The murderer, Wang Lang, thirty-six years old, from Jinghai.
An only child.
He dropped out of university and spent a long period afterward doing nothing.
Five years ago, after injuring his left leg at a construction site, he stayed home unemployed.
At the beginning of the year, a relative arranged for him to work as a security guard at the inpatient department of the Sixth Hospital.
Usually, he stood at the entrance of the inpatient department, swiping access cards for people coming in and out.
Two months ago, he came across Jiang Yun on Platform X, whose account ID was “A Cloud, Yun Yun” for her livestreams.
Within a month, he had gifted Jiang Yun over eight hundred thousand yuan through an account with the ID “True Feelings Never Betrayed.”
“That bitch! Taking my money and still dancing for other men! Calling other men ‘big brother’!”
“I told her I’d support her from now on, but she kept livestreaming! She wouldn’t answer my calls, wouldn’t reply to my WeChat messages! I spent so much money on her, and she wouldn’t even agree to meet me once.”
“I didn’t gift for just one week, and when I went back into her livestream, she didn’t even say a word of welcome! To gift her, to support her, I sold a house! A house in Jinghai! I loved her so much. She just ignored me whenever she felt like it!”
“And what happened! I saw her last night! She looked completely different from what she showed in her livestreams! How is that any different from fraud!”
“What right does a woman like that have to live? I was just ridding the world of a scourge.”
These were Wang Lang’s exact words.
Jiang Yun might have sensed his obsession, so she transferred the gifted money back to Wang Lang via bank transfer.
According to Wang Lang’s confession, after receiving the money, he could no longer get in touch with Jiang Yun.
Last night, he had a few drinks and, using the address he’d previously ordered takeout for Jiang Yun, found Jinrong Residential Complex.
He knocked on the door posing as a delivery driver.
Then he killed Jiang Yun.
Worried about being caught on camera and leaving fingerprints, he wore a mask, a hat, and gloves.
After the murder, he staged the room to look like a burglary, took Jiang Yun’s two phones, and tossed them into a sewer outside Jinrong Residential Complex.
Then he went home.
The next morning, he went to work as usual.
Zhuang Yanzheng held an unlit cigarette between his lips, reviewing the preliminary statement from Wang Lang.
He also looked at the gifting records pulled from Platform X.
The total was just under eight hundred and fifty thousand yuan.
There were also the bank records.
Two weeks ago, Jiang Yun had transferred the full eight hundred and fifty thousand yuan to Wang Lang’s account.
The platform took half of the gifted money as a cut.
Jiang Yun lost money and lost her life.
“Don’t ever give your address to strangers—that’s terrifying.” Qi Feng came over, biting into a slice of bread.
Zhuang Yanzheng looked up at him and tossed the cigarette onto the table: “You got the food back that fast?”
“Beef noodles from across the street.” Qi Feng chewed on the bread.
“What beef noodle place is across the street?” Zhuang Yanzheng stared at him.
“Instant braised beef noodles from the convenience store across the street.” Qi Feng grinned.
Zhuang Yanzheng reached out and smacked the back of his head: “She hasn’t eaten all day, and you’re giving her instant noodles.”
“I even added a ham sausage and an egg—I didn’t even add those for myself.” Qi Feng rubbed the back of his head.
Zhuang Yanzheng: “…”
“Captain Zhuang, I made a bowl for you too—it’ll be ready in a minute.” Qi Feng said.
Zhuang Yanzheng said nothing, got up, and headed toward the interrogation room.
Qi Feng followed him: “Captain Zhuang, are we really not letting Su Miaoyi go? The killer has already confessed. Holding the person who reported the case the whole time doesn’t look great. Besides, she has a mental condition—if something happens, we won’t be able to answer for it.”
“Yeah, if something happens, we’ll let your beef noodles take the blame.” Zhuang Yanzheng said, then walked into the interrogation room.
Qi Feng stood there, his mouth twitching.
That was braised beef instant noodles!
…
Pushing the door open, Su Miaoyi was blowing on her instant noodles.
She paused mid-motion and looked up at him.
Zhuang Yanzheng sat down and said, “Eat yours.”
She continued blowing on the noodles and quickly started eating.
Zhuang Yanzheng watched her.
Wang Lang had stated he’d never heard the name Su Miaoyi.
When shown her photo, he’d honestly said he’d seen her at the hospital today.
Because she was very pretty and had bumped into him, she’d left a strong impression.
That matched the surveillance footage.
After a few bites, Su Miaoyi sensed him watching her.
She looked up and met his eyes, then glanced at her noodles, then back at him, and asked, “Want… some?”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her expression.
It seemed like she was worried he might snatch her food.
With his usual expressionless face, he already looked intimidating. Speechless but answering: “…No.”
Su Miaoyi stopped paying attention to his gaze and kept eating.
She was genuinely starving—she’d never thought instant noodles could smell this good.
Before long, she’d eaten it all, not even leaving the soup.
Zhuang Yanzheng was still watching her.
Seeing she’d finished, he got up, went outside, and brought back a pack of tissues for her.
Su Miaoyi pulled out two sheets: “Thanks.”
The moment the tissue touched her lips, she suddenly saw the murder scene again.
This time… she felt the pain.
Pain in her hands, pain in her legs, pain in her ankles, pain in her head.
Bone-piercing, heart-wrenching pain.
Her face was covered in a sticky sensation.
Blood—blood was flowing into her eyes, blurring her vision.
She stared at the man in front of her, her gaze fixed dead on his face.
The man saw her eyes, terror flooding his face, and raised the shovel in his hands before bringing it down again.
More blood flowed into her eyes.
Her vision grew even more blurred, but then quickly became clearer again.
She saw a road sign on the elevated bridge in the distance.
Airport Road Elevated.
Jinghai Airport.
500m.
Then the dirt from the shovel covered her eyes, her mouth, her nose—the suffocation hit…
“Su Miaoyi, Su Miaoyi, Su Miaoyi!”
Su Miaoyi snapped back to reality, gasping for breath.
She looked around her.
She was still in the interrogation room.
She immediately touched her head, her face, then quickly checked her hands.
No blood.
She felt her wrists, her body—no wounds, no pain either.
“What’s wrong with you?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked from the side.
Su Miaoyi looked up at him.
The suffocation had been so real that her breathing was still heaving.
“Captain Zhuang, everything I said today is true. I don’t know why I see those things—otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to the hospital.” She looked at him and said, “And… I just saw it again.”
Zhuang Yanzheng frowned.
Her reaction just now had indeed been off.
It was like her consciousness had been pulled out of her body—her eyes vacant, her whole body frozen, unresponsive no matter how he called.
Su Miaoyi continued, “Under the Jinghai Airport elevated bridge. Take me there, and it might clear me of suspicion. I also want to know if I’m really sick.”
Zhuang Yanzheng said nothing.
Su Miaoyi said, “Trust me just this once.”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked into her eyes.
That sense of familiarity suddenly grew stronger at this moment.
He was a staunch materialist.
He’d become the head of the municipal criminal investigation detachment at thirty.
Something this absurd… even the big yellow dog across the street wouldn’t believe it.
But he was human.
Zhuang Yanzheng said, “Let’s go.”
…