The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 4

Malice – 04

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Wei Liang was escorted back to the bureau, where he cheerfully waved his hands around in the interrogation room. Before the interrogation even formally began, he even lay down on the floor and fell asleep, snoring loudly. He genuinely seemed to feel quite at ease.

"What should we do, Boss? Should we still interrogate him or not? This guy looks like he's mentally off, whatever we ask him, he just goes on about someone trying to kill him, and he knows nothing about anything else! And it really doesn't look like he's faking it," Liang Shan said hesitantly, watching the sleeping Wei Liang.

"I think this bloke is definitely faking it! Boss, I'm putting in a request to work overnight tonight, I don't believe I won't be able to pry his mouth open!" Ma Qin said angrily.

Just then, Jiang Ziyu burst through the door, looking anxious. "The traffic police unit just reported a car accident on the G5001 national highway, and the identity of the deceased is suspected to be... Wei Liang!"

"Ah! What?! Then who did we just bring in from the Xifeng Road station?!" Ma Qin's mouth dropped open in shock, wide enough to fit an egg.

Gu Yanta was also taken aback but quickly made a decision. "Notify the traffic police unit to seal off the scene and prohibit vehicle traffic! Old Jiang, stay at the bureau and continue organising the interrogation of Wei Liang. The rest of you, come with me to the accident scene!"

"Yes! Boss!"

The G5001 national highway was remote and had sparse surveillance, especially at night, making it astonishingly unsafe. Generally, only large freight trucks that couldn't access the expressways passed through, and many of them were overloaded in violation of regulations.

Forensic pathologist Lin Feiyu had been pulled away from a date and was now inspecting the condition of the body with two of his interns. To be precise, it could hardly be called a body any more, it was merely a mess... The deceased had been repeatedly crushed by large freight trucks, reduced to a pulp of flesh. Lin Feiyu and his team wielded shovels and burlap sacks, picking up the remains piece by piece. One part with hair was vaguely recognisable and seemed to be part of a head.

Gu Yanta got out of the car and patted Lin Feiyu on the shoulder. "Thanks for the hard work, Old Lin! Next time, I'll personally apologise to sister-in-law!"

Lin Feiyu helplessly spread his hands. "Can't be helped, it's the nature of our work, isn't it? With the body crushed to this state, the autopsy might take some time."

Gu Yanta nodded and walked over to a traffic police officer in charge at the scene.

"Mate, with the body in such a state, how could you tell it was our wanted man?"

"The deceased was carrying a bag, which might have flown out upon impact and wasn't crushed. Inside, there was some cash, a few luxury watches, and Wei Liang's ID card. We've already sent the items over to your material evidence team," said the traffic police officer in charge. "For now, we can only tentatively identify the deceased as Wei Liang, beyond that, we can't be certain. Since Wei Liang is a fugitive wanted by your city bureau, we contacted you first."

"Thanks, mate!" Gu Yanta shook the officer's hand. "What's the situation with the surveillance in this area?"

"We've already checked the footage. The deceased was crossing the highway when he was struck by a black Chevrolet sedan with licence plate Yu AF2315. The impact sent him flying, after which the driver fled the scene. Upon investigation, the car was identified as using fake plates and disappeared once it crossed into Lingzhou. Whether the deceased died immediately upon hitting the ground cannot be confirmed, but he was subsequently run over by a dozen or so large trucks. Finally, a passing farmer's van spotted him and reported the accident."

True and false suspects! This was a real headache.

If someone was impersonating Wei Liang, then it was baffling for them to turn up alone in the middle of nowhere at such a late hour.

Gu Yanta frowned. This case was becoming more and more complicated. At first, he thought it was just a straightforward case of breaking and entering with murder, but the victim's distinguished identity, the illogical crime scene, and now two suspects, one who undeniably looked like Wei Liang but was crazy, and the other with Wei Liang's ID but thoroughly dead, all added to the mystery.

"Even if the suspect was fleeing the crime, there's no way he would be carrying his own ID! And they say he was travelling on foot!" Although Ma Qin had only been with the force for three or four years, he'd never encountered such a tricky case before.

"Let's head back and try interrogating the living Wei Liang first. As for the identity of the deceased, we'll have to wait for Old Lin to finish his work. Pack it up!"

"Yes, Boss!"

City bureau's interrogation room.

After much interrogation, Ma Qin, who had been determined to pry Wei Liang's mouth open all night, also returned in defeat.

"No luck, Boss. This Wei Liang really doesn't seem right in the head!" Ma Qin reported, his head hung. "His words were all over the place. It didn't seem like he was pretending, he just kept rambling on about someone wanting to kill him, that his meal delivery hadn't come, that someone wanted to kill him..."

"I got it, let's have the experts assess him," Gu Yanta said.

In the city bureau's main conference room, smoke drifted through the air as the criminal investigation team gathered to review the case. It was already late into the night, and everyone was forcing themselves to stay alert. Even Gu Yanta, usually the light-hearted team captain, wore a sombre expression.

"Wei Liang, male, thirty years old. His real surname is Zhang, his parents died when he was a child, and he lived with his older brother at Chengguang Orphanage. Later, they were adopted separately, and his name was changed to Wei Liang. His adoptive father died in a work accident when Wei Liang was sixteen, and his adoptive mother's mental health deteriorated. Her family eventually had her admitted to a psychiatric hospital, leaving Wei Liang without anyone to care for him, so he dropped out of school. His adoptive father's elderly neighbour confirmed that in the years following his adoptive parents' misfortunes, no one looked after him. They also mentioned that Wei Liang has always seemed mentally unstable. At first, he wandered the streets nearby, and then he was never seen again. Our records confirm that up until the Spring Festival of 2018, he was living as a vagrant around the square outside China Construction Bank. A year ago, he took a job as a temporary repair worker at the property management company for Haibei Villa. This is all the information we have on Wei Liang."

"How did he get hired at Haibei Villa with no work experience? That property company's standards must be seriously low!" Ma Qin interjected.

Chen Chen shot a glare at Ma Qin before continuing. "It's true that the property company has some management gaps. I contacted their manager, who said Wei Liang's résumé listed a very normal work history, and Wei Liang himself was skilled with tools. Temporary skilled workers are hard to come by, so they hired him easily."

"Did you look into his brother?" Gu Yanta asked.

"Yes. His name was Zhang Bin, and he died in a car accident a year ago. The car exploded, burning the body to a crisp. Zhang Bin's adoptive parents were elderly and couldn't care for themselves, so they identified the remains and let the incident be handled as a traffic accident."

"No autopsy? And they could still recognise a charred body?" Ma Qin asked sceptically.

"I told you, his adoptive parents are both over eighty. They didn't have the energy to pursue it, and since the family requested no autopsy, it was treated as a traffic accident. Are you even listening to me, or is your brain completely lacking any grooves?" Chen Chen snapped irritably.

"You... I'm just raising a reasonable question! Is that a problem!?" Ma Qin retorted defiantly.

"Alright alright, that's enough from both of you!" Jiang Ziyu rapped on the table. "If you two keep bickering like this, I'll ask Director Wu to suspend you both!"

‿︵‿︵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: November 13, 2024 by Angel

Edited: November 24, 2024 by Angel