The women sitting on the side clearly didn't take the police seriously; being a prostitute to this extent is also a kind of art. Wu Shuang thought as she scanned each person with her eyes.

"I'm here on official business today!" Director Zhao disentangled himself from the woman's hands, without any awkward expression, his big hand stroking the woman's thigh while his murky eyes glanced to the side. "Has Ah San arrived yet?"

"Looking for Ah San, huh? I haven't seen him show up here for a few days now." The woman slapped away Director Zhao's reaching hand, feigning an angry look. "I heard from people next door that he recently made some money and went to hang out in high-class places."

Director Zhao clapped his hands and stood up. "When you see him, tell him to come to me."

"Oh, you're leaving already, Director? I've been waiting for you!" Judging by this, the director must be a frequent customer here. Director Zhao rubbed his crew cut and chuckled at Wu Shuang.

"Officer Wu, the person you're looking for probably won't be seen today, how about a few days later?" Director Zhao turned his head to glance at the woman still standing at the door and frowned.

"Then I'll trouble Director Zhao. I'll call again." The sky had completely darkened; the myriad lights of the city scarcely brightened this place at all.

"That old lecher must have gone back to buy himself a prostitute." Xiao Sun confidently asserted in the car. "Did you see how his shifty eyes kept staring at that woman's chest? You men are all animals that think with the lower half of your body." Saying this, she elbowed Xiao Liu beside her, causing the unsuspecting Xiao Liu to exclaim in pain.

"Cut it out." Wu Shuang yelled at the two in the back while driving. Judging by Director Zhao's impression, this guy named Ah San probably wasn't capable of much, just another man loitering in brothels. What big thing could someone like that accomplish? "Tell me about today's case again."

"The perpetrator is a truck driver who collided with a car on the highway. Initially, we also thought it was just a traffic accident, and we were planning to process it and transfer it to the court for approval. But the traffic police squad identified it as an unreasonable accident based on the scene investigation. Xiao Sun and I re-interrogated the perpetrator and used some small tactics for him to confess that someone named Ah San ordered him to do it."

Xiao Liu was a bit smug in reporting, as he was the first to notice something wasn't quite right, intentionally threatening the perpetrator to get the information.

"Unreasonable accident?" Wu Shuang, coming from the traffic cop team, naturally understood what this kind of verdict meant.

"The Transport Bureau draft, I put it on your desk before, explained it this way, so..."

"The name of the deceased."

"Currently still unclear. Due to intense impact followed by fuel tank leakage and explosion, the person in the car was burned beyond recognition, so identification is not possible yet."

"Haven't checked the license plate?"

"It's been checked. The car was stolen. The car owner reported it missing last month according to the plate information."

"Re-interrogate." Wu Shuang sensitively perceived the complexity of this case, and the perpetrator clearly hid something from them.

In the interrogation room of the City Police Department, Liu Wei sat in a chair, his spiky hair resembling a bird's nest. One hand was around his neck, the other on his knee, eyes squinting. Wu Shuang, holding a teacup since the person was brought to the interrogation room, had remained silent, while Xiao Sun and Xiao Liu beside her cooperated by staying quiet too.

"Officer, I've told you everything last time, what else do you want? I've already confessed." Liu Wei blinked his heavy eyelids. Being dragged out in the middle of the night for interrogation, wasn't this a fatigue tactic? It's a sort of corporal punishment on a person, he wanted to sue this officer.

"Then go over what you haven't said yet." Wu Shuang's indifferent tone drifted over Liu Wei's head.

"What else is left unsaid? I've gone over everything with those two officers at your side." Liu Wei reluctantly pouted, lowering his head.

"Then say it again. I didn't hear it."

"Oh come on, Officer, you're messing with me, right?" Liu Wei rolled his eyes, unwillingly shaking his legs.

"If I tell you to speak, then speak, enough with the nonsense." Xiao Liu roared from the side.

"That day I drank a bit too much, wanted to hurry back to my wife." At this, Liu Wei chuckled subtly.

"Be serious."

"That dumb bastard in the car wanted to overtake me and insulted me, which I didn't take kindly to. After that, well, you saw it, that car flipped. A small car trying to compete with my big rig, isn't that courting death?"

"Who is that Ah San?" Wu Shuang frowned deeply, dissatisfied with this man's words.

"Who's Ah San? I don't know this person." Liu Wei said calmly, looking at Wu Shuang with a hint of disdain in his eyes.

"Liu Wei, you'd better cooperate. Last time you said in your testimony that someone named Ah San instructed you to kill the two people in the car, right?" Xiao Sun waved the previous record in front of Liu Wei.

"I say, little lady officer, did you hear it wrong? When did I ever say someone instructed me to kill? I don't even know anyone named Ah San." Liu Wei glared at Xiao Sun. "Don't think that being a cop gives you the right to just accuse people. I can sue you for this."

"Liu Wei, mind your attitude. This is the police station." Xiao Liu reminded Liu Wei solemnly, finding his sudden retraction surprising.

"Didn't I already say I was drunk that day? Just so happened that car was looking for trouble, so I hit it." Liu Wei kept to the same story, repeating himself.

"Take him away." Wu Shuang lost interest in the interrogation; there was something amiss with this person.

"Chief Wu, this kid is lying." Xiao Liu said affirmatively to Wu Shuang after Liu Wei left.

"I know." Wu Shuang compared two statements. "Go check who visited him today."

The discrepancy between the testimonies is that the first one desperately denies guilt, while the second insists it was a drunk-driving accident entirely self-inflicted. Yet Ah San exists, and Wu Shuang, twirling the pen in her hand, felt she should visit the northern district again.

"Hurry up and confirm the deceased's identity, start investigating Liu Wei's background, list out his connections, and see if there's any direct or indirect link with the deceased. Ask the car owner about the situation and location when the car was stolen, and submit the report to my desk by tomorrow afternoon."

"Tomorrow?"

"Is there any problem?" Wu Shuang questioned Xiao Sun's agitated reaction, not recalling tomorrow being any holiday.

"No problem, I guarantee with Xiao Sun we'll get it done." Xiao Liu put an arm around Xiao Sun's shoulder, giving Wu Shuang a confident promise.

"It's getting late, I'll drive you guys back."

The once sunny day had turned into a damp and drizzling night, as Wu Shuang drove aimlessly down the streets. The road shone bright from the rain, reflecting the lights like stars falling to earth. She parked by the roadside, staring at these fallen stars.

The phone vibrated a few times, and Xiao Lin picked it up from the table. 'What are you doing? I have something to ask you.'

"Who is it?" Hua Qingyi asked Xiao Lin in a lowered voice. After the phone vibrated a few more times, Xiao Lin turned it off. "A woman, right?"

"Yes." Xiao Lin, rare in good mood, answered him, his ears catching the discussions of the elderly men nearby, among which he found it hard to interject as one of them.

"Those old guys are really incomprehensible. Simple things are made overly complicated." Hua Qingyi shared the same sentiment as Xiao Lin. To him, it was even more nonsensical, like listening to a disjointed audiobook.

"What are you two here for, just sitting there?" Lao Long noticed the two whispering and couldn't help shouting at them but tempered his usual gruffness due to Xiao Zhenfeng's presence, trying for a friendlier tone.

"Issues from a generation ago, we're not interested." Hua Qingyi wasn't afraid of Lao Long, retorting, "Besides, if you want us to work, shouldn't you explain the ins and outs clearly, instead of just a round of bickering and blaming."

A very candid statement. He and Xiao Lin had been sitting there for nearly four to five hours, spent entirely in arguments and shirking responsibility. Surprisingly, those who could be considered of general rank were so petty. If someone recorded the scene and put it online, it would surely go viral.

Xiao Lin amusingly watched Lao Long's face change from red to white, suppressing his temper so tightly it could cause internal injury, and he certainly didn't want to play doctor here.

"Why arrest Lin Zhifang?" That was another purpose of coming to Dragon Soul. Amidst the arguments, he hadn't found a chance to ask. "It can't be just because the situation needs a scapegoat, can it?"

Lao Long looked towards Xiao Zhenfeng, while Chu Yun and Shen Qizhen also fixed their gaze on Xiao Zhenfeng. "Why are you all looking at him?" Xiao Lin quipped annoyingly. "I currently handle all Xiao Family matters in Yanjing, so looking at him is pointless."

"Is that truly the case?" Lao Long asked Xiao Zhenfeng, slightly unaware of such a change.

Xiao Zhenfeng, showing a rare expression, nodded silently at the three people in front of him, acquiescing to the situation. "Wan Zhihao's absence already indicates his stance, so there's no need to inform him of this change."

With a single statement, someone was excluded, leaving Shen Qizhen and Chu Yun anxious for Wan Zhihao. "Now is the time for us to face our mutual enemy, I hope everyone can maintain their former resolve. Be aware, our adversary is coming in strong, this is not the moment for division." (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit the website "qidian.com" to vote for it with recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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