Wu Lianshan was dressed entirely in plain colors, her expression tense and uncomfortable. “Officer Chen, you said you wanted to see me. I had to take leave from work to come here. What exactly do you need me to cooperate with?”
Chen Zheng led her into an interview room, where a female officer was already prepared to take notes. Wu Lianshan looked toward the recording equipment at the side, took a step back, and grew even more rigid. “This is…”
“Don’t worry. It’s only recording the interview process. More than anything, it’s a form of supervision over us.” Chen Zheng closed the door. In another room, Kong Bing stared intently at the monitor.
Wu Lianshan sat down uneasily and forced out a smile. “Sorry. I… I’ve never been somewhere like this before. I’m very… very nervous.”
Chen Zheng nodded. “Relax. We asked you here today mainly to verify several clues we uncovered while investigating in Yafu City.”
The moment she heard the words “Yafu City,” Wu Lianshan’s back snapped straight. “You… went to my hometown.”
“Because I’m personally very curious about your relationships with ‘Zeng Yan’ and Wu Junqian. And in Yafu City, we found some new points of suspicion. We’ll get to those in a moment.” Chen Zheng looked into Wu Lianshan’s eyes, his gaze almost patiently gentle. “Ms. Wu, about your family and your parents, you lied to us last time.”
Wu Lianshan avoided Chen Zheng’s gaze. “I… I didn’t.”
“You said your parents died in a traffic accident when you were very young and that you grew up with your grandmother. What you conveyed to us was that it was simply an ordinary accident and your parents had bad luck,” Chen Zheng said. “But it wasn’t an ordinary accident at all. The people who violated the traffic laws and caused it were fleeing drug traffickers.”
Wu Lianshan became increasingly agitated. “But it was still a traffic accident! Since you investigated in Yafu City, couldn’t you easily find out that the police classified it as a traffic accident? No matter who caused it, my parents died in a traffic accident. Was anything I said wrong?”
Her voice seemed to set echoes vibrating through the entire interview room, layer after layer of pressure rolling through Wu Lianshan’s rapid breathing.
Wu Lianshan covered her face. After a moment, she looked up. “I don’t want to mention those people, Officer Chen. Every time I think about my parents being killed by drug traffickers, I feel like I’m extraordinarily unlucky. Do you understand that feeling? If it had only been an ordinary traffic accident, I could still accept it. So many accidents happen every day. My parents would simply have been two among countless victims. But the people who hit them had to be drug traffickers. How many people are actually killed by drug traffickers in traffic accidents? Why did my parents have to be the ones who encountered them?”
Her voice choked, but she stubbornly held back her tears. A few seconds later, she shook her head helplessly and brushed her fingers past the corners of her eyes. “Forget it. You weren’t there. You wouldn’t understand.”
Chen Zheng looked at the pitiful woman before him and moved to the next question. “When you were thirteen, you and your grandmother lived in Zhuquan City for more than half a year. You stayed on Hele Street near No. 2 Middle School. Is that true?”
Wu Lianshan parted her lips, her gaze sweeping across the tabletop several times. With her right hand, she tucked a strand of hair from her cheek behind her ear. “Yes.”
Chen Zheng said, “But you never volunteered that information.”
Wu Lianshan argued, “Because I didn’t think it had anything to do with any of the questions you asked me before. That was ten years ago.”
“No connection?” Chen Zheng pressed gradually. “The home you rented was right beside No. 2 Middle School. Your grandmother’s earliest customers were students from the school. Even she still remembers Yin Jingliu, who disappeared. I asked you about Zeng Yan several times, yet you never once mentioned living there. And while you were selling at the stall, Zeng Yan happened to be a student at No. 2 Middle School.”
Wu Lianshan drew a hard breath. “But I really never met her! I didn’t know her!”
Chen Zheng said, “You didn’t know the old Zeng Yan, or you didn’t know the current ‘Zeng Yan’?”
Wu Lianshan looked startled for a moment. “I don’t understand.”
Chen Zheng asked again, “As far as I know, you suffered school bullying and refused to return to class, so your grandmother took you to Zhuquan City for a change of scenery. After spring began, what happened that made you so eager to go back to Yafu City?”
Wu Lianshan looked completely confused. “I… I wasn’t eager. I was still young. Every day I saw the students at No. 2 Middle School getting to attend classes, and I still felt envious. When Grandma asked whether I wanted to go back, I told her I wanted to return to school.”
Chen Zheng countered, “Then do you remember what just happened to occur at No. 2 Middle School before you left?” He heavily emphasized the words “just happened,” and saw the lines of Wu Lianshan’s neck suddenly tighten.
“A student disappeared,” Wu Lianshan said. “The Yin Jingliu you mentioned.”
“What else?”
“I really don’t know!”
Chen Zheng said, “Fine. Next question. There was a fairly sensational murder in Yafu City this April. Do you know about it?”
After the first two questions, Wu Lianshan looked as though she were sitting on needles, her hands repeatedly twisting together. “I know. I saw it on Moments, and my grandma mentioned it too.”
Chen Zheng asked, “Do you know who the victim was?”
Wu Lianshan shook her head. “I saw the surname, but I can’t remember it.”
“Her name was Zhao Shuihe,” Chen Zheng said. “Does that name mean anything to you?”
“No.”
“But your grandmother remembers her, and she remembers the conflict you had with her back then.”
Wu Lianshan’s eyes widened. “What? I never knew her!”
Chen Zheng said, “She once rented a place on Bajiao Street for a while, during one of the summers when you were in junior high. You were helping your grandmother watch the stall and doing homework. For no apparent reason, she came up to you and disparaged your choices, grades, and ambitions until she made them sound worthless.”
Chen Zheng slowed his speech, and with each sentence, Wu Lianshan’s breathing grew deeper.
“Remember her now?” Chen Zheng asked.
Wu Lianshan’s shoulders trembled. “That was her?”
Chen Zheng said, “Looks like you remember. Have you seen each other again in the past few years?”
Wu Lianshan denied it immediately. “How could we? I didn’t even know her name. No, Officer Chen, I’m getting more and more confused. What exactly are you investigating? Aren’t you investigating ‘Zeng Yan’ and that female business owner’s case? Why did you investigate all the way to my hometown? Fine, I understand that you think I hid things from you, but what does any of that have to do with Zhao…”
Chen Zheng calmly supplied, “Zhao Shuihe.”
Wu Lianshan said, “What does it have to do with Zhao Shuihe’s death?”
“Whether there’s a connection or not, no one can make a conclusion until the truth surfaces.” Chen Zheng looked at Wu Lianshan meaningfully.
Wu Lianshan froze, then her voice went off pitch. “You… you don’t actually think I killed Zhao Shuihe for revenge over something from years ago, do you? My God, how could you think that? Didn’t they already catch the murderer in that case?”
Chen Zheng did not directly deny her words. He only said, “Yafu City just sent over the latest news. The suspect, Xiang Yu, has retracted his confession. He says that by the time he found Zhao Shuihe, she had already suffered fatal injuries and was about to die. He merely picked up a knife the killer had left at the scene and stabbed Zhao Shuihe again.”
Wu Lianshan’s face gradually turned pale, sweat running down her forehead.
“Let’s set Xiang Yu aside for now. I have another question,” Chen Zheng said. “Still in April this year, during the period when Zhao Shuihe was murdered, you and Wu Ye were both in Yafu City. Why did you return then?”
Wu Lianshan could barely contain herself. “I brought Wu Ye back to see my grandma. Is that a problem too?”
Chen Zheng did not speak, and the silence made the atmosphere even subtler.
Wu Lianshan said agitatedly, “I live away from home by myself. I’m at the age when I should start thinking about major life decisions. Grandma has nagged me many times, saying she wants to see me in a wedding dress. She’s getting older and her health isn’t good. I thought… I thought my relationship with Wu Ye was fairly stable, so why not bring him home for her to meet? It would put her mind at ease.”
Chen Zheng asked, “How many days did you stay in Yafu City?”
Wu Lianshan calculated. “Six days, including the travel time there and back.”
“That long?” Chen Zheng said. “April is a fairly critical period for graduating students, isn’t it? Thesis work, job hunting, things like that.”
“But it isn’t easy for us to go back. I wanted to spend a few more days with Grandma.” Wu Lianshan’s explanation did sound somewhat reasonable.
Chen Zheng asked again, “Besides keeping your grandmother company, where else did you go?”
“We…” Wu Lianshan suddenly caught on. “Officer Chen, are you interrogating me like a criminal?”
Chen Zheng laughed softly. “I just suddenly remembered something. Why weren’t you actively job hunting during your final semester, and why did you only find an internship after graduation? I used to think it was strange. Now, if you were making room to return home in April, it makes sense.”
Wu Lianshan trembled. “If that’s how you’re determined to think, then I have nothing to say. ‘Zeng Yan’ secretly took my photo, so you suspect me. Fine, I deserve that. Wu Ye went to buy me jiangxiang flatbread, and you discovered that the time and place overlapped with Wu Junqian’s disappearance, so you suspect me again. I accept that too. Now you’re dumping the Yafu City case on me as well. Fine. Just execute me!”
The female officer beside her said, “No one has said you’re the murderer, Ms. Wu. Please calm down first.”
Wu Lianshan suddenly began to cry as though she had suffered an enormous injustice.
Chen Zheng gave the female officer a few instructions, then stepped outside for some air. Kong Bing was waiting in the corridor, his expression slightly complicated.
Chen Zheng walked past him. “What’s with you?”
Kong Bing followed. “You…”
“Me?” Chen Zheng laughed. “Since when does Captain Kong have trouble finishing a sentence in one breath?”
Kong Bing immediately hardened his face. “Don’t you think you were a little too aggressive today?”
Chen Zheng pushed open the pantry door. No one was inside. He mixed himself a cup of coffee and swirled it. The instant coffee granules spun with the rapidly moving water and quickly dissolved, yet not a single drop splashed out of the cup.
“Aggressive?” Chen Zheng said. “The clues have converged this far. You still think Wu Lianshan is innocent?”
Kong Bing fell silent.
“She and Wu Ye cannot possibly be an ordinary young couple. There has to be some hidden purpose behind the two of them getting together.” Chen Zheng drained the coffee in one swallow. Instant coffee was hardly worth savoring. As long as it kept him awake, it was good enough. “There’s no need to keep accommodating Wu Lianshan’s temperament now. If she needs to be provoked, provoke her. If she needs to be tested, test her.”
Kong Bing suddenly laughed.
Chen Zheng looked at him.
“Are you the person in charge, or am I? You’re teaching me how to do my job again?” Kong Bing’s tone was unfriendly, but there was no real hostility in it.
Chen Zheng’s lips curved. He crushed the cup in his hand, threw it into the trash, and walked to the door. “Then I’ll leave?”
Kong Bing choked, then shouted down the corridor, “Finish questioning her before you go!”
When Chen Zheng returned to the interview room, Wu Lianshan had calmed down under the female officer’s reassurance and even gave Chen Zheng an embarrassed smile.
Chen Zheng said, “There’s one thing I need to be honest with you about. I do suspect that you’re connected to these three cases.”
Wu Lianshan sucked in a breath. Before she could speak, Chen Zheng gestured for her to remain calm. “But compared with you, your boyfriend Wu Ye is actually even more suspicious.”
“Impossible!” Wu Lianshan immediately said. “He’s still a student! And he’s very kind. He can’t even bear to hurt a small animal.”
Chen Zheng said, “Let me ask you something about Wu Ye. How much do you know about his family of origin?”
Wu Lianshan froze. “…His family? I know his parents divorced and that his father raised him.”
“That’s what he told you?”
Wu Lianshan nodded. “We actually don’t talk much about family. I lost my parents when I was little. That’s my scar. If someone doesn’t ask me, I definitely won’t bring it up, and I wouldn’t take the initiative to ask about someone else’s family either.”
Chen Zheng said, “But you’re in a relationship that you say is headed toward marriage. It would be normal to understand each other’s family background, wouldn’t it?”
At the word “marriage,” Wu Lianshan’s expression changed almost imperceptibly. “Yes. That’s why I brought him to meet my grandma. He also said that later he’d take me to meet his sister.”
Chen Zheng asked, “Only his sister? Did you know his father is already dead?”
“He told me.” Wu Lianshan lowered her head, her voice very soft.
“Then have you heard the rumors about his father?”
“N-no.”
Chen Zheng paused for half a minute. “His neighbors suspect that his alcoholic father, who abused women, may have been deliberately killed through a scheme arranged by his sister. And Wu Ye knew about it.”
Wu Lianshan shot to her feet, terror naked in her eyes. “What?”
Chen Zheng said, “He never told you any of this, did he?”
Wu Lianshan gripped the edge of the table, unable to believe it. “How is that possible?”
Chen Zheng continued, “Wu Ye depended on his mother and his sister. He grew up under their protection. Now both his mother and sister have families of their own and no longer live with him. The girlfriend he chose is older than him and resembles his sister.”
Wu Lianshan cried out, “Stop! I’m not anyone’s replacement!”
Chen Zheng shrugged. “That’s all for today. If you remember anything about Wu Ye that might be useful, contact me anytime.”
In Yafu City, Xu Chuan was spinning around like a top. Compared with him, Ming Han looked almost idle, wandering around the municipal bureau as though he had nothing to do.
Zhao Shuihe’s body had been discovered quickly, so the surveillance footage around Xingfu Park from the time of the murder had been preserved relatively completely. Ming Han had Xu Chuan submit an application to obtain all of it and review it again from an entirely new angle.
The work required a great deal of manpower, and Gong Jin specifically assigned officers to assist them.
Late at night, when everyone was exhausted, Xu Chuan suddenly let out an excited squawk and grabbed Ming Han while pointing frantically at the screen, too worked up to get a word out. Ming Han lazily glanced over. When he saw the frozen figure on the monitor, he showed no excitement at all. He only smiled and patted Xu Chuan’s shoulder. “Nice work.”
The person on the screen was Wu Ye. The time was eleven at night on April 11. Dressed in a black tracksuit, he appeared alone outside the south gate of Xingfu Park.
Zhao Shuihe had been murdered on the night of the twelfth.
Xu Chuan finally swallowed the breath caught in his throat. “Brother Ming, you’re not surprised at all?”
Ming Han immediately cooperated by raising a fist. “Chuan’er, amazing!”
Xu Chuan muttered speechlessly, “That was so perfunctory.”
Ming Han patted his shoulder. “Guess why I told you to check the surveillance footage.”
Xu Chuan suddenly understood. “You knew we’d capture Wu Ye on camera?”
“I didn’t know. I hoped we would,” Ming Han said. “According to the reasoning Director Chen and I worked out, Wu Ye should have appeared near Xingfu Park. Whether a camera caught him was another matter. Fifty-fifty. He isn’t very familiar with this city, so even if he deliberately tried to avoid cameras, he might not have been able to avoid all of them. That left us an opportunity.”
Xu Chuan opened the map and measured with his fingers for a while. “Xingfu Park is so far from Bajiao Street.”
One was in the northwest and the other in the southeast, almost opposite corners of the city. During the day, it might have made sense for Wu Lianshan to show Wu Ye around town, but Wu Ye appearing here alone at night was very much worth investigating.
Xu Chuan said, “I’ll contact Director Chen right now and send him the video!”
Ming Han said instead, “No rush. When you met Xiang Yu, didn’t he say he saw a shadow in the park that night? Have Captain Gong’s people show him this footage and question him again. Let’s see how he reacts.”
Xiang Yu had already been transferred to the detention facility at Yafu Municipal Bureau. After overturning his previous statement, he had become abnormally excited, as though he no longer needed sleep.
Gong Jin personally brought the video to question him. “Do you recognize this person?”
Xiang Yu’s bloodshot eyes locked onto the screen. After watching it several times, he shouted, “That’s him!”
Gong Jin said, “Who?”
“He’s the person I saw in the park!” Xiang Yu said excitedly. “I couldn’t see his face clearly, but the height, build, and clothes are all the same! He killed Zhao Shuihe! He left the knife there too!”
At the same time, Xu Chuan and the municipal bureau detectives continued reviewing surveillance footage through the night. Besides April 11, cameras near Xingfu Park had captured Wu Ye twice more. He appeared to have been scouting the area.
A camera near Yihe Advertising had also captured him once.
For both the Yafu City case and the Zhuquan City cases, this was a major breakthrough.
Zhuquan police were monitoring every move made by Wu Lianshan and Wu Ye. After Wu Lianshan left Beiye Sub-bureau, she should logically have returned to the home she shared with Wu Ye. But she seemed to have developed a fear of him. Halfway back, she turned around and went to No. 9 Hospital. The hospital provided dormitories for doctors and nurses, and she moved directly into the dormitory. Wu Ye’s life, meanwhile, appeared unchanged. He attended class when he had class and went home when he was supposed to.
After the two cities held a video conference, Kong Bing asked Chen Zheng, “Why did you only question Wu Lianshan? Why won’t you question Wu Ye?”
Chen Zheng was silent for a moment. A trace of doubt rose in his mind, but he did not express it to Kong Bing. He only said, “The comparison result for that half-footprint from the scene is already back. It’s highly similar to Wu Ye’s footprint. Can’t you arrest him directly now?”
Kong Bing raised an eyebrow.
Chen Zheng added, “You question Wu Ye.”
Kong Bing looked surprised. “Then what are you doing?”
Chen Zheng joked, “I’m only a ‘cheat code.’ I can’t do every job for you. What would the captain be for then?”
Kong Bing’s face darkened again.
Chen Zheng said, “I’ll sit in the monitoring room.”
Kong Bing watched his back and muttered to himself, “Can’t handle him face-to-face, so you insist on watching through a monitor?”
Wu Ye had no classes that morning. He cooked at home, ate, then went downstairs to feed the stray cats. After cleaning up, he set out for the health college. A Beiye Sub-bureau vehicle waited for him midway. Detectives got out and showed him an arrest warrant.
He froze for a moment, then asked, “Have you already arrested Sister Shan?”
The detective asked, “She didn’t tell you where she is?”
Wu Ye shook his head blankly.
The two detectives exchanged a glance and said nothing more, simply asking Wu Ye to get into the car.
The interrogation room was brightly lit, making Wu Ye look even paler. He raised his head, studied the unfamiliar face across from him, then glanced toward the door.
Kong Bing said, “Who are you looking for? Wu Lianshan? You won’t be seeing her for the time being.”
Wu Ye said, “Where’s Officer Chen?”
Kong Bing said, “You want him to question you?”
Wu Ye said, “No. It just feels strange.”
“What’s strange?”
“He’s always the one who comes to see me.”
At that moment, in the monitoring room, Chen Zheng silently stared at the screen. This was a completely different perspective from the interrogation room, and it was the perspective he preferred. Personally conducting an interrogation was one method; observing a suspect from here was another. Voices seemed to arrive from another time and space, while everything around him remained absolutely silent. That silence made him calmer, sharpening his senses to their limit.
Kong Bing began questioning him. “Is this you?”
The laptop on the table began playing surveillance footage. A man in black appeared outside Xingfu Park, behaving suspiciously.
Wu Ye’s lips parted, revealing a trace of surprise.
Kong Bing watched him intently. Wu Ye did not speak. Kong Bing played the other videos, then took out Zhao Shuihe’s photo. “Have you seen this woman?”
Wu Ye glanced at it with almost no change in emotion. “No.”
Kong Bing said, “Then explain why you appeared near the scene where she was murdered.”
Wu Ye’s reaction remained flat. “It’s only a park anyone can visit.”
“Yes, anyone can go there. But everyone who goes has a purpose.” Kong Bing leaned forward. “What was yours?”
Wu Ye did not answer.
Kong Bing said, “Let me tell you something else. Xiang Yu, the suspect who originally admitted to the crime, has now told Yafu police that when he reached the scene, Zhao Shuihe was already covered in injuries and near death. He also saw someone else.”
Wu Ye looked into Kong Bing’s eyes.
Kong Bing tapped the screen. “He identified you from the footage as that person. And your footprint is highly similar to the one recovered at the scene.”
Silence spread through the interrogation room. Outside it, Chen Zheng stood before the monitor, his right hand supporting his chin.
Something was wrong.
From the moment Wu Ye entered the interrogation room, Chen Zheng had sensed that something had slipped off track. Wu Ye was too calm. It was as if he had rehearsed this situation many times before.
A moment later, Wu Ye suddenly lowered his head and began to laugh. The laughter sounded helpless, with a faint thread of madness.
Kong Bing glared sternly at him. “What are you laughing at?”
Wu Ye drew a hard breath deep into his lungs, as if making one final, crucial decision.
“I’m laughing because I still couldn’t escape being caught by you.” Wu Ye narrowed his eyes slightly and wrapped both arms around himself. “Yes. I killed someone. The person you recorded was me. The one that Xiang… whatever his name was saw was also me.”
Kong Bing himself looked surprised now, not having expected Wu Ye to confess so easily. “You’re admitting that you killed Zhao Shuihe?”
Wu Ye’s body sank lower, his eyes devoid of light. “Yes.”
Kong Bing could not help continuing, “Then what about ‘Zeng Yan’ and Wu Junqian?”
“All me,” Wu Ye said. “Those women all deserved to die.”