Chapter 11

The Nan City Public Security Bureau building remained brightly lit even in the dead of night.  

After returning, the Special Task Force and Technical Brigade immediately got to work without rest. The dress suspected to have been worn by Ni Yue before her death, recently brought back from Great Peace Village, required forensic processing. Meanwhile, Zhang Liang was directly thrown into the interrogation room—Jiang Li had no intention of giving him time to catch his breath and immediately led the questioning.  

Su Yan returned to the office. Logically, she should have been off duty by now, but the thought of Zheng Hui made her head throb. After sitting in her chair for a while, she pulled out her phone, which had been turned off the entire time. As expected, it was bombarded with missed calls and messages from Zheng Hui the moment it powered on.  

It took a while for the vibrations to finally stop. Rolling her eyes, she sent a reply saying she was working overtime tonight before shutting it off again. Then she slumped over the desk and closed her eyes to rest. At some point, she vaguely heard people entering and leaving the office a couple of times, but she didn’t bother looking up.  

About an hour later, she slowly straightened up, rubbing her eyes and glancing at the wall clock—it was nearly 4 a.m. It was summer, and a faint glow had already begun to appear on the horizon. The office was still empty except for her, clearly indicating that progress with Zhang Liang wasn’t going smoothly.  

Shaking off her drowsiness, Su Yan got up and walked out of the office, heading to the break room at the end of the hallway. She rummaged through the cabinets, found a few packets of instant coffee, and brewed them. Holding two paper cups in each hand, she took the elevator down two floors to where the interrogation rooms were located.  

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she caught the faint scent of tobacco.  

Peeking around, she saw Jiang Li and Cai Chengji sitting on the chairs by the window, blowing smoke into the air. She walked over, quietly set the coffee cups on the small transparent table, then casually pushed open the tightly shut window. “Team Leader Jiang, Brother Cai, this is a no-smoking zone. If the alarm goes off, things will get lively.”  

Jiang Li stubbed out his cigarette after she spoke, exhaling a heavy breath before picking up a cup of instant coffee and murmuring, “Thanks.”  

Cai Chengji, on the other hand, took a few deep drags before finally putting out his cigarette. Shaking his head, he took a couple of sips of coffee and explained, “Relax, the alarm’s all the way over there—it won’t go off. Besides, Little Yan, this is just to keep us sharp. How else are we supposed to pull all-nighters like this?”  

“Brother Xiang…” Su Yan pointed at the closed interrogation room door beside them.  

“I’ll take it to him.” Cai Chengji grinned, standing up with a cup of coffee and pushing open the door to step inside.  

Su Yan only caught a glimpse of Xiang Yang’s profile before the door shut again. Inside, Zhang Liang sat silently with his head bowed, the atmosphere so thick it felt suffocating—unnervingly still.  

*Thud.*  

The heavy metal door closed, cutting off her view. By then, Jiang Li had already finished his coffee. Hesitating for a moment, she sat in the spot Cai Chengji had just vacated and slid the remaining cup toward him. “Team Leader Jiang…”

Jiang Li glanced at her and didn’t stand on ceremony. He hadn’t eaten properly all day yesterday and had stayed up all night, leaving him irritable from stomach discomfort. Fortunately, two cups of coffee had alleviated much of it. He then asked, “Why didn’t you go home to rest?”

“I fell asleep in the office when I got back. By the time I woke up, it was already this late, so there didn’t seem much point in going home,” Su Yan replied softly, appearing somewhat shy. She clasped her hands between her knees, as if nervous facing her superior.

“Your internship is almost over, right?” Jiang Li asked again.

Su Yan paused, then thought back. The original host’s internship period hadn’t been long—less than six months. She’d spent over three months in the office, then took nearly two months off after a car accident. Calculating it now, it really was almost over. She nodded. “There’s less than a month left.”

“Do you want to become a police officer after graduation? Are you planning to work frontline or in administration?”

Did she want to be a police officer? Su Yan frowned slightly. The original host had given up applying for management studies under parental pressure and instead enrolled in police academy—surely that meant she’d been passionate about it?

As she pondered this, Jiang Li gave a faint, almost imperceptible smile. “You’ve been with the Special Task Force for a few days now. How does it feel?”

Though as a special forces soldier, going days without sleep had been routine, and Su Yan’s mental endurance was solid, this body had been feeling exhausted frequently these past two days. For a normal person, it would probably be…

“Pretty tiring,” she answered honestly.

Jiang Li was about to say something more when the interrogation room door opened from inside. Xiang Yang emerged with bloodshot eyes, holding half a cup of coffee. Yawning, he slumped into the chair beside Jiang Li, muttering curses. “Damn, this guy’s tough. Looks like he’s determined to ‘let silence be golden.’ People who’ve done time are different—seems he knows the interrogation process inside out.”

“Let’s see if he keeps silent when we confirm the dress found in his home is linked to victim Ni Yue. Faced with ironclad evidence, he’ll talk or not.”

“And that first case nine years ago—we found skin tissue under the victim’s nails that didn’t belong to her. I’ve already had Fang Jiamao collect Zhang Liang’s DNA to compare with the sample in the database. If it matches, we won’t need to pry anything out of his mouth.” Despite speaking of the imminent breakthrough, Jiang Li didn’t seem particularly pleased.

Su Yan’s eyes flickered. She’d been hesitant, but seeing Jiang Li’s expression, she carefully ventured, “But I still find it strange. Zhang Liang’s disability can’t be fake, right? If he really used it to lure two victims into taking him home before killing them… then how did he change their clothes? And we only found one dress Ni Yue wore before her death in his home—none of the old-fashioned clothes the victims were discovered in…”

Jiang Li merely raised an eyebrow at her words, his expression showing little surprise—clearly, he had already been pondering the matter. Meanwhile, Xiang Yang proposed a hypothesis: “Could it be that his body has recovered somewhat, and he’s simply using his harmless appearance to more easily find suitable victims?”

“Unlikely,” Jiang Li shook his head. “All the medical records from when he had that accident in prison are still on file. It was a permanent, irreversible injury to his lumbar spine nerves. If he truly recovered, it would be a medical miracle.”

“Even if he could independently carry out the murders and change the victims’ clothes, what about transporting the bodies to the stream? Zhang Liang is always seen in a wheelchair, which naturally draws more attention than a normal person. The risk would be far too great. If that were the case, there should be eyewitnesses. Besides, we’ve all been to that stream on the day of the incident—the area within fifty meters of the main road is covered in pebbles and large rocks. His wheelchair couldn’t possibly get through.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re absolutely right!” Xiang Yang rubbed his hands together. “Could it be that after becoming disabled, he found an accomplice?!”

That wasn’t impossible. After all, there were many international cases like this—aside from serial killers who enjoyed sharing their crimes, many would seek an accomplice in their later years or when their physical strength declined, to assist them in committing crimes.

“Great Peace Village is so small, with such a limited fixed population. Who would he turn to for help…” Xiang Yang began mentally reviewing all the villagers he’d encountered: “Boss Zhao?… The shopkeeper auntie in the east of the village?… Secretary Pei is even more unlikely… Hey! What if it’s Pei Shasha? That little girlfriend of his!” But he quickly dismissed the idea: “No way… Last night, that girl looked utterly devastated. I wouldn’t be surprised if she fainted.”

“Don’t judge people by appearances,” Jiang Li said.

“Then what do you think, Team Leader Jiang? Who do you suspect?” Xiang Yang pressed.

“I only speak based on evidence.” As Jiang Li spoke, his phone rang in his pocket. He answered, exchanged a few words, then hung up. “Fang Jiamao called. The dress found in Zhang Liang’s home was indeed one Ni Yue wore before her death. Also… the DNA evidence preserved from the unsolved murder case nine years ago is a perfect match with Zhang Liang’s.”

“Got it! Let’s see what excuses he can come up with in the face of such irrefutable evidence!” Xiang Yang sprinted into the interrogation room as soon as he heard the news.

Jiang Li toyed with his phone, his gaze unfocused, as if lost in thought. After a long moment, he snapped out of it and glanced at his phone screen again before standing up. “It’s Saturday—you should be resting. You didn’t go home last night, so head back early and catch up on sleep. I’ll go check on the Technical Brigade’s progress first.”

Su Yan stood up with him and didn’t refuse when told to go rest, merely stretching lazily. Her joints cracked with a few crisp pops as she muttered to herself, “The weekend… This week’s work was really exhausting. Finally, a break—maybe I should go on a little trip~?”

Jiang Li, who had been about to step away, paused and silently watched her performance.

“Where to go… I think I checked recently. The top spot on Nan City’s weekend getaway list was Great Peace Village. Guess I’ll head there then.” She even nodded to herself as if affirming the decision.

“No tourists go there now. What’s the point?” Jiang Li’s tone carried a hint of amusement.

“What are you talking about, Team Leader Jiang?” Su Yan widened her eyes in feigned surprise. “With DNA evidence pointing to the culprit, there’s no need to fear going to Great Peace Village anymore. Drifting along the streams—just thinking about it sounds lovely.”

“Well then, have fun.” With that, Jiang Li strode toward the elevator and disappeared in a flash.

Su Yan shrugged, still standing in place. She had expected Jiang Li to stop her, but… Seems like he had his own thoughts on the matter. Probably wasn’t willing to let the Great Peace Village case close so ambiguously either, huh?