FBH Chapter 16

While Cao Huailiang was venting his frustrations to his sister, a middle-aged man in blue work clothes with a cigarette in his mouth walked into the yard, went up to the second floor, took out his key and opened the door.

Hearing the door open, Cao Huailiang’s expression changed drastically. He quickly grabbed a sharp kitchen knife that he had prepared long ago from the coffee table (his purpose was to use it to fight back if the police came to arrest him). He quickly walked to the door, pressed his back tightly against the wall, held his breath, his eyes full of vigilance and viciousness, and gripped the knife in his hand even tighter.

As soon as she finished speaking, the door “creaked–” and was pushed open.

When Cao Huailiang saw that it was his brother-in-law Zhou Kang, he finally felt relieved, but his eyes were full of unconcealable nervousness. He immediately walked towards the bedroom where he was staying without speaking to his brother-in-law.

Zhou Kang noticed the knife in Cao Huailiang’s hand, and his heart couldn’t help but skip a beat. He looked at his wife warily and asked, “What is he trying to do?” At the same time, he keenly noticed the tear stains remaining in his wife’s eyes, which made him uneasy.

“No… nothing…” She didn’t know how to say it, so she quickly changed the subject, “Why are you getting off work so early today?”

“The parts are used up, there’s nothing to do, so the factory director let the workers get off work early.” Zhou Kang smiled and his voice was gentle. He sympathized with his wife and didn’t want to burden her because of Cao Huailiang.

“Oh, is that so.” She was absent-minded.

While his wife went to the toilet, Zhou Kang glanced at the door of Cao Huailiang’s room, which was ajar. He quickly bent down and quietly took out an old white mobile phone from under the sofa, then walked lightly to the door, quietly closed the door, and then gently opened the door.

This phone didn’t have a SIM card. Zhou Kang had deliberately placed it under the sofa before going to work at noon. The purpose was to secretly record the movements of his brother-in-law Cao Huailiang, because he saw that Cao Huailiang had been staying here since he came here the day before yesterday. He locked himself in the room all day, and didn’t even eat with his brother-in-law. He seemed very wary. He suspected that Cao Huailiang might have committed something, which made him feel uneasy, so he thought of secretly recording it. He believed that as long as he wasn’t in the room, Cao Huailiang would tell his sister about what he had done.

“…Sister, I killed someone…”

Hearing such a voice, Zhou Kang’s body trembled as if he had been electrocuted, and his eyes showed fear. He said in his heart: “As expected, Cao Huailiang, that bastard, really committed a crime!”

After listening to the recording, he bit his chapped lips and thought for a while, then gritted his teeth, took out his mobile phone from his pocket, and entered 110 on the screen with trembling fingers…

At this time, Wu Shuqi happened to be discussing the next step of the investigation plan and arrest plan with several members of the criminal investigation team, because she felt that the suspect Cao Huailiang was very likely to be hiding in the bungalow in the yard where the woman in white clothes she was following had entered.

The cell phone suddenly rang. Wu Shuqi took out her cell phone and swiped the screen with her fingertip. After answering the call, her eyes suddenly lit up like a 100-watt light bulb. She said firmly: “Oh, that’s great! …Okay, leader, I guarantee to complete the mission!”

She continued: “Mr. Zhou reported his brother-in-law for murder, which is righteousness and extermination of relatives. This approach deserves full recognition!”

The other two members of the task force were also eager to try, wishing to arrest the criminal suspect immediately.

After about three minutes, Wu Shuqi received another WeChat message from the informant:

Cao Huailiang is hiding in the room with the door slightly closed. The windows in front of the room have been reinforced with steel bars, so he can’t escape from the window; he has a kitchen knife; there is no one else in the house except you and my wife; the door is equipped with a mortise lock. My brother-in-law said that he will leave here tonight. Judging from his tone, he is very likely to kill innocent people on the way to escape. I am very worried, which is why I decided to report him to your police. He is too dangerous, I hope you don’t let him out of this yard!

Wu Shuqi sent a message saying please rest assured, the police will not let him escape and harm society. Then she inquired about the specific situation of the building from the informant, such as how many households there were in the entire building, the distribution of the households, whether there were sundries and obstacles in the stairwell, whether there were doors and windows leading to the roof on the third floor, and whether the doors and windows were locked.

The feedback was that there were residents on the first, second and third floors, a total of five households, one of which was the landlord, who lived on the first floor, and there was an iron door leading to the basement. The informant was not sure whether the door was locked or not.

“I’m not going, I’m not going anywhere.” The wife shook her head and said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

After careful research and judgment with the investigation team members, Wu Shuqi decided to remain silent for the time being, and planned to wait until dark when the suspect was about to escape from the yard before arresting him.

On the road, Wu Zhi said to Wu Shuqi who was walking in front: “Captain Wu, what if the suspect doesn’t come out?”

“The suspect must be highly vigilant at all times. When we carry out the arrest mission, even the slightest movement may startle the snake. It is not ruled out that when the suspect realizes that he is in danger, he will jump over the wall and harm Mr. Zhou and Mr. Zhou’s wife.” Wu Zhi expressed his worries, but also gave solutions to the problem, “In order to avoid this situation from happening, before the arrest operation begins, we must let Mr. Zhou take protective measures, and also take protective measures for his wife. The best way is to let them stay in the bedroom and not come out.”

“In order to minimize the occurrence of such errors, before we enter the house to arrest people, we must cooperate with Mr. Zhou from the inside and outside, and timely grasp the information about her location, so as to ensure that when we enter the house, she does not have time to react in a way that will create obstacles to our arrest.”

Wu Zhi expressed his agreement and said: “The suspect must know what the consequences will be after he is arrested, so when he sees us police officers, he may resist desperately at all costs, which will cause great risks to our arrest. Therefore, we must fight quickly and decisively when arresting him, and try not to give him time to react.”

While speaking, they had arrived not far from the place where the suspect was hiding.

——————
The night was deep, and the summer heat had not dissipated.

A self-built house with a plastered exterior wall stood in the vast night sky. The light from the glass windows in the house shone on the yard without wall protection, appearing dimly, giving people a gloomy feeling.

The suspect Cao Huailiang was hiding in this house.

Wu Shuqi had been in contact with the informant, Mr. Zhou. The last contact was five minutes ago. Mr. Zhou told her that Cao Huailiang had been staying in the big room, with no sign of leaving at all.

Could it be that the suspect is not leaving?

There is a great risk in entering the house to arrest people now. The police did not dare to act rashly, because Mr. Zhou’s wife had been lying on the sofa in the living room since she had dinner. Mr. Zhou asked her to go to the bedroom to rest, but she said that the ceiling fan in the living room was cooler. It seemed that she was going to sleep in the living room.

The police could only wait for a suitable opportunity to arrest people.

Suddenly, several urgent screams of “Help!” came from a window on the third floor (the voice was clear, childish, and could be identified as the voice of an underage boy), like sharp glass thrown from high altitude, deeply piercing the hearts of Wu Shuqi, Wu Zhi and other investigators. They realized that the boy might have encountered an accident. Tension and worry were like a ball of fire, burning fiercely in their hearts.

The reason why they were nervous and worried was because they couldn’t help but associate the girl’s experience with Cao Huailiang. After all, a murderer who lacks respect for life and the law can do anything!

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