Chapter 57 Talent

Is there a problem with a restaurant that specializes in Firewood Chicken raising turkeys?

No.

Qin Qing needs living creatures for fortune-telling, and chickens are living creatures. Is there a problem?

No.

See, the logical chain is perfect.

“Teacher Qin, please,” Lin Feng led the way.

Teacher Qin felt it might not work.

The chickens were all cooped up and lacked night vision, so they had no awareness whatsoever when the bloody incident occurred.

They only cared about themselves.

Qin Qing stood in front of the chicken coop, indicating she was powerless.

Lin Feng caught a rooster with an unusually red comb: “How about we try a ritual?”

???

He held the rooster’s wings: “Don’t they all say rooster blood is essential for rituals? Don’t look at me like that, that’s how it’s portrayed in TV shows.”

Qin Qing: “…”

You, a police captain, were so skeptical of the supernatural a few months ago, and now you’ve adapted, but have you adapted a bit too much?

Qin Qing couldn’t help much in this part.

The bloody scene left her listless all day, unable to eat any meat or look at any oil.

In the past, if she felt down, a hotpot meal would solve it.

Not anymore. Not only did the sight of red oil hotpot broth make her nauseous, but even seeing oil on other people’s lips while they ate made her uncomfortable.

There was no choice but to eat vegetarian. After three consecutive meals of vegetable salad, she felt even more listless and hungry, suffering immensely.

No matter how much dressing was added, salad never satisfied the taste buds or the stomach.

Lin Feng informed her that Shen Wei, the son of the deceased couple, had returned.

Qin Qing went to the Police Station, munching on a steamed bun.

Eating too many plain steamed buns made her mouth taste bland. She gnawed on the bun like a teething stick, nibbling at it with her front teeth.

“Oh, why are you just eating plain steamed buns?” Lin Feng saw her and said, “My treat, I’ll buy you Luxury Beef Noodles.”

Qin Qing reached out to stop him.

“No, please don’t mention meat to me.”

Lin Feng: “Still not recovered? Do you need me to apply for psychological intervention for you?”

“No, that’s not necessary.”

She had too many secrets; who knew what those psychologists might uncover.

“Then I’ll give you a tip, guaranteed to work.”

Qin Qing: “What?”

“Just starve yourself, eat nothing but water. Within three days, you’ll eat anything you see.”

“…”

What was she expecting? What good ideas could this guy have! She might as well continue gnawing on her teething stick.

Shen Wei was a tall young man, 1.8 meters tall.

After the sudden tragedy, he looked as if his soul had been sucked out.

He had been staying at his aunt’s house since his return, and his uncle accompanied him to the police station this time.

They were received in Lin Feng’s office.

Besides the two family members, the police side included Lin Feng, her, and Xiao Song, who served as the recorder.

Lin Feng did not deliberately introduce Qin Qing; she and Xiao Song were just there to listen.

Lin Feng followed the normal procedure and asked some basic questions, but Shen Wei knew nothing.

He painfully clutched his hair: “I’m sorry, I don’t know. If only I had played fewer games and cared more about them. During the summer vacation, I didn’t even help out at the store a few times…”

Recalling the moments spent with his parents again caused him pain and regret.

He seemed to treat the police station as a church and Lin Feng as a priest, confessing his “unfilial” behavior.

Actually, it was nothing, just an ordinary, naive big boy who was spoiled by his parents and didn’t care about household matters.

When he confessed, Lin Feng neither comforted nor interrupted. At such moments, anything an outsider said would be powerless and pale.

After he calmed down a bit, Lin Feng routinely asked, “Did your parents have any feuds or conflicts with anyone?”

“No, my parents are very good people, sincere and straightforward, and very generous to customers when doing business. Our family’s store has many repeat customers…” Shen Wei seemed to remember something, straightening up, “I remember now, my dad had a few words with the owner of another Firewood Chicken restaurant on the mountain two days ago. Officer, could it be him?”

He seemed to have grasped a life-saving piece of driftwood, hatred pouring into him, giving him energy.

Shen Wei now looked like he had come back to life.

Lin Feng: “Quarrel? About what?”

Shen Wei himself did not experience that verbal dispute; he only heard his parents chatting about it at night.

At this moment, he activated his brain cells, desperately recalling his parents’ conversation, and then said, “We have many repeat customers, and when they want Firewood Chicken, they always choose our place. My parents also give discounts to repeat customers, like price reductions or free dishes and drinks. Two days ago, we temporarily ran out of rice, so my dad went to another place to borrow some, and he found a regular customer eating chicken there.”

Shen Wei: “Yes, that’s right. My dad thought that owner was disloyal, knowing it was our customer but still taking them, so he got upset and argued a few words.”

Lin Feng listened quietly until he finished.

He flipped through his notes and asked, “Are you talking about Yang Er, the owner of ‘Second Brother’s Firewood Chicken’?”

“Yes, yes, that’s him.”

Qin Qing saw Shen Wei’s instant hatred. In his System Panel’s Character Relationship Map, a new character, Yang Er, popped up.

Lin Feng: “Okay, we understand. We will conduct further investigation. If there are any other developments, report them to the police station promptly, but do not do anything privately; that is very dangerous.”

Shen Wei looked dejected again.

Seeing that nothing more could be asked, Lin Feng ended the conversation and left the police station’s main line number for the family. He comforted him: “You’re a grown man now, pull yourself together. Your parents definitely wouldn’t want you to be so down. If you think of any new clues, call us anytime.”

Shen Wei: “Mhm.”

“Ah, thank you, officer.” Shen Wei’s uncle helped his nephew leave.

Shen Wei suddenly asked, “Officer Lin, have you seen our dog and cat?”

Qin Qing: “You also have a cat?”

“Yes, my mom raised it to catch mice,” Shen Wei said dejectedly. “Now that my parents are gone, it’s just me and them left in our family. I want to take them in and raise them myself.”

Lin Feng glanced at Qin Qing, and seeing that she had no intention of asking further, he said, “We collected a large amount of dog blood in your yard. Based on the amount of bleeding, it should have been killed. As for the cat, we haven’t seen it.”

Shen Wei looked like he was about to cry: “Even they are gone? Am I really all alone now…”

In fact, he did cry, squatting at the entrance of Lin Feng’s office and wailing.

His uncle also squatted on the ground, half-hugging him: “It’s okay, child, it’s okay, you still have me and your aunt.”

A police officer came over, blocked by the scene at the door, and reported softly on tiptoe into the room: “Captain, Luo Lü is here, in the conference room.”

“Alright, got it. You take care of things here.” Lin Feng motioned for Qin Qing to go out.

Outside, Lin Feng asked, “How was it?”

“Yang Er is not the murderer.”

Lin Feng: “Yes, that’s consistent with our investigation results. When the officers visited, Yang Er voluntarily confessed the cause and effect of the dispute, and he has a perfect alibi. Did you find anything else?”

Qin Qing shook her head.

Shen Wei’s Panel Log only showed that his parents were dead.

There were no further details.

If it were his parents’ System Panel, she might directly see who the murderer was, but they were deceased and could not be loaded into the Relationship Map.

Lin Feng didn’t show any disappointment.

He just excitedly arranged the next steps: “First, let’s go to the meeting, and I’ll introduce someone to you.”

Qin Qing guessed: “Luo Lü?”

Lin Feng chuckled, moving quickly, showing his eagerness and anticipation for this meeting.

“Yes, it’s Old Luo, the consultant I told you about last time. My old partner, a real genius, but a bit eccentric,” Lin Feng said, half-praising, half-criticizing. “I’m not kidding, I spoil him so much. Anyone else would have been driven away by him. But he’s very popular with girls.”

He ran a hand through his hair, chin raised at a 45-degree angle: “Just like me, incredibly handsome.”

“…”

Qin Qing glanced at his hair, choosing silence as her greatest respect.

Lin Feng felt Qin Qing’s gaze but didn’t think there was any problem.

“When cases get busy, who has time for all this? But, once I wash my hair, I’m definitely a handsome guy.”

Qin Qing just quietly watched him.

“Alright. I admit, Old Luo is only a little bit handsomer than me.”

Thank you, the “genius” you mentioned has already been demystified for me.

Lin Feng’s Charm value was only 45; what difference would a little more make?

It wasn’t until she met him in person that Qin Qing realized how blindly confident a man could be.

A man stood at the conference room door, slightly taller than Lin Feng.

His fitted shirt was wrinkle-free, his neat short hair was very clean, and the profile of his face against the corridor was sharply defined.

Even just a silhouette could outshine Lin Feng by miles.

Qin Qing turned to the confident captain beside her, her expression hard to describe: “Luo Lü?”

“Yes, isn’t he handsome too?”

Qin Qing: “You can remove the ‘too’.”

This consultant Luo was not as eccentric as Lin Feng described.

At least, she saw that he was very popular and smiled gently. A group of people surrounded him, knowing he was back. Many people from the police station came to greet him, all looking very happy, and brought him many fruits and snacks. The atmosphere was quite lively.

Lin Feng quickly walked over: “Go, go, go, aren’t you busy enough that you’re all here chatting idly?”

The people gathered around slowly dispersed, and before leaving, someone invited consultant Luo to dinner.

He regretfully said, “I’d love to, if there wasn’t a case.”

But everyone knew there was a major case at the bureau.

The male police officer who invited him expressed understanding and said he would bring him back something.

When the last person dispersed, Lin Feng unceremoniously grabbed a bag of beef jerky from consultant Luo’s arms, tore it open, and chewed while saying, “Smells good, why don’t they give it to me? You don’t even like these things.”

“Then they’re for you.”

The snacks were transferred to Lin Feng’s arms.

Lin Feng was quite pleased, and Qin Qing looked at him, feeling he was a bit silly.

Lin Feng held a full armload of things, controlling them with a very strange posture to prevent them from falling.

He held a bag of puffed snacks under his chin and introduced Qin Qing.

“Luo Lü, Luo Chi’a. Master’s degrees in Law, Forensic Medicine, and Criminal Psychology. He now runs his own law firm, with a case loss rate so low it’s admired by the industry. He’s also the bureau’s criminal investigation consultant; we’ve solved many major cases together. Old Luo, let me introduce you…”

Luo Chi’a waved his hand: “No need, I’ve heard much about you, Miss Qin. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, but mundane affairs kept delaying it until today.”

He bowed slightly, very gentlemanly, and extended his hand to Qin Qing as a greeting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you today.”

Qin Qing… she felt as if she had been struck by a blunt object. It made her instinctively take a step back.

She stared intently at the System Panel above Luo Chi’a’s head.

Merit: 65

Sin: 34

[Talent 1: Crime -90]

[Talent 2: Disguise -80]

This was someone Lin Feng highly praised, and she had just habitually opened his System Panel to take a look.

With just these few lines, she couldn’t notice anything else.

These were all Talents useful for criminal investigation.

Her Talent was described as “Insight,” and Lin Feng’s Talent was described as “Unraveling Clues,” both neutral terms without any emotional coloring.

But this person in front of her, his Talents were absolutely negative concepts.

A person with a Criminal Talent score close to full marks had become a consultant at the Police Station and an excellent lawyer in the industry.

Qin Qing felt that this world had suddenly become so absurd and ridiculous.

She stepped back; it was just her body’s instinctive self-protection.

Luo Chi’a withdrew his hand and placed it on his abdomen.

He raised an eyebrow: “Miss Qin, are you afraid of me?”

Qin Qing even heard a hint of amusement in his voice.

Lin Feng chewed on the beef jerky: “Probably because you’re so handsome.”

“Shut up.”

“Even with food, you can’t shut your mouth.”

Two voices spoke simultaneously.