“Wang Zhongming wants to control me. I’ve been trying to communicate with him, but he’s too sensitive. No matter what I say, he twists my words! He’s been draining my emotions, and I really want to change this situation. A week ago, I found out I was pregnant, and I don’t want to have a child so soon! He insists I keep it, and we had a fight over this. In a fit of anger, he stormed out. Around seven, I received a text from him asking me to meet him at Gangfu Seafood. I waited from seven to seven-thirty, but he never showed up. I couldn’t reach him by phone, so I went back home.”

Mo Lin frowned.

Based on the scene analysis, moving a two-hundred-pound person suggests the perpetrator is likely male. There were no defensive wounds on the victim, indicating it was probably someone familiar. Between seven and seven-thirty, Wang Zhongming’s phone was unanswered, suggesting the killer had control of it by then.

The text Ye Nian received was likely sent by the killer. The killer had pre-booked a spot at Gangfu Seafood under Wang Zhongming’s name, indicating they knew each other. The victim probably had a meal with the killer, got drunk, and was then dragged into the sea.

But why did the killer want to meet Ye Nian at Gangfu Seafood? Did they plan to kill her too?

“Have you been in contact with any men recently?”

Ye Nian thought for a moment and shook her head solemnly.

“Are you planning to keep the baby?”

“When I went to the hospital last week, I was only five weeks pregnant. I didn’t want to tell you guys. I was planning to secretly get an abortion…”

“He’s dead now. Are you sure you don’t want to leave him a legacy?”

Ye Nian lowered her head. “No, a child is a hassle.”

*

Li Meng found a pinhole camera at Wang Zhongming’s door, hidden so well that it was hard to spot without careful inspection.

He brought a ladder and removed the camera from a crack in the broken tile. Inside, there was a 256G memory card. With this card found, he had more work to do, so he hurried back to the police station.

At the entrance, he ran into Gu Yuan, who was lingering at the gate, not seeming in a hurry to go home.

Li Meng quickly greeted him, eager to find a computer to check the videos on the card.

“Wait a minute,” Gu Yuan called out to him.

Li Meng was a bit surprised. Was Gu Yuan actually talking to him? He looked at Gu Yuan, puzzled, as Gu Yuan took a box out of his backpack. “Give this to Mo Lin for me… Thanks…”

Li Meng’s first thought was, why not give it to Teacher Mo himself? His second thought was: Did he just say thanks? Does he even know how to say thank you?

“No problem!” Li Meng was a bit too excited. He glanced at the big words on the box: “Yunnan Baiyao… Is Teacher Mo injured?”

“Tell him to spray it after 24 hours.”

After saying that, Gu Yuan walked towards the road with his hands in his pockets, not looking back. Li Meng watched him for a while, scratching his head. So, the usually cold Gu Yuan does care about others? Something feels a bit off…

Back at the police station, the first thing Li Meng did was report his findings to Mo Lin. He knocked twice on the door, but there was no response, so he pushed it open. Inside, Mo Lin was leaning motionless on the office chair, eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

“Teacher Mo?”

He called out cautiously. Mo Lin slowly opened his eyes. “Where’s the stuff?”

Mo Lin was asking about the memory card. Li Meng took out a small black memory card from his pocket and handed it to Mo Lin. “This card is 256G, quite a capacity.”

Mo Lin took the card, found a card reader, and plugged it in. Once opened, he found the card was full. The videos were automatically cut by date, with new videos overwriting old ones, so the card only contained videos from the past two months.

“There’s quite a bit, but we can fast forward, shouldn’t take too long.” Mo Lin patted Li Meng’s shoulder. “I’ll leave this daunting task to you guys. I have a video conference to attend!”

He walked over to the sofa, picked up the suit jacket draped over it, and prepared to head home.

“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely work overtime to finish watching such an important clue! Oh, Teacher Mo… Gu Yuan asked me to give this to you.” Li Meng suddenly remembered he forgot something important, so he took out a box of Yunnan Baiyao from his coat pocket. “He said to spray it after 24 hours.”

Mo Lin paused, putting the suit jacket back down. “He asked you to give it to me?”

“Yeah, but Teacher Mo, where exactly are you injured?”

“It’s nothing, just a small injury.” As he spoke, his hand unconsciously touched the spot where Gu Yuan had hit him. There was a small red mark on his left cheekbone, not very noticeable, looking like a patch of pink blush.

Mo Lin stared at the medicine box in his hand, then looked up, unable to hide the smile in his eyes, which seemed to shine.

He put the medicine in his pocket and coughed lightly.

“Well, I’m heading home. There’s tea in my drawer; you can brew some if you want. If you feel cold, turn on the air conditioner. If you can’t hold on, rest in the room inside. My blanket’s freshly washed, feel free to use it. Uh… should I order you guys some takeout?”

Li Meng was a bit taken aback, thinking: What’s up with Teacher Mo? He looks so happy… Did he win the lottery?

“No need, I already arranged to have noodles at the shop by the entrance with Wang Yue and the others.”

“Alright then!”

“Teacher Mo, aren’t you taking your jacket?”

Mo Lin then realized he hadn’t taken his jacket.

*

The video was divided and distributed among several people to fast-forward simultaneously. Li Meng had just finished watching the video from the 1st of last month. He yawned and clicked on the video from the 2nd. After fast-forwarding for a while, he noticed a stranger’s shadow passing by.

He immediately rewound and finally locked onto the figure of a man. This man appeared tall, with a good body proportion, wearing loose jeans, a black T-shirt, and a matching denim jacket, along with a black baseball cap. He seemed to be over 1.8 meters tall.

After watching so many videos, Li Meng noticed that the area outside Wang Zhongming’s house was usually empty, with only the occasional food delivery person knocking on the door. So, this man’s visit caught his attention.

The video continued playing, and the door opened. The man who opened it looked quite bulky, none other than Wang Zhongming himself. Li Meng checked the time in the bottom right corner; it was 1 AM. What could be happening so late?

Just then, Wang Yue, who was watching the video from the 3rd of last month, called out, “I found Wang Zhongming acting all sneaky with a man, discussing something at 1 AM?”

“I also found something suspicious!” Meng Lan said. “On the 4th, at 1 AM, there was also a man knocking on the door.”

With this pattern discovered, they fast-forwarded the subsequent videos to 1 AM, finding the same situation occurring for a whole week. However, the man always wore a baseball cap, making it hard to see his face. Every time, Wang Zhongming opened the door for him. The man stayed in the house for about half an hour before leaving, sometimes longer, but never more than an hour.

“What was Wang Zhongming doing meeting a man so late at night?”

Xiao Ze suggested, “Why not ask the person involved, Ye Nian?”

So, Ye Nian was questioned. When asked about the late-night visitor from the 2nd to the 8th of last month, she claimed to know nothing about it.

“I go to bed at 11 PM every night. I have trouble sleeping, so I take sleeping pills before bed. If someone came over, I really wouldn’t know.”

Ye Nian thought for a moment. “Can I see what the man in the video looks like? Maybe I recognize him!”

Xiao Ze agreed to her request. Ye Nian stared at the computer for a long time, trying hard to see the man’s face, but unfortunately, she had no impression of him.

Xiao Ze immediately contacted the community’s property management and obtained surveillance footage from the 2nd to the 8th of last month, hoping to identify the mysterious man.

Meng Lan noticed that ever since Ye Nian watched the video of the man, she seemed distracted. Twice, when Meng Lan spoke to her, she realized Ye Nian wasn’t listening.

When investigating the community surveillance, the scope was narrowed significantly. The footage from the 2nd to the 8th was quickly found. Although the man was well-disguised, the elevator’s surveillance captured a clear shot of his face.

At that time, someone who was drunk and returning late vomited in the elevator. The man instinctively dodged, turning his body slightly, which allowed his face to be captured.

“Let’s have Ye Nian take a look,” Xiao Ze said, relieved that they finally made some progress that night.

Ye Nian stared at the computer screen for a long time, her brows tightly furrowed. She hadn’t spoken, but from her expression, Xiao Ze could tell something was off.

“You know him.”

“No, I don’t know him, but I’ve seen him.”

“Where?”

“On the day of the incident, on the second floor of Gangfu Seafood.”

“What time?”

“Around 7:30, because I left for the hotel shortly after seeing him.”

“Okay, so this man could be the one who killed Wang Zhongming. Did he have anything unusual about him?”

“He sat across from me, and I remember him well because he was very dirty, with sand all over his jacket…”

While waiting for someone, Ye Nian checked her watch. It was already 7:28, and she was getting anxious. She tried calling Wang Zhongming, but there was no answer. Suddenly, a man came over and sat across from her. This man had sand all over him, looking quite odd.

“Sorry, this seat is taken.”

Ye Nian’s expression wasn’t friendly. If he had any sense, he should leave after hearing that.

Unexpectedly, the man smiled at her. “I know…”

The man’s voice was pleasant. He took off his baseball cap, revealing his entire face.

Ye Nian frowned slightly. “This spot was reserved by my husband. Since he can’t make it, I’ll let you have it.”

Ye Nian gathered her things and prepared to leave.

“Wait!” the man said.

Ye Nian turned and looked carefully at the man in front of her. “Is there something else?”

At the same time, she noticed the man’s features were quite handsome, with an unusual gentleness in his eyes.

“A girl out alone should be careful. Do you need me to walk you home?”

Ye Nian thought to herself: I think you’re the dangerous one.

Author’s Note: Made it to the poison list~ Still a long way from entering V, sob sob sob.