Dan Jin, who had previously confessed to the entire crime and was being held in the detention center, suddenly became extremely agitated after being stimulated by something unknown. He claimed he had killed another person and wanted to confess to the Serious Crimes Unit!

Ji Chenjiao and Liang Wenxuan rushed to the detention center. The moment Ji Chenjiao saw Dan Jin’s state, he felt his mental condition was abnormal, and he was exhibiting symptoms like convulsions and chills.

“Who else did you kill?” Ji Chenjiao asked.

Dan Jin grinned ferociously, his eyeballs almost bulging from their sockets, his laughter dry and terrifying. “Hee hee, didn’t you want to know where Jaco went? I’ve figured it out, I’ll tell you! I killed him too!”

Ji Chenjiao’s heart tightened. “When? Where? Why did you lie before?”

“Why did I lie…” A fog filled Dan Jin’s eyes, as if he had fallen into a daze. He grabbed his hair with both hands, tearing at it forcefully. “Ah, why did I lie?”

The detention center officer was also panicking. “He’s been like this since after ten o’clock today, lucid one moment, confused the next. We suspect he knows he can’t escape the death penalty, so he’s pretending to be crazy to try and get a certificate of mental illness!”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Dan Jin glared viciously at the detention center officer and even spat. “I killed Jaco, hahaha, that influencer. Hurry up and announce it, the streamer who spoke up for the masses was also killed by me!”

Ji Chenjiao watched Dan Jin in silence. The man’s madness didn’t seem like an act; it was as if he had been stimulated by something. But in the detention center, he was held in solitary confinement under strict surveillance, with a rigorous process for his meals. What kind of stimulation could he have received?

For Dan Jin to bring up killing Jaco at this time might be a loss of emotional control under the blow of failure. If the police hadn’t seen through his plan, killing Jaco would have ignited public opinion.

Dan Jin most likely did not kill Jaco, but Jaco’s disappearance was also a fact.

Ji Chenjiao said, “Answer my question. Where and when did you kill Jaco?”

“You want to find his body, right? Fine! I’ll tell you!” Dan Jin said excitedly. “On the afternoon of June twenty-something, I saw him leave his home, so I followed him!”

Ji Chenjiao asked, “And then?”

“He realized someone was following him and turned into an alley. I followed him in. He asked me who I was.” Dan Jin’s breathing became more and more rapid, a cold sweat breaking out on his pale face. “I told him I knew he was Jaco and that the police were hunting for him!”

“He trembled with fear, begging me not to call the police. I said, why would I call the police? I admire you so much, you’ve done so much for our city, it’s the police who are being unkind! Come on, as long as you listen to me, I can hide you, hide you until the police stop looking for you!”

“He actually believed me! Hahahaha!” Dan Jin was extremely proud. “Do you know Biandong Street? I took him there, and then…” As Dan Jin spoke, he made a throat-slitting gesture, followed by another fit of wild laughter.

Ji Chenjiao knew of Biandong Street. It was a road in the East City District near the suburbs that had been zoned for demolition. A large number of old houses from the 1970s and 80s had been torn down, but new buildings had not yet been started, making it look like a piece of urban ruins. Some influencers had gone there to take photos.

Biandong Street was indeed a “good place” for a crime. It was large, had no residents, and even if there were occasional influencers, there were enough walls to hide from them. The skeletal buildings turned the entire Biandong Street into a maze.

However, as Ji Chenjiao observed Dan Jin, he felt that this “confession” was very strange.

“Did you really kill Jaco?” Liang Wenxuan said. “How did you dispose of his body?”

Dan Jin shook his head. “I threw him down, from the window on the third floor, hee hee hee, he wasn’t breathing. Then I threw bricks and lime from above and buried him!”

Ji Chenjiao and Liang Wenxuan exchanged a look. Liang Wenxuan got up and immediately led a team of officers and a police dog to Biandong Street.

Dan Jin repeatedly recounted the process of killing Jaco, but his narrative became more and more chaotic. One moment he said he had smashed Jaco’s head with a brick, the next he said he had stabbed Jaco’s heart with a knife. Even the initial claim of pushing him from a third-floor window changed to an eighth-floor window.

His eyes started to look strange, and his fingers twisted like chicken claws. His prison uniform and hair were soaked with cold sweat. Ji Chenjiao immediately restrained him with the help of the detention center officer. He was shaking as if he were about to fall apart and could no longer speak a complete sentence. Suddenly, he foamed at the mouth and slammed his head against the table.

Even Ji Chenjiao was caught off guard by this situation. The detention center’s doctor rushed over, and after an examination, said in surprise, “Acute failure, send him to the hospital immediately!”

In the blink of an eye, Dan Jin was transferred from the detention center to the ICU. This was all too sudden. Ji Chenjiao immediately deployed officers to guard the hospital strictly. There were many cases both domestically and internationally of criminals and suspects faking illness or deliberately taking drugs to cause serious illness in order to escape during treatment. The police naturally did not dare to be careless this time.

After arranging everything, Ji Chenjiao realized his own back was also soaked. But he had no time to rest or change clothes; his mind was spinning rapidly.

First, Dan Jin was definitely not faking his illness. Second, if it was drug-induced, what was the drug? Who gave it to him? From the time Dan Jin was transferred from the municipal bureau to the detention center, the only people who could have had contact with him were a few members of the Serious Crimes Unit and the detention center officers. Even the prosecutor and lawyer had not yet met with him.

It definitely wasn’t the Serious Crimes Unit that gave Dan Jin the drug. Was it the detention center? An ominous feeling rose in Ji Chenjiao’s heart. He was reluctant to suspect a brother unit, but it seemed they were the only ones who could have provided Dan Jin with the drug.

Captain Lu from the detention center rushed over, anxious and flustered. He probably knew that with something like this happening, the most likely problem was with one of his subordinates. He guaranteed to Ji Chenjiao on the spot that he would conduct a thorough investigation of his team. If the problem was with the detention center, he would definitely take responsibility!

Ji Chenjiao and Captain Lu patted each other on the shoulder. At that moment, Dan Jin’s condition became critical again, and the doctors rushed to resuscitate him. Ji Chenjiao’s doubts grew heavier—if the goal was to escape, why would Dan Jin go to such lengths to harm himself? And there was no need to confess to killing Jaco. Was this just rambling under the influence of drugs? Could it be that Dan Jin didn’t want to take the drug himself? Did someone in the detention center want to silence Dan Jin?

The latter speculation seemed closer to the truth. Ji Chenjiao turned to look at the detention center officers in the hallway. Who was it? And who was behind them? What secret did Dan Jin possess that warranted silencing him? The Serious Crimes Unit had clearly dug up all the truths related to the case before transferring Dan Jin. Why would that person go to this “unnecessary trouble”?

There were no influencers at Biandong Street today. With the help of police dogs, the Serious Crimes Unit quickly found bloodstains under a derelict building. Liang Wenxuan immediately went upstairs and found more drip-pattern bloodstains on the second floor. The abandoned building was covered in dust, so signs of a struggle and footprints were also perfectly preserved.

There were two sets of footprints. Strangely, there were only footprints leading in, none leading out. A large amount of dust had been wiped from the window, leaving behind smear-pattern bloodstains. Liang Wenxuan stood by the window and looked down. If there were no departing footprints, did both of them jump out of the window?

The recent rainfall had washed away the footprints below, but the bloodstains had soaked into the bricks.

Dan Jin’s words were both right and wrong. This was the second floor, not the third floor he had described. There were indeed many bricks under the window. Someone had once lain on them, but now the person was gone. Was the blood Jaco’s? Did Dan Jin push Jaco down, then jump down himself, thinking he had killed Jaco, but Jaco wasn’t dead and escaped after waking up?

Xi Wan arrived at Biandong Street, collected samples of blood and footprints, and her expression turned grave as she looked at the bricks outside the abandoned building.

Liang Wenxuan said, “What’s wrong?”

Xi Wan said, “These bloodstains didn’t drip onto the bricks. Someone lay on them for a long time, and the blood gradually seeped in.”

Liang Wenxuan recounted what Dan Jin had said, but Xi Wan’s frown deepened. “But falling from the second floor, unless you land on your head, you can’t die from this height, you can’t even get knocked unconscious. If Dan Jin was throwing bricks and lime from above, wouldn’t Jaco have run away? And…”

Xi Wan carefully examined the surroundings. “Putting aside the rain, there are no signs of bricks being thrown around here. Regarding the brick-throwing, Dan Jin was probably not telling the truth.”

“Then…” Liang Wenxuan said, “In your opinion, how should the scene be reconstructed?”

Xi Wan looked up at the window and, after a moment, said, “Jaco may have already lost partial consciousness before he fell, which made it difficult for him to move. Dan Jin didn’t throw bricks, but followed him by jumping down.” Xi Wan shook her head. “But I don’t understand why he dared to just leave like that. He should have been able to tell that Jaco wasn’t dead. From the current situation, it seems Jaco indeed wasn’t dead and left on his own.”

The questions were piling up. Liang Wenxuan had Xi Wan take the samples back for testing first, while he and the other team members continued to search for other clues at Biandong Street.

That night, Xi Wan stared at the computer screen, her eyes filled with disbelief. On another computer, the traces from the scene were being modeled.

The footprints in the derelict building matched Jaco and Dan Jin, and the bloodstains inside the building also matched their DNA. But the bloodstains on the bricks downstairs belonged to Dan Jin. The person who had been lying on the bricks for a long time was Dan Jin, not Jaco.

What this discovery meant, her mind was a bit jumbled, and she couldn’t sort it out for the moment. And just as she was about to notify Ji Chenjiao and Liang Wenxuan, the doctor announced Dan Jin’s death.

Ling Lie returned from his shopping trip in the afternoon. Last night, Ji Chenjiao had treated him to a “corrupt” feast, and he planned to make Ji Chenjiao a dish of raw marinated drunken shrimp he had just learned from the internet. While preparing the ingredients, he freed a hand to take a picture and send it to Ji Chenjiao. Half an hour later, when he checked his phone, Ji Chenjiao hadn’t replied.

Based on his experience feeding Ji Chenjiao, this was very, very not right.

Normally, the Serious Crimes Unit should have been quite free today. Although Jaco was still missing, the Dan Jin case was considered closed. Xia Chengshi was a bit haughty, but he would have replied, expressing his disdain. Ling Lie keenly sensed that Ji Chenjiao must have been stumped by something, so much so that he wasn’t in the mood to banter with him.

Ling Lie made a call to the technical investigation office. It rang for a long time before being answered by an impatient voice. Ling Lie recognized it as Shen Qi; coincidentally, Shen Qi was the person he was looking for.

“Brother Qi.” Ling Lie and Shen Qi were now on a “brother”-calling basis. “Is there a situation with the Serious Crimes Unit?”

Shen Qi immediately said, “Brother Lie, are you still out fooling around? Come quick, hurry! Dan Jin went crazy in the detention center, said he killed Jaco. Now I’m the only one left in the unit. Team Leader Liang and Sister Wan went to the scene, and my brother is at the hospital!”

Ling Lie was stunned for a moment, then frowned. “Ji Chenjiao is at the hospital?”

“No, no, brother is fine, it’s Dan Jin. He seems to have taken some drug. I’m not sure about the specifics. My ge sent him directly to the hospital!”

Ling Lie hung up the phone, stood in the kitchen staring at a pile of half-finished ingredients for a while, then, changing from his leisurely, playful style, he quickly mixed the seasonings, poured the shrimp in, sealed it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator.

After tidying up the kitchen, Ling Lie went back to his bedroom to change into outdoor clothes. As he passed Ji Chenjiao’s bedroom, he hesitated for two seconds, then went in and casually grabbed a set of clothes, stuffing it into a bag.

Half an hour later, he appeared at the hospital Shen Qi had mentioned.

At this time, Dan Jin was still being resuscitated. The detention center officers at the hospital were in an awkward position, and Captain Lu had already started an investigation. Ji Chenjiao had just finished explaining the situation to Xie Qing. He put down his phone and saw Ling Lie, one hand carrying a bag, the other waving at him coolly.

His overloaded mind suddenly felt as if a mint ice cube had been dropped into it. It stopped for a moment, letting out a hiss of white smoke.

“What are you doing here?”

Ling Lie lifted his left hand. “Came to see if my ‘patron’ needs me for anything.”

Ji Chenjiao noticed the bag Ling Lie was carrying contained clothes. Surprised for a moment, he took it. “Did you install a camera on me?”

Ling Lie laughed twice and went with Ji Chenjiao to change clothes. The hospital didn’t have a place for the Serious Crimes Unit to use as a temporary office. Ji Chenjiao wiped his sweat in the bathroom, and the moment he put on the clean clothes, he felt his mind clear up considerably.

“What happened?” Ling Lie asked from the side.

Ji Chenjiao rolled up his sweat-soaked clothes and briefly explained the situation to Ling Lie, adding, “Dan Jin’s condition is very likely caused by being drugged. We’re still not clear on what underlying conditions he has. The biggest suspect is the detention center, and they’re already investigating.”

Ling Lie stroked his chin. “Strange. Within the scope of the case, he didn’t hide anything, right? Outside the case, the prosecutor’s office has no way of investigating. Even if he really did hold some secret, he was a man who was going to be sentenced to death anyway. What’s the point of silencing him now?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “That’s the contradiction. We’ll have to see if he can be saved in the end. Besides this case, he doesn’t seem like someone who would hold any secrets.”

Ling Lie took out his phone and his fingers tapped quickly a few times. Ji Chenjiao caught a glimpse of a train ticket page out of the corner of his eye. “Where are you going?”

“Refunding the ticket.” Ling Lie was very decisive in everything he did. Yesterday, thinking he had some free time, he had decisively bought a high-speed rail ticket. Now, judging the situation to be tricky, he immediately refunded it.

Ji Chenjiao glanced at Ling Lie, his words not quite matching his thoughts. “If you have something to do…”

But Ling Lie smiled. “My ‘patron’ is so busy, how can I just up and leave?”

Ji Chenjiao’s eyebrow arched almost imperceptibly. He cleared his throat. “Do whatever you want.”

In the end, Dan Jin could not be saved. The cause of death announced by the doctor was acute cardiopulmonary failure. The reason for the failure, however, could only be determined after an autopsy.

A suspect awaiting trial had suddenly fallen ill and died in a detention center, exhibiting symptoms of mental illness before death, and even confessing to a murder. This caused a minor earthquake in the Xiarong City police circle.

The detention center’s internal investigation was no longer sufficient. The municipal bureau and the prosecutor’s office immediately formed an investigation team. Not only the detention center was being investigated, but also the members of the Serious Crimes Unit who had last been in contact with Dan Jin.

Ji Chenjiao, Liang Wenxuan, and five other team members were all suspended from work. Although An Xun had not been in contact with Dan Jin, as he was the forensic examiner for the Serious Crimes Unit, he was also excluded from the work of autopsying Dan Jin.

The autopsy was handed over to the forensic identification center of a higher-level unit. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the results.

Before dawn, the first autopsy report was released. A large amount of a hallucinogenic poison was detected in Dan Jin’s blood. His failure was one of the side effects of the hallucinogen. But what was different about this hallucinogen from common ones was that it did not take effect immediately after entering the body, but had an incubation period of one week to one month. During this process, the internal organs would gradually fail, and the mental state would also become abnormal, with hallucinations appearing. The initial symptoms were not obvious, but once it took full effect, it was difficult to save the person.

Its principle was similar to poisons with an incubation period like paraquat, but it also destroyed the mind.

In addition, the forensic examiner found four healed wounds on Dan Jin’s arm and back, accompanied by soft tissue contusions, injuries caused by falling and impact.

A needle mark was also found on his left arm, which was most likely where the hallucinogen was injected.

This report left the municipal bureau, the detention center, and the prosecutor’s office speechless. Even the detention center had believed the problem was internal, but the truth was, the poison had been in his body long before Dan Jin was transferred to the detention center.

Based on the timeline, the Serious Crimes Unit, the branch bureau, or any member of the public could have administered the injection. The situation became even more convoluted and mysterious. What was even more puzzling was that, judging from Dan Jin’s earlier reactions, he seemed completely unaware that he had been injected with a drug.

Could he have been injected with the poison while he was asleep? Who had the motive to inject him with this poison?

The identification center would continue to analyze the components of the hallucinogen. This type of poison had not yet appeared in Xiarong City and needed to be compared with poisons from other regions. This process would take a considerable amount of time.

The Serious Crimes Unit was suddenly in a very awkward position. Those with ulterior motives could use this matter to sling mud at them at will, for example, by guiding public opinion to say that the Serious Crimes Unit was eager to solve the case and thus used a hallucinogen on Dan Jin, and it was under the influence of the drug that Dan Jin confessed to that unbelievable motive.

Xie Qing fought for them with his superiors, but the deputy bureau chief in charge of criminal investigation, facing suspicion from an even higher level, was also in a very difficult position.

The only person in the Serious-Crimes Unit who could now move freely was actually Ling Lie, the “external asset.”

He went home, took out the marinated drunken shrimp, tasted it—it was not bad—and packed it in a sealed container to take to the municipal bureau, asking a familiar detachment member to give it to Ji Chenjiao. The other person was dumbfounded. Ling Lie said, “Team Leader Ji’s movements are restricted now, but that doesn’t mean his stomach has to be restricted too, right? He’s not even allowed to eat?”

The team member quickly said, “Allowed, allowed!”

The special investigation team immediately noticed Ling Lie. A person who looked like a leader asked, “Who are you?”

Ling Lie, seeing him take Ji Chenjiao’s raw marinated drunken shrimp, was instantly displeased. “Give it back.”

The person said, “Don’t interfere with our official duties.”

The man’s arrogance and condescension were written all over his face, as if he already had concrete evidence that the Serious Crimes Unit was not clean.

Ling Lie stared at him, his eyes growing colder.

He wasn’t a very warm person to begin with, only willing to pull out a handful of warmth from his pocket for those who were worth it.

The man met his gaze and, provoked by it, used even harsher words. “If you continue to ignore my advice, I have the right to use coercive measures against you.”

Ling Lie stood his ground, unmoved. Just as the man was about to turn and leave, he suddenly said, “Wait a minute.”

“What else do you have to say?”

Ling Lie said nothing, just took out an ID that had never been shown in Xiarong City. After the other person saw it clearly, his eyes widened in shock. “You are…”

In the office of the Criminal Investigation Detachment Leader, Xie Qing looked at the ramrod-straight Ling Lie and the special operations team ID, and sighed with a smile. “You’ve finally stopped pretending.”

Ling Lie asked, “Can I participate in the investigation?”

Xie Qing gestured with his chin towards the leader of the special investigation team next to him. “He’s the one who calls the shots on this matter. You have to ask him.”

The team leader was a middle-aged man with graying hair, surnamed Wen. He didn’t seem as sharp-edged as the one who had tried to “snatch” Ling Lie’s drunken shrimp, and was more kind and amiable. He said, “By rights, you should be the one guiding our work.”

Ling Lie said nothing. When dealing with local police circles in the past, he had never been one for many words.

“But this time is special. You can also be considered a member of the Serious Crimes Unit, so I’ll still be in charge of the overall coordination.” Team Leader Wen’s eyes, narrowed into a slit, revealed a sharp glint. He was a seemingly slick but quite astute person. “No problem, right?”

Ling Lie met his gaze. “At your command. I only need the truth.”

Team Leader Wen extended his hand. “Pleasure working with you.”

Ling Lie looked at the calloused hand, his expression softening slightly. He shook it. “Pleasure working with you.”

Author’s Note:
How dare you snatch our little snake’s food! Ling Lie gets angry.jpg