Chapter 192 - 188: A Thousand-Mile Head Delivery

Wu Ming lost her nerve the moment she said it. She shot a furtive glance at Jiang Li, but then she remembered the police were right next door. ’What the hell do I have to be afraid of?’

Jiang Li blinked. The guy on the other end, who had just been triggered by Wu Ming’s insults, had a voice that sounded a little familiar.

Like the killer’s.

Jiang Li raised an eyebrow. ’The killer is delivering himself right to our doorstep.’

Before the guy could arrive, Jiang Li went next door to get help. "Officer Cheng, Officer Feng, are you in there?"

"Yes!" Feng Dong rushed to pull the door open. "Miss Jiang, do you have a new lead?"

Jiang Li nodded. "Wu Ming and I were just playing a game, and the voice of the player we were up against sounded a lot like the killer’s.

He’s threatening to come here and find us for real. Ahem, you could probably lie in wait for him."

Jiang Li let out two awkward coughs as she spoke.

"Alright. Would it be convenient for us to come to your apartment?"

"Yes, yes, very convenient." Wu Ming peeked her head out from behind Jiang Li and nodded eagerly. ’It’s beyond convenient!’

The four of them sat in the room, with Wu Ming and Feng Dong watching the door nervously.

"You don’t think he’s going to bail, do you?" Wu Ming asked, propping her chin in her hand as she stared at the door. Half an hour had passed, and there was still no sign of him.

"Well, Miss Wu, how about you try provoking him again?" Feng Dong suggested, looking at Wu Ming.

"Shh!" Cheng Xiangyu cut them off. He walked to the door, listening to the footsteps in the hall.

"BANG BANG BANG! You damn bitches, get the hell out here!"

They all exchanged glances. Wu Ming switched off the lights, and Cheng Xiangyu yanked the door open. The man outside was holding a gleaming knife.

Cheng Xiangyu’s eyes narrowed. He instantly slapped the knife out of the man’s hand. The man reacted just as quickly, and the two of them were immediately locked in a brawl.

Only then did Wu Ming turn the lights back on.

Cheng Xiangyu and Feng Dong pinned the man down and restrained him. Cheng Xiangyu remembered Jiang Li saying the killer had a scar on his hand.

Cheng Xiangyu grabbed the man’s hand and took a look. Sure enough, there was a scar.

"Miss Jiang, we’ll have to ask you two to come with us to the station."

Jiang Li nodded and followed them into the car with Wu Ming. Once at the police station, they gave their statements as usual.

The killer was taken away to have his fingerprints matched with the evidence from the crime scene.

"Tian Xingwang, your fingerprints match those at the crime scene. Furthermore, the skin fragments found under the victim’s fingernails are also a perfect match.

Do you have anything you’d like to say now?"

Cheng Xiangyu looked at Tian Xingwang. According to their detailed investigation, Tian Xingwang had murdered his wife, Jiang Hua, and her two parents.

There were still bodies in the Jiang Family’s refrigerator that he hadn’t disposed of.

"I slaved away for the Jiang Family for so many years, and they never even treated me like a human being! They deserved to die!"

Tian Xingwang spat, gritting his teeth.

"But didn’t you marry into the Jiang Family in the first place because you were attracted to their wealth? To their house, their cars, and their well-off lifestyle?

When your family was five hundred thousand in debt, it was the Jiang Family who paid it off for you.

The very shop you run now was established with the Jiang Family’s support..."

"Pah! Wasn’t that the least they could do? I spent all those years doing their laundry and cooking—so what if they funded a shop for me?"

"Hmph. It’s a classic case of too much kindness breeding resentment. You’re just insatiably greedy. You murdered them all so you could seize the Jiang family’s fortune for yourself."

’I can’t believe they figured it out,’ Tian Xingwang thought. ’Damn it! If I had known, I never would have played that stupid game today.’

’If I’d known police were waiting, I wouldn’t have dared come knocking on their door, not even with a hundred times the nerve!’

’If not for this, I would’ve been gone by morning. I was going to grab the money, meet up with my friends, and get out of here. It would have been way harder for the police to find me then.’

Tian Xingwang wanted nothing more than to slap himself across the face.

Cheng Xiangyu gave Tian Xingwang a cold snort, then gathered the files on the table and handed the suspect over to his colleagues.

When he came out of the interrogation room, he saw Jiang Li and Wu Ming were still waiting. "That should be all for now.

Let us give you a ride home."

Jiang Li dozed off in the car on the way back. With nothing else eventful happening, she decided she would head home at first light the next day.

The next day, Jiang Li and Wu Ming set out on their journey home again. This time, they arrived without incident.

Just as she stepped out of the vehicle, Jiang Li spotted a furtive figure lurking near a corner in the distance.

’I’ve only been gone a few days,’ she thought. ’Has something else happened already?’

"Sister, you’re back!" Hearing the commotion, Miao Anji came running out happily.

Jiang Li smiled and nodded. The moment she stepped inside, she was greeted by the delicious aroma of a home-cooked meal.

"See? No matter how much you eat out, nothing compares to our Xiao Nian’s cooking."

Wu Ming took a deep whiff. ’It smells amazing.’

Jiang Li put her things away and came back out.

At the dinner table, she asked Yu Huannian, "Xiao Nian, did anything happen while I was away?"

"I’m not sure about here, but I heard the entire police force has been mobilized to track down that group. They say they’ve found some leads and have already arrested several people."

Jiang Li nodded. ’Finding leads is a good thing.’

At the station, Ji Qinghe and Zhou Tiancheng were holding meetings every day, constantly organizing the leads they had on hand.

Over the past few days, they had worked with the criminal investigation department to bust two different gangs and rescue more than a dozen hostages.

But they still had no idea who the mastermind was. Every time they reached a critical juncture, the trail would go cold.

...

"Are you telling me that in this short amount of time, the police have busted... two more of my establishments?"

Shi Xingchao stared at his captured men, so furious his head was spinning. He’d only been away to handle some personal matters, so how had the police gotten on his tail again?

"Boss, our intel says Jiang Sheng was the one who slipped up. They caught him red-handed, and we lost a lot of valuable ’merchandise’."

"Jiang Sheng again! I told him last time to lay low. I can’t believe he just let my warning go in one ear and out the other.

Is this Jiang Li’s handiwork too?"

Shi Xingchao said, staring at a photo of Jiang Li.

"Well... Jiang Li seems to have been keeping a low profile recently. She’s barely been to the police station.

Boss, do you think those old rumors about Jiang Li could be fake?"

"What about the men I had tailing Jiang Li?" Shi Xingchao demanded, looking down at his subordinate.

The man trembled as he spoke. "Boss, the people around Jiang Li... they’re just not normal.

Our guys managed to tail her, but when they came back, they were either poisoned or completely clueless, unable to answer any questions."

Shi Xingchao’s brow furrowed. ’That strange?’

"Track Jiang Li’s movements. I’m going to pay her a little visit myself." If he didn’t act soon, he was afraid his "compound" would be the next thing they targeted.

The next day, Jiang Li paid a visit to the police station. She hadn’t been there in a while and noticed several new faces.

"Jiang Li, you’re back." Lu Xingye looked up from a pile of files, his eyes lighting up with pleasant surprise.

"Mhm, just came by to see what’s up."

"So that’s Jiang Li? She doesn’t look all that special."

"Just stop it. We solve cases with our brains, not by judging looks," Tang Wen retorted, annoyed to hear Tan Qing gossiping again.

They had both been assigned here as interns together. Maybe Tan Qing didn’t care about securing a permanent position, but Tang Wen certainly did.

"Tch!" Tan Qing scoffed and glanced at Jiang Li, who was now standing with Lu Xingye. ’I’m not wrong,’ she thought. ’She’s plain-looking.’

"Senior Lu, I’ve hit a snag with something, could you please take a look?" Tan Qing said, rushing over with a folder and pushing Jiang Li aside.

Jiang Li shot her an indifferent glance, stepped aside, and started eating from a bag of chips.

Lu Xingye took the file, gave it a perfunctory glance, and then looked up at Tan Qing with an expression of doubt.

"I seem to recall this being covered in the academy’s basic courses. Miss Tan, if you’re failing at the fundamentals, I’m starting to have serious concerns about your internship."

Tan Qing’s face went red with humiliation. She snatched the folder back. "My apologies, I’ll go review it again."

Lu Xingye got up and handed Jiang Li a file with the most recently organized leads. It laid out a few very clear lines of investigation.