Bai Zhu’s men quickly brought Wu Hao back from the rundown apartment.
Wu Hao had long been scared out of his wits. He hid in the apartment for several days, not daring to go out or check his phone. As soon as he was brought back, he spilled everything.
“At 7:30 p.m. on the 16th, I went to Li Cuicai’s house. She opened the door for me at the time.” His hand had been reattached and was entirely wrapped in bandages, slung around his neck.
Since the injury, his already gaunt face had shriveled even further. His lips were pale, and his shoulders hunched slightly. He looked extremely haggard.
Treatment cost a fortune, and he did not have much money to begin with. Fortunately, Brother Zhu and his men had been caught, so those previous high-interest loans were written off.
【What happened to this guy? What did Brother Zhu do to him?】
【Wasn’t his hand injured by Brother Zhu? Or was it mental torture? He looks really bad.】
【Why sympathize with a gambler for no reason? Are you that full?】
“Do you know each other?” Fang Si Ting asked.
“We… we kinda do. We often played cards together…”
“Her husband didn’t know you’d been involved with Li Cuicai for a while?”
“That was so long ago. Of course he didn’t know.” Wu Hao laughed smugly and disdainfully. He could tell they were still entangled after all these years, unable to cut ties cleanly.
And all of this was unknown to Wang Guozhi.
“Since you’ve investigated this far, I’ll lay it all out. Ar Cai and I were together when we were teenagers. She even got an abortion for me. Later, she got together with Wang Guozhi, but she couldn’t let go of me. She often approached me under the pretense of playing cards, gave me money. I refused, and she got mad.”
Fang Si Ting did not want to listen to him brag anymore. “Tell me about the murder that night.”
“There’s nothing much to say. Sure, we’d been together for a bit, but someone offered a million to take her life. You’d have to be an idiot not to take that deal.
“That night, after Li Cuicai let me in, I asked if anyone else was home. She said no. Then, when she went to the kitchen, I pulled out the knife I’d prepared and slashed straight at her neck.” Wu Hao showed no remorse at all. The smile on his face was as if he were talking about a stranger.
【See? A gambler will even commit murder for money. Good thing it was fake, or a life would be gone just like that.】
【Never get involved with gamblers. You won’t even know when your throat gets slit.】
“Then I passed out somehow and woke up back at my place. I don’t know what happened.”
A voice came through everyone’s in-ear earpieces. It was the staff handling cleanup work, unrelated to the case.
“Who paid you to do it?” Fang Si Ting asked.
“I don’t know. Someone called me, asked if I’d do some dirty work. The money was so much, I thought I’d hit the jackpot. But the target died, and I still haven’t gotten the rest of the payment. I took just a few thousand in advance, and that guy wants me to keep quiet?
Pah, in his dreams. That person hired a killer and deserves the death penalty. I only did it because he told me to.”
A vice squad officer took his phone out for examination.
“How did he give you the money?”
“Cash, hidden in a black plastic bag inside a trash can under the big banyan tree in the park,” Wu Hao said. “You have to believe me, everything I’m saying is true! If it weren’t for the money, why would I kill Li Cuicai out of nowhere? That idiot kept sending me money every day. I wished I could replace the God of Gambling statue at home with her.”
“Because she made you lose money.” Fang Si Ting pulled out the transcript. “You and Li Cuicai frequented various casinos, pretending not to know each other while actually partnering to scam people. She used her womanly charms to lure rich out-of-towners and stir up the table’s emotions, while you cheated and fleeced the sheep.”
“But a few days ago, you got caught cheating.” Fang Si Ting showed photos. “You ended up with nothing, reduced to this state. You blamed it all on Li Cuicai.”
Wu Hao grew more frantic in his explanations. “I really was hired to do it. You have to believe me.”
“You said the murder weapon was prepared in advance? When did you buy it? Did Li Cunhou touch it?” Tang Shen asked.
“That knife came with the money. What do you mean, did Li Cunhou touch it?”
“No comment.” Tang Shen deliberately strung him along.
“You’re saying Li Cunhou is involved? He set me up?” Wu Hao had a sudden realization. He cursed, slammed the table, and yelled, “I knew that Li bastard had no good intentions. Let me tell you, Ar Cai often gave money to subsidize that useless brother of hers. He’s in his thirties and can’t even get a wife. He idles around all day, doesn’t do an honest day’s work. That Li guy must’ve known she had money but didn’t have the guts to kill her himself, so he secretly paid me to take out his own sister. Now that it’s done, he wants to swallow the money and deny it? No way in hell.”
“Sit down.” Fang Si Ting ordered.
Wu Hao’s agitated heart trembled. He sat back down with a aggrieved expression.
“Isn’t he vicious? He even discussed with me how to kill his sister, told me it was best to ambush her in that alley next to her complex. Then he said around 7 p.m., she’d be home alone, making it safer to strike then. He also suggested waiting until she sat down to ensure it was foolproof. Besides Li Cunhou, who else knew that woman Li Cuicai’s habits so well?”
“Did he really say that?”
“I’m telling the truth. If I’m lying, may the God of Gambling curse me to never get rich, lose every time I gamble.”
That was quite a vicious oath. After saying it, Wu Hao immediately panicked and regretted it. He clasped his hands together and prayed to the four directions.
Seeing how spineless he was, Peng Xiaoxiao in the observation room actually believed him. Through the earpiece, she signaled to Fang Si Ting that he was telling the truth, not fabricating lies to save his skin.
Two hours later, the intelligence team brought results. The person who hired Wu Hao to kill had used someone else’s phone. The owner of that “borrowed” phone was baffled and said they had no idea it had ever gone missing.
That lead went cold.
“You claim you were hired to commit murder. Think hard. If you don’t provide more info, we’re powerless to help.” Fang Si Ting said.
“D-death penalty?”
Fang Si Ting said nothing, but his wordless expression and gestures made Wu Hao’s heart sink further.
“Wait, I remembered something. After I killed her and went home, I woke up in pain in the middle of the night and realized my painkillers were gone. I thought I’d left them at Li Cuicai’s, so I rushed over that night to get them. Passing under the complex, I saw Wang Guozhi’s electric scooter!”
Fang Si Ting raised an eyebrow slightly. “What time?”
“Not sure, probably around 1 or 2 a.m.” Wu Hao recalled but truly could not pinpoint it. He continued, “Anyway, that scooter couldn’t have been parked there. Before going upstairs to kill Li Cuicai, I’d checked specifically, and Wang Guozhi’s scooter wasn’t there, which is why I went up confidently. I even asked Li Cuicai before acting, and she said she was home alone.”
When they had questioned Wang Guozhi earlier, Fang Si Ting had suspected he might have slipped home during a bathroom break. Xu An was still checking the surveillance along the route, with no results yet.
If Wu Hao had seen the scooter, it proved Wang Guozhi had indeed returned home after the crime, and the timing matched Lao Chen’s statement about Wang going to the bathroom.
So, was Wang Guozhi the mastermind?
“I don’t want to die. Someone really called me to kill Li Cuicai.” Wu Hao sobbed desperately.
Fang Si Ting rubbed his forehead and checked the time. The case had kept the pursuit team working overtime for days. He told them to go off duty first and come back tomorrow to interrogate Li Cunhou.
The next morning, when Fang Si Ting arrived at the office, he saw Tang Shen and Peng Xiaoxiao whispering about something.
Seeing him, they handed him a sandwich.
“Boss, Xu Nuo brought breakfast for everyone, plus Blue Mountain coffee!” Tang Shen was a serious coffee connoisseur.
“I had Italian breakfast yesterday and the day before, and today he brought me one from that place I love. I’m the only one in the entire pursuit team who got it. If he says it wasn’t specially for me, I won’t buy it.” Peng Xiaoxiao said happily.
“One breakfast and you’re bought.” Fang Si Ting unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite.
He was not picky about food and did not see what the fuss was about someone bringing breakfast.
Not far away, Xu Nuo joked and laughed with a few vice squad officers. In front of outsiders, his behavior was normal, nothing particularly eye-catching.
But when he got near Fang Si Ting, why did his hips sway like that, acting coquettish and teary-eyed? Fang Si Ting could not help but feel puzzled.
Was it because in front of him, he could let down his guard and show his true colors?
In less than three days, though, the guy had already won over most of the pursuit team.
“What a shame Xu Nuo isn’t a girl. Otherwise, I’d marry him.” One vice squad officer said.
“With that face, you could even get it up?” Another said. “No matter how much makeup, he’s still a guy.”
“Look closely, he’s actually pretty good-looking. We could go on missions together as partners, discuss cases, grab late-night eats after work, go home together. He’s tough, agile, caring—this is what they call physical and spiritual harmony!”
“Are you guys slacking off?” Fang Si Ting interrupted them. He tossed the half-eaten sandwich into the trash. “Bring Li Cunhou here.”
