Chapter 5: Why Is the Process of Reverse Engineering So Difficult!

Tang Hua’s arrival made the already cramped standard hotel room feel even more crowded.

“You really hit the jackpot this time,” Tang Hua said, carrying a worn canvas bag, and gave Cen Lian a thumbs-up as soon as he walked in. “I heard Director Chen is negotiating with the criminal police team to handle this case directly at our precinct.”

“Isn’t that against procedure?” Cen Lian’s first reaction was to question the process.

“Who knows? Anyway, the director told me to come over, so here I am,” Tang Hua replied, content just to catch the gossip. “Now that we have two people, we can go out on patrol to retrieve Yao Shuwen’s bank statements.”

Before coming, Tang Hua had already familiarized himself with the background of the case and was up to date on Cen Lian’s progress.

“True enough, these higher-ups’ matters are beyond our reach,” Cen Lian said, not bothering to dwell on it. If he cared about internal politics, he wouldn’t have chosen to become a community police officer at Xinhe Precinct in the first place.

There was no time to waste retrieving evidence. With empty stomachs, Tang Hua and Cen Lian went to the bank to begin the process of pulling records.

They were both very familiar with this kind of work. After completing the formalities and grabbing some food, they returned in the afternoon to find all the transaction records had been retrieved.

After several days of visits to multiple banks, they had obtained every bank statement linked to Yao Shuwen.

Flipping through the records, Cen Lian discovered that fifteen years ago, within just one month, Yao Shuwen had deposited over 230,000 yuan in cash across four different banks. They also learned from the maternal and child health hospital that she had stayed in a private maternity ward when she gave birth that year, spending over 10,000 yuan in just over a month.

“Considering her salary back then and her parents’ financial status, this money definitely has a suspicious origin,” Tang Hua said, spotting the problem immediately. “Looks like we can summon Yao Shuwen directly.”

“I’m worried about what happens if she refuses to admit anything,” Cen Lian said, his headache growing. “We don’t actually have evidence proving this money was the stolen loot from that time. It’s been so long, there’s no way to trace the serial numbers.”

Tang Hua also found the situation troublesome.

“Then let’s try a different angle,” Cen Lian said, sitting in the hotel and idly scribbling in a battered black notebook. “After Gao Tong killed the victim, how did he get the money to Yao Shuwen? From the time of the crime to the police report, everyone at the factory was controlled for less than 24 hours. If Gao Tong managed to evade everyone and hand over the money within that day, it means Yao Shuwen must have been in Kang’an City at the time.”

Tang Hua thought for a moment. “That’s simple. Gaoping is far from Kang’an City. Since she was heavily pregnant, she must have taken the train there. Tomorrow we’ll check the ticket purchase records.”

Cen Lian immediately dashed that hope.

“There was no real-name ticketing system fifteen years ago,” he said, recalling the timeline of when such systems were introduced.

Tang Hua’s enthusiasm immediately fizzled out.

The situation was awkward—here was a prime suspect likely to be the true culprit, but they lacked a solid chain of evidence.

“Let’s try to find Yao Shuwen’s hotel registration records. That might be our last hope,” Cen Lian said. He hadn’t come up with a better plan either. At this point, if the interrogation of Yao Shuwen didn’t go well, the investigation would become quite difficult.

…

When you prepare for the worst, the worst often comes to pass.

After reading Yao Shuwen’s interrogation records, Cen Lian didn’t know whether to say it was expected or just plain unlucky.

Yao Shuwen adamantly insisted that the money came from her parents and claimed ignorance of everything else.

“All we have now is evidence linking her and Gao Tong, but nothing connecting Gao Tong to the robbery and murder,” Cen Lian lamented briefly before snapping back to reality. “So, did you find her hotel registration records?”

Tang Hua made a call back to the station, and his previously furrowed brow suddenly relaxed as if a weight had been lifted.

“Great news! We found the hotel where Yao Shuwen stayed fifteen years ago!”

Cen Lian felt as if a great pardon had been granted.

The new interrogation duo assigned by Director Chen took over their duties in Gaoping City, while Cen Lian and Tang Hua went to the hotel, which appeared to be about three stars.

This hotel used to be a guesthouse for a state-owned enterprise, so ID registration was strict. If it had been a small roadside inn, the clue would have been impossible to trace.

“This place is pretty close to where the cashier was murdered,” Cen Lian said, standing in Yao Shuwen’s old hotel room and looking out. “But that street was lively back then—not exactly a good spot for a robbery.”

“You know this from back then?” Tang Hua was surprised.

Cen Lian chuckled. “I’ve lived in Kang’an City for more than twenty years. That area used to have lots of night markets and street food stalls run by former employees of state-owned units who were laid off. They were honest folks who cooked well, no dodgy oil. We all loved eating there.”

Tang Hua stroked his chin. “So you’re saying they eventually turned into shady businessmen?”

“Proximity to corruption breeds corruption,” Cen Lian said, recalling his youth as he analyzed nearby places where Gao Tong might have hidden out before the murder.

Tang Hua then raised a new question.

“You know, the primary crime scene—what if it wasn’t actually on the roadside?” He pointed to a dilapidated slab-block apartment building not far away. “If it were me, I’d rather rob and kill someone there than out on the street.”

“We thought of that during the cold case investigation,” Cen Lian said. “That place was so fitting that the criminal police squad almost wanted to tear that slab-block down to the ground.”

Tang Hua had nothing to add.

“Let’s take a look around the area between the crime scene and this hotel,” Cen Lian suggested, still optimistic. “When the case was first reopened, they didn’t know about Yao Shuwen’s connection to the hotel, so some things were overlooked.”

A murder can never be completely without traces. Though a heavy rainstorm had washed away nearly all the clues the killer left behind, Cen Lian refused to believe that Yao Shuwen and Gao Tong would exchange such a large sum of money openly during broad daylight. If not at the hotel, they must have found another place to lie low.

The area had changed a lot in fifteen years. Many buildings had been demolished and rebuilt, so their visit was largely a matter of chance.

Tang Hua had no new ideas and followed Cen Lian’s lead.

The hotel was about two kilometers from the crime scene, and the neighborhood was packed with countless buildings.

If there was one place Cen Lian found particularly suspicious, it was an inconspicuous noodle shop nearby.

A very run-down “time-honored” establishment.