"Changing?"

"Well, I've seen this guy's case file in the blood cell before, and at first, he killed some dusty women in the Whitechapel area." Sherlock found a chair and leaned back in his chair as he slowly recalled:

During this time, which lasted about a month and a half, he killed a total of 27 prostitutes, almost all of whom were disemboweled, or cut off limbs, in short, to destroy the bodies as much as he could, but deliberately kept his face.

When I saw this, I could actually feel that Mr. Ripper was a person with a special affection for prostitutes, which could be hatred or some kind of perverted 'self-need', anyway, he vented his frustration or pleasure by destroying the body of the deceased.

So he had to leave the face of the deceased because he needed to let others know the identity of the deceased; And leaving a small note to predict the next deceased is probably for this reason, he wants everyone to know that the next prostitute is about to be killed, and it would be better if the deceased himself knew that he was about to be killed.

Because this will make the prey feel frightened and helpless, this kind of playful play, as well as psychological torture, is also part of his killing.

It's no secret that cutting open the chest of a frightened person is a completely different feeling than cutting open the chest of an unsuspecting person, and this is a way for the Ripper to enhance the experience of torture. ”

Hopkins squirmed and shifted himself into his seat

In fact, every time he heard Sherlock use this perverted train of thought to speculate on another perverted idea, he felt a little uncomfortable, he didn't understand why this guy could write so many distorted mentalities, and seemed to be able to empathize with every psychology.

It's like there's an area in this guy's head that's a polymer of perverted psychology, and I don't know what will happen if one day he releases all these horrible thoughts. Well, Hopkins didn't want to think about it anymore, at least for the time being, Sherlock was on his side, so he simply continued to listen to what the other party had to say.

"And what puzzled me a little was that after more than a month, our Mr. Ripper seemed to be less enthusiastic about prostitutes all of a sudden, and he began to turn his attention to other people, such as some government officials, or people who were influential in society.

At first, I thought he was tired of killing and wanted to change his taste, but when I read four or five dossiers in succession, I found out. Even his personality has changed.

He is more concerned about torture and killing, and he is even willing to end a person's life in a simple way without any emotion, such as 'cutting the throat', and instead focuses on murder such as secret rooms, murder in full view, incomprehensible murder methods, impossible deaths, and so on.

This is not quite the same as his previous personality, a person who focuses on emotional catharsis suddenly starts to do this, like a stupid woman with a lot of emotions suddenly starts to focus on logic and industrial design. ”

"You mean [The Ripper] changed people halfway through?" Captain Gregerson wasn't the kind of person who could hold his breath, so following Sherlock's words, he asked directly.

"It's a replacement, so to speak." Sherlock responded, "I'm more inclined to, though. The ripper is not just a person, but a legacy. ”

"Eh?"

This time, it was Hopkins who spoke, in fact, as a thoughtful type of judge, he once suspected that [Ripper] had changed people halfway, but since he had not been able to find any traces of the other party, he didn't need to corroborate it.

As for the word inheritance. He really didn't understand it.

Fortunately, Sherlock smiled and explained directly: "You said before that the ripper is like a virus, constantly spreading, at the time I thought this description was quite appropriate, but in the past few days, I feel that there is a little flaw, so I said that it is a kind of inheritance."

That's what it means. After the next ripper appears, the previous one will disappear.

To put it more simply, the Rippers are likely to be fighting each other, and by killing each other, they will inherit the title of "Ripper".

It's like a spider that, after being born, needs to eat its own mother in order to take over the inheritance of life. ”

It may be that the underground power line that has just been installed is a little unstable, so in this small makeshift room, the lights suddenly flickered a few times, and Sherlock's explanation revealed a very absurd meaning, but no one immediately refuted it.

Because if that's the case, it seems to explain a lot of things at once.

For example, why there were ever deceased people who were killed at the same time at a great distance.

Why are the killing styles so different before and after?

Why the object of murder is changing all the time.

It even seems to explain why the social status of the deceased has become higher and higher, from the lowest prostitute at the beginning, to people like the Pope and even Miss Nightingale.

Like a murderer who can continue to devour his own kind, and then become more and more powerful, his appetite has grown under the continuous inheritance, and now, of course, it is impossible to be satisfied with those little-known prey.

As soon as he thought of this, Hopkins seemed to be suddenly stunned, and a question that he had been bothered with rushed into his mind at once with Sherlock's explanation.

"Could it be that the reason why I haven't been able to find out who is the ripper is because the people I'm tracking down are actually dead?"

Sherlock nodded:

"It's very likely, and it's even more likely that they have each other's names in the trailers left by these 'rippers'."

The silence came so suddenly

Hopkins's body stiffened obviously, and then he glanced at Captain Gregson on the other side of the room a little blankly, and found that he was also looking at himself with similar eyes, just like that, the two looked at each other for a long time, and finally, Gregson, who had thick nerves, reflected first, and then rubbed his beard, which had not been taken care of for a long time:

"That is, the ripper killed the ripper? So it is very likely that the murderer we have been tracking down is actually the deceased? ”

He probably felt that what he was saying was a bit distorted, and he turned his gaze to Sherlock.

And then Sherlock said something even more ridiculous.

"You may not believe it, I doubt it. Pope Nadine Beru, who was murdered just a few days ago, is one of the rippers. ”

(End of chapter)