SOTC Chapter 35

Ten hours later, at 2:45 AM.

The security guards in the monitoring room had already left work. At this moment, only Xue Yan, Zhang Rui, and Lao Lin, who had slept through several rounds, remained in the monitoring room.

Having lost count of how many times he had woken up, Lao Lin opened his eyes on the adjacent chair and saw Xue Yan and Zhang Rui still staring unblinkingly at the monitoring screen.

Lao Lin yawned, feeling somewhat exhausted, and said, “Officer Xue, Officer Zhang… I think that’s enough for today, right? Why don’t you take these videos back and watch them? It’s not that I don’t want to help you, but I really have to go to work tomorrow morning.”

“Beep.”

After Lao Lin finished speaking, Xue Yan suddenly pressed the pause button.

He turned to look at Lao Lin and said, “It’s almost enough, but there’s still something I need you to confirm. Look here…”

Xue Yan spoke as he rewound the video to 2:00 AM on the night Wang Nongxin was estimated to still be alive.

In the video, one security guard who was off duty walked out of the monitoring room, while another waited until after 2:30 AM before slowly leaving the security room. He was clearly carrying a gray shoulder bag when he left.

“Do you want to ask who this person is? You seem to have not seen him today.”

“His name is Wang Fu. He’s not on duty today. If you want to find him, he’ll be here early tomorrow morning.”

“What time tomorrow morning?”

“Around six o’clock, Wang Fu is quite diligent and is never late. What’s wrong, Officer Xue? Did Wang Fu do something wrong?”

“We don’t know yet, but Manager Lin, I’m afraid you’ll have to work hard today. We have something we want to ask Wang Fu, and we might have to wait until he comes before we can go back. So, I was wondering if we could wait together?”

“Sure, sure, serving the people is my duty. In that case, why don’t I just sleep here today? You can wake me up if you need anything, okay?”

Lao Lin was quite straightforward. After saying that, he immediately fell asleep again after seeing Xue Yan nod.

“You should get some sleep too, Xiao Zhang. Is this your first time handling a case like this? You must be exhausted too?”

Xue Yan looked at Zhang Rui, whose eyes were bloodshot, and said this to him.

“I’m fine, Team Xue, it’s just… are you really sure that it was this Wang Fu who tampered with the surveillance footage?”

“This person has never carried that gray shoulder bag on any of his shifts in the week after the incident. However, on the night Wang Nongxin was estimated to still be alive, he didn’t have that bag when he entered the monitoring room in the morning, but he was carrying it when he left. I have reason to believe that he needed the bag to carry something, and we’ll know what that is early tomorrow morning.”

When Xue Yan said these words, his eyes seemed to sparkle.

In his eyes, nothing in this world was more exciting than finding a new clue.

Even the sleepiness he felt before had completely disappeared.

In the following time, Xue Yan stubbornly watched those videos again until almost six o’clock in the morning, when he woke up Zhang Rui and Lao Lin.

Then, they waited in the monitoring room for the big fish to appear.

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6:00 AM

Wang Fu had been working in the residential area where Wang Nongxin lived for six years. He had been feeling a little nervous recently and felt restless whenever night fell, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

So, Wang Fu had been going to work with heavy dark circles under his eyes for the past few days.

On this day, he bought a cup of hot coffee from the supermarket next to the residential area as usual, then yawned and walked towards the security room as usual.

However, when Wang Fu inserted the key into the lock, he found that the door to the monitoring room was not locked today.

Wang Fu’s heart trembled, and he hesitated before opening the door. Then, he saw Xue Yan and Zhang Rui, who were already waiting in the monitoring room wearing their uniforms.

In that instant, Wang Fu felt a chill run down his spine. Without thinking, he threw the coffee in his hand on the ground and turned to run.

But at that moment, Xue Yan and Zhang Rui were already prepared.

The moment he heard the sound of the door lock, Xue Yan had already gotten up and walked to a position very close to the door. So, the moment Wang Fu tried to escape, Xue Yan rushed up. Like a tiger pouncing on its prey, he pinned Wang Fu to the ground and shouted, “Police, be honest!”

“I… I didn’t do anything, why are you arresting me…”

Wang Fu was still struggling.

But Xue Yan had seen this scene too many times. He snorted and said, “If you didn’t do anything, why are you running? Since you were able to wait for me here, it’s impossible that you didn’t do anything. We’ll talk about it at the station.”

As he finished speaking, Xue Yan had already put handcuffs on Wang Fu. Then, together with Zhang Rui, he escorted him out of the residential area and into a police car.

At this point in the case, Xue Yan felt that there had been a significant breakthrough.

As the saying goes, “Pull one hair and move the whole body.” No matter how ingenious the concealment, there would always be flaws to follow. Once a flaw was caught, it was possible to follow the vine and find the core of the case.

But what exactly was the core of this case, and how exactly did Wang Nongxin die?

Because of Sun Tao’s request, Xue Yan didn’t tell anyone about catching Wang Fu. Instead, he immediately found Sun Tao and interrogated Wang Fu with him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“Name.”

“Wang Fu.”

“Age.”

“29 years old.”

“Why did you kill someone?”

“I… I didn’t kill anyone!”

Wang Fu was so frightened by Sun Tao’s words that he shuddered. If it weren’t for the interrogation chair, he would have jumped up on the spot.

Sun Tao’s interrogation style was always full of his signature calmness. Xue Yan was already tired, so he naturally handed over the interrogation work to Sun Tao while he watched silently from the side.

Sun Tao sneered at Wang Fu’s reaction and suddenly intensified his tone, saying to Wang Fu, “At 2:30 AM on January 4th, you left the monitoring room with a gray shoulder bag. But the bag didn’t appear on the surveillance footage when you went to work in the morning. On January 5th, Wang Nongxin was found dead in his home, and the estimated time of death was after 8:00 PM on January 3rd. Now, according to the technical department, the surveillance footage from the residential area on January 3rd was replaced, and you just happened to be on duty in the monitoring room that day. I have reason to suspect that you killed Wang Nongxin and hid the fact that you had been to Building 9 by replacing the surveillance footage time. The gray shoulder bag you were carrying that night probably contained the tools you used to kill Wang Nongxin, isn’t that right?”

“No, it’s not like that. I didn’t kill anyone, I really didn’t kill anyone!”

“You didn’t kill anyone? Why did you run when you saw us if you didn’t kill anyone? Why did you coincidentally stay in the monitoring room for an extra half hour on the day the surveillance footage was replaced if you didn’t kill anyone? If you didn’t kill anyone, tell me what you had in that gray shoulder bag! Tell me, you committed murder and attempted to conceal your crime by forging the scene and tampering with the surveillance footage. The nature of your crime is extremely heinous. Do you know that?”

“I…”

Wang Fu swallowed, wanting to say something but stopping short, stubbornly refusing to say the words he wanted to say.

Xue Yan, who had been drooping his eyelids, suddenly opened his eyes at this moment and glanced at Wang Fu, saying somewhat lazily, “I heard from Lao Lin that your wife is a good person and your child is only two years old, isn’t that right? I think it would be better for you to confess, if you confess voluntarily, the court will consider reducing your sentence. I don’t want your child to grow up without a father, do you?”

“I… really didn’t kill anyone, really… really didn’t kill anyone.”

Wang Fu was completely dumbfounded, only muttering this sentence repeatedly, completely afraid to raise his head and meet Sun Tao or Xue Yan’s gaze.

“You didn’t kill anyone? Then answer me this question first, why did you replace the surveillance footage from January 3rd if you didn’t kill anyone? Do you know about Wang Nongxin being killed?”

Sun Tao asked sternly again, scaring Wang Fu into shaking his head repeatedly.

“I don’t know…”

“You don’t know? It’s such a big deal and you don’t know, are you blind or deaf?!”

Sun Tao suddenly raised his voice and shouted at Wang Fu.

Wang Fu was startled again, and his words began to become chaotic, “I… I know, no, I mean I knew later, but at that time I really didn’t know, I really didn’t know this kind of thing would happen, otherwise I wouldn’t have helped them do those things.”

Wang Fu was stunned after saying this sentence, but it made Sun Tao and Xue Yan both smile.

Although their expressions were still serious and intimidating, the faint curve of their mouths betrayed the joy in their hearts.

“Them? Who are they?”

Sun Tao continued to ask relentlessly. Generally speaking, as long as a criminal suspect accidentally says the truth during an interrogation, their psychological defenses will completely collapse and they will say everything they need to confess.

But Wang Fu’s situation was obviously a little special. He had clearly slipped up, but he still refused to tell the truth.

This made Sun Tao feel a certain suspicion in his heart, and he looked at Wang Fu and said slowly, “Are you worried about your wife and children? Is someone threatening you? If you tell these things, they will go after your family.”

“Don’t ask anymore, don’t ask anymore. I really don’t know anything, arrest me, just think that I killed him, it was me! It was me who killed him!”

“Enough!”

Wang Fu’s words Interpretation the deepest fear in his heart.

Sun Tao knew that this wasn’t working. A person who was firmly bound by fear could never say anything valuable, even for the sake of his family.

But Sun Tao was unwilling to give up just like that. He suddenly roared at Wang Fu and then said, “In that case, I can not tell these things to anyone. But I have a request, you have to look me in the eyes and answer my last question.”

“Wh… what question?”

Wang Fu seemed extremely nervous at the moment, but there was still some expectation left in his expression.

The interrogation process was always agonizing and unbearable, if it could end all of this…

Wang Fu raised his head and looked at Xue Yan. He was afraid of Sun Tao asking the question, but at the same time, he hoped that Sun Tao could ask it as soon as possible.

In this contradictory state of mind, Sun Tao moved his lips and slowly asked his last question, “Do you know someone called Brother Wolf?”

“I don’t know him, I don’t know him, I don’t know this Brother Wolf at all.”

Wang Fu looked extremely nervous. He denied it three times in one breath, and even the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes were twitching slightly.

This situation was even more exaggerated than when Sun Tao initially accused him of murder, but precisely because of this, Sun Tao found the answer he wanted.

“Lao Xue, do you have anything else you want to ask?”

“You’ve asked everything, what else can I ask?”

Xue Yan asked back. Sun Tao’s interrogation made him vaguely aware of some special circumstances, but it was obviously not appropriate to discuss the problem at this time.

“Then let’s end it here today.”

Sun Tao smiled and returned to his usual expressionless and lazy expression.

Xue Yan nodded understandingly and then shouted towards the door, “Xiao Zhang!”

“What’s wrong? Team Xue?”

Zhang Rui pushed the door open and walked in.

“Take the person out and detain him first, and then…”

Just as Xue Yan was halfway through his sentence, he suddenly saw the faint fatigue on Zhang Rui’s face, which made him swallow the words he was about to say and change his mind, “Then go and rest, get a good night’s sleep, I’ll give you a day off today.”

“It’s okay, Team Xue, I can just sleep at the station…”

“Young people shouldn’t be stubborn, go back and take a good bath and get some sleep, keep your phone on, your Team Xue is counting on you now.”

Sun Tao smiled and said to Zhang Rui, but it didn’t leave any room for discussion.

“Yes! Team Sun, Team Xue, then I’ll take the person away first.”

Zhang Rui responded and immediately stepped forward to take Wang Fu out of the interrogation room.

Soon, only Sun Tao and Xue Yan were left here.

The two of them sat in their original seats without moving until Sun Tao suddenly said, as if testing him, “Lao Xue, you also haven’t slept for a day and a night, why don’t you go back and rest early?”

“Hehe, hehehehe.”

Xue Yan smiled when he heard this, his eyelids no longer drooping, and he looked at Sun Tao.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Xue Yan stopped smiling and looked straight at Sun Tao and said, “Lao Sun, do you think you’re acting like a human being? You want me to share the case information with you, but you don’t share the case information with me, is there such a thing as cooperating on a case?”

“You and I are different, I have a family, you’re a bachelor, do you understand?”

“What’s wrong? Can’t you be a police officer if you have a family? Sun Tao, don’t give me that crap. I know you have a way with interrogations, but I’m not stupid either. Wang Fu was more afraid when he heard the words ‘Brother Wolf’ than when he heard that he had killed someone, so who is this Brother Wolf?”

“You really want to know?”

Sun Tao asked Xue Yan.

“Aren’t you waiting for my answer, I thought?”

“My answer is I don’t know.”

Sun Tao shook his head and said, but this angered Xue Yan.

He suddenly stood up and grabbed Sun Tao’s collar, lifting him up from the chair.

“What the hell do you mean? Are you playing with me? Do you know that this is a murder case? Do you know how many times I watched the surveillance footage to find the clue? And now you’re playing games with me?!”

“Okay, okay, Lao Xue, don’t get excited. I told you that your bad temper isn’t suitable for handling cases. Look, I haven’t finished my sentence yet, why are you getting angry first?”

Sun Tao looked like he was someone who didn’t respond to soft tactics but responded to hard tactics. When he saw that Xue Yan was really angry, he quickly waved his hands and continued, “I really don’t know who this Brother Wolf is, but do you know Xu Qing?”

“Xu Qing, that editor-in-chief of the Legal Daily? The one who writes those bullshit articles questioning our police’s handling of cases?”

“Why are you talking like that? She’s a reporter, an editor-in-chief, and what she writes isn’t bullshit either. If you think about it carefully, doesn’t the logic in her article resemble someone we know?”

“You… are you talking about Lao Gu?”

Xue Yan’s expression finally changed. He seemed to be recalling something, and his brows suddenly furrowed. Then, the hand that was grabbing Sun Tao’s collar gradually loosened, and he sat back down in his chair.

“Continue what you were saying.”

“That day, Editor Xu wanted to interview me, and I naturally agreed without hesitation. But after the interview, I suddenly noticed that someone was following her, so I immediately made some arrangements. You also know the secret to investigating cases: when there are clues, you have to follow the vine, be slow and steady; when there are no clues, you have to stir up trouble, be quick and ruthless, and make the criminals panic and reveal their flaws. So, after I did that, I caught a clue. The person who was following Xu Qing was called Wang Yang, nicknamed Wang Lao Er. He’s a hooligan from our Yulin County, and he usually hangs out in the Linchuan Street bar area. I interrogated him on the pretext of drug trafficking and tricked him into telling me who wanted him to follow Xu Qing, guess what?”

“Was it Brother Wolf?”

Xue Yan’s eyes suddenly lit up and he asked immediately.

“That’s right, so now the matter is actually very clear. Someone on my side forged the surveillance footage from the day after Wang Nongxin was still alive, and someone on your side was following the editor who questioned the Chen Fan case, and both of these things are related to a person called Brother Wolf. Lao Xue, you should realize that these two cases are related to each other. Or, to be bolder, maybe the people who killed Chen Fan and Wang Nongxin are the same group, and this Brother Wolf…”

“It all connects, it all connects. We suspected Zhao Yangfu of Chen Fan’s death, and during the investigation of Zhao Yangfu, we discovered Wang Nongxin’s presence. And in both the Wang Nongxin and Chen Fan’s deaths, we found the same person, so then…”

“Brother Wolf, we must find out who Brother Wolf is now. Lao Xue, I didn’t want to tell you this originally, because I now suspect that there is a small underground gang hidden in Yulin County, and the source of this gang is very likely related to the Agricultural Credit Cooperative and Yuzhou Cultural Media Company. So, you are also considering how to start without alerting the enemy while finding out Brother Wolf’s identity.”

“Without alerting the enemy? I just thought of something. By the way, Lao Sun, have you read the report Xu Qing wrote recently? The one about the Wang Nongxin case.”

“Not yet, what’s wrong?”

“I want you to read it first, and then… I have some ideas I want to discuss with you.”

It was rare for Xue Yan to show such a mysterious expression. Sun Tao looked at him suspiciously for a few seconds, and then nodded, “Alright, then I’ll go get a copy of the Legal Daily now.”

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