Huo Xiling frowned. “What are you trying to say?”
“Someone as calculating as you must have worked out before I did why he was killed,” Ming Han said. “We’ve investigated Huo Yewei’s relationships in the entertainment industry. He had plenty of enemies, but compared with your world, entertainment is positively innocent. President Huo, you wouldn’t even spare your own sister, so naturally you’d be even more ruthless with outsiders. Someone discovered that Huo Yewei was your son, the weakness you went to such lengths to conceal, and went after him.”
Huo Xiling said unhappily, “You’re being extremely rude. Huo Xiyun died of a brain disease. If you want to inspect her medical records, they should still be available. Far from harming her, I took painstaking care of her during her last days.”
Ming Han nodded. “In other words, you’re telling me I won’t find any evidence?”
Huo Xiling did not reply.
“But you seem to have forgotten that my job right now isn’t to investigate the truth behind your sister’s death from illness. It’s to solve Huo Yewei’s murder.” Ming Han gave a short laugh. “You’re his mother. Why are you trying to evade my questions?”
Huo Xiling’s face turned ghastly. She appeared about to speak, but swallowed the words because of some unspeakable concern.
“President Huo, just now you seemed to think of something, or someone. Let me tell you something else. Before his death, Huo Yewei had been using a psychiatric drug for a long time. In reality, it was a narcotic. We’ve found similar drugs in other cases. Does that suggest anything to you?”
Huo Xiling drew a deep breath and shook her head. “Give me a little more time. I have channels of my own for investigating.”
Ming Han stood up and turned off his recording device. Huo Xiling looked startled, unable to tell what he intended. He returned to the table, braced both hands on its edge, and bent forward. “President Huo, the formal interview is over. What I’m going to ask next is rather personal. You’re free to answer or refuse.”
Huo Xiling’s brow creased even more deeply, her gaze intensely guarded.
Ming Han lowered his voice beside her ear. “Have you heard of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler?”
Huo Xiling’s eyes widened abruptly. The name seemed to pierce her eardrum like a needle and stab straight into her brain. A full half minute passed before she could move again. “What? I don’t know it.”
Ming Han’s laugh carried a trace of wickedness. “Really? Your reaction says you do, or at least that you’ve heard of it.”
Huo Xiling looked up, fear showing in her eyes. She pressed her lips together and said nothing.
“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m simply very interested in this organization personally,” Ming Han said. “The fact is, I’m not entirely unconnected to you and Huo Yewei.”
“You’re not a police officer?” Huo Xiling asked.
“I am. But I once had a wealthy family too.” Ming Han bent to her ear again. “Not long ago, I nearly lost my life at the hands of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.”
Huo Xiling’s back went rigid, and the way she looked at Ming Han changed.
Ming Han pressed an index finger to his lips. “Shh. That’s our secret. Do you trust me a little more now?”
After a long while, Huo Xiling lifted her chin proudly. “I need time.”
Ming Han opened the door for her and leaned against the wall. “You can come to me anytime.”
As soon as Huo Xiling left, Mobile Unit personnel followed her.
Ming Han’s phone rang. It was Tang Xiaoli. “That was far too bold, using the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to test Huo Xiling like that.”
“She’s just like Bu Yangyun. Neither would stop at anything to reach their goals,” Ming Han said with disgust. “She has the same stench about her that Bu Yangyun does.”
Tang Xiaoli was quiet for a moment. “We’ve just received news from Country G. Bu Yangyun has disappeared.”
The Han Province Mobile Unit had not previously established a cooperative relationship with Skoblin City in Country G, where Bu Yangyun lived. After Ming Han’s last telephone conversation with Bu Yangyun, Tang Xiaoli and Lu Hejing had contacted an Interpol officer they’d worked with before. The officer was in Europe and agreed to visit Skoblin City to look into matters.
But when the officer finally tracked down Bu Yangyun’s residence, he found the place empty. At his insistence, the local police opened an investigation.
Bu Yangyun had moved to Skoblin City seven years earlier. Before that, he appeared to have worked in the internet industry in the south of Country G. After arriving in Skoblin, perhaps because he had amassed sufficient wealth, he settled into semi-retirement, making financial investments from home and rarely associating with other people.
He employed a housekeeper to manage his daily needs. According to her, he liked young East Asian women and often brought different women home, though he never allowed any to stay overnight. He didn’t fit into the social circles of his local peers, nor did he care to.
Skoblin was a relatively peaceful small city. After a turbulent life, he enjoyed the security wealth brought him. He liked walking along the river that crossed the city at dusk. At those times, he looked like a local who had lived there for decades.
The housekeeper was also baffled by his sudden disappearance. She had a small room in the villa and sometimes stayed overnight when there was a lot of work. She recalled that Bu Yangyun seemed to change after receiving a particular phone call. During the call he hadn’t spoken the language of Country G, but what seemed to be his native language, which she couldn’t understand.
After hanging up, Bu Yangyun sat silently for a long time. When she called him to dinner, he waved her away and told her to go home early.
In her experience, Bu Yangyun had enjoyed joking around, even if she could never tell what schemes were running through his mind. After that call, however, he often sat alone lost in thought, his face looking grim. Whenever she called to him, it was as though she’d woken him from a nightmare. The expression in his eyes frightened her.
On the morning he disappeared, she arrived at the villa as usual at eight and didn’t see him. That wasn’t uncommon. Sometimes Bu Yangyun went out to exercise or picked up food in the city center. She went into the courtyard to water the plants. Bu Yangyun grew a huge variety of flowers and kept numerous miniature rock gardens, all requiring plenty of water every day. For her, tending his plants and rocks was more exhausting than taking care of the man himself.
After eleven, he still hadn’t returned. Finding it strange, she called him, but his phone was off. She prepared lunch uneasily, yet he remained absent even at three in the afternoon.
Remembering his recent state, she worried he’d been in a road accident. But when she asked a police officer she knew, she learned there had been no accidents.
She was only a housekeeper, and Bu Yangyun was an eccentric elderly foreigner. After thinking it over, she decided not to interfere and went home.
The next day, she returned to find the villa empty once again, with no sign that Bu Yangyun had come back. She reported it to the agency that employed her. They said they’d look into the situation, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She did not return to the villa after that, until the police came to find her.
Police found no suspicious traces in the villa. It appeared Bu Yangyun had left voluntarily during the night. Surveillance cameras in Skoblin did not cover the residential neighborhoods, so there was no way to trace where he had appeared after vanishing.
The Interpol officer said the local police were inefficient and had already stopped investigating. Finding Bu Yangyun and clarifying what he’d been doing in Country G would probably require more extensive international intervention. Tang Xiaoli and Lu Hejing both knew the Mobile Unit couldn’t manage that at present.
“So my call indirectly caused Bu Yangyun to disappear.” After hearing the report, Ming Han lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall with a dark expression.
“I shared the latest information with you, not to make you feel guilty,” Tang Xiaoli said. “Once we’d reached this stage, it didn’t matter who made that call. The very fact that Bu Yangyun moved to Skoblin City suggests he was trying to escape something.”
“He wasn’t old enough to have to retire. He should have stayed in the south.”
“Exactly. Skoblin is barely more than a town. It looks like he was trying to withdraw from some circle to protect himself,” Tang Xiaoli analyzed. “He knew your investigation would draw certain people’s attention back to him. That’s why he was so distracted. He was looking for a way out.”
Ming Han rubbed his eyes. If he could, he’d have liked to go to Country G personally, but international cooperation wasn’t that simple. Besides, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler had already marked him. Even if the Mobile Unit sent someone, it wouldn’t be him.
“Then what should I do now?” Ming Han asked.
Tang Xiaoli was silent for a while. “Keep investigating the cases you and Xiao Chen have, and keep a close watch on Huo Xiling.”
In Gezi Town, Xie Wuming was puzzling over Li Jiangbao’s reaction the previous day.
After briefly losing control, Li Jiangbao had been helped back to his seat by his family. Xie Wuming had plainly seen in his eyes that Zhu Yi and Mei Rui were connected, yet he insisted that the two women had never exchanged a single word.
Xie Wuming rarely had opportunities to work in the field and was growing impatient. “Are you lying to my face? Zhu Yi came to Yuanshu Township specifically to help people like Mei Rui. She lived there for such a long time. How could she possibly never have spoken to her?”
“Don’t you think I know my own wife? If I say they didn’t know each other, they didn’t!” Li Jiangbao shouted. His family and the other villagers surrounded the officers, trying to drive them away.
Seeing the situation deteriorate, Xu Chuan immediately stepped in front of Xie Wuming. The local officers hurried over and pulled the sides apart. By the time they retreated out of the Li family’s courtyard, Yi Lei, who had been standing at the gate, was gone.
“Strange. I’d almost gotten Li Jiangbao talking. Why did he suddenly fly into a rage?” The more Xie Wuming considered it, the stranger it seemed. “Mei Rui’s already gone home, and her family even coordinated their statements with the Lis. What is he afraid of?”
“Could Li Jiangbao somehow be involved in Zhu Yi’s death too?” Xu Chuan suggested.
Xie Wuming’s expression grew graver. “There’s something wrong with these people. I need to go back.”
Yuanshu Township was pitch-black at night. The occasional sudden barking of dogs was unnerving. Xu Chuan surveyed their surroundings warily, feeling increasingly certain something bad would happen. He’d only read in case reports about officers being attacked by villagers when investigating remote, impoverished areas. Now he had a powerful premonition that he would become one of the officers in such a report.
The Li family’s courtyard was dark, and even the streetlamp by the gate was off. Xu Chuan swallowed. “Sister Xie, why don’t we come back in daylight?”
But Xie Wuming was resolute. “Now is exactly the right time.”
Xu Chuan didn’t understand. “Why?”
“Yesterday Li Jiangbao was about to talk. I suspect someone in the crowd outside his house gave him a signal, and he changed his story on the spot,” Xie Wuming explained. “There are no outsiders at the Li house now. I’ll reason with him and explain what’s at stake. If we wait until morning, another crowd will be blocking the place. The longer this drags on, the harder the investigation gets.”
Xu Chuan found that reasonable. “Then stay behind me when we go in. If anything happens, at least I can protect you.”
Xie Wuming almost retorted that she didn’t need his protection. But when she noticed the unusually serious expression on his face, she swallowed the words.
They encountered no obstacles on the way to the Li house. Xu Chuan checked both sides, then knocked. Before long, a door inside opened, and someone in slippers came out and called from behind the gate, “Who is it?”
Xu Chuan glanced at Xie Wuming, then lowered his voice. “It’s me, from the police station.”
All movement inside stopped. Xu Chuan called again, “Open the gate. I’ve only got a few questions. We’ll leave as soon as I’m done.”
After a while, footsteps retreated as though someone had gone to find another person. A few minutes later, the gate opened. Li Jiangbao stood there, looking uneasily at Xu Chuan and Xie Wuming.
“About yesterday…” Xie Wuming instinctively glanced into the courtyard. “Can we come inside to talk?”
Li Jiangbao wiped his forehead and stepped aside. “Come in, then.”
The gate shut behind them. Xu Chuan heard a grating sound, like metal scraping across the ground. He immediately grabbed Xie Wuming. “Li Jiangbao, don’t try anything!”
“What trick am I supposed to be pulling? You’re the ones who came to ask questions!” Li Jiangbao walked into the shadows. “Ask whatever it is quickly. I still need to sleep.”
The courtyard was too dark, so Xie Wuming asked him to turn on the light. Li Jiangbao refused. Didn’t electricity cost money? He couldn’t afford to waste it.
Suddenly, Xu Chuan sensed a chill rushing at his back. Instinctively grabbing Xie Wuming, he jumped aside. A steel pipe swept past them and slammed into the ground. Losing his balance, Xu Chuan fell with Xie Wuming in his arms. As he tried to get up, several pipes were already pressed against their throats.
“It’s you!” Xie Wuming recognized the man: Yi Lei. He wasn’t wearing glasses, and none of the shabby, scholarly helplessness remained on his face. Instead, he looked savage. Beside him stood several equally menacing villagers, all harboring open hatred toward the police.
“Li Jiangbao!” Xu Chuan looked back immediately, but Li Jiangbao had vanished into the shadows. His voice trembled. “This has nothing to do with me! You insisted on coming in. I didn’t ask these people to come!”
Yi Lei waved at Li Jiangbao to stop making a fuss. “It’ll be over soon. We won’t dirty your courtyard.”
Li Jiangbao still wasn’t reassured. “Don’t do it in my yard!”
“We know,” Yi Lei said. “We’ll knock them out and take them into the mountains.”
“What are you trying to do?” Xu Chuan shouted.
Yi Lei planted a foot on Xu Chuan’s head. “What am I trying to do? I should be asking you what you’re trying to do! I’ve been living just fine here, and then you show up stirring everything up. You think I’m going to sit and watch you ruin my life?”
The other villagers laughed coldly.
“You even went to the burial mountain. Do you know what’s up there at night?” Li Jiangbao said. “Wolves. Never seen them, have you? You city folk have good lives but insist on coming here to cause trouble! I’ll let you learn what a wolf looks like!”
Xu Chuan panicked. He’d never faced anything like this. “You wouldn’t dare! We’re from a provincial department. Don’t do anything rash!”
“I don’t care what department you’re from. In our village, you follow our rules.” Yi Lei kept tapping Xu Chuan’s head with the steel pipe, and no one knew which blow might suddenly turn deadly. “I guessed you’d come back to see Li Jiangbao in the middle of the night. Didn’t expect that, did you? I’ve been waiting for you all along. Then we’ll let the wolves deal with you. Provincial department? Wonderful. I’ll ask the wolves whether people from the provincial authorities taste any different from local cops.”
Xu Chuan trembled all over. He’d known the villagers were far from harmless, but he’d never imagined they could be this vicious. If wolves actually ate him and Xie Wuming, their bodies and the evidence would be destroyed. Yi Lei could then claim that they’d refused to believe his account, gone up the burial mountain at night to inspect Zhu Yi’s grave, and been attacked by wolves.
A steel pipe struck Xu Chuan’s leg hard, bringing out cold sweat from the pain. Yi Lei signaled to his accomplices, and all of them raised their pipes. This is it, Xu Chuan thought. I’m going to die here today. Acting before he could think, he threw himself over Xie Wuming to protect her.
At that critical moment, a gunshot shattered the quiet village. Before Xu Chuan could react, one of the villagers cried out in pain and fell beside him, rolling and clutching his wrist.
A dark figure vaulted over the courtyard wall. Xu Chuan looked closely. It was Wen Wu!
When Chen Zheng returned to Junan City, he’d insisted that Wen Wu stay behind. Xu Chuan hadn’t understood, believing that he and Xie Wuming, together with the Gezi Town police, would be more than enough to handle the villagers. Chen Zheng had shaken his head and said cryptically, “People from the Mobile Unit are different. Keep Wen Wu with you, just in case.”
Who could have imagined that this “just in case” would come so quickly? Researchers did not carry guns, and local police had to apply in advance to draw firearms. But the Mobile Unit operated under special rules, so Wen Wu carried a gun at all times. His main specialty was trace evidence, but he trained regularly with Ming Han and the others, and his practical combat skills were far beyond those of an ordinary officer.
Dressed in black, Wen Wu aimed his pistol at Yi Lei and spoke in an icy voice. “Put down the pipes unless you want to be crippled.”
Yi Lei’s eyes bulged and his savage expression deepened. He ignored the warning and bent to grab Xu Chuan as a hostage. At that instant, Xie Wuming sprang up and wrapped her arms around Yi Lei’s waist. Wen Wu seized the opening and fired decisively. The bullet struck the steel pipe, throwing off sparks, and fragments tore through Yi Lei’s palm.
Xu Chuan finally reacted. He kicked the pipe away, hurled himself at Yi Lei and pinned him to the ground. Yi Lei’s palm was a bloody, mangled mess.
With Yi Lei subdued, the other villagers exchanged glances. One, unwilling to give up, pulled out a dagger and lunged toward Xie Wuming. Wen Wu didn’t shoot this time. He moved with startling speed, cut in front of her and kicked the villager and his knife away together. Seeing that, the others dropped their steel pipes.
Local officers burst through the gate. Terrified of Wen Wu and his gun, the villagers crouched on the ground without a word. Xie Wuming quickly regained her composure and contacted the Gezi Town station for reinforcements, but her phone slipped from her hand because she was still shaking. Wen Wu stood in front of her, his back to her, and said in a low voice, “Don’t rush. One thing at a time. Let Brother Chen know, too.”
Chen Zheng learned immediately what had happened in Yuanshu Township. He had kept Wen Wu behind precisely because he expected something might go wrong. Xie Wuming had been pushing so hard that she could easily provoke the villagers, but now it seemed that had actually advanced the investigation considerably. Yi Lei had shed his harmless disguise. He might well be the person who had driven Zhu Yi to her death. If they could solve the mystery of Zhu Yi’s death in Yuanshu Township, the Dong Jing case and Zhu Xiaodi’s disappearance might be solved as well.
The villagers who had attacked the officers, along with Li Jiangbao, were taken to the Gezi Town police station. Because the station was understaffed, Li Zhi used his connections at the Junan Municipal Bureau to dispatch personnel from several nearby stations to Yuanshu Township and bring the situation under control.
In the early hours of the morning, Yi Lei sat handcuffed in an interrogation room, glaring darkly at Xie Wuming and refusing to answer her questions.
“Li Jiangbao was just about to confess when you sent him some sort of signal,” Xie Wuming said. “He’s afraid of you, or rather, you’ve got something on him. He had to do as you told him.”
Yi Lei held his head high without saying a word.
Xie Wuming gave a cold laugh. “You certainly had a lot to say at the Li house. What happened? I didn’t get eaten by wolves, so you’ve turned mute? That’s all right. If you won’t speak, someone else will. Li Jiangbao looked like he’d nearly wet himself. Do you really think he’ll sit in the next room as silently as you?”
Yi Lei was clearly enraged. He began hurling abuse. “You filthy bitch! Women are born to…”
The words he spat out were vile, but Xie Wuming’s face remained composed, as though untouched by them. Even Xu Chuan couldn’t bear listening and whispered, “Sister Xie, let me question him. You should step outside.”
But Xie Wuming kept her gaze locked on Yi Lei. “Is that what you think women are? Did you use those same words to humiliate Zhu Yi? To humiliate a woman who only wanted to make life better in your village?”
Xu Chuan saw Xie Wuming’s clenched fists trembling faintly, though her voice remained low and steady. She was using every ounce of strength to control herself.
Yi Lei paused, then began insulting her again. Xie Wuming closed her eyes briefly and stood. “Zhu Yi deserved so much better. Yi Lei, I will make sure you pay for what you’ve done.”
In another interview room, Li Jiangbao was sobbing and repeatedly claiming that Yi Lei had forced him into everything. Just before Xie Wuming entered, Chen Zheng called. “Director Chen, do you want to join the interrogation?”
“I may have a few questions. Leave me some time when you get to that point.”
“Understood,” Xie Wuming said.
“Please let me go! I really haven’t broken the law!” The instant the door opened, Li Jiangbao began wailing. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
Xie Wuming said, “It’s the same question I asked before. What was Zhu Yi’s relationship with Mei Rui?”
Li Jiangbao’s face reddened. “I… I…”
“Yi Lei won’t let you talk? But you’ve already seen he can’t even protect himself now.”
Li Jiangbao unleashed a torrent of curses, all directed at Yi Lei. Finally he slapped his thigh hard. “Our family was getting along just fine. Mei Rui might have come to me by… well, by that sort of means, but I never treated her badly. She seemed happy living here!”
Xie Wuming interrupted. “By what means? Explain yourself!”