Chapter 555: Revealing the Answer

The two men quickly squatted on the ground, looking defeated. Chen Shi asked the burly man for his name, and he replied that his name was Ye XX. Noticing a bat tattoo on Ye’s neck, Chen Shi asked, “Are you the infamous Brother Bat?”

The burly man smiled and said, “Yeah, the guys in the business call me Brother Bat.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“We’re just honest people working for a private loan company.”

“Just collecting debts?”

“Only collecting debts!”

“Stop lying to me. I know you run an underground casino.”

“Ah, those were the old days. We’ve gone legit now. You can ask my brother here.” Brother Bat gave a forced smile.

“How much does Sun Jun owe you?”

“Twenty, thirty… maybe forty or fifty thousand.”

“How much exactly?” Chen Shi shouted.

“Forty-six thousand, with interest. He’s been dodging us for ages. My boss is getting really anxious.”

“Did you cut off Sun Jun’s fingers?”

“No, no, we wouldn’t do something like that!” Brother Bat shook his head vigorously.

Chen Shi signaled with his eyes, and Xu Xiaodong, misunderstanding, handed over a bottle of water. Chen Shi rolled his eyes, “Take this guy to another room!”

Xu Xiaodong dragged the skinny guy to the bathroom. Brother Bat’s expression changed immediately, worried his underling would spill everything. Chen Shi sat on the sofa, drinking water, waiting patiently. He quietly texted Xu Xiaodong, instructing him on what to say.

Xu Xiaodong returned, clenching his fists. “Chen, the guy confessed everything.”

Chen Shi looked at Brother Bat, who was now sweating profusely. Chen Shi said, “Are you going to talk? Do you think we don’t know anything? This is your chance to come clean. If you don’t, there won’t be another opportunity.”

Brother Bat grimaced as if in pain. Under Chen Shi’s cold gaze, he finally said, “It was me who cut off his fingers…”

“Why?”

“He was cheating. Back then, I was working at a casino. I caught him cheating and scamming a boss out of a lot of money. The boss wanted to kill him on the spot, but I calmed him down and cut off Sun Jun’s fingers as punishment.”

“So you saved him?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Brother Bat forced a smile.

“Enough with the smiles! Listen, I don’t care about your gambling or loan sharking. I’m only interested in Sun Jun. Cooperate, and you can walk out of here.”

Brother Bat, seeing a glimmer of hope, nodded eagerly. “I’ll cooperate, I’ll cooperate!”

“Besides cutting off his fingers, what else did you do to him?”

“Nothing.”

“Think carefully. Did you tattoo a penis on his forehead?”

“A penis? Oh, you mean a dick? No, that wasn’t me. He must’ve pissed off someone else who did it. It’s pretty funny, actually. I laughed when I first saw it.”

“Don’t go off-topic. Do you know who did it?”

“These things aren’t public. He didn’t tell me.”

Chen Shi brought out a stack of IOUs and asked Brother Bat to identify anyone he knew. Brother Bat examined each one, saying, “This Zhao XX is also a lender… don’t know this one… this guy’s a gambler.”

When he saw Gu Daqiang’s IOU, Brother Bat said, “That’s one of Sun Jun’s friends. Sun Jun scammed him.”

“How do you know?”

“He told me once. He came in with a big sum of money to gamble. I asked where it came from, and he said he pulled off an investment scam, ripping off two of his well-off friends.”

Chen Shi surmised that Brother Bat might have been involved but didn’t pursue it further. “When was this?”

“About six months ago.”

“Does Sun Jun have enemies who want him dead?”

“A lot!”

“Name a few.”

Brother Bat listed several people Sun Jun had scammed. Hearing this, Chen Shi felt Sun Jun was indeed despicable and undeserving of sympathy.

Just then, two police cars arrived outside. Chen Shi pulled Brother Bat up, who panicked. “Hey, you said you wouldn’t arrest me!”

“Did I say that? I just said you’d walk out of this room.”

“Damn, you’re playing me!” Brother Bat shouted in disappointment.

Chen Shi had already texted Old Zhang about Brother Bat’s confession. Handing the two men over to Old Zhang was a relief. The clues provided by Brother Bat would keep them busy for a while.

Chen Shi told Xu Xiaodong, “Check on Sun Jun’s fraud cases tomorrow.”

“Chen, do we need to continue the stakeout tonight?”

“I don’t have anywhere to sleep right now. How about staying here? Keep me company.”

“What? But I haven’t showered in two days.”

“I’ll take you to a bathhouse. Come on!”

The next morning at ten, Chen Shi arrived at the station. He didn’t go to see Lin Qiupu but went to the monitoring room to review footage. He also reviewed footage from Ai Zhen’s neighborhood.

On the night of September 25, a suspicious person entered Ai Zhen’s community. Comparing this person with the one involved in Gu Daqiang’s death, Chen Shi sat back, deep in thought.

Lin Dongxue walked in and said, “Hiding here? Get to work!”

“Where’s Liu Qin?”

“With me. We just arrested Ai Guowei. He’s in the interrogation room. Do you want to join?”

“Ai Guowei isn’t the killer. Just go through the motions.”

“Really? You’re not coming?”

“No, I have somewhere to go. I’ll join you for lunch. Let’s get grilled fish with Liu Qin.”

Seeing Chen Shi deep in thought, Lin Dongxue knew he wouldn’t reveal anything now.

In the interrogation room, Ai Guowei admitted to assaulting Mr. Li. He said he heard rumors from Ai Zhen’s friends, blaming Mr. Li for making her more depressed, leading him to act impulsively.

Despite his outrage, Lin Dongxue sensed Ai Guowei was just an outsider in this case.

The interrogation lasted until noon. Ai Guowei was temporarily detained. Chen Shi returned at two, and Lin Dongxue complained, “Where have you been? I’m starving!”

“Sorry, let’s eat!”

Chen Shi took them to a grill where fish were cooked fresh. They ordered a pot of spicy lychee grilled fish and had a great meal. Lin Dongxue found she had a lot in common with Liu Qin, keeping the conversation lively.

After eating, Chen Shi said, “Back to the station. Time for business!”

“What business?” Lin Dongxue asked.

Chen Shi winked, “We caught the suspect.”

Liu Qin exclaimed, “Really? You guys are so efficient! I can sleep soundly tonight.”

“Liu Qin, who do you think it is?” Chen Shi asked, hinting.

“Let me guess, someone who had a crush on Ai Zhen?”

Lin Dongxue noticed Xu Xiaodong and several officers were outside, seemingly waiting in ambush. Could it be Liu Qin? That didn’t make sense. Liu Qin had an alibi for Gu Daqiang’s murder.

Chen Shi patted Liu Qin’s shoulder, “Let’s go uncover the truth together!”