It took nearly an hour for Guan Xia to finish reading the stack of case-related materials Captain Chen had assigned to her.
As she had expected, there was no trace of Wu Yang's figure or even his name from beginning to end. He was like a chess piece outside the board. No matter how Captain Chen investigated, he was not on that board. Therefore, even though the criminal police team in charge of the case over thirty years ago had been meticulous and thorough, even going so far as to collect fingerprints from all suspects who had conflicts with the deceased Sun Yanghui for comparison, the case ultimately became a cold case.
Closing the file, Guan Xia placed it casually on the conference table. After a moment's thought, she couldn't help but sigh at how meticulous Wu Yang's plan had been. He had even specifically chosen a rainy night, a night with heavy rain, so that any evidence he might have left behind would be washed away. However, justice has long arms, and Captain Chen's team still managed to find a relatively clear bloody fingerprint.
Thinking of this, Guan Xia looked towards Captain Chen again. "By the way, Captain Chen, where exactly did you find that bloody fingerprint?"
Captain Chen replied, "It was in the seam of a raincoat that the perpetrator discarded in an unauthorized garbage dump. We were quite lucky, really. We had found nothing at the crime scene and were organizing personnel overnight to search the nearby area for clues when an elderly woman came to report with a child. The child is an orphan, living with her grandmother. She had the habit of getting up early to scavenge before sunrise, and that's how she found the raincoat. After taking it home, the old woman saw the bloody fingerprint and thought the raincoat's origin was suspicious, so she brought the child to report it."
As he spoke, Captain Chen searched through the pile of photos spread out before him, quickly found one, and handed it over. "Here, this one. We later tried to reconstruct the scene and deduced that the suspect likely changed clothes after the murder. In his haste, he left the bloody fingerprint on the raincoat. Afterwards, he probably stored the raincoat in a relatively dry environment, like a backpack or a plastic bag, which allowed the fingerprint to be preserved quite well and ultimately discovered."
Guan Xia took the photo and glanced down at it. The bloody fingerprint was on the inner side of the raincoat's front, the side against the body. It was probably left accidentally while taking off the raincoat.
From this raincoat, Guan Xia gleaned several pieces of information: insufficient psychological composure, time pressure, and a criminal method that was either inexperienced or rusty. In short, Guan Xia was now about eighty percent certain that this was very likely Wu Yang's first crime.
Just as she breathed a sigh of relief internally, Guan Xia heard Ji An ask, "Captain Chen, when you examined the crime scene, did you find any footprints that might have been left by the perpetrator?"
Captain Chen shook his head with a bitter smile. "No. If we had, we wouldn't have had to conduct such a needle-in-a-haystack investigation through door-to-door visits."
Guan Xia thought to herself that if one or two footprints had really been left behind, with the experience of the various forensic experts at the time, Wu Yang might actually have been found. What a pity. In the end, he remained at large and even went on to establish such a large-scale criminal organization.
After quickly and efficiently grasping the key points of the case, Guan Xia and the others said their goodbyes and left. After all, with very solid evidence in hand, they only needed to wait for the matching results to directly arrest him. Staying longer didn't serve much purpose. The only worry now was whether Wu Yang had already gotten wind of the news and fled in advance.
Even though she had asked Xu Nian a similar question before, once they left Captain Chen's office and reached a relatively quiet spot, Guan Xia couldn't help but ask again, "Is Wu Yang still under the surveillance of the task force?"
Xu Nian didn't answer immediately. Instead, he first said, "Wait a moment," and then made a phone call.
Guan Xia and the others waited where they were. Unexpectedly, a few seconds later, Xu Nian, under everyone's gaze, suddenly looked grim and instinctively glanced at Guan Xia. That complex look instantly gave Guan Xia a bad feeling.
The call lasted several minutes. Only after hanging up did Xu Nian take a deep breath and turn to look at Guan Xia.
Guan Xia felt uneasy under his gaze, her heart pounding like a drum, her lips dry. She instinctively swallowed, her voice tight as she asked, "What's wrong? Did Wu Yang really run? Or... or did something else unexpected happen?"
Guan Xia's first thought was that Wu Yang had escaped. But if it were just that, Guan Xia had already warned them earlier. Given Xu Nian's composure, his expression wouldn't be this bad. Could it be...
As she thought, Meng Lan's face suddenly popped into her mind.
Her bad feeling instantly intensified, accompanied by a wave of uncontrollable dizziness.
Sure enough, Guan Xia's bad premonition came true. A few seconds later, Xu Nian replied, his voice somewhat hoarse, "Meng Lan... was attacked, about an hour ago. Fortunately, Lu Tingfeng arrived in time. Meng Lan is only injured and has been taken to the hospital for emergency treatment."
While Xu Nian was speaking, Guan Xia subconsciously held her breath. Only after the last word fell, and it wasn't the worst news, did she start breathing again. But even so, she still felt her legs go weak, barely able to stand. Luckily, Pang Le swiftly supported her. Guan Xia felt her eyes sting slightly as she stared intently at Xu Nian and asked, "Are the injuries serious? Is her life in danger?"
Xu Nian shook his head. "It's not clear yet. But according to Director Ren, her injuries are lighter than those of the colleague assigned to protect her. Plus, Lu Tingfeng arrived promptly, so there shouldn't be any major life-threatening danger."
Although she got the answer she most wanted to hear, Guan Xia's mind was still in chaos for a moment. She didn't even realize when Pang Le helped her sit down on a chair. It took a good while for her brain to start functioning again.
Guan Xia remembered the first thing Xu Nian said: Meng Lan was attacked about an hour ago. Calculating the time, that was right after they had safely evaded and even managed to capture some of the perpetrators from the third attack. Could it be that failing to attack her made them turn their anger on Meng Lan? Or had the organization discovered something and wanted to silence Meng Lan?
Guan Xia quickly analyzed the situation. In her ear, she heard Ji An ask, "Who attacked Meng Lan? Logically, the police wouldn't assign just one person to protect an important witness. What about the others? Are they injured too? Or..."
Ji An's tone grew a bit tense as she spoke.
Zhong Xiaoyu was concerned about another issue. "Why did Brother Lu suddenly go over there? Is he okay? Was he injured too?"
With everyone asking questions all at once, Xu Nian answered rapidly, "The person who attacked Meng Lan has been shot dead by Lu Tingfeng. We all know her name—it's Yao Qingyan. Besides her, one more person died: Wang Huiqin."
Everyone looked shocked. Pang Le asked in surprise, "Wang Huiqin? The middle-aged woman who had been tailing and observing Meng Lan for years? How did she die? Was she also killed by that organization?"
Xu Nian said, "Director Ren told me. Before the attack, Meng Lan received a text message from Wang Huiqin telling her to run. Before she could contact the outside world, Yao Qingyan showed up at her door. She was disguised and managed to fool the special task force colleagues who were following her. She also brought a gun. After taking a taxi to the building, she brazenly opened fire, injuring and forcing back another team protecting Meng Lan downstairs."
Guan Xia felt her heart pounding so violently it was about to leap out of her chest. She asked in disbelief, "She had a gun?"
Xu Nian nodded. "The model of the gun matches the standard police issue. Director Ren suspects it's very likely the one lost by the West District branch half a year ago."
Guan Xia felt her brain short-circuiting from the overwhelming information. How did that gun end up in Yao Qingyan's hands? Could it be that Yao Qingyan was one of the people who carried out the hit on Lu Manqing?
Xu Nian continued recounting the news he had just received.
Xu Nian said, "Three of the four colleagues protecting Meng Lan were injured. The reason Lu Tingfeng suddenly went to find Meng Lan in the middle of the night was because he had sobered up a bit and wanted to regroup with us to figure out how to capture Wu Yang. But Director Ren was worried about him going out alone and didn't have any extra manpower to spare for him, so he simply persuaded him to go protect Meng Lan instead. Who would have thought it would be such a coincidence? Lu Tingfeng arrived just in time to see Yao Qingyan using the gun to injure and force back the colleagues. He told the uninjured one to stay and care for the wounded and call for backup, then took the gun from an injured colleague and went upstairs."
Guan Xia listened, unconsciously holding her breath again, and pressed anxiously, "What happened next?"
Xu Nian said, "Director Ren has been to the scene. Your apartment is now in complete disarray. Judging from the signs of struggle at the scene and Lu Tingfeng's account, Meng Lan was instructed to hide in the bedroom, while the two colleagues protecting her were in the living room. Yao Qingyan directly shot the door lock open, then opened the building's water valve and used a high-pressure water hose to attack through the gap under the door."
Xu Nian hadn't finished, but Guan Xia could already imagine the following scene. No wonder Meng Lan was injured even with four people protecting her. So Yao Qingyan not only had a gun, but also had rich experience in improvising during combat. Her method of attack was completely unexpected. It was perfectly normal that the two police officers protecting Meng Lan couldn't react in time under such a sudden assault. The only relief was that the injured personnel were only wounded and could still be saved.
But thinking deeper, if Lu Tingfeng hadn't coincidentally arrived just a step later, wouldn't it have been just injuries? It's very likely that several people, including Meng Lan, would have been killed.
Guan Xia just contemplated this possibility and felt a chilling horror run down her spine. She was both grateful that Lu Tingfeng arrived in time and terrified by the sudden, ferocious face the criminal organization had revealed.
So this was the true strength of the antagonist organization in a crime investigation story? Even with all their preparations, they still suffered such a heavy blow.
It took Guan Xia several minutes to barely calm down a little. Instinctively, she tightly grasped Pang Le's hand to draw strength, looked at Xu Nian and asked, "What about Wu Yang? Did he escape?"
Xu Nian replied, "There's no bad news yet. He should still be within the special task force's sight."
Only then did Guan Xia heave a huge sigh of relief. "That's good, that's good."
However, Guan Xia's relief was clearly premature. Immediately after, Xu Nian pursed his lips and said through gritted teeth, "Besides that, there's one more thing..."
At these words, everyone immediately widened their eyes and looked at him. Guan Xia's tense voice rose uncontrollably, "One more thing? Did another friend or relative get attacked? Mine?"
As she asked, Guan Xia's brain was desperately trying to recall. She thought and thought; she only had a few friends. Apart from Meng Lan and Lu Tingfeng, who could be considered a friend and weren't by her side, everyone else was here. As for family, the only one who could be considered family was Mother Chen from the orphanage. Guan Xia thought with some fear, surely that organization wouldn't be so insane as to go kill people at the orphanage, right? Just to get back at her? But the orphanage was also where Wu Yang grew up. They couldn't, could they?
Guan Xia, extremely nervous and uneasy, looked at Xu Nian, afraid he would deliver the tragic news about Mother Chen, who raised her. Unexpectedly, what Xu Nian said was, "Your biological sister was attacked. She's fine, but her biological father..."
Guan Xia never expected to receive such news. At first, she blinked somewhat blankly, as if she didn't quite understand. A few seconds later, she suddenly grasped it and was stunned, looking somewhat dazedly at Xu Nian and asking, "You mean... that girl who came to my apartment before to find me and give me money, she was attacked? And then... her father died?"
Xu Nian nodded with a grave expression.
Guan Xia found it utterly bewildering. "How could this be? Although they are biologically related to me, we only met that one time. We haven't spent time together or lived together. We are practically strangers in the physical sense. Why would that organization attack them? To get back at me? Could it be because of that brief meeting before, which made them think we had reconciled, so they..."
Guan Xia guessed wildly, her brain feeling rusty and stuck, constantly flashing images of the girl who looked somewhat similar to her—her crying while looking at her, her smiling, her dazed and somewhat wronged expression.
Even though Guan Xia had never cared about that girl before, somehow, at this moment, she felt as if her entire heart was being squeezed. It didn't hurt, but she felt unable to breathe.
Guan Xia was in a daze for a while, and it also felt like her ears were ringing for a long time, before she suddenly heard the others' voices as if from another world.
Guan Xia felt her shoulders being gripped. She looked up to see Pang Le's bright face, full of worry and tension, looking at her, repeating constantly, "Guan Xia, Guan Xia, look at me, listen to me, you listen to me. What happened to them is not your responsibility. Do you remember what we speculated before? That girl meeting you so coincidentally was very likely planned by that organization. That is to say, they were targeted and used a long time ago. Regardless of whether she later came to your apartment to find you or not, once Wu Yang was exposed, they would be affected. All of this is because that organization is insane. It has nothing to do with you. You are also just a pawn they targeted and tried to use. Have you forgotten we were attacked three times before? The reason we're okay isn't because we were lucky. It's because of your talent, your ability. Otherwise, we would be the same; we would have also lost our lives at some intersection."
To capture Guan Xia's attention, Pang Le gripped her shoulders with extra force, so much that Guan Xia felt a slight pain. And it was this pain that gradually calmed Guan Xia's chaotic mind.
Yes, that girl was pitiable, and she was pitiable too. Meng Lan was pitiable, everyone injured in this attack was pitiable. When you got down to it, it was that organization trampling on the law and disregarding human life. It had nothing to do with anyone else; they were the true culprits.
Finally seeing the light, Guan Xia seemed to suddenly sober up. She sharply inhaled a breath and then heavily exhaled it, murmuring to herself, "That's right. The culprit is Wu Yang. If it weren't for him, none of these events would have happened. So many people wouldn't have been injured, or even lost their lives. He is the cause of all this."
At this point, the previously unextinguished flame in Guan Xia's heart flared even higher. Her eyes burned as she looked at Xu Nian, stating resolutely, "I'm going to Jianyang City. I want to see Wu Yang brought to justice with my own eyes."
