Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 137

Chapter 137: The Punishment for Abstaining

Voting is a game of finding identity.

For an individual, liking, voting, and reposting on the internet has become a game of self-identification, of distinguishing between friend and foe. For society as a whole, voting is still the machine that forges the democratic will.

Zhan Luo had given the hundreds of thousands of people watching the live stream a “moral license”: he would break the law, and he would take the blame. As long as people were emotionally swayed to cast their precious vote, they could legally commit a crime.

The live stream room had instantly become a stage for life and death.

Shen Yiyi was also being manipulated by him. She did not dare not to vote.

But Shen Yiyi had thought of a way to delay.

She reached out and typed: [I don’t understand the rules.]

As she was sending the message, she was communicating with Piao Zheng. “Are you guys monitoring Li Peipei? Hurry up and bring her back for questioning. Maybe Li Peipei knows something.”

“Do you even have to say it?” Old Piao had had his subordinates bring Li Peipei back to the police station as soon as Shen Yiyi had gone to the mountains. “She’s being interrogated now.”

“Ask her what the deal is between her and Zhan Luo.”

She had not yet received a reply from Zhan Luo. Shen Yiyi simply reported a string of ID numbers to Piao Zheng: “Have someone check where Yanli is now.”

Piao Zheng was also anxious. “The department hasn’t given a definite answer. They just said to cooperate with the investigation. Are we still the supervising unit or not? Give me a definite answer quickly, so I can rush over to you.”

Buzz buzz, just as Piao Zheng had finished speaking, a message came from Zhan Luo.

[Can’t you understand a multiple-choice question? It’s just a choice of two.]

Although it was in writing, the tone sounded sarcastic.

Ni Lifeng’s phone was already being monitored by the main control room. Every word that Shen Yiyi typed could be received by the case-handling team.

But before the leadership team could negotiate, Shen Yiyi had replied on her own:

[I have no right to interfere in other people’s lives. I choose to abstain.]
[Great.]

Zhan Luo’s exclamation, he had even replied in a second, as if with the joy of victory.

Shen Yiyi was not provoked by his tone and even felt a sense of disdain for it.

Not entering the rules created by the crime was one of the success factors of a negotiation. In the early stages, you have to use a firm attitude to suppress the killer’s expectations in order to have more room for negotiation. Therefore, she had to constantly refuse requests to suppress Zhan Luo, even though it would be risky for Liu Jia.

Piao Zheng could see the chat box in real time online. He was quiet on the other end of the line, holding his breath and waiting for Zhan Luo’s next move.

Only Qin Luo could not bear the torment. She stood up and walked to Shen Yiyi, wanting to take the phone and talk to Zhan Luo, but she was stopped by the quick-witted Wang Xi.

Wang Xi alone could not stop her.
In the end, it took two male police officers to hold Qin Luo down.

Qin Luo was going crazy. She shouted at Shen Yiyi anxiously,

“You ask him what he wants?”
“If he’s coming for me, then he might as well give me an address. I’ll go and find him.”
“On what basis is he judging Liu Jia?”
“You let me talk to him.”

Every minute of the live stream was a slow torture for Qin Luo.

Qin Luo just wanted to ask where Zhan Luo was now. If she could, she would go up the mountain to find him immediately. Even if Liu Jia could not live, then she could kill Zhan Luo with her own hands.

This was the worst outcome that Qin Luo could think of. At worst, no one would live.

“Don’t be in a hurry. We’ll do our best.” Shen Yiyi was still waiting for Piao Zheng to check the information. She did not have three heads and six arms and could not spare a hand to comfort Qin Luo.

Qin Luo’s emotions were like a roller coaster. When she had come, it was fear. Now it was anger. It was burning her so much that her behavior was out of her brain’s control. “Didn’t he sit in my office chair? Didn’t he install a surveillance camera in my house? Is he treating me like a pet? You let me talk to him!!”

While Qin Luo was arguing with the police on this side, a letter came from Piao Zheng on this side.

“I’ve checked the hotel registration system. This person named Yanli stayed at a hotel in Xiashan County last week.”

“What county?” Qin Luo was still questioning the police. Shen Yiyi could not hear Piao Zheng’s voice anymore.

She stood up, walked to Qin Luo’s side with a cold face, and scolded, “You be quiet. If you still can’t calm down, I’ll have them take you to another place to stay.”

…

The boss’s wife was angry, and the boss was instantly obedient.

This had made the Wang Xi who was trying to mediate on the side not know what to do. She reached out and held Qin Luo’s waist. “Director Qin, why don’t we really be quiet for a while and leave this matter to the police?”

Shen Yiyi did not bother with Qin Luo and pulled the police officer beside her to ask, “Where is Gezi Town in Xiashan County? Is it far from here?”

The police officer shook his head and pointed to the mountain gully outside the window. “It’s not far in a straight line. It’s just over this mountain. But it takes forty minutes to drive, and you have to go around the mountain road.”

Piao Zheng asked on the phone, “Who is this person you asked me to investigate?”

Shen Yiyi said coldly, “It’s the person with the headgear in the live stream room.”

“What?!”

Liu Jia had a habit of wearing a shirt. She liked to fold up her sleeves, revealing the expensive jade bracelet on her wrist. Shen Yiyi had seen her no less than five times in these three months, and every time it was the same.

As the boss of Logos, she needed to maintain her image at all times, just like the miscellaneous things in her drawer. Those business cards, perfumes, and chewing gum could all package her image well and enhance her external aura to suppress the scene.

And the person in the live stream room, although her shirt was wrinkled, her sleeves were not obviously folded.

Besides, the surveillance footage that Li Peng had found.
The surveillance had only captured the car. The mask and hat had covered her facial features well, and it was impossible to tell if the person in the driver’s seat was Zhan Luo.

And in these few days, the trajectory of the car that had been captured at the town’s intersection was erratic. It was clearly not the killer, but someone else.

“The video was recorded by the two of them in advance.”

Even before he had taken Liu Jia away, he had recorded the video in advance and had then quietly waited for the arrival of this public trial.

Before Shen Yiyi could continue,
Buzz
A pop-up window in the live stream room reminded her that the live stream account had uploaded a new post.

“It’s a new post.”
“The other party has posted a new photo.”

Piao Zheng was sitting in the Shanghai command hall. On the large screen opposite him were the two photos that had just been uploaded.

The first one was in black and white, and it had a sense of age. It was a family compound.
The second one was taken with a mobile phone. The pixels were clear, and it looked like a commercial street in a university town.

Piao Zheng looked at the photo with a puzzled expression. “What does this mean?”

The command hall in the mountainous area was also in an uproar. No one could recognize what this place was, except for the stunned Shen Yiyi, and the even more frantic Qin Luo.

Qin Luo and Liu Jia were from Fengjiang, so they naturally recognized that this was a newly developed business district in their hometown’s university town.

Qin Luo took this photo as a threat from Zhan Luo and frowned. “What does he mean by this? Is he threatening me? Has he been to Fengjiang? Could it be that besides wanting to harm Liu Jia, he also wants to harm Jiang Yan? Or has he taken her to Fengjiang?”

Shen Yiyi’s face was dark.

Piao Zheng heard Qin Luo’s words and was at a loss. “Where is this? What river?”

The photo was too dazzling. Shen Yiyi was so shocked that her hands and feet were numb.

The first black and white photo was taken from a social newspaper from back then. She had seen it countless times over the years. It was a hatred that was deeply buried in her heart.

And the second photo was of the demolition of the old school’s family compound and the newly developed business district on the original site. From the photo, you could see that the business district was lively and prosperous, covering up the painful stories of the past.

What was even more ironic was the title that Zhan Luo had taken: “Abstain.”

Breathe.
Calm down.

Shen Yiyi kept telling herself in her heart that this wave was deliberately aimed at her by Zhan Luo, to anger her and to force her into the trap he had set.

This was just a perverted game.
It was not the source of the nightmare.

But the more she suppressed it, the more the shadow would pop up and fan the flames.

“Really?”
“Really?”

“Is this Fengjiang?” Piao Zheng could not hear Shen Yiyi speak and thought that the line had been disconnected. “Is it?”

Shen Yiyi’s ears were full of questions. For a moment, she could not tell whose voice was louder. She was stuck there, like a screw nailed to the ground.

“Speak.” Qin Luo poked her shoulder. “I’m not mistaken, am I? This is Fengjiang University Town, right?”

“Yes.”

Shen Yiyi nodded and then looked at the two police officers beside Qin Luo, saying without mercy, “Could you two please take Director Qin to the guesthouse next door to rest? The case details need to be kept confidential.”

Qin Luo said, “Ah.” She saw the indifference in Shen Yiyi’s eyes, as if she had no connection with her, just a business-like, cold and indifferent police officer.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m waiting for her to come back here.”

Qin Luo refused to leave, but she was held up by an unfeeling iron hand. “Miss Qin, please recuse yourself. The case needs to be kept confidential. Please be considerate.”

Shen Yiyi scanned the room. Not only Qin Luo, but also the grassroots police officers and Ni Lifeng were also kicked out by her. Only the Wang Xi who was familiar with Yanli and Zhan Luo was left.

After the command room was cleared, she finally spoke:

“These two photos are related to me. The first one is a news photo of my mom’s case back then.”

The Shanghai command hall was silent. Any leader in the criminal investigation team who had some experience had heard of this matter. Piao Zheng was speechless and had been “umming” and “ahing” for a long time, but he had not been able to form a single sentence.

“This is his mockery of my abstention.”

Zhan Luo had indeed mocked her.

Shen Yiyi looked at the photo on the screen. She collapsed on the sofa. As the post fermented, there were more and more online comments, and the memories summoned by the photo became clearer and clearer.

Some netizens had identified the photo and had found the news from back then, and had dug up the tragic case of the assault, and had told the story of the surviving child becoming a god of luck.

Zhan Luo was pouring hot oil on her in front of the whole country.

Piao Zheng asked cautiously, “Little Shen, are you okay?”

Shen Yiyi could not say if she was okay or not. Zhan Luo had pulled her into a deep abyss of emotions with just one photo. He was like a ghost with no traces, invading her past, and humiliating her in public like this.

She wondered where Zhan Luo had found these photos, and when he had started to pay so much attention to her. When had she become his target? Why had she become the first person to vote?

Shen Yiyi carefully enlarged the second photo.

On the giant screen of the commercial street was an advertisement for a limited-time event. The advertisement happened to have an end date.

September 20th—October 1st.
It had just been taken recently.

Buzz buzz buzz.

A WeChat message came again:

[God of luck, this is the consequence of you not being able to judge the criminal, and also the punishment for abstaining.]