Additionally, Xu Mengshan received news that the veteran detective who had encountered a young man gathering information at the bar had completed the sketch—it was Ming Tao.
The evidence was ironclad, the crime unforgivable. Though dead, he could never ease the anger and pain of the two victims’ families. But that was a matter for another time.
The precinct had solved the case at unprecedented speed. In less than a few days, they had both identified the true culprit and prevented new victims. When Ding Xiongwei called to report that morning, he received repeated praise from Director Duan. Ding Xiongwei didn’t take credit himself, mentioning everyone’s contributions and highlighting Yin Feng’s crucial role. Director Duan was pleased and instructed Ding Xiongwei to look after his prideful junior fellow apprentice. He even teased Ding Xiongwei, saying, “He’s now your division’s son-in-law—if you don’t protect him, who will?”
Ding Xiongwei chuckled. With the case solved so quickly, even mentioning Yin Feng felt more agreeable now—he supposed he was barely worthy of their Sister Yu after all.
At this time, with the case resolved, You Mingxu was carefully reviewing Ming Tao’s detailed background information gathered by other colleagues.
Ming Tao’s parents were alive and well-off but busy with work, so he was raised by his grandparents. He was reportedly extremely spoiled from childhood, pampered beyond reason by the two elderly people. He was known in the neighborhood as a little emperor, with few children willing to play with him. However, later records showed that after growing up, Ming Tao wasn’t close to his grandparents either, rarely visiting them. You Mingxu could easily imagine Ming Tao’s impatient demeanor.
Ming-Tao was intelligent—he wouldn’t have otherwise gotten into a good university, graduated smoothly, and secured a job as a programmer. But during his middle school and university years, his classmates’ and teachers’ evaluations were consistently similar:
“He was too arrogant and didn’t know how to interact with people, always creating misunderstandings and problems.”
“Always keeping to himself, sometimes muttering to himself, acting strange, nobody knew what he was up to.”
“Had a poisonous tongue, offended many people without realizing it, thinking he had a face.”
“He was beaten up once, probably because someone couldn’t stand him. He was deflated for days and didn’t dare fight back or tell the teachers. Later, the whole class looked down on him, laughed at him.”
“He always gave people a pompous impression. Once I saw him arguing with a classmate, and he just stared darkly at the other person and sneered, saying, ‘I have a hundred ways… hehe…’ It was creepy, so it left a deep impression. But until graduation, he never did anything to that person. I think he was quite afraid of being bullied.”
…
His middle school teacher said: “Ming Tao was essentially not a bad kid, smart, rather sensitive. He wanted to get along with his classmates, just a bit stubborn in temperament. I think his parents weren’t responsible guardians. I never saw his businessman parents come to school to see him or pick him up. His grandfather attended parent meetings, but he was illiterate and just afraid of making Ming Tao angry—how can you raise a child like that?”
…
According to his record, after graduating and experiencing that case in Tibet, Ming Tao, like all ordinary graduates, entered a software company with modest pay and regular nine-to-five hours. However, after entering society, he became even more withdrawn. His work performance was neither good nor bad, and he had no close colleagues or friends. His coworkers had similar impressions of him, feeling that his emotions fluctuated greatly, changing mood or becoming excited for no apparent reason. He loved reading crime books and novels, sitting there reading whenever work was done, and living completely in his world. What he pursued seemed different from others. Or perhaps, no one knew what he was pursuing at all.
Ming Tao was dead. His brief life seemed to have been lived noisily—even his murders shocked the entire province—yet he was like a wild goose passing overhead, leaving no deep impression in anyone’s heart.
Whether he was connected to the Punisher organization, whether he had been “cultivated” by them, or whether he died from their hunting—there were no answers yet.
Next, attention would turn to the mysterious man who shared the secret room with Ming Tao.
After finishing the case work, You Mingxu estimated the questioning should be about done and went to the interrogation room.
Just outside the door, she saw Xu Mengshan and another colleague speaking in low voices.
“How’s the questioning going?” You Mingxu asked.
They both looked at her with strange expressions. Then Xu Mengshan gave her a meaningful look, and You Mingxu turned to enter an empty conference room. Shortly after, Xu Mengshan followed.
You Mingxu asked directly: “What happened?” Seeing their expressions, could it be they got nothing out of him? Was that person so difficult? He hadn’t seemed so.
Xu Mengshan’s expression looked like he’d been punched. He said, “He talked. At first, he was trembling and wouldn’t say anything. Later, after they comforted him and used some tactics, he said his name is Li Mingdi, 30 years old, and he was kidnapped and imprisoned five years ago.”
You Mingxu asked, “Did he say who kidnapped him?”
Xu Mengshan paused, seeming to find it laughable himself, and said in an absurd tone: “He said the kidnapper was Yin Feng! That’s why he was so frightened when he saw him earlier.”
You Mingxu stared at him in disbelief: “How is that possible!”
Xu Mengshan’s eyebrows were almost knotted together as he rushed to continue: “Right, we all thought it was nonsense! He also said Teacher Yin bound him, locked him up, often tortured him, and made him write novels as a ghostwriter. He claimed all of Teacher Yin’s works over the past five years were written by him, that Teacher Yin’s identity as an author was just a front…”
You Mingxu laughed angrily, cursing: “I’ve seen false accusations before, but never this absurd and brainless! Does he think we’re all idiots?”
“Exactly!”
But You Mingxu remained clear-headed, staring at Xu Mengshan: “There’s more, isn’t there? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have had those expressions earlier.”
Xu Mengshan said: “This is very strange—when we entered the room today, we were wearing gloves. The forensics team just reported that besides Li Mingdi’s fingerprints and DNA, they found two other people’s. Multiple instances of both.”
You Mingxu’s heart skipped a beat: “Whose?”
Xu Mengshan looked directly at her, his eyes also showing deep confusion: “One is Yin Feng’s. The other, we’ve also matched the results.” He paused, then said: “You’ve met her, a woman named Su Ziyi, who went to Tibet with Chen Feng to pick up Yin Feng. Later, when Yin Feng returned home with you, he distanced himself from her. They say Su Ziyi was his former girlfriend.”
You Mingxu froze.