The Brain Science Case 146

Chapter 146: The Blazing Fire (Part 2) – 4

The turn of events, it could be said that besides Yingli, Jinglin, and Zhou Zengxiang, the others were completely unprepared.

After all, even Yingli had only found out after Li Yuejiao had taken the initiative to explain—it turned out that everything she had arranged was almost all related to the Gan family massacre. Since she already knew this, and the direct superior who had given the order back then was right in front of her, the information she could get from him would surely be helpful in predicting Li Yuejiao’s future plans.

At this point, the two events, separated by twenty-eight years, were completely linked.

Zhou Zengxiang invited Yingli to his private office for a detailed talk. Before they went, Yingli had once wanted to let Jinglin listen in, but to her surprise, she had been refused.

“Are you sure you don’t want to listen?” she couldn’t believe that the usually impatient Jinglin would miss this opportunity to get to the heart of the matter.

“Although I’m curious, but… the person involved is my mom, after all. She was pregnant with me back then, so in a way, I was also a part of it, right?” she avoided Yingli’s gaze, “although you’ve forgiven me, I can’t help but feel a little guilty when I hear you talk about my mom’s past crimes. Because the person she is suspected of killing is your… biological parents.”

Yingli had a sudden realization. “I’m sorry, I was being thoughtless. I didn’t consider your feelings…”

“Don’t say that. I’m still very grateful for your thoughtfulness… you and the director can talk. Just tell me what I can know afterward.” Jinglin gently held her hand. “I just hope you remember, my purpose for joining the special task force is exactly the same as yours—to expose the truth and to catch the killer. I will definitely not be soft-hearted just because I’m facing my mom.”

These words really touched Yingli. “I understand.”

On the way to the director’s office, the two of them did not talk. It wasn’t until they were sitting face to face that she heard him let out a long sigh. “Before I explain my side of the story, do you have any questions, Dr. Tang?”

Yingli crossed her legs, her hands clasped. “There are a few main questions. First, who was the person who planned the whole incident back then? Second, the responsibility for carrying out the plan. Third, what were the detailed process and the truth of the crime? Finally… I want to know who the other killer is.”

This list of questions must have been on her mind for a long time.

“Let’s discuss them one by one. I think that for the first question, Director Shi probably put all the blame on me, right?” he smiled, and Yingli’s cold expression said it all, “I was the one who proposed the plan. I don’t deny that. As for when to carry it out, and even the candidates, it was indeed my side that proposed it first, and then it was submitted to the superiors for review. I didn’t just present the plan directly to the director. It went through several superiors’ decisions in between.”

“So you’re saying that others are also responsible?”

“You could say that.”

“That’s not what I heard. Shi Jingde said that the National Security Bureau still has the documents from back then, and if they can be accessed, the responsibility can be clarified. Can you get the documents to prove your statement?”

“The National Security Bureau has been downsizing since the end of martial law, and now it has almost become a small office. The documents may or may not have been preserved, and even for me, it would probably not be easy to access them…”

“Are you trying to pass the buck now?” Yingli sneered, her dissatisfaction showing. “Who gave you the authority to propose the plan?”

“Instead of who gave it, it was more due to internal pressure.” Zhou Zengxiang’s fingers were intertwined. “With all due respect, your biological father back then… brought a great deal of pressure on the government and the National Security Bureau. Facing the demands for downsizing, explaining the problems, and so on, the newspapers and magazines were constantly feeding the public information… we all understood that this could not go on.”

“You brought the criticism on yourselves. The Lin family massacre in the early 1980s, the Chen Wencheng murder case in 1981, the Jiangnan case in 1984… the National Security Bureau was suspected of too many murders. I can list a bunch of them at random.”

“You’re not wrong to say that. Even if I didn’t actually participate in the few cases you mentioned, the pressure did indeed start from earlier events.”

Her rose-colored lips were pressed into a thin line. “Alright, at first, it was said that only Li Yuejiao was to be sent, but you later advocated for a second person to be added. What was that all about?”

“It was Director Shi who told you, right? That’s right, that was indeed my proposal.”

“Why?” she glared at him, “both Shi Jingde and you have mentioned that Li Yuejiao’s performance back then was quite outstanding. Why did you no longer trust her?”

“Because we had had some… disagreements in private before the operation, and she seemed a little hesitant after she learned the details of the mission.” As if he were thinking of the past, Zhou Zengxiang squinted. “That was an emotion she would not have had before.”

“If you had known she was pregnant at that time, you wouldn’t have been surprised.” Yingli pushed up her glasses. “By the way… did you know she was pregnant?”

“No. I should say, no one in the National Security Bureau knew she was pregnant. It was only after she suddenly gave birth to a daughter half a year after the mission that we found out she had been on a mission while pregnant…”

“The child’s father,” Yingli skillfully interrupted and carefully observed his reaction, “do you have any idea?”

“To be honest, no.” His eyes were calm, and his body language was extremely natural. “Because she had been working undercover before, and had changed her identity several times… and when she was undercover, she also needed to use her beauty to lower the target’s guard, so physical contact between men and women was naturally unavoidable.”

“But you and she were once a couple, right? Shi Jingde also mentioned this. Even in the phone conversation, Li Yuejiao did not say it outright, but she hinted that Officer Zhou’s biological father… was you?”

Zhou Zengxiang suddenly felt as if his neck were being constricted, and his breathing was labored. “She said that?”

“You’re surprised?” It had to be said that if it were an act, then Zhou Zengxiang’s reaction was a bit too real. “For all these years, you’ve never asked her to confirm it?”

“I have, but she firmly denied it.”

“During her undercover work, perhaps Li Yuejiao really couldn’t avoid physical contact with other men, but in her heart, I think your position was definitely special,” Yingli said definitively, “because you gave her something others couldn’t, which was a longing for a family. As for Officer Zhou’s biological father… her surname has already said it all.”

Zhou Zengxiang’s body trembled slightly, and he was silent.

“But at some point, she finally saw clearly that you two had no future. I think at the beginning of your relationship, you were not deliberately deceiving her, but as you dated longer, you were always unwilling to give any commitment, and you were also secretly dating, which directly became the main reason for her wavering and your relationship changing. Under all kinds of pressure, she could only do everything she could to hide the birth of her child from everyone, and she never revealed the identity of Officer Zhou’s biological father.”

Speaking of which, Yingli was deeply glad that Jinglin was not at the scene, which would have surely made her feel very uncomfortable. “Because she was deeply afraid that this hard-won child would be destroyed by you.”

His expression was twisted, as if he had been hit hard. “And then, she was once again forced to be involved in that murky world. I think she must have hated you, after all, you had once given her a longing called ‘family,’ but in the end, you just left her to raise her daughter alone, and even watched as you embraced another person, which is why there was that kind of revenge action against Zhou Jingxun.

“If she was only after the list, she would not have had to go after your daughter.” Her gaze shifted to Zhou Zengxiang’s left shoulder, and she pointed out, “with her marksmanship, she could have easily shot you in the head with one shot, but because she still had feelings for you, she did not kill you. This once again proves that you are Officer Zhou’s biological father.”

“Ah… you’re right.” Recalling that scene, his right hand subconsciously went to his shoulder, which had been shot. “I see… so that’s why she had that Korean assistant cooperate, instead of doing it herself.”

“I think that wasn’t her mercy, but just going with the flow.”

“In any case… if things are really as Dr. Tang said, then Officer Zhou is my…”

“Your real eldest daughter.” Yingli said with certainty. She had already begun to imagine Jinglin’s reaction when she learned the truth. “About the last two questions, I plan to discuss them together… the details of the incident, and who the other killer is.”

He cleared his throat and at the same time adjusted his emotions. “As you understand, the operation was finally carried out by two people together, so the details I heard have two versions.” At that time, video and audio surveillance equipment was not yet developed, so the process of the incident was all based on oral accounts afterward.

“You can talk,” she leaned forward and placed her phone, which was already recording, on the table, “I will listen very carefully.”

**

“…That’s about it.”

Zhou Zengxiang, who had recounted the details of the incident in one breath, lowered his head, and Yingli, with a trembling hand, stood up and walked a few steps away, as if to calm her thoughts, constantly fiddling with the lace on her wide sleeves.

“The two of them had a clear difference in their attitude toward dealing with the Gan couple, and they also had a difference of opinion on whether to let the little girl, who was only six at the time, go.”

The entire house had clearly been thoroughly searched afterward. Li Yuejiao had indeed joined the search, but her purpose may have been the opposite of the other person’s intention to kill.

She was trying to hide the girl.

The two of them had both stated that they had had an argument at the scene, but in the end, because the time had been dragged on for too long, it had been barely quelled under Zhou Zengxiang’s order to retreat.

“Both bullets were from the same gun… that is, the other person you assigned did it. That gun was secretly stolen by Li Yuejiao after the incident, and it’s in her hands now.”

“When she shot at me, I already knew the origin of that gun. I didn’t expect her to have stolen it, which is enough to prove that her plan had been in the works for a long time.”

“Alright, one last question.” Yingli frowned and turned. “Who on earth is the other person?”

When Zhou Zengxiang looked up, his face was expressionless.

“If you go by the evidence at the time, Xu Shengya… ma’am, from the signs of sexual assault and torture before her death, the other killer must have been a man. After he changed his identity, who did he become, and what did he do?”

“Li Yuejiao and Director Shi must have also faced this question. How did they react?”

“Don’t mind how they reacted. You must know what he did after he changed his identity.” Yingli glared at Zhou Zengxiang. “I want to know who that person is now.”

“They didn’t say for a reason.” Zhou Zengxiang stood up to face her. “If you say that Li Yuejiao was deeply affected by that incident, which led to her reflection, and then she launched this series of plans many years later… the other person was completely unaffected and lived a free and happy life.”

Free and happy. Built on the blood of the Gan couple. “What did you say?”

“You still don’t understand? After the incident, Li Yuejiao developed a sense of self-blame and guilt. Even though she was not the one who killed the Gan couple, she still felt that she was responsible. Compared to her, the other person was completely cold-blooded.” Zhou Zengxiang frowned and shook his head. “And as far as I know, he has never given up on tracking down the whereabouts of that surviving little girl.”

Yingli’s face was pale with shock, and her fingertips dug into her palm. She heard him say again, “The reason Li Yuejiao didn’t say anything, I think, was to protect you. Director Shi didn’t say anything because he had no time to care at that time…”

“What about you?” Yingli’s breathing became heavy. “As the director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, what are you afraid of?”

“I… am afraid.” The expression on Zhou Zengxiang’s lips revealed his unwillingness. “The cold-blooded killer of that time has now become an unshakable monster. He is the one who has developed the best among that batch of special agents after they retired and changed their identities. He now has multiple identities, a philanthropist, an amateur golfer, an entrepreneur, a model citizen representative… even if Li Yuejiao has the resources she has now, it would be an impossible mission to challenge him, and even I am afraid of him.”

Zhou Zengxiang’s fear shocked her, and she couldn’t help but think of the various hints Li Yuejiao had given her during their call—

‘Do you know who your enemy is?’

At the beginning of her call with her, besides trying to find out how far she had investigated, Li Yuejiao had also meant that the real killer might be far more powerful than she had imagined.

‘The real killer is far more cold-blooded and brutal than I am.’

This sentence was fully revealed after Zhou Zengxiang had detailed the incident… that person, or rather, that beast, was indeed cold-blooded and brutal.

‘It’s better for you not to know. At least not now.’

At least for now.

What did that mean? Did Li Yuejiao plan to tell her later? Did she want her to ask Zhou Zengxiang for confirmation? Or did she have another purpose?

“…The Huajiang Bridge murder case, I suspect it was very likely him, but I have no evidence. He has always been very careful when he commits a crime, and as a top special agent like Li Yuejiao, he would never leave any traceable evidence.”

“If even you are afraid, then who can punish him?” Yingli ran her hands through her bangs in frustration and paced back and forth.

“He called me before. It was the first time we had contacted each other in over twenty years.” To avoid her guessing the identity of the killer, Zhou Zengxiang was even careful with his wording. “He said something that particularly bothered me.”

And this sentence seemed to coincide with Ou Yaoguang’s statement.

“What was it?”

“‘She will come to me. I’m sure of it.’ This ‘she’ refers to Li Yuejiao.”

“So her next target has been confirmed.”

Zhou Zengxiang shook his head. “I can’t say for sure. And I have no idea what Li Yuejiao is planning to do.”

“I have an extra question…” she crossed her arms, her index finger pointing at his chest, “after the incident, did the National Security Bureau have any information on the whereabouts of the Gan family’s missing six-year-old girl?”

“Of course not. If we had known at that time that someone had used their own daughter’s death to switch… to put it bluntly, you… and even your current ‘family,’ would probably have been gone long ago.”

Although she was dissatisfied, Yingli finally held it in. “Then, where on earth did Li Yuejiao get her information about me?”

“Chief Fang has also questioned this point. I think Li Yuejiao probably also spent a lot of time investigating, and that’s the only way to explain…”

“But her understanding of me is simply unimaginable.” For the first time, Yingli felt as if she were completely exposed before Li Yuejiao, with no secrets. “Not just my identity, but she even knows my… very private and confidential information.” Her brain MRI scan.

“Maybe you have a mole around you.”

Yingli rested her chin on her hand, and after a moment’s thought, she shook her head. “In any case, about that person, you’re just not willing to say?”

“Although I can’t tell you, I have already set up a mole by his side. If he meets with Li Yuejiao, we will definitely know.”

Facing Yingli’s suspicious gaze, Zhou Zengxiang made a gesture of surrender. “As for the mistake I made back then, don’t worry… after this case is over, I will resign to take responsibility.”

“What you have to do is not just resign.” She gritted her teeth. “But to apologize in front of Gan Shuohong and Xu Shengya.”

“I know.”

“I hope you keep your promise.” Putting away her phone recording, she walked to the office door, her hand on the doorknob. “Also, even if you don’t say it, I will use my own methods to find out the identity of the person you’re so afraid of.” After she had finished speaking, she slammed the door and left.