207 Hermaphrodite

 

“Hermaphrodite?” They were shocked by my conclusion. I looked at them and explained, “Yes, the killer should be a hermaphrodite. This could be the reason behind his MPD. We know that the timeline of all 3 stories overlaps. The killer first killed the female boss from the adult toy store in the 2nd story before he went after the 2 OLs in the first story.”

The two nodded. I continued, “And when the killer went after the family of 3 in the 2nd story, he has lived in the sewer for a long time already. The 3 locations are very far from each other. It is why Xiao Liu believes the killer is in a group because a single person couldn’t be at so many places at one time.”

Gu Chen agreed with Xiao Liu. “That’s right, I think so too. But the killer is crazy, and his mind is different from normal people. If we can understand his mind, then we’d be crazy too.”

I corrected, “It’s more than that. The killer has multiple personalities. It’s like there are many souls living inside one body, but the souls couldn’t see each other. So every time the killer wakes up, he doesn’t even know where he is. Each soul can only control his body for a specific period of them, and each soul has their secrets hidden from the others.”

Mary nodded. “I’ve encountered people like that before. So you mean when the killer was killing people, the body was controlled by different souls? Is it why the mo is so different? Some are so brutal, some mysterious, and others careful?”

I snapped my finger. “And the reason why the killer has to write down the stories.” This was something I had been pondering. The killer wrote down the stories, but he didn’t really follow them strictly according to the timeline. I also understood why the killer left behind those English statements at the crime scenes. The messages were not for the police but for the killer himself. The messages were for the killer to remind himself who had done what. I added, “I believe some of the personas can communicate with each other.”

You went to bed at night, but you woke up on the street; you talked to your friend, but then you realized you were home; you were at City A, but suddenly you were at City B. A clever person would eventually realize the problem with their mind. I believed the storyteller was the cleverest persona among the rest. He had discovered the other personas within him. When I was underground, I was lucky to have met 3 of his personas.

The person who injured Zhao Mingkun was probably the 4th persona, the one they called Yama. I believed as the killer grew older, more personas within him started to realize each other’s existence. Perhaps by killing others, they could kill themselves.

At that moment, Guan Zhenglin walked in. She yawned. “Even at my place, I can hear you people. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

I shared my thoughts with Guan Zhenglin, and she became spirited. “Wu Meng, I know you’ve studied a lot of psychology but most of the stories you know you heard from the prison inmates when you were young. If your speculation is correct, then the killer suffers not from MPD but dissociative identity disorder.”

“Is there a difference?” I scratched my head.

Guan Zhenglin sat on the bed and hugged Mary. “Of course there is. Multiple personality disorder has several common symptoms. The patient is extremely introverted and rarely talks to others. Normally they are expressionless, and they can’t effectively express themselves. They also normally lack sexual urges.

“Dissociative identity disorder is easier to understand.” Guan Zhenglin leaned on Mary, “There are multiple personas living inside a person. For some, the personas know each other, and some don’t. The personas are extremely varied, be it in gender, height, or weight. Of course, these only exist in their mind.” Guan Zhenglin added, “If the killer is 1.7 meters tall, he won’t suddenly have a persona that is 1.9 meters tall. However, the different personas can be influenced by their preset subconscious. For example, when a person believes they have cancer, their cells will really die; when a person believes he is strong, his strength will be greater than normal.”

I nodded. “So that is how the killer managed to pierce the metal pole through 2 people.” Guan Zhenglin nodded. I continued, “And I think the killer is a hermaphrodite.”

Guan Zhenglin frowned.

I asked, “That’s medically possible, right?”

Guan Zhenglin was silent before she said, “Yes, it is possible. Actually, if we’re talking about medical delineation, there are 7 sex to human beings. Other than the common male and female, there are 5 more.”

“That many?” I was surprised that my hypothesis would lead to a medical discussion. Guan Zhenglin shrugged and said seriously, “To put it plainly, there is external male and internal female, they have a male penis but no testicles, they have ovary and vagina; external male and internal non-male, they have a penis but no testicles; external female and internal male, they have a female vagina but have internal testicles; external female and internal non-female, they have a vagina but no ovaries.

“One last type is the real hermaphrodite.” Guan Zhenglin said, “They have the full set of male and female genitalia both externally and internally. But of course, there are variations to this too.”

The rest of us frowned. When I suspected the killer was a hermaphrodite, I didn’t consider such details. Guan Zhenglin lecturer, “Considering the population of our country, it’s not that unusual to have a group of hermaphrodites. According to statistics, there are 60 percent 46 XX, 30 percent 46 XY and 10 percent XXYY.”

I was confused.

Guan Zhenglin shrugged, “I’ll explain it quickly. Hermaphrodites have a very high chance of having genital cancer. XX is suitable to live as a woman and XY to live as men post-surgery. Since the former is more common, the surgery will have a lesser risk, so most doctors would suggest these people to live their lives as a woman.”

“What about XXYY?” I asked.

“They are extremely rare and have been a point of contention within the medical community. There are two sides. For example, we know that there are identical twins and dizygotic twins. Identical twins are when a fertilized ovum splits into two, while dizygotic twins are two fertilized ova. Since a fertilized ovum can split into two, then 2 fertilized ova can join into one. To put it simply, two fertilized ova join into one during fertilization, so one baby has 2 sets of DNA.”

I nodded with confusion. Guan Zhenglin continued, “The second is the ovum is heavily fertilized when it is differentiating before the fertilized ova form a singular embryo. Regardless, both of these cases are extremely rare,, and if the killer is one of these people, then it would explain the change in sexes.”

I slapped my thigh. “Xiao Liu is always a careful person, and he rarely confirms something until he can be certain. I notice this during this case. Xiao Liu must have found 2 DNA on the bowls, so he is certain that there is more than one killer. And,” I continued, “Even though Xiao Liu is ambitious, he still treats this case seriously. He believes that he can capture the killers before their next move. But his direction is wrong. And without the crucial clue, we wouldn’t be able to find the killer either.” I frowned and said, “So now we need to go and examine those bowl pieces. There has to be something on them.”

“Now?” Gu Chen looked around, “Don’t you guys need to rest?”

Guan Zhenglin said, “There’s no time to rest. By tonight, the killer will make his next move. We can’t let him kill more people.”