The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 7

Malice – 07

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"Boss, we don't have any evidence or a search warrant, even if we find Huang Chufeng, we can't arrest him! If he refuses to talk, there's nothing we can do!"

"That's why I'm not sending you!" Gu Yanta glanced into the distance. "I'm here to find someone. Your task is to investigate the people around Huang Chufeng, including his roommates and dorm supervisor who provided the alibi for him."

"Yes, sir!" Chen Chen gave Gu Yanta a perfect salute. "Then we'll split up and meet at the top, Boss!"

Gu Yanta waved him off, then took out his phone and dialled a number. "Hello! Mr. Chen, this is Gu Yanta, are you in your office? I'll be there shortly!"

The person Gu Yanta intended to meet was Professor Chen Ming, a doctoral advisor in the psychology department at Yuchuan University. In his earlier years, Professor Chen had served as a psychological consultant for the police force. Back then, the Yuchuan criminal investigation team had been at its peak, serving as a model for neighbouring provinces and cities. Half of that success was attributed to Professor Chen.

Professor Chen utilised psychological profiling techniques, constructing suspect profiles based on the modus operandi and crime scene details. This helped the police narrow the scope of their search. After suspects were captured, he leveraged their psychological weaknesses and interrogation techniques to significantly improve the efficiency of interrogations, bringing the team's crime-solving rate to new heights.

In recent years, however, Professor Chen's health has taken a severe downturn. Teaching at Yuchuan University was already pushing his limits, leaving him with no capacity to assist the police further.

This case, being of major significance, left the police with no concrete evidence. It was only as a last resort that Gu Yanta thought of him. Fortunately, Professor Chen agreed to recommend one of his favourite students, repeatedly emphasising that this student was highly talented and, with practical experience, could match his own abilities in his younger days.

"Ahem... ahem..." After knocking on the door, Gu Yanta cleared his throat and straightened his hair, wanting to appear more formal.

The moment the door opened, Gu Yanta froze. Why is it him?! Lu Zheng!!!

Lu Zheng looked at Gu Yanta calmly, his tone devoid of any emotion. "Captain Gu, we meet again."

Professor Chen's raspy voice came from inside the office. "Officer Gu, come in!"

Snapping out of his daze, Gu Yanta finally realised that the favourite student Professor Chen mentioned was none other than Lu Zheng! Of course! Lu Zheng was a doctoral candidate in Yuchuan University's psychology department. Why hadn't he thought it could be him?

Perhaps his preconceived notions about 'second-generation rich kids' had made him sceptical of the Lu family producing a PhD. He had always assumed that their education was just for show. However, from Lu Yu to Lu Zheng, Gu Yanta's perception had changed. Apparently, some 'rich kids' could be exceptional, even academic prodigies. No more looking at people through tinted glasses!

"Captain Gu, please take a seat." Lu Zheng made a gesture of invitation to Gu Yanta, "Professor told me early this morning that you needed help, so here I am."

"Indeed, Officer Gu, it's been years since we last met, and now you're a criminal investigation captain! Such a young talent! I hear you're dealing with a tricky case this time. You know my health has been poor these past years, and we old folks eventually have to step back and let the younger generation take over. Hoo..." Professor Chen had severe asthma, which he had managed with medication when he was younger. However, his condition had worsened with age. In recent years, his voice had grown raspy, and speaking a few sentences would leave him short of breath.

"You're too kind, Professor Chen, please take your time," Gu Yanta said, glancing worriedly at the elderly man who had a poor complexion.

"It's fine, it's fine, just an old ailment. Let me introduce you, this is my favourite student, Lu Zheng. I've heard that the victim this time is one of his relatives, but that's irrelevant. I'm just asking him to help you out. He hasn't graduated yet, so he'll only act as a temporary consultant for your team, not a formal police member, so there's no conflict of interest. Rest assured, he's very professional and won't let personal ties interfere... Hoo..."

"I understand, Professor Chen, thank you, we've troubled you." Gu Yanta stood up and bowed deeply, he respected this elder from the bottom of his heart.

"Please take care of me in the future, Captain Gu." Lu Zheng stood up and extended his hand towards Gu Yanta. "I lack experience, so please forgive any shortcomings."

"What are you talking about? Since you are the student Professor Chen recommended, there's no doubt you'll be excellent!" Gu Yanta shook hands with Lu Zheng and turned back to Professor Chen. "Professor Chen, in that case, there's no time to lose. I'll take Mr. Lu to familiarise himself with the case details right away. To be honest, Director Wu only gave us seventy-two hours to solve this case."

"Hai, Old Wu is still as impatient as ever. Back when he was the captain of the criminal police team, he never stopped giving me headaches." Professor Chen chuckled, waving his hand. "Go on, no need to be polite with this old man anymore."

With that, Gu Yanta and Lu Zheng left the office, one after the other.

"You brat! So you knew all about this this morning, huh?" Gu Yanta said as he closed the door. "I should've known, if you're acting all attentive for no reason, you're either a traitor or a thief! Looks like you weren't just here to gather intel on the case, you came to spy on me!"

The corners of Lu Zheng's mouth lifted slightly. "Captain Gu, don't say that. My testing this morning was only because your behaviour yesterday was so out of the ordinary."

"Out of the ordinary? How would you know what I'm usually like?"

"Though this is my first official meeting with Captain Gu, considering your decade-long career in law enforcement, along with your attire, office environment, and the 'injury' you mentioned, it's unlikely that you're someone who would speak with such formality and caution, let alone with a hint of nervousness, even to a victim's family," Lu Zheng replied in his usual calm tone.

"There you go again! Psychology students are such a pain! When was I overly cautious yesterday? Why didn't I notice anything unusual?!" Gu Yanta felt somewhat guilty. Suddenly, he caught himself. "Lu Zheng, what do you mean by my attire and office environment?!"

Lu Zhen suddenly smiled slightly, and the smile made him look like a completely different person. His cold demeanour was swept away and replaced by a warm, youthful feeling.

Gu Yanta suddenly felt his mouth go dry.

"These were actually Captain Gu's subconscious behaviours, I was merely picking up on clues, so don't take it to heart," Lu Zheng put away his smile as he returned to his usual calmness. "In any case, my conclusion is that Captain Gu doesn't dislike me, so I can happily start working under you!"

The default iPhone ringtone suddenly rang out. Gu Yanta glanced at his phone, "Call from Mom" appeared on the screen, it was Jiang Ziyu!

As soon as he answered, Jiang Ziyu's voice came through: "Hey, Old Gu! The thing you asked us to look into has been checked! Zhang Bin got hooked on drugs two years ago, and within months, he burned through all his savings and started pilfering from others. He even 'visited' the homes of his old neighbours in the area he used to live. His foster parents are decent people who helped a lot of others when they were younger. Plus, that area's mostly retired workers who didn't have anything valuable, so for his foster parents' sake, they'd just scold him and let him go whenever he was caught. When Zhang Bin couldn't steal anything worthwhile, he turned to loan sharks and ended up getting beaten half to death for his debts."

"So that's when he came up with the idea of faking his death?" Gu Yanta frowned.

"Zhang Bin shouldn't have come up with the idea out of nowhere. From what we know so far, Wei Liang had been homeless around the China Construction Bank plaza in the Haibei District before Zhang Bin staged his death. It's possible Zhang Bin stumbled upon Wei Liang and hatched the plan of faking his death. According to the local police station, just before last year's Spring Festival, someone brought Wei Liang in to verify his identity and get him an ID card. The registered details matched Zhang Bin's story, Wei Liang was his long-lost brother, and they looked very similar. Wei Liang had been adopted from an orphanage, so nothing seemed suspicious at the time," Jiang Ziyu explained over the phone.

"Zhang Bin found Wei Liang and helped him get his ID card, meaning he was fully committed to the impersonation," Gu Yanta said.

"After that, Zhang Bin rented separate homes under both his own name and Wei Liang's. That's why we initially came up empty-handed when we looked into Wei Liang. Zhang Bin kept Wei Liang hidden in his rental home and intimidated him into staying put by threatening that he'd be killed if he left. Neighbours often reported hearing crying and pleas for mercy from his home, but since there were no sounds of fighting, they assumed it was just TV noise. It was likely Wei Liang having an episode while Zhang Bin was out," Jiang Ziyu continued. "After faking his death in a staged car accident, Zhang Bin used Wei Liang's identity to get a job as a temp worker at Haibei Villa. Zhang Bin's quite clever and has a knack for evading surveillance. Haibei Villa is a wealthy area and the homes have plenty of valuables, so Zhang Bin used his job as a repairman to scope out houses, exploiting security loopholes to carry out burglaries. We found a stash of stolen goods in Zhang Bin's rental home that he hadn't had the chance to sell yet."

"We can close the Haibei serial theft case, but what about the 'corpse' from Zhang Bin's staged death a year ago, can we find it?" Gu Yanta asked.

"I'm afraid it can't be found, it's been over a year, and no autopsy was done at the time. The body's already been cremated. We compared it to missing person records but didn't find a match. We suspect it was a homeless person or an unclaimed body. I don't know how Zhang Bin got it, and as for whether Zhang Bin killed the person himself, there's no way to confirm," Jiang Ziyu replied, then said, "Also, Ma Qin and his team found out that Zhang Bin's supplier is a small-time dealer nicknamed 'Niu B.' The cell phone communication records show that the last person Zhang Bin contacted was this guy. However, he was arrested last night for causing a public disturbance. The officers found unsold drugs and contact details of other users at his place, and he's still being held at the station. Ma Qin wants to know if we should interrogate him right away?"

"Interrogate him immediately! I'm handling something at Yuchuan University right now, I'll head back as soon as I'm done!" Gu Yanta ended the call, noticing Lu Zheng watching him silently from the side.

"You've got the general idea now, right?" Gu Yanta shook his cigarette box, but it was empty. Damn, they're gone!

Lu Zheng handed him a cigarette from his own pack, lighting one for himself as well. "Mhmm. But I'd say Zhang Bin isn't the killer Captain Gu has in mind, and today's trip to Yuchuan University isn't just about getting help from Professor, am I right?"

"Exactly! Mr. Lu, no, let's be more formal in the future and call you Consultant Lu," Gu Yanta said, taking a drag. "Like you, I think Zhang Bin is just a small-time crook, driven by drugs and his obsession with money. Even if he had the guts to kill a homeless person to fake his death, there's no way he could've stormed into the master bedroom to commit the crime without Lu Yu even leaving his room. Based on the situation at the crime scene, the real murderer is someone else. We may not have found the evidence left by them yet, but I'm sure we'll catch them eventually!"

‿︵‿︵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 15, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 7, 2024 by Angel