Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Not Even Jesus Himself Can Help
"Captain, it’s ti~ime to e~at."
An unhurried voice called out, and Li Jianye’s face darkened.
"Eat? Look at the time! How can you still be thinking about eating!?"
"I’ll make a meal out of you!"
Li Jianye glared at the men around him and scolded them.
The Police Officers looked at each other, utterly bewildered. One of them gave an awkward smile, raised his hand, and said:
"Boss, that wasn’t us."
"Not you?"
Li Jianye paused and instinctively turned around, only to see Chu Xi holding an umbrella, dressed in her blue police uniform, and carrying several insulated food containers.
"Captain, a~ren’t you... going to e~at?" Chu Xi asked, looking puzzled.
Li Jianye swallowed the words he was about to spit out. Ignoring the stares of those around him, he gave a stiff nod and said:
"Things being what they are... let’s eat first."
Li Jianye glanced at the time—it was exactly noon—and waved his hand.
A Police Officer quickly picked up a megaphone.
"Squad One and Squad Two, break for food and rest! Squad Three, take over the scene for now! Let’s move!"
Chu Xi stood at a table, handing out the food she had brought from the cafeteria to a few of her colleagues and Li Jianye.
Li Jianye walked into a nearby temporary canopy, which had been set up to shield police documents from the rain. He shook the water off his raincoat, took it off, and then opened his metal lunchbox.
Plain white rice, two meat dishes, and one vegetable dish.
"Heh, you shouldn’t have. I’ll pay you back later."
"Two meat dishes and a vegetable... quite the feast today."
Smiles appeared on the faces of several Police Officers as they looked at the steaming food. They then took out money from their pockets to hand to her.
One officer sniffed the air and looked at his white rice with suspicion.
"Why do I smell duck leg?"
"What are you dreaming about? We’re lucky to have meat at all, let alone duck leg. Do you have any idea how expensive duck legs are!?" another officer retorted.
Chu Xi’s eyes darted around, and she pursed her lips. She let out a sigh of relief when she heard they didn’t press the issue, then quickly turned to Li Jianye.
"Captain, how’s the case going?"
Her voice was no longer slow; her speaking pace was normal.
Li Jianye chewed the rice in his mouth, swallowed, and thought for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh.
"It’s tough."
"The killer murdered four people. The victims’ bodies are covered in countless wounds. Their bellies were flayed open, spilling their insides out like the filling from a burst dumpling."
"And killing them wasn’t enough. He then moved the victims from the murder site to the current crime scene. He took crude planks of wood and nailed the victims to them, arranged them in a kneeling position, and placed them at a crossroads..."
"God knows what he’s trying to do!"
Li Jianye’s expression was grim. "A madman. A complete and utter madman!"
A cross, hands nailed—the spitting image of Jesus.
What in the world is the killer trying to do!?
He created four Jesuses, placed them at a crossroads for all to see. Everyone was staring at the victims’ tragic state...
The fear on their faces, the despair in their eyes, the cries for help choked back in their throats before death...
...all of it culminating in a cold corpse, kneeling on the ground.
What’s more, our desk team has already identified the victims, but whether through interviews or detailed investigations, we haven’t found any connection to criminal activity. They didn’t even have a single known enemy...
So why did the killer murder them!?
And with such vicious methods!
What kind of grudge could warrant this!?
"And this damn rain just won’t stop. Eight out of ten clues at the scene have been washed away. It’s impossible to investigate!" Li Jianye’s face was a grim mask.
Chu Xi was silent. She had expected the investigation to be difficult, but not this difficult.
The other officers around them also fell silent, eating wordlessly.
As they ate in silence, the piercing ring of a phone suddenly shattered the quiet.
Li Jianye glanced at his vibrating phone, pulled it out, answered the call, and put it to his ear.
"Hello? This is Li Jianye, Captain of the Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division in Jiangsan City..."
He spoke with a blank expression.
But before long, his expression grew increasingly grim.
"What? Three days!?"
"It’s pouring rain out here, and almost no clues are left at the scene! How can you give us only three days!?"
"How is that possible... Fine, I understand."
When he hung up, Li Jianye’s face was ashen.
The men looked at each other, then put down their chopsticks. "Boss, what is it?"
Li Jianye’s lips moved for a long time, but he only managed to force out three words.
"Deadline to solve."
A deadline to solve the case!?
The men immediately jumped to their feet, their mouths agape, staring at him in disbelief.
To a police officer, those three words were no different from a death sentence!!!
So many cases closed at "lightning speed" were the result of those three words...
"Did the higher-ups really say that?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Li Jianye wiped his face. "Three days. They’re only giving us three days!"
"Three days?"
One man said in astonishment, looking up at the overcast sky. "They want us to solve it in three days, in this goddamn weather!?"
"Let’s eat first."
Li Jianye took a deep breath, his mind already running through investigative procedures as he shoveled rice into his mouth with his chopsticks.
The news was one devastating blow after another.
Chu Xi watched them for a long time before she quietly and tentatively asked:
"Captain, have you ever considered hiring a detective?"
"A detective?"
Li Jianye paused, looked up, and frowned. "A freelancer? You mean a detective like in one of those Japanese stories?"
"Xiao Xi, don’t believe in that stuff. It’s all just a bunch of scams."
"A few years ago, one of the city districts hired a private investigator for a high price, and they got scammed so badly they were ready to riot. No matter how bad a police detective is, they’re still leagues better than some PI..."
Chu Xi nodded. It was true that in the eyes of police detectives, the PI profession was not held in high regard and was seen as lacking professionalism, but...
"What if they’re actually capable?"
"A capable detective?" Li Jianye laughed and shook his head. "I’ve never heard of a capable one in Jiangdong District... unless you’re talking about catching cheating spouses. They’re definitely better than the police at that."
"No, wait, Boss. I think there actually is one."
The other officers who were eating paused, then suddenly exchanged glances.
Li Jianye was taken aback.
"And this person... Boss, you should know him too."
The young officers looked at Li Jianye with strange expressions, a single face appearing in all of their minds.
"I know him?" Li Jianye’s brow furrowed. "Who?"
The officers instinctively looked toward Chu Xi.
"Yes. Captain, do you remember last year, when you heard the City Bureau was assigning a top student to our division? The one who graduated first in his class from the police academy."
Chu Xi said, "You seemed so excited for a long time back then. And when you heard he wasn’t joining the force, you were down in the dumps for days."
Hearing this, a long-buried memory resurfaced in Li Jianye’s mind. He nodded instinctively.
"That did happen."
The number one graduate from the second-best police academy in the country... having that kind of talent assigned to him, he’d thought he’d hit the jackpot!
But then the guy didn’t show up. It was like winning a billion-dollar lottery and never cashing in the ticket.
"Wait, he didn’t... stay in Jiangdong District, did he!?"
"He’s a detective?"
A thought sparked in Li Jianye’s mind. He suddenly realized something and shot his head up to look at Chu Xi.
"The police academy’s top graduate became a private detective!??"
Chu Xi nodded her head vigorously.
"Yes!"
...
...
"I’m back! I’m back!"
At 1:30 PM, an anxious voice echoed from the holding room of the Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division.
Chu Xi jogged all the way, rushing into the holding room and looking around frantically.
But to her surprise, the holding room was empty.
"He tricked me again..."
Chu Xi muttered, then sat down on a chair, crossed her arms, and sulked.
"What did I trick you about?"
Suddenly, a voice spoke up.
Xu Huo walked into the holding room, flicking his wet hands dry. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked at her pouting.
"I just went to the bathroom."
Chu Xi looked up, and her eyes lit up when she saw he hadn’t left. She stared blankly for a second before snapping back to her senses as if remembering something.
She pushed the person beside her forward.
"This is my captain!"
"Captain, this is Xu Huo. He’s incredible! He personally coached the students who graduated fourth, seventh, and ninth in our class at the academy!"
Xu Huo’s attention had been entirely on Chu Xi, so he only now noticed the other person who had been practically invisible.
"Li Jianye, Captain of the Jiangdong District Criminal Investigation Division."
Li Jianye stepped forward and extended a hand, his eagle-like eyes sweeping over Xu Huo from head to toe.
’Sharp brows, bright eyes. He’s quite handsome...’
"Xu Huo. A web novel author."
Xu Huo smiled and shook his hand.
"Let’s make this quick. Xiao Xi said you want to get involved in the case?" Li Jianye looked at Xu Huo, his brow furrowed.
"No, it’s not that I want to. It’s that you want me to, Captain Li."
Xu Huo shook his head, glanced at the incessant rain outside, and said slowly:
"If I’m not mistaken, information at the crime scene... is hard to come by."
"How far has the investigation progressed? Not very far, I’m guessing."
"Or perhaps..."
He paused, then continued:
"At a standstill?"
Those two words landed, and the surroundings fell completely silent.
Li Jianye didn’t speak. He was very quiet. While the case wasn’t exactly at a standstill, it wasn’t far from it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be pinning a sliver of hope on Xu Huo.
"Mm, looks like I guessed right."
Xu Huo could read the answer in Chu Xi’s dejected expression.
"Then let me guess again."
"Police detectives don’t usually involve freelancers in a case, especially not a PI they look down on. And yet, Chu Xi only had to mention it, and you rushed over here in no time..."
"Even with my police academy background, this is unusual. But Captain Li still came back in less than an hour to find me personally..."
"Captain Li, you’re in quite a hurry."
"In such a hurry... could it be that the higher-ups are demanding..."
Xu Huo spoke again, his tone conversational, but every word was a dagger.
"A deadline to solve the case?"
"Ten days? Eight? Or maybe... three or four?"
In an instant, the air froze.
Li Jianye took a deep breath. He was finally starting to understand why Chu Xi and his other subordinates were always lamenting the fact that Xu Huo hadn’t joined the force.
They’d been face-to-face for less than two minutes, and the man had already seen right through him...
"Mr. Xu, if you have any conditions, feel free to state them."
"A straightforward man, Captain Li."
Xu Huo smiled. He loved talking to smart, direct people like this, who always understood his intentions.
"Two conditions."
"First, the novel. After the case is solved, I need the rights to create a fictionalized adaptation of it."
"Granted."
Li Jianye agreed without hesitation.
Once the case was solved, he could write whatever he wanted; it didn’t matter. Anyone could write about it. The police might even make a video about it themselves. The only things that couldn’t be written about or filmed were sensitive details of any case-within-a-case!
"Second, I want a consultant position."
Xu Huo stated his condition. One job would likely lead to another, and getting involved without an official consultant status would be a hassle.
"A special consultant!?"
Li Jianye’s brow furrowed. He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I can agree, but not right now."
"Captain Li, you’re a sharp man!"
Xu Huo grinned. He naturally understood why.
If he were given consultant status now and the case wasn’t solved, part of the blame would fall on him. While it wouldn’t have a major impact on him personally, it was still blame, and it would be detrimental to his future involvement.
"Anything else?"
Li Jianye paused, his brow knitting together. He was surprised the other party wasn’t making more exorbitant demands.
After all, detectives were a greedy...
"That’s all." Xu Huo waved his hand dismissively.
He stood up and walked towards the police car on his own, the image of the crime scene already forming in his mind.
’A Modern Jesus, huh...’
Xu Huo narrowed his eyes.
’Not even Jesus himself could save this killer from me!’
"To the crime scene!"
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