Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Arrest
"Zhao Shui, stop puking already!"
Li Jianye bellowed, his eyes fixed on the dark figures in the distance.
He was a veteran detective with nearly ten years on the force, but a couple of glances at the scene on the ground almost made him puke his guts out...
Zhao Shui couldn’t even begin to describe how miserable he felt.
Honestly, an old-timer like Zhao Shui, with his rank and experience, should have been able to look at a corpse without batting an eye. He shouldn’t have shown the slightest hint of fear.
He could even eat a meal with ketchup at a dismemberment scene!
’Ten years! A detective for ten years! What kind of case hadn’t he seen?’
’What kind of gruesome, disgusting scene hadn’t he heard of? What kind of depraved monster hadn’t he caught!?’
’But this... he’d truly never seen anything like it!’
It wasn’t just him; even Li Jianye was unsettled. Otherwise, he would have already chewed out his subordinate for acting this way.
"Chief."
Zhao Shui heard his voice. Feeling a bit better, he took a deep breath and slowly turned to look at Li Jianye.
"Where’s Sun Jian?"
Li Jianye looked around and asked with a frown.
Sun Jian was the owner of Yanluo Company. He hadn’t installed a puppet to run things from the shadows, nor had he chosen to flee. He was still at the factory.
He was the squad’s target!
Zhao Shui pulled out his radio and spoke into it for a moment before looking up at Li Jianye.
"Chief, Squad 2 took him back to the station. Given the time, he should be getting there any minute now."
Hearing this, Li Jianye breathed a sigh of relief.
The Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division was Squad 1, and the neighboring district’s was Squad 2.
That afternoon, the city bureau had assigned all remaining police forces to Jiangdong District, placing them under his unified command. He was the one who had ordered Squad 2 to make the arrest.
Sun Jian was in the bag, and they had all the evidence they needed...
Li Jianye looked up and checked the time.
The sky was pitch-black, dotted with a few brilliant, diamond-like stars. A cold wind rustled through the air.
It was already 11:30 PM.
Li Jianye felt a sense of relief, but then he paused. His brow furrowed as he ordered:
"Pack it up!"
...
...
「September 6th.」
The first group of officers to return wore expressions of relief, as if they had just survived a catastrophe.
The areas they had been assigned weren’t critical, but they still knew the gist of the case. Needless to say, no one was in a good mood.
Of course, it wasn’t just their group.
Before long, the second, third, and even fourth groups followed.
Personnel from the fishing village, hospital, and other locations gradually withdrew, leaving only a small number of people behind.
Squad 3 withdrew. Before they left, someone offered to treat them to a meal, but the mere mention of food made them all leave with grim faces.
The Jiangdong District squad was no different.
It was now 11:30 AM in the cafeteria of the Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division.
"Hey, time to eat. Why isn’t anyone eating?"
In the cafeteria of the Jiangsan City, Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division, a few officers on desk duty watched the detectives who were on break.
The detectives didn’t look too good. Even though they hadn’t eaten all night and through the morning, they still had no appetite.
Someone picked up a silkworm pupa with their chopsticks.
But just as he was about to put it in his mouth, he seemed to remember something. His face paled, and his stomach churned.
"BLECH—!"
He scrambled over to the trash can, bent over, and started heaving.
It was like that opened the floodgates.
Soon, the sound of retching filled the air.
The few administrative officers exchanged glances but said nothing, simply continuing to eat their own meals in silence.
"Damn it, who the hell came up with this menu?"
Li Jianye’s face darkened as he stared at the silkworm pupae, fried dough sticks, and other long, piled-up food items on his plate. He had completely lost his appetite.
"It’s on the menu, isn’t it? This is what we had last week," one of the admin officers helpfully pointed out.
Li Jianye’s expression soured even more. He waved his hand dismissively. "Change it! From now on!"
The administrative personnel didn’t understand, but they nodded anyway.
In truth, they’d been complaining about the fried fish for a long time, too. The cook always managed to fry it in a way that made it look like it hadn’t quite died all the way.
"You’re a smart kid, thinking ahead like that."
Li Jianye smacked his lips, which felt dry and tasteless. He turned to Xu Huo and sighed.
Xu Huo wasn’t eating the station’s food. He had a few plastic takeout containers, mostly filled with vegetable dishes. What little meat there was had been minced.
"I can’t say I saw this coming."
Xu Huo chuckled. Beside him, Chu Xi pursed her lips, her eyes darting about.
"You never told me about this, Master."
"This kid didn’t say anything either."
"Umm..."
Chu Xi sank into thought, her delicate brows furrowed. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Li Jianye cut in.
"Don’t bother making up some lie to fool me," Li Jianye said.
"Oh."
Chu Xi nodded and fell silent.
Li Jianye: ?
"Wait, so your only option was to lie to me!?"
’If you’re not going to lie, then just tell the truth! Why’d you clam up completely...’
Chu Xi pretended not to hear. She laid her head on the table, turning to watch Xu Huo eat from the side.
With every bite Xu Huo took, a strange sense of satisfaction, like she was the one feeding him, grew within her.
A strange quirk indeed.
The food tasted even more bland to Li Jianye now. But he was a veteran detective of several decades, after all, so he forced himself to keep chewing the food that tasted like wax.
After a long while, the cafeteria slowly emptied out.
Li Jianye wasn’t in a hurry to go to the scene at the factory.
The focus now was on the other personnel connected to the factory and on Sun Jian himself. As for the crime scene...
...that could be left to the others.
The main work there now consisted of bagging the bodies, which the police were transporting out one by one, and arresting any remaining small fry.
As for the people implicated by the factory...
...it involved trafficking networks. The resources of a single squad were far too limited to investigate something of that scale.
Haiyun Province alone couldn’t handle a case this big!
There were even possible overseas connections. If that were the case, it would be far beyond the scope of a single squad. They couldn’t even scrape together the basic funds for such an operation.
So, a special task force was being formed by the city bureau and the provincial department to conduct an in-depth analysis based on the results Xu Huo and Li Jianye had produced.
They, meanwhile, would focus their attention elsewhere.
Sun Jian!
"When that son of a bitch was arrested, he was completely calm. Not a single sign of fear."
"At first, I figured he was calm because he thought he’d only be charged with desecration of a corpse. But I never expected..."
Li Jianye held a photograph, his expression growing increasingly grim.
"Besides the corpses, he killed four people years ago: his wife, two coworkers, and a childhood friend!"
"On top of that, he’s involved with organized crime, organ trafficking, and more..."
"He’s committed enough crimes to deserve the death penalty ten times over!"
"But he didn’t run. He’s perfectly calm, completely unfazed by police interrogation. And the most critical part is..."
"He even argues back at the police!"
The photo showed a stern, unsmiling man. He was expressionless and looked extremely rigid. He was a 47-year-old, middle-aged man with a crew cut.
His eyes were incredibly sinister; even looking at the photograph was enough to make one’s heart jump.
’This guy...’
’Is there something wrong with his head?’
"How did he handle the interrogation?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued.
Anyone, when faced with the prospect of death, will do anything to survive.
’But this man...’
Li Jianye was just about to reply when he saw Zhao Shui push open the door and walk into the office.
"How’d it go?" Li Jianye asked.
"Same as before. He confessed to everything, but with his attitude, it’s worse than if he’d said nothing at all."
Zhao Shui said sullenly, bottling up his frustration.
’He talked, but his attitude made it worse than silence...’
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. He’d never encountered a criminal like this before.
"Damn it all, I’m going myself!"
Li Jianye took a deep breath, his face grim. He started to leave, but then stopped and looked back at Xu Huo.
"Interested in taking a look at this guy?"
Xu Huo nodded.
’Sun Jian...’
’What’s this guy’s thought process?’
’Arguing with the police...’
’With all the crimes he’s committed, what grounds does he possibly have to argue!?’
"Let’s go!"
...
...
PS: (Two more Chapters at midnight. During the new book promotional period, updates are at midnight on Mondays. All other updates are at 10.)
I’ll behave. I’ll really behave now.
I won’t write such graphic details anymore.
It’s been 12 days since I started publishing, and I’ve gotten fourteen review notifications from the site, most of them telling me Chapters were blocked. I’m completely baffled by all the censoring.
I’ll really behave this time, please spare me...
Chapters 22, 23, and 24 have been unblocked. If you can’t see them, try refreshing the page a few times.
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