A Psych Case Just Joined the Team Chapter 007

Bloodshed – 07

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As soon as he arrived at the station the next day, Xing Zui called everyone together for a meeting. After it ended, he personally went to the small clinic Cui Jingfeng had mentioned. The moment he stepped through the door, he saw a doctor wearing old-fashioned reading glasses.

Xing Zui pulled out his ID from inside his coat. "Sorry to bother you, I'm from the criminal investigation team, we're currently investigating a case, and I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's alright?"

The elderly doctor peered through the thick lenses and sized up the tall, cold-looking man in front of him from head to toe, finally letting his gaze settle on Xing Zui's handsome face... The heroic air between his brows carried the same mysterious and intelligent aura as the special agents in crime films.

"Oh... I remember, a police officer came by the day before yesterday as well. Was it about Lin Datong?"

"Lin Datong came to your clinic on October 8th?"

"He had an injury on his waist, the wound was already inflamed and would've turned septic if left untreated, so I disinfected it for him. I was going to use povidone-iodine, but he said he was afraid of the pain and refused, so I gave him a course of antibiotics instead."

Xing Zui recalled for a moment, Lin Datong indeed had a wound on his waist, and Mu Sen hadn't found any trace of povidone-iodine on it either... But even so, that still wasn't enough to convince him. To convince him of the one thing he firmly believed in his heart.

"Are you certain it was Lin Datong?"

"Of course, this old man's eyesight is still sharp."

The old man's tone was resolute. Xing Zui glanced slightly at the thick reading glasses perched on his nose, and a faint feeling of melancholy rose in his chest...

"Er... not even clairvoyants could match your eyesight."

Upon hearing that, the old doctor's face broke into a smile, deepening the wrinkles around his eyes. He reached into a drawer and casually pulled out a thick notebook, flipping through it for a while. "Look... I've got it recorded here. October 8th... here it is, Lin Datong. That's his signature."

Xing Zui stared at it for a moment, then took out his phone from his pocket and snapped a photo of the page the old man had turned to. Then he looked up and scanned the four corners of the clinic's ceiling before asking, "Do you have any surveillance cameras installed in your shop?"

"No, not at all, the public order around here is very good, we don't need that sort of high-tech stuff and I wouldn't know how to use it anyway. I've been running this shop for ten years and never once had a thief come by, and that's thanks to you police officers."

Xing Zui gave a light nod, the corners of his mouth twitching with an almost-smile. He knew the old man hadn't meant to flatter him, but given that a murder had just taken place, no matter how you heard it, the comment felt rather ironic.

Dang City was not a city steeped in ancient atmosphere. It was still immature, unsettled, and increasingly reshaped by the forces of socio-economic trends. People living here were destined, just like the city's name, to be born and die under a tide of rising and falling turmoil. In recent years, the rate of criminal cases in Dang City had risen significantly compared to previous years. The evil lying dormant beneath the surface of the city, hidden deep in the darkest parts of the human heart, was gradually being awakened...

Xing Zui said: "Don't put too much faith in the police either, there'll always be bad people we can't catch, it's still safer to get one installed."

By the time he came out of the clinic, it was already afternoon. Xing Zui returned to his car, took his phone from the pocket of his coat, and dialled Cui Jingfeng's number.

"Fengzi, do me a favour and make a trip to Scatterbrain's place..."

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Early in the morning of October 17th, Cui Jingfeng pushed open the door to Xing Zui's office.

"Boss, the search warrant's in."

Xing Zui: "Round everyone up. Let's get to work!"

Several police cars appeared outside a messy collective residential building, and the sight was rather striking, attracting passersby to stop and watch. Some street vendors even abandoned their business to join the commotion. Officers worked to disperse the crowd, while a few school-uniformed students, having never seen such a scene before, pulled out their phones and snapped away wildly at the police vehicles.

Meanwhile, at Lin Datong's home, the already small apartment was now packed with people, it looked more like a hotpot party than a police search. Forensics officers were collecting evidence from corners of the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom floor. Xing Zui made a circuit of the apartment before entering the bedroom and pulling open the wardrobe door. The clothes inside were stacked and folded neatly.

It was obvious that Li Li was a frugal and thrifty woman. Just as he was about to close the wardrobe, something caught his eye.

Li Li had been notified in advance to return from the factory. She was now sitting silently on the sofa, her expression bleak, as if all these unexpected visitors had nothing to do with her.

Half an hour later, a forensic officer came over to Xing Zui. "Captain Xing, we've detected large traces of blood on the floor of both the kitchen and the living room."

Xing Zui exchanged a knowing glance with Cui Jingfeng. A second later, Cui Jingfeng walked over to the sofa.

"Miss Li Li, we now have evidence to suspect that you are connected to the murder of Lin Datong, please come with us to the station."

It was as if Li Li had anticipated this moment long ago, she stood up...

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Inside the cold, silent interrogation room, Xing Zui pulled a candy from his pocket, calmly and methodically unwrapped it in front of everyone, and popped it into his mouth... The foil wrapper was crushed and rolled between his long fingers before being flicked cleanly into the nearby garbage bin. Qing Ming watched the entire process, feeling as though Xing Zui were carrying out some kind of sacred ritual...

"Such theatrics, just to eat a candy..."

Of course, that was something Qing Ming said only in his head.

"You're saying you killed Lin Datong and carried out the entire act on your own, with no accomplices?" Xing Zui asked, his gaze darkening. He paused for a few seconds before continuing in a low voice, "We've checked, you were working overtime at the factory from the 7th to the 9th, so you didn't have sufficient time to commit the crime. Why not just say you've mastered the art of cloning?"

Li Li's face was pale, but she remained composed. She replied, "On the night of the 7th, I was scheduled to finish my shift at ten. Qi Qi called me, said he was home alone and scared. I was going to ask our team leader for leave, but she wasn't there at the time, so I asked a colleague to request it for me. I guess they forgot. It was only about an hour or so left in the shift, and there are so many people at the factory, no one noticed I'd left. I didn't clock out either..."

"You killed Lin Datong on the night of the 7th?"

"Yes, I didn't mean to." Li Li's emotions suddenly surged. Both her fists clenched, her eyes glazed and bloodshot.

"He often drank, and that night he left Qi Qi at home alone again. I came back from the factory and settled Qi Qi to sleep, I was going to head back to work afterwards. Just as I was about to leave, he came home, completely drunk again... I got used to him being like this a long time ago." Li Li let out a cold laugh, then continued in a bitter voice, "He spoke to me, but I ignored him and went to open the door. He suddenly lunged at me, tore at my clothes, and called me a pretentious whore." Li Li paused for a second, then went on, "He pushed me to the ground. When I resisted, he hit me... I just happened to see a fruit knife on the coffee table. I didn't even think, I grabbed it and stabbed him..."

Xing Zui asked: "How many times did you stab him?"

"I don't remember, I was too frightened at the time... I stabbed him a few times, and when he stopped moving, I..."

Before Li Li could finish, Xing Zui suddenly interrupted her. "There's a child in the house, why would you leave a fruit knife on the coffee table, somewhere a child could easily reach?"

"I..."

"You're left-handed, right?" At that, Li Li looked up. "But the stab wounds on Lin Datong's body, except for one, were all concentrated on the right side. And from the angle and depth, our comparison showed they could only have been made by a right-handed person holding a knife." Xing Zui's deep, cold eyes bore into her, catching the flicker of fear she could no longer hide...

"Stop wasting our time, or does Miss Li think everyone in the criminal investigation team is just a bunch of freeloading idiots?"

Before the interrogation began, Xing Zui had specifically asked Qing Ming to come in and take notes. Qing Ming paused his pen, tilting his head to glance at Xing Zui's profile... He could hear the warning tone behind Xing Zui's words.

Li Li said, "I killed him, I've already confessed, what more do you want from me?"

Xing Zui frowned. "Even if, as you say, it was an accident during an act of self-defence, why didn't you call the police right away?"

"I was too scared... scared of the police..."

Xing Zui raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Are police officers really that frightening?"

"I... I was afraid the police wouldn't believe me."

Qing Ming turned his head and saw the faint smile tugging at the corner of Xing Zui's lips. Xing Zui said, "How exactly did you manage to move a corpse weighing over seventy kilograms all the way to that manhole by yourself? Don't tell me you carried it on your back. How did you transport the corpse on your own? What was the exact process? Where are the tools you used? What did you use to move the corpse? Where is it?" The string of questions burst out like firecrackers.

Li Li didn't respond. Her chapped hands clenched tightly, as if her fingertips were about to dig into her palms. At that moment, Xing Zui leaned forward, hands clasped beneath his firm chin, his dark eyes locked onto the woman opposite him. He instantly wiped away the smile from before and said coldly, with a serious expression, "Murder is not a misdemeanour, is it really worth it to cover for some useless bastard who lets a woman take the fall for him?"

Li Li lowered her eyes. Her pale lips were completely bloodless, yet there was an almost eerie calmness in her gaze.

"Have you thought about your son's future?"

At these words, the cold and tight expression Li Li had maintained finally collapsed in an instant. She suddenly looked up, meeting that icy, penetrating stare head-on.

"Lin Qi is only five years old, and he's about to carry the label of a murderer's son. He'll grow up alone, in an environment of cold indifference and ridicule. He might even become someone like his father, Lin Datong..."

"Enough, don't say another word!" Li Li shouted, burying her face deeply in her hands, and burst into gut-wrenching sobs.

Xing Zui chose to turn a blind eye to Li Li's emotional collapse, he had no intention of showing mercy to this woman who was in the depths of pain and despair. He continued coolly, "You're about to grow old, youth and prospects have nothing to do with you any more. If you're sentenced for intentional homicide, you'll spend ten or so years in prison, with the state taking care of your food, shelter, and everything else... That might not mean much to you, but your son is different." Xing Zui lowered his voice. "What right do you have to make him bear all of this for you?"

As he spoke, Xing Zui's face remained as indifferent as usual, as though he were delivering an emotionless lecture. Qing Ming couldn't shake the feeling that the temperature in the interrogation room was steadily dropping, it was getting cold. He glanced again at Xing Zui, thinking to himself: "This man's mouth is really poisonous!"

Xing Zui slid the file across the table to Li Li. "On October 8th, the owner of the herbal medicine shop under your building claimed to have seen Lin Datong. And the murder you just described, the one you say took place that night, should have happened on the evening of the 6th."

Li Li's face changed...

"If my guess is correct, the person you've been protecting all along, is Lin Datong, isn't it?"

As the words left his mouth, both Qing Ming and Li Li looked at him at the same time, one with utter disbelief, the other with shock and dismay...

‿︵‿︵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 1, 2025 by Angel

Edited: July 30, 2026 by Angel