Yong County. County Bureau!
It was two days later when Li Yi returned to Xiao Zhanwu’s office.
Seeing Li Yi push open the door and walk in, Xiao Zhanwu immediately smiled and said, “You’re just in time—I was just about to come find you!”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve handed the case over to Old Zhang and his team to follow up on. Now we can finally investigate the case involving Tan Cheng and Jiang Lin!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“Hahaha, that’s great news!”
Then Li Yi asked again, “The Yan Minsheng couple’s case is such a major homicide—are you sure you can just step back from it?”
“Why not? All the victims’ bodies have been exhumed and their identities confirmed. Yan Minsheng and his wife have confessed to everything they did, and all the evidence has been collected to prove their guilt.”
Xiao Zhanwu continued, “All that’s left is to follow standard procedure. It doesn’t matter whether I’m keeping an eye on it or not—Old Zhang and his team can handle it just fine!”
“That’s good to hear. By the way, how many victims were exhumed in total?” Li Yi asked.
“Eight—six women and two men,” Xiao Zhanwu said with a sigh.
Upon hearing this, Li Yi fell silent for a moment, but he felt a slight sense of relief.
Eight lives were certainly no small number, but compared to the 48 who would have died three years later, that was 40 fewer.
In other words, their mission had saved 40 lives.
As he thought of this, Li Yi’s previously restless mood suddenly improved considerably!
Just then, Xiao Zhanwu sighed and said, “You know, the last victim was killed just the night before last. If we’d shifted our thinking and adjusted our investigative approach sooner, maybe we could have still made it in time…”
Seeing the look of self-reproach on Xiao Zhanwu’s face, Li Yi immediately comforted him: “No one could have foreseen something like this. It was simply fate—don’t blame yourself!”
“Now that it’s come to this, all you can do is bring that evil couple to justice, to reassure the public and bring comfort to the deceased!”
“Right!”
Then Xiao Zhanwu added, “Enough about that. I plan to visit Jiang Lin in prison myself. Are you coming?”
“Do you want to interrogate him?”
“No, I just want to have a chat with him first!”
Xiao Zhanwu continued, “I’ve been carefully reviewing this case over the past few days. It’s true, just as you analyzed, there are quite a few inconsistencies. We need to investigate this thoroughly.”
“Thank you!” Li Yi said.
He knew full well that if this case hadn’t involved him personally, Xiao Zhanwu might not have pursued it further even if he’d spotted the issues.
The reason was simple: Xiao Zhanwu had originally been the lead investigator on this case. If he suddenly decided to investigate it now, wouldn’t that be like shooting himself in the foot?
If the investigation turned up nothing, that would be one thing, but if it actually uncovered something, he might face disciplinary action, which could jeopardize his career.
“No need to thank me. Even if it weren’t for you, as the case handler, I’d have to get to the bottom of this anyway!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
Li Yi nodded, choosing not to dwell on the matter further; some things were best left understood in his own mind.
With that in mind, he quickly changed the subject: “You’re going to the prison to interrogate a prisoner—is it appropriate for an ordinary person like me to tag along?”
“It’s fine. Besides, we’re not interrogating him this time—we’re just going to meet with him. It doesn’t violate any regulations!”
“As long as it doesn’t violate the rules, that’s fine. If he’s willing to come clean on his own, that would be best. If not, we’ll just have to continue our investigation!” Li Yi said.
“Right, there’s no time to waste. Let’s get going!”
“Alright!”
Xiao Zhanwu then took Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang with him, called another young man from the squad, and the four of them headed straight for Black Dragon Mountain Prison.
………
Black Dragon Mountain Prison, named after the nearby Black Dragon Mountain, is the city’s only prison.
Since it wasn’t under Yong County’s jurisdiction, even for Xiao Zhanwu, the captain of the criminal investigation team, arranging a visit with an inmate was quite a hassle.
Fortunately, after going through several formalities, Xiao Zhanwu and Li Yi were able to meet the man they had come to see—Jiang Lin—in the visiting area.
The moment he saw Xiao Zhanwu, a look of surprise flashed across Jiang Lin’s eyes; he clearly hadn’t expected Xiao Zhanwu to be the one visiting him.
At the same time, Li Yi keenly noticed that after the initial surprise, a hint of panic flashed in the man’s eyes.
Once Jiang Lin had sat down on the other side of the iron bars, Xiao Zhanwu immediately said in a stern tone, “Jiang Lin, do you know why I’m here to see you?”
“No… I don’t know!”
Jiang Lin tried his best to calm himself, but out of fear of Xiao Zhanwu, his voice still trembled slightly.
“Are you sure that’s your answer?”
Xiao Zhanwu continued, “You’ve been here for nearly two years. You should know the principle that ‘confession leads to leniency, while resistance leads to severity.’ There’s a big difference between you speaking up on your own and us forcing you to talk with evidence in hand. Think carefully about how you’re going to answer me!”
Jiang Lin’s body trembled slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
Then, gritting his teeth, he said, “Captain Xiao, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to my cell—I’ve got work duties to fulfill today!”
Xiao Zhanwu barked, “Jiang Lin, do you think we won’t find out if you don’t talk?”
“The reason I’m here today, meeting you like this instead of interrogating you directly, is to give you a chance to confess and receive leniency. I don’t want to have to review your case a third time and add to your sentence!”
Jiang Lin was stunned by Xiao Zhanwu’s words. His gaze grew hesitant and unfocused.
“I… I…”
Just as Li Yi thought the man was about to confess, he unexpectedly stood up and told the prison guard behind him that he wanted to return to his cell.
Seeing Jiang Lin’s refusal to cooperate, Xiao Zhanwu felt a sense of helplessness and could only leave Black Dragon Mountain Prison for the time being.
Once outside, Li Yi immediately remarked, “There’s definitely something off about this guy!”
“Yeah, I can tell too. But since he’s not willing to talk, it looks like we’ll have to investigate through his family!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“So what do we do now?”
“Let’s go to Jiangjia Village!”
“Alright!”
The group then got back into the car and quickly drove off.
What Li Yi hadn’t expected, however, was that Xiao Zhanwu didn’t head straight to the place called Jiangjia Village, but returned to the county seat first.
Then, under Li Yi’s puzzled gaze, he picked up Xiaoya and her sister and brought them into the car.
Ever since Xiao Zhanwu and his wife had agreed to adopt Xiaoya and her sister, the couple had taken the two girls from the guesthouse.
After a few days apart, the sisters had changed quite a bit.
First of all, they were clean, their hair was trimmed, and they were wearing new clothes.
While it wouldn’t be accurate to say they had transformed from ugly ducklings into swans, they certainly looked like new.
However, Xiaoya’s face was filled with sorrow, and her eyes were a bit red and swollen—perhaps she had already learned of her mother’s murder.
The younger one, on the other hand, seemed quite happy, lying quietly in Xiao Zhanwu’s arms with a cheerful smile on her face.
“Captain Xiao, why did you bring Xiaoya and the others along?” Li Yi asked, puzzled.
Xiao Zhanwu replied immediately, “Xiao Ya and her family are originally from Jiangjia Village. Her parents only moved to the county seat a few years ago!”
“I brought Xiaoya and the others back this time specifically to ask her grandparents if they really don’t plan to take care of them anymore. If they truly won’t, I’ll formally adopt them!”
“I see. Well, then, let’s just get this taken care of right now!” Li Yi said.
“Right, the sooner we handle this, the better!” Xiao Zhanwu said.
“Mm-hmm!”
With that, the car pulled away, and the group headed straight for Jiangjia Village on the outskirts of town…
………