At five in the morning, the long pavilion in Jianzi Park already had early morning exercisers practicing shuttlecock kicking.
They were dressed in colorful sportswear, and under the morning sun, they exuded vitality.
However, on a park bench in a corner of the park, a decadent and restless man was wolfing down a flatbread, undoubtedly adding a touch of indolence to the beautiful morning hours.
"To think he's a big reporter, how did he end up like a beggar?" Liao Yuan, dressed in a white tracksuit, ran past Ping An with heroic spirit.
"You're still in the mood for a morning run?" Ping An didn't even look at her, focusing on the food in his hands.
"I just dealt with the police yesterday. I figured if you hadn't interfered, you could have at least stalled for another month, but I didn't expect you to make a move!" Liao Yuan was incredibly carefree.
"The current situation is not good for you. Last night, I took only one old forensic detective from the bureau and quietly went to Wang Huai'an's home. In that peony painting, we indeed found three drops of blood." Ping An glanced sideways at the scar on the tiger's mouth of Liao Yuan's right hand and said with a pang of sympathy, "Crucially, we also found a lot of human skin fibers and blood tissue on the painting's hanging rope."
"You truly are a detective, and you actually found it." Liao Yuan stopped exercising and sat down next to Ping An.
"I don't want to expose you like this." Ping An said with some helplessness.
"The company's reform has already started. At least, for the three years before Jiaozi turns eighteen, my father has no chance. Moreover, by then..." Liao Yuan said潇洒ly, "When do you plan to arrest me?"
"Arresting you is the police's job. I arranged to meet you overnight just to ask you one last time, what exactly is your objective? Don't bring up the company! You know what I mean," Ping An said.
"For no reason, you just handle it impartially." Liao Yuan suddenly waved her hand towards the distance and said, "Thank you, Ping An, for giving me precious time to fulfill our last dream as a couple. We have nothing to fear anymore."
"I hate this about you! Why don't you ask how I knew you were the killer? Don't you want to know how I knew about that painting?" Ping An growled, "Believe me, someone wants to harm you. They used me to push you step by step to a dead end! The old guy who went with me last night has probably already submitted the report to Director Xiang."
"It doesn't matter." Liao Yuan said with a chuckle.
"Could it be that you know everything in the end?" Ping An looked up at Liao Yuan and saw a person with no worries, or rather, a person whose heart was ashen.
"I still need a little more time to prove the last question." Liao Yuan didn't reply, and Ping An was trying his best to buy himself time.
"These matters should end today. Thank you one last time, Ping An. You are a good person, not worth expending effort on the dirty business behind it," Liao Yuan said. "In the future, if you have the chance, help me teach Jiaozi and find a way to tell her the meaning of 'only the righteous path is the vicissitudes of life'."
Golden morning light fell on Liao Yuan. She didn't say goodbye to Ping An and left on her own.
Ping An watched from a distance as Liao Yuan and Yang Jie walked out of the park hand in hand, their backs full of happiness.
At nine in the morning, Chang Suo, dressed in simple clothes, arrived at the Municipal Public Security Bureau punctually.
After entering the compound and filling out the registration form, Chang Suo ascended the steps into the municipal bureau building.
On the steps, Ping An sat with his legs hugged to his chest, staring blankly at the sky.
"Are you here to stop me, or to send me in?" Chang Suo said with a chuckle.
"I'm here today to watch a certain lunatic perform," Ping An said coldly without looking back.
"Oh, then I'm going in." Chang Suo seemed indifferent to Ping An's mood.
Inside the building, police officers were preparing to start their day's work. Unexpectedly, someone in the lobby was shouting loudly.
"I'm here to surrender! I have crucial evidence that can prove who killed Wang Huai'an!" Chang Suo shouted, drawing out his voice.
"What are you surrendering for? What evidence do you have?" A police administrative officer received Chang Suo. After the two spoke for a few words, they were taken into the elevator and sent directly to the floor where Xiang Wanfeng worked.
Ping An, sitting on the steps and looking at the sky, remained motionless.
After an unknown period of time, fully armed police officers, under Gao Xiaofei's shouts, set out in pairs in the courtyard.
"Ping An, I didn't expect that kid Chang Suo, after being startled by us, would actually surrender. Guess what? He admitted that he was the one who flew the drone in Fengdian Community," Gao Xiaofei said excitedly to Ping An. "He also brought the video data from his drone. It turns out that when Wang Huai'an was killed, besides the peeping Toms in the community, he was also there that night and used a wide-angle lens to simultaneously record the scene of Wang Huai'an's murder. Hey, that video is really complete. Although the killer's face was covered, crucial evidence was left behind, most likely Liao Yuan. Plus, the bloodstains you found at the scene last night, this case has made significant progress. Are you really not going to arrest Liao Yuan now?"
"You go. I still need to prepare some things."
"Oh, have a good vacation!" Gao Xiaofei said and left.
After a summer, the Fengdian Community murder series case was finally completely solved. Liao Yuan, for various reasons, killed Wang Huai'an. When the police arrested her, she showed no fear. Facing Gao Xiaofei, she confessed to her crime.
The car escorting Liao Yuan did not go to the sub-bureau but directly to the municipal bureau.
Seeing Liao Yuan slowly get out of a police car in handcuffs, Ping An finally lowered his head, slowly stood up, stretched, and looked away again. He noticed three suspicious plainclothes officers sitting in a regular minivan not far away.
"Relax, you guys look like police from a mile away," Ping An walked up to the minivan and tapped the window. "Don't get too close once we're out of the city. I have a locator, just follow me."
"Understood, Teacher Ping An. Director Xiang has instructed us to obey your command on this trip," the young man in the driver's seat, who seemed to be the leader, said in a tone that left no room for negotiation. "Of course, the primary requirement of the mission is to protect your life."
"Don't worry. We won't leave this morning. It will be this afternoon, around four o'clock. We'll stay in Yongcheng tonight. You can wait for me there, or you can wait for my location signal and then follow," Ping An instructed and prepared to leave.
Outside the municipal bureau, Yang Jie rushed out of a black sedan, holding a large bag.
"Reporter Ping An," Yang Jie greeted Ping An softly upon seeing him.
"Are you alone?" Ping An glanced at Yang Jie and then at the people behind him.
"Oh, Jiaozi is in the car," Yang Jie said sheepishly. "My wife was taken away so hastily, I didn't have time to prepare anything. It's early autumn, and the weather is getting cooler. I brought a few extra clothes. Could you please take them in for me?"
"The detention center has standard uniforms, so they probably won't be needed," Ping An said, but he still took the bag.
"You're not someone who has been to a detention center, how would you know the situation inside?" Yang Jie, with his wife arrested, seemed prepared and still had the mood to joke with Ping An.
"You seem prepared? Could it be?" Ping An asked tentatively.
"After all, we've been married for years. Even though I don't know what happened, I know she's been scared and couldn't sleep or eat well lately," Yang Jie said. "This is good too, it's settled."
"Aren't you going to hire a lawyer?" Ping An asked.
"We're already preparing for it. I'm here today to gather some information," Yang Jie said.
"I'm leaving soon and probably can't help you. Go directly to Gao Xiaofei. He's already caught the person and will help you," Ping An said, patting Yang Jie's shoulder.
The car window behind Yang Jie suddenly opened, and Jiaozi's head popped out.
Ping An noticed the movement of the car window and subconsciously looked over, meeting Jiaozi's eyes.
"I haven't seen Su Tang much lately, is she well?" Jiaozi asked, her voice low.
"She's doing alright. She's staying at her godmother's house. The case is closed, and I'm going out for a break," Ping An said, for some reason, he had no good feelings towards Jiaozi at the moment.
"Oh, then have fun. If anything comes up, I'll find Su Tang," Jiaozi said, and then rudely closed the car window.
"Her aunt is coming back soon, she probably won't have time to play with you," Ping An said to the car window, even though the window had been closed.
"Don't worry, I'm here, I won't let her bother Su Tang," Yang Jie said meaningfully, as if he had seen through Ping An's thoughts.
Hearing Yang Jie say this, Ping An felt a warmth in his heart. The current case had entered a heated stage. Chang Suo had brought Liao Yuan in by surrendering. This move of sacrificing a pawn to save the king had indeed surprised Ping An, and he felt a deep dread towards the person behind Chang Suo.
"I rushed, but I was still half a step late. I'm sorry," Ping An said to Yang Jie, feeling a deep sense of apology for no reason.
"What's coming will come," Yang Jie said. "The person behind Chang Suo is probably my unwilling father-in-law. Sigh!"
"You take care too. The next step might be you!" Ping An said sinisterly. "A fly doesn't bite a seedless egg. I may not say it, but I don't necessarily not know about your affairs. You should be clear about this. When the time comes, I won't let you off either."
"Understood. It should be this way," Yang Jie remained calm, but his trembling hand and his eyes that occasionally darted towards the municipal bureau building betrayed him. As a couple, true feelings are only revealed in times of great difficulty.
After bidding farewell to Yang Jie, Ping An seemed to have put a burden on his heart, tidied up his mood, and prepared to travel. In fact, this time, he felt cornered again, but his difficulties were inexpressible.
Gao Xiaofei was still immersed in the joy of successfully apprehending Liao Yuan. In his opinion, this case was about to conclude. Ping An was going crazy over the case and needed a break. He could handle the rest completely.
"Zhan Dou was a pseudonym. Yes, yes, bring him in first!" At this moment, Gao Xiaofei was in charge at the municipal bureau's command center, meticulously discussing with the captain of the preliminary investigation detachment how to conduct the interrogation. Afterward, he urgently met with colleagues from the legal affairs department to provide his views on how to perfect the chain of evidence. Then, he had to seriously watch the drone video footage provided by Chang Suo. The many loopholes in the case could now be filled.
Of course, there were also idle police officers in the municipal bureau, such as Qiao Yidan and Cheng Jian, who had been drinking tea in the conference room since early morning.
"Director Qiao, this is too much. The case is ours! How has it become the merit of the municipal bureau now?" Cheng Jian said with some grievance. "The person should have gone to our sub-bureau. Fine, it's a major case, and now it's at the municipal bureau, but why aren't we even allowed to participate?"
"Why are you in a hurry? Let Gao Xiaofei handle it first. If no one pays attention to us later, we'll go home and rest," Qiao Yidan was not in a hurry at all.
"Sister, the case is about to end, and it's time to share the credit. Why aren't you anxious?" Cheng Jian asked.
"Ended? Who says the case is over? Which eye of yours saw the case end?" Qiao Yidan walked to the door and looked at the messy administrative staff in the corridor, saying nonchalantly, "Haven't you noticed that Ping An is missing at this very moment?"
"Ah?" Cheng Jian seemed to understand something and sat obediently on the sofa, savoring his tea.
Inside the municipal bureau building, Gao Xiaofei was busy until 12 noon before officially entering the interrogation room.
"I can't believe it, only a day has passed, and you're back here," Gao Xiaofei said, looking satisfied while sitting in the chair.
"Don't bother. I killed Wang Huai'an. I knew there were peeping Toms across the street, so I wanted to scare them. I asked Huang Juan to help me put on a show, and then I gave Huang Juan 100,000 yuan to hide that little nurse," Liao Yuan said. "The second time, Wang Huai'an forced me to have surgery, mainly because my father also pressured me to do it quickly so that my death could be announced, allowing my father to gain most of the shares and make a comeback!"
In the interrogation room, Liao Yuan seemed resigned and began to confess.
"In the video provided by Chang Suo, we saw that on June 28th, you first entered Wang Huai'an's home, then you turned off the lights inside, stood on the balcony to observe the situation outside, and then drew the curtains," Gao Xiaofei asked. "What did you do after drawing the curtains?"
"Preparations, a hood, pretending to be intimate with Huang Juan..." Liao Yuan said.
"What? Intimate?" Gao Xiaofei was confused and quickly interrupted.
"Oh, it's like this. I discussed with Huai'an beforehand that I wanted to scare the peepers, but I was afraid of making a mistake, so I tricked Huang Juan over—oh, Huang Juan is like us, one of those people," Liao Yuan said. "To make the scene more realistic, I didn't tell Huang Juan beforehand. After I made my move, Huang Juan was almost strangled too, but I gave her money afterward."
"Oh, people like you really know how to play," Gao Xiaofei felt disgusted and patiently continued to ask, "What happened to Huang Juan later?"
"Huang Juan was strangled unconscious by me. I resuscitated her for a long time before she woke up. Seeing her crying, I gave her 100,000 yuan and sent her away. I don't know where she went afterward," Liao Yuan said. "After Huang Juan left, I also left quickly, and then you police found my door."
"Okay, let's talk about Wang Huai'an!" Gao Xiaofei continued to ask. "According to Chang Suo's video, you went to Wang Huai'an's house several more times in the following days, and there were conflicts. Until the night of July, on the night Ping An visited Wang Huai'an, you murdered Wang Huai'an."
"I don't know when the video started recording, but I should have entered with my face covered. Wang Huai'an thought I was going to play with her, so she complied. But I already had the intention to kill that day. Thinking of the peeping Toms on the opposite building, I decided to kill again. Then I imitated the killer's method from that day, using materials at hand, took down the rope from the hanging painting, and then..." Liao Yuan seemed unable to continue, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"So, you're saying this is premeditated murder?" Gao Xiaofei asked with a frown.
"Whatever, I admit it," Liao Yuan nodded.
Regardless, the video footage provided by Chang Suo became a sharp stone breaking through the case.
According to the video, the earliest recording began six months ago, and the initial recording contained only one subject: Jiaozi.
While Liao Yuan was being interrogated, in another interrogation room, Chang Suo, wearing handcuffs, was being questioned by Yu Shijie.
"What was your purpose in illegally using a drone for filming?" Yu Shijie asked.
"I used to be an employee of Fengdian Company, one of the earliest drone pilots in the country. Ten years ago, I was injured on duty and lost a leg," Chang Suo said. "After the injury, I repeatedly sought explanations from Fengdian Company, but Fengdian Company, using the excuse of no employment contract, only compensated me 100,000 yuan!"
"Oh, but we couldn't find this accident at Fengdian Company?" Yu Shijie asked.
"Heh, that's because Fengdian Company concealed this accident," Chang Suo swallowed and slowly recounted his experience.
According to Chang Suo, he was once an employee of a wireless remote control accessories factory and was proficient in remote-controlled aircraft and later drone technology. More than ten years ago, when drones were still in the research and development stage, Fengdian Company began using drones for routine inspections to save costs. Chang Suo, who possessed the technology, was poached by Fengdian Company's senior management. In the following years, Chang Suo followed the tasks assigned by Fengdian Company, running all over the mountains every few days with equipment. Since there was no mature network transmission technology at the time, his task was to collect flight video data through drones and then copy it to Fengdian Company for inspection.
One winter, Chang Suo went up the mountain in the snow. Because of the slippery snow, he fell off a cliff. He survived, but he lost a leg. Afterward, Fengdian Company concealed the accident and perfunctorily gave Chang Suo 100,000 yuan in "consolation money." Chang Suo, who came from a small town, could not fight against the powerful. Helplessly, with that 100,000 yuan, he opened a drone training school. Three years ago, Chang Suo's training school became a partner of a government research department, and he transformed into the head of the research institute.
"I'm doing well now, but the better I do, the more I hate Fengdian Company," Chang Suo said. "After Fengdian Community was built, I accidentally discovered that the community was in a blind spot of the monitoring zone. No matter how I flew, I wouldn't be monitored. So, with a prankster's mentality, I operated the drone and flew it to Liao Yuanchao's home. However, Liao Yuanchao never lived in the community, so I had to harass Liao Yuan's home, for example, using the hook on the drone to bring her dog downstairs."
Initially, it was just a prank, limited to harassing children like Jiaozi. Later, after discovering the "affair" between Liao Yuan and Wang Huai'an, he thought it could be used to blackmail the Liao family, so he often "watched" them, hoping to film more comprehensive videos. But on June 28th, Chang Suo accidentally filmed Liao Yuan "murdering" someone.
"This is a big deal. I wanted to call the police immediately, but I was a step too late. Someone reported it for me. But then I heard from the residents that the person Liao Yuan killed wasn't dead at all," Chang Suo said. "I was just startled and almost exposed myself. But after this incident, I felt more and more that the Liao family had secrets, so I filmed almost every day. Sure enough, a few days later, Liao Yuan killed her again."
"According to your video, during Wang Huai'an's murder, your video only had one angle from outside the window and didn't show that it was Liao Yuan. How did you determine that person was Liao Yuan?" Yu Shijie thought for a moment and finally found a loophole.
"But after filming Liao Yuan's murder, the video memory was full. But I didn't leave. I waited until Liao Yuan returned home and took off her hood," Chang Suo said.
"In other words, you are now a witness, accusing Liao Yuan of criminal behavior?" Yu Shijie asked very carefully and cautiously.
"I can take responsibility for my words." Chang Suo suddenly remembered something and said loudly, "Right, I have another piece of evidence—actually, Liao Yuan initially intended to poison Wang Huai'an. Later, I don't know why, but she accidentally knocked over the cup while poisoning it, and a small bottle of poison spilled into the fish tank below the cup. You can go and test it."
"Okay, what happened afterward? Why didn't you report it to the police?" Yu Shijie said, "Since you had the intention to report it last time..."
"I was scared, really. Also, after discovering Liao Yuan's second murder, I realized that someone else was peeping in that community. I was afraid they would film my drone, so..." Chang Suo said. "Actually, the next day, when I learned that a peeping person had been murdered, I didn't dare to report it to the police anymore. Besides, didn't you police discover it right away?"
"After Wang Huai'an's death, since you were scared, why did you continue to fly?" Yu Shijie asked.
"I wanted to know who was peeping that night—if someone discovered my drone, I had to know who it was," Chang Suo said. "After observing for a few days, I couldn't find the peeping person. Instead, people kept dying in the community. The residents said that the deceased were all peepers. I guessed that Liao Yuan or Liao Yuan's accomplices were helping to silence them, so I dared not go to the police anymore. But I was unwilling and wanted to know who was silencing them, so I kept flying."
He should have stopped, but after hesitating, he flew into new trouble.
Chang Suo said that during that period, he flew very cautiously every day, not looking down too much. However, even so, he still got into trouble.
"I don't remember the exact time. I boldly flew to the roof area, wanting to continue looking for peeping people. Unexpectedly, I witnessed a murder case," Chang Suo said. "This is also in the video, you can watch it yourselves—it was roughly on the roof, a strong man chasing a thin man. The thin man, with no way out, flew towards my drone and jumped, grabbing the landing gear at the bottom of the drone. My drone was a modified high-power machine. I thought at that moment, the machine would definitely be pulled down, but I didn't expect the machine to sway and still hold on. My mind went blank, thinking of saving the person first, so I controlled the plane to fly to the opposite side. However, the machine seemed to be out of control and kept flying higher. When I reached the opposite building, at least ten meters away from the roof, as I was adjusting the drone to descend, the person holding the drone slipped and fell. Seeing that things were not going well, I quickly flew away."
"All these contents are in the video footage. What I want to ask now is, why did you fly into Jiaozi's bedroom several times?" Yu Shijie continued to ask.
"The first time I flew into her bedroom, it was discovered by a dog. The dog bit a piece of equipment on the drone, and I couldn't get rid of it, so I brought the dog downstairs," Chang Suo said. "After the drone returned, I found that a part of the machine was left at their house, so I went several times to try and get it back."