit. I really thought he'd changed after crying on that rooftop.]

The host came to save the situation, but his voice was buried under countless live comments and was finally cut off when Shi Shanyan closed the feed.

“What did you hear in his voice?” Shi Shanyan asked, picking up his glass of water and looking at Yan Junxun before drinking.

Yan Junxun's finger scrolled to the bottom of the files Jiang Lian had sent, stopping on several photos. He leaned forward slightly to get a better look.

“The killer has very low self-esteem,” Yan Junxun said slowly. “He kept emphasizing ‘I’ to you.”

Shi Shanyan took a sip of water, held it in his mouth for a moment, and then swallowed. He said, “So that call wasn't a prank?”

“It wasn't,” Yan Junxun heard that swallowing sound again. He diverted his attention to glance at Shi Shanyan, and after almost five seconds, continued, “He's real.”

“Tell me something else,” Shi Shanyan also leaned forward, his eyes still on Yan Junxun. “Something only you would know.”