Han Zecheng flipped through the painting book and suddenly asked: “Doctor Cheng, do you know what the number 27 means to Liao Xiaoqing?”

Dr. Cheng thought about it seriously and shook her head: “She didn’t specifically mention this number to me, nor did she say anything related to 27.”

Xia Fan leaned over and asked Han Zecheng in a low voice: “What’s wrong?”

Han Zecheng pointed to the paintings in the book and said: “In each one of these paintings there’s always a trace of 27.”

“Like these flowers, there are 27 of them. The clouds here, there are also 27 of them.”

“This one is the two of them in the car. Look at the trees and the silhouettes on either side, there are exactly 27 on both sides.”

Dr. Cheng listened and reached out to take the painting book over: “I didn’t notice the number of the drawings on the backgrounds before, I only looked at the main subject of the painting.”

“Then, looking at these paintings again now, can you see any special meaning of the number 27?”

“These paintings are a representation of her mood.”

Dr. Cheng took out a few of Liao Xiaoqing’s early paintings and flipped through them.

“Look, there are none of these in her early paintings. I can’t tell what 27 means to her now.”

“It could be a number that has a commemorative meaning to her, or it could be that she just happened to encounter this number when she was doing something and then she compulsively put it in a similar and identical event.”

“All that can be said now is that the number 27 reminds her of happy things.”

Happy things? Xia Fan felt a chill down her spine.

Stabbing someone 27 times in a row, how could this be connected to being happy?

Han Zecheng asked a few more questions then put the painting book back.

There was a picture frame next to the book, it was a graduation photo.

Han Zecheng smiled and said: “Dr. Cheng was a little chubby girl when she was young, huh?”

Dr. Cheng laughed and said: “Officer Han has good eyesight, I’ve changed quite a bit in appearance but you still recognized me at once. That’s really an old photo; it is from my graduation from our medical school. It has been so many years since then.”

“Dr. Cheng, I have one last question.”

Han Zecheng let go of the photo frame and asked: “If you use hypnosis, can you control a person’s actions so that they would unconsciously do exactly what they are instructed to do, and then wake up with no memory at all of what had happened?”

Dr. Cheng sat up straighter and seemed more sensitive: “Officer Han, to explain this as an expert, I would say that yes it can be done.”

“However, the person doing the hypnosis has to be of a very high caliber, and the hypnotized person has to be very relaxed and unguarded for it to succeed. This sort of practice is very risky and is not recommended.”

“In Liao Xiaoqing’s case, the question you just asked would make me feel like I’m under suspicion. Liao Xiaoqing is very defensive and it would not be easy to hypnotize her.”

“So, am I now a suspect?”