After a heavy rain, the entire city was enveloped in a cool dampness.
The next morning, a rare glimpse of long-awaited sunshine appeared.
Xie Kui’s first action upon arriving at the office was to call the team, summoning everyone back to work overtime for a meeting to discuss issues related to Jiang Zhihao.
The current situation was very tricky. Jiang Zhihao was currently abroad, and there was no concrete evidence of his crimes yet, preventing them from making a direct arrest.
Based on current deductions, Jiang Zhihao likely wasn’t aware of the police suspicions yet. To avoid alerting him and making escape more difficult, they couldn’t summon him back to China for investigation. However, waiting idly until he returned was also not feasible.
Xie Kui reviewed the transcript from when Jiang Zhihao reported the incident. According to him, on the night of the incident, he had worked late at the company until 11:09 PM, then drove straight home and did not leave again. The next morning, he left home around 8 AM to drive to work. Shortly after arriving at the company, around 9 AM, he received a call from Dr. Feng informing him that Zhuang Zi had not shown up for her appointment.
The preliminary plan involved investigating the office building where Jiang Zhihao’s company was located and the surveillance footage from his residence at Changhe Bay Apartments to verify his alibi.
They split up and worked tirelessly until the afternoon, returning to headquarters for another debriefing.
Xie Kui summarized the investigation: “On the night in question, surveillance at Jiang Zhihao’s office building showed him leaving the underground parking lot at 11:09 PM with two other colleagues who were also working late. However, surveillance at Changhe Bay community gate showed his car entering at 1:17 AM. The issue lies here: the distance between the office building and Changhe Bay is 7.6 kilometers, a drive of just over twenty minutes. Therefore, it appears he did not return home during these two-plus hours.”
Xiao Meng suggested, “Then we should investigate the route his car took.”
Xie Kui nodded, “Start on that immediately. Tomorrow, when I’m back at the office, I’ll see if I can glean any information from his coworkers.”
…
In the afternoon, Xiao Meng had to go to the transportation department and wasn’t sure when he’d return.
Before leaving, he instructed Xiao Mi, “If it’s time to go home and I haven’t returned to the station yet, go home with Captain Si; his house is big, beautiful, and safe.”
Xie Kui teased him lightly, “Passing your troubles to him, do you think he doesn’t have enough work, or are you trying to avoid him denying your vacation request?”
“You think he’s like you?” Xiao Meng confidently replied, “Maybe other things are uncertain, but he definitely won’t ignore this.”
Xie Kui raised an eyebrow, curious. “Why do you say that?”
To prove his point, Xiao Meng shared specific reasons with Xie Kui.
Xiao Meng had some confidence in sending Xiao Mi to persuade Si Hang.
Xie Kui hadn’t been at the station long enough to understand some of the colleagues’ private discussions.
Si Hang was originally a bona fide second-generation rich, with his father being the founder of the top 500 enterprise, Fengyue Group, and his mother a prominent figure in Yip Province as a painter and calligrapher.
However, fate sometimes intervenes. When he was four years old, his mother took him shopping and tragically lost him. He was later abducted and sold in rural areas.
He was rescued at the age of seven. How he survived those three years was known only to him; all the details were sealed away in his heart.
At the time, the conditions for solving cases were not advanced enough, and children who couldn’t find their families could only be sent to orphanages. Therefore, he was separated from his family for over twenty years.
That’s why Xiao Meng could confidently urge Xiao Mi to pester Si Hang: “They both had unfortunate childhoods, so Big Brother, seeing Xiao Mi, would surely think of his own past, feeling a sense of empathy and shared suffering.”
Xiao Meng replied, “Because he became a police officer and got into the best police academy in the country.”
Si Hang’s achievements today were inevitably linked to his childhood experiences.
Having endured the most painful suffering, he could undergo harsher training than most. He graduated as the champion of the five disciplines from the police academy and was specially recommended by his superiors to intern at the provincial criminal police team, with numerous honors listed on his resume.
At occasional gatherings, colleagues often discussed how, during his internship at the provincial team, he was known for his decisive and impressive demeanor, possessing an extraordinary tenacity and determination. Senior detectives competed to take him on as an apprentice.
Later, when he was assigned to the city team, during a team dinner with the director present, someone joked and asked why he became a police officer. Everyone expected him to talk about fighting evil, promoting justice, and upholding righteousness, but he straightforwardly admitted it was to find his family.
He didn’t want to put on airs, nor did he pretend to be hypocritically righteous.
His original reason for choosing the police academy was to find his long-lost family. However, after more than a decade in the profession, he gradually fell in love with this job and with the pursuit of the two things every person should have: conscience and truth.
Later, when he found his biological parents, his father insisted on giving him part of the company to manage. On one hand, it was to make amends for past wrongs; on the other hand, he didn’t want Si Hang to continue in dangerous frontline work, dealing with violent criminals, always at risk to his life.
But Si Hang refused.
Life is rare in finding something one truly loves. To others, it might seem irrational to abandon millions in wealth, but he found it incredibly interesting.
However, his biological mother, Zheng Ruzhi, was very stubborn. After losing her son, she felt guilty and anguished for over twenty years, suffering from chronic illness because of it. Now that they had finally reunited, she just wanted to spend the rest of her life making amends for her past mistakes, seeking redemption for herself.
But her son was just as stubborn. Trying to get him to resign and return to the company was useless, and no amount of connections could force him. In the end, the elderly couple had no other choice but to coerce him into accepting ten percent of the company’s shares to secure their future, finally allowing him to continue in the criminal police team.
He was originally a dragon among men. If he hadn’t been separated from his family, he would surely have had a better future. With his intelligence and determination, he could have achieved great things in business or politics.
But fate gave him another choice. Through twists and turns, perhaps everything was the best arrangement.
…
At six o’clock in the evening, after Xiao Meng finished investigating the surveillance at the transportation department, he called Xie Kui, but the line was busy.
He hurried back to the Criminal Investigation Department office. As soon as he reached the corridor, he saw Xie Kui, phone in hand, rushing out of the main office in a hurry.
“The surveillance footage has been reviewed,” Xiao Meng, seeing his serious expression, quickly asked, “What happened?”
Xie Kui hung up the phone and ran straight out, saying, “Zhuang Zi’s in trouble.”
“What?” Xiao Meng immediately turned and followed him out of the office building. Once in the police car, he asked, “Xiao Zhang has been with her all this time, right?”
“Still unclear,” Xie Kui started the engine, and the car sped off. “Big Brother just left; he should pass by the crime scene on his way back. I’ve already asked him to check it out. I don’t know what’s going on now.”
…
One hour ago.
The incident occurred after Zhuang Zi returned to the hotel from the city library.
Today was the weekend, and she had spent the whole day at the library, studying numerous publicly available classic crime cases for decryption and analysis. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She was well aware that, as an outsider, overturning a case already closed by the police would be extremely difficult, certainly not something achievable overnight.
But now that the police were suspecting Jiang Zhihao, just the thought sent shivers down her spine.
As things had escalated to this point, she desperately wanted to know the truth, yet at the same time, there was a lingering fear of uncovering it.
If the person chasing her, the one responsible for her sister’s accident, was the same person — Jiang Zhihao…
Suddenly, her temples felt like they were being pricked with needles, causing her to furrow her brow in pain.
Fetching her car from the garage, instead of leaving immediately, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and dialed Jiang Zhihao’s number again.
She intended to subtly probe him, but ever since he left yesterday, his phone had been unreachable.
The cold light of the phone screen cast on her gaunt profile.
She lowered her head to edit a WeChat message: “Need to talk to you. Please return when you see this.”
Before she could send it, her slender fingers holding the phone suddenly tightened.
She abruptly looked up, fear and panic unconcealed in her pale eyes, her breath turning heavy in an instant.
Through the car window, she stiffened her back and swiftly scanned the surroundings.
In the dimly lit underground parking lot, aside from a distant low mechanical engine noise, the area was deserted, so quiet that not even the slightest sound of footsteps could be heard.
A sense of unease began to spread through the dead silence of the parking lot.
In the corner of her eye just a moment ago, did she really see a tall figure pass by?
Was it a trick of the light, or was she just being overly cautious?
She paused for a moment, then craned her neck slightly to look around, confirming that there was indeed no one there.
…
Later that evening, she had no appetite for food, so she bought a piece of bread from a nearby pastry shop and returned to the hotel.
As she ascended the stairs, Xiao Zhang was having dinner at a Cantonese restaurant across the street.
Carrying her purchase into the hotel lobby and heading upstairs, she stood in front of her room door, bowing her head to retrieve her room key from her bag.
Just then, her phone suddenly began ringing loudly in the quiet hallway.
Startled, she shook slightly, and the room key slipped from her fingers to the floor.
She pulled out her phone to check, and the incoming call was from Jiang Zhihao.
Answering the call while picking up the room key from the floor, she caught a glimpse in her peripheral vision of a figure standing at the end of the hallway near the window.
Stiffening her neck to look back, she recognized the silhouette, and her heart sank suddenly.