Chapter 28: Isn't This Moving a Little Too Fast?

Cen Lian sometimes feels that he shares a certain similarity with Conan. Just as Conan encounters murder cases wherever he goes, Cen Lian seems to find criminals wherever he turns. Could it be this cursed constitution of his that attracted the system to him in the first place?

In front of his colleagues, however, Cen Lian maintained his usual composure, simply zooming in on the face that had flashed by on the screen.

"Found him?" Liu Hang noticed Cen Lian had stopped scanning the surveillance footage.

Cen Lian nodded. "I feel something is off about this person. I'm looking for a clear shot of his face."

Tang Hua perked up. Based on past experience, whenever Cen Lian uttered the words "something is off," the person in question was undoubtedly a suspect.

"I’ll bring him in for a DNA match," Liu Hang decided without hesitation. "We can worry about the rest once we have him in custody."

Cen Lian watched Liu Hang walk away, a few words lingering on his tongue.

"Is there something else you wanted to say?" Tang Hua noticed that Cen Lian’s expression remained troubled.

"I have a feeling he is involved in a much bigger case," Cen Lian decided there was no need to hide it from Tang Hua. "The impression I get from this man is that he is not just a simple lunatic."

Tang Hua checked his watch, then looked at their chat history.

"You already jinxed it yesterday; it would be abnormal if he really were just a typical psychiatric patient," Tang Hua said with a resigned smile. "It’s fine. It’s just working overtime on a Saturday. It’s not like it’s the first time."

Cen Lian silently mourned his lost weekend. However, he was extremely curious about whether Yu Yong’s murder case had been discovered back then.

Two thousand one hundred and six days ago—that was an old case from over five years ago. Cen Lian vaguely remembered seeing a dismemberment case from around that time while searching through cold cases.

Relying on his memory, he found the cold case he had previously noted and carefully reviewed its description.

The "0728 Dismemberment Case" had very few details. According to the case file, it was opened because a summer rainstorm in Kangan City that year had caused a landslide, washing a bag containing human remains from the mountain into a riverbed, where local villagers discovered it and reported it to the police.

Due to the frequent mudslides and torrential rain at the time, the original burial site had been severely destroyed. The skeletal remains, which had already turned to bone, held no clear identification. The police at the time had attempted to search the surrounding mountains for the remaining body parts, even deploying over a dozen cadaver dogs, but they had come up empty-handed.

The case had been handled by the Municipal Bureau, and he had only glanced at it briefly at the time.

Calculating based on the rate of skeletal decomposition, the time of death for that victim aligned with the time Yu Yong would have killed and dismembered You Wei.

However, Cen Lian wasn't entirely certain that the remains washed up by the flood were those of You Wei. After all, Kangan City was backed by mountains, and it was hard to say whether there might have been other murder and dismemberment cases.

***

Seeing Cen Lian lost in thought, Tang Hua wisely remained silent. This guy’s intuition had proven to be correct every time, so if he said this lunatic might be linked to other cases, it was likely almost certain.

They ate lunch together at the canteen.

"The station's lunch still tastes the same," Tang Hua said, loading his tray with a mountain of meat. "It’s much more peaceful eating here. Lunch at the Bureau is like being in a war zone, and we often miss the serving times."

"So that’s why you and Brother Cen have been so busy since moving to the Bureau?" Liu Hang, who had already brought the suspect in and was in the middle of a DNA comparison, asked. "Busier than here at the local station?"

"We get four or five days off a month at the station, but we’ve been at the Bureau for almost a month and this is our first break," Tang Hua complained bitterly.

"But you get to work on major cases!" Liu Hang said, sounding quite envious. "I heard you’ve handled so many murder cases lately. I haven’t even seen a corpse yet."

Cen Lian silently set down his chopsticks.

"There’s nothing worth seeing about a corpse," he said, staring up at the ceiling. "Especially the kind that comes in pieces."

Tang Hua laughed loudly from the side. Liu Hang, who had only been on the force for two years, looked at them with longing.

Yu Yong's DNA match results came back quickly; it was a perfect match with the saliva left on the bicycle seat. Cen Lian and Liu Hang went to the interrogation room, while Tang Hua watched from the outside. A couple of curious colleagues joined Tang Hua to watch as well. With few cases at the station today, the office was relatively quiet.

Yu Yong was 39 years old but looked fifty. His hair was a mix of black, white, and gray, and the deep wrinkles on his face and neck made him look weathered by life. Yet, his mental state seemed dazed, and he reeked of alcohol, making it unclear whether he was just drunk or truly insane.

"What is your name?" Liu Hang began the interrogation according to standard procedure.

Cen Lian didn't often participate in interrogations, but that didn't mean he lacked the skill. He sat to the side, observing Yu Yong’s expressions.

"Yu Yong." Yu Yong appeared hazy, but Cen Lian was certain he was sober. His gaze, while not exactly clear, was certainly not unfocused.

"Why did you go and gnaw on someone’s bicycle seat?" Liu Hang asked, genuinely puzzled. Unless this man was truly mentally ill, he couldn't explain the behavior.

Cen Lian continued to observe Yu Yong while taking notes.

"I was drunk, so I gnawed on it," Yu Yong said, acting like a drunkard. "I just wanted to gnaw on it!"

Cen Lian suddenly put down his pen.

"Yu Yong, do you know You Wei?"

The moment he said that, the entire interrogation room went silent. Liu Hang looked at Cen Lian, confused, wanting to ask a question but remembering they were in an interrogation room, so he held his tongue.

Yu Yong’s reaction was even stranger. He had been slumped in his chair, looking half-dead, but upon hearing the name "You Wei," he sat bolt upright. He immediately realized he shouldn't have reacted so strongly and began shaking his head with a lifeless expression.

"Don't know her. Never heard of her." He waved his hands, causing the interrogation room chair to rattle loudly.

By now, not only Cen Lian but the people watching from the doorway could tell something was wrong.

"Do I need to remind you about the mountain in Shahegou Village?" Cen Lian suddenly slammed his hand on the table, his eyes fixed coldly on Yu Yong.

Yu Yong paused again, looking at Cen Lian with hesitation, as if trying to gauge whether he was bluffing. The question marks over Liu Hang’s head were almost becoming tangible; he had never heard of the person or the place Cen Lian had just mentioned. Even Tang Hua was completely bewildered.

It was only lunchtime; how had the case taken such a massive turn? What happened to this just being a simple case of a lunatic gnawing on a bicycle seat? Looking at Cen Lian's stance, this Yu Yong was likely looking at a case that would put him away for at least ten years.