SFTD -Chapter 75 Who’s Next? (Part 13)

Zhou Hai stood up and shone his light into the dark space behind Xu Biao’s waist. A round metal rod appeared there.

Xu Biao stepped aside, put on his gloves, grabbed the metal rod, and yanked hard. Dust and debris trapped in the crevice flew out, but the rod still came loose.

The weight was heavier than Xu Biao expected. With a “clang,” the other end dropped onto the floor of the compartment.

It turned out to be a large knife.

As Zhou Hai looked at it, his mind quickly replayed twice what he had just seen, and he immediately thought of the big blade used by the young vendor selling liangpi—its shape and size were strikingly similar.

The two of them lifted the knife out of the compartment before finally seeing its full form.

It was a specially made large blade, with cylindrical handles on both sides. The middle section was a rectangular blade body, over one centimeter thick.

There was a small notch in the center of the lower cutting edge, and a crack extended into the blade itself. It was likely abandoned because of this damage.

“With a knife this heavy, how much strength would it take just to cut liangpi?” Xu Biao shook his head.

Zhou Hai pointed at the bolted end and said, “It should have been fixed onto a workstation. If it’s mounted, you only need to move one handle, so it wouldn’t be that hard.”

Xu Biao recalled the vendor’s movements when they had eaten the noodles earlier and nodded wide-eyed.

“Seems like it.”

After checking the compartment again and finding nothing new, they quickly returned with the investigators to the Changhe branch.

As soon as they arrived, Wang Man led them to the room next to the interrogation room.

Liu Da was standing in front of the one-way mirror, waving them over.

“Come quickly, the interrogation has already started.”

They set down their equipment and moved over quietly.

Inside the interrogation room, Chu Menghan and another male officer were seated on the north side. A middle-aged man sat on the interrogation chair, looking completely confused, spreading his hands as he tried to defend himself.

Zhou Hai recognized him immediately—the meat bun vendor, Wang Shouli.

Chu Menghan asked, “Is the old train carriage opposite Building 18 yours?”

“That’s mine with Erwa!” the man replied.

“Speak standard Mandarin. Who is Erwa?”

Wang Shouli pointed outside. “The young guy who was brought in with me—the liangpi seller Wang Limin!”

“What is your relationship?”

“Oh, Wang Limin is my paternal cousin’s son.”

“Where were you from 5 p.m. yesterday to this morning? What were you doing?”

“I closed my stall at around 8 p.m. yesterday, went home, stewed meat, chopped vegetables, kneaded dough—preparing ingredients for today’s stall. I do this every day.”

Chu Menghan raised photos of the three victims, A, B, and C.

“Do you know these three people?”

Wang Shouli froze slightly, then nodded.

“Yes.”

“How do you know them?”

He lowered his head, looking embarrassed, his fingers nervously scratching the interrogation table.

Chu Menghan slammed the table. “Answer the question!”

The sudden shout startled Xu Biao, who wiped his sweat.

“My goodness… when Chu Menghan gets angry, she’s pretty fierce.”

Liu Da raised an eyebrow. “When she applied to the Public Security University, she was the national sanda champion that year. And you should know, sanda at the police university doesn’t distinguish between genders.”

Xu Biao swallowed hard.

“A sanda champion… so if she gets a boyfriend, wouldn’t he just end up as a punching bag?”

“More or less. But you’d probably still be a worse punching bag.”

Xu Biao’s face immediately fell.

“Why?”

Liu Da just smiled without answering. Xu Biao wisely didn’t press further—he knew Liu Da wouldn’t say anything anyway.

In truth, Xu Biao could sense that Chu Menghan seemed to treat Zhou Hai differently. Whether she liked him or not, he couldn’t tell—but Zhou Hai clearly didn’t have those feelings.

He leaned closer to the mirror and continued watching.

Wang Shouli was terrified, his legs trembling as he stammered:

“It was… it was at the bathhouses and foot massage shops on the pedestrian street that I met them. I… I’d go there sometimes… just to have fun…”

“Fun? That’s prostitution, do you understand?” Chu Menghan said sharply. “We have sufficient evidence—surveillance footage of you entering and leaving those places. The evidence is solid. Let me explain Article 66 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law:”

“Those who engage in prostitution or soliciting prostitution shall be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined up to 5,000 yuan; in minor cases, 5 days or less and/or a fine up to 500 yuan. And you still think that’s just ‘having fun’?”

Wang Shouli’s face turned even paler and he fell silent.

Chu Menghan stood up and walked beside him, tapping the table with a pen.

“When was the last time you saw them?”

“About half a month ago… I also asked Awen to come to my place. Oh right! Yesterday night I saw Xiao Hong when I was buying beer. We chatted a bit, then I went home. I still have the receipt in my wallet.”

A colleague searched his wallet and indeed found a shopping receipt among loose change.

Chu Menghan asked a few more questions, then signaled for him to be taken away.

“Later we’ll search your home and verify your statements.”

Wang Shouli left with the officer.

Next, Wang Limin was brought in. He looked around nervously, clearly anxious. Once seated, Chu Menghan began questioning him, and he was relatively cooperative.

“Name?”

“Wang Limin.”

“Age?”

“25.”

“Where are you from?”

“Shaanxi, Xianyang.”

“When and with whom did you come to Dongnan?”

“I came six years ago with my second uncle, Wang Shouli. He said there was good money here, so we came.”

“Does he have family?”

“Yes, a daughter. She studies at Dongnan University.”

“Do you know these three people?”

Chu Menghan suddenly raised the three photos.

Wang Limin nodded instinctively.

“Y-yes, I know them.”

“You are identified as a regular customer of theirs. What do you say?”

Wang Limin looked at her, momentarily stunned.

“Sister Manli and Liu Wen I know better. I’m not very familiar with Xiao Hong. Are you investigating prostitution?”

Chu Menghan didn’t expect such straightforwardness, but continued the questioning.

“When did you last see Zhu Manli?”

“Quite a while ago. I heard she was busy arranging her brother’s marriage, so I didn’t see her. I’ve mostly been going to bathhouses on East Street lately. I heard Liu Wen wasn’t feeling well and had a minor surgery—we just had a meal together. Do you really need to investigate even this?”

Chu Menghan tapped the table. “Answer properly. Stop shouting.”

Wang Limin shrank back and became quiet.

“At 5 p.m. yesterday, what were you doing?”

“5 p.m.? Business was good yesterday; I closed late. I didn’t check the exact time. My second uncle helped me close the stall. I rushed home to watch the Women’s Volleyball World Championship.”

Chu Menghan continued without pause: “Which two countries were playing?”