Mad Detective
[Author: Kuang Hai Wang Hu]
[TL: Spades]
[PR: Blitz]
[QC: Lumi]
Chapter 06 — Professional Opinion
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Another hexagram!
Another hexagram!
Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness, wondering what the Adventure System had in store for him this time. He quickly checked yesterday's reward, the invisible listening device was still there! No doubt, it was for eavesdropping, undetectable by any counter-surveillance gear. Definitely a handy tool.
Zhao Yu dashed back to the office. Unlike last night's chaos, it was quieter now, with only a handful of detectives working at their cubicles. Liu Changhu, Qu Ping, and others were nowhere in sight.
Noticing Zhao Yu's arrival, a few detectives shot him odd looks. After all, yesterday's Zhao Yu was a complete anomaly. The soft-spoken boy had turned into a brash thug who single-handedly cracked the Electric Baton Case, leaving everyone baffled.
Ignoring them, Zhao Yu headed straight to his desk and booted up his computer.
At the neighboring desk sat Zhang Jingfeng and Liang Huan, two colleagues tasked with investigating long-standing cold cases, crimes from years ago that remained unsolved. Since they were in the Major Crimes Unit, these were big cases: robberies, murders, and the like.
Cold cases were notoriously tough. Evidence, witnesses, even physical clues often vanished over time. Some cases had been open for two or three decades with no leads.
Because of this, the Cold Case Unit was a dreaded assignment. No one wanted to be stuck there, slaving away on fruitless investigations under constant pressure from above. Failure to meet periodic quotas could even lead to penalties.
Zhang Jingfeng and Liang Huan were an unlucky pair, assigned to this unit earlier this year for various reasons.
At the moment, they were poring over a stack of photos and case files, looking frustrated.
As Zhao Yu waited for his computer to start, he glanced over curiously. The photos were grisly, showing blood-soaked corpses.
"Man, who's this poor bastard? That's brutal," Zhao Yu asked casually.
"This…"
Zhao Yu's thuggish tone threw them off.
"Well…" Zhang Jingfeng spoke first. "This is the Fumin Neighborhood Murder Case from ten years ago. The victim died horribly—chopped up with over forty knife wounds!"
"Oh?"
Though his computer was ready, Zhao Yu's interest was piqued. He grabbed the photos and studied them closely.
"The case was a big deal back then," Liang Huan explained. "The victim was a jobless drifter, a gambler who loafed around. Probably owed money to loan sharks. When he was killed, the walls were scrawled with phrases like 'pay your debts' and 'blood for blood.' Plus, the attack was so vicious, the case got dubbed the Gang Massacre Case!"
"Yeah!" Zhang Jingfeng added. "The scene was gruesome, blood everywhere. The victim's wife went insane from the trauma. It spooked half the residents of Fumin Neighborhood into moving out. The government even had to fast-track demolition and change the area's zoning!"
"Oh…" Zhao Yu examined the photos intently, then asked, "With all that chaos, how's the case still unsolved?"
"Sigh!" Zhang Jingfeng let out a helpless sigh. "If it was solved, we wouldn't be stuck here suffering! Back then, the police threw everything at it, round-the-clock searches, busting multiple gang hideouts. But, weirdly, they didn't find a single clue about the killer! The case stayed open, and it's been a thorn in Captain Jin's side ever since!"
"Nowadays," Liang Huan said, "the neighborhood's been demolished. All we've got are these photos and incomplete files. No leads, no nothing. It's basically a dead case!"
"With the ten-year mark hitting," Zhang Jingfeng sighed, "the higher-ups are pressuring us to reinvestigate. If we can't crack it, we're probably getting reassigned to traffic duty!"
"Yeah, Old Zhang!" Liang Huan said with a bitter smile. "Might as well practice this!" He mimed slapping a ticket on a car. "I'll start by fining every jerk parking illegally near my apartment!"
"Heh heh…" Zhang Jingfeng chuckled, mimicking the ticket-slapping motion.
"Hold up…" Zhao Yu flared his nostrils, picking up one of the photos. "Guys, I've got a few thoughts. Not sure if I should say 'em…"
"Spit it out!" Zhang Jingfeng waved him on. "We're already doomed anyway!"
"Well…" Zhao Yu furrowed his brow. "Here's the thing, I think this Gang Massacre Case label is off. At the very least, the name's wrong!"
"What?" Both men were stunned, exchanging wide-eyed looks.
"You guys are misunderstanding how real gangs operate!" Zhao Yu pointed at the photo, analyzing. "Think about it. If you two owed me a ton of money, would I go all out to make you pay up, or just kill you outright?"
"Well…" Liang Huan pursed his lips. "Obviously make us pay!"
"Exactly!" Zhao Yu said. "Gangs are about profit. They don't want murder charges. Even if the guy owed millions or billions, killing him would be the last thing they'd do!
"There's a saying in our, in gang circles: 'Play too hard, die too fast.' Chopping someone forty-plus times? That's way over the top. It's begging for trouble. Stirring up that kind of heat only screws them over.
"Stuff like splashing paint on walls, smashing windows or cars, or threatening families, that's all to scare debtors into paying. If you kill the guy, who's gonna cough up the cash?"
"Right… yeah!" Zhang Jingfeng's eyes lit up. "How didn't I see that?"
"So…" Liang Huan mused, "the police back then were barking up the wrong tree? It wasn't a gang hit? Brother, what's your take?"
"Forty-plus cuts…" Zhao Yu pondered. "One stab can kill, but the killer went for over forty. I'd guess either the killer had a deep personal grudge against the victim, or they deliberately overdid it to make the police think it was a gang hit, a diversion!"
"Oh… that makes sense…" Zhang Jingfeng nodded, then said, "But the files say the victim was a jobless drifter with a bad temper. He made enemies left and right and wasn't on good terms with neighbors or relatives. Investigating that is still… tough…"
"What about the victim's wife? Is she still around?" Zhao Yu asked suddenly. "Still crazy?"
"Oh… no!" Liang Huan recalled the files. "She remarried, had kids, and is doing alright now."
"Then go talk to her!" Zhao Yu said. "She'd know who the victim's enemies were. If even she's got no clue, then you can start practicing for traffic duty. Who knows, maybe she's got some connection to the killer!"
"Wha… what?" Liang Huan nearly dropped to his knees. "You mean…"
"Forty-plus cuts, could be a crime of passion, right?" Zhao Yu typed "apartment rentals" into the computer. "Might as well check it out. After all…"
Before he could finish, Zhang Jingfeng and Liang Huan bolted out of the office, eager to follow the lead.
Zhao Yu shook his head, muttering to himself, "After all… that's the kind of melodramatic crap you see in TV dramas…"