Chapter 753: A Trip to the Prison

Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi, along with other police officers, arrived at the gym and gathered all the employees for questioning. During this time, the gym manager showed them the broken belt from the equipment. Chen Shi, wearing gloves, examined it and said, “This was cut by a knife.”

Xu Xiaodong brought over an employee who said, “I haven’t seen the person you’re talking about, but there was a skinny man smoking in the stairwell that day.”

“Which stairwell?” Chen Shi asked.

“The one in the emergency exit,” the employee replied.

The employee led them there. Behind the gym was an emergency exit, and although it provided direct access to the gym, few people used it because climbing the stairs was too tiring.

The employee pointed to the ground at the landing. “Look, there are still cigarette butts here! He was standing here smoking. I saw him at one in the afternoon, and he was still there at three. Very suspicious.”

“What did he look like?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Skinny, long hair, and had a tattoo on his hand,” the employee described. It was an English bullhead tattoo.

“Do you have time tomorrow? Can you come to the station to help us with a sketch?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Sure, no problem. I’ll cooperate,” the employee agreed.

The police collected the cigarette butts from the ground for analysis. Chen Shi suggested checking the surveillance footage, so he and Lin Dongxue walked down the stairs. There were no cameras in the stairwell, but the clothing store on the first floor had surveillance.

After the investigation, it was getting late. Chen Shi drove Lin Dongxue home.

The next morning, Lin Qiupu announced that the prison had responded and they could go there today. Noticing Xin Bai among the group, he asked, “Why is this guy coming along?”

“He said he wanted to gather material for his writing, and I agreed,” Lin Dongxue explained.

“Just follow along and don’t wander off when we get to the prison,” Lin Qiupu warned.

“Got it!” Xin Bai said with a cheeky salute.

Ji Yushan Prison, located in the suburbs, is the largest correctional facility in Long’an. Xin Bai was ecstatic as they approached the high walls lined with barbed wire and watchtowers on the mountain, taking photos non-stop with his phone.

In the car, Lin Qiupu seemed deep in thought. “The prison didn’t give us any details about Chen Fengde’s escape, only saying they would discuss it in person.”

“How could a secure prison like this have an escape? And Chen Fengde is almost sixty,” Lin Dongxue said.

“Any prison can have an escape. Systems are managed by people, so there are always flaws,” Chen Shi said. “There was a case abroad where a prisoner used dental floss to weave a rope and climbed over the high walls.”

“Be careful what you say in the prison. The prison system is different from ours,” Lin Qiupu advised.

At the prison entrance, they were warmly greeted by the prison officials. Lin Qiupu heard the noise from inside the high walls and asked if the prisoners were out for their exercise break.

“Yes, it’s exercise time. They’ll be back in a bit,” the prison official replied.

“We’ll wait a bit to go in,” Lin Qiupu said, taking out a pack of cigarettes.

Lin Qiupu wasn’t worried about the prisoners, many of whom they had put away themselves. He just didn’t want his sister exposed to the prisoners’ leers and comments.

Once it was quiet inside, they walked in, passing through several gates to reach an office. Lin Qiupu introduced his team. Chen Shi identified himself as a police officer, Xin Bai as the chief’s driver, and Gu You as a psychological consultant assisting the police.

These were stories they had made up on the way. The prison official, knowing Lin Qiupu, didn’t ask to see their IDs.

“There’s been a recent murder in the city, and the fingerprints found at the scene belong to Chen Fengde, who should be serving his sentence here. We’re not here to blame, just to understand what’s going on,” Lin Qiupu said.

“Well, the situation is this: Chen Fengde went missing a week ago after his work detail. We searched everywhere, brought in search dogs for the nearby woods, but found nothing. We have no idea how he managed it… Of course, it’s our responsibility, but it’s so strange. Chen Fengde always acted crazy, not like a typical inmate.”

“Were there no guards watching the inmates at work?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“There were, three guards were watching!” The warden’s eyes shifted nervously.

“Take us to the site,” Lin Qiupu said.

Gu You asked, “Has Chen Fengde been interrogated in the prison?”

“There should be records.”

“Can we see the interrogation recordings?”

The warden called a guard to take them to the archive room to view the recordings, saying he had some official business to handle and that Officer Wang would accompany them to the site afterward.

As they left, the warden exchanged a look with the guard, a small gesture that didn’t escape Chen Shi’s notice.

The warden might be going to destroy evidence at the site, Chen Shi thought. “Let’s not stick together. Some of us can go to the site while others watch the recordings.”

So, Lin Qiupu, Lin Dongxue, and Xin Bai went to the site while Chen Shi and Gu You followed the guard to the archive room. The guard opened the computer. “Here are the recordings.”

“You don’t need to stay. You can go handle other tasks,” Chen Shi said, handing the guard a pack of cigarettes.

“Thanks!” The guard smiled and took the cigarettes. “I’ll be back in a while.”

Gu You’s hands trembled as she started a video. The footage showed an older man in prison uniform, with a buzz cut, sitting on a chair. Across from him, a guard asked, “What was your motive for killing?”

“To free them,” Chen Fengde replied.

“This is the third interrogation. Are you still going to give us this nonsense?”

Chen Fengde calmly said, “To you, they were vegetative, but you don’t know. They dream too. In their dreams, they suffer and wanted me to help them, so I did.”

The guard impatiently threw his pen on the table. “Same story! Why did you kill the caregiver?”

“Because Li Xiaomei told me he was misbehaving, raping her at night. He was a bad person.”

“Who is Li Xiaomei?”

“One of the vegetative patients I killed.”

“Hmph, dreams again!”

“Dreams are my reality. You can imprison my body, but you can’t imprison my dreams. In my dreams, I can do anything, see anything… I know you’ve been dating recently. You like the girl, but she doesn’t like your job. It bothers you. And you, your smoking habit is too strong. You can’t quit and often dream of dying from lung cancer.”

“Who… who told you this?”

“The Dream Master.”

“This is crazy!” The guard was losing his patience.

Chen Shi noticed tears streaming down Gu You’s face. He suddenly asked, “Miss Gu, you’re Chen Fengde’s daughter, aren’t you?”