Chapter 461: Analysis
Chapter 461: Chapter 461: Analysis
"My poor son... you can’t have died for nothing!" The anguished cry of a woman caught Su Qing’s attention.
Over at the police station’s reception desk, a middle-aged woman had collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. She could barely hold herself up, leaning against another woman’s embrace as she wailed, "My poor boy... my son, I worked so hard to raise you... How could you be so cruel and leave your mother? Oh, my child, this pain is going to kill me!"
"Sister-in-law, the police will get justice for Xiao Wei," the woman holding her said, her own face streaked with tears as she tried to offer comfort.
"That’s right, ma’am. Please, try to calm down. This just happened, and we will definitely get to the bottom of it. If your son was indeed murdered, we will do everything in our power to find the culprit," a nearby officer added, trying to console her.
"My son was such a good student, and he was so healthy! He couldn’t have died from an illness, and there’s no way he would kill himself." The middle-aged woman grabbed the officer’s sleeve. "Officer, you have to get justice for my son! He was so young... he was about to graduate. It shouldn’t have ended like this. It just shouldn’t have..."
With that, the woman broke down in tears again.
Su Qing wasn’t sure if it was because she had been in this world for so long, or because of the genuine warmth and affection from the Li family, but she felt her heart was no longer as cold and hard as it had been during the apocalypse.
To lose a son in middle age... The woman’s tragic sobs stirred a sense of pity in Su Qing.
"Su Qing, you’re here." Zou Ming walked over when he saw her. "Came to ask about the progress on that assault case?"
"Ah, right." Su Qing couldn’t very well admit she had followed the trail of the green mist, so she asked, "Have you found any suspects in the case?"
Zou Ming led Su Qing to his office, frowning as he shook his head. "No. The three who got away have vanished into thin air. As for the two deceased suspects, we haven’t found any matches for their fingerprints. We’ve tried several methods, but we still can’t determine their identities. I suspect they might have been ’black households’—people with no official identity records at all."
Su Qing lowered her gaze slightly. ’If those two were from Xiangcheng, they definitely wouldn’t have mainland identity records. I wonder how they managed to get from Xiangcheng to the mainland... They must have had their own methods.’
’In that case, if Zou Ming limits his search to the mainland, he probably won’t find anything. As for the three who vanished... Su Qing had a hunch they had likely been ’disposed of.’ That would make it even harder for the police to find anyone.’
Zou Ming poured Su Qing a glass of water. Looking at her, he said, "Actually, I have a theory about this case."
"What theory?" Su Qing asked, looking at Zou Ming.
"I suspect those men aren’t from the mainland," Zou Ming said. "An Zhihan is from Xiangcheng but has been living on the mainland for years. From what I’ve gathered, he’s a member of the Xiangcheng An Family. The An Family is a major power there. A young master from a prominent family, and disabled no less, living alone on the mainland—the whole thing is strange. Add to that the fact that their attackers had accents from the Guang City area. I suspect this is a revenge plot. In other words, someone from Xiangcheng wants to harm An Zhihan. The people after him are his enemies!"
Su Qing pursed her lips slightly. ’Zou Ming really is captain material,’ she thought. ’His mind is sharp.’
She listened as Zou Ming continued, "I suspect two possibilities. One, it’s an enemy of the An Family looking to hurt them, and they targeted An Zhihan because he was an easy, isolated target. The other possibility is that this is personal—the enemy is An Zhihan’s alone, so they’re only targeting him."
"Which one are you leaning toward?" Su Qing asked.
"The second one," Zou Ming said. "If this were an enemy of the entire An Family, it would be much easier to go after other family members in Xiangcheng. After all, Xiangcheng is chaotic, and guns are everywhere. It wouldn’t be hard to hire a gang to take out the scion of a wealthy family. Kidnappings of the rich aren’t exactly rare there these days. But instead, they went to all this trouble to come to the mainland for An Zhihan. That’s why I’m leaning toward this being a personal enemy of his."
Su Qing took a sip of water, saying nothing.
Zou Ming then said to Su Qing, "Su Qing, you seem to know An Zhihan and his circle fairly well. Do you know anything about their circumstances?"
"I’m more familiar with Mr. Gong; I’ve only met An Zhihan a few times," Su Qing said. "All I can say is that as a prominent family in Xiangcheng, the An Family is... complicated."
’An Zhihan and the others hadn’t told Zou Ming about the An Family’s internal conflict, so Su Qing certainly wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up. The case involved Xiangcheng, and if Zou Ming and his team pursued the investigation there, they would have to coordinate with the Xiangcheng Police Station. And the Xiangcheng Police Station...’
Su Qing mentally rolled her eyes. ’Best not to even go there.’
’That’s why Su Qing was actually inclined to let An Zhihan get his own revenge, an eye for an eye. If necessary, she wouldn’t mind lending a hand. After all, she had her own score to settle with the An Family. Given An Zhiqian’s hostility toward her, it was only a matter of time before he made a move against her.’
’Su Qing guessed the only reason they hadn’t targeted her this time was because of her connections. The status of Mr. Li and Mrs. Li was not to be trifled with.’
’Besides, she still hadn’t figured out who was after her. The tall boy who had warned her that day refused to give her any details.’
’Thinking of the tall boy brought Su Qing back to her reason for coming today. The trail of green mist had led her right here, to the police station.’
Just then, Zou Ming said, "Which of Xiangcheng’s prominent families isn’t a mess? I’ll go ask An Zhihan again later. Maybe he can remember something."
The thought of having to deal with the Xiangcheng Police Station gave Zou Ming a headache.
"Alright." Su Qing nodded. Whether An Zhihan decided to talk was up to him. Still, she gave Zou Ming a heads-up. "By the way, Mr. Gong and the others have been discharged from the hospital. They’re all staying at Mr. Gong’s house for the time being."
Zou Ming had been so busy with the case that he hadn’t kept up with what was happening at the hospital. He was stunned by her words. "What? Discharged? Are their injuries healed?"
Zou Ming found it incredible. They had been so seriously injured, and they’d only been in the hospital for a few days.
"Their wounds haven’t fully healed, of course, but the doctor re-examined them and said they could be discharged to recover at home." As Su Qing spoke, she gave Zou Ming the address of Mr. Gong’s house.
Just then, the sound of wailing from outside started up again. Su Qing asked, "What’s going on with those people out there?"