When this was said, not only were the incoming criminal police officers stunned, but even Ling Lie was very surprised. Mou Dianpei had been poisoned with paraquat, and the police currently had no leads on its source. He had come to the general store with a glimmer of hope, only to find out that Mou Dianpei had bought the paraquat himself.

Did I poison myself to death?

Mou Dianpei showed no signs of wanting to commit suicide. If he bought the drug, he would certainly be aware of its toxicity and would subconsciously be cautious, making accidental ingestion highly unlikely. The drug was also not found in his home.

If the general store owner wasn’t lying or misremembering, this matter was very strange. Who did Mou Dianpei buy the drug to poison? And where did the drug end up?

Ling Lie repeatedly confirmed with the owner, who thumped his chest and guaranteed it was Mou Dianpei, swearing he’d go to jail right now if he was lying.

Ling Lie asked, “Do you remember which day Mou Dianpei bought the drug?”

The owner said, “Wait a minute, I have a sales record.” As he spoke, he pulled out an oil-paper-bound ledger, densely filled with writing. Ordinary small items weren’t recorded, but all special items like pinhole cameras and drugs were.

“July 9th!”

While he was at it, Ling Lie had the owner look up the sales record for pinhole cameras. There were more of these, about ten orders each month. The owner couldn’t remember who the customers were.

The team members returned to the municipal bureau with the retrieved surveillance footage. Ling Lie remained in Yide Lane, walking as he let the clues tangle in his mind.

Based on the estimated time of poisoning, Mou Dianpei’s first dose must have been after he bought the drug. Two questions had to be answered—first, what did he intend to do with the drug; second, how did the drug end up harming him?

It was almost certain that Mou Dianpei and Liu Xuelin’s enmity was due to “Gui Yong Tang.” Liu Xuelin plotted to kill Mou Dianpei; with Mou Dianpei’s character, wouldn’t he also want to kill Liu Xuelin?

So the drug was prepared for Liu Xuelin?

But for some reason, he ended up taking the drug himself? And it couldn’t be found in his home?

Was it lost before he even brought it home?

Ling Lie had originally intended to go see Qingzi. After talking with the store owner about video doorbells and pinhole cameras, he felt that given Qingzi and Mou Dianpei’s relationship, it was possible Qingzi had purchased a pinhole camera.

The police hadn’t paid attention to pinhole cameras last time, and Mou Dianpei certainly wouldn’t have known about one. If a pinhole camera existed, it might have captured some unexpected clues.

But just then, Ji Chenjiao called. “Where are you?”

Ling Lie looked at the time and smiled. “Little Ji is checking up on me again.”

Ji Chenjiao: “I heard from the brothers who came back that a witness proved Mou Dianpei bought the drug himself?”

Ling Lie was just about to discuss this clue with Ji Chenjiao when Ji said, “Come back first. I want to use this clue to test Liu Xuelin.”

Ling Lie paused for a second, then quickly understood. “OK, on my way back.”

Liu Xuelin was brought back to the interrogation room, looking listless and unshaven, his face screaming “uncooperative” and “I’ve hit rock bottom, so I don’t care anymore.” When Ji Chenjiao called his name, he didn’t even lift an eyelid.

“Liu Xuelin, passive resistance is useless,” Ji Chenjiao said. “I now have two more clues in my hand. Take a look at this video first.”

The tablet played sped-up surveillance footage. The shop’s private camera had indeed captured Liu Xuelin loitering in Yide Lane.

“So what?” Liu Xuelin’s attitude was no longer as submissive as before, and a fierce light showed in his eyes. “Did someone claim ownership of Yide Lane? What’s wrong with me taking a walk there? Did I break the law?”

Ji Chenjiao said calmly, “But last time I asked if you had been there, you swore you absolutely had not.”

Liu Xuelin: “Can’t I have misremembered? I’m getting old, so my bad memory is now a reason for you to frame me? Hey, I’m telling you, so many people come and go in Yide Lane every day. Why don’t you say they’re all scouting the place?”

Ji Chenjiao: “Their cars didn’t have a dead body in them.”

Liu Xuelin slammed the table. “I was framed! I’m innocent!”

“Don’t be anxious, there’s another clue.” Ji Chenjiao took out the photo of the sales slip that Ling Lie had taken. “Mou Dianpei bought a bottle of paraquat a while ago.”

Liu Xuelin froze, not understanding. “What did you say?”

Ji Chenjiao repeated himself. Liu Xuelin’s pupils dilated and then contracted, as if he had finally processed the news. Then, his face was uncontrollably filled with shock and anger, along with something akin to lingering fear.

He didn’t speak, but his Adam’s apple bobbed several times, and his hands clenched into tight fists. It was clear his emotions were struggling against the restraints of his reason.

He didn’t want to show his rage, but he was about to lose control.

Ji Chenjiao said calmly, “This clue completely caught us off guard. Mou Dianpei was poisoned with paraquat, and I was busy investigating his roommate and Boss Shen, just as you suggested. I never expected he bought it himself.”

Ji Chenjiao’s sharp gaze fell on Liu Xuelin. “What do you think is going on here? Why would Mou Dianpei buy poison for himself?”

Liu Xuelin’s pent-up emotions completely collapsed at that moment. He gritted his teeth, his eyes full of hatred. “He wanted to poison me! That scumbag! He wanted to kill me for that damn spot!”

Ji Chenjiao feigned surprise. “Huh? How is that possible? You weren’t poisoned; he was. It’s not right for you to say that. By the way, what spot?”

Liu Xuelin grinned menacingly. “I knew he was up to no good, saying he wanted to treat me to a drink. Luckily, I didn’t fall for his trick. Hahaha, he drank the poison himself? Serves him right! Serves him right! He must have drunk too much and downed the poison too, hahaha!”

Ji Chenjiao looked at the “madman” before him. The important thing in this interrogation wasn’t to get a confession, but to break down Liu Xuelin’s defenses and make him reveal more clues.

So Ji Chenjiao went along with Liu Xuelin’s psychology and asked, “Which day did he invite you for a drink? Why did he want to poison you?”

“Because if I died, he could secure his spot at ‘Gui Yong Tang’!” A triumphant joy appeared on Liu Xuelin’s face. “What do you call this? Trying to harm others but ending up harming yourself?”

Ji Chenjiao said lightly, “Oh, so it was for ‘Gui Yong Tang.’ In that case, you both had a motive to kill each other, right, Liu Xuelin?”

Liu Xuelin’s laughter caught in his throat. He stared at Ji Chenjiao in surprise, finally sobering up. This was something he absolutely could not say to the police!

Ji Chenjiao: “That day, Mou Dianpei was unwell and stayed home, handing all his work to his roommate. It was almost impossible for him to leave his rented apartment alone. You had a gap in your schedule when you went to pick up a body in the early morning. Where were you and what were you doing at that time?”

Liu Xuelin: “I, I was driving…”

Ji Chenjiao: “You went to Mou Dianpei’s home and took him away under the pretext of taking him to see a doctor.”

Ling Lie watched the interrogation monitor. Huang Yi said, “Qingzi is here.”

Ling Lie immediately walked towards the inquiry room. Qingzi was nervously wringing his hands. “You asked me to come, is there something you need?”

Ling Lie placed a pinhole camera he had gotten from the general store on the table. Qingzi jumped when he saw it clearly. “This is…”

“Don’t be nervous,” Ling Lie said. “I just want to know if you installed this kind of thing to monitor Mou Dianpei because he was always taking your things.”

Qingzi was very surprised. “Um, how did you know I installed a pin, a pinhole camera…”

“I didn’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.” Ling Lie twirled the camera in his hand and looked at Qingzi with a raised eyebrow. “Can you show me what you recorded?”

“Of course.” Qingzi was very flustered. “But…”

“Hmm?”

“I bought it in March. At the time, I couldn’t stand Mou Dianpei stealing my things, so I bought it on impulse. But later I found it wasn’t very useful. Although it could record Mou Dianpei’s petty thefts, I couldn’t use the video to confront him. We saw each other every day. If he knew I had installed a camera, who knows how he would mess with me. So besides making myself angry, the camera was useless. After a while, I stopped paying attention to it. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten it was there. I’ll take it down this time and won’t put it back up.”

Ling Lie asked, “So was it always on? Where are the videos stored?”

Qingzi said uncertainly, “It should have power since it’s next to the outlet, but I really don’t know if it turned off at any point. I haven’t looked at it for at least two months. If it was recording the whole time, then it’s stored in the cloud space I bought.”

Ling Lie said, “Can you see it on your phone?”

Qingzi shook his head. “My phone’s memory is too small. I uninstalled the app after I stopped checking it. If I download it again now, I’ll have to go back to connect to it.”

Ling Lie immediately called over a criminal police officer and went back to Yide Lane with Qingzi.

The outlet with the camera was behind the TV, hidden among a tangle of wires. The camera’s range covered most of the living room, capturing the main door and the hallways leading to the two bedrooms and the kitchen.

Qingzi fumbled to download the software while Ling Lie and the officer removed the camera. The officer was a tough guy and became furious at the sight of the device.

Fengshi was considered a tourist city, thanks to its funeral culture and the summer “Parade of a Myriad Ghosts.” But things like hidden cameras did a lot of harm. A few years ago, many hotels were found to have installed them. After the exposure, the city’s image was severely damaged. The criminal investigation detachment worked for three months to finally eradicate the criminal gang that profited from installing cameras to film guests’ privacy. To think these cameras were still being traded.

The officer couldn’t help but scold Qingzi, who became even more nervous, his hand holding the phone trembling.

Ling Lie took the phone. Qingzi said, “Tap this icon. I couldn’t afford the long-term storage plan, so it overwrites every half-month or month.”

The surveillance feed opened. The earliest time was July 1st. Since there wasn’t much, Ling Lie started playing from that day. Mou Dianpei looked presentable outside, but at home, he was an absolute slob, often wearing only a pair of shorts and hogging the living room sofa. He ate whatever food was on the coffee table and was constantly picking at his feet while watching TV.

These scenes made Qingzi very uncomfortable, and he turned his head away after watching for only a short while.

Mou Dianpei was actually rarely home. He usually came back around 9 AM to sleep, got up around 3 or 4 PM, and went out to find work. Sometimes he came back around 7 or 8 PM, and other times he stayed out until the early morning to pick up bodies.

Two days before the incident, Mou Dianpei’s condition was already off. Ling Lie, who had been playing the video at the fastest speed, now slowed it down. Mou Dianpei coughed from time to time, often breathing heavily, and would pound his chest as if he couldn’t get enough air. His complexion wasn’t good either. He sat listlessly on the sofa, no longer picking his feet, as motionless as a dead man.

It was obvious that the poison was already taking its toll on his body.

On the evening before the incident, the camera recorded the scene of Mou Dianpei negotiating with Qingzi, which was similar to what Qingzi had described. At 7:30 PM, Qingzi left the rented apartment. Mou Dianpei looked very unwell, walking unsteadily and bumping into a stool. He had put on a strong front when talking to Qingzi, but as soon as the man left, he couldn’t hold on.

He seemed to want to go back to his bedroom to lie down, but he leaned against the wall, gasping painfully. Then, he fumbled his way to the closer sofa and collapsed onto it, not moving for a long time.

Night fell, and the sound of square dancing music came from outside. The lights in the room were not on; it was pitch black. Mou Dianpei’s breathing was sometimes light, sometimes heavy. The officer said, “He’s just barely hanging on.”

At 1:20 AM, there was suddenly a noise from outside the door. Ling Lie knew immediately that someone was tampering with the lock.

Qingzi was extremely nervous. “How, how is someone else coming in?”

But the lock was not picked, because Mou Dianpei noticed. He struggled to sit up and asked in the darkness, “Who’s there?”

The noise stopped abruptly.

Mou Dianpei staggered to the door, his voice hoarse and weak. “Who’s not sleeping in the middle of the night and coming here to cause trouble?”

Perhaps his voice gave the person outside courage. The person said something. Mou Dianpei said, “It’s you?”

Ling Lie dragged the video timeline back and turned the volume to the maximum. He vaguely heard the other person say, “Old Mou, it’s me. I just ran into Qingzi. He said you’re pretty sick. He bought some medicine and asked me to bring it up to you on my way.”

Qingzi was shocked. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t buy him medicine, and I didn’t ask anyone to bring it to him!”

Ling Lie said, “Calm down.”

Mou Dianpei tried to grab the doorknob but slammed into the door instead. The person outside said, “What’s wrong with you?”

Mou Dianpei could no longer speak, like a drowning fish, frantically trying to open the door.

The door opened, and the orange light from outside shone in. Ling Lie clearly saw the person supporting Mou Dianpei: Liu Xuelin.

Qingzi let out a scream. “Please believe me, I only know of this person. I’ve never had any dealings with him. It absolutely wasn’t me who sent him!”

Liu Xuelin was indeed carrying a small plastic bag. The camera’s resolution was average, so it was impossible to see what was inside, but it looked like a few boxes of medicine.

At this point, Mou Dianpei was in a state of desperation, willing to try anything. He slurred, “Take me to the hospital—”

Liu Xuelin also seemed stunned. After a few seconds, he said, “Old Mou, you’ve got a fever, right? Okay, okay, I’ll take you to the hospital first, get you checked in at the night emergency, then go pick up the body…”

The footage stopped there, not because the camera stopped working, but because the door was closed.

Ling Lie needed to take the surveillance footage back for technical analysis. Qingzi got into the police car with them, looking miserable. “This really has nothing to do with me. I can confront Liu Xuelin. I didn’t buy any medicine, nor did I tell him Mou Dianpei was sick!”

Ling Lie turned his head to the side. “After you left home that day, did you mention to anyone else that Mou Dianpei was sick?”

Qingzi was stunned for a moment, then said in a panic, “I, I did…”

The three hours between 9 PM and midnight were leisure time for the “Golden Impermanence” undertakers—it wasn’t time to transport bodies yet, and they had mostly finished soliciting business. They would gather to play cards and chat about industry news. Some who were too busy during the day would only have time for dinner then.

Although Qingzi was introverted, he had after all entered the “Golden Impermanence” profession, so he forced himself to participate in their card games and chats. Of course, he didn’t play cards and didn’t talk much, just stood to the side. Sometimes, when someone had too many jobs, they would see him there and give him some.

It was the same that day. After 9 PM, before it was time to work, he thought about the job he had to do for Mou Dianpei that night, which would be quite tiring. So he bought two buns and a can of Red Bull, carried them in a plastic bag, and watched a few “Golden Impermanence” members play chess.

A “Golden Impermanence” member with the surname Zhou said, “Qingzi, do your big brother a favor. I have two extra jobs tonight, can you take them? I’ll only take a 20% cut!”

Qingzi was very tempted, but with his own job and Mou Dianpei’s, he couldn’t take on any more, so he had to refuse Brother Zhou.

Brother Zhou laughed. “Hey, Qingzi is actually turning down a job?”

Because he was inexperienced and had little business, Qingzi had always been one to take any job offered. When Brother Zhou said this, the surrounding “Golden Impermanence” members gathered to watch the spectacle. Qingzi quickly explained that he had to run a few jobs for Old Mou.

Everyone was even more surprised. Someone said, “Old Mou is so stingy, he’d actually give you work? I find that hard to believe.”

Brother Zhou smiled. “Qingzi, if you don’t want to take it, just say so. I’ll find someone else.”

Qingzi hurriedly said, “Old Mou is sick. He can’t get up, so he asked me to help him with his work.”

People immediately understood. Someone teased, “That Old Mou, only at a time like this would he share his work…”

“That’s what happened!” Qingzi said anxiously to Ling Lie. “Maybe someone else told Liu Xuelin, or maybe he overheard it himself. There were a lot of people there. I didn’t see him, but he might have been there too.”

Ling Lie nodded, indicating that he understood. He then opened a map and found the gathering spot Qingzi mentioned. It wasn’t far from the Third Hospital or Yide Lane, so it wasn’t strange for Liu Xuelin to be there.

Liu Xuelin had long planned to get rid of Mou Dianpei, occasionally going to Yide Lane to scout for opportunities. And the opportunity had come running to him on its own. When he heard Mou Dianpei was sick, he felt it was the perfect time to act, so he bought medicine as a tool.

But when he arrived at Mou Dianpei’s home, he wasn’t sure how sick Mou was, so he tried to pick the lock to investigate first.

Just then, the voice of a terminally ill Mou Dianpei came from inside the room. After the door opened, Mou Dianpei actually asked him for help. He marveled at the godsent opportunity; today was Mou Dianpei’s day to die.

At that time, he thought Mou Dianpei only had a severe cold and fever, feeling exhausted, and never expected that Mou was on the verge of death. And Mou Dianpei didn’t know he was poisoned either. His extreme discomfort made him forget to be wary when facing Liu Xuelin. Or perhaps he only knew that he himself dared to kill, but overlooked that Liu Xuelin also had the heart to kill. When Liu Xuelin came to deliver medicine, he grabbed onto him like a lifeline, asking Liu to take him to the hospital.

Ling Lie closed his eyes, and the scene not captured by the camera slowly unfolded. Liu Xuelin “diligently” helped Mou Dianpei downstairs. There were no pedestrians in Yide Lane in the early morning; those in the funeral business had already gone out, and others were asleep. He avoided the surveillance cameras he had spotted during his scouting and led Mou Dianpei to the Jinbei van used for transporting bodies. Lying half-recumbent in the van, Mou Dianpei was perhaps already in a daze. He thought he was on his way to the hospital, never imagining it was a road to the underworld.

The van stopped. It was a deserted little road. Mou Dianpei struggled to get up—he thought they had arrived at the hospital. But what greeted him was a hemp rope, held by a person wearing thick-threaded gloves.

Liu Xuelin viciously strangled Mou Dianpei. Mou used his remaining strength to grab the rope, his legs kicking futilely. But it was useless. He was already terminally ill, and the pain of his throat being choked was probably no different from the pain in his internal organs. He couldn’t scream. There were only the sounds of breathing and kicking in the van. If one listened carefully, there was also the sound of bones dislocating and breaking.

It wasn’t long before everything fell silent. Perhaps even Liu Xuelin was surprised—had he killed Mou Dianpei so easily?

He had to go pick up a body soon. Following his pre-planned “frame-up” idea, Liu Xuelin put Mou Dianpei into a body bag, cleaned up the inside of the van, getting rid of footprints and signs of struggle. He burned the hemp rope and thick-threaded gloves. The hearse was disinfected and cleaned daily anyway, so the lack of traces wouldn’t arouse police suspicion.

After doing all this, he calmly drove towards his client.

Back at the municipal bureau, the criminal police took Qingzi to give a detailed statement. Ling Lie gave the video to the technical investigation team and soon received a clear picture and sound. In the interrogation room, Ji Chenjiao and Huang Yi took turns, but Liu Xuelin’s attitude became increasingly arrogant. Many of his answers already clearly implied he was the murderer, but he was banking on the police not having a single, decisive piece of evidence.

“Liu Xuelin, did you forget something?” Ji Chenjiao came back after finishing his coffee. “Mou Dianpei’s body was in your car. You dumped the body and abandoned the car, and you can’t give a logical explanation. Based on this point alone, you are the prime suspect in this case. I don’t need you to confess; I can still hand you over to the procuratorate for public prosecution!”

Liu Xuelin was stunned for a moment. “You’re forcing a confession!”

Ji Chenjiao: “The cameras have been on the whole time. I am responsible for every word I say. Did I hit you? Have any police officers threatened or beaten you? When you get to court, do you think the judge will believe your pale cries of innocence, or the solid evidence held by the police and the procuratorate?”

“You!”

Just then, the door to the interrogation room opened. Ling Lie patted Ji Chenjiao’s shoulder and then crooked his finger. Huang Yi, seeing this, was inexplicably reminded of the scene where Ling Lie fed Ji Chenjiao ice cream.

Huang Yi: “…” See no evil, see no evil!

In the technical investigation office area, Ling Lie showed Ji Chenjiao the high-definition video and explained his reasoning based on the video and Qingzi’s testimony. He added, “But my reasoning doesn’t count. The key is what you can get Liu Xuelin to say.”

Ji Chenjiao saw beads of sweat on the tip of Ling Lie’s nose, shining brightly. The weather was hot, and Ling Lie was always running around outside. His originally very fair skin was flushed red from the sun. Ji Chenjiao said, “Wait a minute.”

Five minutes later, Ji Chenjiao came back with a tub of rum-flavored ice cream, with a pack of wet wipes pressed on top.

Ling Lie saw the brand and exclaimed, “Whoa! Big spender!”

The fruit-flavored ice cream he had bought himself last time was a cheap local brand, only about ten yuan a tub. This one tub cost as much as a hotpot meal.

“Wipe your face, you look like a messy kitten.” After saying this, Ji Chenjiao was about to return to the interrogation room.

Ling Lie grinned. “Thanks for the treat, boss! So generous!”

A vein throbbed on Ji Chenjiao’s temple, but a smile couldn’t help but appear on his lips.

Before the interrogation ended, Ling Lie searched online for the price of the ice cream tub, clicked his tongue twice, and muttered, “Tsk tsk, go away, all you big spenders!”

Liu Xuelin still bit down hard, insisting he didn’t kill anyone. Ji Chenjiao threw the video directly in front of him. He leaned in for a look, was so scared he almost jumped up, and his face instantly turned white. “This is… this is… impossible!”

“This is footage from the surveillance camera in Mou Dianpei’s home.” Ji Chenjiao froze the frame at the moment Liu Xuelin helped Mou Dianpei out the door. “Liu Xuelin, now what do you have to say?”