Chapter Fifty-Five: The Culprit Caught?

“The killer must be inside.” Without hesitation, Li Hong charged in. Tang Jingjing and I, ignoring the danger, followed right behind. There was probably only one perpetrator, and there were three of us police officers—what was there to fear?

However, once inside, we found the place completely empty. There was nothing, not a clue in any nook or cranny. Only a swimsuit and a red dress lay in the center of the room.

“There’s something on them,” Li Hong suddenly called out.

I quickly crouched down to take a closer look. There was some sort of sticky substance, as if sprayed, translucent in appearance. I immediately used an evidence bag to collect a sample and prepared to bag up both the swimsuit and the red dress.

Just as I was about to do so, a thought struck me. “Do you think the killer might come back?”

Li Hong shook his head. “Hard to say.”

I said, “Li Hong, would you dare to keep watch here? I’ll go back and test the composition of this fluid—I suspect it might be semen.”

Tang Jingjing immediately chimed in, “That’s very likely. The killer probably did it on the swimsuit. What a pervert.”

Li Hong replied, “No problem. I’ll keep watch here.”

Tang Jingjing promptly handed her gun to Li Hong, but he adamantly refused, saying he didn’t have the authority. I insisted he take it; otherwise, he’d have to come back with us.

Left with no choice, Li Hong solemnly accepted the gun, then nodded to us, “Thank you for your trust.”

“No need for formalities,” Tang Jingjing said. “Even if I don’t trust Yu, I definitely trust you.”

I thought to myself, what did I ever do to you for you not to trust me?

Without further delay, Tang Jingjing and I hurried back to the police station.

After running the tests, it turned out the substance was indeed semen. I called the station chief to ask where he was.

He replied that he was urgently assembling all the officers at the station; the killer had already been identified.

Startled, I asked who it was. The station chief said, “It’s a vagrant named Lai San’er, who often steals things in the village. That’s all for now, I have to act quickly before he escapes.”

He hung up right after. Soon after, the officers began to arrive, all looking groggy and half-awake, which annoyed me.

But I couldn’t let it show. A powerful outsider can’t easily challenge the local powers—you need their cooperation. So I gently told them that the task ahead was tough, but if we caught the suspect, we’d all be credited with a big accomplishment. Even if it didn’t mean instant promotion and riches, I’d at least put in for a bonus for everyone.

As soon as they heard there was a bonus, the whole group was instantly energized.

Soon, the station chief returned, and the first thing he did was slap a photo onto the wall. “Everyone, remember this face. Lai San’er from the village—that’s the killer. Damn it, he did it, the grandmother of the child said so herself. We must catch him. Do you have confidence? If anyone doesn’t recognize him, come get a photo from me.”

“Don’t worry, Chief. Lai San’er, that cripple, with so many of us, how could we not catch him?” said the driver who’d taken us around earlier.

“Good. Now, move out,” ordered the chief.

The crowd quickly dispersed. I immediately asked the chief what Lai San’er’s background was.

The chief took a drag on his cigarette, putting on a grave demeanor. “I’ve been a cop for years and have dealt with Lai San’er plenty of times. Never thought I’d misjudge him like this. I always thought at worst he’d steal, maybe harass a few young women, but never expected he’d do something like this.”

I learned that Lai San’er was the local scoundrel, often pilfering from the village and harassing women. Two years ago, he harassed an official’s daughter and ended up having both legs broken on the spot. Since then, he’d been crawling around the village, surviving by begging. If people didn’t feed him, or if he didn’t like the food, he’d curse at their door—a real nuisance.

I had one question: How could a man with both legs broken have possibly hung a child up so high?

My point was that he wasn’t necessarily the killer, just a suspect.

The chief, however, thought I was questioning his judgment. He told me not to worry; once they caught Lai San’er, he had more than a hundred ways to make him talk.

I said, “If you catch Lai San’er, call me immediately. I found something in that abandoned house that I need to compare with him.”

The chief nodded in agreement.

Tang Jingjing and I then returned to the abandoned house, but as we approached, we heard groans coming from inside. Alarmed, I grabbed a stick from the doorway and burst in.

To my surprise, it was the driver and two other officers, lying on the ground groaning, while Li Hong glared at them like a tiger.

“I told you I was Li Hong, but you still tried to attack me. You were just asking for it,” Li Hong said.

I rushed over and asked what happened. Li Hong explained, “I heard movement at the door, and as soon as they came in, they tried to jump me. Luckily, I reacted quickly and took them down.”

The driver forced a laugh. “Man, what are you doing in this haunted house in the middle of the night? I thought you were Lai San’er.”

I quickly said, “Just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings. Are you all alright? Consider it a work-related injury. Now hurry up and get back to searching for Lai San’er.”

The group left grumbling, and I overheard them muttering about how those from higher up thought they could just hit people as they pleased.

I asked Li Hong if he’d seen anyone else. He shook his head.

At dawn, the station chief notified me that Lai San’er had been caught and told us to get to the station at once. We arrived to find Lai San’er in the interrogation room, shouting and cursing loudly.

The commissioner went over and kicked Lai San’er so hard he rolled over. “If you don’t shut your filthy mouth, I’ll execute you right now,” he threatened.

Old Lin hurried in, his face dark. He demanded to know why Lai San’er was handcuffed.

The commissioner looked at Old Lin in confusion. “He’s the killer. Who else should be cuffed?”

Old Lin said sternly, “I only said he was a suspect. The victim’s grandmother’s statement is just her personal judgment. As police, we must consider all the objective factors.”

The station chief, half amused and half exasperated, said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

With that, he unlocked the handcuffs from Lai San’er.

I stated that I needed to collect Lai San’er’s blood for DNA comparison. Yesterday, we found the swimsuit and red dress the victim had worn before her death, and the swimsuit had semen on it.

The chief nodded.

As I approached to collect Lai San’er’s blood, he burst into tears and screams, flailing to strike me, even trying to bite me.

Li Hong quickly pinned him down.

The chief looked smugly at Lai San’er, as if the man’s behavior reflected well on him.

“There’s no need for DNA testing,” the chief said. “This guy loves stealing people’s underwear and doing unspeakable things with them. He doesn’t just steal women’s—he steals men’s, too. He’s a total pervert!”

Lai San’er grinned, cackling. “I am a pervert, perversion is me. Chief, don’t think I don’t know about you and Wang Er’ya from the neighboring village. You even slept with her mother. So who’s the real pervert?”

The chief was instantly furious and tried to hit Lai San’er again, but Li Hong stopped him.

With the help of a few officers, I managed to draw Lai San’er’s blood and sent it, along with the fluid collected yesterday, to the hospital for DNA testing.