The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”Does your ’goddess’ really want to see you ’accompany’ her this way?”

”Shut up!”

It was as if his most painful inner self had been sharply pierced, and the man’s emotions spiraled out of control once more.

The knife in his hand tightened suddenly, causing the hostage to let out a muffled whimper.

Jiang An immediately raised his hand to make a soothing gesture and slowed his speech: ”Alright, we won’t talk about that.”

”There’s one truth I must tell you: In the world of emotions, there is inherently no absolute black or white.”

”During the years you’ve been away, Zhang Qian met the current hostage on the internet.”

”From her perspective, this may not be ’betrayal’; maybe she’s just trying to continue her emotional life.”

He watched the man’s gradually tensing face and continued steadily: ”The reason I say ’I understand you’ is because I can speculate—you have never truly let go of Zhang Qian over these years.”

”You even secretly followed her, didn’t you?”

”And the hardest thing for you to bear was seeing her walk into a hotel with someone else.”

”That feeling of being completely abandoned might make anyone deeply in love crumble.”

This sentence thoroughly shattered the man’s last psychological defense.

The veins in his hand that held the knife became prominent, and he nearly ground his teeth as he growled with hatred, ”A pair of bastard lovers... both deserve to die!”

”I understand your hate!”

Jiang An didn’t refute, instead continuing to empathize with his emotions, ”But hatred doesn’t truly solve the problem.”

”Right now, you still have a chance to turn around.”

”If you’re willing to put down the knife and cooperate with us, we can help you seek lenience in legal proceedings.”

He paused briefly, his voice suddenly intensifying, ”You might have heard online, ’murderers will be severely punished.’”

”But today, I want to tell you—with my nearly ten years of experience in criminal investigation—that the judiciary is never just mechanical punishment.”

”If someone takes violent action, and it’s not indiscriminate, but has a cause and is understandable, the judge will definitely consider the motives, circumstances, and actions afterward during sentencing.”

His gaze was like a torch, firmly locking onto the other party: ”Especially now!”

”If you’re willing to put down the weapon and release the hostage, this would be considered a significant contribution in a legal sense, crucial for sentence reduction.”

”You still have the chance to turn back, the opportunity to live.”

”But if you persist stubbornly in harming the innocent—”

His tone suddenly turned cold, ”Our snipers are already in position.”

”The moment you make any dangerous move, they will act in an instant.”

”By then, you won’t even have the space to regret.”

The man’s hand noticeably stiffened, the tip of the knife trembled slightly, and his once fierce gaze began to waver.

Jiang An caught this hint of hesitation and seized the opportunity to continue invoking his emotions: ”Looking at your age, you should be similar to me, right?”

”It’s the time to transition-the time when parents begin to age.”

”Have you thought about what would happen to them if you take the wrong step today?”

”Your parents worked hard all their lives to raise you, not to watch you walk to your doom... the pain of ’white-haired persons burying black-haired ones’ is a tragedy no family can bear.”

As he spoke, he discreetly moved forward step by step.

Behind him, Mr. Ma and Wan held their breath in tension.

Jiang An left without a gun and without a bulletproof vest; if the suspect became violent, the consequences would be inconceivable.

Mr. Ma quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie, lowered his voice, and urgently ordered, ”Attention all units!”

”Protect Mr. Jiang’s safety with all your strength! If the target behaves abnormally, shoot immediately!”

”Received!”

Several snipers positioned on the high ground responded simultaneously.

Infrared aiming points had long since locked onto the suspect’s brow and chest.

Jiang An didn’t look back; his focus was entirely on the man before him.

He stopped when only two meters remained between them, slowly raising both hands to show he wasn’t carrying any weapons: ”Look, I didn’t bring anything.”

”Today, I’m standing here not as a policeman pressuring you but as a peer talking to you.”

”If it were me, seeing someone I love most walk into a hotel with another person in front of my eyes...”

”I’d also find it hard to stay calm.”

His tone was sincere, and he looked steadily into the other’s eyes: ”But listen to me—put down the knife, you still have hope.”

”As long as the hostage is safe, as long as you’re willing to turn back, the law will give you the chance to speak.”

”But if you keep holding onto it...”

He paused slightly, voice sinking, ”Look around, more than forty policemen have surrounded this place; you have no other ending to choose.”

The man’s gaze was fixed on Jiang An’s face, seemingly torn by two forces inside.

One was the despair tending towards destruction, and the other was a lingering desire to survive.

The scene fell silent, interrupted only by occasional bird calls from afar and the hostage’s suppressed sobbing.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Approximately five minutes later, the man’s hand gripping the knife finally slowly lowered.

With a clatter, the knife fell to the ground.

Soon afterward, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.

The previous ferocity and determination in his eyes had vanished, leaving only endless exhaustion and emptiness.

Jiang An darted forward, kicked the knife into a distant corner, and immediately signaled to his colleagues hidden around.

The prepared police officers quickly rushed out from their positions, swiftly subduing the man and placing cold handcuffs on him.

Nearby, the rescued hostage, Wu Guang, slumped down, tears of survival streaming from his eyes.

He grabbed Jiang An’s clothing, his voice choked with emotion, barely able to form complete words: ”Thank you, Mr. Jiang... really, thank you... without you, I might have...”

Jiang An crouched down, gently patting his shoulder, his voice steady and soothing: ”It’s all over, it’s finished.”

”You were very brave, held on till the end.”

He signaled the policemen nearby to care for Wu Guang before turning to head towards the controlled suspect.

The suspect was soon escorted to the foot of the mountain.

Mr. Li, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly approached and heavily patted Jiang An’s shoulder, his tone filled with a mix of fear and relief: ”You, really, you have extraordinary courage!”

”You did great this time—but I must say, you can’t take such a risk next time!”

”Watching you approach step by step just now, my heart almost stopped.”

”You didn’t have any protective gear; if he had gone crazy...”

Jiang An grinned, his tone relaxed yet firm: ”Mr. Li, didn’t you always lead the charge when you were the head of the criminal investigation team?”

”As the old saying goes, ’Without entering the tiger’s den, how can one get the tiger cub?’”

”Besides, our prior assessments indicated the suspect only had a knife, no guns or heavy weapons, the risk was generally controllable.”

Just then, an old policeman approached and sincerely gave a thumbs up: ”Mr. Jiang, I’m truly impressed.”

”Your courage and negotiation skills could literally be written into police academy teaching materials.”

”Being a criminal investigation captain requires not just expertise, but also the daring to fight and the ability to understand and ’attack the heart’ like you!”

Jiang An smiled and waved his hand, his tone modest, ”You’re the real veteran; there are many things I need to learn from you.”

With the successful rescue of the hostage, the task force’s atmosphere was noticeably relaxed.

The group quickly packed up their gear, escorting the suspect onto a vehicle and drove back to Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.

Forty minutes later, the lights in Interrogation Room 1 turned on.

The suspect sat dejectedly in the interrogation chair, hands cuffed, eyes vacant.

Jiang An and Wan sat across from him, Wan opened his notebook and calmly began the questioning: ”Name, age, occupation.”

The man slowly raised his head, his voice hoarse, ”Li Wei, 27, used to work in an electronics factory in the southern part of the city.”

”Explain the course of your murder.”

Li Wei was silent for a long time before finally speaking slowly, his voice filled with regret and despair: ”It was all for Zhang Qian...”

”We used to be elementary school classmates. After graduation, because my family was poor, I had to drop out and go work in a different area.”

”Before leaving, we made a promise: after working for three years and saving some money, I’d return to find her and we’d be together again.”

”For those three years, I often wrote to her; she replied as well.”

”I always thought we were working towards that promise... but when I returned last year, I found everything had changed.”