Chapter 105: Arrested and Brought to Justice

“This should be the guy.”

Guo Zile pointed at the surveillance footage, indicating a young man wearing a mask and a black T-shirt. The man was clutching his hand, glancing around nervously as he walked, clearly trying to avoid the cameras.

This footage had been retrieved from the hospital where the rabies vaccine was administered. But without any leads at the time, it had been useless. After all, a hospital sees a huge number of people coming and going every day. Even if you strained your eyes, it was impossible to tell who the suspect might be. Now, with a photo and Chen Youde’s description, they had pieced together a complete image of Ma Hui. All they needed was a comparison to identify him.

Once they confirmed his identity, they could use surveillance from various streets to reconstruct his movements on the day of the incident and determine whether he was truly the killer.

Soon, a police officer called out excitedly, “Found it! This is the car he drove!”

In the footage, the man in black carrying a white plastic bag walked around the hospital corner to a secluded area. After checking to make sure no one was around, he got into a black Volkswagen and drove off.

“Send this to the Traffic Bureau. Have them help us track down the license plate,” Lei Liming instructed.

“Yes, sir!” A photo was sent over, and before long, a large batch of data came back. But after reading it, everyone’s expression turned grim. The car owner had no connection to the driver. It turned out someone had owed Chen Youde money and left the car as collateral. Chen Youde had then given it to Ma Hui.

“Keep checking the surveillance. Also, if this man using the alias Ma Hui is indeed the killer, we need to re-investigate his motive. Based on his methods, this clearly looks like a particularly vicious act driven by revenge,” Lei Liming analyzed. He suspected the killer knew the victim. If it had been a random crime, the perpetrator wouldn’t have chosen such a complicated location and method.

Song Changfeng thought for a moment¹, then said, “I’ll go ask Chen Ru again, see if she recognizes this person.”

“Alright, everyone split up. Let’s try to solve this case as soon as possible.” Lei Liming clapped his hands, signaling everyone to get back to work.

The longer the case dragged on, the harder it would be to investigate. And if the suspect managed to flee the country while they still didn’t know his true identity, they’d be powerless to stop him.

Song Changfeng led Aofeng to the apartment that Chen Ru and the victim had rented together and knocked on the door. Chen Ru opened it, eyes red and swollen. When she saw it was Song Changfeng, a flicker of hope crossed her face. “Officer Song, did you catch the person who hurt Xiaoxuan?”

When Song Changfeng shook his head, her expression dimmed again. She took a deep breath, forced herself to stay composed, and invited Song Changfeng and Aofeng inside.

Even before stepping in, Aofeng picked up the scent of something burned. Once inside, he was stunned. Chen Ru had set up a small memorial in the cramped rental room. On the table was a black-and-white photo of Zhong Xiaoxuan, surrounded by her favorite snacks. Beneath the table sat a brazier filled with a thick layer of ash. Scattered nearby were silver foil paper used for folding spirit money² and a book that looked like a Buddhist scripture.

Seeing Song Changfeng and his police dog frozen in place, Chen Ru quickly explained, “Don’t be alarmed. This is a custom from my hometown. When someone dies, we recite scriptures to help their soul pass on and burn paper money³ to buy their way⁴. Xiaoxuan’s family refused to come, but we were like sisters. I had to take care of her final rites.”

Aofeng let out a silent sigh. He thought of himself. In his past life, his situation had been so similar to Zhong Xiaoxuan’s. After his parents divorced and remarried, they acted like he didn’t exist. He wondered if anyone had taken care of his final rites…

Song Changfeng was quiet for a moment before saying, “Miss Chen, I understand your grief. But I have to remind you that burning things indoors is very dangerous. There are safer, more appropriate ways to honor Miss Zhong’s memory.”

Chen Ru was taken aback. After a moment, she nodded. “Thank you for the reminder, Officer Song. I’ll be more careful. Did you come here today for something specific?”

At the mention of work, Song Changfeng’s expression turned serious. He pulled a photo from the pocket on his chest and said, “Miss Chen, do you recognize this man? We suspect he’s heavily involved in the case.”

Chen Ru took the photo. It was a blown-up ID photo of Ma Hui.

“This guy… looks kind of familiar!” Chen Ru stared at the picture, her expression uncertain. “I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

Song Changfeng grew a little excited. “Really? Please try to think carefully. Where exactly have you seen him before?”

“Ah!” After a moment, Chen Ru suddenly cried out. “I remember now! He was Xiaoxuan’s ex-boyfriend! His name is Chen Zhiming!”

“Are you sure? Wasn’t her ex-boyfriend named Wang Hao?”

“Yeah! I think it’s him. I remember his eyebrows. Xiaoxuan once told me he had classic sword-like brows⁵!” Chen Ru pointed at the man’s eyebrows in the photo. “Wang Hao was her last boyfriend, but Chen Zhiming was the one before him. They broke up about a year and a half ago. I haven’t heard Xiaoxuan mention him since.”

“Did Miss Zhong ever post about him on her Moments?”

Chen Ru pulled out her phone. “She did, hold on.” She started scrolling, but unfortunately, all of Chen Zhiming’s related posts had already been deleted by Zhong Xiaoxuan. That’s why the police hadn’t found any clues when they checked her Moments before.

With nothing in her Moments, Chen Ru switched back to the chat interface, but her messages with Zhong Xiaoxuan had also been cleared recently. She said again, “Hold on,” then opened her computer and pulled up the WeChat chat backup.

“Found it!” Chen Ru said. “Look, this is what Xiaoxuan sent me when she introduced Chen Zhiming.” She transferred the backup to her phone for easier viewing.

Song Changfeng took the phone and began scrolling through the long chat log.

“Xiaoxuan: Xiaoru, Xiaoru, I’m in love again!

Xiaoru: Congrats! Finally moved on from the last one. So how is he? What’s his name? What does he do? Is he good to you?

Xiaoxuan: His name is Chen Zhipeng, he works next door at Wanli Technology. We ran into each other a few times before he finally got the courage to ask for my contact…”

From the tone of Zhong Xiaoxuan’s messages, her relationship with this Chen Zhiming seemed to be going well. Her words practically overflowed with sweetness.

According to Chen Ru, because of her upbringing, Zhong Xiaoxuan was afraid of marriage. So whenever a boyfriend brought up the idea of getting married, she would break up with him. Was that also the reason she broke up with Chen Zhiming?

Chen Ru shook her head. “It wasn’t just that. Chen Zhiming was very controlling. Xiaoxuan realized it about two months into their relationship. He treated her well, but he was also very overbearing. Xiaoxuan works in sales and often has to go out at night. They fought about that a lot. Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and broke up with him. Chen Zhiming refused and even said he’d already bought an engagement ring. That pushed Xiaoxuan over the edge. She blocked him on everything. When he couldn’t reach her, he started showing up at her company and causing a scene. I heard it got pretty bad and he was fired because of it. After that, they probably never contacted each other again… It’s been so long. Why would Chen Zhiming suddenly want to get revenge on Xiaoxuan?”

“We’ll only know once we find him. Do you know anything else about Chen Zhiming? Like his family background or where he lives?”

Chen Ru shook her head. “Xiaoxuan never told me. Since she wasn’t planning on getting married, she didn’t really ask about that kind of stuff.”

Song Changfeng nodded. After a pause, he said, “Miss Chen, forgive me for asking, but during her relationships, how did Miss Zhong usually handle expenses?” He knew it was a sensitive question, but he had to rule out any possible financial motives.

Chen Ru didn’t seem offended. She said, “Xiaoxuan was a very independent woman. Since she didn’t plan on marrying anyone, she wouldn’t deliberately spend their money either. They usually split things evenly. Sometimes one would pay more, sometimes the other. When it came to money, she kept things very clear. Her own salary was always pretty high.”

If that was the case, then what could Chen Zhiming’s motive possibly be? At this point, only he could answer that question.

Since Chen Ru didn’t know much about Chen Zhiming’s background, Song Changfeng would have to investigate on his own. However, from the chat logs, he had found another clue: Chen Zhiming had once worked at Wanli Technology.

When the person in charge at Wanli Technology saw the police arrive, he looked a little flustered. But once Song Changfeng explained the reason for the visit, the man let out a barely noticeable sigh of relief and began sharing Chen Zhiming’s basic information. He even went to HR to retrieve Chen Zhiming’s resume.

Song Changfeng noticed that Chen Zhiming’s home was in Anyang City. Looking at the address, it wasn’t far from the landfill where Huang Tianbo had taken Zhong Xiaoxuan. No wonder Chen Zhiming had chosen that place to hold her.

The top priority now was capturing Chen Zhiming. As soon as Song Changfeng reported the situation, officers were dispatched. However, when they arrived at Chen Zhiming’s home, he wasn’t there. According to his family, he hadn’t been back in the past two days.

Realizing that Chen Zhiming might have already fled elsewhere, the public security bureau immediately issued a wanted notice and offered a reward for his capture. Notices were also sent to surrounding cities, asking them to keep an eye out.

With his identity confirmed and his phone number tracked, arresting him wasn’t expected to be difficult. Unless Chen Zhiming had run deep into the mountains and decided never to come out, there was no way he could avoid capture.

Sure enough, on the fifth day after the crime, officers from the city’s Criminal Investigation Detachment received a tip-off and quickly mobilized. They apprehended Chen Zhiming in a rented apartment in another city.

When the police sirens blared, Chen Zhiming tried to flee, but the apartment was already tightly surrounded. Once he realized there was no escape, he didn’t bother putting up a pointless fight. He calmly extended his hands for the officers to cuff him.

After being brought back, Chen Zhiming was immediately taken into the interrogation room. Although his attitude essentially amounted to admitting his guilt, the official procedures still had to be followed. After all, he was involved in two cases: one for murder, the other for embezzlement and fleeing with funds. While he had willingly let the police cuff him, he hadn’t explicitly confessed to which crime he had committed.

Translator’s Notes