“Where do you want me to start?”
Hong Moli took another fierce drag, her pale face emerging from the cloud of smoke.
“From the very beginning,” Li Siting said, his patience exhausted.
“Fine.”
The ember at the tip of Hong Moli’s cigarette glowed. She casually flicked ash onto the interrogation room floor and began to speak.
“It was near the end of summer in 2022. I can’t remember the exact month. It was hot that night, with a bit of light rain. After dark, the Boss arranged for some foremen to come by for some fun. The guy I got just wouldn’t get going. Anyway, I had to work on him for a long time, at least half an hour—”
“Can you get to the point!!!!” Li Siting cut her off, frowning and rapping his knuckles on the table.
Hong Moli jumped, startled by Captain Li’s shout, and nearly dropped her cigarette. She caught the filter between her lips and took a quick, urgent puff. “You’ll scare someone to death, Officer. You told me to tell it from the start, every single detail.”
Lu Shimiao had been typing away furiously at her computer, pausing occasionally to figure out how to record certain testimonies in a civilized manner. Seeing Li Siting’s impatience, she quickly tugged at his arm and whispered.
“Let her follow her own train of thought. She was just about to talk.”
Li Siting pointed at Hong Moli. “Continue. Don’t waste our time.”
“I’ve seen plenty of guys like this. I told him, how about you, uh, figure things out yourself for a bit, and I’ll step out to the bathroom for a smoke. He knew his own problems deep down, felt bad about it, so he agreed. Actually, I just wanted to escape. The guy reeked. Sweat stench, body odor—I’m a person too, right? The smell was so bad I couldn’t even fake it in bed.”
Li Siting gritted his teeth, enduring the woman.
But Lu Shimiao glanced at her sideways.
Hong Moli had a way of holding her cigarette between her thumb and forefinger, pinching the very end, a habit she seemed to have picked up from the construction workers. She was different from the other prostitutes they’d arrested. Though forced by circumstance, there was a fleeting glimpse of freedom in Moli’s eyes from time to time.
It was as if only her body was imprisoned.
“The bathroom was a bit far, so I walked and smoked. Near a tower crane by Cheng Guang’s office, I saw people arguing in the distance. At that time of night, the workers on the site were all back resting, so the only ones around were us girls. So, hearing people argue was really strange.
Officers, you know how it is. Girls like us can’t be seen in the light. I was scared of getting caught myself, so Cheng Guang usually didn’t let us out. I didn’t want trouble, so I decided to walk around them.”
Hong Moli took another drag, leaving only the filter.
The smoke pulled a veil between the two sides of the table.
She finished her cigarette, dropped the butt on the floor, and tried to stomp it out. But the interrogation chair held her in place; her leg couldn’t reach it. She glanced at it and gave up.
“The lights on the site weren’t very bright at night. The ground was littered with rebar and cement, and it was drizzling, so I walked slowly. Suddenly, from behind me, I heard Cheng Guang cursing someone out. Cheng Guang rarely cursed, but when he did, it was pretty frightening. I turned and saw him waving his arms in the air, saying things like, ‘Don’t mess with me, take your stuff and get lost,’ and ‘Let’s see if you’ve got the balls to blow this place up—’ “
“Wait…”
Li Siting stopped her immediately.
Beside him, Lu Shimiao, who was recording the testimony, froze, her fingers hovering over the keyboard at the word “blow up.” She straightened her back, looked up at Hong Moli across from her, and frowned deeply.
Captain Li’s voice nearly hit the ceiling, loud and sharp. “What did you just say? What about blowing up??”
Hong Moli was startled into silence again, then nervously spoke in a quieter voice.
“Cheng Guang was saying something like, ‘Fucking blow it up then, blow it up!’ or maybe ‘I fucking dare you to blow it up!’ I was some distance away from them, and it’s been a long time. I can’t remember the exact words. I just remember Cheng Guang saying ‘fucking,’ and ‘coward’…”
Li Siting gripped his pen cap, his voice urgent. “Go on.”
“So I stopped, stubbed out my cigarette, and turned around to watch the commotion. The moment I turned around, it just… exploded.”
“A huge ‘Boom!'”
Hong Moli raised her hands, the handcuffs clattering around her wrists.
She shook them, as if trying to describe the scene to Lu Shimiao. “The fireball was so huge, so bright. The tower crane next to me shook. My legs went weak on the spot. I couldn’t even walk. I just crouched down, covering my head.”
“….” Li Siting looked at Lu Shimiao. They exchanged a glance.
“The fire burned so red in the black night.” Hong Moli spoke quietly, looking down at the cigarette butt on the floor. “I heard a kid shouting from inside the fire. He shouted twice, then nothing.”
“Shouting what?”
“Help? Or maybe ‘Ow’? I can’t remember.” Hong Moli shook her head.
“How did the police get there? Did you call them?” Li Siting recalled what she’d said earlier about the police and asked her warily.
“How could I dare call the police? I’m a whore. Besides, I thought it was just some machinery on the site exploding.” Hong Moli leaned back, resting both hands on the seat. “I was frozen in shock for a long time, watching the fire burn. I saw Cheng Guang make a few phone calls, and then I got the hell out of there.”
“Cheng Guang called the police himself?” Lu Shimiao typed on the keyboard and looked up to ask.
“I don’t know. He had someone send us away that very night.”
“Then what’s this about the police you mentioned?” Li Siting tapped the table. “This is being recorded. You’d better answer honestly now.”
“After that night, us sisters were sent out to the suburbs. We were locked in a room for days with no work. We came back to the site after some time, maybe about half a month later. Later on, workers who came to us for, you know, told me that the kid died on the spot from the explosion. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. During those two weeks we were hiding, the cops came to the site a bunch of times to investigate. They detained Cheng Guang for a few days, but then let him go.”
“Oh, right, those workers told me the kid blew a huge hole in one of the project walls. They had a hell of a time demolishing it and rebuilding. The workers also said the kid was there to demand his father’s unpaid wages.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you say this earlier???” Li Siting thought back to the afternoon’s interrogation. He’d asked her for ages, and the woman hadn’t mentioned a word of this.
“Well… the police already came to the site. In the end, Cheng Guang wasn’t even arrested. I figured it wasn’t that important. What did you want me to say? Didn’t you cops already know the details?” Hong Moli smiled.
Lu Shimiao caught a hint of sarcasm in that laugh.
“Take a look at these photos.” Lu Shimiao picked up some photos from the table, walked over to Moli, and held them up. “Please try to identify the father of the kid who came for the wages.”
“This one.” Hong Moli pointed with two fingers. “He came to the site afterward. Dark, skinny, very short.”
Lu Shimiao walked back to the interrogation table and slapped a photo down in front of Li Siting.
“Chen Guoping.”
“Shit.” Li Siting stared at the photo and spat out a curse, his tone vicious enough to eat someone alive, both hands slamming on the table.
“Get this interrogation transcript submitted immediately. Request a search warrant. Freeze Cheng Guang’s bank accounts… Find someone to continue the interrogation. We’re going to look into Chen Guoping.”
Lu Shimiao glanced at her wristwatch. It was 4 PM.
It looked like arresting Cheng Guang before 4 PM was out of the question.
—
7:30 PM.
The 718 Arson Serious Crime Unit was packed with people.
Li Siting, holding a stack of organized photos, started pinning them to the whiteboard.
Lu Shimiao watched as he placed them left and right. Making all the connections in the case was still quite difficult, but at least they could use this whiteboard now. Having it was better than nothing. After all, the deadline the Political Commissar had given them was only a few hours away…
“Just now, colleagues from the Economic Crimes Division have locked down and frozen Cheng Guang’s accounts. The investigation has found:
Starting in 2019, Cheng Guang became involved in soccer gambling and frequently traveled to casinos in Macau. The total flow of gambling funds through his bank accounts was approximately 22 million yuan. Because he gambled away all the project funds, Cheng Guang began organizing a prostitution ring in 2019 to make money.”
“It started in a bathhouse, later moving to the workers’ dormitories built on the construction site as a base. He used video recording to control over 40 prostitutes. A certain Zhen acted as the accountant, a certain Chong managed the clients, and a certain Qian managed the girls. Most clients were workers. A single visit cost between 400 and 50 yuan. The annual income from this exceeded 5.5 million yuan. Additionally, Cheng Guang illegally installed cameras and profited over 3 million yuan by selling sex tapes of the clients and the girls.”
“In 2021, the main structure of Star Sea Mall was completed. Owing to gambling debts and loan sharks, Cheng Guang couldn’t pay the subcontracting companies on time. Due to this shortage of funds, those companies could not pay the workers their wages normally.
At the end of 2021, 87 workers with unpaid wages took him to court. In April 2022, the court ruled in their favor, but because Chengshang Company’s funds had been completely drained, the judgment could not be enforced through asset freezing.”
Li Siting was quick to organize the clues, and inter-departmental coordination was smooth. From obtaining the testimony to the Economic Crimes search, it had only taken an hour and a half.
That was how handling a case worked. Once you found the key, it was like a loose thread on a sweater—one gentle tug, and the whole thing unraveled.
“In 2022, Chen Guoping’s son, Chen Si, age 17, was a worker demanding unpaid wages. It’s suspected that he made homemade explosives at home and went to the construction site to demand his father’s pay, where he accidentally triggered the bomb and died on the spot.”
“On September 13, 2022, the local Criminal Police Unit opened an investigation into the explosion and the unnatural death. The Forensic Doctor’s examination confirmed that the deceased, Chen Si, died from the blast. Following police visits, searches, surveillance footage review, and witness testimony from Zhang Lin, the Criminal Police confirmed that Chen Si’s criminal act was factual, with clear criminal intent. The accidental triggering was deemed operational error. Therefore, he was suspected of ‘Endangering Public Safety’ and ‘Attempted Intentional Homicide.’ “
“The suspect was 17 years old, meeting the age requirement for criminal responsibility under criminal law. However, he died accidentally during the commission of the crime. The public security organ cannot transfer a deceased suspect to the procuratorate, so the case was withdrawn and closed.”
Li Siting rattled off a barrage of information. “Although the case is withdrawn and can’t be found in the system, we’ve already sent someone to the archives to dig out the paper files. Everyone, study the materials when they arrive.”
“Arrest warrants for both Chen Guoping and Cheng Guang have been applied for. So tonight, stay sharp. The moment we locate them, we move. Keep your phones on, no silent mode.”
“Alright, it’s 7 PM. Everyone go get some food! Keep your strength up!” Li Siting waved his hand.
The crowd dispersed.
Lu Shimiao was the last to leave, waiting for Li Siting. “Um… Captain Li.”
“Don’t go out with the team tonight. It’s too dangerous.” Li Siting cut Little Lu off before she could even speak her piece. After all, no matter what, Lu Shimiao was a woman, and Chen Guoping was far too dangerous.
“Hm. It’s just… there are a lot of details we haven’t filled in yet.”
Right now, the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together, but something was still missing.
“We don’t have time to fill them in. If we were supposed to meticulously craft every detail, we wouldn’t be called the Serious Crime Unit. Tonight, we’re going to arrest Chen Guoping. We’ll also have to deploy Riot Police and the Fire Department. I don’t have time to go over details with you.” Li Siting was a whirlwind of activity, organizing things on his desk, already heading for the door.
Lu Shimiao quickly followed. “If Chen Guoping’s son was killed in the blast, why would his first target be Zhang Lin?”
Li Siting reached out and patted Lu Shimiao on the shoulder. “What did Hong Moli say in her testimony? She said everyone on the site called Zhang Lin the ‘Boss’s Wife.’ And on the day his son died, Zhang Lin was present.”
“Combined with what Hong Moli said, it was Cheng Guang who provoked Chen Si that day. So, Zhang Lin gave false testimony. His son is gone, so he kills Cheng Guang’s mistress. That’s more than enough motive.”
What Li Siting said was perfectly sound. But thinking it over carefully, something still felt bumpy, not quite right.
“Little Lu, you know what? I haven’t dared to sleep for five days. And it’s not for merit.”
Li Siting walked into the logistics equipment room and started changing. He poked his head through the neck of his tactical uniform and looked at Lu Shimiao for two seconds. “It’s so I don’t make a mistake.”
“If there’s another explosion, our entire unit is doomed. The victims are doomed. The Chief of Police is doomed. The city leaders are doomed. Do you know how many eyes are watching us? We’re out of time!”
Li Siting was so haggard he hadn’t even shaved. His eyes were completely bloodshot. Even the strength and volume of his voice had faded.
In just five days, he’d aged another ten years.
“What did Lin Shu say back then? He has high-intensity explosives. Damn it, at People’s Square… ‘Boom!’—who the hell could survive that? Where is this? This is Shanghai, the Pearl of the Orient. The foreign media are just waiting for a joke to laugh at.”
“Tonight, have the Forensics Unit on standby. The moment we catch someone, search for evidence immediately. I could tell just by looking at you this morning that you didn’t sleep last night. Go get some proper rest soon.” Li Siting inspected his own tactical uniform.
“I’m off to the Arrest Briefing.”
Li Siting finished speaking and left, leaving Lu Shimiao standing alone in the logistics equipment room, deep in thought for a long time.
…
Seek not more merit than others, but fewer errors.
Shaking her head, Lu Shimiao headed toward the Criminal Police Unit’s duty room. “Little Li, there’s a case file coming in later. Please deliver it to the Forensic Tech Office.”
