“The knife wounds on the victim in the church are very strange. It wasn’t a crime of passion; the autopsy report indicates that the cross-sections of the wounds are extremely smooth and even. This is highly abnormal, meaning that when the person plunged the knife, the speed was almost entirely uniform.”
“Which is to say, committing murder gives him absolutely no sensation at all.”
Inside the conference room, three individual teams packed the space to the brim.
Each was responsible for a different section, and they were currently taking turns to speak.
The criminal investigation officer in charge of merging the cases said, “According to Shen Xinghe’s confession, this person is no older than 30, with a height between 179 and 182 centimeters—”
Shen Xinghe was the only one among all the abetted perpetrators who had actually paid close attention to the “Priest.”
This youth, who originally should have been directly admitted to a prestigious university as the top student in the entire school, suddenly spoke up during his interrogation: “I know his height.”
The officer’s pen paused mid-stroke. He followed up with an incredulous look, “At the time, he was sitting behind you. You said you never turned around, and the church was so dark. How could you know his height?”
Sitting on the opposite side, the youth wore a prison uniform, his hands bound by icy shackles.
Shen Xinghe said, “The church had candlelight.”
“……?”
“Even though it was very dark inside the church, there was candlelight,” Shen Xinghe repeated. “It was the candlelight that exposed his height.”
Hearing up to this point, the officer finally caught on.
It was the shadow.
No matter how dark a place was, as long as there was a sliver of light, a shadow would inevitably exist.
The candlelight had elongated the “Priest’s” shadow. At that time, both Shen Xinghe and the “Priest” were seated. By comparing the lengths of their shadows, it was entirely possible to deduce the height difference between the two of them.
Even at the very moment he was being manipulated, Shen Xinghe hadn’t forgotten to observe these details.
Although the child named Li Kang had seen the “Priest,” Li Kang could only say that the counterpart was very tall and thin—a very tall and thin older brother. As for exactly how tall or how thin he was, the child couldn’t describe it clearly.
After all, in a child’s world, anyone who forced him to look up was considered tall, but this “tall” couldn’t be quantified with concrete data.
One meter seven was considered tall to him, and one meter eight was even more so.
Although a characteristic like height sounded quite common, and knowing the killer’s height was merely a minuscule detail, they still had to continue hunting for a needle in a haystack amidst the vast sea of people. Nonetheless, this single detail injected them with the confidence to keep pursuing the trail.
Chi Qing cut a highly detached figure sitting in the conference room.
The man had shed his overcoat, leaving only a thin black hoodie that accentuated his deathly pale skin. His overly long, fragmented black hair obscured his eyes. He did not participate in the discussion, spending most of the time merely listening in silence, a pen hooked between his fingers as his eyes remained downcast. No one dared to proactively strike up a conversation with him either.
When Xie Lin was around previously, he could still manage to gently coax him, guiding him to participate in the discussions, introducing his name to the newly joined members of the two teams, and politely reminding them to keep a distance from this consultant surnamed Chi because of his germaphobia.
In truth, even without Xie Lin’s reminder, they weren’t particularly willing to approach this consultant who looked far too gloomy.
Someone had quietly brought him up to Ji Mingrui: “I heard the two of you are friends?”
Ji Mingrui: “Yeah, what about it?”
“You’ve known each other for many years?”
Ji Mingrui, his “bosom” friend of many years, replied, “That truly has been a lot of years. We already knew each other back when we were in school.”
The person whispered, “He must be quite difficult to get along with, right?”
Ji Mingrui thought about it and nodded. “Indeed.”
“……”
The difficult-to-get-along-with Chi Qing had heard enough of the reports from these three teams. Setting down his pen, he stood up and walked out, standing in the corridor for a brief moment. The wind blowing through the long corridor felt rather chilly, pouring down from the collar of his hoodie. He stood there for a while, just happening to cross paths with Xie Lin, who was walking over from the other end of the long corridor.
The two stood at opposite ends. The spot where Xie Lin stood happened to be a dark corner, and it was only when he drew closer that Chi Qing spotted the dark brown dossier envelope clutched in his hand.
Chi Qing cast a glance at it. “Information?”
Unexpectedly, Xie Lin didn’t elaborate much, only saying, “Mm, an… old case from the past. There are a few details I want to reconfirm; it might be related to this case.”
“Why are you standing out here alone?” Xie Lin shifted unobtrusively to block the wind for him, asking, “Isn’t it cold?”
Imperceptibly, Chi Qing’s level of understanding toward Xie Lin had reached a certain depth.
Without relying on mind-reading abilities, he couldn’t read anyone.
But Xie Lin had always been an exception.
Chi Qing confirmed almost instantly that something was indeed slightly amiss with Xie Lin.
Yet, he didn’t press further.
Xie Lin would tell him what he wanted to say, and if he didn’t want to speak, he must have his reasons.
He merely slipped his hand into the pocket of Xie Lin’s overcoat, saying icily, “Cold.”
Many times, Chi Qing himself didn’t realize how much his behavior resembled “acting spoiled.”
Consequently, Xie Lin switched the dossier to his other hand, using his freed hand to naturally clasp his. “Wearing so little, it serves you right if you freeze to death.”
Chi Qing did not delve excessively into the matter.
Xie Lin wasn’t at the General Bureau during the afternoon either, only driving over in the evening to pick him up so they could head back together. However, after returning home that night, Chi Qing finished his shower and inadvertently spotted the case files laid out on the table. Upon the yellowed documents, he saw his own name.
The characters “Chi Qing” were written with extreme neatness.
Chi Qing’s hand wiping his hair paused.
He also spotted a photograph that he himself didn’t remember when it was taken—it was him from ten years ago, his features still highly juvenile. He turned the file over to the next page, spotting Xie Lin’s name on the final page.
Without a doubt—this was the dossier for that kidnapping case from ten years ago.
It was actually his first time seeing a photograph of Xie Lin from ten years ago. The youth in the photo wore a school uniform, looking incredibly clean as he cast a casual glance toward the camera lens.
——He was the former consultant of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Xie Lin.
——When he first participated in handling cases, he was still in school.
……
Whenever he heard these words in the past, Chi Qing never really had a concept of it.
But at this moment, through this photograph, Chi Qing felt as though he were locking eyes with the “Xie Lin” from ten years ago.
The sound of water in the bathroom hadn’t stopped; Xie Lin was still showering.
Chi Qing intended to flip the file back, yet he spotted an incredibly minuscule mark on the final page—it was a small indented dot accidentally left by a ballpoint pen while reviewing the file.
The tip of the ballpoint pen had tapped upon the name of one of the criminal investigation officers involved in the case. It was an officer who had been in charge of handling the case alongside Xie Feng back then, named Guo Xingchang. Moreover, strangely enough, the file indicated that he had resigned from his post barely a few months after returning from that assignment.
Chi Qing hadn’t actually thought about these details deliberately; it was just like breathing—a logical chain naturally surfaced within his mind.
Xie Lin was investigating this person?
Did he head out during the day precisely to find him?
And he had mentioned it was related to the case currently under investigation.
What kind of relationship could there be?
Or rather……
What had Xie Lin discovered on the 13th floor that night?
Unbeknownst to them, the weather outside took a sudden turn. With a resounding boom, raindrops began to fall in a chaotic flurry from amidst the pitch-black clouds.
Boom—
The torrential rain persisted all the way through to the following day. The road conditions for driving weren’t great, and the blaring of car horns echoed incessantly. Then, just as the sky turned a foggy gray and was barely beginning to brighten, a sharp crunch echoed across the road—this time, it was the sound of vehicles scraping against each other.
“How on earth are you driving?”
On the road, a car suddenly pulled over to the curbside, and a woman of about thirty-odd years stepped down from the vehicle while holding an umbrella. She walked over to the side of the other car, knocking on its window. “Get out of the car. How did you even drive—?”
Seated in the driver’s seat of the car was a middle-aged man. Upon the hand he rested on the steering wheel sat a glaringly obvious knife scar, winding its way out from the sleeve of his sweater.
The middle-aged man picked up the umbrella on the passenger seat and subsequently stepped out of the car as well, apologizing repeatedly, “I’m sorry, my deepest apologies……”
“You don’t need to give me all these excuses,” given the harsh weather, the woman clearly didn’t want to waste any more time here. Terrified that this person would turn rowdy and throw a tantrum, she decisively dialed ‘110.’ “I’ve called the police. Officers will be over shortly to handle this.”
On the other side.
Ji Mingrui had made another trip to room 1301 first thing in the morning. Upon receiving the deployment mission, he hurriedly took the elevator downstairs, running into Chi Qing halfway down the descent.
The man stood outside the elevator wearing gloves, holding a transparent umbrella in his hand.
Ji Mingrui froze for a moment. “There’s no need to head to the General Bureau today. Why are you heading out so early?”
Chi Qing lifted his eyes to look toward him, saying as a matter of course, “The weather is quite nice. Heading out for a stroll.”
Ji Mingrui: “……”
Only his brother could utter such words when facing the pouring rain outside.
Ji Mingrui peered behind him once more. “Where is Consultant Xie?”
Chi Qing: “He headed out first thing in the morning.”
Previously, when Chi Qing mentioned whether Xie Lin was a bit unusual, Ji Mingrui hadn’t felt much of anything. But at this moment, he faintly sensed that something was about to happen. After all, a pair of little lovers who were usually inseparable all day long had suddenly begun spending time alone; it seemed slightly off.
However, Ji Mingrui turned his thoughts around, reasoning that people ought to leave some private space between one another to begin with, and there was no need to remain glued together all day.
He thought a great deal within those brief seconds, ultimately summarizing to himself: Many people lose their original social life the moment they enter a relationship. I cannot let my good brother grow estranged from me. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I must communicate more with Chi Qing to foster our brotherly bond.
When he formulated this summary, he forgot that this brother of his didn’t possess much of a social life to begin with.
Thus, Ji Mingrui extended a warm invitation: “There’s a bit of a situation over by the city bypass highway—a multi-car rear-end collision. Why don’t you tag along with me to take a look?”
ordinarily, Chi Qing would definitely refuse, but the rain was coming down quite heavily today, and his mood could be considered decent. “Sure.”
The location of the incident was very close to the residential community where Chi Qing resided, and the car arrived at the destination swiftly.
“What’s the situation here,” Ji Mingrui braved the rain to push the door open and step down from the car. “You, and you, take out your identification documents and let me take a look.”
Chi Qing didn’t step out of the car; he sat inside, gazing at the street view through the car window.
The glare of the streetlights was blurred by the rainwater, and the pattering sound of the rain resembled movements of a symphony. Chi Qing’s hand clad in a black glove rested upon his knee, lightly tapping along with the rhythm of the rain.
Shifting his gaze slightly, he spotted the middle-aged man standing off to the side.
Although the middle-aged man possessed a thoroughly ordinary appearance, his posture was dead straight. He had a knife scar on his hand and thick calluses on his purlicue.
Chi Qing thought to himself nonchalantly that this might be a retired military officer.
Outside the car window, Ji Mingrui accepted the identification documents, casually reading aloud the name written upon them: “Guo…… Guo Xingchang?”
Hearing this name, Chi Qing’s finger came to a sudden halt.
“Present.”
“What happened here?”
“No drunk driving,” Guo Xingchang said. “I just didn’t sleep well last night. My vision blurred for a brief moment, and my eyes were dazed by the taillights of the car ahead.”
Ji Mingrui didn’t feel there was anything amiss with this name. After finishing reading it, he sought to understand the situation. Guo Xingchang possessed an excellent attitude toward admitting his mistake and was highly willing to resolve the matter, so Ji Mingrui turned around to address the lady instead: “Next time, give the other party a chance to speak. Can’t this be coordinated smoothly? We live in a civilized society; everyone is a reasonable person……”
As they spoke, Guo Xingchang caught sight of the neighboring police car door opening out of the corner of his eye.
Subsequently, what entered his field of vision was a pair of combat boots slick with rainwater. Looking further up, the man wore black gloves on his hands, holding a transparent umbrella that tilted downward slightly, obscuring his face.
“It is far more than just being reasonable,” the man’s voice sounded rather cold. “Mr. Guo used to be a criminal investigation officer himself, so you should be as familiar as one could possibly be with how this ought to be handled.”
