Chapter 682: 650 Chapter I say, I say!_1
"Do we have a photo of An Lishuai? And detailed household registration information about his family?"
Fang Dongsheng slapped his head.
"The group photo is on the wall inside the lobby downstairs. As for a single photo, we would need to pull up his file. As for the household information, at this point..."
Liu Yufei waved her hand, seemingly just remembering that it was already the middle of the night. Not to mention that the household registration department definitely wasn’t working overtime, especially since there was no immediate need to cross-reference any information at the moment.
"Then let’s check it first thing tomorrow morning, the more detailed, the better."
At that moment, the door creaked open and Xu Dayuan walked in. Zhou Ning glanced next door, where Doctor Zhang, Zhang Guocheng, had already been taken away. After downing a bottle of water, Xu Dayuan finally let out a long sigh.
"This man knows limited information. I’ll meet with that Sun Pengfei in a bit. Instant noodles aren’t filling at all. My stomach is already throwing a fit. Do we have anything to eat?"
Mr. Zhao grinned with a toothy smile, and Fang Dongsheng also felt somewhat embarrassed, quickly saying:
"Mr. Liang in the canteen has already prepared something. You can go down to eat at any time. I told Mr. Liang, given these days, to prepare more food each day, and have two auxiliary police officers assist him. In addition to the three meals, he’s also ready to provide midnight snacks for you guys. You can go eat whenever you’re hungry."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Before we came up, Mr. Liang told us we could eat in half an hour, but we got busy and totally forgot about it."
Xu Dayuan gave Zhou Ning a look and poked his chest.
"You’re even worse than Huang Shiren. Alright, let’s go eat something. A bucket of instant noodles is done in two bites. It tastes fine but doesn’t fill you up, and after a few hours of work, I’m starving."
Mr. Zhao grinned with a toothy smile.
"Boss, you’ve been using your brain for the interrogation, so you’ve burned more energy. Forget checking your blood sugar for the next few days. Having energy is what matters. Let’s go eat something, then we can get back to it."
Once at the cafeteria, there were quite a few people switching shifts to have their meals. Just as they had finished eating, Xu Dayuan received several phone calls. From the sound of it, personnel from Aerospace City were at the gate. Currently, it’s a bit difficult to enter the compound; not just anyone with an ID could do so—they’d also need to inform the special case team. Of course, the people from Longyou Province National Security were accompanying them.
The group exchanged looks. After several days of investigation, Liu Yufei and the rest had come to understand the identity of Zhou Ning’s father, and they had already informed the relevant departments. Coming neither early nor late, these entities wanted to arrive with the Aerospace City personnel, and everyone became alert.
Liu Yufei frowned slightly.
"Director Xu, why don’t we arrange for them to rest first? After all, it’s the middle of the night now. We still need to finish the interrogations of Bai Qishan and Sun Pengfei before we let them see these two people."
All eyes turned to Xu Dayuan. Indeed, the situation was growing more serious. As the interrogation continued, more and more locals were implicated, and these outsiders were bound to get involved sooner or later, even though currently, both provinces were delegating full responsibility to the working group.
Xu Dayuan laughed, waved his hand as he stuffed the last piece of steamed bun into his mouth, and patted his pants as he stood up.
"If they didn’t come, I’d be worried we’d run out of leads. Now that they’re here, it’s good. They’re welcome to sit in, no problem with that. The special case team isn’t set up by them. Even with me at the helm, they have no authority to remove me. Look at what Ganzhou and the surrounding cities have turned into; even calling them a sieve would be a compliment.
You guys go up, and have Liu Yufei switch with Fang Mu and the others. You take over Sun Pengfei’s interrogation. There isn’t much of value from Doctor Zhang’s interrogation. I’ll deal with that and then interrogate Bai Qishan.
However, we need to delay our progress slightly. Mr. Hu just sent a WeChat message; he’ll soon send over the contents of the processed recording. Once we have that, we’ll have nothing to fear."
Zhou Ning also stood up, stopping Xu Dayuan, and gestured to Liu Yufei and Mr. Zhao to move back and give some space to himself and Xu Dayuan. Only then did Zhou Ning speak.
"Just now outside, while listening to Doctor Zhang’s interrogation, we searched for the An Liwei he mentioned, who needed to have his file changed. This person is a soldier orphan and has a name and appearance similar to the on-scene in-charge An Lishuai, but he vehemently denies any blood relation.
It seems like he was modifying the files, coordinating with some people’s plan to erase some of my father’s identities. But when I think about it, the most important information removed is mine. Doctor Zhang said the final version of the file it claimed that the child had been taken away by the murderer and killed, with no remains left.
Whether I was taken away, Wang Guanli and his two companions would know best. However, since this side shows a family of three dead, they wouldn’t argue, and they certainly wouldn’t give credit for that to anyone else. Therefore, I think he was indirectly protecting me, concealing my identity, providing treatment, and in the end, sending me back to my hometown.
Because, the information I found shows that during the bandit suppression in Longyou Province, An Liwei participated under the name Peng An. It’s said his foster father’s surname was Peng, so he took on that name. When he joined the police force, he changed it to An Liwei, aiming for vengeance. In my memory, my father’s last words were that Mr. Peng would arrive soon and to hold on. All over Ganzhou, whether retired or still in service, we searched for days but didn’t find a single Peng. Only Fang Dongsheng mentioned that An Liwei used to be called Peng An. I believe the person my dad was referring to was him."
I was just about to get An Liwei’s photo; I’ll send it to Grandpa at dawn to see if he can identify it. According to my grandfather’s description, the person who came to our house to deliver the ashes was a slightly overweight man in his forties, who left thirty thousand yuan, claiming it was a mourning fund.
"If, and I mean if, my parents were deemed traitors, no one would come to inform the household, let alone deliver mourning funds or return their ashes and me. That’s right, isn’t it?"
Xu Dayuan looked at several photos on Zhou Ning’s phone and then nodded in agreement.
"I’ve seen the information on this person before; he had a long tenure before passing away after retirement. His wife had died many years ago, and they had no children. Given what you’ve said, it’s very likely that he could have been a colleague of your father’s,
It’s indeed plausible that he could have used his own status to transfer you, and even return your parents’ ashes, as a final act of service for his comrade-in-arms. Alright, I’m going to meet with these people now. You go and listen to what Sun Pengfei has to say; we can’t have those outside waiting too long."
After Xu Dayuan left, Liu Yufei and Mr. Zhao gathered around while Fang Dongsheng stood nearby, rubbing his hands, uncertain whether to come forward or stay away.
Zhou Ning waved his hand and called out to Fang Dongsheng, then said:
"Let’s go; it’s already midnight. We’ll do what we need to do. Director Xu will receive them and briefly explain the situation, which should buy Mr. Hu some time."
The group didn’t waste words; they waved to Mr. Liang in the canteen and hurried back to the main building.
They entered the observation room next door where Fang Mu and Tao Zhenshan were inside the interrogation room. Tao Zhenshan was pounding on the table whilst Sun Pengfei, seated, slightly narrowed his eyes with a face full of disdain, exuding too much confidence. Liu Yufei glanced at Fang Dongsheng.
"Mr. Fang, come with me; let’s swap Fang Mu and the others out for a meal. This is going to be a marathon, and it’s pointless without stamina."
Fang Dongsheng naturally had no objections; despite his age, he was truly out of temper after witnessing the interrogations by Liu Yufei and Xu Dayuan – the way they controlled the room wasn’t something ordinary people could achieve.
Shortly after, Fang Mu and the others were swapped out. Liu Yufei went in, while Mr. Zhao told them where to eat and updated them on the progress. Mr. Zhao then escorted them to the canteen.
In the interrogation room, Fang Dongsheng now sat behind the table, and Liu Yufei stood with folded arms in front of Sun Pengfei.
"I don’t want to waste time, so I’ll be clear about a few things. Doctor Zhang, Zhang Chengguo, has confessed everything: Why you took nearly a year’s leave, how you embarrassed Zhou Xiangrong, how you tripped people up, and how you sloppily handled everything when the Zhou family was wiped out.
Zhang Guocheng says that you were not only executing Mr. An’s orders but also were receiving instructions sent to your pager by someone else. He once sneaked a peek, and I want to know what you did for them and what you received for being sent to the provincial prison. Who was sending those orders?"
Liu Yufei paused there, stepped forward two paces, and leaned on the small table with a smile. Though it was a smile, the look in her eyes as they landed on Sun Pengfei’s face actually made him tremble.
"Although this case is nearly twenty years old, it’s tied to some things we’ve discovered, involving only the sleeper agents in Sapporo and the Minjin party. We’ve arrested dozens here, so you’re not that important. I’m just asking out of duty.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t talk; you might not qualify for espionage, but you can’t escape the charge of endangering state security. After all, you followed their instructions and received corresponding rewards. Maybe you think it doesn’t matter if you retire and go to jail, but let me remind you, for endangering state security, your property can be confiscated."
As she spoke, Liu Yufei laughed, though her eyes did not show amusement. Then she turned on a 60-second countdown on her phone.
"Alright, let’s start a symbolic countdown. If you don’t confess within 60 seconds, we’ll just have him sign a refusal to admit and call it a day."
Saying that, Liu Yufei didn’t even look at Sun Pengfei as she walked up to the table, picked up a few sheets of paper, and started discussing names on the list with Fang Dongsheng; who was from which department, who was from what bureau.
As the countdown approached zero, Sun Pengfei was already drenched in sweat. Liu Yufei was about to reach for her phone when Sun Pengfei stopped her.
"I’ll talk, I’ll talk!"
Liu Yufei withdrew her hand, took two steps back with her arms folded, and pointed at the wall clock in the room.
"If you don’t provide anything of value in ten minutes, let’s not waste each other’s time, shall we? There are over fifty colleagues in this building handling interrogations, and all must be completed urgently. You’re not the focus, but how you’re treated is indeed up to you."
Sun Pengfei closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"On the morning of the day after New Year’s Day in 1995, before seven o’clock, I had just arrived at the office when Mr. An called, telling me to go to Zhou Xiangrong’s house with a forensic doctor and crime scene investigators because something had happened.
I was startled at the time because I received a pager message that very morning at six, a unique device of the era that could receive numbers and simple language texts. It read ’go to the office, Zhou family wiped out.’
Liu Yufei remained silent, not rushing him, waiting for what he had to say next.
