Chapter 74: Interrogating Zheng Liangchen

“What are you doing?!”

Su Qingzhu’s almond-shaped eyes were wide and round, her chest heaving with indignation at being ignored, her voice sharp with suppressed anger.

Chen Yu didn’t spare her a glance. His gaze was fixed unwaveringly on the older man behind the desk, brows furrowed into a deep crease.

He was breathing hard, his words coming out in urgent bursts.

“There’s a problem with the surveillance!”

“That equipment—it’s been tampered with!”

The air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze for a moment.

Su Qingzhu’s eyes narrowed instantly at his words, and she instinctively turned to her mentor, Yan Zheng.

On Yan Zheng’s square face, surprise flickered first, then quickly gave way to sudden realization. He stood up slowly, as if casting off a burden that had weighed him down for years.

He didn’t say a word, just jerked his chin subtly toward the door—a silent instruction to take the conversation elsewhere.

At the doorway, this squad captain of the city’s investigative team paused, as if remembering something. Without turning back, he called out to his disciple, who was still rooted in place.

“Qingzhu, enough. Go to the cafeteria and get a few boxed meals for us.”

With that, Yan Zheng led Chen Yu straight into his office, thick with the smell of stale smoke.

The door slammed shut.

Yan Zheng collapsed heavily into his battered old chair, which creaked under his weight.

He exhaled a long, weary breath, smoke curling around him, his eyes exhausted beyond words.

“So this is where the problem lay…”

He murmured to himself, his voice barely audible, yet it landed like a pebble in the still waters of Chen Yu’s heart.

“He’s got some real skill, that one…”

Chen Yu’s mind stirred. Of course, this old fox had already guessed who was behind it, perhaps more than even he himself had realized.

He simply didn’t know how exactly the man in black had pulled it off.

“Aren’t you going to send someone to check the surveillance backups right away?” Chen Yu ventured.

“We’ll check, of course! The tech boys are probably already on it.”

Yan Zheng lifted his gaze, fixing Chen Yu with a searching look.

“But I trust you more.”

“And besides—now everything makes sense.”

“Makes sense?”

This time, Chen Yu was genuinely caught off guard. He frowned, countering, “Logically, this actually raises more questions. A high-IQ criminal, with no connection to Liu Hong, goes through all this trouble to frame her with her own hair—that’s the biggest inconsistency. Why do you think it makes sense?”

Yan Zheng didn’t answer directly; instead, he flashed that wily, knowing smile of his. He stubbed out his cigarette and tossed the question back.

“What’s illogical about it? Tell me.”

Chen Yu smirked, immune now to the old man’s tricks, and settled onto the guest sofa, analyzing aloud.

“First, as I said, the mysterious figure and Liu Hong—they’re worlds apart. One’s a depraved killer lurking in the shadows, the other an innocent widow. There’s no intersection, no motive.”

Yan Zheng leaned forward slightly, his eyes glittering through the haze.

“Are you sure there’s no connection?” he replied slowly. “Haven’t you noticed? From the Ripper case fifteen years ago, to Luo Xiangdong’s remains, to Zhang Luoluo’s murder now—all the people involved are wound together by invisible threads.”

“Luo Xiangdong, Liu Hong, Liu Gang, Zhang Luoluo…”

“Do you really think they’re unrelated?”

Chen Yu fell silent.

Yan Zheng’s words sliced through the blind spot of his thinking like a scalpel.

Indeed, everyone seemed to orbit around Luo Xiangdong at the center.

“Hmm.” He accepted Yan Zheng’s point and moved on to his second question. “Then what’s the purpose of the mysterious man’s actions? Was it simply to frame an innocent woman? Or…”

“Or, perhaps, to target you.”

Yan Zheng cut him off, his expression turning strange, as if scrutinizing a notorious womanizer.

“Uh…”

Chen Yu rubbed his nose, understanding dawning. Clearly, his affair with Liu Hong was no secret to this veteran detective.

“Don’t bother guessing.” Yan Zheng waved it away, reluctant to dwell on the subject. He lit another cigarette, atmosphere turning somber again. “The commotion on the surface is just a cover for the undercurrents below. Since you’re convinced Liu Gang is Zhang Luoluo’s killer, then perhaps he’s the first brick we need to pry loose the entire case.”

“Interrogate Liu Gang again?” Chen Yu asked.

“No rush.” Yan Zheng shook his head, smiling. “Let’s eat first. People are iron, food is steel—if the case isn’t solved, we can’t let ourselves collapse first.”

Chen Yu nodded, then thought of that showy detective from Sakura Country.

“Captain Yan, what do you think that Sanada Gouichiro will make of this case?”

For once, he asked sincerely. He knew well that, for all Yan Zheng’s secrecy and caution, his investigative acumen was peerless. It was only years in the bureaucracy that had bound his hands, leaving loopholes for “outsiders” like himself to shine.

Some things only a true insider could see through.

“Him?”

Yan Zheng sneered.

“We don’t need to worry about him. The higher he jumps, the harder he’ll fall.”

“At best, he’s just a tool, a stick to prod me. If he actually finds a clue, so much the better. But if he causes trouble…”

A chilling light flashed in Yan Zheng’s eyes.

“If he doesn’t trip us up, we’ll already have reason to thank our lucky stars.”

Then, his tone shifted, warm and earnest like a senior advising a junior.

“Chen Yu.”

He spoke gravely, “You and I are not the same. I’m shackled by constraints, but you’re not. Don’t let anything meaningless distract you. Throw yourself into the work, follow your own logic!”

“If the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you. Don’t carry any burdens!”

His words filled Chen Yu with a surge of warmth.

“Alright!”

He nodded emphatically, then added with a wry smile, “The biggest problem now is… we have no hard evidence to make a tough character like Liu Gang talk.”

“If we don’t have it, there’s no need to crack that bone yet.” Yan Zheng leaned back, his tone calm. “You said it yourself—sometimes in criminal investigation, you have to subtract.”

“We’ll start eliminating the least likely options, one by one.”

“Good!”

A flash of inspiration lit Chen Yu’s eyes as he remembered a hapless soul left hanging for half a day.

“By the way! Has anyone questioned Zheng Liangchen yet?”

Yan Zheng chuckled, teasing, “If our ‘Resurrected Brother’ doesn’t say so, who dares touch him? He’s still waiting in the interrogation room.”

“Great!” Chen Yu slapped his thigh and stood up. “Once we’ve eaten, let’s pay a visit to this ‘grief-stricken husband’!”

…

2 p.m.

In the interrogation room, Zheng Liangchen had been thoroughly deflated.

Normally, at this hour, he’d either be at some club or catching up on sleep.

His wife Zhang Luoluo’s death was, for him, like having his meal ticket suddenly torn to shreds.

Of course, he was “heartbroken.”

So heartbroken, in fact, that last night he’d gone to Brother Lei’s place, found the two freshest girls, and drowned his sorrow in the most violent way possible, all night long.

This morning, aching all over, he left the club. With a dead body in his villa, he dared not go home.

He was just about to find a five-star hotel for a nap when Yan Zheng’s men politely “invited” him here.

And here he had sat, waiting for hours.

Why had they summoned him again?

Hadn’t they already asked everything last time, taken his statement several times over?

He didn’t understand, nor did he dare ask.

Just as he was physically exhausted, mentally on edge, and close to breaking down, the heavy iron door finally creaked open.

Chen Yu entered, a rascally grin on his face.

Yan Zheng’s square face remained as stern as ever.

The two men sat down across from him, one on either side.

“Zheng Liangchen, is that right?” Chen Yu began, his voice as gentle as a spring breeze.

“Yes, yes, that’s right!” Zheng Liangchen nodded and bowed, the years spent as a live-in son-in-law leaving him with the air of a natural sycophant.

“Officers, didn’t we already go over everything before? Why am I here again?”

“Oh, it’s nothing serious.” Chen Yu’s smile grew even brighter—a smile that sent a shiver down Yan Zheng’s spine.

The way this kid conducted an interrogation, the effortless pressure, that cocky yet oppressive aura… If you told Yan Zheng he wasn’t born for this, he’d rip off his own rank on the spot.

“We just want to chat a bit more, get a deeper understanding,” Chen Yu said amicably.

“Of course! Ask away, ask away! I’ll tell you everything I know, fully cooperate!” Zheng Liangchen was overjoyed to oblige.

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Chen Yu uttered his thanks, but then suddenly stood up.

He strode over to Zheng Liangchen’s side, leaned down until their faces were inches apart, and whispered so only the two of them could hear:

“Do you… know Liu Gang?”

Buzz!

For a split second, Zheng Liangchen felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him, his body frozen in place.

The color drained from his face in an instant.

Chen Yu’s lips curled in amusement as he watched a string of interesting data appear before his eyes:

[Name: Zheng Liangchen]
[Heart Rate: 96 (nervous, angry)]
[Stamina: 5 (excessive indulgence)]
[Favorability: 20 (awe)]
[Purity: -10010 (heh heh heh)]
…