Qiming Chapter 26

Chapter 26

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Xu Chengyue sat in the monitoring room, staring intently at the suspect's every move on the surveillance screen of the interrogation room.

"Name," Qin Wei said, sitting on a chair with one leg crossed and holding an unlit cigarette.

"Liu Yan."

"Any idea why you were arrested?"

"No, I don't know," Liu Yan replied. His face was bandaged and disinfected, and talking pulled at his wounds, causing him to cry out in pain. He covered his still-swollen eyes. "Because I played cards? Playing cards isn't illegal, is it, Officer?"

"Ai, let me remind you, on June 21st, a transfer of seven hundred thousand yuan was made to your bank account from overseas. Now, tell me the source of that money."

"Seven hundred thousand yuan was transferred to my bank account?" Despite his face being covered in bandages, his expression of feigned surprise was evident. "A windfall? If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known."

"You have quite the nerve."

Xu Chengyue poured himself a glass of water from his thermos and noted the time and dialogue. Shu Pan, hands in his pockets, walked past him and stopped to watch the live surveillance together.

"What happened to his face?" Shu Pan pointed to Liu Yan's face.

"Self-inflicted, cut by glass."

"Looks to me like someone beat him up..."

"He crashed into the glass, then the wall, and even punched himself a few times," Xu Chengyue said. "That's how he ended up like this."

Liu Yan's face was full of smiles. "I didn't set up text notifications, I really didn't know. Maybe someone used my account for money laundering?" He insisted he was unaware and suggested the police investigate it as identity theft.

"Do you know Guan Jianhua and Cao Yan?"

"Yes," he nodded, rubbing his hands nervously. "I used to be quite the troublemaker, did a lot of bad things with them." He then looked longingly at the cigarette in Qin Wei's hand. "Officer Qin, are you going to smoke that? If not, can I have it? I haven't smoked since that guy knocked me out, it's been almost a day, I'm suffering."

"Say, why do young people hit so hard nowadays? My face is full of wounds, and he specifically aimed for the face."

"Smoking is prohibited in the interrogation room, you can't smoke," Qin Wei said, unable to suppress a smile. "You weren't knocked out, stop exaggerating."

"Prohibited? Then why are you..."

"I'm holding it, not smoking it," Qin Wei didn't look up. "So according to you, you have nothing to do with that seven hundred thousand yuan?"

"Right, nothing to do with it. I didn't know that much money ended up in my account."

"Did you pick up Cao Yan when she was released from prison?"

"No, of course not," he shook his head.

"Then who did?"

Liu Yan's eyes darted around, and he touched his bleeding wound, pitifully saying, "How would I know?"

"Then how did you know she was released? Did Guan Jianhua tell you?"

"Huh?" He was momentarily stunned, his eyes shifting evasively. "I, I don't know."

"That eccentric doesn't use a cell phone, I don't contact him." He twitched his nose, which hurt his wound, causing his eyes to squint.

"Bullshit! On June 18th, you had a meal with him at Huijin Department Store." Qin Wei slapped the table, glaring at Liu Yan's freshly cut double eyelids. "You're unlucky. After the meal, he died, and the mall's surveillance captured you."

"No, what does that have to do with me?"

"Stop talking nonsense. You had a meal with him, and he died. You lied about not seeing him. If it has nothing to do with you, then who does it have to do with?"

"I had a meal with him, but I wasn't planning to hurt him..."

"Then why did you meet him?"

"I..." He suddenly realised he had fallen into a trap, shut his mouth, and pointed to his facial wounds. "Aiya, it hurts so much, I'm dizzy, my head hurts, I can't remember anything."

"Then why did you meet Cao Yan three days ago?"

Liu Yan ignored him, still clutching his head, complaining of dizziness and needing rest.

Qin Wei sighed, shaking his head helplessly. "Old Liu, you're so unlucky. Anyone you meet dies. After seeing Cao Yan, she ended up dead in a river."

"With your bad luck, she must have complained about you to the King of Hell."

Just a moment ago, Liu Yan had been clutching his face and whining about dizziness. Now, he abruptly lifted his head, his face pale and merging with the bandages. He stood up in horror. "Yan Jie, Cao, Cao Yan is dead?"

"You didn't know about this, did you?" Qin Wei smugly crossed his legs. "It happened just yesterday. It's quite the coincidence that both of them saw you before they died."

He suddenly stood up, bringing his face close to Liu Yan's, his stubble unshaven, eyes fixed on Liu Yan. "Who do you think will be the next to die?"

Who will be next?

Next...

This question echoed in Liu Yan's mind dozens of times. He trembled as he propped himself up on the table with his arms, trying to stay standing. But after a few seconds, his legs gave way, and he collapsed on the floor of the interrogation room.

"How could it be? How could Yan Jie also be dead..."

"Impossible, you're lying." He angrily scrambled up and sat back on the chair. "Are you trying to trick me?"

"Trick you? Nonsense." Qin Wei handed Liu Yan a case report, which included some images from the crime scene.

A person's psychological defences can crumble in an instant. As Liu Yan looked at the images of Cao Yan's corpse floating in the river, he suddenly knelt down.

"Officer Qin, please save me. I'm next, I know I'm next."

"You must save me. I'll cooperate with the investigation. I'll tell you everything, I'll say it all."

Qin Wei calmly sat back in his chair. He took a plastic lighter out of his pocket, lit the cigarette between his fingers, and handed it to the trembling Liu Yan. The smouldering embers instantly turned into sporadic flames, desperately burning in the oppressive atmosphere of the interrogation room.

"Isn't smoking prohibited?" Xu Chengyue asked.

"Oh, it's prohibited for us. For them–" Shu Pan pointed to the kneeling and tearful Liu Yan in the interrogation room, "it's not."

The sky had already darkened. The previous night had been filled with thunderstorms and a typhoon, causing the temperature to suddenly drop. Xu Chengyue closed his laptop, stood up, and pushed open the tightly shut window. There was wind, the moon, and starlight.

"I've arranged it for you, the locksmith will be here in an hour." He received a text message from the AI lab.

—————

After Liu Yan was arrested, Gu Yunfeng took a leave of absence and went home to sleep. He had been suffering from insomnia and only fell asleep at three in the morning the night before. After successfully catching Liu Yan with dark circles under his eyes, he went straight to bed and slept until evening.

The interrogation of Liu Yan was left to Old Qin. By this time, all the necessary questions should have been asked.

When Gu Yunfeng arrived at the criminal investigation team, Xu Chengyue had already left. Gu Yunfeng guessed that he had fixed his lock, otherwise, he wouldn't have left so early. Qin Wei had just come out of the interrogation room and was telling some young colleagues that he was getting old and losing his sharpness, almost unable to handle the interrogation anymore. He turned around and saw Gu Yunfeng arriving, wearing a coat.

"How is it, did Liu Yan confess everything?" Gu Yunfeng asked, holding a pancake. He hadn't had time to make dinner, so he grabbed something to eat on the way.

"He confessed." Qin Wei waved his hand. "The case of extorting that young girl was done by the three of them together."

After Cao Yan was released early from prison, she found herself completely disconnected from modern society, without any support or money. With her looks faded and charm gone, she resorted to all sorts of crooked ideas.

First, she contacted her old accomplice from the girl abduction case, Liu Yan. Then Liu Yan brought in Guan Jianhua, her former driver. The three quickly formed a plan and began looking for a target.

Gu Yunfeng: "Did she later recognise Yuan Man?"

"Yes, Cao Yan discovered that the popular idol in the entertainment industry was her daughter and decided to blackmail her." Qin Wei continued, "So that's what the extortion was about, a mother forming a gang to blackmail her own daughter, unheard of, worse than animals."

The three of them developed a detailed criminal plan, targeting Yuan Man's agent, Chen Yu. Starting in May, they had Guan Jianhua follow Yuan Man daily, aiming to understand her routine, as idols often have very unpredictable schedules, and flying around was common.

Liu Yan then called Chen Yu's work phone, using Yuan Man's special background to blackmail her. They decided never to meet Yuan Man directly, as Cao Yan still harboured the dream of reuniting with her daughter in a tearful, heartwarming scene after spending the money, envisioning a future of shared wealth.

Gu Yunfeng found a chair and listened as Old Qin recounted the interrogation results.

"When Liu Yan heard me say that Cao Yan was dead, he was so scared he collapsed." Old Qin sat beside him. "He already knew about Guan Jianhua's murder, and the seven hundred thousand was transferred to his account because of Guan's death. Cao Yan was terrified, constantly saying someone was retaliating against her. She wouldn't transfer the money back to her account, fearing it would be traced."

"Now that he knows both Guan Jianhua and Cao Yan are dead, Liu Yan wants to get into prison as soon as possible to save his life."

Wants to get into prison to save his life. It seems Liu Yan is quite sure of the killer's motive.

"How many people have followed Yuan Man?"

"How many?" Qin Wei was taken aback. "Just Guan Jianhua."

Just one? In a previous conversation with Yuan Man, she had clearly mentioned being followed by at least two people. Assuming Yuan Man wasn't lying about this, who was the missing stalker?

The consecutive deaths of Guan Jianhua and Cao Yan made Liu Yan certain he was the next target. He believed the murderer's motive was to eliminate those obstructing Yuan Man.

What was the murderer's relationship with Yuan Man? What was their connection to Tianyi?

If the information obtained by Professor Xu was reliable, Yuan Man probably knew her true background long ago, she just pretended to be unaware, wanting to maintain her image as an orphan without a dark history, embodying a sunny, inspirational idol persona.

To her, these three people were absolute threats.

They had to be eliminated.

The corridor lights flickered, mirroring the moon intermittently obscured by clouds.

Leaning against the wall, Gu Yunfeng repeatedly went over the case details, feeling that something had been overlooked.

In moments of despair, everyone is likely to make desperate moves.

Like Cao Yan, who, upon being released from prison and discovering that the popular idol was her daughter, decided to extort her, unable to survive otherwise.

Qin Wei muttered about going home to his wife and kids. Gu Yunfeng stood up, intending to see him off. Just as they reached the door, Gu Yunfeng suddenly remembered a simple question everyone had overlooked.

He hurriedly called out to Qin Wei, who was halfway out the door.

"How did Cao Yan determine that Yuan Man was her daughter?"

Yuan Man's information had been completely erased in a fire, and someone had given her a new identity and life. Tianyi had gone to great lengths to sever ties with the past. How could someone just released from prison, completely out of touch with society, find her so easily?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 4, 2024 by Angel

Edited: July 18, 2024 by Angel