Chapter 113

In the interrogation room of the Nancheng City Bureau, the questioning of Zeng Minyi continued.

The room fell silent for a moment, with Song Wen bowing his head to draw. Fu Linjiang broke the silence and comforted the girl, saying, “You can rest assured. Once the case reaches us, we will find him.”

Drawing a portrait takes time. Song Wen showed Zeng Minyi the outline of the man he had drawn. Zeng Minyi quietly mentioned some features, and Song Wen lowered his head again to continue drawing.

Lu Siyu happened to have summarized the previous records and closed his pen cap. Sitting next to Song Wen, he leaned in closer, watching with interest as Song Wen concentrated on drawing the portrait.

A few lines outlined the contours of the face, followed by the direction of the hair, and then began to sketch the features.

Lu Siyu enjoyed watching Song Wen draw. His pen seemed to have a soul, possessing a quiet power. Sometimes, just a few strokes brought life to the figure on the paper. Such drawing skills were admirable.

And this hand wasn’t just for holding a pen; it could also hold a gun. The warmth in his hand made him reluctant to let go, as if holding it gave him a sense of security.

The tip of the pen touching the paper emitted a soft, gentle rustling sound.

Halfway through the drawing, Song Wen looked up at Lu Siyu. The person in front of him supported his chin, his clear face devoid of expression, illuminated by the light in the interrogation room, making his fair skin appear as white as snow. He looked extremely focused, his long eyelashes hanging down, as quiet as a rabbit.

Song Wen couldn’t help but smile slightly, recalling their first meeting. He wiped the graphite dust from his little finger and continued to sketch.

Before long, a rough sketch of a portrait had taken shape. It depicted a somewhat ordinary-looking man, but with a hint of gloominess hidden in his features. With just the addition of dark eyes to the image, it seemed to imprint the face onto the white paper like a stamp.

Just then, the door of the interrogation room suddenly opened, and a tall, thin man in his twenties walked in. He walked straight to Zeng Minyi as soon as he entered, saying, “Minyi, why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? I had to check your taxi records to find out.”

Seeing him, Zeng Minyi shrank back in fear, then lowered her head and remained silent. The newcomer was evidently her boyfriend mentioned earlier.

Zhao Xiao, standing at the door, looked embarrassed. “Sorry, Captain Song. This man is here to find the victim. He rushed over after asking where she was. I couldn’t stop him…”

Fu Linjiang remained patient, standing up to explain, “We’re handling a case here. We called her in. Your girlfriend is an important eyewitness and has an obligation to cooperate with our investigation.”

The man lingered but didn’t leave, not daring to confront them directly. Standing beside Zeng Minyi, he said, “Officers, what do you want to ask? I was also involved last night. I can testify. What happened last night was just because she took the dog out too late… nothing serious.”

Zeng Minyi bit her lip, tears swirling in her eyes. “I come home from work every day and still have to do housework, while you spend all day playing games. If you hadn’t forgotten to walk the dog, I wouldn’t have gone out at night…”

“If you had listened to me and given the dog away, none of this would have happened…” The man continued to argue with her. “Who told you to walk the dog dressed so provocatively? Otherwise, why would he target you and not someone else? You embarrassed yourself at the police station yesterday, and now you’ve come to the municipal bureau today! If your company finds out, you won’t even keep your job!”

Seeing a potential argument brewing, Fu Linjiang frowned and said, “Please don’t interfere with our police work.”

Facing this chauvinistic and somewhat irresponsible boyfriend, Song Wen’s temper flared up. Pointing his brush at the man, he said, “Do you know? This morning, a 22-year-old girl died. If that taxi hadn’t passed by yesterday, your girlfriend would have been the one in trouble! Now, don’t disturb our work. Get out of here!”

After these three sentences, the man’s face changed slightly, and he backed down. “Okay, okay, I’m just concerned about her. I’m worried this incident will become public knowledge and affect her future. Concern causes chaos. Concern causes chaos. Well… officers, I’ll wait for her outside.”

Zeng Minyi was stunned after hearing Song Wen’s words. She finally understood why these police officers attached so much importance to her experience last night. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Um… what you just said to scare my friend, is it true?”

Fu Linjiang looked at the girl and said, “Yes, it’s true.”

“Then… then if he had dragged me into the woods, would I have been the one who died?” Zeng Minyi’s voice choked up. She was terrified, tears swirling in her eyes, but at the same time, she was grateful that she had narrowly escaped.

Last night, she had brushed shoulders with death.

Lu Siyu looked at the summarized points in his notebook and felt that the clues were insufficient. He spoke up and asked, “I know last night’s experience is a painful memory for you, but can you try to remember any more details or characteristics about the perpetrator?”

Fu Linjiang also added, “Perhaps if you remember a little more, you can help us save the next girl.” These details would fade with time, but even the slightest recollection from Zeng Minyi now could help them solve the case sooner.

Zeng Minyi thought for a moment, burying her head in her hands. “When he started hitting me… his face showed no emotion at all, like a mannequin without feelings…” Then she added, “He kept breathing heavily, making a huffing sound… It was like being chased by a big dog with its tongue hanging out, right by your feet…”

As she spoke, she could still hear that huffing sound echoing in her ears. She seemed to feel the pain of the man hitting her, the fear and despair as he dragged her, and the disgust as his calloused hands slowly moved over her stockings.

Song Wen keenly noticed something from the girl’s reaction. He asked, “Do you remember any other details? Anything that didn’t quite make sense, but scared you?”

Fu Linjiang stood up to pour a cup of hot water for the girl and placed it in front of her. The girl looked at him gratefully.

After drinking a few sips of water, Zeng Minyi regained some strength. She hugged her head in pain, recalling these memories. The wound on her head began to ache again. “After he attacked my head, I was somewhat disoriented for about half a minute. When I regained consciousness, I felt him dragging my legs into the woods. At that time… I heard him talking to someone else… I was scared. He must have had an accomplice in the woods.”

Talking to someone?!

Upon hearing this, the several interrogating detectives were very surprised. Could it really be as Zhuang Yi said, that there were actually two perpetrators?

Because the other perpetrator didn’t arrive in time, was this victim able to escape?

“Are you sure he wasn’t talking on the phone?” 

Zeng Minyi nodded.

“Who was he talking to? Do you know?” Song Wen continued to ask.

Zeng Minyi shook her head. “I don’t know, I didn’t see, and I couldn’t hear clearly what he was saying. His voice was also heavy with panting, and that sound was mixed in with his words, kind of like wheezing.”

She tried to mimic it, allowing people to imagine how terrifying it would be to hear that sound in the silent darkness of the night.

Then she lowered her head and said, “I really don’t remember anything else.”

Song Wen showed Zeng Minyi the revised drawing, and the girl nodded. “It looks very much like him now.”

Finally having a suspect’s portrait and some other clues, Fu Linjiang escorted the girl out. As they walked, he said to her, “Thank you for cooperating with us. You did great, did the right thing, and were very brave. What happened last night was just bad luck, and had nothing to do with anything else. If you remember anything else or encounter any difficulties, you can call us.”

After hearing these words, Zeng Minyi burst into tears, looking at her boyfriend waiting in the distance.

Fu Linjiang suddenly became flustered, pulling out tissues and handing them to her. “Ah, what happened last night is in the past, don’t cry.”

Zeng Minyi took the tissues from him. “I’m not crying because of that. After I told my family and friends about last night, they all blamed me for going out so late. Everyone blamed me, and no one comforted me…”

“My dad… who is usually very good to me, his first reaction when he heard about this was, luckily nothing serious happened, otherwise how could you show your face in front of relatives in the future?” She wiped away her tears and continued, “My boyfriend started questioning me yesterday about why I didn’t wait for him and instead chose to call the police. He said calling the police was useless and would only make others look at me with colored glasses, making me a gossip and a joke in other people’s mouths. He said… people think that only loose girls would attract those bad guys. If this incident becomes known, even he, as my boyfriend, wouldn’t be able to hold his head up in front of others. Listen to what he said, keeping a man is worse than keeping a dog. I’m breaking up with him when I go back!”

Fu Linjiang said, “He’s not worthy of you.”

As the only eyewitness was sent away, Tian Ming looked at the few characteristics he had noted down. Among them, the characteristic of heavy breathing was mentioned several times by Zeng Minyi. He and Song Wen discussed, “Ah, Captain Song, is this ‘haha’ sound because the perpetrator has some illness, like tuberculosis or emphysema?”

Song Wen shook his head. “People with lung diseases are very weak. If the perpetrator had a lung problem, they wouldn’t have had enough energy to commit violence.”

Tian Ming asked, “So what do you think the reason for that kind of panting sound is?”

“It could be a congenital deformity of the throat, or it could be due to some later reasons. Perhaps the hoarse voice is to cover up something. In any case, it is such defects that have made him ridiculed since childhood, and he is very inferior.” Song Wen added afterwards, “If this person is indeed the perpetrator.”

Tian Ming said, “We’ll confirm when the test results come out.” He looked at his notes again and said, “At first, I thought Zhuang Yi was being a bit cryptic, but now that I think about it, it’s really amazing. He actually analyzed that the perpetrator might have an accomplice. I’ll report these findings to Commissioner Gu and Professor Zhuang later.”

At this point, Tian Ming felt that he had gained a lot of clues and smiled happily. “Thank you, Captain Song! With our cooperation this time, we will definitely catch the culprit sooner.”

On the side, Lu Siyu listened to this and looked at Song Wen. There was no expression on his handsome face as he closed the notebook in his hand.

Song Wen didn’t mind Tian Ming taking credit. He was about to say something when Fu Linjiang interrupted him.

“Yes, yes, let’s all work together.”

Fu Linjiang, who had just escorted the victim away, smiled as he pulled Song Wen away. He was particularly afraid that Song Wen would say something like, “It’s just that we are stronger here, it has nothing to do with your team.” Although it was true, if he really said it, the atmosphere in the office would be unbearable.

TN:

Sad reality of S.A. Also can people just randomly walk into the police station like this in China? It’s been multiple instances with the author’s novels. And in “Under The Skin”, MC just walks into a police station, past a bunch of cops all the way upstairs and they’re just looking at him suspiciously but no one asks anything!