Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Chapter 6 Do You Want to Arrest Me?

Jian Qing felt that this answer was truly shameless.

It expressed emotion, yet left no opening for rejection. What was he supposed to say—“control your interest, don’t fall in love with me”?

Too embarrassing.

Jian Qing couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Even though he had already accepted that he was a character in a novel.

He detoured around the person to the left and warned, “Don’t follow me.”

But someone’s ears seemed to have a filter installed, selectively hearing only “follow.” Relying on the large parking area around the club, he trailed behind at an unhurried pace.

Jian Qing said through gritted teeth, “He Linfeng, are you very free?”

If you’re that free, go and figure out the case of Xi Xue.

With his arm resting on the car window, the man who was called by name looked aggrieved: “It’s off-duty time now.” Police officers also need their own lives.

“And also,” completely unafraid of offending him, he honestly added, “your suspicion hasn’t been fully cleared yet.”

Jian Qing finally turned back: “You’re going to arrest me?”

That works too—he could just file a complaint for stalking and harassment.

But He Linfeng said, “So I came to help clear it.”

He lightly stepped on the accelerator, overtaking Jian Qing, and just before turning the corner, he extended a long, well-defined hand out of the car window and casually waved:

“Leaving.”

Jian Qing froze.

Because the implication in those words was—he believed him.

Has the “male lead halo” upgraded again? Jian Qing frowned slightly in thought. In the past ten-odd years, it had never taken effect on public servants.

He suspected this might be due to web novel writing constraints meant to avoid crossing red lines.

After learning about the existence of “transmigrators,” he had deliberately collected a great deal of information. Although most of it was novels and comics, he had never taken them lightly.

In a mystery novel labeled as detective fiction, if the police blindly trusted the protagonist, there would be no story at all.

That was the most basic underlying logic.

So He Linfeng should just be an accident—like his inexplicable early appearance. It had nothing to do with the system; it was purely that his brain was somehow broken.

Quickly sorting out the situation, Jian Qing calmed down and sincerely hoped that He Linfeng would, just like he was suddenly transferred to Beijiang, just as suddenly be transferred away.

“Achoo.”

Wiping his nose with a tissue, Wang Lai complained, “Beijiang’s weather is ridiculous—it’s getting cold faster than a rocket… and you’re wearing so little?”

He Linfeng got into the car: “I’ve got a good body, no choice.”

Wang Lai immediately felt like he’d been stabbed in the chest.

Based on Edge Shao’s information, they planned to head early this morning to the Yunding Community to retrieve internal surveillance footage from the day of Xi Xue’s death.

“I don’t get it—do young people date like this now?” Wang Lai turned the steering wheel left, following the navigation route. “Not a single post on Weibo or Moments.”

“Could Xi Xue have been dating a celebrity boyfriend?”

“Then Jian Qing actually kind of fits the description.”

In every aspect, it was shrouded in fog.

Although every previous time, the other party had only been an unlucky interference factor implicated by the real culprit, once clues were laid out in front of them, suspicion was inevitable.

“Maybe,” He Linfeng—whose intuition was the summary of all past experience—did not comment, only said, “Are the parents here yet?”

Wang Lai froze for a moment before realizing he was referring to Xi Xue’s parents: “They’re on the other side of the Pacific, maybe their flight was delayed.”

That said, aside from the initial call informing them of the death, the couple had not contacted the serious crime team again.

The car drove past two more streets.

Without any intention of bitterness, Wang Lai had always felt that so-called luxury housing estates followed a similar formula: seize land in the most prosperous parts of the city, dig a lake, plant trees, design winding paths, and use the largest possible area to build the fewest possible houses—prioritizing seclusion in the midst of chaos.

Yunding Community was no different.

“The records from the 17th,” the guard’s back was stiff, his posture tense as he gripped the mouse, subtly adjusting its position several times in an attempt to let the two officers behind him see more clearly. “It’s all here.”

He Linfeng patted his shoulder. “Relax, we’re just looking for someone… I can see fine even at 8x speed.”

The man was smiling; although handsome, he had no sense of aggression. The corners of his eyes curved gently, the kind of face that easily made others feel favorable toward him.

The gate guard was indeed fooled.

“I think I remember her a bit,” mistakenly assuming it was just a missing-person case, he grew bolder. After confirming the girl’s direction in the footage, he picked up a thick entry log. “…Here—Building 6, Room 301. The owner is Ms. Li. The visitor was named Xi Xue.”

Wang Lai leaned in and looked down. Familiar elegant handwriting entered his sight—identical to the writing in the clipped newspaper articles. The date was two weeks earlier.

“I just couldn’t recall the name,” the guard scratched his head awkwardly. “Do we still need to check the later surveillance?”

He Linfeng tapped the screen. “Zoom in.”

The brand-new HD camera was far more reliable than the “veteran relics” in the school. Zooming in further and further revealed the girl’s frozen face—and her bare neck.

No necklace.

Wang Lai and He Linfeng exchanged a glance.

They rewound further. At 10:30 p.m., Xi Xue took a taxi and left, her neck still completely bare.

“Wrong direction,” Wang Lai said in a low voice after leaving the guard. “From here to Jiang University, it takes at least fifteen minutes at top speed. Xi Xue got off at the north gate of Jiang University at 10:50 p.m.—she probably rushed off because she was afraid of being locked out of the dorm, so she took the shortcut without surveillance.”

And her estimated time of death was around 11 p.m.

So who put that puzzle-piece necklace on Xi Xue?

It couldn’t have been the driver.

The answer was obvious—an anniversary, a boyfriend.

This mysterious person, described only in fragments, had met Xi Xue in the final ten minutes of her life.

But something didn’t add up. According to his review of Jiang University’s surveillance, after 10 p.m., no other student went in the direction of Mingxin Lake.

It was said that there had once been an incident involving a stalker following women.

The more Wang Lai thought about it, the more curious he became. He practically wanted to fly back to the office immediately to recheck for oversights. “Are we still going upstairs?” The owner of Room 301 was a single woman, far from matching the suspect’s profile.

He Linfeng: “Since we’re already here.”

Ding.

The elevator arrived. A middle-aged woman with neatly tied-up hair had already opened the door. Hearing the sound, she proactively waved them over.

“I’m sorry, the house is a bit messy,” she said warmly as she handed them two pairs of disposable slippers. “I’ll go make you both some tea.”

He Linfeng noticed several suitcases piled in the corner. “Are you going on a long trip?”

“Yes. My son and daughter-in-law are abroad, and they’re planning to bring me over to live with them soon.” When she mentioned her children, Ms. Li’s voice clearly carried a hint of a smile. “So I was thinking of finding a tutor to learn English, so I don’t cause them trouble.”

“The last one left behind was Xiaoxue. I’m clumsy with words, but she was very patient, and she taught seriously too—not like the previous one, who always just wanted to get by.”

Bending down, she placed the tray on the coffee table. “What would the two officers like to ask? Xiaoxue is a good child—there must be some misunderstanding.”

Wang Lai quickly reached out with both hands to receive the items.

“She stayed at your place for a long time yesterday, far exceeding a normal tutoring session, and only left late at night,” He Linfeng said. “I’d like to know why.”

Ms. Li: “Sigh… it’s all my fault for being useless.”

“Yesterday was the last lesson. I originally planned to treat Xiaoxue to a meal, but I suddenly had a hypertensive episode—dizziness, palpitations—and instead she had to run around taking care of me.”

“Don’t laugh at me, officers. I’ve lived alone for so many years that I almost forgot what it feels like to have children around. I was both sad and happy, so I held her back and talked to her a bit more.”

“It’s not safe for a girl to walk alone, so I asked her to stay over. But she said taking a taxi was fine and that she’d keep location sharing on and stay in contact with me. Only after I confirmed she arrived at school did I feel relieved.”

Wang Lai: “Did you give Xi Xue any gift?”

“A gift?” Ms. Li looked confused. “Does a safety amulet count? I asked for it at a temple recently, but she left in a hurry and forgot it on the shoe cabinet.”

“I only saw it today when I was tidying up.”

Wang Lai fell silent.

Separated by life and death, that belated “safety” would ultimately become regret.

As someone experienced, Ms. Li faintly began to feel uneasy: “Officers… what exactly happened to Xiaoxue?”

Wang Lai suddenly felt the pressure of facing a victim’s family in advance.

No matter how many times it happened, he could never fully get used to it.

“I’m sorry. Xi Xue drowned on the night of the 17th,” He Linfeng stood up. “If possible, please attend her funeral.”

Compared to a kind lie, he preferred the cruel truth.

No one had the right to decide on behalf of others.

Heavy dark clouds gathered in thick masses. Compared to earlier, the sky was even more overcast. Before long, a dull roll of thunder rang out in the distance, and a light drizzle began to fall.

At the headquarters of the Jian Corporation, several junior employees were hiding in the break room slacking off, chatting about whether they had brought umbrellas.

Suddenly, someone glanced around furtively and lowered their voice like a thief: “That trending search this morning… did you all see it?”

Everyone immediately looked at each other, exchanging knowing glances in silent understanding.

“Seems like it was a female college student, and a sales manager from Yuedu Department Store,” after two seconds of silence, the boy who had asked the question first couldn’t resist gossiping. “They were fighting over Jian Zong in a love triangle, and it ended up causing two deaths.”

He didn’t dare say the uglier version.

For example, that the sales manager was Jian Zong’s boyfriend, and after discovering that Jian Zong had taken a female university student as his new fling, he killed the ‘other woman’ in a fit of rage, nearly killed Jian Zong too, and then died himself at the police station.

The story was full of twists and turns, melodramatic to the extreme. The attached images even showed blurred-out corpses. It was told in such vivid detail that it sounded almost real.

“It’s probably just marketing accounts making stuff up for clicks,” the girl on the outer side shook her head and objected. “I have a friend at Yuedu. It was clearly that the man’s confession failed and he went crazy.”

“Who knows. Anyway, Jian Zong… sigh, those who understand, understand.”

“I remember that guy from the sales department before, Liu Qiang…”

“He was the one who drunk-drove and ran a red light. What does that have to do with Jian Zong? Whoever causes trouble is the one in the right?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any brave soul in our building who confessed to him in public.”

“Why don’t you try?”

“I really want to, but I’m not worthy.”

“Honestly, Jian Zong is really good—at least very good to employees. Everyone who’s actually worked with him likes him. I hope the PR department clarifies this soon.”

One sentence after another, everyone was so absorbed in the conversation that no one noticed the fair, slender hand at the doorway extend out—and then quietly withdraw.

Clarify?

For him, being disliked was safer.