22 Confirmation

3:30 PM. The shadows of the forest were deep, thick, and elongated. The intense colors outlined the summer heat—a palpable, stifling sensation that swirled everywhere, yet remained barred from the cool, dark interior of the car.

Captain Feng adjusted himself on the seat, stretched out his legs, and leaned back against the headrest with a sigh of relief. "Finally, a moment to rest. My old back has been as taut as a rusted spring all day. You guys really have a comfortable car."

Every pore on his body seemed to relax; if he closed his eyes for a few more seconds, he could have fallen asleep right there.

The phone resting on his lap vibrated incessantly, notifications popping up one after another. Just as it began to slide off, he caught it with an almost prophetic reflex.

Captain Feng pried open his heavy, weary eyelids. With one hand pressing against his aching neck and the other tapping away at his screen, he began to reply. His typing was slow, clearly unable to keep up with the pace of the person on the other end. Every time he managed to type a few words, he would hit delete.

Fang Qingzhou sat beside him in the back row. She couldn't see his screen, but she could guess he was verifying her identity with the A-City police.

Zhou Suirong sat in the driver's seat, idly tapping through daily tasks in a mobile game.

A few minutes later, Captain Feng gathered his energy and said in his seasoned, unflappable tone, "Here’s the thing: you two came all the way to B-City, leaving your work behind, which shows you take this case very seriously. Normally, the police must keep case details strictly confidential, but we value talent..."

Zhou Suirong glanced up. Fang Qingzhou interrupted, "Can you just speak plainly?"

Zhou Suirong reached out from the front seat and poked her head, amused. "Fang Qingzhou? Do you think my words are some kind of magic spell?"

Captain Feng, having his rhythm interrupted, looked slightly annoyed. He pursed his lips and got straight to the point. "The police have made contact with a witness named Xu Youxiang. He doesn't trust our stance and seems to know something. Since you are staff from San Yao and are from A-City, if it's convenient, could you help us probe him? See if you can dig up any useful leads."

"Send me the information," Fang Qingzhou said.

After adding her as a contact, Captain Feng opened the car door, ready to step out.

Fang Qingzhou grabbed his short sleeve. "I want to see the body."

Captain Feng, one foot already out the door, had intended to make a cool, firm exit from the luxury vehicle. The sudden tug nearly choked him by his own collar.

"Why is a young girl like you so strong!" Captain Feng scrambled back in, rubbing his neck in pain, and kindly advised, "Don't look. This isn't the primary crime scene. The victim has been dead for over 48 hours. When it was transported here two days ago, it happened to be raining. Liang Yizheng took one look and threw up. If you throw up too, wouldn't that be impolite?"

He had gone to great lengths to get Liang Yizheng to agree to identify the body; why would anyone seek out such a miserable experience?

Fang Qingzhou stated matter-of-factly, "I can't skip it. In a criminal investigation, examining the body is an indispensable step. If I skip it, I’ll feel restless and uneasy."

"...That’s a new one. Are you the type who, after stepping in dog shit on the street, would still pry open the sole of your shoe to take a look?"

Defeated, Captain Feng pulled up a photo taken from the perspective of the feet, which was less gruesome, and showed it to her.

Zhou Suirong, ever prepared, fished a paper file folder out of a corner.

Fang Qingzhou took one look at the screen in Captain Feng’s hand, and her expression shifted. A sharp light ignited in her eyes. "Oh, no."

Zhou Suirong immediately shoved the open folder toward her. "Vomit in here, ancestor."

Fang Qingzhou slowly lifted her head. Her expression was one of shock, but not the nausea they had anticipated. She spoke with rare hesitation. "I might know him. He is from A-City."

Captain Feng dismissed it as nonsense. "Did you even see his face? You’re claiming to know him? His face is right there! You were staring at his shoes."

"The clothes he's wearing are the ones I bought him." Fang Qingzhou pulled out her own phone, burying her head in her past payment records. "Back then, I said I wanted to interview him. He took me to the mall, spent over sixty thousand, and then used an excuse to turn me down. Just this jacket cost over forty thousand. The shoes and pants were bought at the same time."

Hearing that she had suffered such a quiet loss, Zhou Suirong crumpled the paper bag in his hand into a ball. "Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you call the police? Isn't that fraud?"

Based on Zhou Suirong’s understanding, while Fang Qingzhou didn't get angry often, she was very vengeful and wouldn't swallow such an insult.

At this moment, the person involved was acting unusually generous, as if she were too lazy to dig through the records. She calmly closed her screen, which made Zhou Suirong immediately realize something was wrong.

Sure enough, seeing she couldn't brush it off, Fang Qingzhou said nonchalantly, "Actually, I sent the compiled information to his wife and his workplace later. Sadly, they didn't seem to care about such things. Rong-ge, give me the laptop."

She quickly searched for the image via the filename and turned the screen toward Captain Feng. "Is this him? I didn't expect that after seven or eight years, he'd still be wearing this set. Seems he hasn't been doing well."

The photo was taken from behind, and it did indeed match the attire of the victim.

Captain Feng thought to himself, a forty-to-fifty-thousand-dollar outfit—he wouldn't even give that to his own children, yet he had to take it to the grave with him. His anger flared up again.

"How old were you seven or eight years ago? Still in school, right? A man in his thirties swindling money from a young girl?! What a scumbag!" Captain Feng felt utter disdain for the man's shameless behavior. He saved the image to his own phone while distracted, asking, "What's his name? And how could your lives have possibly crossed paths? What were you doing interviewing him?"

"Jiang Ping." Fang Qingzhou provided the name, which was already labeled on the image. "In middle school, he bullied his roommate, leading the roommate to jump to his death. After the situation spiraled out of control, he pushed the blame onto Liang Ming, forcing Liang Ming’s father to pay two million to the victim's family. Liang Ming is the son of my university professor. It should be in your files."

Captain Feng’s hand trembled as he typed, his eyes bulging as if they might pop out of their sockets. He temporarily retracted his previous evaluation of Jiang Ping being a 'scumbag,' and when he shouted, his throat sounded like it could swallow an egg. "No, you go and ask the person involved about something like that?!"

Fang Qingzhou raised an eyebrow, her expression spelling out the words 'making a mountain out of a molehill.' "That’s why I didn't refuse when he fleeced me."

Zhou Suirong, never having imagined he would be chilled to the bone by a story from years ago, shouted along, "Fang Qingzhou!! You went alone?"

Fang Qingzhou replied, "No, I hired a bodyguard locally."

Both men sighed in relief simultaneously.

Captain Feng felt a sense of dread regarding Fang Qingzhou’s reckless, head-on style of handling matters. He began to regret asking them to approach Xu Youxiang.

He considered himself a rough, burly man who sometimes liked to take big risks during investigations, but only in middle age had he come to understand the feeling the old commanders had—that sensation of having one's heart and lungs gripped and kneaded. Holding his chest, he earnestly advised, "When you approach Xu Youxiang, don't just charge in like that, alright?"

Xu Youxiang was sensitive and suspicious, his nerves already frayed to the breaking point; he couldn't handle that kind of thunderous, shocking confrontation.

He didn't want to end up with Fang Qingzhou being detained before they could even catch Liang Yizheng's trail.

He half-stood, his tall frame hitting the roof of the car, and reached over the front seat to grab Zhou Suirong’s hand, solemnly charging him, "Comrade, you need to keep a grip on things. You must hold her back like an anchor!"

Fang Qingzhou found their concern unreasonable. "I have a sense of proportion, okay?"

Captain Feng scoffed, "Every criminal, before they are caught, thinks they have a sense of proportion!"

Fang Qingzhou figured they just didn't understand her well-intentioned efforts, hence their panicked reactions. She raised an eyebrow and said confidently, "I did it on purpose."

Oh, really? That was even more terrifying.

Captain Feng resorted to cramming, speed-reading the data sent from A-City.

He scanned a few keywords and hastily offered a deduction: "So, if the victim really is Jiang Ping, is Liang Ming the prime suspect?"

Zhou Suirong was puzzled. Why would having a grievance with Liang Ming make him the prime suspect? Had Jiang Ping only offended Liang Ming in his entire life?

Captain Feng’s hand waved frantically between the two, like a stick trying to separate a pair of lovebirds. "Young lady, look at me! Take your eyes off your little boyfriend!"

The two of them, one in the front and one in the back, were still sitting in awkward positions, ignoring him to gaze affectionately at each other—what did they take him for?

Zhou Suirong had never had contact with Liang Ming, but he had heard of the man’s history.

He remembered that on the day they left, Fang Qingzhou had just been on the phone with him. Suspicion grew. "Did Liang Ming follow us to B-City?"

Fang Qingzhou said, "No, Liang Ming should be fishing in A-City right now."

Captain Feng’s overloaded brain worked hard to process the information, asking reflexively, "Did he catch anything? Do you have a target in A-City?"

"...Fish." Fang Qingzhou paused, "The world's oldest vertebrate. They live in water..."

Captain Feng interrupted her, "Alright, I get it."

His phone was vibrating with a frequency that suggested it might explode. He patted the back of the chair and said, not standing on ceremony, "Lend me a power bank."

During work hours, the criminal investigation team was highly efficient. Captain Feng soon provided the answer: "Jiang Ping did indeed take a high-speed train to B-City a week ago. It is highly likely to be him."

After saying this, he got out of the car to take an urgent call.

At the same time, a voice invitation came through on Fang Qingzhou's phone. As soon as she answered, Ji He’s voice boomed from the other end, shouting her name: "Fang Qingzhou. You—"

Fang Qingzhou reflexively hung up, her intuition telling her the next sentence would be "turn back from the brink."

Ji He: ??

Fang Qingzhou: Don't call me like that.

Ji He: So much trouble. Pick up.

Fang Qingzhou switched to speakerphone.

Ji He skipped all pleasantries: "We can guarantee that Liang Ming has stayed in A-City the entire time."

Captain Feng returned, opening the car door and facing the outdoor heat. "Let me ask, can Liang Ming manage this 'memory editing' technology? It shouldn't be hard for him to get the data his father left behind, right?"

A loud ringing sound exploded in Zhou Suirong's ears, and information shot through his mind like an electric current, accompanied by a sharp, hammering pain. He pressed one hand against his forehead and leaned against the steering wheel. Before he could grasp the thought, that flash of inspiration vanished with the sudden, dull ache, leaving him covered in a fine, cold sweat.

Fang Qingzhou watched his reaction nervously. She waited until Captain Feng had called out twice before replying, "Liang Ming had a terrible relationship with his father. He majored in information security in university and has never had contact with biotechnology or neuroscience. He was released from prison just last year. Even if he could obtain the complete experimental data, the possibility of him mastering the relevant technology in such a short time is basically zero."

Zhou Suirong caught his breath and murmured, "Anomaly detection?"