BL Ch65

Inside the interrogation room, Liu Shaojie’s face had changed significantly from when the session began.

He wasn’t getting any information from outside, so he couldn’t tell if the two officers in front of him were bluffing. Jiang Sheng was young and inexperienced, always making mistakes. Last year, he was caught by the police just for receiving a package, forcing them to abandon it. Therefore, he was usually assigned to low-risk support tasks, while Liu Shaojie handled the more dangerous ones. Now, without his protection, Jiang Sheng might indeed have been caught.

However, there was one thing he was sure about.

“You can wait for him to wake up. If you can get even one word out of him, I’ll take your last name.”

Ji Lin’s heart sank.

Liu Shaojie’s confident attitude was exactly like Jiang Sheng’s just before he died.

They both believed that the other would never betray the main culprit, indicating they knew why the other wouldn’t do so, which the police didn’t know. If the interrogation slipped even slightly, Liu Shaojie might realize that the police actually had no crucial evidence, putting them at a disadvantage.

The immediate task was to make Liu Shaojie believe that Jiang Sheng would talk, thus undermining the trust between them.

Xu Sheng’s fingers tapped his thigh rhythmically, growing faster. Besides staring sternly at Liu Shaojie, he couldn’t do much else, hoping Ji Lin would say something soon. Otherwise, he’d have to take over, but he couldn’t guarantee he’d fool Liu Shaojie, who had been through countless interrogations without revealing anything useful.

Someone unafraid of death wouldn’t fear human judgment.

Seeing the two men silent, Liu Shaojie’s smug expression returned, “I knew you were just trying to trick me. You haven’t caught him, have you?”

Ji Lin slowly raised his eyes, looking at him with a pained and regretful gaze, “Just because you’re willing to spend your life in prison doesn’t mean he is. He wants to return to a normal life, not be a criminal.”

Liu Shaojie burst into arrogant laughter, “Haha! I don’t believe he’d say such nonsense. Even if you’re making it up, make it believable!”

He laughed while banging on the table, making the surface on the other side of the partition tremble.

Ji Lin kept his hand calmly on the table, unflinching, touching his empty wrist, and said calmly, “You haven’t seen his job application, have you? It was well put together, bilingual in Chinese and English, enough to land a decent job, even if the salary wasn’t high, at least enough for a living. Someone who wants to be a criminal wouldn’t bother with that.”

“When I saved him, he initially refused, saying he’d rather die than be saved by the police because no one came when he called for help as a child. But I convinced him. He said I was different from other cops. I don’t think I’m that different; he just wanted to live and found an excuse for himself.”

“His crime was much lighter than yours, attempted kidnapping and extortion. He’d be out in his thirties after a decade or so, with a good part of his life ahead. Why would he want to sink with you? If he confesses who the main culprit is, we can arrest him, and Jiang Sheng won’t have to worry about his life being in danger. It’s a perfect opportunity for him to start over. If he’s not a fool, he’ll seize it, definitely more sensible than you.”

Xu Sheng observed Liu Shaojie’s expression closely, not missing a single frame. When Ji Lin mentioned “calling the police,” Liu Shaojie’s eye twitched slightly.

“…He told you about his childhood?” Liu Shaojie asked, with a hint of disbelief in his tone.

Ji Lin crossed his arms, showing confidence, and said seriously, “Yes, you know about it too. Reporting as a child and getting no response isn’t something we could find out no matter how omniscient we are; he had to have told us himself. You don’t believe he’d confess to the police, but in fact, he’s already opened up to me a bit. I believe it won’t take much more effort to fully open that door.”

Liu Shaojie’s face turned ashen, “Who knows where you heard that from? Unless you bring him here, I won’t believe you’ve caught him.”

Xu Sheng quickly added, “I told you, he’s in the hospital, and it’ll be months before he can walk. We would’ve brought him if we could, to reunite you brothers!”

He purposefully used the word “brothers,” and indeed, Liu Shaojie’s eyes flickered with an unusual light.

Seeing this, both officers were more certain of their suspicions.

“If you can’t bring him here, then do a video call. You should have someone watching him at the hospital, right? Call him up, let me see him.”

Video was definitely not an option; Jiang Sheng’s body, blown to pieces, had already been cremated. Unexpectedly, Liu Shaojie was this cautious. Xu Sheng couldn’t think of a response on the spot and was getting anxious when he saw Ji Lin reach into his pocket and pull out something—a partially burnt phone in an evidence bag.

Both Liu Shaojie and Xu Sheng were shocked to see it.

Liu Shaojie recognized it as Jiang Sheng’s phone, and Xu Sheng recognized it as evidence that should have been at the station.

The world must have turned upside down, with the most rule-abiding and obedient guy in the New Gold District actually smuggling out evidence!

Xu Sheng could already imagine Peng Deyu’s furious reaction when he found out, and his head was starting to ache.

Ji Lin tossed the evidence bag onto the table, “We don’t need to prove anything to you. Believe it or not, Jiang Sheng’s phone has a lot of information, already answering many of our questions. We’ll definitely find the murderer if we keep investigating, but this case has dragged on too long with constant pressure from above. We’re eager to close it quickly, and asking you is the most direct way.”

Meaning, even if neither of you talks, we can still find out. We’re just giving you a chance for leniency to close the case faster, don’t be ungrateful.

From the moment Ji Lin pulled out the phone, Liu Shaojie’s expression had clearly changed.

This aligned with Ji Lin’s guess; the “Queen” had scolded Jiang Sheng over the phone for using the same phone for too long, indicating Jiang Sheng wasn’t as cautious as them, and there could still be important, undeleted information on it.

Even if Liu Shaojie believed Jiang Sheng wouldn’t willingly betray, he couldn’t be sure Jiang Sheng wouldn’t be careless.

On the other side, Liu Shaojie still held his head high, unconvinced, “Oh? Is that so? Can this broken phone even turn on? What information does it have?”

Ji Lin thought for a moment, relying on three parts fact and seven parts imagination, and made up, “Plenty. Like, for instance, his communication records with Bai Zhiming—”

Regardless of whether Jiang Sheng was Bai Zhiming’s foster son, since they lived together before Bai Zhiming disappeared, there must have been some contact. Moreover, this was private communication, so Liu Shaojie wouldn’t know how much the police had actually uncovered on Jiang Sheng’s phone. Mentioning it just enough to plant doubt, letting him speculate further, slowly eroding his overconfidence.

This probing was a strategy that could either defend or attack, seemingly foolproof. Ji Lin had prepared a long speech to entice Liu Shaojie into revealing the truth, but unexpectedly, after hearing just this one sentence, Liu Shaojie’s reaction was explosive:

He slammed the table with a “bang!”—but, restrained by the iron chair, he fell back into his seat halfway, the handcuffs clinking. His face turned extremely ugly, the suspicion in his eyes not yet gone but nearly overwhelmed by panic and anger. Even through the partition, one could hear his teeth grinding, and he roared in irritation, “Fuck! I told everyone not to look for him, but you had to! You idiot!”

In the soundproof interrogation room, this outburst was sudden and startling. Both Ji Lin and Xu Sheng were momentarily stunned, then exchanged glances, each seeing the shock and confusion in the other’s eyes:

Who was he cursing? Jiang Sheng? But they had only mentioned Bai Zhiming; why such an intense reaction?

Ji Lin hesitated, opting for caution, not continuing with his prepared speech but sticking to the psychological pressure tactic, “We don’t have time for your tantrums. I’ll ask you one more time, do you want the chance for a reduced sentence? If not, we’re leaving, and Jiang Sheng might have woken up by now.”

Liu Shaojie’s chest heaved violently, his face dark but showing signs of hesitation.

Ji Lin pressed his advantage, tapping the table as if to hurry him, “What good does covering for the murderer do you? He’s out there living it up while you’re here taking the fall for him. Your sacrifice is truly noble.”

Liu Shaojie ground his teeth and finally spoke, “Who the fuck is covering for him? He’s nothing.”

There was hope!

Ji Lin and Xu Sheng perked up.

Xu Sheng said, “Then tell us. You’re already in this mess, what are you still holding back for?”

Liu Shaojie sneered, “Fine, since you’ve found out, there’s no point in hiding anymore. I do know Jiang Sheng; we… are like brothers.”

Just as he had suspected! Ji Lin immediately followed up, “You are both children Bai Zhiming adopted outside, right?”

Liu Shaojie, thinking Ji Lin had already learned this from the phone, wasn’t surprised by the guess, nodded, then turned and, with difficulty due to the handcuffs, pulled down his vest to reveal a complex, dark blue tattoo of a dragon on his back.

“My dad took us to get these tattoos, letting us choose our designs, demanding they be fierce enough. I got a vicious dragon, Jiang Sheng got the flame of industry, but he told me privately it was because his basement was so cold, and he thought this might make him feel warmer. Heh, he was always so naive and foolish; I knew he wasn’t cut out for our line of work, that he’d mess up sooner or later.”

In this day and age, having tattoos wasn’t unusual, especially among those involved in the underworld; not having one would be surprising.

Liu Shaojie’s tattoo was not hidden, but no one had thought that this common tattoo was proof of their internal relationship.

Ji Lin, hearing him speak so openly about these unknown histories for the first time, realized he had truly given up resistance. He breathed a sigh of relief and coaxed further, “He was indeed not good at crime; you’ve been helping him all along, haven’t you?”

Liu Shaojie spat in disgust, “Of course, that kid was useless, messing up everything he was told to do. If I knew he’d leak so much, I should’ve killed him before I got locked up!”

Ji Lin continued, “Heh, contemplating killing your accomplice, you’re quite like the murderer. Bai Zhiming was killed by him, wasn’t he?”

Liu Shaojie paused, his expression turning extremely bizarre. Just a moment later, his eyes gleamed with intense light, his face twisted with extreme joy and rage, laughing maniacally like a madman, “Hahaha! You’re trying to trick me! You know nothing! Trying to bluff me! Hahaha!”

The situation reversed in an instant.

Everyone inside and outside the interrogation room was bewildered.

Why did his attitude change like he was on a roller coaster? One moment he was open and honest, the next, he was hostile and unforgiving.

Ji Lin had only stated a well-known fact and hadn’t rashly concluded that Bai Zhiming was killed by the Queen, yet Liu Shaojie seemed to see through all their tricks, his face turning red with laughter, the veins on his neck bulging, his eyes filled with cold ferocity, screaming at Ji Lin and Xu Sheng, “You cops are all no good! Trying to deceive me, go to hell! Hahaha!”

His appearance was so terrifying, as if he might break free from the iron chair and smash through the glass at any moment. In the monitoring room, the young officer was anxious to communicate with those inside, but his hand was stopped by another.

“Wait a bit longer.” Yu Duqiu, with his brows tightly knit, stared unblinkingly at the three in the interrogation room, murmuring to himself, “How could this be? Where did we go wrong?”

Ji Lin and Xu Sheng were also racing through their minds with the same question: Which word or phrase made Liu Shaojie realize they were lying?

Seeing that Liu Shaojie had completely turned hostile and wouldn’t cooperate anymore, Xu Sheng, disturbed by the noise, patted Ji Lin on the shoulder, “Let’s step out and talk.”

Ji Lin suddenly trembled violently.

Xu Sheng thought he might have hit him too hard and withdrew his hand to ask if he was okay, but Ji Lin suddenly jumped up from his chair.

His face looked like he had seen a ghost, even more frightening than Liu Shaojie.

At the same moment, a burst of laughter erupted from the monitoring room.

The young officer looked in horror at the man beside him who seemed to have gone mad, “You, what are you laughing at?” Was manic laughter contagious?

Lou Baoguo and Zhou Yi were also puzzled, “Young Master, what’s wrong with you?”

Yu Duqiu, laughing, collapsed onto Bai Zhao, “Haha… So that’s how it is, it’s actually like this! This case is getting more and more interesting; why didn’t I think of this before… Congratulations, Xiao Bai, you’re not alone in this world anymore.”

Bai Zhao remained silent, not questioning this nonsensical statement, only his expression tense, as if facing a great enemy.

At that moment, Xu Sheng also realized something, his face showing shock, murmuring in disbelief, “Holy shit, holy shit… No way?!”

The young officer, Lou Baoguo, and Zhou Yi were anxious, feeling like everyone was surfing the wave of gossip while they were left without internet.

Lou Baoguo couldn’t hold back, “Young Master, Brother, please, enlighten us!”

Yu Duqiu, having laughed enough, leaned on Bai Zhao’s shoulder, wiping his eyes, “I increasingly feel that my metaphor was quite prophetic. In a game of chess, each side has two ‘knights.’ Is there a more accurate metaphor than this?”

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment, “Our ‘knights’ are me and Bao, but on the other side, besides Jiang Sheng, who else?”

“Someone even more hidden than Jiang Sheng. Everyone knows him, but no one suspects him, so naturally, no one would think to catch him. He’s a ghost knight wandering among humans, clearly dead, yet also alive.”

Zhou Yi finally understood, stuttering in shock, “He’s… he’s still alive?!”

Lou Baoguo, going mad, “Who’s alive? Who’s dead?!”

Yu Duqiu didn’t answer, extending his arm to wrap around Bai Zhao’s broad shoulders, whispering into his ear in a voice too low for others to hear, “Darling, I just want to ask you one question—It was you who identified the body, and your identification led the police to bypass DNA testing and confirm the identity of the deceased.”

“Did you already know… that the body wasn’t Bai Zhiming?”