[12/05, 18:05, Haijing City Bureau, Criminal Investigation Division]
As night began to fall, Yu Xue pushed open the door of the conference room. Two teams were seated on either side of the conference table, seemingly waiting for them. The Nanyi team members stood up, calling out “Captain Yu” one after another. Yu Xue nodded, walked to the empty seat beside Yuan Kang, and Yi Shi found a seat near Ding Ju, ready for the meeting.
“We thought you’d be at the bureau this morning. Got caught in traffic?” Yuan Kang asked with a smile.
“No, just busy with something else.”
“Understood. It was clear you could’ve come back last night, but Captain Yu dragged it out almost a whole day,” Liu Chenyi, who was sitting across from them, said, his tone particularly displeased. “We were toiling away on the high mountain cliffs, nearly falling off a precipice, and as soon as we finished, you just happened to come back. Perfect timing.”
Here he goes again, making a fuss over nothing, Li Changsheng crossed his arms, Shao Shiqing found it amusing, and Ding Ju frowned—what’s with this senior from Haijing, acting like a drama queen? He wasn’t even the one climbing the mountain or hanging from ropes, just standing at the bottom giving orders.
“I understand; our colleagues in Haijing have worked hard. When the case is solved, I’ll personally treat you to a meal,” Yu Xue said, casually hanging his coat on the back of the chair, his smile extremely affable as he looked at Yuan Kang. “Captain Yuan, where’s the stuff?”
With just a few words, he smoothly steered the conversation away, leaving Liu Chenyi’s complaints to hit soft cotton, causing no pain at all. Yi Shi’s eyes swept over Liu Chenyi’s face—if he thinks that’s enough to rattle Yu Xue, he’s really underestimating him.
“Here.” Yuan Kang picked up the file on the table and handed it to Yu Xue. “Take a look first, then tell us what you got from Zhao Chenghu.”
Yu Xue opened the file, and the first thing that caught his eye was a bloodstained jacket. It had been found in the grass near the lakeside, with a bullet hole in the right upper arm, the main bleeding point located there. The edges of the bloodstain showed signs of diffusion, with a light brown gradient, clearly indicating that it had been washed before the blood fully oxidized. And since there was a lake just ten meters away, it wasn’t hard to imagine the wounded person washing the wound by the lake and then tossing the jacket into the grass.
The next page was a DNA profile extracted from the blood, and the comparison results were astonishing—the DNA profile from this bloodstained jacket was a complete match with the DNA extracted from the code note, confirming they belonged to the same person.
“…XY?” Yu Xue was dumbfounded, glancing over the others to Yi Shi. “It’s a man’s blood.”
Yi Shi crossed his arms. He wasn’t too surprised—the woman was probably just a courier, maybe she hadn’t even made the note herself. But she most likely knew this wounded person. Was he a criminal, a hostage, or someone else they didn’t know about?
“By the way, Song Ping, any news on that woman?” Yuan Kang asked.
Song Ping immediately stood up, taking out her notebook. “Reporting to Captain Yuan, we found Lin Erde’s lover. Her name is Wu Xia, 36 years old. According to her, that woman wasn’t her cousin at all, and she’s never seen what she looks like. On November 29th, she found her at her foot massage parlor, gave her some money, and asked to stay at the parlor for two nights, requesting Wu Xia to help hide her identity.”
“She wanted to stay at the foot massage parlor?” Li Changsheng found it odd. “If she needed a place to stay, couldn’t she just choose a hotel or motel? Those little red rooms aren’t exactly for proper sleeping.”
“Did she not have enough money? No ID?” Ding Ju speculated.
“Did Wu Xia agree without asking anything?” Zhang Rui asked.
Shao Shiqing gestured as if to say, enough, enough, let her finish.
“Your questions were the same as mine at first, but you’ll understand after you hear the rest.” Song Ping continued, “Wu Xia agreed to take her in for two reasons: first, because she gave a lot of money, and second, because she claimed she was there to catch a cheater—her husband had taken his mistress and was staying nearby. Middle-aged women love gossip, especially when it comes to infidelity. During the woman’s stay, she always wore a mask, spoke very little, and slept alone in a small room, pushing something against the door at night. So, Wu Xia never got to see what she looked like.”
“…” Zhang Rui felt awkward. “This definitely looks like a guilty conscience. What kind of person acts like they’re in ‘Mission: Impossible’ when they’re just trying to catch someone cheating?”
“Hey, you can’t say that. Maybe the mistress she’s after is one of the girls working at the foot massage parlor?”
“…?” Zhang Rui was startled. After thinking it over, this melodramatic plot actually made a lot of sense. Otherwise, why would a woman stay in a place like that instead of a decent hotel? Wasn’t she worried about being mistaken for someone working in that line of business?
“You’d be disappointed—she didn’t catch anyone. She left the morning after Lin Erde left,” Song Ping closed her notebook. “I reviewed the road surveillance and, after repeated confirmations, everything Wu Xia said was true. Report complete.”
Yuan Kang nodded and motioned for Song Ping to sit down. Yu Xue said, “It’s certain she’s telling the truth, but whether she told the whole truth is still debatable.”
“I think she told the whole truth. When she brought it up to me, she was pretty upset, saying she regretted helping that woman because there was a counterfeit bill among the money she was given. She received a stack of bills and didn’t count them carefully. If Lin Erde hadn’t been caught and she wasn’t afraid of being implicated, she wouldn’t have swallowed her anger and not reported it.”
“Counterfeit money?” Yi Shi raised his head, “What kind?”
“I just so happened to take a picture.” Song Ping pulled out her phone and opened her gallery. “I thought it was strange. I’ve never seen counterfeit money like this—the gold thread and anti-counterfeiting ink are all there; it looks more like a misprinted bill.”
As soon as he heard “misprinted bill,” Yi Shi immediately stood up and snatched the phone, startling Song Ping. When he saw the bill on the screen, his pupils suddenly contracted.
As expected, this 100-yuan bill was completely reversed in print. An ordinary person would assume it was a misprinted bill with collector’s value, but only someone with Yi Shi’s experience would know under what circumstances such a strange phenomenon could occur.
That woman was impossible to track down for a reason—she might not even belong to this world.
While everyone was discussing the “counterfeit bill,” only Yu Xue placed his hand on Yi Shi’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Is it…?”
Yi Shi nodded, his face turning a grim shade of pale gray.
Liu Chenyi, with sharp eyes, noticed Yi Shi’s unusual behavior and sneered, “Officer Yi, do you have any insights to share?”
Yi Shi usually couldn’t be bothered to argue with him, but today he acted out of character. His eyes, as cold as deep pools, met Liu Chenyi’s, “A lot. Do you want to hear them?”
“…” Liu Chenyi was about to speak when Yi Shi lowered his head again, “Never mind, you wouldn’t understand.”
Liu Chenyi: ???
Song Ping, shrinking to the side, secretly observed. If they weren’t in a meeting, she would have wanted to cheer for the handsome guy: Great comeback! Keep it up!
The one who had been rebuffed had his lips twitching slightly. He glanced around cautiously, relieved that no one had heard the exchange. He accidentally caught sight of Yu Xue, noticing that he had turned his head away, seemingly struggling to suppress a smile. Unable to hold it in, Yu Xue quickly raised his fist to his lips and coughed lightly, “Let’s check the fingerprints, then. Although it’s a lot of work, it’s better than doing nothing.”
“I’ve already handed it over to Wen Xining,” Song Ping replied.
Yu Xue nodded. Since they’d finished examining the evidence, it was time to discuss the situation with Zhao Chenghu. He stood up and wrote down a series of times and locations on the whiteboard, knocking on it, “Our biggest gain from this trip is this.”
Faced with the intelligence, which had times down to the minute and locations down to the house number, Yuan Kang was amazed, “Zhao Chenghu was this clear? Pang Daozi really messed up by getting him caught.”
Li Changsheng was also shocked, “He confessed everything? Captain Yu, you guys are incredible.”
Yu Xue exchanged a glance with Yi Shi, the deep meaning in their eyes clear to each other. Yu Xue smiled, “For the sake of a reduced sentence, no matter how important brotherhood is, it can’t outweigh a scar the size of a bowl at your neck.”
“Did he mention where Pang Daozi and Tu Laogui are hiding now?” Yuan Kang sighed, “The location Lin Erde provided has already been searched. We did find signs of habitation, but unfortunately, they had already moved.”
“Did you search the surrounding areas?” Yi Shi was about to suggest a few locations when he suddenly remembered that those were places used to hold hostages after the kidnapping. In his world, the kidnapping hadn’t happened yet, so those locations were likely empty.
“We searched part of it. There are still a few valleys that are incredibly deep and difficult to access even with ropes. I asked some colleagues from Dengchang yesterday, and there are a few ‘forbidden zones’ in Northern Cheng’an that the villagers refuse to go near. We’ll probably need to use drones.”
“Yeah, use infrared thermography as well. For places where people can’t reach, we’ll rely on technology,” Yu Xue adjusted his glasses, “Have you checked the homes of Tu Laogui’s men?”
“All checked. These idle thugs have families who don’t care whether they come home or not. Some of them haven’t been home in half a year,” Zhang Rui said, closing his notes, “Their social ties haven’t been fully investigated yet, but I suspect they’re all with Tu Laogui and won’t show up separately anytime soon.”
“Then there’s not much else we can do. If we can’t prevent it from happening, we’ll have to take some risks,” Yu Xue said. “After we returned, we went straight to Atme. We learned that their kindergarten is organizing a trip to the botanical garden on the 10th. Pang Daozi and Tu Laogui plan to act then.”
Hearing that they had already gone to the target kindergarten to gather information, Zhang Rui feigned surprise, “Oh… so that’s why Captain Yu was late to the meeting. You were handling something so important!”
The friendly signal had been sent, and a strong response was necessary. Li Changsheng smiled, “Of course. Captain Yu’s sense of timing is better than anyone’s. If he ever misses something important, it’s because he was doing something even more critical.”
Zhao Shiqing sighed and shook his head, “But it seems like only our team members will understand that.”
Ding Ju lifted his chin, “We don’t need others to understand; we’ll always believe in Captain Yu.”
“……” Liu Chenyi’s face darkened, almost seething with anger. The people from Nanyi were no pushovers. While some might wait ten years to exact revenge, these guys couldn’t wait a moment longer and sought retribution right on the spot!
And then there was Zhang Rui, who seemed to have forgotten which team he was on after just a few days of hanging around. How could he be so quick to side with outsiders?!
Yu Xue lowered his head to straighten his cuffs, hiding the smile in his eyes beneath his glasses. When he looked up again, his usual calm demeanor had returned. “We have plenty of time this time, so we need to make the action plan as perfect as possible. We’re also missing some crucial information, so we need to take our time.”
Song Ping was puzzled, pointing at the whiteboard: “…We’re still missing something?”
“Yes,” Yi Shi’s cold voice answered. “We’re missing information on the hostages.”
After the meeting, Zhang Rui was grabbed by the neck by Li Changsheng. “You’re getting more and more in sync with us from Nanyi! I think after this case is over, you should transfer here and become a real brother to us!”
“Who’s in sync with you?” Zhang Rui quickly denied it, answering awkwardly, “I just wanted to take that guy down a peg, not intentionally help you guys.”
“Okay, okay, look at how tsundere you are. Shiqing, come help drag him away!”
Shao Shiqing cheerfully came over, hooked his arm around Zhang Rui’s, while Li Changsheng tightened his grip around his neck, and once again “kidnapped” him to go have dinner together.
Yi Shi stayed behind, flipping through the investigation files in his hand. He took photos of the remaining parts and sent them to Lin Heyu. This was a matter of reciprocity; he hoped this information could help Lin Heyu and speed up the resolution of his case.
More than that, he hoped this detailed information could ensure Lin Heyu’s safety. The thought of him possibly going missing or dying weighed on Yi Shi’s chest like a stone, suffocating him.
Just then, Song Ping’s little head peeked around the door: “Hey, handsome, aren’t you going home?”
Yi Shi raised his eyelids, not responding. Song Ping, with her hands behind her back, walked in: “Wow, you’re really hardworking, getting right back to work and sorting out documents just after returning from a trip?”
“Do you need something?”
Song Ping scratched her cheek: “Not really, I just noticed you hadn’t gone home yet, so I’m checking in. You really gave it to him today. Lao Liu needs to be kicked around by someone tough like you to be put in his place.”
Yi Shi had long forgotten about the incident, but remembering that Liu Chenyi would hold a high position years later, he kindly reminded her, “He’s a superior, so be careful with what you say in the future.”
“Hmm?” Song Ping was stunned for two seconds, then waved her hand with a smile, “Did you misunderstand? Lao Liu isn’t a superior; even though he’s been here a long time, aside from Captain Yuan, we’re all of the same rank.”
“…” Yi Shi found it inconvenient to explain, so he just pretended he hadn’t said anything.
“Do you need any help with the sorting? I can assist if you want,” Song Ping offered. Yi Shi shook his head. He didn’t need any help; the best help would be for her to leave quickly so he could continue taking pictures. But faced with a girl, he couldn’t find an excuse to send her away, so he felt a vague sense of helplessness.
Song Ping blinked, and with the keen perception of a girl, she noticed a fleeting look of impatience in the handsome man’s eyes. Sensing this, she sensibly shrugged her shoulders: “Well, if you don’t need any help, then I’ll head out first. You should go home early too.”
Only then did Yi Shi raise his head. Watching her slender figure gradually fade away, he somehow felt a pang of pity, remembering her lonely later years in Lin Heyu’s world. “Zhang Rui is a good man.”
“…Huh?” Song Ping turned back, surprised. “You don’t think I’m dating him, do you? I’m not! We haven’t…”
“Treasure him well.” Yi Shi smiled faintly. “Tell him to smoke less; he’ll listen to you.”
Faced with such a strikingly handsome smile, Song Ping was at a loss for words. For a moment, she had the illusion that Yi Shi was distant from them because he stood atop an unknown peak, overlooking this world, with the unknown future completely in his grasp.
Song Ping scratched her cheek, her ears turning red: “…How can you be so sure Zhang Rui and I will be together?”
“He likes you.”
“How long will we be together? Will we get married?” Song Ping asked, only to realize she’d overstepped, laughing it off with a wave of her hand. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m treating you like a fortune teller. How could you possibly know that? Never mind, never mind, I’m leaving.”
She took two steps before turning back to wink at Yi Shi: “Don’t let Zhang Rui know about our conversation today, okay? Please.”
Yi Shi nodded slightly. Song Ping grabbed her bag and left the office, her figure disappearing around the stairwell.
How could he not know?
He knew far more than just that.
