Chapter 18

“The Technical Brigade just found the only video frame from Great Peace Village’s surveillance footage about a month ago that matches Zhao Guang’s description of the ‘outsider woman’ who often visited Zhang Liang on weekends. The two of them passed briefly in front of a supermarket, lasting only four seconds.” After listening to her, Jiang Li fell silent for a few moments before speaking. He then pulled out a photo from the file folder on the small side table next to his chair: “However, the Technical Brigade compared those four seconds of footage with Pei Shasha’s walking posture, height, and stepping habits, confirming that the ‘outsider woman’ was indeed Pei Shasha.”

Su Yan stepped forward and took the photo, studying the heavily bundled woman pushing the wheelchair who seemed to be speaking to Zhang Liang with her head lowered. “So there was never any ‘outsider woman’—it was all Pei Shasha disguising herself?”

“Mm. I think she deliberately created this persona to prevent villagers from noticing their frequent interactions, likely intending to distance herself from any suspicion after the incident,” Jiang Li analyzed.

“But when the incident actually happened, she suddenly changed her mind. Instead of hiding, she deliberately exposed herself to us, betraying her partner Zhang Liang.” Su Yan’s gaze remained fixed on the figure in the photo as she murmured, “Because she suddenly thought of a way to justify her father’s unnatural death. And she knew that hiding in Great Peace Village to commit crimes wasn’t sustainable in the long run—Zhang Liang’s physical condition couldn’t satisfy her psychological needs anymore, so she simply discarded him. Killing two birds with one stone—what a clever scheme.”

“How do you plan to break Zhang Liang’s loyalty to her?” Jiang Li seemed quite intrigued by her thoughts.

After a moment of silence, Su Yan suddenly looked up and flashed a sly, ingratiating smile at the man seated across from her. “Team Leader Jiang, can we make a deal? Could you take me to the archives room?”

…

The archives room at the municipal bureau wasn’t particularly well-lit, filled with towering metal shelves stacked with boxes of old case files. Although police work had largely gone digital nationwide in recent years, some things still couldn’t be replaced by the internet. The room was vast, with the back rows of boxes covered in thick dust—clearly untouched for a long time.

As evening fell, the fluorescent lights flickered on. The archives staff had long since clocked out, leaving only Su Yan seated at a long table in the spacious room. The towering stacks of boxes on the table nearly concealed her entirely.

Suddenly, the metal door outside beeped as someone entered the passcode. Moments later, Cai Chengji poked his head in, finally spotting her after a long search. “Hey, haven’t you eaten dinner yet?”

Su Yan looked up, rubbing her sore eyes, and smiled gratefully at the packaged meal Cai Chengji placed in front of her. “Thanks, Brother Cai.”

“Have you finished interrogating Zhang Liang?” she asked between bites, curiosity evident in her voice.

“How could that be?” Cai Chengji looked exasperated as he spread his hands. “Brother Xiang is holding out there with him. This time we’re really going head-to-head with him. We agreed to take shifts wearing him down—two of us can’t lose to one guy, right?” He reached out and patted the boxes on the table. “But what about you? I didn’t see you or Team Leader Jiang when I got back to the office. Asked around and found out you came here. Where’s Team Leader Jiang, though? I even brought his meal.”

“About an hour ago, he got a call and left. Still hasn’t come back,” Su Yan mumbled through a mouthful of food.

“Any results so far?”

“First, we checked the computer database and filtered out some cases that seemed similar during Zhang Liang’s years in prison. Then I went through them one by one, reviewing the case files and evidence.” She pointed at the boxes scattered across the floor—at least seventeen or eighteen of them. “But they’ve all been ruled out. Whether it’s the cause of death, dump sites, methods, or even the killing techniques—none bear Pei Shasha’s fingerprints.”

After all, once a serial killer establishes their signature pattern, they rarely deviate. It’s their identity—something no killer would easily discard.

“Could she have actually stopped?” Cai Chengji asked.

“No way.” Su Yan shoveled the last few bites into her mouth, wiped her lips, and continued examining the remaining case files and evidence. “If she could really control herself, Pei Ling wouldn’t be in that half-dead state now. Even if she could suppress the urge a little, she wouldn’t have committed two crimes in Great Peace Village. That’s a major taboo.”

Cai Chengji saw her point and checked his watch. “I’ve got two hours before I relieve Brother Xiang. Let me help you look through these.”

With another pair of hands, the process sped up considerably. But even after flipping to the last page of the final file, Su Yan still hadn’t found what she was looking for. Her brow furrowed deeply. Could she have been wrong, as Cai Chengji suggested?

No. There had to be something she’d overlooked…

Time ticked by. Cai Chengji glanced at her—motionless, not even blinking—and felt an inexplicable chill. He called out softly, but got no response. Clearing his throat, he raised his voice, “Yan… Yan?!”

Su Yan jolted slightly, snapping out of her thoughts and turning to him.

Cai Chengji forced a smile, though it looked awkward. “What were you thinking about so deeply? Let’s call it a day. Pack up and get some rest. You’ve been running around with us for two or three days—how can a young girl handle that?”

“Cai-ge, when Lai Xiangming came in, didn’t he say Pei Shasha didn’t continue her education after high school and went straight into the workforce?”

“I think so… yeah, that’s what he said.”

“Do you remember if he mentioned where she worked?” she pressed.

“I don’t think so… I don’t remember hearing anything.” Cai Chengji scratched his head, responding uncertainly.

“Brother Cai, I just thought of something—I need to get back to the office to confirm it right away!” Su Yan hastily stood up, already rushing toward the door before turning back halfway. “Sorry, could you please take care of filing these? Thanks, Brother Cai!” Before the words fully left her mouth, her figure had already vanished from the archives room.

Cai Chengji: “…”

Though somewhat exasperated, what could he do? The Special Task Force only had this one delicate flower—they had to spoil her! By the time he finally managed to haul all those boxes back into place and returned to the office, Su Yan had just put down the phone receiver, her eyes shining brighter than the fluorescent tubes overhead.

“What’s going on?” Cai Chengji asked casually, noting how the girl’s energetic demeanor was a far cry from her exhausted state in the archives. “Who were you calling?”

“Lai Xiangming. There were some things I needed to confirm with him.” Su Yan smiled. “The results matched my expectations. After Pei Shasha graduated from high school, she went to work in a neighboring city, supposedly in some clerical job, though Pei Ling and Lai Xiangming weren’t entirely clear on the details. However, Pei Shasha returned to Nancheng almost every two months—sometimes visiting Great Peace Village, other times meeting Pei Ling in the city.”

“So, you’re saying… there’s a high chance she was active in Jiangyuan City during those years?” Cai Chengji immediately perked up. “Damn, this person is really cunning. I thought these kinds of psychos rarely leave their comfort zones. Who’d have thought she’d go against the grain like that!”

“Because for her, Zhang Liang’s sudden imprisonment was a major upheaval. That alone could have pushed her out of her original comfort zone.” Su Yan rubbed her hands together, then gave him an ingratiating look. “Brother Cai, Team Leader Jiang was called away by the bureau chief—probably still about the Great Peace Village voyeurism case—so he won’t be back anytime soon. Could I trouble you to submit a report to the higher-ups? We’ll need cooperation from the Jiangyuan City Public Security Bureau this time.”

Cai Chengji laughed in exasperation. “I underestimated you before—turns out you’re quite the little taskmaster!”

…

Xiang Yang held out until late into the night but still didn’t see Cai Chengji return. In the end, another colleague came to relieve him. Too exhausted to ask where Cai Chengji had gone, he headed straight to the dormitory and collapsed into bed. The next morning, after breakfast in the cafeteria, he returned to the interrogation room to begin a new round of questioning—yet Cai Chengji was still nowhere to be found. Puzzled, he strode forward with renewed energy and roughly nudged Zhang Liang, who was struggling to keep his eyes open. Once the man managed to pry his eyelids apart, Xiang Yang sat back down across the table. “Let’s hear it. How did you and Pei An manage to kidnap Ni Yue without anyone noticing and take her to…” He flipped through the previous records. “…to your crime scene—Pei An’s storage room?”

Zhang Liang listened to the all-too-familiar question without reacting, not even lifting an eyelid. He saw right through it—the police were playing a waiting game with him, aiming to wear down his resolve by repeating the same questions over and over, hoping he’d slip up in exhaustion during one of his answers.

“That day, I wheeled past the entrance of Pride Farmhouse, deliberately rolled over a stone, and then asked for her help…” he replied, his answer identical to previous ones, word for word.

Xiang Yang suppressed his rising anger and was about to ask the next question when the interrogation room door burst open. Cai Chengji strode in with Su Yan, both flushed with excitement.

For some reason, Zhang Liang’s mind suddenly cleared, and his eyelids twitched incessantly.

Cai Chengji first asked Xiang Yang for an update. Upon hearing that Zhang Liang was still stubbornly tight-lipped, he sneered, “How loyal you are to your master. What a shame… tsk.” He trailed off, then took a folder from Su Yan and leisurely pulled out several photos, laying them one by one in front of Zhang Liang. “Take a look. Do these seem familiar? These victims all suffered severe blows to the back of their necks, dying from air embolisms injected via syringe. Don’t the clothes they’re wearing strike you as déjà vu?”

Zhang Liang’s pupils suddenly contracted, disbelief flashing across his face as his entire body tensed up. But the reaction lasted less than two seconds before he averted his gaze. “You’re absolutely ridiculous!” he snapped.

Watching his response, Su Yan curled her lips into a faint, knowing smile. This… was as good as done.