I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 224: Chapter 222: Confession

"Your wife and child were buried in that small patch of woods for two years after they died." Su Miaoyi looked at Kang Hong. "In those two years, did you ever think about them? Did you ever think about how they don’t even have a grave, how they were just wrapped in a mattress and buried in the ground? Have they ever appeared in your dreams at night, crying that they’re cold?"

Kang Hong’s eyes blinked incessantly, his chin trembling.

"Before Xie Lili died, she was always telling you to quit. She was the one who was truly looking out for you, who wanted you to return to a normal life," Su Miaoyi said. "Look at you now... track marks all over your body, so skinny you barely look human. The doctor told you how you got sick, didn’t he? You’re not even forty, yet you’re riddled with illnesses. What good is having money? You earned that dirty money, but you won’t live to spend it."

"You’re still protecting them, even now. Don’t you owe your dead wife and child an explanation?"

Kang Hong looked at Su Miaoyi.

"It’s the only thing you can do for them now," Su Miaoyi said, looking back at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng hadn’t said a word since Su Miaoyi started the questioning.

After all, opportunities for her to handle an interrogation were rare.

Kang Hong was silent for a long, long time.

Neither Su Miaoyi nor Zhuang Yanzheng spoke.

"It was Zhang Bai. Zhang Bai was the one who sought me out. I don’t know why he chose me. All these years, I’ve asked him so many times, but he would never say," Kang Hong said.

"How did you two first meet?"

Kang Hong thought for a moment. "My freshman year of college, I was working as a tutor. On my way back to campus one day, I was robbed of my money and phone. Zhang Bai happened to be passing by and helped me chase the thief down and get my things back. After that, I started running into him often on my way back from tutoring. We got to know each other after a while."

Su Miaoyi furrowed her brow.

’This... this is just like the "hero saves the damsel" trope from my novels.’

’The kind where the "hero" created the danger in the first place.’

"After we got familiar, we’d grab a meal together whenever we had time and just chat about whatever. I’d talk about school, he’d talk about the real world. Later, he told me I could make money with him. I saw he was pretty rich—drove a car worth tens of millions, wore a watch worth millions—so I thought I’d give it a shot with him."

"So he took me over to Changyue Garden," Kang Hong said. "Back then, Changyue Garden was all two- or three-story self-built houses. He took me to a three-story building on the very edge, and when I went inside, I found it was full of lab equipment."

"In my major at university, I’d been doing a lot of experiments since I started. My grades were good, I was a quick learner, and the professors liked taking me under their wing, so I was exposed to a wider variety of experiments than most."

"The stuff in their room... I only needed a few glances, one sniff, and I knew what they were doing."

Kang Hong gave a bitter smile. "Of course, I would never do something like that. I refused immediately and turned to leave. But I’d already seen their drug lab. How could they just let me walk away? Zhang Bai showed me a lot of money—an entire wall of it, stacks and stacks of red bills. It was more money than I could ever earn in a lifetime, but he could give it to me just like that."

"So you agreed?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Could I say no?" Kang Hong retorted. "If I didn’t agree, would I have gotten out of there alive?"

"Where did you make the drugs for them?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"At first, it was in that three-story house in Changyue Garden. But that area was later demolished, so we moved somewhere else," Kang Hong said.

"Where?"

Kang Hong thought for a moment.

Su Miaoyi watched him, wondering why he suddenly had to think. ’Doesn’t he know where it is either?’

"It should be in Qin City, near Wanxiang Village," Kang Hong said.

"You don’t know for sure?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"I don’t," Kang Hong said. "After the Changyue Garden place was demolished, I had a break for over a year. Then Zhang Bai came to me again, saying the new place was ready and he was taking me there. But every time we went, they’d blindfold me. Sometimes they’d even take a roundabout route. Once we got there, there were dedicated guards watching. Zhang Bai said we had to be more careful from then on, so I really don’t know where it is. I just have a feeling it’s in Qin City."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because there’s a stash house in Wanxiang Village. I figured they’d set up the lab near it."

They both studied his expression and felt that he wasn’t lying.

"Where is the stash house in Wanxiang Village?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"There’s a cattle farm outside the village. Some of the cattle feed is pressed into hay bales, and the goods are hidden inside them. There are specific people who go there for pickups," Kang Hong said.

"What else?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked, observing his expression.

"That’s the only place I know about," Kang Hong said.

Zhuang Yanzheng stood up, about to make a call.

Su Miaoyi grabbed his wrist, stopping him from getting up. She continued to question Kang Hong, "How did Liu Shitang find out about you?"

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her.

Su Miaoyi turned her head and looked back at him.

They met each other’s eyes for two seconds, and Zhuang Yanzheng understood what she meant.

Wanxiang Village was already under heavy covert surveillance, with all vehicles entering and leaving being monitored.

They needed to investigate Qin City first. If they went straight to the cattle farm, it would be a clear signal that Kang Hong had talked. The operation in Qin City would very likely pull out.

They might have already made new plans, or even pulled out, after the police’s first visit to Wanxiang Village.

But what if they hadn’t?

After all, Zhang Bai was still in Jinghai.

It didn’t look like they had pulled out.

Wanxiang Village was on the border, and the police in Qin City were also investigating, but they hadn’t found anything.

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded.

Su Miaoyi let go of him. He stood up, left the room, and went to contact the Qin City police.

"Do you remember Liu Shitang?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"You guys are pretty good at digging. You even found out about Liu Shitang," Kang Hong said, looking at her.

"How did he find out about you?"

"Liu Shitang worked at the cattle farm outside the village. One night, he lost his keys there. He went back to look for them after dark and discovered people moving goods," Kang Hong said with a frown. "It had nothing to do with me; I wasn’t even there at the time. But Zhang Bai insisted that I be the one to handle it."

"Zhang Bai is a really strange person. He could obviously handle everything himself, but he always wanted me to do it. Do you know that feeling? Like a teacher training a student, or a father grooming his son? He’s always making you do things he thinks you should do, trying to mold you into someone just like him."

"It’s ridiculous. Couldn’t they have just killed Liu Shitang right away? No, he had to agree to all his demands—give him money, buy him a phone, buy him a house, let him live in it for a few days—and then kill him when he was at his happiest."

"Zhang Bai seemed to really enjoy that kind of fun."

Su Miaoyi recalled the scene she had seen: Zhang Bai sitting on the sofa while Kang Hong was the one who took Liu Shitang down.

"He even stood by the freezer and watched Liu Shitang struggle until he stopped moving, until he was dead. Then he opened the freezer and made me look. He’s a psychopath."

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

’Killing someone alongside a psychopath makes you a psychopath, too. They’re all scum. Animals.’

...