Chapter 196: A Shocking Discovery

Lin Qiupu was poring over the documents and evidence on the table, wondering if there were any flaws in them. Where could the loophole be?

A sound of footsteps startled him. He looked up to see a figure in a brown trench coat walking towards him, hands in pockets, cigarette in mouth, and a confident smile on his face. Lin Qiupu gaped like a pilgrim witnessing a miracle, “Se… senior?”

Song Lang slapped the table, “Xiao Lin, don’t be blinded by these so-called clues.”

“Then what should I…”

Song Lang swept all the files off the table, sending them fluttering like snowflakes. He turned around gracefully, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and pointed towards the door, “The truth has always been there, in the corner you haven’t noticed. The murderer is actually…”

A glowing door revealed a shadowy figure, and Lin Qiupu’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

“The murderer is…”

The shadowy figure became clearer, and Lin Qiupu was immensely excited.

“The murderer is Heshen!”

The shadow finally showed its true face—a fat man in Qing Dynasty official attire, with court beads and an oily, sinister smile.

Lin Qiupu’s head suddenly dropped. He woke up from his dream, realizing he had fallen asleep while reviewing files. It was now eleven at night, and the corridor was pitch black, leaving him alone in the office.

Glancing at the photos on the desk, Lin Qiupu, despite the absurdity of his dream, seriously considered if there was anyone in the case with a name similar to “Heshen.” There wasn’t. He laughed to himself.

He rubbed his nose, gathered his energy, and picked up the files to review them again. The victim had been poisoned, yet the killer had also used a belt to whip the victim, branded him with a hot iron, and applied lubricant to his private parts, seemingly preparing to insert something.

Why?

Why go to such lengths?

It seemed the killer was exacting revenge on the victim. The victim must have done similar things to the killer: whipping with a belt, branding with an iron, and possibly… rape?

From the evidence, the victim was not a good husband. As the stepfather to his ex-wife’s children, could he have been a good father? Clearly not! The whereabouts of his ex-wife’s children remained unknown—could this be a significant breakthrough?

Even if it wasn’t, Lin Qiupu needed to find out. To him, any overlooked detail meant the truth could never be complete.

He wrote “children” in the upper right corner of the file and circled it. He resolved to identify who these children were.

Stretching, he decided to go home and sleep since he was exhausted.

The next morning at the special case meeting, Lin Qiupu announced, “There is one clue in this case that has made no progress—the identity of the victim’s ex-wife’s children. I need you all to find out who they are and where they are now!”

A subordinate replied, “But there’s no information on them in the household registration database.”

“Find another way, use other channels. You have three days to get it done!”

The team groaned but geared up for the task.

Lin Qiupu re-examined the clues in his office. He thought he could recheck the surveillance footage from the scene. Although the main gate’s surveillance was broken, there were still many cameras from surrounding shops. There might be overlooked clues.

With this in mind, he immediately went to the scene, collected all the surveillance footage from nearby shops, which took the entire morning.

Watching these videos took even longer. Since he had sent everyone else out, he was alone in his office, watching the footage at four times the normal speed. The monotonous, soundless videos gave him a headache, and he applied menthol oil to his temples to stay awake.

In a clothing store’s footage, he saw a small figure in yellow on an electric bike flash by. A few seconds later, Lin Qiupu realized something and rewound the video. The figure looked familiar.

He found the same time point in the footage from the opposite shop. It was 8 PM on February 24th. This video clearly showed the person’s face—Gan Ping.

Locating the spot on the city map, Lin Qiupu noted that Gan Ping appeared in another neighborhood.

Wait…

He quickly checked his notebook. Gan Ping had entered the neighboring neighborhood at 8 PM that night. She claimed she had only been there once, delivering food at 7:20 PM, which the customer confirmed.

Was she lying?

Lin Qiupu found it hard to believe but felt compelled to uncover the truth. He rewound the video to 7:20 PM. Gan Ping did not appear. He rewound to 7 PM and stared at the screen for an hour. Surveillance didn’t lie—Gan Ping entered the neighborhood at 8 PM and left at 8:15 PM.

She was lying! The customer was lying too!

Gan Ping had been an hour late in delivering the second order, which meant she might have stayed at the crime scene longer than she claimed.

Lin Qiupu immediately drove to Gan Ping’s convenience store, realizing she hadn’t started her shift yet. It was now 5 PM. He hesitated to call Gan Ping, not wanting to believe this seemingly innocent girl was the killer. Yet if the facts pointed to it, he would pursue the truth relentlessly… his mind was conflicted.

He picked up the phone, dialed, then hung up, finally deciding to confront the customer first.

Entering the neighborhood, he knocked on the door. The resident, who seemed to have been gaming at home all day, opened the door in pajamas, with messy hair. The noise of the game blared from inside. The resident impatiently said, “What now? Make it quick!”

Lin Qiupu stared into his bleary eyes and said, “At 7:23 PM on February 24th, a female delivery person brought you food. You confirmed this yesterday, right?”

“Yeah, so what?”

The resident seemed relaxed. Song Lang could read micro-expressions for lies, but Lin Qiupu couldn’t. He said, “But the surveillance from the store shows the delivery person arrived at 8 PM that night. How do you explain that?”

“How would I know? Do you remember what you had for breakfast the day before yesterday?”

“Yes, milk and cereal.”

“You remember, I don’t. Who keeps track of these trivial things every day? It’s cold. I’m closing the door…”

Lin Qiupu quickly wedged his foot in the door, saying seriously, “This isn’t trivial—it’s a matter of life and death. Evidence shows you and she are lying. Tell me why!”