In the closed off interrogation room, the door suddenly creaked open.
The people in the room subconsciously looked up, but there was no one at the door.
A middle-aged policeman got up to close the door, while the disheveled man sitting in the interrogation chair absentmindedly withdrew his gaze.
The interrogation chair was connected to the metal tabletop.
Suspects sat on it, restrained to prevent any aggressive behavior, somewhat like a baby chair.
At this moment, Old Li sat in the somewhat cold interrogation chair, staring blankly at the disposable paper cup in front of him.
With a “clack,” the door of the interrogation room closed, its heavy sound making Old Li’s shoulders tremble involuntarily.
“Li Chongming.” Wang Tou tapped the table with his index finger, lifting up a photo to show the man on the interrogation chair. The photo showed a young woman’s face, thick bangs covering her hair and half of her eyes. “Do you remember this person?”
Old Li raised his head dully, glanced at the photo, then quickly lowered his head again, shaking it like a rattle. “No, I don’t remember.”
“Don’t remember?” Wang Tou’s face darkened. “Let me help you remember. Ten years ago, there was a missing person case in R City. This person in the photo is the one who went missing. She was a student at R University and she lived in your rented room 207. Her name is Su Xiaohua.”
“We questioned you about her back then. Do you recall?”
Old Li suddenly realized, “Oh, I remember now. It’s her. No wonder she looked familiar. It’s been quite a long time, and my memory isn’t good. I forgot.”
The middle-aged policeman slammed the table heavily. “Li Chongming! Stop fooling around with us! This involves a human life. Be serious! Do you remember what we asked you back then?”
Old Li’s gaze flickered. “I don’t remember.”
Wang Tou opened an old questioning record and began reciting it like an emotionless reading software.
“The girl in room 207 is quite solitary. I’m just her landlord and didn’t talk to her much. We’re not close.”
“I haven’t seen anyone visit her, but occasionally, a girl comes to see her. They seem to be close friends.”
“Oh, right. She also has a boyfriend who sometimes comes to pick her up.”
After reading this passage, Wang Tou put the record aside. “Do you remember now?”
Old Li raised up his head stiffly. “Oh, yeah, I vaguely remember. She went missing, and you came to ask if she had contact with anyone else.”
“I remember this case. Wasn’t it solved? Wasn’t her boyfriend the culprit?”
Wang Tou leaned back in his chair, his expression relaxed slightly and he tapped the table lightly. “Don’t you have a poor memory? How come you still remember who the culprit was?”
Old Li chuckled nervously.
Wang Tou’s expression turned serious in an instant. “Did you also install cameras in Su Xiaohua’s room ten years ago?”
“No, no.” Old Li immediately stopped chuckling, his eyes wandering to the disposable cup in front of him. “Absolutely not.”
Wang Tou and the middle-aged policeman exchanged glances, and Wang Tou said coldly, “Old Li, do you realize that you’ve already committed a crime? Xiaohua is still missing. If you continue to conceal the truth, you’ll only make things worse for yourself, adding to your guilt.”
Old Li licked his lips, his expression stiff, but he didn’t say another word, just stared quietly at the disposable cup in front of him.
During the stalemate, Old Li’s expression suddenly changed, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
He stared at the cup in front of him, a flicker of fear passing through his eyes.
On the metal tabletop, transparent liquid gradually slithered around, as if it had come to life.
Sliding horizontally and vertically, it slowly formed a word: Speak!
Old Li suddenly struggled violently.
The disposable cup in front of him tipped over because of his movements, and water spilled all over the floor.
When the two interrogating officers saw Old Li’s abnormality, they immediately rushed forward and pressed him back into the interrogation chair. Wang Tou skillfully took out his phone and made a call. “Hello, get a forensic detective in here!”
Old Li pointed in front of him with a horrified expression, muttering incoherently, “Ghost, ghost, there’s a ghost! Words, there are words!”
The two men looked where Old Li was pointing, but all they saw was a puddle of spilled water.
The door of the interrogation room was pushed open, and two forensic detectives in white coats entered. They immediately examined Old Li from head to toe.
Old Li leaned against the interrogation table, looking up at the ceiling in bewilderment.
Suddenly, he saw a white shadow flash across the ceiling. Where the white shadow disappeared, a bloody word saying”speak” was glaringly imprinted above. The word “speak” appeared for two seconds before disappearing again.
Old Li suddenly screamed, pointing at the ceiling. Seeing this, everyone looked up, but all they saw was the square ceiling.
“His heartbeat suddenly increased, probably due to stimulation,” the forensic detective said after examining him. “It’s best to stop the interrogation and give him a sedative.”
Wang Tou felt annoyed but could only reluctantly nod in agreement. “We have no choice.”
However, Old Li acted out of character. The man who was unwilling to say anything earlier suddenly grabbed Wang Tou’s sleeve with all his strength. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“Please, don’t throw me into the holding cell by myself. That ghost will kill me! You can’t leave, you have to stay and protect me!”
Several people looked at each other.
There’s no such thing as ghosts in the world.
After the two forensic detectives stayed to ensure Old Li’s health, Wang Tou resumed the interrogation. “Speak.”
Old Li shrank in the interrogation chair. When the middle-aged policeman handed him a cup of hot water, he pushed it away in horror, as if terrified of water.
“Ten years ago, that girl came to rent a room.”
“I had just watched some not-so-good videos online and suddenly had malicious thoughts, wanting to secretly film her.”
Wang Tou stopped tapping the keyboard in his hand. “What do you mean by not-so-good videos? Be clear.”
Old Li swallowed nervously. “It’s, it’s… some secretly filmed videos. It’s a dark web website where you have to pay to watch the videos.”
Wang Tou asked, “What kind of secretly filmed videos?”
Old Li blushed with shame. “There are videos of the inside of women’s skirts being secretly filmed on stairs, videos of men and women having sex in hotels… Most of the videos on that website are this kind of voyeuristic erotica.”
He paused, nervously rubbing his hands. “Actually, I had seen her before on that website…”
The expressions of the people present changed slightly. Wang Tou pursed his lips. “Are you sure?”
Old Li nodded. “At first, I wasn’t sure, but I felt it looked very similar. I even thought it couldn’t be her, that it was too coincidental. Until I saw a mole on the back of her neck.”
He pointed to the back of his own neck. “Here, she has it, and the girl in the video also has it. They looked the same, so it must be her. You can only watch the first minute of the videos for free and if you want to watch more, you need to pay. She was quite popular on that website, and her videos had high download and playback numbers. The person who uploaded the videos must have made a lot of money from her.”
“I was greedy at the time, and my mind was muddled. I thought since she was already impure, I could secretly film her and sell the videos. She wouldn’t even know.”
Wang Tou asked, “She didn’t know?”
Old Li hesitated for two seconds, and replied uncertainly, “Probably, probably not. If she knew, she would have reported it to the police long ago, right? If she knew and didn’t report it, then this girl… wouldn’t be a good girl either.”
The brows of the people present furrowed simultaneously. The middle-aged policeman slammed the table in anger. “Li Chongming!”
Old Li flinched, fearfully licked his lips. “Exactly, if she were a good girl, how could she film so many of those kinds of videos?”
He paused. “Oh, when I say those videos, I mean erotic videos. They were quite explicit, but I also felt like she was drugged.”
Wang Tou frowned. “Is that website still around?”
Old Li hurriedly shook his head. “It’s gone.”
“Gone?!” The middle-aged policeman said angrily, “Li Chongming, do we need to show you the evidence of the videos you uploaded?”
Old Li shrank his neck. “Actually, it’s still there, but… we don’t dare to open it because it’s said that the website is haunted.”
Wang Tou asked, “Haunted? What do you mean?”
Old Li said, “I also just saw people saying it on a forum. It is said that people who opened that website died mysteriously. I just wanted some excitement, not death. It’s better to believe there’s something than nothing, so I never opened that website again.”
Wang Tou: “Do you remember the URL?”
Old Li nodded quickly. “I remember, I remember.”
Wang Tou got up and handed him a piece of paper. “Write it down.”
Old Li cooperatively wrote down a URL. Seeing this, the middle-aged policeman couldn’t help but sneer, “You remember it so clearly even though you haven’t visited that website for so long. Li Chongming, your memory is quite good.”
Old Li could only force a smile.
After Wang Tou took the URL information, he continued questioning, “Li Chongming, where is the surveillance video you took of Su Xiaohua?”
This time, Old Li shook his head vigorously. “It’s gone for real this time.”
“Gone?” Wang Tou’s lips tightened. “Su Xiaohua was the first person you monitored, and she was the video celebrity you were proud of. You even kept other people’s videos, so how could you not have Su Xiaohua’s? Who are you trying to fool?”
This time, Old Li’s tone was very anxious. “I’m not lying this time. It’s really gone, I don’t know why they’re gone, but I just can’t find them. I clearly remembered putting them away properly, but when I went to look for them again, they were gone.”
Wang Tou: “Tell the truth. Did you upload the secretly filmed videos of Su Xiaohua online?”
Old Li shook his head again. “I didn’t dare.”
“I was quite scared when I installed the hidden camera, although I filmed videos, I didn’t dare to post them online.”
Suddenly, a piece of paper and a pen on the interrogation table fell to the ground. Wang Tou looked at the table behind him in confusion, then quietly picked up the paper. When he bent down, he suddenly saw where the pen was pointing.
It was a photo of Su Xiaohua’s bedroom. Because it had been a long time, the color of the photo had faded somewhat. Coincidentally, the tip of the pen was pointing to a mottled spot on the wall.
Wang Tou was stunned for a moment, then he placed the photo in front of Old Li, pointing to the spot in the corner of the wall. “What was here before?”
Old Li stared at the photo for three seconds. “There was a clothes rack.”
He whispered guiltily, “I secretly hid the camera in the clothes rack.”
Wang Tou leaned forward, pressing his hands on the interrogation table. His sharp, eagle-like eyes scrutinized Old Li across from him. “Where’s the clothes rack? Did you hide it? What else are you hiding? What did you capture on the surveillance?”
Old Li was intimidated by Wang Tou’s demeanor. He shrunk his neck, his eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.
His voice trembled as he tried to explain, “It wasn’t me, I didn’t know. I didn’t know Xiaohua was missing at all. When she didn’t come back for several days, I thought she had gone out again. It wasn’t until you police suddenly showed up that I knew she was missing and had her leg cut off.”
“I didn’t have time to hide that clothes rack, it disappeared on its own!”
Wang Tou got up, exchanged a glance with the middle-aged policeman, both of them showing doubt in their eyes.
Old Li: “But I did see something from the surveillance.”
Wang Tou: “What did you see?”
Old Li: “It’s Xiaohua’s boyfriend, the one who’s been in prison for ten years. He’s not a good person at all. He would hit Xiaohua. Once I saw him pin Xiaohua to the bed and beat her, she was covered in bruises and bleeding from her mouth, it was terrifying.”
Wang Tou: “Why did he hit Xiaohua?”
Old Li: “It seems Xiaohua wanted to break up with him. That man seemed to have some kind of mania. When he heard about it, he said Xiaohua was cheap, a bitch who seduced others, and said she was shameless. Although he beat and scolded her, he didn’t want to break up with Xiaohua, and only stopped when Xiaohua begged for mercy and took back her words of breaking up.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised that that person was the murderer.”
“He’s just a violent maniac. I thought at the time that Xiaohua would definitely be beaten to death by that man. I didn’t expect my guess to be right.”
When he said this, his eyes suddenly lit up, his voice becoming light and airy, with a sense of superiority as if he were a prophet.
In his eyes, Xiaohua didn’t seem like a human life, but more like a dice being rolled by a gambler.
He bet on small, the dice rolled, and look, it’s small, hey, I guessed it right! I’m smart, aren’t I!
A heavy, suppressed gasp echoed in the gradually solidifying interrogation room.
Everyone was drawn to the sound and saw the female forensic detective covering her mouth, her face looking somewhat unpleasant.
The other forensic detective asked with concern, “Are you okay, Xue Ning?”
The female forensic detective named “Xue Ning,” shook her head. “Sorry, I feel a bit suffocated, I’ll go outside for some fresh air.”
The female forensic detective left in a hurry, and the interrogation room fell silent again.
Wang Tou: “When Xiaohua was with her boyfriend, did he ever record private videos of Xiaohua?”
Old Li nodded without much thought. “Yes.”
Wang Tou: “Are you sure?”
Old Li: “The memory is too deep, I dare to be so bold now, all because of Xiaohua’s boyfriend. He opened the door to a new world for me. It was only when I saw him that I realized that people could be so bad. Such a bad person actually had a girlfriend. It turns out that bad people can still get so many good things through evil.”
Wang Tou: “So it was Xiaohua’s boyfriend who uploaded Xiaohua’s private videos online?”
“No.” Old Li suddenly shook his head. “Probably not. None of the videos Xiaohua’s boyfriend recorded appeared on the website, and he didn’t use many recording tools. The videos of Xiaohua online were professionally shot, they were very clear, and even had lighting effects, very beautiful. Her boyfriend just casually recorded with his phone, Xiaohua was always happy when he recorded, but also very scared. I think her boyfriend was possessive and recorded videos to blackmail Xiaohua into not leaving him, rather than selling them online.”
Everyone present was stunned.
The middle-aged policeman: “So there’s a third person? In addition to Xiaohua’s boyfriend and her best friend, did another person go to see Xiaohua?”
Old Li shook his head again. “No, just the two of them.”
Wang Tou and the middle-aged policeman exchanged a glance. The middle-aged policeman asked, “During the time before Xiaohua went missing, did you notice anything unusual about her?”
This time, Old Li frowned. “I can’t remember, it’s been ten years. There probably wasn’t anything unusual, if there was, I wouldn’t forget, after all, she was Xiao Hua.”
Wang Tou: “Xiao Hua?”
Old Li smiled awkwardly. “There’s a column about her on the website, and the column’s name is ‘Xiao Hua’.”
*Okay, so here, he meant the literal translation of “Xiao Hua” which is “Little Flower”, not her name.The interrogation concluded, and two young police officers were brought in to continue watching Old Li. Wang Tou and the others walked out of the interrogation room.
Even though there was progress in the case from ten years ago, the faces of the three of them showed no joy.
The middle-aged policeman clenched the yellowed transcript and sighed heavily. “Wang Tou, I have been trying to solve this case for ten years. This is the first case I’ve handled since joining the police.”
Wang Tou smiled bitterly. “Who doesn’t? Where exactly is Xiaohua? Has she hidden away to start a new life in a new place, or has she been murdered? This question often lingers in my mind. I didn’t expect that ten years later- the unsolved case reappeared in our sights in such a way.”
The middle-aged policeman clenched his fists. “Damn it, if Li Chongming hadn’t concealed this back then, we would have had more opportunities to get closer to the truth! Damn it, it’s been ten years!”
Wang Tou: “This is the psychology of criminal suspects, they have a fluke mentality and the vast majority of them won’t actively come forward to confess their crimes to the police. If he had said it at the beginning, it would have confirmed his crime of secretly filming people. He kept this secret for ten years. If we hadn’t caught him today, he still wouldn’t have confessed. We’re always battling with such a group of secretive and cunning villains.”
The middle-aged policeman: “Ten years ago, we were slightly inferior in the confrontation. What about today, Wang Tou? Can we find Xiaohua? Can we give Xiaohua justice? Can we dig out the truth from back then? Let the criminals receive the punishment they deserve?”
“Wang Tou, they say justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent. But can delayed justice still be called justice? Cases have statutes of limitations. After the statute of limitations expires, who will uphold justice?”
These few short sentences silenced everyone present.
After a moment, Wang Tou spoke in a solemn voice, “We are not gods. Although I would love to confidently tell you that we can definitely overcome evil, the fact is that new unsolved cases arise every year. We are police officers, guardians of the people, but we are also human beings, sometimes forced to face failure.”
“‘Justice will never be absent,’ ‘justice will eventually triumph over evil.’ These are empowering words, at least when we are struggling with difficult cases, these words can inspire us.”
“Even if we have new clues now, I dare not tell you definitively that this case will be solved.” Wang Tou took a deep breath. “But I can at least assure you that even after ten years, once we have a lead, we will spare no effort to investigate and seek the truth. Let’s hope that this time, maybe with the help from the gods, we can solve this case.”
The middle-aged policeman chuckled, “Wang Tou, you used to be the least believing in ghosts and gods.”
Wang Tou shrugged, “I’m getting older, suddenly my horizons have opened up, I think it’s not bad to believe a little. Just the other day, I felt Gan Tai lying in my arms, curled up in a little ball, just like before.”
In a place they couldn’t see, Bai Lixin silently leaned against the wall, his eyes lowered.
At the end of his line of sight, a black-and-white Border Collie was circling around Wang Tou’s feet, wagging its tail happily.
When Gan Tai saw Bai Lixin turning to leave, it let out a couple of whines towards Wang Tou nostalgically, then turned his head and followed Bai Lixin.
In the closed off interrogation room, the door suddenly creaked open.
The people in the room subconsciously looked up, but there was no one at the door.
A middle-aged policeman got up to close the door, while the disheveled man sitting in the interrogation chair absentmindedly withdrew his gaze.
The interrogation chair was connected to the metal tabletop.
Suspects sat on it, restrained to prevent any aggressive behavior, somewhat like a baby chair.
At this moment, Old Li sat in the somewhat cold interrogation chair, staring blankly at the disposable paper cup in front of him.
With a “clack,” the door of the interrogation room closed, its heavy sound making Old Li’s shoulders tremble involuntarily.
“Li Chongming.” Wang Tou tapped the table with his index finger, lifting up a photo to show the man on the interrogation chair. The photo showed a young woman’s face, thick bangs covering her hair and half of her eyes. “Do you remember this person?”
Old Li raised his head dully, glanced at the photo, then quickly lowered his head again, shaking it like a rattle. “No, I don’t remember.”
“Don’t remember?” Wang Tou’s face darkened. “Let me help you remember. Ten years ago, there was a missing person case in R City. This person in the photo is the one who went missing. She was a student at R University and she lived in your rented room 207. Her name is Su Xiaohua.”
“We questioned you about her back then. Do you recall?”
Old Li suddenly realized, “Oh, I remember now. It’s her. No wonder she looked familiar. It’s been quite a long time, and my memory isn’t good. I forgot.”
The middle-aged policeman slammed the table heavily. “Li Chongming! Stop fooling around with us! This involves a human life. Be serious! Do you remember what we asked you back then?”
Old Li’s gaze flickered. “I don’t remember.”
Wang Tou opened an old questioning record and began reciting it like an emotionless reading software.
“The girl in room 207 is quite solitary. I’m just her landlord and didn’t talk to her much. We’re not close.”
“I haven’t seen anyone visit her, but occasionally, a girl comes to see her. They seem to be close friends.”
“Oh, right. She also has a boyfriend who sometimes comes to pick her up.”
After reading this passage, Wang Tou put the record aside. “Do you remember now?”
Old Li raised up his head stiffly. “Oh, yeah, I vaguely remember. She went missing, and you came to ask if she had contact with anyone else.”
“I remember this case. Wasn’t it solved? Wasn’t her boyfriend the culprit?”
Wang Tou leaned back in his chair, his expression relaxed slightly and he tapped the table lightly. “Don’t you have a poor memory? How come you still remember who the culprit was?”
Old Li chuckled nervously.
Wang Tou’s expression turned serious in an instant. “Did you also install cameras in Su Xiaohua’s room ten years ago?”
“No, no.” Old Li immediately stopped chuckling, his eyes wandering to the disposable cup in front of him. “Absolutely not.”
Wang Tou and the middle-aged policeman exchanged glances, and Wang Tou said coldly, “Old Li, do you realize that you’ve already committed a crime? Xiaohua is still missing. If you continue to conceal the truth, you’ll only make things worse for yourself, adding to your guilt.”
Old Li licked his lips, his expression stiff, but he didn’t say another word, just stared quietly at the disposable cup in front of him.
During the stalemate, Old Li’s expression suddenly changed, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
He stared at the cup in front of him, a flicker of fear passing through his eyes.
On the metal tabletop, transparent liquid gradually slithered around, as if it had come to life.
Sliding horizontally and vertically, it slowly formed a word: Speak!
Old Li suddenly struggled violently.
The disposable cup in front of him tipped over because of his movements, and water spilled all over the floor.
When the two interrogating officers saw Old Li’s abnormality, they immediately rushed forward and pressed him back into the interrogation chair. Wang Tou skillfully took out his phone and made a call. “Hello, get a forensic detective in here!”
Old Li pointed in front of him with a horrified expression, muttering incoherently, “Ghost, ghost, there’s a ghost! Words, there are words!”
The two men looked where Old Li was pointing, but all they saw was a puddle of spilled water.
The door of the interrogation room was pushed open, and two forensic detectives in white coats entered. They immediately examined Old Li from head to toe.
Old Li leaned against the interrogation table, looking up at the ceiling in bewilderment.
Suddenly, he saw a white shadow flash across the ceiling. Where the white shadow disappeared, a bloody word saying”speak” was glaringly imprinted above. The word “speak” appeared for two seconds before disappearing again.
Old Li suddenly screamed, pointing at the ceiling. Seeing this, everyone looked up, but all they saw was the square ceiling.
“His heartbeat suddenly increased, probably due to stimulation,” the forensic detective said after examining him. “It’s best to stop the interrogation and give him a sedative.”
Wang Tou felt annoyed but could only reluctantly nod in agreement. “We have no choice.”
However, Old Li acted out of character. The man who was unwilling to say anything earlier suddenly grabbed Wang Tou’s sleeve with all his strength. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“Please, don’t throw me into the holding cell by myself. That ghost will kill me! You can’t leave, you have to stay and protect me!”
Several people looked at each other.
There’s no such thing as ghosts in the world.
After the two forensic detectives stayed to ensure Old Li’s health, Wang Tou resumed the interrogation. “Speak.”
Old Li shrank in the interrogation chair. When the middle-aged policeman handed him a cup of hot water, he pushed it away in horror, as if terrified of water.
“Ten years ago, that girl came to rent a room.”
“I had just watched some not-so-good videos online and suddenly had malicious thoughts, wanting to secretly film her.”
Wang Tou stopped tapping the keyboard in his hand. “What do you mean by not-so-good videos? Be clear.”
Old Li swallowed nervously. “It’s, it’s… some secretly filmed videos. It’s a dark web website where you have to pay to watch the videos.”
Wang Tou asked, “What kind of secretly filmed videos?”
Old Li blushed with shame. “There are videos of the inside of women’s skirts being secretly filmed on stairs, videos of men and women having sex in hotels… Most of the videos on that website are this kind of voyeuristic erotica.”
He paused, nervously rubbing his hands. “Actually, I had seen her before on that website…”
The expressions of the people present changed slightly. Wang Tou pursed his lips. “Are you sure?”
Old Li nodded. “At first, I wasn’t sure, but I felt it looked very similar. I even thought it couldn’t be her, that it was too coincidental. Until I saw a mole on the back of her neck.”
He pointed to the back of his own neck. “Here, she has it, and the girl in the video also has it. They looked the same, so it must be her. You can only watch the first minute of the videos for free and if you want to watch more, you need to pay. She was quite popular on that website, and her videos had high download and playback numbers. The person who uploaded the videos must have made a lot of money from her.”
“I was greedy at the time, and my mind was muddled. I thought since she was already impure, I could secretly film her and sell the videos. She wouldn’t even know.”
Wang Tou asked, “She didn’t know?”
Old Li hesitated for two seconds, and replied uncertainly, “Probably, probably not. If she knew, she would have reported it to the police long ago, right? If she knew and didn’t report it, then this girl… wouldn’t be a good girl either.”
The brows of the people present furrowed simultaneously. The middle-aged policeman slammed the table in anger. “Li Chongming!”
Old Li flinched, fearfully licked his lips. “Exactly, if she were a good girl, how could she film so many of those kinds of videos?”
He paused. “Oh, when I say those videos, I mean erotic videos. They were quite explicit, but I also felt like she was drugged.”
Wang Tou frowned. “Is that website still around?”
Old Li hurriedly shook his head. “It’s gone.”
“Gone?!” The middle-aged policeman said angrily, “Li Chongming, do we need to show you the evidence of the videos you uploaded?”
Old Li shrank his neck. “Actually, it’s still there, but… we don’t dare to open it because it’s said that the website is haunted.”
Wang Tou asked, “Haunted? What do you mean?”
Old Li said, “I also just saw people saying it on a forum. It is said that people who opened that website died mysteriously. I just wanted some excitement, not death. It’s better to believe there’s something than nothing, so I never opened that website again.”
Wang Tou: “Do you remember the URL?”
Old Li nodded quickly. “I remember, I remember.”
Wang Tou got up and handed him a piece of paper. “Write it down.”
Old Li cooperatively wrote down a URL. Seeing this, the middle-aged policeman couldn’t help but sneer, “You remember it so clearly even though you haven’t visited that website for so long. Li Chongming, your memory is quite good.”
Old Li could only force a smile.
After Wang Tou took the URL information, he continued questioning, “Li Chongming, where is the surveillance video you took of Su Xiaohua?”
This time, Old Li shook his head vigorously. “It’s gone for real this time.”
“Gone?” Wang Tou’s lips tightened. “Su Xiaohua was the first person you monitored, and she was the video celebrity you were proud of. You even kept other people’s videos, so how could you not have Su Xiaohua’s? Who are you trying to fool?”
This time, Old Li’s tone was very anxious. “I’m not lying this time. It’s really gone, I don’t know why they’re gone, but I just can’t find them. I clearly remembered putting them away properly, but when I went to look for them again, they were gone.”
Wang Tou: “Tell the truth. Did you upload the secretly filmed videos of Su Xiaohua online?”
Old Li shook his head again. “I didn’t dare.”
“I was quite scared when I installed the hidden camera, although I filmed videos, I didn’t dare to post them online.”
Suddenly, a piece of paper and a pen on the interrogation table fell to the ground. Wang Tou looked at the table behind him in confusion, then quietly picked up the paper. When he bent down, he suddenly saw where the pen was pointing.
It was a photo of Su Xiaohua’s bedroom. Because it had been a long time, the color of the photo had faded somewhat. Coincidentally, the tip of the pen was pointing to a mottled spot on the wall.
Wang Tou was stunned for a moment, then he placed the photo in front of Old Li, pointing to the spot in the corner of the wall. “What was here before?”
Old Li stared at the photo for three seconds. “There was a clothes rack.”
He whispered guiltily, “I secretly hid the camera in the clothes rack.”
Wang Tou leaned forward, pressing his hands on the interrogation table. His sharp, eagle-like eyes scrutinized Old Li across from him. “Where’s the clothes rack? Did you hide it? What else are you hiding? What did you capture on the surveillance?”
Old Li was intimidated by Wang Tou’s demeanor. He shrunk his neck, his eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.
His voice trembled as he tried to explain, “It wasn’t me, I didn’t know. I didn’t know Xiaohua was missing at all. When she didn’t come back for several days, I thought she had gone out again. It wasn’t until you police suddenly showed up that I knew she was missing and had her leg cut off.”
“I didn’t have time to hide that clothes rack, it disappeared on its own!”
Wang Tou got up, exchanged a glance with the middle-aged policeman, both of them showing doubt in their eyes.
Old Li: “But I did see something from the surveillance.”
Wang Tou: “What did you see?”
Old Li: “It’s Xiaohua’s boyfriend, the one who’s been in prison for ten years. He’s not a good person at all. He would hit Xiaohua. Once I saw him pin Xiaohua to the bed and beat her, she was covered in bruises and bleeding from her mouth, it was terrifying.”
Wang Tou: “Why did he hit Xiaohua?”
Old Li: “It seems Xiaohua wanted to break up with him. That man seemed to have some kind of mania. When he heard about it, he said Xiaohua was cheap, a bitch who seduced others, and said she was shameless. Although he beat and scolded her, he didn’t want to break up with Xiaohua, and only stopped when Xiaohua begged for mercy and took back her words of breaking up.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised that that person was the murderer.”
“He’s just a violent maniac. I thought at the time that Xiaohua would definitely be beaten to death by that man. I didn’t expect my guess to be right.”
When he said this, his eyes suddenly lit up, his voice becoming light and airy, with a sense of superiority as if he were a prophet.
In his eyes, Xiaohua didn’t seem like a human life, but more like a dice being rolled by a gambler.
He bet on small, the dice rolled, and look, it’s small, hey, I guessed it right! I’m smart, aren’t I!
A heavy, suppressed gasp echoed in the gradually solidifying interrogation room.
Everyone was drawn to the sound and saw the female forensic detective covering her mouth, her face looking somewhat unpleasant.
The other forensic detective asked with concern, “Are you okay, Xue Ning?”
The female forensic detective named “Xue Ning,” shook her head. “Sorry, I feel a bit suffocated, I’ll go outside for some fresh air.”
The female forensic detective left in a hurry, and the interrogation room fell silent again.
Wang Tou: “When Xiaohua was with her boyfriend, did he ever record private videos of Xiaohua?”
Old Li nodded without much thought. “Yes.”
Wang Tou: “Are you sure?”
Old Li: “The memory is too deep, I dare to be so bold now, all because of Xiaohua’s boyfriend. He opened the door to a new world for me. It was only when I saw him that I realized that people could be so bad. Such a bad person actually had a girlfriend. It turns out that bad people can still get so many good things through evil.”
Wang Tou: “So it was Xiaohua’s boyfriend who uploaded Xiaohua’s private videos online?”
“No.” Old Li suddenly shook his head. “Probably not. None of the videos Xiaohua’s boyfriend recorded appeared on the website, and he didn’t use many recording tools. The videos of Xiaohua online were professionally shot, they were very clear, and even had lighting effects, very beautiful. Her boyfriend just casually recorded with his phone, Xiaohua was always happy when he recorded, but also very scared. I think her boyfriend was possessive and recorded videos to blackmail Xiaohua into not leaving him, rather than selling them online.”
Everyone present was stunned.
The middle-aged policeman: “So there’s a third person? In addition to Xiaohua’s boyfriend and her best friend, did another person go to see Xiaohua?”
Old Li shook his head again. “No, just the two of them.”
Wang Tou and the middle-aged policeman exchanged a glance. The middle-aged policeman asked, “During the time before Xiaohua went missing, did you notice anything unusual about her?”
This time, Old Li frowned. “I can’t remember, it’s been ten years. There probably wasn’t anything unusual, if there was, I wouldn’t forget, after all, she was Xiao Hua.”
Wang Tou: “Xiao Hua?”
Old Li smiled awkwardly. “There’s a column about her on the website, and the column’s name is ‘Xiao Hua’.”
*Okay, so here, he meant the literal translation of “Xiao Hua” which is “Little Flower”, not her name.The interrogation concluded, and two young police officers were brought in to continue watching Old Li. Wang Tou and the others walked out of the interrogation room.
Even though there was progress in the case from ten years ago, the faces of the three of them showed no joy.
The middle-aged policeman clenched the yellowed transcript and sighed heavily. “Wang Tou, I have been trying to solve this case for ten years. This is the first case I’ve handled since joining the police.”
Wang Tou smiled bitterly. “Who doesn’t? Where exactly is Xiaohua? Has she hidden away to start a new life in a new place, or has she been murdered? This question often lingers in my mind. I didn’t expect that ten years later- the unsolved case reappeared in our sights in such a way.”
The middle-aged policeman clenched his fists. “Damn it, if Li Chongming hadn’t concealed this back then, we would have had more opportunities to get closer to the truth! Damn it, it’s been ten years!”
Wang Tou: “This is the psychology of criminal suspects, they have a fluke mentality and the vast majority of them won’t actively come forward to confess their crimes to the police. If he had said it at the beginning, it would have confirmed his crime of secretly filming people. He kept this secret for ten years. If we hadn’t caught him today, he still wouldn’t have confessed. We’re always battling with such a group of secretive and cunning villains.”
The middle-aged policeman: “Ten years ago, we were slightly inferior in the confrontation. What about today, Wang Tou? Can we find Xiaohua? Can we give Xiaohua justice? Can we dig out the truth from back then? Let the criminals receive the punishment they deserve?”
“Wang Tou, they say justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent. But can delayed justice still be called justice? Cases have statutes of limitations. After the statute of limitations expires, who will uphold justice?”
These few short sentences silenced everyone present.
After a moment, Wang Tou spoke in a solemn voice, “We are not gods. Although I would love to confidently tell you that we can definitely overcome evil, the fact is that new unsolved cases arise every year. We are police officers, guardians of the people, but we are also human beings, sometimes forced to face failure.”
“‘Justice will never be absent,’ ‘justice will eventually triumph over evil.’ These are empowering words, at least when we are struggling with difficult cases, these words can inspire us.”
“Even if we have new clues now, I dare not tell you definitively that this case will be solved.” Wang Tou took a deep breath. “But I can at least assure you that even after ten years, once we have a lead, we will spare no effort to investigate and seek the truth. Let’s hope that this time, maybe with the help from the gods, we can solve this case.”
The middle-aged policeman chuckled, “Wang Tou, you used to be the least believing in ghosts and gods.”
Wang Tou shrugged, “I’m getting older, suddenly my horizons have opened up, I think it’s not bad to believe a little. Just the other day, I felt Gan Tai lying in my arms, curled up in a little ball, just like before.”
In a place they couldn’t see, Bai Lixin silently leaned against the wall, his eyes lowered.
At the end of his line of sight, a black-and-white Border Collie was circling around Wang Tou’s feet, wagging its tail happily.
When Gan Tai saw Bai Lixin turning to leave, it let out a couple of whines towards Wang Tou nostalgically, then turned his head and followed Bai Lixin.
