Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
As I watched Liu Yiyi leave, I immediately returned to the coffee shop and pulled out the business card that Wen Yan had given me. I dialed Wen Yan's number.
"What’s up? Are you thinking about joining my Detective Agency?" Wen Yan sounded quite smug on the other end of the line.
I replied, "Stop being so full of yourself. I have a commission for you. I need you to investigate the authenticity of some experimental data. I'll give you three days and ten thousand."
"Where are you? I'll come find you," Wen Yan said.
I told him the address of my coffee shop.
Before long, Wen Yan arrived in his flashy Mustang. He walked in, glanced at the experimental data, and then quickly searched for Chen Fang's company online. After a moment, he said, "At least forty thousand. This commission is quite difficult."
"Forty thousand? Why don’t you just go rob a bank? The most I can offer is twenty thousand!" I immediately started to haggle.
Wen Yan smirked, looking at me with an air of superiority. "Rookie! Just bribing the lab staff will cost at least twenty thousand. The minimum is thirty thousand. If you want to negotiate further, I’ll walk away right now."
"Fine, thirty thousand it is!" I quickly agreed. "Get back to me within three days."
"Four at most," Wen Yan said confidently. Then he rubbed his fingers together and added, "Last time, I made twenty thousand from Chen Fang, but you helped too, so we’ll split it fifty-fifty. That means you get ten thousand. This time it’s thirty thousand, so just pay me an additional twenty thousand for the commission. Two payments: ten thousand as a deposit and another ten when it's done. That's the rule; pay up."
I wasn't angry; the key was that I trusted Wen Yan quite a bit, so I paid him.
Sure enough, on the third night, I received a lengthy document from Wen Yan—over twenty pages of A4 paper detailing Chen Fang's fraudulent activities.
I forwarded the information to Liu Yiyi.
When Liu Yiyi saw the data, she looked disheartened; a promising contract had slipped away just like that. However, she was also relieved to have saved fifteen million in funding. She was very grateful to me and treated me to a Western meal. Although it wasn’t particularly good, that meal cost over seven thousand.
I felt incredibly pleased with myself; I had done nothing and yet earned a profit of twenty thousand, all while gaining the gratitude and affection of the goddess!
My relationship with Liu Yiyi was growing stronger. She often came to my coffee shop in the evenings to enjoy a cup of coffee, sharing with me her experiences in the business world, her happy moments, and her family troubles. She had already come to see me as a close friend with whom she could share anything.
Half a month later.
One afternoon, Liu Yiyi rushed into my coffee shop, looking anxious. "Song Fei, we have a problem at the company. Can you help me?"
"Of course." I set down the history book I had been reading and walked over to her. "What happened?"
"My employee has committed murder. Can you come with me to the police station to see what's going on?"
Liu Yiyi and I got into the car and headed toward the police station.
On the way, I asked, "Liu Yiyi, what’s going on? Who did your employee kill?"
Liu Yiyi was driving and replied, "It seems to be someone named Liao Gang. He’s the head of the local water resources bureau."
"What?" I was taken aback. "Does your employee have some connection to the head of the water bureau? It wouldn’t be a crime of passion, would it? Maybe a kept man who lost his temper and killed that old guy?"
"Be serious." Liu Yiyi lightly slapped my shoulder. "It’s definitely not that. Liao Gang is actually quite young and has a good reputation; there’s no evidence of any corruption or misconduct. Others speak highly of him. More importantly, Liao Gang has no connection whatsoever to my employee Zhou Ruyun!"
I thought for a moment and decided it would be best to see Zhou Ruyun in jail.
Upon arriving at the police station, I called Chen Shan, who soon came over to lead us to the holding room. Liu Yiyi was visiting as a relative of Zhou Ruyun, which was technically illegal at this time, but no one would make a fuss about it.
As we walked, Liu Yiyi asked, "Captain Chen, are you sure you’ve got everything straightened out? Zhou Ruyun is just a delicate girl; how could she possibly commit murder? What was her motive?"
Chen Shan replied as we walked, "The facts are clear, and the evidence is solid; it was indeed Zhou Ruyun who committed the crime. However, the biggest question lies in the motive—Zhou Ruyun had no relationship with the deceased Liao Gang at all. We’ve looked into it thoroughly but found no connection between them. Moreover, Zhou Ruyun's actions are indeed quite puzzling."
I found this case a bit suspicious as well. I followed Chen Shan into the room, and not long after, a woman in prison clothes walked in. She appeared quite demure, and while she wasn't stunning, she had a pleasant look about her. It was clear from her face that she rarely wore makeup, so even though she was bare-faced now, she still gave off a fair complexion.
I looked at Zhou Ruyun and saw no signs of possession.
I asked Chen Shan to step out, leaving only Liu Yiyi, Zhou Ruyun, and me in the interrogation room.
Upon seeing Liu Yiyi, Zhou Ruyun immediately burst into tears.
"Hello, Zhou Ruyun," I said. "I'm a friend of Liu Zong's, here to help you."
Zhou Ruyun nodded. "Thank you, thank you Liu Zong. I really am innocent."
"Zhou Ruyun," I continued, "please tell me exactly what happened that night. Be as detailed as possible."
Zhou Ruyun thought for a moment before speaking. "Two days ago, it was Wednesday. I got up as usual to get ready for my morning routine. When I got up and went into the washroom to wash my hands, I noticed my hands were covered in blood. I was startled and thought maybe my period had started. So I looked up and saw there were bloodstains on my face too. I was a bit dazed and quickly washed my hands and face. Then I realized my nightgown was also stained with blood. I was terrified. Following the footprints, I noticed the blood on my feet was even more pronounced. There was blood all over the floor and bed in my house, and there were also my footprints at the entrance. I panicked and called the police."
"When the police arrived at my house, they looked at my nightgown and examined my footprints. They took measurements and collected my fingerprints. Then some officers left to check the scene just like it was. I ended up being locked up here, and that’s when I learned that Liao Gang, the director of the Water Resources Bureau, had died, with my fingerprints and footprints left at the scene, along with footage of my silhouette from surveillance cameras."
I frowned as I thought about this information and asked, "Do you know Liao Gang?"
Zhou Ruyun shook her head firmly. "I definitely don’t know him."
"Then do you know of Liao Gang?" I pressed.
Zhou Ruyun pondered for a moment before shaking her head again.
"Think carefully now, Zhou Ruyun," I urged. "This should be crucial. Even if you were possessed that night, there must be some clues we can follow."
Zhou Ruyun rubbed her temples and said, "The night before, I was researching online because our company needed local blueprints for site selection for a factory. So I looked up information... umm... I'm quite sure I don't know Liao Gang; I definitely didn't know him before this incident. However, while searching online for information, it might have been the first time I came across his name. But I don't have any impression of it now; I think I just browsed through it briefly and then moved on without retaining any details. But that night, it's possible that I did look up information about Liao Gang."
I let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "Alright, I will do my best to find out the truth."
Liu Yiyi comforted Zhou Ruyun for a few more moments, and then we stepped out of the interrogation room.
Once outside, I whispered, "If Zhou Ruyun isn't lying, then she really is possessed by a ghost. Let's go check the surveillance footage."
Chen Shan led us to the evidence room, where he found someone to pull up the surveillance footage from when Liao Gang was attacked.
Liao Gang had been attacked in his home, so there was no footage of the actual incident, only recordings from around the neighborhood.
The surveillance footage was somewhat blurry.
Chen Shan pointed at the screen and said, "Look, this is the footage from the front door. Zhou Ruyun is about to appear."
Before long, we saw Zhou Ruyun coming into view, dressed in pajamas and barefoot. She entered through the front door and headed straight for Liao Gang's house. Her walking posture seemed normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection, there were some unsettling details. Although Zhou Ruyun's eyes were open, it was hard to see her pupils; they were almost entirely white! Additionally, her fingers were constantly making a digging motion.
"That's definitely a ghost!" I exclaimed.
Chen Shan turned to me with confusion. "What proof do you have?"
I pointed at Zhou Ruyun on the screen and said, "Motives, methods of attack, and being barefoot are all things for you police to consider. What I see is this: Brother Chen, look closely at Zhou Ruyun's eyes; they are completely white with no pupils. This clearly shows that she isn't even aware of her surroundings. And look at her hands; they seem to be digging as if trying to extract someone's heart. This is definitely a sign of possession by vengeful spirits."
Liu Yiyi sighed in relief. "I knew it! Zhou Ruyun has always been a good employee; how could she suddenly do something like this?"
Chen Shan nodded. "Actually, our police department also finds many points suspicious. However, without confirming the exact cause right now, we can't release Zhou Ruyun. What if she kills again?"
After hearing Chen Shan's words, I realized he had a point. Regardless of whether or not Zhou Ruyun was guilty, we couldn't let her go free. Even if she was possessed by a ghost, she would still need to be detained at the police station because she would be treated as mentally unstable. Chen Shan wouldn't just classify it as a temporary mental disorder; if she truly had mental issues, she would definitely end up locked away—likely worse than being in prison.
To release Zhou Ruyun, we would need to find a reason for her sudden breakdown and ensure that there would be no chance of her going off the rails again in the future. Only then would there be a possibility for her to gain parole.
I thought for a moment and spoke to Chen Shan, "Brother Chen, there are indeed many doubts about this case. How about this: I'll come back to see Zhou Ruyun tonight. I believe this woman will only show something unusual at night; at least for now, she seems very normal."
Chen Shan nodded and smiled at me. "Alright, Song Fei. This case is indeed tricky, and we at the police station don't want to wrong any good person. So you take over. Let Qin Hai assist you; he hasn't had anything urgent to deal with lately. You two handle this case, and I can report back."
I nodded in agreement.
Liu Yiyi had her hands in the pockets of her trench coat. "Alright, you two, let me treat you to dinner. Consider it my bribe to you for being lenient with my employees."
Chen Shan laughed heartily. "Me? I don't have such good luck as you two. I'm swamped right now; a district chief has just died—an official of a higher rank than me. My head is spinning, and I don't have time to eat. You two go ahead."
Chen Shan patted my shoulder and then left.
Comment 0 Comment Count