The old man spoke up: “He’s my only son. He’s been slow since childhood, but he’s strong and can work hard. His mother is ill, bedridden year-round. We’re not well off financially, barely getting by with this butcher shop. When his mother and I are gone, I don’t know what will become of this boy. I hope the government can help us…”
He wiped away tears as Deng Yao bellowed in a muffled voice: “I’m not stupid!”
You Mingxu now realized that the stench was coming from Deng Yao himself. Her expression remained unchanged, while Yin Feng’s eyes were wide open, looking like a suffocating fighting rooster.
Deng Yao raised his head and looked at You Mingxu, his dark, cold eyes fixing on her for a moment. You Mingxu could sense a strong predatory air about him—the kind that belonged to males, even simple-minded ones. She met his gaze steadily, and after a few seconds, he lowered his head on his own.
You Mingxu asked: “Where were you last night?”
Deng Yao answered: “At home! Sleeping!”
The elder Deng added from the side: “Our Ah Yao barely goes out, he only knows how to work all day long.”
“What time did you go to bed?”
“Around 9 or 10 o’clock.”
“Have you noticed any suspicious people recently? We’re looking for a fugitive who fled here from another area.”
“No!”
…
“Do you have a car?”
Old Deng answered first: “No car, we can’t afford one.”
“Then how do you conduct business?”
His answer matched Zhao Dawei’s exactly: “When we need a vehicle, we ask neighbors who have cars for help, or we call for a van from the market.”
After the questioning, when You Mingxu wanted to take fingerprints, both father and son were startled. Deng Yao glanced at his father and suddenly burst out: “I’m not a criminal! I haven’t committed any crimes, why do you need my fingerprints?”
You Mingxu explained methodically: “Standard procedure. We’ve taken prints from all your neighbors on this street. Please cooperate.” She pulled out several other fingerprint bags from her kit and waved them as proof.
Yin Feng muttered: “Yeah, just cooperate quickly. If you don’t, we’ll have to take you back to the station—won’t anyone get any sleep tonight?”
…
Leaving Deng Yao’s room, Old Deng silently followed behind them. You Mingxu noticed another fairly large room nearby, dark and unlit, and asked: “What’s that room for?”
Old Deng answered: “For slaughtering pigs. It doesn’t smell good.”
You Mingxu: “May I take a look?”
Old Deng was silent for a moment.
Yin Feng said: “What if the fugitive is hiding somewhere? We’re thinking of your safety.”
Old Deng walked over and turned on the lights. They saw it was indeed a slaughter room. Knives were neatly arranged on the ground, with rows of meat hanging from the rafters. It was kept very clean, with no blood residue on the floor. But there was a dried blood smell that had accumulated over the years.
The two looked around but still found nothing unusual.
—
They returned to the police station with three clear sets of fingerprints and one blurred set. It was already 2 AM.
You Mingxu called in the forensics team for immediate comparison results. She then updated Xu Mengshan, who was still searching in the field. His voice sounded flat over the phone: “No progress.”
After hanging up, You Mingxu stood in the hallway outside forensics, smoking a cigarette to stay alert.
Throughout the investigation, she deliberately suppressed certain emotions, even maintaining her usual banter with Yin Feng. But back at the station, inquiring about case progress inevitably brought up Fan Jia’s name. How could her heart remain calm?
Fan Jia wasn’t exactly a close friend, even less close than Xu Mengshan, as the experienced Xu Mengshan’s temperament matched better with You Mingxu’s. Fan Jia was like everyone’s little sister, a girl just one or two years out of school, always following behind them, constantly energetic and eager to help.
Fan Jia’s parents still didn’t know what had happened to her, thinking she was out on assignment. They said she was their only daughter… Suddenly, You Mingxu’s finger was burned by cigarette ash. As she watched the ash flutter down, she had only one thought: it shouldn’t have been Fan Jia. It shouldn’t have been her at all.
She was still a passionate young girl who had never even arrested a major criminal. The girl who wanted to be a people’s police officer for life, fighting crime and evil forever.
It should have been the seasoned detectives like themselves, the hardened veterans, standing in front to protect her. Instead, she had stepped forward, willing to be bait, to expose the hidden criminal organization within the Fenjin Bao Company.
The young girl should have had her whole life ahead of her.
“Sister You is my idol.”
“Our Sister You is the most beautiful and badass female officer on this street.”
“Someday I want to catch a big bad guy just like Sister You!”
…
You Mingxu felt her nose stinging, thinking what kind of idol was she if she couldn’t even find Fan Jia. The image of Fan Jia falling after being struck by the heavy blow flashed through her mind again. Her heart felt even more constricted and blocked. Some things couldn’t be dwelled upon too deeply. Her face grew increasingly cold, with only one firm belief remaining in her mind:
She would not lose her comrade.
Not.
Because they were the people’s police.
“Xu, guess if I can walk on the railing?” a voice suddenly spoke beside her.
You Mingxu ignored him.
But that restless figure climbed onto the corridor’s railing anyway. The railing was only about ten centimeters wide, and this was the third floor. Yin Feng took a deep breath, held out both arms and started walking forward step by step.
You Mingxu looked up, feeling another nerve throbbing in her forehead: “Get down!”
But Yin Feng said: “If I make it to the end, will you smile?”
You Mingxu remained silent.
He looked down at her, not realizing that this moment of distraction caused his legs to wobble slightly. You Mingxu was so frightened her whole body trembled as she rushed forward to grab his legs, holding them extremely tight.
But this guy was standing steadily, showing no signs of falling. After they stared at each other for a few seconds, she released her grip and said: “Get the hell down.”
Yin Feng jumped down, dusted off his hands, and smiled at her. Like a proud teenager, but with the teasing gaze of a young man.
You Mingxu’s heart skipped a beat for some reason, feeling quite annoyed, but the previous depression and distress seemed to have lightened considerably. She cursed softly: “Bastard! Do that again and you can go back to living at your own place.”
He leaned in and said: “But I am living at my place now.”
You Mingxu pushed his head down, roughly messing up his hair to vent her feelings, then turned and walked away. Yin Feng watched her notably lighter steps and followed with a smile.
—
The fingerprint comparison results came back quickly.
Three didn’t match, and one fingerprint was invalid, impossible to compare.
It was still dark, with a long time until dawn.
You Mingxu held the identification report, sitting with Yin Feng in the police car.
These four suspects had been filtered directly from the vast sea of humanity based on the profile sketches by Yin Feng and Professor Fan Shuhua. Pure criminal psychology methodology, bypassing logical reasoning and evidence tracking. The police hadn’t obtained any valuable evidence.
You Mingxu wasn’t certain whether the killer was among these four people, nor was she certain that even if the killer was among them, he was the one who had attacked and taken Fan Jia. But they had no other leads now, so they had to work with what they had. Moreover, a detective’s intuition told her that among these four people, someone was hiding secrets!
They couldn’t get support from other police forces either, as they couldn’t change the main investigation’s direction based solely on Yin Feng’s sketches.
But now, three didn’t match. Only Fu Wenxiu remained.
How could they determine if Fu Wenxiu was the person they were looking for?