When they entered the police station, Liu Jiaming and his friends were still joking and laughing, but as they passed the first floor’s police reception, they suddenly fell silent.
Yi Jiayi peeked over and saw a man in drab clothing sitting on a public bench by the wall. His short, oily hair was disheveled, and he stared blankly ahead, lost in thought.
Liu Jiaming whispered to Yi Jiayi as he walked beside her, “The only person with a murder suspect now is Zhang Fengyun’s husband.”
He was now a widower.
Yi Jiayi pursed her lips, stealing glances at the deceased’s husband. The man sat motionless, like a defeated dog statue, devoid of life.
She withdrew her gaze and followed Fang Zhenyue quietly to the interrogation area.
Looking at the back of the murderer being escorted forward, she suddenly felt less afraid. The place on her shoulder where she had been hit seemed to burn less.
…
Lin Wangjiu carried the knife upstairs to the forensic science department, sending his colleague who was about to leave back into the lab.
He stood at the door, waiting for the lab results, like a supervisor, occasionally glancing into the lab to make sure the staff were working diligently.
Yi Jiayi made a brief statement, explaining why she was at the crime scene and how she found the murder weapon, then left the interrogation room.
Afraid that Fang Zhenyue and the others would think her naive and suspicious, only giving a cursory interrogation and letting the murderer go, she waited outside the interrogation room, pondering how to keep the murderer detained if the police officer decided to release him.
She organized countless arguments in her mind, tapping into her abilities from nine years of compulsory education in essay writing and her skills from writing her university thesis, yet she felt each reason was full of holes and far-fetched.
She did not believe that simply describing the murderer’s eerie smile would convince Fang Zhenyue to suspect him.
She needed to fabricate more charges against the murderer.
Yi Jiayi racked her brains on how to sling mud on the murderer to make the police officer suspect him, but there were already some unexpected surprises in the interrogation room—
“Name?” Liu Jiaming reined in his flirtatious eyes and glared fiercely at the skinny man in front of him.
“Wang Xinlai.” The skinny man seemed uneasy, like sitting on pins and needles. As he answered the questions, his eyes continually swept around, as if worried someone might suddenly appear and hit him.
Liu Jiaming could tell from his demeanor that he was up to no good.
Who knows what petty thefts he had committed, with his head surely filled with no good thoughts. Anyone who could bizarrely smile at a crime scene and at the police collecting evidence was likely no good.
Moreover, Yi Jiayi shouted and he ran, even daring to attack the police in front of them—
Even if Wang Xinlai didn’t know Yi Jiayi was a police officer when he started hitting her, the fact that he hit a woman in front of the police and then ran away meant he absolutely could not be let off.
He definitely needed a good scare to teach him a lesson.
Thinking this, Liu Jiaming’s face grew even darker as he barked angrily, “You kill someone, then run back to watch the police gather evidence, flaunting your power. Is it to satisfy some twisted desire?”
“No, no, Ah Sir, it wasn’t me,” Wang Xinlai’s face suddenly turned pale as a sheet, his hangover compounded by a day of being out of sorts and terrified, he was now visibly exhausted.
He only dared to return at dusk, hoping to retrieve the knife he had used to strike the victim while the police were wrapping up their investigation, the area was no longer cordoned off, and an elderly, hard-of-hearing man went to the night market to collect bottles.
Who knew he would get caught.
That female officer said he laughed, but he didn’t even have time to cry, how could he laugh?
But… she was so sure, as if she really saw it… Could it be… could it be the woman he killed, turned into a ghost, haunting him with eerie laughter, and the officer mistook it?
Thinking this, Wang Xinlai trembled, his legs shaking uncontrollably with nerves, causing his handcuffs to clatter loudly.
Seeing his condition, Liu Jiaming’s brow furrowed, a strange feeling creeping up inside him. He suddenly slammed the table and shouted, “Then why did you run?”
Wang Xinlai, frightened, became delirious, his hands instantly raising to cover his face, whimpering, “It wasn’t intentional, I was drunk, she came at me, it was her—”
“…” Liu Jiaming’s expression gradually darkened as he stared at Wang Xinlai, rubbing his fingers, trying to ask:
“Premeditated murder is punishable by death. Manslaughter, however, is not. How can you prove this was manslaughter and not murder?”
Wang Xinlai, shivering, covered his face, struggling to speak, haunted by the image of the woman’s eyes bulging after being killed, and the ghastly sight of her face after he had slashed it with a knife.
Ordinary people don’t have the mental fortitude for this; the mere thought of murder was unthinkable to them.
He hadn’t slept for two days and a night, his head splitting with pain and scared to the point of vomiting all day. Now weak and disoriented, in front of the police, after being detained and frightened, he finally broke down mentally, collapsed on the table, and wept bitterly:
“I really didn’t mean to, Ah Sir, I had no past grievances or recent disputes with her… I’m just very unlucky, I have a wife and children, I didn’t want this…” he sobbed.
Liu Jiaming clenched his fists, suddenly stood up, walked around the table to the door, opened it, and blocked the doorway, keeping an eye on Wang Xinlai as he gestured to a young police officer outside, quietly calling him to fetch Fang Zhenyue.
A few minutes later, Fang Zhenyue arrived at the interrogation room, and after a 10-minute review with Liu Jiaming, he looked gravely at Wang Xinlai as he was taken away for fingerprint verification.
Yi Jiayi saw the detectives coming and going and hurriedly followed them to the forensics department.
As Lin Wangjiu was escorting a disheartened and tear-streaked Wang Xinlai downstairs, Yi Jiayi rushed over to stop them. Suddenly, she heard Liu Jiaming’s voice from behind:
“Yi Jiayi! Tonight, I’ll take you to buy lottery tickets! You’re on a winning streak! You’ll definitely win!”
Yi Jiayi was torn between stopping Lin Wangjiu and listening to what Liu Jiaming was saying. Hesitating and swaying, with sweat forming on her anxious forehead, Liu Jiaming had already approached, waving the lab report and boasting:
“The knife you found is the murder weapon. The rust and blood type match.”
“And the fingerprints on the weapon match those of Wang Xinlai.”
“He couldn’t lift his head under the pressure from Brother Yue in the interrogation room and confessed everything.”
“You saw the knife, you found the person; you’re like the lucky goddess for our Major Crime Team B, hahaha.”
The murderer confessed?
Her anxiety to stop Wang Xinlai dissipated with a puff, and Yi Jiayi relaxed, leaning slightly against the door frame.
Following behind, Fang Zhenyue, who was discussing matters with his colleagues from the forensics department, looked up and met Yi Jiayi’s eyes.
Officer Fang, who had been grim-faced all day, finally had the clouds clear from his brow, and his rare relaxed expression showed a rather gentle smile.
Stepping forward, he lowered his head to praise her, “Though a bit reckless, you are very sharp.”
“…Thank you, Officer Fang.” Yi Jiayi, suddenly complimented, felt a bit awkward. She wasn’t sharp at all; without her special ability, all she had was recklessness.
“You also have a strong sense of justice.” Fang Zhenyue led her downstairs, as if to reassure her, continuing, “Later, Jiaming will take Wang Xinlai to record another statement, and then he will be processed for detention and await trial. Zhang Fengyun can finally rest in peace.”
“…” Yi Jiayi silently followed behind him, listening to his words without speaking.
When they again passed the first-floor corridor, the deceased’s husband, who had previously been curled up, had stood up, clearly having been informed of the good news that the murderer had been caught.
His hands constantly rubbed together, his eyes intently staring at the ground ahead, his cheeks bulging occasionally from clenching his teeth.
The widower faced the interrogation room door, seemingly planning how to burst in and exact revenge on the murderer.
His plotting was interrupted by the sound of Fang Zhenyue and Yi Jiayi approaching.
The man turned around, his gaze sweeping over Fang Zhenyue and Yi Jiayi, finally resting on Yi Jiayi’s face.
Two people look at each other, and Yi Jiayi thinks several times that he will speak.
The man’s eyes, murky and clouded, seemed to contain earnestness, yet appeared as if surging with floodwaters, roaring and tumbling, only to finally dry up at the parched bottom of his eyes.
He didn’t speak, even as they brushed past each other.
However, when following Fang Zhenyue into the interrogation room, she stealthily glanced using her peripheral vision and saw the man slowly straightening his back, as if he had just bowed to her.
As she stepped into the interrogation office, the door behind her cut off her view, but her ears tingled with burning sensations, her blood rushed, and her heart became restless.
…
Before entering Interrogation Room 3 where Wang Xinlai was held, Fang Zhenyue turned back to Yi Jiayi and said, “You go back first, we’ll talk tomorrow if there’s anything.”
“Okay,” she replied softly.
Fang Zhenyue checked his watch; it was almost nine o’clock.
After everything she had been through, being beaten, and catching the criminal, he wasn’t sure about her mental state. “Just take a taxi home.”
Yi Jiayi, who had been dazed, suddenly snapped back to reality at the mention of ‘taking a taxi.’
Poverty stripped her of all other thoughts.
Taxis in Hong Kong are expensive enough to cost an arm and a leg, and she didn’t have the money for such expenses. This thought was evident in her eyes.
Seeing the change in the young policewoman’s eyes from blankness to despair, Fang Zhenyue hesitated, then changed his approach:
“Never mind, where do you live?”
“Oak Street, Mingde Estate in Sham Shui Po.”
“On Cherry Street above?” Fang Zhenyue recalled.
“Yes, yes.”
“Sit for a while, I’ll give you a ride later.”
“Thank you, Officer Fang…” Yi Jiayi began to say but then hesitated.
“What is it?” Fang Zhenyue raised an eyebrow, immediately noticing.
“Sir, could you please detour to Bi Street for a moment? My bicycle is there, and I need it tomorrow,” Yi Jiayi pleaded pitifully.
Fang Zhenyue paused slightly, then smiled: “Thanks to your good fortune today, finishing work early, even if you needed to go to Lantau Island, it wouldn’t be a problem!”
Translator’s Note: I had to post the chapters again because something happened to the site and I forgot to upload on backup hehe~
hurray to the first case solved