Chapter 311: Chapter 309: Take Her to the Police Station First

"If it was Tian Min, Wan Shuang definitely wouldn’t have been on her guard," Lu Zhishen said. "She’s a familiar young woman from the village. If Wan Shuang ran into her and they exchanged a few words, she certainly wouldn’t have been afraid or suspicious."

"I agree," Su Miaoyi said. "But for now, this is all just speculation. We don’t have any evidence."

"What about a direct interrogation?" Chu Xingrou said.

"We could, but it would be difficult," Lu Zhishen said, leaning back in his chair. "She can’t speak. Even if we get an interpreter, we won’t be able to hear her tone, so we’ll lose a key way to judge her sincerity. Plus, if she just stops signing, we’ll be out of options. And as for reading her microexpressions... she completely fooled us last night."

Chu Xingrou gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. "What about the glue?"

"If she doesn’t want to confess, she can just say she needs a lot of glue for her handicrafts. There’s nothing we can do about that," Su Miaoyi said.

Chu Xingrou pressed her lips together, silent.

The three of them fell silent. After a moment, Su Miaoyi spoke up. "Do you think... there could be a sixth person they want to kill?"

Her words hung in the air like a curse. The color drained from both Chu Xingrou’s and Lu Zhishen’s faces.

Su Miaoyi looked at them. "Should we bring her to the station for questioning first?"

"Right."

The three of them started to head out. Just as they reached the door, someone from the sub-bureau approached them. "Heading out?"

"We are," Lu Zhishen said, his eyes on the file folder in the man’s hand. "What’s up?"

"The city’s lab restored the audio of the nursery rhyme from the convenience store’s player. They sent over a report and the recording," the man from the sub-bureau said.

"Great." The three of them turned around and went back into the office.

They looked at the physical report first.

It was filled with various analyses, so they skipped straight to the conclusion.

The audio hadn’t been fully restored, but the lab had done the best they could.

The original recording equipment had been low-quality to begin with. On top of that, the audio had been modulated and then re-recorded.

And that re-recording had captured the sound coming from another terrible player.

As a result, the quality was awful, and it was hard to make out the words.

It was extremely difficult to restore.

After reading the report, they played the restored audio file.

DUM DUM DUM, DUM DUM DUM.

Judgment is now descending.

The guilty shall not be spared.

The Sheep God has been sent to your home...

The static in the background was significantly reduced.

The voice was no longer so robotic and ethereal.

However, the audio quality was still poor. It sounded like there was a slight electrical hum.

But now, they could clearly tell it was a woman’s voice.

When they first heard it in the convenience store, they couldn’t tell if the speaker was male or female at all.

After playing it a few times, they were certain it was a woman’s voice.

Based on the voice, she sounded like she was between twenty and thirty years old.

Su Miaoyi glanced at the physical report again.

The analysis was surprisingly detailed.

It highlighted the final sounds of certain words in the rhyme, as well as specificities in the enunciation.

"I have a rather bold idea," Su Miaoyi said in a low voice, leaning forward in her chair with her arms on the desk.

"You think..." Lu Zhishen said, trailing off after two words as he also leaned in.

Chu Xingrou leaned forward too, finishing his thought in a whisper, "That Tian Min can actually speak?"

The three of them huddled around the desk, their heads so close they were almost touching.

"Her mutism isn’t congenital; it’s acquired. And it’s not a problem with her vocal cords—it’s psychological," Su Miaoyi whispered.

The three of them exchanged glances. "I think recovery is possible," Lu Zhishen said.

"And another thing—the enunciation and the ending sounds of some words in this recording... don’t you think they sound a bit like the way Tian Shi or Tian Xuan pronounce certain words?"

At Su Miaoyi’s words, a look of sudden realization dawned on all three of their faces. They nodded in perfect sync.

After nodding, their heads drew apart, and all three of them leaned back in their chairs.

"First, let’s have someone play the recording for the villagers and see if anyone recognizes the voice," Su Miaoyi said.

"Right."

"Or maybe all our theories are wrong, and there’s someone else, hidden even deeper, whom we haven’t found yet," Su Miaoyi said.

"Right."

"Let’s notify the local station and the sub-bureau that we’re bringing Tian Min in for questioning," Su Miaoyi said. "I’ll call a doctor and ask about Tian Min’s condition."

"Okay."

Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen went to notify the local station and the sub-bureau.

Su Miaoyi called Shen Yanzhou.

"Are you back?" Shen Yanzhou asked as soon as he picked up.

"Not yet," Su Miaoyi replied. "Are you busy? There’s something I need your help with."

"Not busy. What is it?"

"A while back, didn’t you say you know a really good psychologist? I’d like to ask him a few things. Would that be possible?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Shen Yanzhou’s voice turned serious. "I’ll bring the doctor over to see you."

"It’s not for me. It’s about someone involved in a case," Su Miaoyi said.

"Oh," Shen Yanzhou said. "I’ll send you his contact information. You can talk to him directly."

"Okay."

As Shen Yanzhou searched for the doctor’s contact information, he suddenly said, "I’m doing you a huge favor. Calling me ’big brother’ isn’t asking too much, is it?"

"Mr. Landlord, you’d better be careful. I might just tell President Shen that you’re bullying me," Su Miaoyi threatened in a light tone.

"Who’s bullying you?"

"Whether you’re actually bullying me isn’t the point. The point is, if I complain, President Shen will only believe my side of the story," Su Miaoyi said.

Shen Yanzhou: "..."

He found the contact information and sent it straight to her. "I’ve sent it to you. Tell him you’re Shen Yanzhou’s sister."

"Hey—!" Before Su Miaoyi could get another word out, she heard the call disconnect.

She stared at her phone screen where the call had ended. ’You could have at least given him a heads-up! Does he even know Shen Yanzhou has a sister? He’s going to think it’s a scam call!’

After a few seconds, a message from Shen Yanzhou came through: [Go ahead and call. I’ve already spoken with him. Remember, say you’re Shen Yanzhou’s sister, otherwise he’ll treat it as a spam call.]

She dialed the number. The moment the call connected, she blurted out, "I’m Shen Yanzhou’s sister," before even saying, "Hello."

She explained Tian Min’s situation to the doctor.

The doctor’s conclusion was that recovery was indeed a possibility.

The doctor explained the reasoning in great detail.

Su Miaoyi summarized it as follows: if the psychological trauma that caused her mutism is resolved, or if she becomes mentally strong enough to overcome that trauma, she could recover her ability to speak.

"Sister Miaomiao, let’s head to the station," Chu Xingrou said as she approached. "Tian Min is already there."

"Did it go smoothly?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Tian Shi and Tian Xuan tried to stop us, but Tian Min signed something to them. I don’t know what she said, but they backed off after that," Chu Xingrou explained. "There weren’t many of us, and the streets were empty, so I doubt anyone knows Tian Min was taken to the station."

"Good," Su Miaoyi said. "What about the interpreter?"

"Captain Duan found one."

"Good."

...

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