The interview room assigned to Zhang Shengnan was separate from the others. This area was noticeably busier than the section where Tang Jia and Pan Yu were being held. People were constantly coming and going. Although the door remained closed, someone would occasionally glance inside through the small window. Perhaps they weren’t even curious and were simply doing it out of habit. Still, the attention made her uncomfortable. Eventually, she stood up and moved toward the window, positioning herself where she couldn’t be seen from outside. Her expression remained as blank as ever.
Time passed slowly. As noon approached, Zhang Shengnan finally heard movement behind her. Turning around calmly, she nodded slightly at the newcomers and walked back to her chair, sitting down at an unhurried pace.
After taking her seat, He Shu smiled politely. “First of all, thank you for cooperating with the police investigation, Miss Zhang. There has been new progress in the case concerning your husband’s death, and we’d like to ask you a few additional questions.”
“Additional questions?” Zhang Shengnan smiled mockingly, clearly unconvinced.
Chang Bin didn’t bother responding to the sarcasm. Instead, he began with the routine identification questions.
“Name.”
“Zhang Shengnan.”
“Age.”
“Twenty-nine.”
“What was your relationship with the deceased, Nie Han?”
“Husband and wife.”
“Do the names Tang Jia and Pan Yu mean anything to you?”
Chang Bin raised his eyes and continued.
Without blinking, Zhang Shengnan answered immediately and decisively:
“No. I don’t recognize either name.”
Chang Bin frowned and pulled two photographs from his folder, placing them in front of her.
“Take a good look and think carefully. Do either of these faces look familiar to you?”
“No.”
“Miss Zhang, do you think obstructing a police investigation comes without consequences?”
He casually tossed another sheet of paper onto the table. “You’ve heard of Lingrui Yoga, haven’t you? Two months ago, you paid a thousand yuan to enroll in one of their body-sculpting courses. These two women were in the same class as you.”
“…”
Lowering her gaze to the class roster, Zhang Shengnan finally showed a reaction. She pressed together her glossy red lips.
“Surely you’re remembering something now, Miss Zhang?” He Shu uncrossed her legs and sat forward slightly.
“What happened while the three of you attended classes together at Lingrui Yoga?”
“At first, perhaps it was nothing more than polite greetings and normal conversation. Sometimes people who’ve endured similar experiences recognize one another on a subconscious level and quickly become close.”
“Then, as you got to know each other better, the three of you found comfort in one another. And during that process, you suddenly discovered that the man responsible for the tragedies in your lives was the same person.”
“How did that realization feel?”
“Anger? Disbelief? Or perhaps absurdity?”
Beneath the table, Zhang Shengnan’s hands clenched tighter and tighter.
“I imagine anger more than anything else.”
“You probably thought you were the only victim of that animal.”
“Only to discover that he wasn’t satisfied with just one victim. There were many more women who had suffered at his hands, every one of them left in agony.”
“Some even had their entire lives destroyed because of what happened.”
Not taking her eyes off the woman, He Shu continued in a calm voice.
The tone was quiet, almost hypnotic.
“So after calming down, three women carrying the same wounds made a decision.”
“They couldn’t let things continue.”
“The unfairness of the law, the indifference of family, the malice of society… all of it surrounded them.”
“But they decided the situation had to end.”
“They wanted to save themselves.”
“And to save the women who were suffering now, or who might suffer in the future.”
“After careful planning, the three of you created airtight alibis for the night of the twelfth…”
He Shu paused. Then she asked: “So who was the fourth person who helped you carry out the final murder plan?”
After He Shu finished speaking, Zhang Shengnan remained silent for a long time. For a moment, the air in the room seemed to freeze. Finally, she moved.
First, she let out a slow breath. Then she raised her head and spoke calmly: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve never been a sociable person. It was only a few yoga classes. I can’t even remember what the instructor looked like. As for irrelevant people, I certainly wouldn’t remember their faces.”
Her outright refusal to cooperate did not anger He Shu in the slightest. The smile never left her face.
“Shortly after Nie Han’s body was discovered, the police found another corpse at Golden Sunshine Beach.”
“A man.”
“The cause of death, the wounds on his body, and the evidence left behind were all identical to your husband’s case.” As she spoke, He Shu pulled out the crime-scene photographs and pictures of Ying Weiqiu, laying them out one by one in front of Zhang Shengnan.
“I believe you don’t know this second victim.”
“But he lost his life nonetheless.”
“Miss Zhang, perhaps you should think about why.”
“…”
Zhang Shengnan glanced at the photographs, visibly startled. After only a couple of looks, she no longer dared to focus on them. Her gaze began drifting nervously around the room. She even swallowed uneasily.
A reaction was good. Reactions could be used.
After exchanging a glance with Chang Bin, He Shu continued: “No matter who the three of you found to help carry out the plan to kill Nie Han, there’s something I need to tell you now.”
“That person has lost control.”
“You may believe Nie Han’s death was justice.”
“That it removed a menace from society and saved countless future victims.”
“But the problem is this…”
“You may have eliminated one predator, only to unknowingly unleash another.”
Her gaze sharpened. “One even more dangerous and despicable than Nie Han.”
“That fourth person, the one outside your group, became addicted to this game of killing after murdering Nie Han.”
“And now they’re completely consumed by it.”
“So they hurried right on to kill a second victim.”
“Tell me, when do you think the third body will appear? Tonight? Or tomorrow night?”
Seeing that the pressure was beginning to take effect, Chang Bin added fuel to the fire at just the right moment: “Zhang Shengnan, if the three of you had never planned to kill Nie Han, then this mysterious helper wouldn’t have had the opportunity to open the door to a whole new world.”
“The second victim, Ying Weiqiu, had no criminal record according to our investigation. He had parents, a wife, and a daughter. By all accounts, he had a happy family life.”
“Even if he betrayed his wife, does that really mean he deserved to die?”
“And what about the third, fourth, and fifth victims yet to come?”
“Whether they’re innocent or not, I hope you’ll judge that with your own conscience.”
Suddenly, He Shu slapped the table hard. “Things have already reached this point!”
“Do you really want to see more innocent people die?”
“The fourth person you’re so desperately protecting has clearly lost control.”
“Unless the police arrest them before they strike again, they will not stop.”
Faced with their sudden hardline approach, and perhaps the weight of her own guilty conscience, Zhang Shengnan finally showed vulnerability for the first time. Her lips parted as she drew ragged breaths. Wordlessly, she reached out and turned Ying Weiqiu’s photograph face down. Even her arms were trembling uncontrollably.
“It was me.”
“I did everything.”
“It had nothing to do with Tang Jia or Pan Yu.”
Her voice was hoarse and strained, as though the words cost her immense effort. “It was all my idea.”
“They weren’t involved.”
“Yes…”
“After what happened, I gradually learned about what Nie Han had done to them.”
“It turned out I really wasn’t his only victim.”
“Discovering that there were other women besides me whose lives had been ruined…” The woman clenched her teeth so hard that the veins in her neck stood out. Her eyes were red, as if stained with blood. “Can you imagine how much I hated him?”
“When it happened to me, my family was afraid of being shamed. They actually forced me to marry a rapist!”
“I was the coward who finally gave in.”
“Maybe I was still clinging to some pathetic fantasy. I thought perhaps he really liked me. Maybe marrying someone who loved me wouldn’t be such a miserable life after all.”
A bitter laugh escaped her. “How wrong I was…”
Tears streamed down her face. “It took countless unbearable days and nights before I finally understood one thing.”
“If someone truly loves you, how could they ever bear to hurt you?”
“I never exposed that beast’s crimes. After our marriage, I avoided dealing with him by turning a blind eye to everything he did outside the home.”
“All of that is my responsibility.”
“So it should have been me who put an end to it.”
“But I never wanted him dead.”
She lowered her head. “I only wanted to cripple him. I wanted him to spend the rest of his life miserable, helpless, and suffering. Nothing more.”
“If the law couldn’t deal with him, then someone else would have to.”
As she spoke, she seemed to recall something uncomfortable. After a brief hesitation, she continued: “But something went wrong on the night of the 12th.”
“The next morning, I received a call from that person.”
“She said… she said things had gotten out of control.”
“She was trying to protect herself, and in the panic she accidentally killed Nie Han.”
Chang Bin was rendered speechless. “From the very beginning, this was supposed to be an assault case. Then it suddenly became murder.”
“Weren’t you scared at all?”
“Did it never occur to you to call the police?”
Zhang Shengnan turned her head and looked out the window. A faint smile remained on her face, but her eyes were filled with sorrow.
“Why would I call the police?” After a pause, she added quietly: “When I thought about it…”
“It wasn’t so bad that he was dead.”
“He won’t be able to hurt anyone else…” A faint sigh escaped her lips, and then she fell silent.
“So who actually killed Nie Han?” He Shu asked.
“I don’t know.” By now, Zhang Shengnan had regained her composure. Looking directly at the two officers, she answered calmly and openly: “I only have her phone number.” With that, she picked up the handbag resting on the table, reached into an inner compartment, and pulled out a business card. The card was pure white. Printed on it was nothing but the English name Ada and a string of numbers.
…
When Xie Zihao and Zeng Yongjia returned to the office, they found He Shu and Chang Bin sitting at the conference table, speaking quietly about something.
Seeing the two of them come back, He Shu stopped what she was saying and asked: “How did it go on your end?”
“Pan Yu broke down the moment she heard that Zhang Shengnan had confessed.”
“When she learned that Zhang Shengnan was taking all the responsibility onto herself, she became even more emotional.”
“She outright stated that she had been involved in the entire thing as well.”
Zeng Yongjia paused before continuing: “But regarding the fourth person, she claims she knows nothing.”
“She says Zhang Shengnan was the only one who ever contacted that person.”
“And according to her, the original plan was indeed never to kill Nie Han.”
After finishing his report, he added his own conclusion: “Pan Yu’s personality is pretty much exactly what you described, Captain He.”
“At first she was holding firm. She refused to answer anything and looked prepared to fight us to the bitter end.”
“But the moment we mentioned that Zhang Shengnan had confessed, she completely fell apart.”
“Even when I left, she was still insisting that the police investigate properly and not believe Zhang Shengnan’s version of events.”
“She kept saying that the mistake had been made by all three of them together, and therefore the consequences should be borne by all three of them together.”
Xie Zihao spoke up immediately afterward: “Things were much more dramatic on Tang Jia’s end.”
“Her entire attitude changed in an instant. She claimed that her false confession yesterday was only because she didn’t want Tang Meitong to pay for Zhang Shengnan’s mistake due to an unfortunate accident.”
“But at the same time, she couldn’t betray the ‘good sisters’ who had suffered alongside her, so the only option was to turn herself in.”
“Now that Zhang Shengnan has already confessed, she says there’s no longer any reason to keep hiding the truth.”
“She claims that before everything happened, she actually tried to persuade the other two not to break the law, but Zhang Shengnan and Pan Yu were determined to get revenge and she couldn’t stop them.”
“By the end, she was crying her eyes out in front of us, reflecting on her mistakes. She said that if she’d known someone would end up dead, she would have done everything possible to stop it, even calling the police.”
“…”
Chang Bin and Zeng Yongjia stared with their mouths slightly open. After a moment, they clapped their hands in admiration. “That little bit of cleverness she’s got… she’s really smooth with it.”
“No matter how clever she thinks she is, those stories are still full of holes when placed against solid evidence.” He Shu steered the discussion back on track. “Tang Jia isn’t the key issue anymore, because she isn’t the person who actually committed the murders.”
“Right, right. Did Zhang Shengnan reveal who the fourth person is?” Zeng Yongjia quickly asked.
Chang Bin spread his hands helplessly. “That’s exactly the problem.”
“She claims she doesn’t know the fourth person at all.”
“Captain He and I were just discussing that.”
“She doesn’t know them?”
He Shu nodded. “When Zhang Shengnan first came to Jinghuai, the psychological trauma she was carrying led to severe depression.”
“Recently, learning about what had happened to Pan Yu and Tang Jia caused that depression to resurface.”
“Not long ago, acting on her therapist’s recommendation, she joined a support group.”
“The members were all people who had experienced similar trauma.”
“The group’s purpose was to allow people to talk openly, comfort one another, and vent the darkness they’d been carrying inside, thereby achieving a therapeutic effect.”
Zeng Yongjia stared. “Don’t tell me she told the group about wanting to cripple Nie Han.”
“The whole point of the support group was to get people to talk about things they normally kept bottled up. Talking about it isn’t a crime.”
He Shu continued: “But after one of the meetings ended, a woman named Ada approached her on her own initiative.”
“That was when Zhang Shengnan finally began taking seriously what had previously been nothing more than a drunken fantasy she had shared with the other two women.”
“She suddenly realized that although their plan wasn’t particularly thorough, it might actually be achievable if they could first remove suspicion from the three of them.”
As she spoke, He Shu lifted the photograph of the white business card sealed inside an evidence bag.
“That’s already been sent to the Technical Division.”
“Ding Qi managed to recover more than half a fingerprint that doesn’t belong to Zhang Shengnan.”
“He’s currently reconstructing it for comparison.”
“So we’re just gambling on a database hit?” Xie Zihao asked skeptically. “The chances of randomly matching someone’s prints in a national database are practically nonexistent.”
“No.” He Shu shook her head. “I already gave Ding Qi a set of fingerprints.”
“The results should be back soon.”
“Huh?” Zeng Yongjia and Xie Zihao asked in unison. “Whose fingerprints?”
Chang Bin wore a smug expression as though he were enjoying a good show. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who had briefly suffered a collapse in reasoning skills. The two men opposite him now looked exactly like he had earlier, which gave him a certain sense of satisfaction.
“Lin Jinxuan.” He Shu remained as calm as ever.
“When did you get his fingerprints?!” Zeng Yongjia blurted out. Halfway through the sentence, inspiration struck. His eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
“Don’t tell me it was from that search warrant you handed him when we were collecting evidence at the club?!”
“Exactly.” Chang Bin nodded.
“Ding Qi lifted prints from both of Lin Jinxuan’s thumbs, index fingers, and half of one middle finger from that document.”
“Based on the way most people naturally hold and return papers, that should be more than enough to compare against the partial print recovered from the business card.”
Although he’d correctly guessed the answer, Zeng Yongjia still exchanged a bewildered look with Xie Zihao. Then he voiced the question weighing on both of them.
“Captain He…”
“You were already suspicious of Lin Jinxuan back then?”
“Why?”
“Based on the profile we’ve built of the killer, Lin Jinxuan doesn’t seem to fit at all.”