Chapter 860: Chapter 850: Making a Move

"Name?"

"Liu Chunbao."

"Gender?"

"Comrade police officer, could I possibly be female?"

"Just answer what you’re asked, what’s with all the crap!"

"Male."

"Age?"

"Thirty?five."

"Home address!"

The interrogation room could really be called star?studded: Criminal Investigation Brigade Captain Zhao Minghui leading the team, old interrogation hands Yan Lie and Lin Chengcai, plus Captain Yang and Su Qing, five people sitting opposite. Outside the room were Du Qiang, Li Zijun and the others.

The case had hit a bottleneck and was hard to move forward, so as soon as Liu Chunbao appeared as a possible breakthrough, he immediately got a lot of attention.

Everyone wanted to squeeze some useful information out of him to push the case ahead.

It had to be said, because the case was stuck, everyone who came today was big?shot level. Some small?time punk normally would never enjoy this kind of treatment—it’s all leadership doing the questioning. Even a young rookie like Li Zijun wasn’t qualified to come in.

As for why Su Qing was there, it was entirely because they needed his ability to distinguish truth from lies. After all, he’d already proved more than once in practice to the people present that he could do it.

Opposite them sat a man with a face full of flab, greasy?looking, short and chubby, sporting a beer belly with signs of balding, squinty eyes, thick lips—this was Liu Chunbao.

"What’s your relationship with Zhao Dongyang?" Lin Chengcai asked.

"Friends. We used to play cards together a lot, then over time we got familiar," Liu Chunbao said truthfully.

"Do you know Zhao Dongyang’s dead? Killed by someone." As Lin Chengcai asked, his eyes were locked on the expressions on Liu Chunbao’s face.

Hearing this, Liu Chunbao gulped down a mouthful of saliva, then nodded. "I know. My family told me. Comrade police officer, this has nothing to do with me. I was working out of town at the time, I wasn’t even in Jiang City!"

On that point, they all knew very clearly: Zhao Dongyang definitely wasn’t killed by him. The two of them were grasshoppers tied to the same rope; there was no need to kill to silence him. Of course, there was always the possibility of some private grudge between them.

But as for Liu Chunbao’s alibi, that part was completely solid—when Zhao Dongyang was killed, he really wasn’t in Jiang City.

"We never said you killed him, what are you so nervous about?" Yan Lie said in a deep voice, slapping the table, making Liu Chunbao jump.

At this, Zhao Minghui took a deep breath, eyes sharp as he said, "According to our investigation, you and the deceased seem to have gotten into something in Qingshu Village, right? Don’t even think about denying it. Since we’re asking, we’ve obviously already done our homework."

"No, absolutely not. Comrade police officer, Old Zhao and I did go to Qingshu Village, but we didn’t cause any trouble!" Liu Chunbao denied.

The words had barely left his mouth when Lin Chengcai slammed his palm hard onto the table. "Still trying to play dumb! You think we don’t know what you did over there? You really think what you did is some kind of secret? Who in the nearby villages doesn’t know? Zhang Shunzhi, the mute daughter of the Zhang Family—need me to spell it out for you?"

Suddenly going on the offensive, the aura coming off Lin Chengcai turned razor?sharp, aggressively intense. His eyes were like blades, as if they could cut straight into someone’s heart.

Blood drained from Liu Chunbao’s face. Under that kind of pressure, there was no way he could stay calm. But he also knew this was something he absolutely couldn’t admit.

"I’ve been wronged, comrade police officer. Old Zhao and I had had a bit too much to drink that day, and we got into a conflict with the Zhang Family’s eldest daughter. We couldn’t hold back and hit her. We apologized, paid compensation, and they said they wouldn’t pursue it!"

Right as the words fell, a narration cue flashed through Su Qing’s mind:

[Before coming back, Liu Chunbao had already guessed this was the reason, so he’d gone in advance to reach an agreement with the Zhang Family and threatened them that if they dared talk, they’d all go to prison together. He even gave them a crash course in the law, telling Miao Fang that she and her son’s conduct already constituted a crime—extortion, with a large sum involved. If they changed their story, at worst everyone would go to jail together.

If they kept quiet, he’d give another ten thousand afterwards. Miao Fang and her son chose the latter.]

Listening to the narration in his head, Su Qing narrowed his eyes. This guy wasn’t stupid—he’d known enough to contact the other side in advance and get everyone on the same page.

That way, with two of the three parties involved already dead, he’d at most be nailed for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. And since they’d chosen to settle privately, the police wouldn’t intervene.

"Bullshit!" Yan Lie suddenly stood up and roared.

Hearing that, Lin Chengcai tugged on his arm, then shifted his gaze to Su Qing outside the room.

Seeing this, Su Qing chuckled softly and shook his head. At this point, Liu Chunbao had come prepared. As long as Miao Fang and her son didn’t flip, he’d be fine. Moreover, even if they did flip, with the dead unable to testify, it would be very hard to bring him in. Unless some evidence had been left when the two families settled back then.

Noting his expression, Lin Chengcai took a deep breath and decided to lay his cards on the table. "Fine. We’ll leave the rest aside for now. I’ll just ask you this—has anyone strange contacted you recently, or in the past?"

"No..."

Just as Liu Chunbao was about to deny it, Lin Chengcai cut in immediately, his tone low and frightening. "Think carefully before you answer. Zhao Dongyang’s already dead—revenge killing. If it’s because of what happened in Qingshu Village, you should know what they’re coming for. Which means you’re not exactly safe either. If you really want to die, no one can help you."

The simple relationship that even Su Qing could deduce was certainly not beyond an old detective like Lin Chengcai.

If it really was revenge over Zhang Shunzhi, then there was a high chance that Liu Chunbao would be targeted too.

The only reason he was still this calm was the current situation: on this point, it was just speculation. Maybe the other party only had a grudge against Zhao Dongyang.

Without solid evidence, they couldn’t waste police resources guarding someone twenty?four seven.

Besides, so many days had passed and Liu Chunbao was still alive and kicking—Su Qing’s initial guess was looking less and less tenable.

"Com... Comrade police officer, it’s not that I don’t want to say, there really hasn’t been anyone. If I knew anything, I’d definitely tell you!"

[Lie. Someone has indeed contacted them and issued threats, but he doesn’t dare say it, because once he does, it might expose what he did back then!]

On the surface Su Qing’s expression didn’t change, but inside he was sneering. This was him digging his own grave—he’d narrowed his own path. No one else to blame.

Seeing how things stood, the others had no better options. After asking a few more questions, they all stood up and let Du Qiang and the rest come in to continue.

Since they’d called him back from out of town, they obviously couldn’t just let him go so easily. Although they wouldn’t restrict his freedom, at the very least he had to cooperate with the investigation for a while.

"Su, what do you think?" Back in the office, Lin Chengcai, as usual, asked for his view.

"He lied on a few points. Obviously he must’ve reached some sort of agreement with the Zhang Family mother and son to cover up the fact that he assaulted Zhang Shunzhi. Secondly..."

"Secondly what?"

"Secondly, I think since we can already confirm this incident really happened, why not put the two cases together?"

Hearing this, Lin Chengcai shook his head with a laugh. "What, you got some kind of vendetta against your classmates? Still suspecting them?"

"Here’s the thing: for those classmates of yours still in Jiang City, we’ve already conducted discreet background checks. Honestly, we haven’t found anything off. Three of them are married—working where they should be, sick where they should be, disabled where they should be—and none of them has any contact with Zhang Shunzhi. There’s no motive."

Su Qing smiled. "Who knows. I just feel that if this is all because of the Zhang Shunzhi incident, then maybe Liu Chunbao’s in danger too."

At that, a glint flashed in Lin Chengcai’s eyes. "Unless they’re willing to admit to what happened, otherwise... you got any ideas?"

"Why don’t we take Liu Chunbao to Qingshu Village and let them confront each other face?to?face? Maybe we’ll find some clues. Anyway, we don’t have any evidence, and we can’t keep holding onto Liu Chunbao. Man’s gotta live his life, right?"

Without evidence, the police could detain someone for a maximum of twenty?four hours. Right now, that was exactly Liu Chunbao’s situation.

They clearly knew he was suspicious, but they couldn’t arrest him—only bring him in for questioning.

Hearing this, Lin Chengcai took a deep breath, then finally nodded. "That works. Since we dragged him back, we can’t just do nothing. In a bit, call your sister and Qiang over. The four of us will go together."

"Okay, I’ll go get ready."

With that, Su Qing stood up and left. As he walked out the door, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

Since you’ve already laid the groundwork this far, I’ll definitely play along. When the time comes, let’s see if you can handle it.

...

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