Chapter 88 - 87: Li Jianye: You Bastard! Is This What You Call a ’Small Case’!?

"You animal! Son of a bitch! Animal! You’re a goddamn animal!"

Li Jianye couldn’t take it anymore. The man, in his forties, was completely losing it. He looked at Xu Huo, his face a mask of agony, and pointed a finger at him as he yelled.

He really couldn’t take it anymore.

He hadn’t wanted to come to Linlan City in the first place. After all, he had just finished a case in Jiangsan City and finally had some time to rest, but then he got saddled with this temporary assignment.

But he came anyway, figuring he could treat it as a vacation, since it was all on the public dime.

But then he ran into a case.

Fine, a case was a case. It wasn’t his responsibility anyway; Wang Hu and Xu Huo were in charge.

He was only responsible for conducting interviews in some areas related to the case. How tiring could that be?

Later, Li Jianye found out exactly how tiring it could be...

"You animal! May you be struck by lightning!"

Li Jianye recalled the high-intensity work of the past few days, and a wave of despair washed over him.

"Captain Li, what do you mean by that?"

Xu Huo remained expressionless, playing dumb.

"Didn’t you fucking say this was a suicide-by-well case!?"

Li Jianye said through clenched teeth.

For the past two nights, before he could sleep, he had to mentally replay the conversation he’d had with Xu Huo.

"Where did the crime occur?"

Xu Huo had asked.

"In a well," Qian Hua had played the straight man.

"Where’s the body?" Xu Huo had asked again.

"In the well," Qian Hua had replied, continuing his part.

"So what kind of case is it when you put them together?" Xu Huo had asked, dead serious.

"A suicide-by-well case!"

Qian Hua had answered with the utmost sincerity. That was indeed what they had called it at the beginning, so he wasn’t lying.

But...

"You call this a suicide-by-well case!?"

Li Jianye didn’t get it, but he was utterly shocked. Looking at the two of them, he found the whole situation absurd.

"There are this many bodies in the well, and you’re telling me it’s a suicide-by-well case!?"

"It’s been seven days! If you count the two days for cracking the case and the review, that’s a full nine days."

"In nine days, we haven’t even recovered all the bodies from Wang Jinyuan’s dumping ground!"

"And you call this a suicide-by-well case."

Xu Huo nodded again. "There’s a well and there are bodies. How is it not a suicide-by-well case?"

Did it make sense?

It made perfect sense. Absolutely perfect!

"Then how do you explain calling it a ’small case’?"

Li Jianye snorted. He felt like he’d been tricked.

All he wanted was to be an old man collecting his pension. He had no desire for promotions, and whether he got credit for anything was purely a matter of luck.

"This is a small case."

Xu Huo replied quietly, sitting on the steps.

"How many bodies?"

"Don’t know. Too many to count."

"That’s a major case, isn’t it?"

"Small case," Xu Huo said.

"How many dumping grounds?"

"Two."

"How many belts were found at the second dumping ground?"

"Dozens."

"At a minimum, how many lives were lost?"

"More than the number of belts."

"That’s a major case, isn’t it?"

"Small case," Xu Huo repeated.

Li Jianye stared at Xu Huo for a long time. Then, as if in a daze, a smile of resignation spread across his face.

"A small case, huh? Then why don’t you go solve a major one."

A major case?

’To be honest, this case is already huge, but there are even bigger ones out there...’

’Zhang Jian is nowhere to be seen now. If there’s a case even bigger than this one... honestly, if that’s possible, I’d advise Wang Hu and the others to just go home and retire.’

"Heh, there are plenty of cases all over the country. Cold cases, old cases... if you can think of it, it exists."

Li Jianye pulled a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips.

These days, major cases were popping up all over the country.

It couldn’t be helped. That’s how it was when social order hadn’t stabilized yet—a shocking, major case would emerge from time to time.

Were people like Wang Jinyuan rare?

Not at all.

Let’s put it this way.

’Wang Jinyuan’s later killings were to satisfy his twisted inner desires, but in my past life, there was a case that wasn’t about desire, but about money!’

But...

’How would I even come into contact with them?’

Xu Huo’s brow twitched. In that moment, he seemed to realize something.

"Someone’s here to see you again."

Li Jianye said with a helpless smile. He truly hadn’t expected that in just two short months, the lowest-ranking leaders Xu Huo had met were senior police officers like Zhang Jian, Chu Linhai, and Wang Hu...

’Damn, white-shirts, directors... those are the lowest-ranking people he’s met!’

’Other than them, the people he’s met are either from the province or from way, way up the chain of command...’

"Someone’s in the office looking for you."

Li Jianye gestured with his chin toward the office.

"Yeah, I might as well go hear them out."

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes. "Who is it?"

"Heaven knows who these people are."

Li Jianye clicked his tongue. He genuinely didn’t know their identities.

Of course, even if he did know, he wouldn’t go blabbing about it.

The government has confidential files. This isn’t science fiction, it’s not a novel—it’s real!

For example, the personnel files and identity information of certain scientific researchers.

Or personnel files from special departments, like the special forces units that most men dream of joining—those also need to be kept confidential.

And it’s not just personnel information that’s kept secret; entire incidents can be classified.

For instance, for the current case created by Wang Jinyuan, all participating personnel had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, preventing them from revealing any case-related matters to the public for a certain period.

’Their identities are unknown...’

Xu Huo fell into deep thought.

’Within the Eastern Country, there are only a few organizations that can operate in public while keeping their identities secret.’

’People like that... are looking for me?’

He paused for a moment, then made up his mind.

"I’ll be right back."

With that, he turned and walked toward the office.

Watching him leave, Li Jianye’s face showed a complex mix of emotions.

Although he had cursed him out pretty fiercely, he never said that Xu Huo had done anything wrong.

For a case like this, as long as it gets solved, a little hardship and exhaustion are nothing. After all, being a criminal investigator is never easy; they were all used to being tired.

"Tsk, kids these days. It’s great to be young."

Li Jianye mused, the cigarette dangling from his lips, a nostalgic look in his eyes. But not long after...

...his expression gradually turned dumbfounded.

"Wait a minute... where did you pop out from!?"

Stunned, Li Jianye’s eyes went wide as he stared blankly at the young man in front of him.

At some point, a sneaky-looking Wang Chao had appeared before him.

"Huh? Captain Li, you’re in Linlan City!?"

Wang Chao had been looking for someone and had bumped into Li Jianye by chance. His face immediately lit up with joy.

"I’ve missed you so much!"

"Hold on, never mind missing me... what are you doing at the police station!?"

Li Jianye slowly realized something was wrong. He looked at Wang Chao with an increasingly strange expression.

He had arrived in Linlan City relatively late, after the case had mostly taken shape. The name Wang Chao had been ruled out, and the person wasn’t at the station.

He only knew that someone had been bored enough to wander to the foot of the mountain in the middle of the night, but he never imagined it was this guy.

"I’m here to collect my reward money."

Wang Chao answered honestly.

"The reward for discovering the case. It’s tens of thousands, you know. The police station told me to come get it."

If Wang Chao hadn’t kicked it into the open, the Ghost Well case would have likely remained buried. It might not have been discovered until Zhang Family Town’s economic development plan was complete and construction began.

Therefore, the authorities do offer rewards to people like him.

Of course, the specifics depend on the local area; some places don’t give out commendations.

"No, what I mean is, why are you in Linlan City?"

Li Jianye was so shocked that he didn’t even notice the cigarette fall from his mouth.

This kid...

’Something’s not right about him!’

Wait...

"How are you so familiar with the Linlan City police station?"

Li Jianye seemed to have discovered something.

"Oh, because I looked around last time I came to collect," Wang Chao said.

"Last time... last time?"

Something suddenly clicked in Li Jianye’s mind.

"The Linlan City bombing case!?"

"Yep," Wang Chao nodded.

Shock filled Li Jianye’s eyes.

Li Jianye seemed to realize something.

Li Jianye’s gaze gradually grew stranger.

"So now you’re going to..."

"Oh, I came to hang out with Brother Huo and give him the money from last time."

Wang Chao looked a little sad. "I was originally planning to raise pigs, but it looks like that’s not possible now. It’s pretty scary carrying around all this cash."

Li Jianye: ...

’Okay, so you really are the one who kicked open a case that shocked the entire province.’

He suppressed the urge to retort and, after a long pause, said slowly:

"Sit here and wait."

"Okay... I guess it won’t be long."

...

...

There was a temporarily cleared-out office at the city bureau that Xu Huo and the others knew about.

He didn’t go to the office they had used for the case before, but went straight here.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~"

Xu Huo stood at the office door and knocked.

"Come in."

A voice called out, followed by the crisp CLICK of the door lock.

The next second, the door was slowly pushed open, revealing a middle-aged man with a crew cut.

It was called a crew cut, but his hair wasn’t that short. He had a sturdy build, and his fists looked like two small pendulums.

At that moment, he was standing by the window, watching the movements within the city bureau.

This person was...

"Mr. Xu, we meet again."

The man turned around, and upon seeing it was Xu Huo, he broke into a wide grin.

’The bombing case, outside the murder scene, the car that pulled over, the man who got out!’

The memory instantly surfaced in Xu Huo’s mind. He had crossed paths with this man once before during a previous investigation.

Of course, "crossing paths" just meant they had made eye contact for a moment.

"I heard you were looking for me?"

Xu Huo wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries. The investigation over the past week or so had left him mentally and physically exhausted. Even while in the holding cell, he had to keep up with the case, which meant he hadn’t slept well.

Right now, all he wanted was to get this over with, go home, and get a good, long sleep.

However...

...the man’s next words drove all sleepiness from his mind.

"What my name is isn’t important, but you can call me Zhang Liang."

"Of course, I sought you out for official business..."

Zhang Liang poured a cup of tea and pushed it toward Xu Huo, along with a contract.

He smiled, watching Xu Huo in silence.

"I wonder if Mr. Xu would be interested..."

"...in working in the Capital City?"

The Capital City...

The Capital City!?

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, his mind racing.

"You people..."

"What’s your background?"