Peng Sijue was carrying a toolbox with him. It seemed that he had just gotten off the train after a long journey. Chen Shi was overjoyed and stood up to greet him. "Did you come here by yourself or did Captain Lin send you?"

"A bit of both!" Peng Sijue put down the box and took out a few documents. "I brought you guys something."

It was a co-investigation document signed by the Provincial Departments. Based on this, the police in Lieyang City could be mobilized. Chen Shi smiled. "Aiya, we’ve been sent the sword of state[1]."

"Captain Lin said that the way you two were investigating was very inefficient. He asked our superiors to get more resources for you.”

"Let's go and arrest Lu Hao right now to interrogate him," Lin Dongxue said.

Chen Shi looked at Peng Sijue's box thoughtfully and asked, "Is the wood paint found on the money the same as the sample I gave you?"

"It’s the same."

"Well, then I have a bold idea."

They knew the bank Lu Hao entered on September 10th. Chen Shi’s idea was to take out the money from the bank and test it. If the Public Security Bureau hadn’t come forward for this matter, it would have been impossible for the bank to cooperate. It also required a lot of manpower.

Throughout the afternoon, the Public Security Bureau called all the appraisers over and checked the recently deposited banknotes one by one with a formaldehyde detection instrument. They finally found several banknotes containing wood paint.

Through the records of the ATM machine, they found a few bank cards. The cards were obviously registered to other people’s names, but these cards had two million successively being deposited on the 8th and 9th.

Seeing this result, Chen Shi was very pleased. His speculation was correct. Some of the money had already been transferred over before Lin Hui disappeared.

At 9:00 in the evening, Lu Hao sat in the interrogation room again. He looked blank. "Did you not catch the criminal already? Why did you bring me here again?!"

Chen Shi put a few bank cards on the table. "Are these cards yours?"

"No..."

"They were found in your house. The deposits were also checked. There’s over two million in them. Where did you get the money from?"

Lu Hao was silent, but his eyes were in a panic.

"The money was given to you by Lin Hui as an accomplice."

"I don't know what you’re talking about at all!"

While summoning Lu Hao, the police conducted a thorough search of his house. He handled the fake identities for these cards and did other things. Chen Shi picked up a printed online shopping record. "From one of the fake identities used, you bought a long windbreaker on the 5th. How do you explain this?"

Lu Hao's eyes widened.

"In the evening of September 10th, there was a man in the same windbreaker with a gun in the Luyi housing community trying to harm someone. Where were you then?"

"At my friend's house!"

"Is there any evidence of that?"

"I…"

"Lu Hao, don't struggle anymore. Since this evidence is here, you can't keep your money. You should think about how to keep your future. It's not you who committed murder. Whether you choose to make a meritorious deed or become a criminal, it depends on your own attitude."

Lu Hao panicked, biting his lip as if fighting himself psychologically.

Time ticked by and Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi waited patiently. Soon, ten minutes passed. Chen Shi said, "Okay, if you don’t want to talk, then we’ll investigate ourselves. Did you both really think that this matter wouldn’t get exposed and that it would escape the police’s attention?”

As the two stood up and were about to leave, Lu Hao suddenly cried out, "Waaah, I’ll talk! I’ll talk! All this was planned by that woman! It had nothing to do with me!"

He trembled and began to confess. In fact, on the 5th of the month, he had already seen this huge sum of money in the Luyi housing district. There was a total of 13 million. He had never seen so much cash in his life, so Lu Hao was dumbfounded. He thought that he wouldn't have to struggle for the rest of his life.

However, Lin Hui told him that the money was from a corrupt official. Although the other party wouldn’t dare to speak up when he lost the money, he wouldn’t easily give it up.

At the same time, Li Xiang and Zhang Rui, who knew about the existence of the money, were actively looking for it. During those days, Lin Hui was constantly worried. She was always worried about being killed by a gun just walking out on the streets.

Lin Hui prepared two sets of plans. It would be best if she could take the money, but if things were revealed, she would only take a part of it.

So, Lu Hao prepared over 20 cards and deposited the money in batches. Some of these cards were in Lin Hui’s possession and some were in his.

Lin Hui asked Lu Hao to prepare two other things. One was a long gray windbreaker and the other was a self-made pistol. Lu Hao asked where he’d get the gun. Lin Hui told him to figure it out, otherwise he wouldn’t get a share of the money.

Lu Hao got something from his friend called a pen pistol. It was shaped like a pen, but it could fire steel balls.

In the evening on the 10th, Lin Hui and Lu Hao went to the Luyi Community. Lu Hao wore a windbreaker, held a pen pistol, and lay in ambush in the dark. When Lin Hui took the money down, Lu Hao rushed to "attack" her and smashed the glass of the shop beside them using the pen pistol. He waited for the security guard to be alarmed, and then quietly left the community.

At that time, he didn’t understand the reason for doing this.

Then, they returned to their temporary residence. Lu Hao pretended to be a woman and walked away with fake money first to lead possible tracers away. Then, Lin Hui took the real money downstairs and drove to Long’an to hide the money there.

Along the way, Lu Hao did feel that someone was following him from behind. He was worried and did a lap in the bank before changing back to his original outfit. It seemed that no one followed him afterwards, so he hurried home.

He waited for Lin Hui’s news for a full night. Lin Hui used another mobile phone to tell him that the money was taken by Zhang Rui, but she had just implemented the next part of the plan. She told Lu Hao to be careful and to tell the police their pre-prepared rhetoric if they came to find him.

Chen Shi interrupted him. "Is that what you told us before?"

Lu Hao lowered his head. "Yes, we rehearsed it many times."

"What about that pen pistol?"

"The last time we met, she took it with her."

"Go on!"

He went on to say that in fact, these past few days, Lu Hao had been wondering if Lin Hui was lying to him and taking the money for herself. But when he thought about it, he had made two million all of a sudden, which is an amount he should be content with. It was enough to buy a house and not work for a few years.

After the situation passed, he could take the money out and enjoy it. At this time, he heard that Li Xiang was killed and guessed that it might have been done by Lin Hui. Then, he realized that she was planning to blame Zhang Rui.

Lin Hui also mentioned before that the two men actually planned to kill her, so it seemed like she took action first.

Lu Hao never dreamed that the police would eventually see through their plans.

"So where is Lin Hui right now?" Chen Shi said.

"Luyi housing district."

"We’ve been there many times."

"She rented another basement there..."

"Ha, actually hiding right under our noses!"

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_state