It was late. After taking their statements, the two officers prepared to leave, not forgetting to call out to Jiang Chengyi: “Captain Jiang, coming with us?”
Jiang Chengyi put down his glass and stood up from the sofa.
Lu Yan and Tang Jie saw them to the door, their minds still buzzing. Tonight’s events had been horrifying—something they’d never experienced before. After all the chaos until nearly two in the morning, they were exhausted.
Presumably, to avoid disturbing neighbors, the two officers deliberately lowered their voices once outside, taking the stairs as slowly and quietly as possible.
After walking a bit, they turned back to find Jiang Chengyi still standing motionless.
“Captain Jiang?”
Jiang Chengyi checked his phone, then said while staring ahead: “They might come back. If you don’t want to worry all night, you’d better stay somewhere else tonight.”
The statement seemed abrupt, but after a moment’s thought, Lu Yan and Tang Jie realized Jiang Chengyi was addressing them.
After a few seconds pause, Lu Yan rushed back inside to change clothes and gather her essentials as quickly as possible.
Tang Jie had wanted to ask Jiang Chengyi to wait, but he seemed not to hear and quickly went downstairs.
She stood in the doorway, staring at the empty stairwell.
As soon as the three figures disappeared, silence descended again. In the pitch-black corners, it felt like a creep could jump out at any moment.
She yelped and hurried inside to help Lu Yan pack.
They closed the door behind them and hurried down the stairs.
There was no one at the building entrance. The alley was as quiet as a grave, the moon faint like a curved shadow, the street lights seeming dimmer than usual.
Walking through the alley, their hearts pounded incessantly.
Fortunately, the hospital was just ahead, its emergency room brightly lit. As they approached and heard people talking and coughing, it felt like stepping from the netherworld back into the world of the living. They finally breathed sighs of relief.
Standing at the alley entrance, they discussed where to go, changing their minds several times before deciding on a hotel.
“Let’s find a budget hotel nearby,” Lu Yan suggested.
Tang Jie objected: “Why stay in a budget hotel? Isn’t there a Marriott near your hospital? It’s not far—we can walk there, no need for a car.”
Lu Yan was long used to Tang Jie’s extravagant ways: “Fine, let’s go.”
Just as they were about to leave, they heard an engine start behind them. Looking back, they saw a car pulling out of a parking space.
In the moment the headlights came on, the driver’s features were illuminated.
“Jiang Chengyi?” Tang Jie was stunned. “Didn’t he leave earlier? Why is he still here?”
In the darkness earlier, she hadn’t noticed someone in the parked car. If they’d known Jiang Chengyi was still there, they wouldn’t have been so scared in the alley.
Lu Yan glanced in the direction Jiang Chengyi’s car had gone, saying nothing.
Tang Jie linked arms with Lu Yan, saying meaningfully: “Jiang Chengyi seems like a completely different person.”
In high school, though Jiang Chengyi wasn’t chatty, he wasn’t as aloof as he was now.
She remembered how popular “Truth or Dare” was among classmates back then. Once, when a basketball player from Class 6 had his birthday right after midterm exams, everyone was excited and insisted on celebrating.
Though called a birthday party, it was just everyone pooling money for drinks and birthday cake, gathering in the indoor basketball court to have fun.
That day, she, Lu Yan, and Deng Man arrived early to help set up seats and distribute snacks.
While they were busy, Jiang Chengyi arrived with other basketball team members, sending Class 6 into a frenzy. Jiang Chengyi was like a god at No. 7 Middle School then, and many girls were excited by his arrival.
Unfortunately, just as the party started, Ding Jing and her group showed up.
At that time, Lu Yan and Jiang Chengyi weren’t together yet, and Ding Jing, as the cheerleading squad captain, was actively pursuing Jiang Chengyi—something everyone knew about. No one was surprised to see her arrive.
Later, as everyone got into the party mood, they started playing Truth or Dare.
When it was Jiang Chengyi’s turn, a basketball teammate slyly asked the first question: “Jiang Chengyi, do you have someone you like?”
Everyone quickly fell silent, many girls’ eyes sparkling as they waited for his answer.
Jiang Chengyi played with a basketball: “Yes.” Though casual, his tone was very certain.
The scene exploded.
“Is she here right now?”
After a brief silence, he tossed the basketball to another teammate and smiled: “Yes.”
Everyone went even wilder: “Quick, quick, tell us who it is!”
Tang Jie stuffed chips into her mouth while excitedly nudging Lu Yan beside her: “Hey, looks like the god has descended to earth.”
Seeing Lu Yan not respond, she turned curiously to look and found Lu Yan casually organizing her backpack, completely ignoring her words.
Finding it boring, she turned to gossip with Deng Man on her other side, only to find Deng Man coldly staring at Ding Jing in the crowd.
She had been too slow to realize that Jiang Chengyi wasn’t playing Truth or Dare that day—he was openly flirting.
However, even after all these years, she still couldn’t understand why Deng Man had stared at Ding Jing that way.
As she was thinking, Lu Yan spoke beside her: “It’s almost Deng Man’s birthday. In a few days, I want to visit her at the suburban cemetery.”
Tang Jie was stunned for a few seconds: “Oh right, I almost forgot.” Deng Man’s birthday was on the Winter Solstice every year, very easy to remember.
After a moment of silence, Tang Jie remembered something and quickly said: “I forgot to tell you, Deng Man’s mother called me a few days ago. Their house is being demolished, and they’re moving to a new place in East City. While sorting things, she accidentally found some of Deng Man’s belongings stored in the utility room, including a memory book full of photos of the three of us. She got emotional and couldn’t bear to throw it away, so she hesitantly asked if I wanted to take it as a memento. She said she knew you were busy with work, so she didn’t call you. I couldn’t say no, afraid of upsetting auntie.”
Lu Yan stopped walking: “When are they moving?”
“Heard it’s the end of the month.” Tang Jie thought for a moment. “Why don’t we arrange with Auntie to pick up the things when we go to visit Deng Man at the cemetery?”
The next day, they checked out of the hotel and went to a real estate agent to look at apartments, with only two requirements: close to Lu Yan’s hospital and in a safe neighborhood.
After looking around, only the upscale buildings on Songshan Road met their requirements.
The agent was taking them to view properties when halfway there, they got a call from Nanshan Road Police Station: “Miss Lu, we’ve found some information. Please come to the community security office.”
After receiving the call, they abandoned the property viewing and rushed to Nanshan Alley.
In the security office, the surveillance footage had been retrieved, but there were two different police officers from before.
Seeing Lu Yan and Tang Jie arrive, the officers pointed to the screen: “Do you know this person?”
As they approached, both felt inexplicably nervous.
Lu Yan was especially anxious. For some reason, since last night’s incident, bizarre thoughts had kept popping into her head.
Only when she saw the completely unfamiliar person on the surveillance footage did the cold sweat on her back begin to subside.
“When you called the police last night, it was 00:43. Between 00:00-1:00 last night, eleven people entered Building One where Miss Lu lives. After careful verification by the security guards, ten were building residents. Only this woman who appeared on screen at 00:38 had never been seen before. She left the building at 00:46, meaning she left three minutes after you called the police, staying for eight minutes total. The night before last, this woman also came but only stayed for two minutes.”
Lu Yan and Tang Jie stared at the screen.
The woman was of medium height and quite “fashionably” dressed in a gray straight-cut coat and black ankle boots. Presumably for warmth, she had wrapped a silk scarf around her head. Tang Jie quickly recognized the scarf as being from a luxury brand beginning with H.
She was full of questions: “I’ve never seen her before. Yan, do you know her? Is she your colleague?”
Lu Yan slowly shook her head: “Never seen her.”
Even through the screen, from this person’s walking style and dress, she was completely unfamiliar.
Tang Jie couldn’t make sense of it: “What’s wrong with this fancy lady? Why isn’t she at home in the middle of the night but wandering around other people’s doors instead?”
“We’ll continue investigating this,” the two officers said. “Miss Lu, please think carefully when you get home. If you remember anything, contact us again.”
As they left, though still full of questions, their unease had strangely lessened somewhat.
“I have a theory,” Tang Jie said seriously. “A mistress is living in your building.”
“A mistress?”
“Yes, that woman last night was coming to confront the mistress but got the wrong door, which is why she was skulking around two nights in a row but didn’t take any real action.”
Lu Yan thought Tang Jie was being fanciful: “Really?”
Tang Jie threw up her hands: “Well, what else could it be? Not only do we not know that woman, but even if we did, what kind of grudge would require scaring someone like this? Anyway, regardless of who she is, let’s leave it to the police. For now, you should move to Songshan Road. I’ll help you find a place, and once you’re settled, I’ll go to City B with my father to discuss the equipment.”
Anshan District Criminal Investigation Unit
Old Qin pushed open the office door and saw Jiang Chengyi sitting at his desk, eyes fixed on the computer screen. He approached and said: “Captain Jiang, we’ve verified the alibi of Wang Qianqian’s fiancé from First Hospital. At the time of Wang Qianqian’s death, he was playing mahjong with friends in a card room. Besides witness statements from those present, we’ve also obtained surveillance footage.”
He finished speaking and leaned against Jiang Chengyi’s desk, lighting a cigarette. Glancing at the computer screen, he realized Jiang Chengyi was also watching surveillance footage.
It showed the entrance of an apartment building, where a woman opened the door and entered, then hurriedly left after a while.
Jiang Chengyi was repeatedly reviewing this segment of the woman’s entry and exit.
“Captain, what’s this?”
Jiang Chengyi continued staring at the screen, saying impassively: “A suspected burglary case from Nanshan Road Police Station. I suspect it might be related to our cases, so I asked Nanshan Station to make me a copy.”
Old Qin was puzzled—how could a burglary be connected to the captain’s murder cases? They seemed completely unrelated.
Could there be some discovery?
Seeing Jiang Chengyi had no intention of elaborating, he didn’t press further and changed the subject: “Now that Wang Qianqian’s fiancé is temporarily cleared of suspicion, there’s still one point I can’t figure out. Wang Qianqian’s time of death was between 23:00 on the 28th and 1:00 the next morning. This means both the apology message sent to the head nurse the next morning and the WeChat message sent to Dr. Lu in the afternoon were from the killer. The strange part is, the killer didn’t specially treat the body when dumping it, so they must have known we’d eventually determine Wang Qianqian’s exact time of death. In that case, the killer pretending to be Wang Qianqian to message her acquaintances barely created any confusion—it seems completely pointless.”
Jiang Chengyi took the documents Old Qin handed him, glanced at them, and said: “Judging from how this killer disposed of the body, they’re very intelligent and methodical, unlikely to do anything without purpose. I guess their reason for pretending to be Wang Qianqian and messaging acquaintances the day after the crime has several possibilities. One is: they had something they had to do that required time to complete, and during this period, they didn’t want others to know Wang Qianqian had been killed, so they created the illusion that she was still alive to buy time.”
Old Qin took a deep drag on his cigarette: “What would need buying time? Escape? Destroying evidence?”
Jiang Chengyi stared at Wang Qianqian’s crime scene photos for a long time, his eyes as calm as a deep blue sea. After a while, he smiled noncommittally: “Who knows, maybe it was some kind of ritual.”
“Huh?” Old Qin’s expression became complicated.
But Jiang Chengyi closed the case file and checked his phone: “It’s seven o’clock. Old Qin, come have dinner at my place.”
“Sure!” Old Qin’s eyes lit up. “It’s rare for Captain to not require overtime, and I’ve heard so much about your mansion on Songshan Road but never visited.”