Chapter 14

Lu Siyu hesitated for a moment, looking at Song Wen, but did not answer him.

The room was brightly lit, yet both of them held their own concerns.

Song Wen didn’t delve into the past events any further but turned to the present. “Lu Siyu, ever since you joined the team, I felt you were somewhat different, not fitting into the police environment. You had more and better choices originally, but you went to great lengths to get in here, much like the killer in this case desperately trying to erase all marks on the body, only to leave traces in the end.”

Lu Siyu softly responded with a “Hmm?” as if he didn’t understand what Song Wen was talking about.

“Let me reconstruct what you did after starting work. On the first day, you dropped things twice and went to the crime scene alone.” After saying this, Song Wen paused, seemingly waiting for Lu Siyu’s explanation.

Lu Siyu tilted his head slightly and looked at him. “I’m a bit absent-minded. Captain Song, are you bothered by my frequent absentmindedness?”

Song Wen continued, “I initially only remembered one of those times and didn’t find it strange. But later, I discovered the second time in the forensic photos taken by Xiao Cheng. You closely observed the victim’s car; that was the so-called first time. I speculate that you might have found some clues in the trunk because that car’s trunk was used to place the dismembered body.”

Lu Siyu hesitated for a moment and explained in a soft voice, “I just went down to greet Sister Xu on the way.”

Song Wen looked at him, his gaze firmly fixed on Lu Siyu. The person in front of him seemed harmless, but Song Wen knew he was far from simple. “In this case, you’ve been ahead of us all along. During the first team meeting, you identified Zhuo Qing as the dismemberer, focusing suspicion on her. After visiting their home, you learned the truth about the case.” He paused for a moment and continued, “But what puzzles me is that you neither exposed Zhuo Qing nor directly told me. Instead, you hinted at me…”

Lu Siyu opened his mouth, licked his lips, wanting to say something but didn’t interrupt.

“You went to great lengths to buy a copy of ‘The Devotion of Suspect X.’ It’s like telling me that the time and location of the crime have been altered,” Song Wen said, leading to the purpose of his visit today. “After all these years, your way of behaving hasn’t changed. Just like back then, you hoped to touch the body through the hands of those students, getting rid of those troubles, and being able to live off-campus as an exception. Just like when you answered the psychological assessment test, wanting to join the police force but not revealing your true intentions, deliberately misleading Dr. Zhou. Lu Siyu, I want to ask you, what are you here for?”

After talking with Zhou Yining and conducting further investigations, Song Wen chose to come here to make things clear.

The other members of the team, whether smart or not, were racking their brains to find the truth. Only Lu Siyu seemed to be playing a detective game. He didn’t care about justice, wasn’t afraid of death, and didn’t care whether the bad guys would face justice. It seemed like he was just searching for the truth to validate the deductions in his mind.

Song Wen felt that Lu Siyu was using emotional detachment to conceal his true purpose, hiding the aspects of him that were different from ordinary people.

The entire process was analyzed by Song Wen. Seeing him pressing on step by step, Lu Siyu finally stopped refuting. It seemed like he was gradually changing his expression, and under the light, the golden-rimmed glasses reflected a faint halo. Leaning forward, with his eyes slightly squinted, a noticeable touch of red appeared at the corners of his eyes. “Officer Song,” Lu Siyu spoke, and his pointed chin made a gentle movement, “do others know that you came to see me tonight?”

This sentence carried a hint of threat. His expression seemed to be assessing how much Song Wen knew and at the same time contemplating how to handle this unique interview.

Calling him Officer Song instead of Song Captain seemed to create a distance between them. Yet, for some reason, when hearing him call him an officer, Song Wen felt a strange sensation, where danger and desire coexisted. The person in front of him looked enchanting and charming, with a hazy beauty, but radiated an icy coldness, rejecting anyone from a distance. His fingers were slender and fair, but these were the hands that touched corpses and dissected organs. Just now, these hands had prepared a table of exquisite dishes.

In the luxurious room, the chandelier shone brightly above. The air in the room seemed to freeze momentarily, and the two people at the table fell into a temporary silence. What was true, and what was false? What was right, and what was wrong?

Lu Siyu extended a pure white hand and stirred the fish soup. A fish bone floated up. Food, wine, beauty, money—these things were placed in front of them, reflected in Song Wen’s eyes like a flashy world. The person in front of him seemed like a suspect, exceptionally beautiful and cunning, smarter and more troublesome.

Lu Siyu finally spoke. He seemed to have been amused by Song Wen’s reasoning. “Have you investigated every person you meet, as if conducting an interrogation? I just killed a fish. Officer Song, do you want to check the modus operandi and traces of the crime?” Then he stuck out his tongue, licked his somewhat dry lips, and fluttered his eyelashes slightly. “Officer Song, I just came here to be a detective. Regarding what happened in school back then, I was also a victim. Your conspiracy theories make me unable to argue. I chose to be a detective in Nancheng, and you say I have ulterior motives. I accidentally dropped a water cup, and you say I did it on purpose. You led the case, and I bought a book, and you say I figured out who the murderer was first? Should I keep a Conan book at home for similar cases in the future?”

In Song Wen’s impression, this was the first time Lu Siyu had said so much in one go. This time, he wasn’t as taciturn as before but responded quickly, firing off questions. Before Song Wen could react, Lu Siyu continued, “Are you focusing on the case, or should you find a girlfriend and not be idle late at night? You make me look so clever and still come here to be your intern, tortured by writing reports every day. What’s the point?”

Song Wen propped his chin with one hand, looking at Lu Siyu, who suddenly became irritated. The whole process seemed like a rabbit forced into desperation or a cat suddenly awakened, meowing while showing claws.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the person in front of him. Lu Siyu had been relatively well-behaved these past few days, although somewhat suspicious, he hadn’t done anything excessive. Also, he had organized various documents quite well, saving Song Wen a lot of effort. Having such a handy subordinate, he didn’t want Lu Siyu to leave. However, just like when talking to Zhou Yining, Song Wen’s response was the same: he needed to make things manageable, to make Lu Siyu understand that nothing could escape his watchful eyes.

Seeming satisfied with his answers, Song Wen steered the conversation back. “Congratulations on passing the final interview assessment. I just want to remind you, when I joined the force, an old police officer asked me a question. If you encounter an extremely dangerous criminal, are you prepared to sacrifice at any time?”

Lu Siyu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, nodding. “I understand what this profession means to my life.”

Song Wen stood up, took the clothes he had placed on the back of the chair, and Lu Siyu escorted him to the door. After Song Wen changed his shoes, he turned back to look at him. “Submit the case summary to me early the day after tomorrow.” He turned naturally, as if he had come today for a casual conversation during a home visit.

Lu Siyu said in a deep voice, “Understood.”

As they reached the door, Song Wen suddenly turned around. Unprepared, Lu Siyu’s waist bumped into the cabinet behind him. He looked up at Song Wen, resembling a prey caught off guard. Staring at Lu Siyu, Song Wen’s expression subtly changed. After a moment, he spoke in a deep voice, “No matter what you plan to do, I’ll be keeping a close eye on you.” Then he waved his hand. “See you tomorrow.”

After seeing Song Wen off, the luxurious room was left with only him. It was only then that Lu Siyu realized his back was soaked in sweat. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his thoughts seemed uncontrollable. His stomach was cramping, as if there was a fire burning inside. He rushed into the bathroom and vomited everything he had eaten earlier. His legs felt weak, and with only him left in the room, he suddenly felt a sense of panic. He called out for Little Wolf.

The dog ran into the room and rubbed against his legs with its soft fur.

Only then did Lu Siyu regain a bit of his senses. Enduring dizziness, he climbed up the stairs and took out a small bottle of painkillers. Without bothering to pour water, he swallowed a few pills. Leaning against the bedside table, he sat down, hands tightly pressed against his abdomen, burying his head in his knees, curling up.

He was severely dizzy, to the point where he didn’t have the strength to climb onto the bed. Cold sweat kept pouring out, making him shiver. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. There were hallucinations in his ears—men’s voices, women’s voices, various conversations, and the sound of blood splattering—creating chaos in his mind.

The dog stayed by his side, whimpering and circling around him. After about ten minutes, the pain was suppressed, and the excessive effect of the medication finally took effect. When the situation improved a bit, Lu Siyu weakly lifted his head and reached out to pat the dog’s back.

Lu Siyu remembered when Song Wen told him that torture couldn’t extract confessions but deceit could. This one word, “deceit,” sometimes saved countless words. Today, Song Wen came to deceive him. Reflecting on whether he was too eager to refute, whether he exposed something. He couldn’t play those tricks anymore; he couldn’t escape Song Wen’s watchful eyes.

Song Wen was smarter and more sensitive than he had imagined.

In those few moments, Lu Siyu felt like Song Wen saw through him. He was corrupt, a devil in hell, while Song Wen was like scorching sunlight. It seemed that as long as he stood by him, being looked at by him, he would melt away.

TN:

Wow…Uhm MC has a lot of shit going on. I’m very intrigued by him. That “The Devotion Of Suspect X” was truly a dead giveaway of the culprits. Very smart of the author to slip that in there.