Ming Han was still in Luocheng. Huo Xiling had initially been one of the police’s prime suspects, but halfway through their investigation, they discovered she was Huo Yewei’s biological mother. She seemed to have clues about the killer, yet kept giving the police the runaround. When Ming Han tested her by bringing up the “Heaven-Measuring Ruler,” her reaction had been intriguing.
Ming Han couldn’t get away for the moment, but he and Chen Zheng had stayed in constant contact.
After hearing Chen Zheng’s account, Ming Han said, “Aside from Dong Jing and Zhu Xiaodi, all the others have explained what they were thinking when they pushed Zhu Yi into that hell. Dong Jing might still have had feelings for Zhu Yi. Perhaps he returned to the country intending to find her, only to learn she’d died horribly. He Mei’s wedding would have been a perfect opportunity. That group had been brought together by anonymous messages, but no one mentioned the messages openly. Everyone was guessing who’d sent them, and he pretended he’d received one too. But before he could carry out his plan, or just after killing Zhu Xiaodi, someone else killed him.”
“The person who killed him could be one of Du Ying’s group of four,” Chen Zheng said. “Or Zhu Xiaodi might have killed him in self-defense and then fled.”
“No matter how much those people emphasize how difficult their circumstances were, it doesn’t conceal their malice toward Zhu Yi,” Ming Han said. “They were all adults. Could they really not imagine what a woman alone would face? Maybe they’d imagined it perfectly well, but because everyone around them was encouraging Zhu Yi, each felt that their own share of the cruelty amounted to almost nothing. I suspect that the moment they saw one another at the wedding, they were already thinking of ways to get themselves off the hook. Looking back, Dong Jing would actually have been their easiest suspect for sending the messages, because he’d tried to stop Zhu Yi and had feelings for her.”
“So they struck first…” Chen Zheng recalled everyone’s statements. By the afternoon of the eighteenth, they’d all been moving about separately. Dong Jing died that night, and not one of them had an alibi.
“But killing Dong Jing wouldn’t solve everything,” Chen Zheng said. “Once the police began investigating, we’d still uncover Zhu Yi. And we still haven’t found Gong Xiaoyang or Lu Feng. Something occurred to me earlier. Someone could be avenging Zhu Yi, while someone else is avenging Mei Rui. Did those people communicate? Or could they actually be the same person?”
“Any news about Mei Feng?” Ming Han asked.
“Not yet.” Chen Zheng pressed his fingers to his temples. “Captain Li and Director Li are working on it. Mei Feng’s disappearance is strange. If anyone hates Gong Xiaoyang and the others more than anyone, it’s Mei Feng and his wife. He may have disappeared specifically to prepare for what came next.”
Ming Han thought for a moment. “Bro, if our current reasoning is right, someone is making people pay for Zhu Yi’s and Mei Rui’s deaths, with revenge the likeliest motive. But why have we only found Dong Jing’s body? That doesn’t make sense.”
That question troubled Chen Zheng too. Not long ago, Wen Wu had reported that Yi Lei planned to dismember Xie Wuming and Xu Chuan after killing them and feed their remains to wolves. Chen Zheng had even wondered whether something similar had happened to the people missing from Weimo Mountain Resort.
But although Weimo Mountain Resort sat on a mountain, no large predators were known to roam its forests. And after the Huo Yewei case, the police had sealed off the entire mountain. If wild animals had eaten the bodies, they would certainly have left traces.
“Bro, do you need me to come back?” Ming Han’s voice had softened without him realizing it.
Chen Zheng immediately pulled himself together. “You have your own assignment. Any news on Bu Yangyun?”
Ming Han remained in Luocheng partly to keep an eye on the Huo family’s movements, and partly because the Mobile Unit had brought its investigation of the “Heaven-Measuring Ruler” out into the open. If Bu Yangyun’s disappearance was connected to the organization, Ming Han was a crucial player. Tang Xiaoli was terrified he’d come to harm again as he had in Nanshan City.
“Bu Yangyun has a keen nose for trouble, whether it’s good or bad. The thing he’s best at is protecting himself,” Ming Han said. “Enough about him. I know what I’m doing. Seriously, I finally got to visit Junan City, but didn’t get to drink its famous Junan tea or try its famous Junan fish.”
Something flashed across Chen Zheng’s mind and was gone. Ming Han was still stretching and grumbling when Chen Zheng interrupted him. “I’ll call you later. There’s something I need to tell Li Shu right now!”
Ming Han stared at his phone for several seconds, pressed his lips together, and muttered to himself, “What good news are you telling Li Shu that you won’t tell me…?”
Winter was usually peak tourist season at Junan Lake. People living nearby liked to bring the whole family for a short vacation. But after the case broke, ordinary tourists no longer dared come. Almost everyone still rushing to book a room was a self-media creator hoping to dig up firsthand information from the police.
On his previous trips to Junan Lake, Chen Zheng had always driven in from the Weimo Mountain Resort side. This time, he made a long detour toward the southern shore.
People usually divided Junan Lake into eastern and western districts rather than north and south, but of course the lake had a southern shore. The south belonged administratively to the eastern district. It had been developed earlier, so its hotels were older, though their facilities were relatively complete. The east also contained numerous hotels and fish farms.
Before Ming Han came to Junan City, he’d already said he wanted to eat Junan fish. But without that phone call, Chen Zheng might never have realized that wolves and other mountain predators weren’t the only creatures capable of consuming a body. There were also seemingly harmless fish. Fish ate meat, and when they swarmed together, they could strip even the bones clean!
The southern fish-farming area fell under the eastern district’s administration, but geographically it bordered Weimo Mountain Resort in the west. Most development at the resort had taken place to the north. The southern section had been planned but construction hadn’t begun.
Chen Zheng parked near the fish farms. A strong fishy smell filled the damp air, and trucks carrying aquatic products came and went. The murder case had affected tourism throughout the lake district, but this place had nothing to do with tourists. Production continued as usual.
Chen Zheng tried to go in but was stopped. The gatekeeper was a stubborn old man who refused to let him through. “This is an important breeding facility! Even police can’t just waltz in! Who knows if you’re really a cop? What if you kill the fish in there? Who am I supposed to answer to?”
Chen Zheng contacted Li Shu at once. On hearing that Chen Zheng had gotten into an argument with the old man at the fish farms, Li Shu hurried over with his team. Only when the old man recognized Li Shu did he grudgingly let them through. “What now? Your investigation’s brought you here? We don’t even have tourists!”
“What do you want to investigate, Teacher Chen?” Li Shu asked.
Cold, fish-reeking air struck Chen Zheng’s face. Staring out over the fog-shrouded lake, he felt that something was about to take shape within the damp gloom.
“Captain Li, we still haven’t found Gong Xiaoyang and the other two. If they’re dead, this is the best place to dispose of the bodies.” Chen Zheng turned to Li Shu. “The fish would help the killer erase every trace of them.”
Li Shu sucked in a breath, goosebumps prickling all over his arms. Several days had passed, and the police had searched and investigated both sides of Junan Lake thoroughly. The only place they’d missed was this breeding area. Its management was extremely strict, and outsiders were forbidden entry. Not just Li Shu, but the entire task force had overlooked it because of that assumption.
“Seal off the fish farms immediately!”
Chen Zheng obtained a list of the facility’s employees. Its manager arrived in a panic, insisting that nothing could possibly have gone wrong there, and that no outsider could have slipped inside to cause trouble. “Someone poisoned our fish last year, one of our competitors! I lost more than ten million! Our security is tighter than Weimo Mountain Resort’s!”
“Outsiders may not be able to get in,” Chen Zheng said, “but can your employees move about freely?”
The manager went rigid, as though struck by lightning. “What do you mean? Are you saying one of my employees is responsible?”
Chen Zheng couldn’t yet reach a conclusion, but as other possibilities were eliminated, the likelihood that the killer was hiding among the fish-farm workers was increasing.
On January 25, the sky grew even darker. Trace-evidence technicians discovered a large amount of blood near the lakeshore.
The fish-farming area was enormous. The blood had been found toward its western side, which was now sealed off. The employees responsible for that section were temporarily detained, and police divers were preparing to enter the water. The employees exchanged bewildered looks, all insisting they had no idea what had happened.
One team leader explained that everyone had different duties. The location was indeed used to deposit feed, but each area was generally handled by its designated worker.
Chen Zheng checked the staff list and noticed that a man named Li Xian’an seemed to be missing. “Li Xian’an! Is Li Xian’an here?”
The workers grew nervous. They looked through the crowd and called his name too. Someone said, “That’s strange. I don’t think I’ve seen Brother Li for a few days. Did he go home to visit family?”
“What do you mean, visiting family?” Chen Zheng immediately asked. “Where’s his hometown?”
The worker scratched his head, terrified of saying something wrong. “A while back, he said he’d worked here for ages without taking a day off. He’d saved up plenty of leave and wanted to go home after New Year.”
The team leader panicked. “But he never requested leave from me!”
“Don’t panic yet.” Chen Zheng stopped him. “Do you have Li Xian’an’s photograph? Or take me to check the surveillance footage.” On the way, he asked, “When did Li Xian’an start working here?”
“Two years ago. It should’ve been two years!” the team leader recalled. “He was old, and I didn’t actually want to hire him, but Boss Liu talked to me. She said his wife was sick and he was out looking for work on his own, and being from the countryside he was used to hard work and didn’t ask for much. I agreed to give him a try. And I have to say, Old Li really did work hard. Conscientious, never complained.”
“Boss Liu? Which Boss Liu?”
“The one who runs the perfume factory. She grew up around here. I know her parents too. You’ve got to hand it to her, she’s done well for herself.” The team leader paused and lowered his voice. “That celebrity’s case, was it really her little sister who did it?”
Chen Zheng remembered. He meant Liu Xun, owner of “lake.”
After Huo Yewei’s death, Liu Xun’s younger sister Liu Qing had disappeared and had not yet been found. The task force was divided: some believed she’d witnessed the murder and been silenced, while others thought she’d been the killer’s accomplice and fled with them. The Liu family was already shrouded in suspicion. Now another lead had emerged: the man Liu Xun recommended to the fish farms had vanished.
“How did Boss Liu know Li Xian’an?” Chen Zheng asked.
The team leader frowned and thought. “No idea. My guess is he used to work for her, and when he wasn’t suitable for her place anymore, she sent him to us. Boss Liu might be a young woman, but she’s been making her way in the world since she was very young. She has connections everywhere and knows all kinds of people.”
They reached the surveillance room. After fiddling with the equipment for a long while, the team leader pointed at the monitor. “There. That’s Li Xian’an.”
The camera was mounted high and couldn’t capture his face from the front. Li Xian’an moved in and out in gray work clothes, with only a few strands of graying hair left on his head. The longer Chen Zheng watched, the more familiar the man seemed. Li Xian’an looked remarkably like the man in Mei Feng’s photograph.
Chen Zheng immediately opened his photo album and showed the team leader a picture. “Is this the man?”
It was a frontal photograph of Mei Feng. The team leader cried out as soon as he saw it. “That’s Old Li! How do you have his picture? Did he really commit a crime?”
Li Xian’an was Mei Feng. A large amount of blood had been found in the area he oversaw, and police divers had recovered a small quantity of bones from the lakebed. He was now under serious suspicion, and the task force immediately launched a search for him.
Chen Zheng accompanied the team leader to Mei Feng’s quarters. The fish-farming operation had a dormitory building in each of its eastern and western sections. Employees generally shared two to a room, but Mei Feng occupied a room alone because he snored so loudly no one wanted to sleep beside him.
There were two bunk beds in the dormitory, enough for four people, but the team leader explained that they didn’t house workers like that anymore. The upper bunks were used for storage. Mei Feng slept on the lower bunk to the right. His blanket was unfolded, and clothes lay on the bunk above. The opposite bunks held quilts, overcoats, and other things. Toiletries stood on the table, and a basin still contained water. It looked as though the room’s occupant hadn’t been gone long.
Trace-evidence technicians collected biological samples and other traces while Chen Zheng searched the cabinet. Mei Feng had left no pictures of his wife or daughter, or anything of that kind. Everything here was a trace of his solitary daily life.
The team leader brought in a worker surnamed Hu. He and Mei Feng were partners who took turns on night shifts, so they had interacted often.
Hu was short and stocky. Nervously, he explained that Mei Feng frequently helped him. Hu and his wife were from another region and had settled on the outskirts of Junan City. His wife worked at a restaurant, and he often wanted to go home to see her. Mei Feng would take over his work too, and Hu felt bad about it, so whenever he returned, he brought Mei Feng dishes his wife had made.
Mei Feng would say enviously, “Spend time with your family whenever you can. I’m on my own anyway. I’ve nowhere to go, and without work I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”
“Did he ever talk about his family?” Chen Zheng asked.
“I asked, but he didn’t seem to want to talk. I don’t know what illness his wife has. It must cost a lot to treat. As for children, I think he has children, but he never mentioned them.”
Hu remembered something else. Last year, his daughter had taken the college entrance examination. Her scores were decent, not enough for a prestigious university, but he and his wife were already satisfied. Mei Feng was happy for them and drank a lot with Hu, tears glimmering in his eyes. He praised them for raising their daughter well, called them open-minded parents, and said parents shouldn’t force their own wishes onto their children, or tragedy would follow.
“Has Li Xian’an been acting strangely lately?” Chen Zheng asked.
Hu nodded. “He had something going on. He traded shifts with me a few times recently. I haven’t seen him since the day before yesterday. But Brother Li’s helped me so much, it’s only right that I help him too.”
According to the shift schedule Hu supplied, he should have worked nights on January 18 and 19, but Mei Feng had volunteered to trade. Conversely, Mei Feng should have worked the last three nights, but Hu had actually covered those shifts.
The divers continued working, bringing up more bones. The first blood samples sent back to the municipal bureau were matched to Gong Xiaoyang, Lu Feng, and Zhu Xiaodi.
“That’s strange. Why is Zhu Xiaodi mixed up in this?” Li Shu’s brows drew together. “Mei Feng took revenge on Gong Xiaoyang and Lu Feng, but Zhu Xiaodi got caught up in it too? Did something happen between Zhu Xiaodi and Mei Rui in Yuanshu Township?”
When Zhu Xiaodi’s parents learned that he might have been killed and his body eaten by fish, they collapsed in the municipal bureau corridor, unable to accept it. Earlier, when Dong Jing’s body was found, they had firmly believed Zhu Xiaodi was fine and had nearly come to blows with Dong Jing’s family over it. Dong Jing’s parents insisted Zhu Xiaodi had killed their son and fled to escape punishment, while Zhu Xiaodi’s parents claimed he was lucky enough to escape the killer and would return soon.
Now the anguish of losing their son was more than they could bear. Zhu Xiaodi’s mother fainted and was taken to the hospital. His father sat slumped in a chair, eyes vacant.
The recovery operation continued. The entire breeding area seemed steeped in the smell of blood. Chen Zheng drove to “lake.” The perfume workshop’s gates were shut, and it had been closed for business for some time.
Chen Zheng knocked. The security guard assumed another of Huo Yewei’s fans had come to cause trouble and opened the door only a crack. On seeing a police officer, he blurted out in alarm, “Wh-what else do you need to investigate?”
“Is Liu Xun here?” Chen Zheng asked.
The task force had already visited the Liu family home. Liu Xun wasn’t there. Their housekeeper said she had barely been home since Liu Qing disappeared, instead living at the factory and burying herself in work.
“President Liu’s here,” the guard said nervously, pointing toward the workshop. “She’s been keeping herself shut in there.”
After leaving the fetid lakefront for the fragrant workshop, Chen Zheng felt his sense of smell was about to give out. Liu Xun was dressed as she had been the last time: work clothes, hair covering, and glasses.
“Officer Chen, any news about my sister?” Liu Xun sounded composed, though she couldn’t hide her exhaustion. She looked much more haggard than when Chen Zheng had last seen her, but her emotions seemed consistently steady.
“No news about Liu Qing, but we have news about those missing people.” Chen Zheng watched Liu Xun. “You didn’t know?”
Liu Xun froze, looking puzzled. “What?”
Chen Zheng glanced at her workbench. “Have you shut yourself off from everything outside?”
Liu Xun sighed. “I’m afraid of hearing bad news. Being here with my creations helps me feel better. Officer Chen, what exactly happened?”
Chen Zheng placed Mei Feng’s photograph in front of her. “Do you recognize this man?”
The moment Liu Xun saw the photograph, her mouth opened and her gaze faltered. “I don’t…”
“Your reaction has already answered the question,” Chen Zheng said.
Liu Xun frowned and looked away.
“The night your sister Liu Qing disappeared, four tourists also vanished from Weimo Mountain Resort. The latest news is that all four have been killed. Blood and body fragments belonging to three of them have been recovered at the fish farms. The worker in charge of that section, Li Xian’an, was recommended for the job by you. Now he’s missing too.”
Liu Xun braced herself on the edge of the table and slowly sat down. She removed her glasses and said nothing for a long time.
“What is your relationship with Li Xian’an?” Chen Zheng asked. “Or are you more familiar with his real name, Mei Feng?”
“I…” Liu Xun’s voice trembled. “I didn’t know he was called Mei Feng.”
Chen Zheng nodded. “Fine. Let’s call him Li Xian’an, then. How did you meet him? Why did you recommend him for the job at the fish farms?”
Liu Xun fell silent again. “Uncle Li… Uncle Li used to work here.”
Her account was roughly what the team leader had guessed, but with more detail. Two years ago, “lake” expanded and needed more workers. Among the applicants was someone who plainly didn’t meet the hiring requirements. “lake” was, after all, a fashionable brand that needed young workers, while Mei Feng was graying and visibly old.
Ordinarily, someone like him would never have been hired, but Liu Xun sensed he must have a story. She spoke to him alone and learned that his only daughter had died. His daughter had loved “lake,” and he missed her so much that he wanted to try working there.
Liu Xun was deeply moved, but she also had a problem: the factory had no position suitable for him. Mei Feng hurriedly said it didn’t matter. He couldn’t do much else, but he could watch the storeroom or guard the gate, and he had a driver’s license if they needed a delivery driver.
Liu Xun had built her business step by step and understood ordinary people’s hardships better than most. She decided to keep Mei Feng on for odd jobs. The businesses around Junan Lake had numerous chat groups where people shared gossip and job postings. One day, she happened to see that the fish farms were recruiting, offering room and board and reasonably good wages.
Thinking from Mei Feng’s point of view, Liu Xun felt the fish farms would be better for him than her workshop, because he’d actually be needed there. She mentioned it to him, and he agreed, deeply grateful.
“After Uncle Li moved down there, we hardly kept in touch. I’ve heard the work at the fish farms is exhausting.” Liu Xun lowered her head. “I really didn’t know about his family circumstances.”
Chen Zheng watched her for a moment. Some of her minute reactions suggested that she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“When was the last time you saw Li Xian’an?” he asked.
Liu Xun thought. “I think it was early this month. We ran into each other by the lake.”
“By the lake?”
“Mm. Sometimes I walk beside the lake to find inspiration.”
Liu Xun explained that she’d been surprised to see Mei Feng that day. She was in the Guanshan Lake area on the Weimo Mountain Resort side, some distance from the fish farms. Mei Feng said he had the day off. He’d been at Junan Lake for so long but had never properly toured it. They didn’t speak for long. After walking a little, he complained his legs ached and wanted to rest, telling her to go on ahead.
“Do you know Mei Rui?” Chen Zheng asked.
A tiny movement tugged at the corner of Liu Xun’s eye. “…Is she Uncle Li’s daughter?”
“He never told you his daughter’s name?”
Liu Xun shook her head. “I didn’t ask. It seemed like an open wound.”
The evidence Chen Zheng currently had didn’t prove Liu Xun and Mei Feng had a deeper connection, so he ended his questioning there.
The police still hadn’t tracked Mei Feng down. Surveillance footage last showed him at the fish farms on the afternoon of January 23, wearing a dark-brown padded jacket and carrying a plastic bag. He hadn’t returned afterward.
Zhou Xia’s voice rang through the municipal bureau corridor. “Old Gong and Old Lu are really dead? Mei Feng did it? Why haven’t you arrested him? His daughter died, so he wants us to pay with our lives! But at least his child came back once! Our children have never come back at all! How can something like this happen? Does he want to kill me too?”
Zhou Xia was so agitated that she was taken into a rest room. Director Li Zhi brought in a psychological specialist to talk her through it. Compared with her, Wang Wanjian and Zeng Hong were also frightened, but at least they could answer questions.