United Building 13th Floor.
According to the neighbor auntie’s testimony, they brought Li Cuicai’s younger brother, Li Cunhou, into the interrogation room.
“You say you didn’t know where you were last night?” Bai Zhu let out a speechless laugh.
“Sleepwalking, that illegal?” Li Cunhou wore an expression that screamed, “What are you gonna do about it?”
“We have witnesses proving you killed someone last night.” Bai Zhu silently reminded himself to stay civil as he pulled out a stack of files filled with various testimonies.
“That old hag across the hall! She’s always spying on my sister’s place.”
“I’m asking you questions—answer honestly!”
“I go to my sister’s place all the time. That old hag sees me every few days; it’s normal for her to mix up the timing. Call her in here, and I’ll confront her face-to-face to clear this up.” Li Cunhou draped one arm over the chair back, squinting at them.
“Correct your attitude.” Bai Zhu slapped the table sternly.
“This is my attitude.”
“What did you do last night? Confess honestly.”
Li Cunhou scoffed dismissively. “Yesterday morning, I helped my sister catch two fugitives, thinking I could trade them for cash. But they got away. After that, I found a street-side poker game and played until this morning. I was on my way for breakfast when you grabbed me.”
“We got statements from your poker buddies. They all confirm that yesterday afternoon around 3 p.m., Li Cuicai came looking for you, and then you left the table.” Bai Zhu jabbed hard at the stack of files.
A flicker of unease and panic crossed Li Cunhou’s face.
Those street-side poker games were ad-hoc setups by out-of-towners, with mostly outsiders playing. They usually wrapped up and scattered to other spots afterward, yet these guys had tracked them down so fast.
“Where did you go after that?”
“W-Well, so what? I just switched spots and kept playing.”
The interrogation room door opened, and someone walked in from outside.
The man stood around 1.9 meters tall. The room was already dim and cramped; his entrance cast a towering black shadow and sharp eyes that instinctively instilled fear.
The Action Team vice squad officer next to Bai Zhu grabbed the paper and pen from the table and stepped aside on his own.
Li Cunhou swallowed hard, dropping his arm from the chair back and uncrossing his legs to sit properly at the table.
“Uh… nothing else, right?”
The thud of the file report slamming onto the table was a signal to intimidate the suspect, making the man across from them flinch.
“Torture’s illegal now!”
Bai Zhu grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth. “What are you thinking? We’d never do that sort of thing. But if you sit in detention for 48 hours and the other inmates beat you into a cripple…”
Li Cunhou looked at them in panic.
“Have some water. No need to be so tense—it’s just routine questioning.” Fang Si Ting said. “If you’re not a suspect, we’ll let you go.”
Li Cunhou didn’t buy it, but he still picked up the disposable tea cup on the table and took a symbolic sip.
“Asking me won’t help. I don’t know anything.”
“There are your fingerprints on the murder weapon that killed Li Cuicai.”
“How could I kill my own sister!” Li Cunhou nearly jumped up. “I go to her place every day. Is there anything in her house I haven’t touched? It’s her kitchen knife—normal for it to have my prints.”
Wang Guozhi had indeed confirmed the weapon was from their house, so the fingerprints weren’t very compelling evidence.
“Tell us in detail what you were doing before and after the crime last night.”
“After 3 p.m. yesterday, my sister called me over. I went to her place to help find the money my brother-in-law had hidden—must’ve been when I was rummaging around and touched the knife, leaving clear prints. Around dusk, close to 7 p.m., she said my brother-in-law was coming back soon. I don’t get along with him, so she told me to leave first. After that, I went home. Did that old hag across the hall see me then? Don’t believe her—she can’t stand seeing our family do well.”
“Have you been to Sovereign Cloud Realm Neighborhood recently?”
“No.”
Fang Si Ting picked up a photo of a corpse covered in livor mortis and turned-out wounds.
“His name is Lu Jin. You killed him.”
Li Cunhou’s face went deathly pale.
Fang Si Ting laid out one crime scene photo after another on the table in front of him. “At another crime scene, we found traces of you being there. We tested the DNA from the sputum at the site—it matches you. How do you explain that?”
Li Cunhou stared at the photos in horror. After a long moment, he visibly relaxed and declared righteously, “I never went there. How should I know about that? You wouldn’t frame me, would you?”
Bai Zhu glanced at Fang Si Ting, his eyes signaling: This guy’s got some mental fortitude.
He wasn’t some deranged serial killer. A normal person who killed would feel guilty and terrified facing the victim again and confess outright.
But Li Cunhou was tough as nails, repeating the same line over and over. Even with witnesses and evidence staring him in the face, even if he broke down screaming, he still insisted he wasn’t the killer and knew nothing.
“I didn’t kill my sister, and I didn’t kill this guy. There’s evidence of me at both scenes at the same time—ever think I was framed?”
“How did you know they were killed at the same time?” Fang Si Ting suddenly asked.
They had only mentioned murder cases, not that they happened simultaneously.
Li Cunhou was stumped, his mouth opening and closing for a while before he said, “I heard about it.”
Fang Si Ting didn’t say more. He stood up. “We have evidence of you at both scenes. We’re arresting you for two counts of murder.”
“What? Two counts?!” Li Cunhou panicked. “How can you pin all this crap on me?”
“Just confess. That sputum is definitely yours—denying it is pointless.” Bai Zhu exhaled heavily, growing impatient. “The evidence is right here; no judge will buy your excuses.”
“You haven’t even figured out the whole story, and you think you can convict me? Evidence of me at both places at the same time—innocent until proven guilty, got it? I’ll walk free. Do you even know the law!” He steadied himself. No matter how he knew they happened simultaneously, he’d stick to his denial—they couldn’t touch him.
“Who told you that?” Fang Si Ting’s eyes narrowed.
How would a high-school dropout street thug know such technical legal stuff?
“I saw it online. TV dramas play it that way.” Li Cunhou said. “I’m really innocent. I didn’t kill anyone. I’ve never even been to this place you’re talking about. Both cases are setups to frame me.”
“Why so guilty if you didn’t go?” Bai Zhu could tell something was off.
“Who’s guilty!”
“That sputum at the villa wasn’t spat by him.”
The interrogation was heating up when a soft, effeminate voice cut in abruptly.
All three turned to the person at the table’s edge.
Someone stood behind Bai Zhu. He had been sitting in Fang Si Ting’s spot, taking notes, until Fang Si Ting arrived. Then he stood but didn’t leave, still holding the paper and pen.
The interrogation room’s light was brightest only over the table; beyond the lampshade was murky shadow.
Seeing them all look his way, he stepped forward a few paces.
The white light crept up from his feet to his body, finally illuminating his face clearly.
A faint whiff of women’s perfume wafted over.
He was a boy with delicate, almost feminine features. His hair was a bit longer than the Fox Hunt Commando Team members’ buzz cuts—shaggy bits. He wore thick, deep-blue framed glasses, casual clothes similar to the commandos outside: a simple T-shirt and tactical pants. But on closer look, the outfit had tweaks—a tighter fit hugging his full, perky rear, a cinched waist accentuating his slender yet fleshy figure.
In short, curvaceous.
Now standing at the table’s edge, he elegantly clasped his hands in front, swaying his body side to side as if showing off his charms.
The harsh white light exposed every pore. Up close, his face bore subtle everyday makeup and green contact lenses.
Fang Si Ting looked at the person beside him in confusion.
Even Bai Zhu blinked in surprise.
“You don’t recognize him?”
“I do. Xu Nuo.”
For this live broadcast, the Program Crew had pulled over a hundred people from recently retired Fox Hunt Commando Team members nationwide. Though they hadn’t known each other before, Bai Zhu had memorized all their names and faces on day one roll call.
Logically, in a group of roughneck guys, someone this “refined” should have stood out.
But these past three days, they’d been split into teams chasing leads nonstop. This big lug hadn’t paid attention to anyone’s quirks.
Even just now, he’d grabbed a random guy to take notes, focusing solely on Li Cunhou—why notice his own teammate?
“Why do you say the sputum at the villa wasn’t his?” Fang Si Ting asked.
When they mentioned the other murder scene, Li Cunhou had clearly panicked. Even if he didn’t kill Lu Jin, he knew something. A bit more pressure, and he’d spill.
But Xu Nuo had outright denied any link between Li Cunhou and the Lu Jin case.
Fang Si Ting’s deep eyes cast a slant shadow over his pupils, suspicion growing thicker.
Under that gaze, Xu Nuo’s face slowly flushed. He lowered his eyes to avoid the piercing stare but stuck to his opinion.
“From the photos earlier, I don’t think it looks like human sputum.”
“What kind of talk is that?” Bai Zhu was baffled. “If not human, then a dog spat it?”
“I don’t know how it got there, but it doesn’t look like someone spat it.”
“What are you babbling about? Even Tang Shen, the forensics expert, hasn’t said that. You a trace evidence pro or a forensics PhD? Don’t embarrass yourself.” Bai Zhu snatched the paper and pen from him, deciding to record himself.
“Inspector Fang, do you trust me?” He mustered his courage, peering past Bai Zhu at the other man.
Fang Si Ting didn’t dismiss it outright. “Reason.”
“Some people spit long strings, but normal folks don’t make that shape. It looks more like it was slung off something onto the ground.”
Seeing Fang Si Ting ponder, Bai Zhu said in shock, “You’re not buying this nonsense, are you? Don’t people spit in all shapes and sizes? Who says it has to be a round blob?”
“I think it’s somewhat credible.” Fang Si Ting’s gaze returned to Li Cunhou, fingers interlaced on the table. “Now we have reason to suspect the Lu Jin case was someone framing you. But for Li Cuicai, we have witnesses and evidence. Either confess now to lighten your sentence, or save it for your cellmates in prison.”
“So now there’s solid evidence for my sister’s case? And I’m totally clear on the Lu Jin one? Make it clear!”
Fang Si Ting and Bai Zhu stood to leave.
“Hey, you’re just walking out? How many years am I looking at?”
“Premeditated murder—death penalty minimum.” Bai Zhu flashed a menacing grin.
“Wait, I’ll talk. I confess.” Li Cunhou licked his lips, his expression awkward yet fawning as he chuckled and invited them to sit again.
“Misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. Why rush… it’s only 7 p.m. We could grab midnight snacks after.”
“Cut the grinning. Spill it.”
Li Cunhou jumped at Bai Zhu’s table slap; his earlier tough-guy act vanished. “I went to my sister’s place.”
“Last night around 9 p.m.”
