Chapter 15: 15 Chapter 14

◎First Joint Investigation◎

Her eyes scanning over the silver ring on Xia Xun’s finger, Xu Jinyao accepted the handcuffs with a cold expression. “You’re full of tricks.”

“People in my line of work inevitably run into these situations. A detective needs a few tricks to slip away.” Xia Xun blinked.

Xu Jinyao put the cuffs away, looked up at her. “How did you find out?”

She believed Shadow had been discreet enough, logically undetectable to most. But she could tell from Xia Xun’s tone that it wasn’t mere speculation.

She was genuinely curious—where had she slipped up that the truth was revealed so quickly?

Xia Xun said, “Didn’t you tell me yourself?”

Xu Jinyao almost wondered if she was hearing things.

Her lips pulled into a stiff smile as she feigned calm. “What do you mean I told you myself?”

Time rewound to yesterday afternoon.

Xia Xun saw the surveillance feed on her phone, panicked by Xu Jinyao’s sudden arrival.

She tossed her phone carelessly onto the sofa.

The next second, she rushed into the bedroom to compose herself, then sprinted to the door to open it, greeting her with a smile.

The conversation that followed was hurried and heavy, ending as abruptly as it started.

She came back after stumbling and hurting her back, noticing a subtle change on the sofa.

The phone wasn’t exactly where she had left it.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time. I just assumed I was mistaken. It wasn’t until today when you showed up at Lan City Middle School and said those things to me in the fitting room that I became certain you were the one who touched my phone.”

Xu Jinyao sneered. “What exactly did I say wrong?”

“You said I was exploiting Huo Zhu by acting like some kind of superior.”

“Was I wrong?” Xu Jinyao retorted. “Knowing full well that kid’s feelings for you are far from ordinary, you’re still so close to her. If that’s not an ulterior motive, what is? A hidden agenda?”

“No, it was your tone,” Xia Xun answered methodically. “Your tone was too certain… as if you knew the ins and outs of my relationship with Huo Zhu.”

Xu Jinyao fell silent.

Xia Xun continued. “But this kind of understanding wasn’t superficial. It wasn’t pieced together from a few secondhand testimonies or cobbled-together gossip. It was a subjective conviction.”

“I’m confident I’ve never done anything towards Huo Zhu that goes beyond friendship. So in these five years, from the moment I met her until now, you are the first person to say those things to me.”

“But the strange thing is, you and I have only met three times, and none of those encounters were particularly pleasant. Logically, you shouldn’t have that much insight into me… yet you do.”

She paused there, fixed her eyes on Xu Jinyao as if waiting for something.

“You’re reaching. Basing everything on pure conjecture?” Xu Jinyao retorted coldly. “Besides, I’m a police officer, you’re a suspect. I could just investigate you openly. Why would I go through the unnecessary trouble of implanting malware on your phone?”

“Exactly. Why go through the trouble?” Xia Xun repeated with a smile.

Her tone shifted, smile fading. “Unfortunately, once something is done, it leaves a trace. Like I said… a detective always has a few precautions.”

She pulled out her phone, tapped on it a few times, and turned the screen to face Xu Jinyao. “I bet you didn’t know there’s a new type of malware that can capture external intrusion signals, automatically extracting all data from the intruding phone.”

The screen showed the dialer interface with a number already entered.

“This number was extracted from that data earlier, just before you walked in.” Xia Xun’s finger slowly moved to the dial button. “If you really didn’t touch my phone, then this number has nothing to do with you.”

She pressed the dial button and held the phone to her ear, raising her other hand in a gentle warning. “Don’t move.”

Even though the phone was silenced, Xu Jinyao could only watch helplessly as Xia Xun walked over and pulled the phone from Xu Jinyao’s pocket.

Of course, the phone didn’t ring.

Because the person who had extracted the data wasn’t her.

Xia Xun was taken aback. She hadn’t expected a twist here. But the facts were right in front of her; even if she couldn’t figure out the reason, she could only hang up.

The dark phone screen reflected Xu Jinyao’s expressionless face.

“Don’t be angry, Officer,” Xia Xun said, putting the phone back in Xu Jinyao’s pocket. “Your attitude towards me makes it hard not to be suspicious. Let me apologize, alright? Just pretend I never said anything.”

“I’m sorry, Captain Xu. I was wrong.”

Xu Jinyao said icily, “It seems you detectives do have heavy defenses.”

Xia Xun smiled sheepishly. “Can’t help it. A habit.”

–

After leaving the suspect’s residence, Xu Jinyao contacted Du Chang to have the so-called keycard taken back to the Municipal Police Bureau and sent directly to the Forensics Department.

It was also then that she learned a critical piece of evidence from Du Chang. “The test results are back on that blood sample you sent to the lab earlier. It does contain trace amounts of a toxic substance.”

This synthetic chemical poison was commonly known on the streets as “Crystal Meth.”

Xu Jinyao was not surprised by the finding. The moment she recognized Cui Zihao, she had suspected the bar was hardly a clean establishment.

However, there was currently no direct evidence linking the bar to drug trafficking. Her only option now was to start with Cui Zihao and trace the source of the narcotics.

But she had more pressing matters at hand. As for the drug source, she instructed Du Chang to transfer the evidence to the Narcotics Squad and await cross-reports on any findings.

Close to three o’clock, the courier arrived outside the bookstore ahead of schedule.

Xia Xun rose lazily from her chair and ambled over to him.

The courier wore a face mask and a cap, his gray uniform bearing the logo of a delivery company.

The long brim of the cap concealed the upper half of his face. Only when Xia Xun got closer could she make out the man’s features—probably in his early twenties.

In this sweltering heat, he was bundled up with a face mask, cap, long sleeves, and long pants. Sweat beaded on the sides of his face, yet he remained completely covered, even more so than her.

Wasn’t he hot?

Her gaze drifted past the man to the distance, where a van was parked with its doors open, packed full of various packages.

It seemed he still had quite a busy afternoon ahead.

The courier followed her line of sight, his gaze lingering briefly on the van before returning. His finger tapped on the delivery slip. “Just sign here.”

After she signed, the courier reminded her to inspect the package on-site to confirm it was intact.

Xia Xun complied.

Opening the package, she found only a glass bottle inside. Inside the bottle was a small object—she couldn’t make it out at first. She brought it close to her face, but before she could identify what it was, her vision blurred.

Just as she suspected, she’d been hit.

Darkness descended, and her consciousness muddled.

In what felt like a blink, when she opened her eyes again, day had turned to night.

She was still nestled in her chair. Xu Jinyao stood in front of a bookshelf nearby.

Without turning around, as if having eyes in the back of her head, Xu Jinyao asked coldly, “You’re awake?”

“Yeah.” Xia Xun sat up, a wave of dizziness hitting her, her head swimmy. “How long was I out?”

“Seven hours and twenty-five minutes.” The voice remained cool.

Xia Xun nodded, pushed herself up from the chair, and stretched her arms wide in a big yawn.

Right on time. She’d caught up on some sleep.

“So,” Xia Xun asked, “Did you find anything?”

Only then did Xu Jinyao turn around, her expression as bland as ever, impossible to read any true emotion from.

“Aren’t you going to ask what happened in between?”

“What’s there to ask? Weren’t you here, Captain Xu?”

She had known what might happen next long before demonstrating the website to Xu Jinyao.

The last time, she’d used a virtual number. It hadn’t taken long to detect someone searching for that number’s information. Adding real identity data would make the information completely transparent.

That was when she’d confirmed this was one of the commonalities among the victims in the Serial Case.

This time, although she’d used her real number and her real address had been traced, Xu Jinyao had been lying in ambush. So there was nothing to be afraid of.

A nearly eight-hour blank wasn’t a big deal. The worst-case scenario was simply losing her life.

Dying with some value wasn’t so bad.

Xu Jinyao frowned. “Did you know they would do this from the very start?”

The scene from the afternoon replayed in her mind.

After signing and opening the package, Xia Xun’s expression had suddenly turned strange. She looked almost amnesiac, completely dazed.

No matter what the courier said, she complied without resistance, cooperating like an obedient puppet.

Moments later, Xia Xun lay back in her chair, seemingly asleep.

The courier returned to his van with the package. He looked down, peeled off the signed delivery slip, and carefully peeled apart its inner layers, retrieving another sheet of paper hidden inside.

Uncontainable glee shone in his eyes—a glee that vanished in the next instant, replaced by sheer terror.

Something pressed against his lower back. He stiffened, looked down, and saw a glinting dagger.

He whipped his head up, but before he could see clearly, a heavy fist struck him square in the face.

The courier slammed his head into the steering wheel, his body going limp.

Xu Jinyao caught the thin slip of paper that fell from his hand, seeing the top line: Organ Donation Consent Form.

In that instant, she finally understood why Xia Xun had made such a long, indirect detour before telling the truth.

If it were just gambling, catching them in the act would be simple enough. Once the location of the underground casino was known, a raid would essentially catch everyone in one fell swoop.

But now that organ trafficking was involved, it was no longer just about catching them all at once.

The slightest misstep, and Xia Xun herself might be implicated in the investigation. Besides, her power alone was too weak—she had no choice but to involve the police.

The bar, the casino, and the organ trafficking ring. Each part seemed unconnected at first glance, but thinking carefully, they were clearly interlinked, devouring a person whole, not even leaving bones behind.

Once trapped in any one of these snares, no one could hope to escape unscathed.

Xu Jinyao was deeply puzzled by this.

If the goal was simply to drain a person of all their worth, why end it with such a method of silencing them?

Or was it that the Serial Case had nothing to do with the bar, the casino, or even the organ trafficking? Was the true culprit not from the same faction at all?