Just waiting for updates, Guan Xia felt somewhat relieved and even had the leisure to recall that around 11 PM on the 26th and again on the 27th, while she was deep in sleep, the system interface had popped up. At the time, she had been too drowsy to pay much attention, but now it occurred to her that those were likely notifications from the system confirming the arrests of the two suspects.
With the halo charging twice in just two days, Guan Xia felt reassured, though she couldn’t help but wonder whether the halo’s effects could stack. Moreover, since the system had quietly upgraded itself, was it possible that the halo had leveled up as well? She desperately wanted some visible, tangible data to confirm it.
It wasn’t until after lunch that the identity of the five-year-old victim was finally confirmed.
The group had just stepped out of the cafeteria at Daqu County Police Station when Xu Nian received a phone call. A few minutes later, he hung up and turned to the others. "The victim found in the sewer last night has been identified. His name was Yuan Ruixing, a five-year-old boy. The detectives in Daqu County have already contacted his relatives, who are now on their way to the morgue to identify the body."
At the thought of that small corpse, everyone fell silent for a moment before Guan Xia finally asked, "Has the suspect confessed? What was his motive? And what’s his relationship with the victim’s family—was there any grudge between them?"
Xu Nian shook his head. "The suspect hasn’t said a word since being brought in. Captain Tan even brought in an interrogation expert from Quming City, but so far, he still refuses to speak."
No one seemed particularly surprised—perhaps they were used to it—and their expressions remained unchanged.
Wang Yu remarked, "At least we’ve confirmed the victim’s identity. Now, when we investigate further, we can trace the connection between the victim and the suspect to deduce possible motives."
Identifying the victim was like finally finding the loose thread in a tangled mess. Pulling on it revealed more useful information, and the case gradually became clearer.
No sooner had they returned to the office than Xu Nian received another call. Within half an hour, the relationship between the victim and the suspect was uncovered—though it was so convoluted that it could hardly be called a relationship at all. To the victim, the suspect was merely the uncle of one of his kindergarten classmates. Nothing more.
The revelation left the group both surprised and unsurprised, though they couldn’t quite make sense of it.
"An uncle killing his nephew’s kindergarten classmate? What kind of motive could that be?" Pang Le’s face scrunched up in thought before he ventured, "Could it be some kind of kindergarten bullying situation where the uncle was avenging his nephew? But from what we’ve heard about the suspect’s background, he didn’t seem particularly close to his sister or nephew."
Guan Xia had a different theory. After a few seconds of contemplation, she said, "Maybe the motive lies with the victim’s parents. The suspect might be reclusive, but he’s lived with his sister and nephew for years—he must have left the house at least a few times. His sister owns a chain of stores, right? Business owners are usually busy, so there’s a good chance the suspect has picked up his nephew from kindergarten before. Could he have crossed paths with the victim’s parents during those times and held some kind of grudge?"
The more she spoke, the more plausible it sounded, and she couldn’t help but glance at Xu Nian for confirmation.
Xu Nian replied, "According to Captain Tan’s findings, Wu Zhiming did occasionally pick up his nephew from kindergarten—not often, but a few times a month. He did cross paths with Yuan Ruixing’s mother, but according to the kindergarten teachers, they never interacted. Wu Zhiming always stood at the very edge of the crowd, never speaking to other parents. In contrast, Yuan Ruixing’s mother was very sociable—chatty, even. Sometimes she’d bring small snacks to share with the other parents while waiting."
"Could it be jealousy again?" Pang Le suddenly interjected, as if struck by a thought.
Guan Xia quickly realized he was likely recalling a previous case they’d handled in Fu’an City, where the suspect had committed murder both for robbery and out of sheer envy, ultimately ruining his own life in the process.
After working enough cases, you learned that motives could be bizarre beyond belief. Following Pang Le’s train of thought, Guan Xia asked, "So the suspect only ever saw the victim’s mother, never his father? Was the victim from a single-parent household? What’s his mother’s situation?"
Xu Nian answered, "From what Captain Tan’s team found, the victim’s parents weren’t divorced but had been separated for years. The father worked away from home most of the time, while the mother raised the child alone in Daqu County. She ran a stationery shop near a middle school—business wasn’t booming, but it wasn’t bad either. The family owned a house and a car, and she occasionally took the child on trips. But because the father was rarely home, the mother had been harassed by quite a few men—she’d even filed police reports over it."
Guan Xia and Pang Le exchanged glances, the same suspicion forming in their minds. Before either could voice it, Wang Yu spoke first: "So is it possible the suspect was one of those men? Maybe he pursued her, got rejected, and killed her son out of rage?"
Xu Nian was about to respond when his phone rang again. After a brief exchange, he hung up and said, "There’s a lead on another case. Captain Yu isn’t back yet, and Captain Tan’s team is tied up following it. They’ve asked us to take the victim’s mother’s statement. She just left the morgue and is on her way here. Do you all want to sit in?"
He was looking directly at Guan Xia, who nodded firmly without hesitation.
About fifteen minutes later, the group met the victim’s mother in an interview room. She was a tall, slightly plump middle-aged woman. Though grief had left her face swollen and streaked with tears, and fine wrinkles had begun to show, her delicate features and well-defined facial structure suggested she could still be quite striking with a little effort.
What surprised Guan Xia and the others was that the woman wasn’t alone—a middle-aged man stood beside her. Tall and grim-faced, he kept a slight distance from her, and when they sat, there was no eye contact between them. They seemed familiar, yet not quite close.
Guan Xia was still puzzling over their relationship—they didn’t seem like a couple; maybe siblings?—when the woman spoke in a hoarse voice, "Officers, have you caught the man who killed my son?"
The words had barely left her mouth before her composure cracked again. She wiped her tears roughly and continued through sobs, "Can I see him? I want to ask—why? My son was only five. What kind of monster hurts a child? Did I know him? Did he hate me? If he hated me, why didn’t he come after me? Why did he kill my son?"
By the end, she could no longer hold back, breaking down into wrenching sobs once more, her red-rimmed eyes burning with hatred.
Guan Xia and the others instinctively glanced at the middle-aged man sitting beside the woman. They had assumed that, regardless of their relationship, since they had come to the police station together, he would at least offer some comfort. To their surprise, the man remained silent, his gaze vacant, lost in thought.
Seeing the family members unresponsive, Wang Yu swiftly stepped forward. She placed a cup of warm water in the woman’s hands, gently patting her back to soothe her while murmuring words of reassurance.
After a few minutes, the woman finally calmed down. But the moment she set the cup on the table, her eyes flickered toward the middle-aged man, and fury surged across her face. She lunged at him, grabbing his hair and striking him wildly, screaming through her tears, "It’s all your fault! Why did you come back now? Why didn’t you answer my calls? If I’d known you hadn’t taken our child, I would’ve called the police right away! Maybe then... maybe our son wouldn’t have—"
Her blows were fierce, her weeping even more so, tears streaming down her face. The man seemed to accept the blame, swaying under her assault but never raising his head or uttering a word. He didn’t resist, and soon his face and neck were covered in bloody scratches, clumps of hair torn from his scalp.
It took several attempts for Wang Yu and Pang Le to pull her away.
Though the formal questioning hadn’t even begun, Guan Xia had already pieced together fragments of the story from their outbursts.
The two weren’t siblings, as she had initially assumed, but husband and wife. For reasons unknown, their marriage had long been strained, though they’d never divorced. The man had been away for years, only recently returning to Daqu County without warning. He’d taken their child without the woman’s consent—or perhaps he’d done it before—which was why, when the child went missing, the woman hadn’t considered abduction. Instead, she assumed the father had taken him. She tried calling for confirmation, but when the calls went unanswered, she delayed reporting to the police.
Another tragic misunderstanding. Guan Xia’s expression remained neutral, but inwardly, she sighed.
After another ten minutes, once the woman had settled again, Wang Yu finally asked, "Do you know Wu Zhiming?"
"Wu Zhiming?" The woman paused mid-motion, a tissue pressed to her eyes. She frowned slightly before shaking her head. "No, but the name sounds familiar."
The answer was unexpected. Just as Wang Yu was about to follow up, the woman’s eyes suddenly widened in realization. "What are you implying? Is he the killer? Did he murder my son?"
Wang Yu replied carefully, "He’s currently a prime suspect, but we don’t have conclusive evidence yet. The investigation is ongoing."
The woman’s agitation flared again, forcing Wang Yu to spend more time calming her before proceeding.
"Wu Zhiming has a nephew named Wu Bowen," Wang Yu explained, sliding a photo across the table. "He attended the same kindergarten as your son. Do you recognize him?"
The woman took the photo, studying it closely before nodding slowly. "Oh, him. Yes, I’ve seen him before—outside my son’s kindergarten. I even shared snacks with him once. But he seemed shy. We never spoke."
Guan Xia watched the woman’s expression closely. Her demeanor appeared genuine, with no signs of deception. This only deepened the mystery. If neither of them knew Wu Zhiming, why would he target their son?
Wang Yu pressed further, "What about his sister, Wu Yue? Do you know her?"
This time, the woman answered without hesitation. "Wu Yue? Yes, I know her. She owns a cosmetics store. I run a stationery shop. We’re friends on WeChat and chat often. I’ve even bought things from her store."
"Have you ever had any conflicts with her?"
The woman shook her head immediately. "No. We’ve known each other for about a year. Both single mothers running businesses—we had a lot in common. Our conversations were always pleasant. We even took the kids out together a few times. Wu Zhiming might’ve been withdrawn, but Wu Yue was outgoing and straightforward. Even when our kids argued, we never fought over it."
That made it even stranger. Guan Xia listened quietly, turning the details over in her mind, but no clear explanation emerged.
After Wang Yu finished questioning the victim’s mother, Xu Nian took over to interview the father.
His answers were far more curt. He’d been working away from home since 2016, returning only for the New Year—sometimes not even then. He didn’t know Wu Zhiming, nor even Wu Yue. He’d never once picked his son up from kindergarten. The reason for his return now? He’d found a new partner and wanted a divorce.
The woman hadn’t refused outright, but because he’d cheated, she demanded a larger share of their assets. Negotiations stalled, and the man retaliated by threatening to take their son. He’d done it twice before—snatching the boy when the woman wasn’t looking and refusing to answer her calls until the next day.
It was because of this history that the woman hadn’t reported the child missing immediately, inadvertently giving the killer more time.
Xu Nian’s interview with the father took much longer than Wang Yu’s with the mother—not because of complexity, but because nearly every word out of the man’s mouth sent the woman into a rage. Wang Yu and Pang Le repeatedly had to intervene, pulling her back. Even so, by the time the questioning ended, the man’s scalp was visible in patches, streaked with blood.
As the couple left the station, still shoving at each other, Pang Le suddenly leaned toward Guan Xia and muttered, "See? That’s what happens when a man’s heart changes. That’s why you have to know when to cut your losses. Love fully when you can, but walk away when it’s over. Otherwise, a good life turns into a living hell."
Guan Xia listened intently to Pang Le’s unexpected wisdom but said nothing. Wang Yu, however, nodded in agreement. "Absolutely. You’ve got to know when to hold on and when to let go. That’s the only way to move forward."
Behind them, Xu Nian and Jiang Yingyao exchanged a glance. Xu Nian opened his mouth as if to speak, then thought better of it, his gaze lingering on Guan Xia in silence.
