Lin Qiupu thought hard about all the documents, items, and physical evidence on the table. Was there a lead somewhere in here? Where is the flaw in the murder?

Some sudden footsteps startled him. He looked up and saw a silhouette in a long, brown windbreaker slowly walking in. The person who came in had his hands in his pockets with a cigarette dangling in his mouth. If you looked at the smile on his face, you’d feel the word “confidence” jumping out at you. Lin Qiupu looked like he was a pilgrim staring at a miracle in the face and stammered, "Sen... Senior?!"

Song Lang slammed on the table. "Little Lin, don't be blinded by these so-called clues in front of you."

"Then what should I..."

Song Lang swept away all the documents on the table and they flew around the room like snowflakes. He turned away in a cool manner, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and pointed his finger at the door. “The truth has been right in front of you the whole time. In a corner you haven’t noticed yet, the murderer is…”

A black silhouette appeared in front of the glowing door frame. Lin Qiupu’s mouth hung open.

“The murderer is…”

The black silhouette gradually became clear and Lin Qiupu grew extremely excited.

"The murderer is He Shen[1]!"

The silhouette finally showed his true face. It was an oily, fat man wearing a Qing Dynasty official uniform with a disgusting grin on his face.

Lin Qiupu suddenly woke from his dream. It turned out that he had fallen asleep while reading the documents in front of him. It was now 11:00 in the evening and the corridor was completely dark. He was the only person left in the office.

He glanced at the photo on the table. Although it was just a ridiculous dream, Lin Qiupu thought about it seriously. Was there any person in this case who had a name like "He Shen?" There wasn’t, so he gave a slight chuckle.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose to freshen up, picked up the documents, and re-examined them. The victim died due to poison, but the murderer also beat the deceased with a belt, burned the victim with a soldering iron, and applied lubricant to the lower body as if they intended to insert something.

Why?

Why do all these extra things?

The murderer seemed to be taking revenge against the victim. The victim must have done similar things to the murderer. Lashing at them with a belt, burning them, and… rape?!

From the evidence on hand, the victim had not been a good husband. As the stepfather of his ex-wife’s children, would he be a good father? Obviously not! The children of the deceased's ex-wife had never been found. Was this a major breakthrough point?

Even if it wasn't, he had to investigate it. As long as there was a missing piece to the puzzle, he felt like the truth would never be uncovered.

Lin Qiupu picked up a pen and wrote “children” on the upper right corner of the document. He circled the word to place emphasis on it and to remind himself that he must verify the children’s identities!

Let me just stretch. Ah, I’m just too tired today. I should go home and have some sleep!

At the meeting early the next morning, Lin Qiupu announced, "One clue in this case has not been investigated yet. It’s the identity of the ex-wife’s children. I want you to find out who they are and where they are right now!"

A police officer complained, "But information on their identity can’t be found in the census or household database.”

"Think of other ways. Try other channels. You will eventually find them. I’ll give you guys three days. You have to find their information!”

Everyone sighed and continued to work hard.

In the office, Lin Qiupu combed through the clues at hand once more. He felt that he should start with the surveillance footage from the crime scene. Although the surveillance at the main entrance of the community was broken, there were still a lot of cameras in the surrounding stores. There might be things that they missed.

When he thought of this, he immediately rushed to the crime scene to make a copy of all the surveillance videos available at the surrounding stores. This took a whole morning to do.

It took him even longer to go through all the videos. Everyone else was sent out to do their own tasks, so he could only stay in and watch the videos by himself at four times the normal speed. The monotonous and silent videos made his head hurt as he went through all of them. He rubbed his temples with some herbal oil while he watched to try and alleviate the strain.

In the surveillance footage from a clothing store, a petite figure wearing a yellow outfit riding a motorcycle flashed past. After a few seconds, Lin Qiupu finally reacted and rewound the video to watch it again. The figure in the video seemed very familiar.

He also found the surveillance video at the same time from the store opposite the clothing store. It was 8:00 on the evening of February 24th. This video clearly captured the person's face. Indeed, it was Gan Ping.

He looked at the urban map and marked down the community that Gan Ping appeared in.

Wait…

He hurriedly opened his notebook. Gan Ping entered the surrounding neighborhood at 8:00 on the night of the incident. She said that she had only gone to that neighborhood once, that is, at 7:20 that night to deliver food. The customer also verified that time as well.

Was she lying?!

Lin Qiupu was unwilling to believe this, but in order to find out the truth, he still rewound the video back to 7:20 PM. There weren’t any signs of Gan Ping there during this time. He rewound the video back to 7:00 PM and stared at the screen without blinking for an hour. Surveillance footage wouldn’t lie. Gan Ping entered the community at 8:00 PM and left at 8:15 PM.

She was lying! The customer who ordered food was also lying!

Gan Ping took a full hour longer to deliver her second order that night, so it’s very likely that she stayed at the crime scene longer than she had said.

Lin Qiupu immediately drove to the convenience store that Gan Ping worked at, only to remember that she hadn’t started work yet. It was only 5:00 in the afternoon. He hesitated to call Gan Ping. He didn’t want this poor girl to be the murderer, but if that were truly the case, he would still investigate it to the end… He was full of conflicting emotions.

Lin Qiupu dialled her number, but then hung up immediately. Finally, he decided to find the customer who ordered the food first.

He entered the community and knocked on the door. The owner seemed to play games at home all day. He wore pajamas and opened the door with dishevelled hair like a bird’s nest. The sounds the game produced could be heard from the door. The owner questioned impatiently, "Why are you coming to find me again? Hurry up and say what you want to say already!”

Lin Qiupu stared at his drowsy eyes and said, "At 7:23PM on February 24th, a female food delivery person came to deliver food. You told me that yesterday, right?"

"Yes, what about it?"

The owner seemed very relaxed. His senpai, Song Lang had the skill to detect lies by looking at the eyes of people but he did not. Lin Qiupu said, "The surveillance at the stores showed that the delivery person arrived here at 8:00 that night. Care to explain? "

"How would I know? Can you remember what you ate for breakfast the day before yesterday?"

"I do remember. Cereal with milk."

"You might remember, but I don’t. Who would remember such trivial things every day? It’s too cold. I have to close the door…”

Lin Qiupu quickly held his foot against the door and said each syllable earnestly, "This is not a trivial matter. It’s a matter of life and death. The evidence shows that you and her are both lying. Tell me why!”

1. This was a man in the Qing Dynasty who was so corrupt that he was wealthier than the king.