The manager raised his hand to knock on the door and called out, "Hello, room service." He scanned the master key card on the door, heard a beep, and then imdiately got pulled aside by Fang Mu.
Liu Yufei burst into the room with such speed that it took Fang Mu by surprise. He quickly followed her inside because these people had all flown in and weren’t carrying guns. If anything went wrong, he would have been in big trouble.
Upon entering the room, the mahjong machine was shuffling cards, creating a loud ruckus. Probably because of the noise, no one inside had heard the shouting outside or even the door opening. A few bystanders by the table jumped at the sight of the newcors.
Liu Yufei scanned the room and saw large stacks of cash in front of each player. Pointing at them with her police badge in hand, she said loudly:
"Everyone, hands on your heads and squat down on the ground."
A young man with a long and short haircut and tattooed arms sneered, walking up to Liu Yufei with contempt, pointing a finger at her.
"Who the hell are you? You don’t even know who this is. Spouting nonsense. A cop? You don’t look like one to , more like a little shampoo girl!"
Liu Yufei grabbed the finger pointed at her and twisted it backward forcefully. The young man who was just shouting in defiance imdiately squatted on the ground, howling in pain, unable to break free as Liu Yufei kept her gaze fixated on everyone else. More police officers started pouring in, quickly outnumbering the gamblers.
One of the players, a skinny man easily identifiable as Pang Xingguang by his features, put down his cards and stood up with a smile, revealing several deep creases on his cheeks—a clear sign of a drug user.
"Officer, what is this about? If there’s sothing you want to say, just say it. We’re rely entertaining ourselves after a client eting, not engaging in illegal gambling."
Fang Mu glanced at Pang Xingguang and pulled him by his collar to the wall.
"Enough with the nonsense. We’re from the criminal police brigade, not here to bust gambling. I don’t have ti to waste with your chatter. Speak when I ask you a question. Where is Zhang Song?"
Pang Xingguang was montarily taken aback, his smile fading into a serious expression, dropping his previous jesting deanor.
"Next door, in room 1827."
Liu Yufei released the tattooed young man and strode towards the door, instructing from the entrance:
"Leave a few people in 1825, everyone else stay put."
"Yes."
The others remained silent, it was clear to anyone that Liu Yufei was the authority in the room, snapping commands with dangerous energy. Everyone obediently squatted on the ground with their hands on their heads.
Leaving room 1825, Liu Yufei took the master key card from the manager, unlocked the door to room 1827, and charged straight in. The layout was the sa as the previous one—no one in the living room, and by listening closely, it was clear there was so noise coming from the western room. The murmuring sounds made it obvious what was going on inside.
Liu Yufei beckoned to Fang Mu, motioning for him to go inside.
Fang Mu pushed open the door and, sure enough, found a man and a woman engaged in an inverted workout. They were just about to curse at the interruption when they realized an entire group had entered, so switching on lights, so drawing curtains, and soone tossing a towel at the man.
"Are you Zhang Song?"
Zhang Song had already lost his energy and lay there panting, foolishly nodding, forgetting even to question what was happening.
"Yes, I’m Zhang Song."
"Wrap yourself up and get down. Don’t just wrap yourself like you’re playing dead, find your ID card."
Fang Mu grabbed Zhang Song’s arm, dragging him out of the room. Liu Yufei was already sitting on the sofa, flipping through a wallet on the coffee table with her police badge. It contained various bank cards and an ID card.
Feeling Liu Yufei’s icy stare, Zhang Song involuntarily shivered—not from a drop in temperature, but from the chill running down his spine.
"Can I... put on my clothes?"
Liu Yufei extended a finger and wiggled it slightly.
"Not in a hurry. Your na is Zhang Song, correct?"
"Yes."
"When I ask you questions, don’t make noises like ’hmm’, ’ah’, or ’oh’. Just answer yes or no, and provide clear responses to the questions. You can tell from my accent that I’m from Qindao. I’ve co a long way to arrest you; don’t you know what you’ve done?"
Clutching the towel around him, standing naked but for the cloth, Zhang Song lost all his usual arrogance as he stood on the floor being scolded by a strange woman.
"I’m certainly no saint. I love to eat, have fun, and stir up trouble. But I haven’t done anything illegal or against discipline. If finding a girl counts, then I guess I’m guilty. Are you going to detain for that? If so, could I contact my sister or brother-in-law?"
Liu Yufei’s gaze swept over Zhang Song. He was plump and chubby with fear evident on his face, yet his eyes didn’t dart away. This observation caused Liu Yufei to frown slightly.
His reaction to the police wasn’t one of great fear. He smoothly ntioned contacting his sister and brother-in-law. If he were the killer, then he was hiding it incredibly well, with no flaws to be seen.
"What is your relation to Zhang Wannian?"
"My brother-in-law,"
"When did you last see him, and that includes phone calls, of course."
Zhang Song paused, tilted his head as if he were really trying to rember, and after a while, he awkwardly raised one hand, the other still firmly gripping his towel.
"Officer, could I take a look at my phone? Now that you ask, I can’t seem to recall. I went to my brother-in-law’s company in October last year, and it was an unpleasant scene. After I got out of detention, I called him, and I think that was the last ti, but I can’t rember the exact day."
Liu Yufei looked at the people accompanying her, and soone imdiately went into the bedroom inside and brought out a mobile phone, placing it in front of Liu Yufei.
"So you just called him, you didn’t see him in person?"
Zhang Song nodded, thought about it, and then said:
"Actually, I haven’t seen my brother-in-law for a long ti. After last year’s Spring Festival, in March when I went to see him, I found out through the casual talk of the people at his company that he had divorced my sister. Theirs was an arranged marriage; they thought they were suitable for each other after a matchmaking session and so they got married. However, he was truly good to ."
Over the years, those two, one living in Dayao City and the other in the provincial capital, didn’t see each other much. In the end, they were just doing their own thing, playing their own gas. There was no mutual involvent, which seed like a good thing to . I asked my sister, and even she didn’t know what got into her husband, but he was determined to get a divorce.
After that, I would occasionally call him. That ti I visited their company, I saw strangers in my brother-in-law’s office. That’s why I got into a fight with those people, not realizing that they were running the company temporarily and had no regard for saving face. So, what’s happened to my brother-in-law, did sothing happen to him?"
The concern on Zhang Song’s face seed genuine; of course, if it was an act, then his psychological quality was truly extraordinary. One should not rely solely on subjective judgnt to decide anything—Liu Yufei stayed silent for a mont.
"Right now, I’m the one asking questions, not you. When did you leave Dayao City, and why did you leave?"
"Around mid-November, the fourteenth or fifteenth, I followed a friend, Pang Xingguang, here to Hesheng City. He said there was a project that could make a good profit, so I borrowed so money from my sister and ca over. It was a business dealing in the sales of second-hand steel material.
When I arrived, I realized that the little money I brought was nowhere near enough for anything significant. They were setting up a steel material trading market, where everyone invested and traded inside, sowhat like a third-party guarantee. Many people from all over the country ca, so investing tens of millions. My couple of hundred thousand didn’t do much."
A detective ca over to Liu Yufei and handed her a stack of promotional brochures. After a brief look, Liu Yufei spotted the issue: what kind of project was this? It was similar to fundraising, clearly a trap targeting rich second-generation kids looking to invest. But with such large amounts of capital, had the Huining police not noticed?
She looked at Fang Mu and handed him the brochure, then motioned to her assistant with a wave of her hand.
"Take Zhang Song to put on so clothes, and then go to the municipal bureau for blood and fingerprint collection."
Zhang Song struggled for a bit.
"Wait a minute, officer, I’m not resisting or anything. I’ll face detention or fines if necessary. I just want to ask if sothing happened to my brother-in-law or my sister."
Liu Yufei stood up, her gaze fixed on Zhang Song’s eyes, and said word by word.
"Zhang Wannian is dead."
Zhang Song’s eyes widened in shock, his mouth agape in surprise for quite a while.
"Was he murdered? Tell how he died. Did you find the killer? Was it over money or what? Tell !"
Zhang Song cried out, his tears and snot flowing freely, his panicked deanor appeared authentic.
"I cannot answer that question for you. I hope you will cooperate with the investigation."
Zhang Song fell silent, wiped away his tears, and looked at Liu Yufei with a dawning realization.
"So, you’re saying you haven’t determined the cause of death and suspect as the murderer, right? How could that be? My brother-in-law treated better than my sister ever did. She was always in the provincial capital, and it was my brother-in-law who took care of . Frankly speaking, he was like a father to . Whenever I got into trouble, he was the one who ca forward to help handle things. But my brother-in-law was a very amiable man, whom could he have possibly offended?"
Liu Yufei waved her hand—talking more with Zhang Song was aningless. The detective took Zhang Song into the neighboring bedroom, while Fang Mu was still looking at the brochure, now seemingly understanding what Liu Yufei ant.
"Liu Da, I haven’t dealt with many economic cases, so I didn’t quite grasp what you were suggesting. This financing promotion seems problematic, doesn’t it?"
Liu Yufei nodded.
"I’ll look into it and report back. It’s better to do it in writing. Take down what Zhang Song just ntioned and make it a formal record. There are others in the neighboring room too. I think Pang Xingguang needs a thorough interrogation. It’s like catching hares while mowing the field.
Illegal financing can be laundered in many ways. There were a few cases like this in Qindao previously—setting up a front to roll up funds and then declaring bankruptcy, with the local governnt ultimately bearing the loss. If it cos to accountability, the Public Security Bureau is among the first to be held accountable."
Fang Mu’s expression turned serious, and he nodded vigorously.
"I understand. I’ll prepare the docunts when I get back and follow the official procedures. I’ll notify the public security team to pick up the people in the next room—perfect for a detailed interrogation. It would be great if they find sothing substantial."
Liu Yufei smiled.
"Let’s go. I’ll have Mr. Bai accompany your people to the station for sampling. I’ll also need assistance from the Forensic Detection Center to help with the testing. I want to go directly to the outdoor sports company to find Sun Nan. Do you know where it is?"
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