Chapter 322 - 320: Let Her Go
Chapter 322: Chapter 320: Let Her Go
"Tian Ming’s autopsy report is out," Duan Wenrui said. "No toxins were found in his system. Cause of death was excessive blood loss and a ruptured liver. All the wounds on his body were inflicted before he died."
"What about his phone? Has the data been recovered?" Lu Zhishen asked.
Tian Ming’s phone was found by the roadside. The screen was badly shattered, so it was sent for repairs.
"It’s been recovered. The contacts are all gambling buddies and creditors," Duan Wenrui said. "We’ve already met with those creditors. Other than that, there wasn’t much information."
"What about Zhao Yongliang’s family?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.
"We’ve checked Zhao Yongliang’s residence here, but we didn’t find anything," Duan Wenrui said. "His parents are in Chang City. I had someone question them, but the old couple doesn’t know anything."
"Wife and kids?" Chu Xingrou said.
"He’s divorced. The child lives with his ex-wife, and they’re both abroad." Duan Wenrui took out his phone to show them the chat logs. "These are some of the chat records between him, his child, and his ex-wife. It’s all just daily greetings."
"It doesn’t look like they were on bad terms," Su Miaoyi remarked.
"They divorced about ten years ago. Zhao Yongliang hadn’t even come to town back then." Duan Wenrui handed them a file. "This is everything on Zhao Yongliang."
The group looked it over.
"He was doing pretty well in Chang City. Why did he come back?" Lu Zhishen said.
"Getting older, probably missed his hometown." Duan Wenrui sighed. "I want to go back to my hometown, too, but my wife won’t let me. My kid has to go to school, and the educational resources back home can’t compare. If I went back, we’d have to live apart. I can’t bear to be away from my kid, so all I can do is miss my hometown."
"So when it came down to missing your kid or missing your hometown, you chose to miss your hometown," Lu Zhishen said.
"Yes."
"Don’t you miss your wife?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.
"I miss her, too." Duan Wenrui smiled.
Su Miaoyi looked at him. "Captain Duan, you’re getting homesick, aren’t you?"
"Well, we’ve been out here for a few days," Duan Wenrui said, running a hand through his hair.
"Let’s crack this case quickly so we can all go home soon. I’m homesick, too," Su Miaoyi said.
"What do we do about Tian Min?" Lu Zhishen asked.
Suddenly, everyone fell silent.
"I’m worried she’ll go out and kill someone," Zhuang Yanzheng said.
"After reading Zhao Yongliang’s file, I think for her to have escaped from him, her skills must be very good," Su Miaoyi said. "There’s too much we don’t know about Tian Min’s time in Chang City."
"Without evidence, we can’t hold her for too long. We’ve already held her for a full twenty-four hours," Duan Wenrui said.
"She was the one taken by Zhao Yongliang. That makes her even more suspicious now," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Let’s keep her in custody for now. We’ll deal with tomorrow when it comes."
"Alright."
The rain grew heavier.
Not only had Tian Min not left, but the caretaker at the Sheep Horn Temple hadn’t either.
When Duan Wenrui went to check, the caretaker was already asleep, leaning back in his chair.
The patrol in Yanjing Village continued.
Duan Wenrui watched the rain fall harder and harder outside. After a moment, he put on a raincoat.
"Captain Duan, where are you going?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.
"I’m going to check on Yanjing Village," Duan Wenrui said. "My guys are out there getting soaked in the rain. I can’t rest easy sitting here."
"I’ll go with you," Zhuang Yanzheng said.
"No, no, I can go by myself," Duan Wenrui said.
"Let’s go." Zhuang Yanzheng grabbed a raincoat and put it on. "Together."
Lu Zhishen also stood up.
Zhuang Yanzheng said, "You guys keep discussing the case. I’ll go."
Lu Zhishen sat back down.
The heavy rain fell all night.
The rain didn’t stop until dawn.
Su Miaoyi had a restaurant prepare some ginger soup and send it over.
She had everyone who was on patrol during the night drink some. After eating, they went to rest.
"I just checked the weather forecast. It’s supposed to rain for the next two weeks," Zhuang Yanzheng said, looking at the men who had been soaked all night. "They won’t be able to hold up if this continues. Captain Duan said they need too many people, and the number of officers they can transfer here is very limited."
Su Miaoyi looked at him.
"What are you looking at me for?" Zhuang Yanzheng said.
"Your voice is hoarse," Su Miaoyi observed, still looking at him.
Zhuang Yanzheng cleared his throat. "I’m fine."
"Go get some rest," Lu Zhishen said.
"Yeah." Zhuang Yanzheng started walking toward the room next door. "I’m sleeping in your bed."
Lu Zhishen opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. ’They still haven’t arranged a place for him to stay since he arrived.’
Watching him leave, Su Miaoyi checked the weather for the next two weeks.
All heavy rain.
"Is this weather forecast accurate?" Su Miaoyi asked.
"Er..." Lu Zhishen said. "It said no rain yesterday, and it rained."
Su Miaoyi nodded. "Not accurate."
The day passed quickly.
Zhao Yongliang wasn’t found, they couldn’t get anything out of Tian Min even after questioning her a hundred times, they found no evidence of her committing the crime, and the overcast sky predicted by the weather forecast never materialized.
A small amount of sweat was extracted from the mask found yesterday. They got a DNA profile, but there were no matches in the database.
Su Miaoyi stood in the police station’s courtyard, watching the setting sun, watching the orange-red glow on the horizon fade away bit by bit.
Duan Wenrui walked up to her. "Tian Min... her twenty-four hours are almost up. We have to let her go."
"Let her go," Su Miaoyi said. "Just keep her under close surveillance."
"Okay." Duan Wenrui left.
Su Miaoyi continued to stare at the horizon, her face numb.
After almost ten minutes, she said, "The scenery here is actually quite beautiful."
’I thought you were about to compose a poem after staring for so long,’ the voice in her head said.
"DONG DONG DONG, DONG DONG DONG, punishment is now descending..." Su Miaoyi’s face remained numb as she verbally mimicked the voice from the speaker.
’...If you have nothing better to say, you can just keep your mouth shut,’ the voice in her head reminded her.
Su Miaoyi let out a faint sigh, then paused before saying, "Last night, I remembered something from the past."
’What was it?’
"A case my father worked on when I was a child," Su Miaoyi said. "I vaguely remember it involved two people who’d been at odds for a long time. One of them planned and murdered the other."
’And then?’
"Everyone knew who the killer was, but because there was no proof, they couldn’t convict him. In the end, they had to let him go," Su Miaoyi said. "They released him based on the principle of innocent until proven guilty. Later, the victim’s family sued him, but when it got to trial, he was acquitted, again for lack of evidence."
’Tian Min’s situation might be even worse,’ the voice in her head said. ’During interrogation, she shows no cracks in her story. She’s weak, well-behaved, and easily frightened, which makes people subconsciously see her as the weaker party and easily believe what she says. Most importantly, she’s flawless. We can’t even be sure if she’s the killer. Compared to your dad’s...’
"Whose dad?" Su Miaoyi asked.
The voice in her head paused for a few seconds, then skipped right past the question. ’It’s worse than the case you were talking about. We can’t even be one hundred percent certain she’s the killer.’
"So a lot of the time, even if I see the murder scene, I still need evidence. Otherwise, I can’t arrest anyone."
’Indeed.’
"You know, if I could just directly see the evidence..." Su Miaoyi mused, rubbing her chin.
’In that situation, you’d only see them destroying the evidence. What? Are you thinking you could somehow pluck the evidence out of your vision before it gets erased?’ the voice in her head asked amicably.
"Tsk." Su Miaoyi sighed. "Can’t I even think about it?"
’Dream on.’
Su Miaoyi smiled. "I hope... things work out tomorrow."
...