Yin Wanru was a suspect, but merely a suspect. Without conclusive evidence, they had no reason to detain her.
In another interrogation room, the manager had clearly come prepared. “You can’t detain us like this. We’ve said everything we need to say. You have no evidence—”
“We don’t have evidence for Zhang Feng’s matter,” the detective across the table pushed the bluffing manager back down, “but we do have evidence of you stealing an identity to do the surgery. I can’t believe you came up with that. You won’t be leaving anytime soon.”
Manager: “…”
Meanwhile, next door.
Yin Wanru sat alone in the interrogation room, her fingers intertwined, her red nails digging deeply into her flesh.
She knew that although no one was in the room, they could hear her. “Even though I don’t know why Zhang Feng accidentally fell from the building, I can cooperate with your investigation. Can you please not leak the pregnancy? I’m begging you, this really can’t get out.”
Listening to her, Wu Zhibin sighed in lament, completely failing to understand this industry. “Why go this far? It’s her own flesh and blood after all.”
After the interrogation ended, Yin Wanru’s matter was handed over to other detectives. Wu Zhibin turned to Xie Lin again, “How did you handle that doctor? He actually admitted to taking money for something illegal? This isn’t even a matter of money anymore, he’s going to prison, does he know that?”
Xie Lin said, “Don’t be too surprised. When Yin Wanru gave him money for something illegal, didn’t he do it too?”
“…” That actually made a lot of sense.
“Plus, he didn’t know my identity,” Xie Lin added. “Do you think my assistant and I looked like we were there to investigate a case?”
Wu Zhibin looked at Xie Lin, then at Chi Qing.
Definitely not, he thought. Even if they said they were there to investigate, probably no one would believe them.
Money makes the world go round. The other party could offer such a huge sum of money and seemed to be targeting Yin Wanru. It was perfectly normal for him to turn around and sell her out. Furthermore, the person he was up against was Xie Lin.
Chi Qing recalled the scene from over an hour ago when he and Xie Lin sat chatting across from that doctor. He could only say that this psycho hadn’t read all those psychology books for nothing.
Xie Lin’s mission for today was complete. The follow-up would be handled by Wu Zhibin. They still needed to check Yin Wanru’s phone number, call records, her manager’s records, and whether there were any related individuals involved around her.
Wu Zhibin glanced at his watch and said, “It’s almost mealtime. Thanks for your hard work today. Go find a place to have a good meal, it’s on me.”
Xie Lin didn’t stand on ceremony. “Sure, I happen to owe Wu Zhi a meal.”
After Wu Zhibin left, only Chi Qing and Xie Lin remained in the observation room.
The topic suddenly returned to the “intuition” Chi Qing had mentioned earlier.
Xie Lin asked, “What did you say just now?”
Since this guy’s ears didn’t work well, Chi Qing didn’t mind saying it again. “Move your hand away.”
“Not this one.”
“Nothing else is important except this,” Chi Qing said. “I’ll say it again. Move it, and walk with your crutch yourself.”
Xie Lin had already mastered the skill of letting things go in one ear and out the other, certain that Chi Qing wouldn’t actually storm off. “The sentence before that.”
Chi Qing supported him as they walked out, remaining silent in the corridor for a moment. “The previous one, intuition?”
That sentence really wasn’t important.
“I just said it casually,” Chi Qing, thinking Xie Lin had noticed something again, only wanted to gloss over it quickly. “No basis for it, just words.”
Xie Lin smiled back at the people in the corridor who couldn’t help but cast glances at him, and said as they walked, “That won’t do. I never listen to your words casually.”
“Besides, I have intuition too,” Xie Lin added.
“Oh,” Chi Qing replied perfunctorily, only hoping his intuition wasn’t the kind that suspected him.
As he helped Xie Lin through the corridor and reached the door, he suddenly heard Xie Lin say from above his head, “Does believing in you count as an intuition?”
What did he mean, ‘does believing in him count as an intuition’?
Chi Qing froze for a second.
At this time, the sun was stronger, shining directly on the sliding glass door at the entrance. Even back in the bar, when he had accidentally gotten drunk, lost control, and the voices of the whole world drilled into his head all at once, he didn’t seem as dazed as he was now.
Just then, the car they had called ahead of time from upstairs stopped at the main bureau’s entrance. Chi Qing didn’t notice it for a moment.
“The car’s here.” It was inconvenient for Xie Lin to walk on his own, so he had to rely on Chi Qing to lead him. He lifted the arm resting on Chi Qing’s shoulder, curled his fingers, and lightly flicked Chi Qing’s forehead. “Help me in.”
His fingertips flicked against the overly long bangs on Chi Qing’s forehead. After getting into the car, Xie Lin seemed to be recalling the sensation. “Your hair is quite soft.”
“…” Soft my ass. Chi Qing just pretended the person next to him didn’t exist.
Chi Qing felt that Xie Lin was acting a bit strange.
He was acting a bit strange too.
The two of them had probably gone too long without seeing Dr. Wu for a consultation. Chi Qing came to this conclusion after pondering for a long time.
Xie Lin chose a restaurant located near the city center, about a ten-minute drive from the main bureau. By the time Wu Zhi followed the waiter upstairs, the cold dishes were just being served.
“Ah, too polite,” Wu Zhi said as he sat down. “With our relationship, why treat me to a meal?”
After saying this, Wu Zhi turned to the waiter serving the dishes: “Bring one of every most expensive dish you have.”
Xie Lin used the serving chopsticks to place some food on Chi Qing’s plate. “I don’t mind. If you can finish it all, go ahead and order.”
“I’m just kidding. I eat out all day, I’m sick of it,” Wu Zhi unfolded his napkin, looking at the behavior of the two across the round table, and joked: “Which one of you is the other’s assistant?”
Of course, he didn’t dare say this directly to Chi Qing. First, they weren’t close. Second, the guy looked so gloomy he didn’t dare provoke him, fearing for his life.
Xie Lin said, “What do you think? As if I can boss him around.”
Chi Qing had touched many things with his gloves this morning. The black gloves were covered in dust and bacteria. He thought for a few seconds and, figuring there weren’t many people in the private room anyway, decided to take off his gloves to eat. So, as he took them off, he stood up and said, “I’m going to the restroom.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his gloves were off.
Chi Qing placed them to the side, his finger joints fully exposed to the air.
Wu Zhi had only seen Chi Qing a few times in total. The first time was in a bar where the lighting was poor—being able to see a face was good enough. His gaze involuntarily fell on Chi Qing’s hands.
Usually, this intimidating Mr. Chi wore gloves wherever he went, rarely seen without them. Just as Wu Zhi was about to take a few more looks, Xie Lin threw a tissue box over, aiming squarely at his face.
Wu Zhi caught the tissue box. “Fuck, we haven’t seen each other in so long and this is how you treat your brother.”
Xie Lin had known Wu Zhi for years, so he didn’t mince words with him, which also made it more genuine. “Don’t stare if you have no business to.”
Wu Zhi was baffled. “What was I looking at?” He didn’t react immediately, and only after saying that did he add in disbelief: “…Your assistant’s hands?”
Xie Lin poured himself a cup of tea, his lack of response acting as tacit agreement.
Wu Zhi said, “Big brother, seriously? I just took two glances. I can’t even take two glances? Plus, his hands are so white, like a lightbulb, it’s hard not to—”
“No matter how white they are, does it have anything to do with you?”
“…” It didn’t.
“Forget two glances,” Xie Lin said, “not even one is allowed. He doesn’t like people staring at his hands.”
Wu Zhi was speechless.
Wu Zhi thought to himself: Damn, my bro really has some issues.
Chi Qing, who was carefully washing his hands in the restroom, had no idea a conversation about whether people could casually look at his hands had taken place in the private room. He was still thinking about what Yin Wanru had said earlier, and the two sentences he had heard from the masked man.
If it wasn’t Yin Wanru, then why did Zhang Feng die?
Who was the mastermind behind the masked man?
What was the real secret hidden in Zhang Feng’s SD card? Was it Yin Wanru’s abortion, or was there some photo they had overlooked? …
Thinking about this, Chi Qing pulled a paper towel from the side and wiped his hands clean.
He couldn’t find an answer. Or rather, the current clues pointing to the killer were not clear, and there was no way to glimpse the full picture of the case.
However, halfway through the meal, the case suddenly found a miraculous breakthrough.
Xie Lin was using the excuse “that dish is too far, it’s inconvenient to get up” to spar with Chi Qing for a few rounds, which Chi Qing rejected with “ask your friend to get it for you.” Wu Zhi watched from the side in awe: Why didn’t he think of this trick when he was chasing girls? Was it too late for him to go break a leg now? From which floor should he jump to break it just right?
Xie Lin had just started eating the bite of asparagus Chi Qing had reluctantly served him when his phone rang. Wu Zhibin’s voice sounded urgent on the other end: “Hello? Where are you right now? There’s a new development in the case. Something very important, I can’t explain clearly over the phone. I’m bringing the files over to you now.”
A fifteen-minute drive was shortened to under ten minutes by Wu Zhibin.
Not long after hanging up, the private room door was pushed open. From the speed he drove over, one could tell the urgency of the situation.
“What’s the rush?” Xie Lin asked.
Wu Zhibin slapped the beige file folder tucked under his arm onto the table. “Do you remember that dismemberment case from before?”
“I remember,” the photos of the dismemberment case had scared Ren Qin badly at the time. Xie Lin remembered Chi Qing hadn’t been much involved in this case, so he gave him a brief introduction. “That’s the case that happened at the end of last month. The body was sawed into twenty-eight pieces, even the intestines were shredded. And the strangest thing about this case is that the victim had no face.”
“No face?”
“Right, his face was skinned off alive.”
Eating a perfectly fine meal, when Wu Zhi heard the word “dismemberment,” he nearly spat out his mouthful of rice. He patted his chest, suppressed the urge to vomit, and then heard “skinned off his face”: “…”
Xie Lin felt just talking wasn’t visual enough, so he pulled the photos out of the file.
Chi Qing was currently drinking soup after finishing his meal. His hand rested on the porcelain white bowl, making it momentarily impossible to tell whether his hand or the bowl was whiter.
He glanced at the stack of photos, then took another sip of soup without changing his expression, even having the leisure to ask, “Which one is the human face?”
Xie Lin picked one out and placed the bloodiest one in the most conspicuous spot: “This one.”
Chi Qing followed his gaze to look.
Wu Zhi couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t know how Chi Qing and Xie Lin could manage to eat while discussing these photos. His throat let out a gagging sound. Immediately after making the noise, he covered his mouth and said, “You guys chat, I… I need to go to the restroom.”
Previously, because the body lacked a face, progress in identifying the victim had been slow.
Xie Lin guessed the reason Wu Zhibin had rushed over to find him: “You found his identity?”
“We found it.”
“A few days ago, someone reported their friend missing, saying they hadn’t seen him for days and couldn’t reach him on the phone. Through DNA comparison, we confirmed the identity of the deceased.” Wu Zhibin paused here. “—The deceased was an entertainment company trainee. His name is Luo Yu.”
Chi Qing’s motion of drinking soup stopped.
Luo Yu.
He had just heard these two words from Yin Wanru’s mouth not long ago.
Xie Lin slightly raised his eyebrows, also surprised: “You mean the father of Yin Wanru’s child, Luo Yu?”
