Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Mountain Blaze (18)

“Do you have any prejudice against people like us?” Jie Yang asked irritably. “Just because it’s a niche hobby doesn’t mean it isn’t a hobby.”

“No, I actually envy you,” Hai Shu leaned against the desk, chatting with Jie Yang. “You have both the ability and the willingness to spend money on the things you like. How did you meet Feng Cheng Anna?”

Jie Yang replied oddly, “What does that have to do with her?”

“Don’t want to talk about it?” Hai Shu said casually. “Fine, it’s not important anyway. Dr. Jie, although you’re tired of this question, I still have to say it: we need to know what you did on the two days you swapped shifts.”

Jie Yang was silent for a moment, a bit despondent. “How can I make you believe that I really went home and slept?”

Hai Shu said, “But the community surveillance doesn’t think so.”

“Then it’s just one camera! Couldn’t it malfunction? Can it capture everyone? What if it just didn’t catch me?”

“Professional staff have checked the surveillance system. There’s no malfunction and no signs of tampering. It covers the entire area of the main gate. If it didn’t capture you, that means you didn’t enter or leave.”

Jie Yang snapped, “Then tell me, what do you think I did?”

Hai Shu stared into his eyes, sensing that his words just now were deliberately expressing anger and dissatisfaction. In reality, he had rehearsed this many times, firmly believing that just relying on surveillance, the police couldn’t prove his guilt.

Why was he so confident? Did he know the police had a blind spot?

Where was that blind spot?

Jie Yang walked to the computer, angrily powered it on, then pulled out his camera, tablet, and phone, tossing them all on the desk. “You want to search? Take all these. See what kind of person I am, and then prove my innocence!”

Hai Shu glanced at the computer. The desktop showed a group image from some work, but no Feng Cheng Anna cosplay character. She collected all the devices. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

While Hai Shu and Jie Yang sparred verbally, Wen Xu had preliminarily finished inspecting several rooms. There were no traces besides Jie Yang’s, and the fingerprints were completely cleaned. The cabinets contained commonly used medications, which were sampled individually.

Jie Yang scoffed dismissively. “I’m not Director Ma. I couldn’t do something like stealing medicine.”

Wen Xu shook his head slightly at Hai Shu and asked, “Where is your car parked?”

Jie Yang said, “You want to check my car too? Fine. By the roadside.”

The Ford was parked in the same spot as yesterday. Wen Xu first sampled the tires and chassis, then climbed into the car. The disinfectant smell inside was stronger, enough to make one think they were under a biochemical attack.

Jie Yang said, “I haven’t driven this car much; it’s still very new.”

Hai Shu said, “Yes, I noticed you rarely drove it before March. After March, you often took it out for a spin. Dr. Jie, where were you going?”

Jie Yang frowned. “This is part of the investigation?”

Hai Shu nodded. “The workload is a bit heavier, but with the traffic police’s cooperation, we might trace some of the routes you took.”

Jie Yang said, “The weather was nice. I just went for a drive and looked at flowers.”

The car inspection took less time and found no blood, fingerprints, or other important clues, but two short hairs were found on the front passenger carpet. If short hairs were on the driver’s seat, they were likely Jie Yang’s own—but why were they on the passenger side?

Wen Xu asked, “Has anyone else driven this car?”

Jie Yang said, “No, I drive alone, sit alone.”

Back at the city police station, Wen Xu immediately extracted DNA from the short hairs. The result was surprising—it was Jie Yang’s hair.

“He did it on purpose,” Hai Shu thought, replaying Jie Yang’s words, tone, and movements. He was fully prepared for any police search, and those two short hairs were likely deliberately placed.

Wen Xu considered, “Makes sense. Jie Yang cleaned his room and car meticulously; leaving hair behind would be abnormal. He wanted us to see the hair taken from the car and remain unflustered. He has nothing to hide. There’s nowhere left to search.”

The police knew that Jie Yang only rented this one apartment in Huichong City, and the pharmacy and office he worked at had already been searched. Evidence could only be on his electronic devices.

However, after checking, his computer, unlike Yao Wei’s, had no access to foreign websites. It only contained games and anime. His camera had many cosplay photos from conventions and some with Feng Cheng Anna. Nothing else seemed suspicious.

No Tang Jinli, no Yao Wei, no Zhao Ruo Cheng.

Wen Xu could imagine Jie Yang’s arrogance—“I said I’m innocent, and you insist on wasting time on me.”

Hai Shu had previously contacted the traffic police to help locate Yao Wei’s missing car. Many small roads in Yan Ai District had no surveillance, or if there was, coverage was limited. Despite their efforts, the car couldn’t be found. Hai Shu then asked them to check Jie Yang’s Ford, especially his movements after March.

This time there were some results: the car was captured on surveillance at Chengjian Third Road, Chengjian Ninth Road, and the southern section of Yongming. These locations were scattered, with only the southern section of Yongming roughly connecting to Zhao Ruo Cheng’s corpse disposal site and Yao Wei’s home—but Jie Yang had already prepared an excuse: he was out for a drive to enjoy the flowers.

Since it was just a drive, he could go anywhere. And indeed, those sections were full of blooming flowers.

Jie Yang’s “cleanliness” was extreme, but it was precisely this over-cleaning that made Hai Shu and Wen Xu certain he was hiding something. His confidence also relied on this “cleanliness”—he believed the police couldn’t find evidence.

At night, Hai Shu stayed in the office reviewing the clues alone. Even before Liu Xing mentioned the key point “doctor,” she had already deduced that besides Yao Wei and Zhao Ruo Cheng, there was at least one more person, and that person was the real murderer.

Tang Jinli’s death involved all three. Without Liu Xing’s appearance, they would have thought they had properly handled the corpses. Tang Jinli’s phone was in the hands of one of them, who impersonated Tang Jinli and posted videos from Tang Jinli’s account “Nuan Nuan Ah Nuan Nuan.” They also went to Tang Jinli’s rented apartment to clean up.

When the situation got out, they had to kill anyone who knew to protect themselves. Zhao Ruo Cheng appeared to have been poisoned and dumped by Yao Wei, but Yao Wei’s actions suggested that before March 20, he might not have even considered silencing anyone.

The third person—Jie Yang—had already begun planning.

Zhao Ruo Cheng’s body was dumped in an easily discoverable location, and the use of isopropyl phenol directed suspicion toward Yao Wei. If Yao Wei also fell victim, as long as the bodies were hidden properly, the living could shift the blame.

Hai Shu pressed her forehead and murmured, “Where exactly is Yao Wei’s body?”

Jie Yang’s confidence stemmed from this body that would not be found, a blind spot for the police.

A blind spot…

The police had obtained enough surveillance footage, but even in a large city like Huichong, cameras couldn’t monitor everyone 24/7. Hai Shu dragged through videos from various sources. Jie Yang’s movements in and out of his community and the hospital were regular. When leaving the community for the hospital, he didn’t drive; the few times he drove to the hospital in March were in the morning for his so-called drives.

While reviewing the footage, Hai Shu noticed a suspicious detail: on March 21, the afternoon after Yao Wei’s disappearance, Jie Yang drove to the hospital. He was on a night shift that day, and the day before had been a day shift. The community cameras didn’t capture him returning home on the 20th, nor leaving during the day on the 21st. He insisted he had been home sleeping and blamed the surveillance for being faulty.

Where had he driven from? Why drive at all? At that time, the car had some normal-use dirt, unlike its current pristine state.

Hai Shu felt a rush of blood to her head and quickly drove to Kangmin Hospital.

Yao Wei might have been in danger on March 20. Someone as cautious as Jie Yang would never drive an uncleaned car to work—unless cleaning the car at that moment was impossible, or pointless, because Yao Wei was in the car!

If Yao Wei had still been alive, Jie Yang definitely wouldn’t have taken such a risk. But even the most dangerous place can be the safest, and this was extremely risky. What if another medical staff discovered the hidden person at the hospital?

Kangmin Hospital was not large.

Hai Shu floored the accelerator and raced through the streets late at night. At that moment, Jie Yang must have thought the corpse soon to appear by the riverside would attract police attention, and once they checked Yao Wei, it would buy him time. In any case, there was no way the police could reach Kangmin Hospital in a short period.

In the recent drug-theft investigation, almost all areas of the hospital had been searched, except for one place everyone knew about but often overlooked: the morgue.

Hai Shu informed the on-duty police en route. Upon arriving at the hospital, they encountered Jie Yang, who had just finished his night shift and was about to leave. Jie Yang froze, and as Hai Shu approached, he suddenly felt a very bad premonition.

“Dr. Jie,” Hai Shu said, “while you’re still here, come with me to a place.”

Jie Yang stood still, reading something in her gaze. For the first time, panic appeared in his eyes.

“Let’s go,” Hai Shu said.

Jie Yang instinctively took a step back, shaking his head lightly. The next instant, he spun around, pushing past the police behind him, and ran toward a nearby nurse.

The nurse had no time to react and screamed.

Jie Yang’s right hand reached into his pocket and pulled out something. But just as his left hand grabbed the nurse, a gust of wind suddenly came from behind.

Hai Shu had already chased after him in that split second, leaping at the right moment, using a table in the hall to spring herself up, and with a high kick from her right leg, neatly swept the dagger from his right hand.

The dagger spun in the air and fell at the police officer’s feet.

Jie Yang fell to the ground from the impact, attempting to run, but Hai Shu’s knee was already pressing on his back. “I see you already know where I want to take you. The morgue—that’s where your secret is, isn’t it?”

The commotion in the hall alerted the security and awake medical staff. Hai Shu handcuffed Jie Yang and explained the situation to the arriving deputy director, requesting access to the morgue.

The deputy director stammered, “The… the morgue… has a problem?”

The small hospital’s morgue was far inferior to a large hospital’s. It was in a creepy-looking building next to the surgery wing, reportedly converted from an old cafeteria. The freezing equipment inside was outdated, and two non-frozen counters held recently delivered corpses.

Hai Shu had the on-duty doctor pull the surveillance from the morgue entrance. At 11 p.m. on March 21, a person in a white coat, mask, and cap pushed a corpse inside. Zooming in, it was Jie Yang. No doctor was on duty at the entrance at the time.

The on-duty doctor explained that no one ever stayed there constantly. Any department needing to send a corpse simply did it themselves. Nothing had ever gone wrong in all those years.

Every hospital managed its morgue differently. Jie Yang knew this place well enough to boldly push the corpse inside!

The freezer was opened, and Yao Wei lay in the third freezer.

Wen Xu hadn’t expected that a short nap would lead to more work. He quickly completed the autopsy and confirmed that Yao Wei’s cause of death was the same as Zhao Ruo Cheng’s: respiratory suppression caused by injection of isopropyl phenol).

By this point, Jie Yang could no longer keep up the act.

Hai Shu conducted the interrogation overnight. “You killed Yao Wei and Zhao Ruo Cheng? The isopropyl phenol in Yao Wei’s hands—you gave it to him?”

Jie Yang admitted, “I told him this drug could be used on disobedient women.”

Hai Shu asked, “So you set the trap, used isopropyl phenol to kill Zhao Ruo Cheng, and guessed that Yao Wei hadn’t finished using his dose. If the police investigated, they would suspect him.”

Jie Yang gave a bitter smile. “I didn’t expect you to find me so fast. I was just a little away from handing over the body…”

As Hai Shu had analyzed, Jie Yang, Yao Wei, and Zhao Ruo Cheng were indeed Tang Jinli’s three backups, but initially they didn’t know each other, and Jie Yang didn’t even know the other two existed.

Jie Yang met Tang Jinli at a comic convention in March last year. Tang Jinli wasn’t young, and compared to the teenage cosplayers, she had a unique charm. He approached her, and she responded warmly. They exchanged contact info, and when he had free time, he invited Tang Jinli out for meals.

He had been working alone in Huichong City and at his age faced personal issues that needed solving. He had been on blind dates, but the women either found him too dull or disliked that he didn’t have a house.

Tang Jinli impressed him—beautiful, understanding, also without her own house, and with a deep longing for family. He thought it was perfect. After spending some time together, he realized Tang Jinli had no interest in anime or games, and attending conventions to take photos was just work. He didn’t mind, as long as both were committed to running a family.

However, in late August, he suddenly discovered that Tang Jinli was simultaneously seeing two other men. He confronted her. Tang Jinli apologized but asked, “Am I your girlfriend?”

He froze. He thought they were already in a relationship. Apparently not.

Tang Jinli explained that she had never explicitly mentioned dating; in their situation, it was merely adult ambiguity.

This made him furious, yet he was speechless.

Tang Jinli proposed maintaining their current relationship and added that she had been hurt by men before. Without a definite plan to marry soon, she didn’t feel safe.

He had little dating experience, didn’t know what to do, felt angry subconsciously, but also felt some of Tang Jinli’s words made sense. After thinking calmly, he decided to continue seeing Tang Jinli but demanded she cut off contact with the other men. Tang Jinli verbally agreed.

On December 10 of last year, he discovered that Tang Jinli had broken her promise and been photographed in explicit poses by another man. Enraged, he threatened to kill her during an argument. Tang Jinli broke free and called Zhao Ruo Cheng and Yao Wei to come save her.

At this point, Jie Yang grinned sinisterly. “Guess what happened when they arrived?”

Hai Shu suppressed her anger. “You all killed her together!”

A crazy, dark laughter filled the interrogation room. Jie Yang gritted his teeth, his eyes full of the bloodlust from that rainy night.

Some deep-rooted flaws in unmarried older men seemed to erupt like a contagion. When Zhao Ruo Cheng rushed over and saw Tang Jinli barely clothed, tied to the table leg by Jie Yang, the first thought that came to his mind wasn’t to rescue her. He exchanged glances with Jie Yang, as if instantly understanding that they shared the same suffering—they had both been played by this woman!

Unlike Jie Yang, Zhao Ruo Cheng hadn’t noticed earlier that Tang Jinli treated him as a backup. But at over thirty, he had been observant enough to see clues. Tang Jinli didn’t invest in him as he had in her; the relationship seemed disposable.

Tang Jinli struggled, “Cheng-ge, save me!”

Zhao Ruo Cheng hesitated, standing still. Jie Yang wiped the sweat off his face and stared at Zhao Ruo Cheng, his tone coaxing, “You’re such a good man. She calls you, and you run over like a fool. See? You and I—we’re just backups. Do you still want this woman?”

Tears streamed down Tang Jinli’s face as she watched Zhao Ruo Cheng close in.

At that moment, a commotion outside. Yao Wei burst in. “Little Tang!”

Jie Yang slowly clapped his hands. “Ah, a big gathering of backups.”

Yao Wei initially tried to untie Tang Jinli, but Zhao Ruo Cheng used his body advantage to kick him, shouting, “Aren’t you shameless?”

Yao Wei stood up, not fighting Zhao Ruo Cheng, but as if sober, looked down at Tang Jinli.

At this instant, three previously strangers, united by shared emotion, formed a single rope of rage. In their eyes, Tang Jinli became a deceitful, humiliating phantom, magnifying their deepest insecurities, as if a festering wound ready to consume them.

The first to go mad was Zhao Ruo Cheng. He grabbed Tang Jinli’s hair and slapped her repeatedly. “You shameless woman! You led me on everywhere! Did you look down on me because I wasn’t a real cop? What else did you do behind my back?”

Tang Jinli was beaten bloody, unable to speak.

Jie Yang turned to Yao Wei. “You’re her photographer boyfriend, right? I knew you existed. Do you know me?”

Yao Wei, astonished, “You know me?”

Jie Yang sneered, “You trust her so much? Prepare to be disappointed. Months ago, I discovered your existence. I was furious and asked her why she was seeing one and baiting another. Guess what she said? She said—she loved me the most. You’re just a backup. Once I’m stable with her, she’ll break up with you. Oh, and those photos you took of her? I’ve seen them too. Quite talented, brother.”

Yao Wei, unable to hide his rage, kicked Tang Jinli. Her forehead slammed hard against the table leg.

Those words only further enraged Zhao Ruo Cheng. He glared at Jie Yang. “He’s a photographer. What are you?”

Jie Yang said, “I’m a doctor.”

Zhao Ruo Cheng grabbed Tang Jinli and slapped her several times. “Do you look down on me? A photographer, a doctor, and who else?”

Tang Jinli shook her head repeatedly, but the mad men were like beasts, using the excuse of defending their dignity to bare their sharp teeth at her.

The three of them took turns, all blinded by hatred and inferiority, and Tang Jinli’s body gradually became like a heap of mud, losing even the faintest struggle.

Yao Wei was the first to react. “S-she… why isn’t she moving?”

Zhao Ruo Cheng, panting, shook Tang Jinli by the hair. “Get up! Don’t play dead!”

Yao Wei: “Shit! She can’t be really dead, right? Doctor! Check her!”

Jie Yang saw this and his face turned pale.

Zhao Ruo Cheng was startled. “Impossible!” He jumped up, grabbed a power strip, stripped one end of the wire, and, after electrifying it, touched it to Tang Jinli’s neck.

Jie Yang shouted, “Don’t mess around!”

Zhao Ruo Cheng babbled, “She’s faking! A shock will wake her up!”

Yao Wei shouted, “You already shocked her! Is she awake?”

Zhao Ruo Cheng: “I…I… is she really dead? What do we do?”

Jie Yang stood up and looked at Zhao Ruo Cheng. “If we turn ourselves in, the police will do an autopsy and will definitely find out that you dealt the heaviest blows.”

Zhao Ruo Cheng suddenly grabbed Jie Yang by the collar. “Bullshit! You’re the mastermind! You wanted to kill Tang Jinli, that’s why she called us!” He then turned to Yao Wei. “And you! You made her hit her head! That had to be the fatal blow!”

Yao Wei jumped up. “Don’t shirk responsibility!”

Jie Yang said, “Stop arguing. We’re all in the same boat. Turning ourselves in brings no benefit, just who serves more years and who gets out sooner. I’m a pharmacist—not as flashy as a doctor, but at least a stable job. I don’t want to go to prison. Now I want to ask you—what about you?”

Zhao Ruo Cheng was the first to speak. “I’m a damn auxiliary cop! If I perform well, I can become a real cop! I absolutely can’t go to prison!”

Yao Wei said, “Then what should we do?”

Jie Yang looked out the window. Rain drizzled down, bringing a cold wave over the city. “Can you guarantee that today’s matter is known to no one else, no fourth person?”

Zhao Ruo Cheng: “I guarantee it!”

Yao Wei: “Is that even a question?”

Jie Yang nodded. “Good. Now let’s deal with the body. Since it’s raining today, we’ll take it out to the suburbs and bury it. If we dig deep, it won’t be discovered for five or ten years. Even if found later, the police will have no evidence.”

The three of them acted immediately. Two hours later, their car had passed through Guibai District and arrived at a remote, wild area.

Zhao Ruo Cheng said, “Did we pass that village with flowers? Will it have tourists next year?”

Yao Wei: “No. Tourists are all at Guibai Mountain. This is just a wild valley.”

They worked until almost dawn, finally burying Tang Jinli deep underground. When the sun rose, they looked at each other and even shared a grim smile of comradeship in adversity.

Afterwards, they each took Tang Jinli’s belongings and removed every trace from her home. They discovered she used a dedicated phone to contact them, while her main phone had an added contact named Li Siwei, which angered them even more.

But the person was dead, so it no longer mattered. Jie Yang suggested minimal contact—if they must communicate, meet in person or use a different phone and number.

After completing everything, they returned to their lives as if nothing had happened. Tang Jinli had no friends or family in Huichong City, so no one ever reported her missing.

In January of this year, Yao Wei used Tang Jinli’s phone to post the last batch of videos, and met with Jie Yang again. Jie Yang, wearing winter gloves, handed him the isopropyl phenol and asked what it was for.

Jie Yang smiled. “A drug you can use on girls. After injection, they’ll obey. But don’t use too much—save some. When it’s gone, come back to me.”

Yao Wei was delighted. “Never thought I’d meet that kind of woman, and still make a friend like you.”

Hai Shu asked, “So you’ve been planning since January this year?”