Chapter 276: A Major Suspect Emerges—The Superstitious Construction Foreman

Red-Clothed Boy Strangulation Suicide Case?

When she first heard the name of the case, Xu Yilin frowned in confusion.

But three seconds later,

As if something had suddenly clicked, she quickly responded with a look of realization.

“Wait… is that the case that happened in a rural village in Luan County?”

“I heard it had something to do with someone trying to perform a human sacrifice to change their luck or something. They specifically targeted children, and a middle school student ended up being killed.”

“That case caused a huge panic in Luan County at the time.”

“Everyone was terrified their own child might be taken for some ritual. Even I, who never believed in that kind of thing, had my daughter’s grandmother come stay with us just in case… I was scared someone might really be watching her…”

At this point,

Xu Yilin suddenly stopped, as if something had occurred to her. She quickly added,

“Superstition.”

“Wait, officers, could this case be connected to Zhang Lifang?”

“When she was working as my nanny, Zhang Lifang was extremely superstitious. She’d mutter strange things and insist on performing rituals on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month.”

“But aside from that, she did her job very well, so I kept her on.”

“I remember clearly, there was a time when my daughter had a high fever. We went to the hospital several times, but nothing helped. Zhang Lifang said maybe she was possessed and told me to go to a temple, get some talismans, burn them into ash, and have my daughter drink it.”

“She even said her previous employer’s child had the same problem—constant fever—and that after following her advice and giving the child talisman ash from a ‘master’, the kid got better.”

“But I didn’t believe in that nonsense. Later, we went to a top hospital and found out my daughter had hidden pneumonia, which was causing the fever.”

As Xu Yilin spoke,

Lin Tian’s sharp instincts picked up on a crucial detail. He immediately asked,

“Ms. Xu.”

“You just said… Zhang Lifang’s previous employer really believed in all that superstitious stuff?”

“Yes, I think so. Definitely,” Xu Yilin replied with certainty. Then, speaking from a mother’s perspective, she added,

“If they didn’t believe it, I really don’t understand… how someone could think a child’s illness could be cured by drinking burned talisman ash.”

“I mean, anyone with even a bit of education wouldn’t do something like that, right?”

“That’s your own child, not some stray dog you picked up off the street, or something you can just replace anytime.”

At that moment,

Lin Tian seemed to realize something. He turned to the others and said,

“Chief Huang, Chief Liu, Detective Bai.”

“You recall what Chief Wang found earlier, don’t you? Who was the Demon Witch working for before her last boss?”

As soon as he spoke,

Liu Yang, ever adept at navigating bureaucracy, immediately responded,

“Of course I remember.”

“The Demon Witch’s employer before last was a local construction foreman in Luan County. He only hired her for a year due to a project.”

At that, Huang Qiang, who had come along to help investigate the case, picked up the thread.

“A construction foreman.”

“If we look at the last couple of decades in our country, a lot of construction foremen are self-made men who didn’t even finish elementary school.”

“And people in construction are often extremely superstitious. At the start of a project, they’ll do rituals like hammering stakes into the ground, and before topping out a building, they’ll hold special ceremonies.”

“Lack of education, combined with the nature of the job, makes them even more superstitious.”

“In that context, if their child stays sick for a long time, it’s not hard to imagine them believing talisman ash could be a cure.”

“Maybe they thought the child’s soul had been frightened away or something.”

“From there… what if, when their business started going downhill, they turned to the Demon Witch for help to change their fortune?”

“And under that pretext, the Demon Witch passed the internal vetting?”

Huang Qiang had deliberately kept things vague, not wanting Xu Yilin to learn the full extent of the situation.

Sometimes, knowing too much does more harm than good. If Xu Yilin ever found out how vicious and cruel Zhang Lifang truly was, it wouldn’t help her—it would only leave her with lingering fear and horror.

But even with such a cryptic explanation, everyone present immediately thought of the same possibility. Bai Yu rubbed the pipe in his hand, eyes narrowing as he spoke slowly.

“We should investigate this thoroughly.”

“If there’s a connection here, then based on the nature of that case, we should be able to determine…”

“There must be some link between that construction foreman and the victim.”

While the others continued discussing,

Xu Yilin looked increasingly confused. It was clear she couldn’t follow what was going on. It felt like all the officers were deliberately speaking in riddles.

But she also knew better than to ask questions. She sat quietly to the side, keeping silent.

The conference room fell into a hush.

Everyone was waiting for Wang Qi to return with the latest findings, while mentally piecing together just who Zhang Lifang might have manipulated into killing for her, helping her pass the Drug trafficking organization’s vetting.

Dozens of minutes later,

Wang Qi, who had stepped out to handle some matters, pushed open the conference room door and walked in.

He swept his gaze across the room, then shook his head with a heavy expression and furrowed brow.

“No luck.”

“I just mobilized every officer in the Jinling City Criminal Investigation Technology Section.”

“After two rounds of rapid screening, none of the women matching Ms. Xu’s description—older, unmarried, dressed similarly—could possibly be the fugitive Zhang Lifang.”

“Could we be wrong about this?”

This result

Left everyone in the room feeling a mix of confusion and frustration.

If this lead was a dead end, then tracking down the Demon Witch would become exponentially harder.

Especially now, with no clues at all.

At that moment,

While everyone was deep in thought, trying to retrace the conversation, Bai Yu—whose investigative instincts hadn’t yet been dulled—suddenly remembered something.

He quickly turned to Xu Yilin and asked seriously,

“Ms. Xu.”

“You mentioned earlier that you’re in the habit of taking selfies. So let me ask…”

“Do you usually post those selfies to your WeChat Moments?”

Xu Yilin didn’t even need to think. She answered without hesitation,

“Yes, of course I do.”

“I sell products online, mainly clothing, so I always post selfies on WeChat Moments to boost sales.”

At that moment,

Bai Yu immediately understood why they hadn’t been able to find the Demon Witch earlier. He quickly followed up,

“Ms. Xu.”

“Could you please open your WeChat? I need to check what outfits you were wearing in the selfies you posted over the past few days…”