[Found him]
The owner of Ah Mao Restaurant was in a foul mood.
He had been running his shop in Pingnan Ridge for years, starting from a small pushcart and gradually building up a customer base until he successfully opened this 1,000-square-foot restaurant. He was considered a success story in the area. However, these past few days had seen his worst business ever.
The issue with the fishmonger across the street—constantly tossing fish guts onto the road and attracting swarms of blowflies and cockroaches—remained unresolved. And now, a murder had happened right here! Many young people in Pingnan Ridge were already looking to move to the outer towns; now, with everyone panicking, his foot traffic had been cut by more than half.
He feared that soon, Pingnan Ridge would truly be left with nothing but a few lonely seniors…
As he sat at the front desk wallowing in self-pity, the glass door was pushed open from the outside, and two tall, sharp-looking figures walked in.
The owner’s bitter expression vanished instantly, and he stood up with a welcoming smile. “Gentlemen, what can I get for you? We have all the freshest dishes, and our flavors are the best in all of Pingnan Ridge.”
“We’re not here to eat.” Gu Yingzhou held up several plastic bags. “Boss, these bags belong to your shop, don’t they?”
The owner recognized them at a glance; they were a custom batch he’d ordered years ago. Even after the shop expanded, he couldn’t bear to throw them away and used them for every takeout order.
He didn’t speak immediately, instead eyeing them with suspicion. “Who are you exactly?”
Gu Yingzhou said, “These were found at the home of the suspect in the ‘Toilet Corpse Disposal Case.’ He’s a regular of yours and bought Chongqing Xiaomian to-go from here within the last two days. Boss, does the name Zhou Jinyao ring a bell?”
The owner’s face turned deathly pale. “Who? I don’t know him.”
At the thought of a killer eating at his place after committing a murder, his blood ran cold. Luckily, despite his bad mood lately, he hadn’t picked a fight with anyone. If that murderous thug had given him a taste of the knife, who could he even complain to?
“You’re police, right? From what you’re saying, is the killer still here in Pingnan Ridge? What do we do! If he snaps and takes it out on us, who’s going to protect us!”
With lives on the line, the owner didn’t care about business anymore; he just wanted to shutter the shop to keep the killer from coming back.
Gu Yingzhou pressed his hand down in a calming gesture, his tone patient. “Don’t worry. The police will be monitoring the area, and you aren’t the type of target he’s looking for. Are you sure you don’t recall him at all? He’s a fruit farmer from the orange orchard to the west. He drives a motorized tricycle—lots of rust, and the front wheel is a bit wobbly.”
“A fruit farmer… surname Zhou?”
With that hint, the owner actually remembered someone.
The man came often—sometimes dining in, sometimes claiming he was in a hurry to get back to fertilize his trees and needed it to-go. Over time, they’d become familiar enough to chat about Pingnan Ridge management. Occasionally, the man would even bring him a few oranges.
“I know him!” the owner said loudly. “If needed, I could point him out in a heartbeat.”
‘I could recognize him in a heartbeat, too,’ Lu Ting’an thought. But what they needed now wasn’t just to recognize him, but to find him.
Gu Yingzhou asked, “Do you know where he stays in Pingnan Ridge?”
The owner frowned in confusion. “He doesn’t live in Pingnan Ridge. I remember him saying he usually stays at the orchard, especially during this season, to watch out for thieves…”
Gu Yingzhou and Lu Ting’an’s eyes met, both seeing a shared sense of unspoken frustration and urgency.
The orchard wasn’t the crime scene, and there were no further traces of Jiang Caiting there—nor at the Zhou residence. If Zhou Jinyao didn’t have a place in Pingnan Ridge, where exactly did he commit the crime, and where was he keeping Jiang Caiting?
The owner looked genuinely bewildered. Gu Yingzhou could tell he wasn’t lying and realized they wouldn’t get much more out of him. He bid him farewell. “Zhou Jinyao is very likely to pass through this street again. If he comes here, don’t alert him. Contact the station immediately when he’s not looking.”
The owner nodded frantically. “Absolutely, absolutely.” He was terrified of dying; who wouldn’t call the police after seeing a murderer?
Gu Yingzhou and Lu Ting’an left quickly. The restaurant owner rubbed his hands together, sitting back down at the desk with a mix of fear and disbelief.
‘How could it be that fruit farmer?’
In his memory, the man seemed very honest and dutiful—not the type to have a mean bone in his body. He rarely talked or bragged while eating, usually finishing his meal in silence and leaving quietly. Only when someone outgoing teased him would he crack a smile and share a bit about his life.
Such an ordinary fruit farmer was actually a killer!
The owner’s muddled brain suddenly jolted. He began to try and remember when the farmer had first started coming to eat.
It seemed to be last summer. And a few times, he hadn’t come alone.
The moment they stepped out of the restaurant, Gu Yingzhou’s expression became grim. Lu Ting’an walked beside him, sensing the suppressed emotion without even needing to look closely.
Lu Ting’an understood the feeling. Unlike himself—a “logistics” member who joined halfway—Gu Yingzhou had earned his way into the force and become the head of Major Crimes through sheer ability.
They say a detective needs a heart full of passion, and that was doubly true for this era. With limited technology, fewer cameras, and primitive forensics, catching a killer was much harder than in the future. Anyone who stuck with this profession had to have an extraordinary sense of justice and responsibility.
Zhou Jinyao already had one life on his hands; Jiang Caiting’s safety was still an unknown. To finally find a lead only to have it stall at the finish line—the pressure wasn’t just on Gu Yingzhou; Lu Ting’an was sweating for Jiang Caiting, too.
“Officer Gu,” Lu Ting’an comforted him. “Don’t worry too much. We still have time before nightfall. Since Zhou Jinyao frequents this area, we’ll ask around some more. We’ll find something useful.”
Gu Yingzhou nodded, slightly surprised to hear such words from him.
“You two!”
A shout came from behind. They turned to see the owner of Ah Mao Restaurant looking left and right like a conspirator, then waving them over excitedly. “Come here, I just remembered something!”
They hurried back into the shop. Only then did the owner speak. “After you left, it hit me! That fruit farmer has a good friend in Pingnan Ridge. The first time he came, his friend brought him.”
“Who is this friend?”
The owner thought for a moment and clapped his hands. “I don’t know his real name; everyone calls him ‘Monkey Four.’ But I know where he lives: Building 204, Room 303 at the end of the alley. He took a job elsewhere recently and hasn’t been home for about a week.”
Just like that, the timeline and the location for the crime lined up perfectly.
Building 204 was at the very end of the alley. As they approached, the path became extremely narrow, with several bicycles leaning against the walls. The already cramped road was blocked so that only one person could pass at a time.
Lu Ting’an was leading the way. Just as he lifted his foot to start up the stairs, a soft cough came from behind.
He paused and turned back, a bit unsure.
Gu Yingzhou, following him, had a heavy gaze. His hand was resting firmly on his hip—right where his service weapon was holstered.
Catching the hint instantly, Lu Ting’an pulled his foot back and squeezed behind him. “Officer Gu, you go first.”
Gu Yingzhou didn’t say a word, but from the slight softening of his brow, he was clearly satisfied with Lu Ting’an’s behavior.
Perhaps because Gu Yingzhou’s large frame provided good cover, or perhaps because deep down he felt certain that Gu would protect him if danger struck, Lu Ting’an didn’t feel much fear. The fluttering anxiety in his chest as they entered the building began to settle.
At the second-floor landing, Lu Ting’an suddenly grabbed the corner of Gu Yingzhou’s jacket.
Gu tightened his grip on his gun, reflexively moving into a defensive stance. He whispered, “What is it?”
Lu Ting’an half-crouched and pointed at a blowfly perched on the floor. “I think that’s blood.”
The fly sensed their presence and buzzed away. Gu Yingzhou rubbed a dark red speck on the floor with his index finger, then brought it to his nose to sniff.
“It’s blood. It hasn’t completely dried yet. Judging by the color, it must have dripped within the last two days.”
Lu Ting’an nodded. Looking up, he saw several more blowflies resting on the ceiling.
It was indeed breeding season for these flies, but they usually chose filthy, disgusting environments to thrive in; they wouldn’t normally linger in a stairwell in such numbers unless something nearby was attracting them with a specific scent.
Lu Ting’an’s expression grew more solemn. He took a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket and draped it over Gu Yingzhou’s blood-stained finger, saying earnestly, “Be careful.”
Gu Yingzhou’s finger curled slightly as he gave an almost imperceptible “mm.”
…
Whether it was psychological or not, by the time they reached the landing between the second and third floors, a faint, sickly stench hung in the air—a mix of rotting organic matter and the metallic tang of blood.
Gu Yingzhou pressed himself against the wall, taking every step with extreme caution. Lu Ting’an didn’t want to be the one to mess up; the wide, coarse fabric of his trousers made a rustling sound with every movement, so he simply grabbed the fabric with his hands to pull it away from his legs, eliminating the friction entirely.
It took them a full minute to navigate the remaining half-flight of stairs.
The moment they reached the door of Room 303, Gu Yingzhou ducked behind the door frame in a flash, leaving Lu Ting’an’s cautious figure completely exposed.
Lu Ting’an: “…” ‘Huh? Wasn’t he walking in front to protect me?’
He looked at Gu Yingzhou in confusion, only to find the man urging him on with his eyes, silently mouthing: “Knock.”
Lu Ting’an shook his head and mouthed back: “I don’t know what to say.”
Gu Yingzhou continued: “I don’t care what method you use. Just force him to open the door. Leave the rest to me.”
Watching Gu’s guarded posture, Lu Ting’an suddenly understood the intent. If Zhou Jinyao was indeed inside Room 303, he would be in a state of hyper-vigilance; whoever knocked would inevitably become the target of his intense focus. In a state of high tension, a person’s reactions are lightning-fast; even if Lu Ting’an was agile, the suspect could mount a defense in the blink of an eye.
Essentially, Lu Ting’an was the decoy to draw his attention, allowing Gu Yingzhou to breach the room when the suspect’s guard was momentarily lowered.
With lives on the line, Lu Ting’an had never felt his brain work so fast.
The next second, he gave Gu Yingzhou an “OK” gesture. He raised his other hand and pounded violently on the door.
“Monkey Four! Open up!”
Lu Ting’an used immense force, so rough that the wooden door rattled violently, as if the entire building had shuddered. But what truly surprised Gu Yingzhou was his voice.
It was hard to imagine that such a harsh, grating sound—like fat squeezing against vocal cords—could come from Lu Ting’an. With just those few words, he managed to shout in non-standard Mandarin with several warped tones.
There was no response from inside the room.
Both men pressed their ears to the wall. Two seconds later, they heard the faint sound of something dropping. They focused, trying to track Zhou Jinyao’s movements, but the interior went completely silent.
Lu Ting’an’s face darkened, and he began to kick the door. “Monkey Four, you son of a bitch, are you trying to dodge your debt? I got the stuff you wanted, and now you don’t want to pay?! Open the door, you son of a whore! Don’t think playing dead inside is gonna work.”
Gu Yingzhou: “…”
After finishing the tirade, Lu Ting’an covered his mouth with his hand, switched to a youthful voice, and asked in a light, timid, trembling tone: “Who are you? What are you doing yelling around here?”
The sound filtered through his fingers, creating a hollow effect that genuinely made it sound as though it were coming from the stairwell a floor below.
He released his hand, paused for a few seconds, and resumed the burly man’s crude voice: “What’s it to you?! If Monkey Four doesn’t open up today, I’ll burn this whole building to the ground!”
The youth shivered, his voice quaking: “I… I’m calling the police.”
The burly man sneered and punched the door. “Call ’em! I’ll burn the police station down along with it!”
Gu Yingzhou: “…” ‘You’d better just be talking.’
Lu Ting’an clearly had some hidden talents. Not only could he mimic different registers and accents, but he even faked the sound of footsteps approaching and then scurrying away. If Gu Yingzhou hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed these noises came from a single person.
This was a tactic Gu Yingzhou had never seen before; he found it remarkably novel.
As it turned out, the tactic worked. After Lu Ting’an’s grand boast about burning down the police station, there was finally movement in 303. Ten seconds later, the wooden door creaked open, revealing a tiny crack.
A pair of bloodshot eyes slowly appeared within the gap…