Chapter Fifty-One: Case Closed!

Before I could even open the chat logs, a user with the nickname "Liu Juncheng" suddenly posted in the group: "The group owner is online, hurry up and update!"

Everyone present gasped in shock.

In the police station's interrogation room, Fan Lu and Li Fengyan made no attempt to deny this unexpected piece of evidence.

Mr. Lin asked calmly, "Why did you kill Liu Juncheng?"

"Five years ago, Liu Juncheng and Chen Da started swapping women," Fan Lu replied. "At first, they just swapped, but then it escalated to paid live-streams in a QQ group."

Liu Juncheng realized that running these membership-based live broadcasts could bring in over a hundred thousand yuan a month—far more profitable than his cement factory. So he simply closed down the factory and focused on the streams.

Chen Da was in charge of filming; Liu Juncheng handled the SM. Fan Lu and I were forced to participate. Not only were there live streams, but they also filmed amateur adult movies to sell on various websites.

The basement was their live-streaming site.

As for the iron cage in the basement, that was Liu Juncheng’s idea. When the group began to lose popularity, he came up with new tricks to retain paying users, including caging “slaves.” Both Fan Lu and Li Fengyan had been locked inside for two days and nights without food or water.

They hated Liu Juncheng bitterly!

Three years ago, Liu Juncheng planned a party on a bus, but because he overdosed on medication, he faked his own death on the bus. The two women, terrified, fled and left him there.

In other words, Liu Juncheng didn’t actually die three years ago.

Chen Da arranged through his contacts to retrieve Liu Juncheng, who was revived with a stimulant injection.

This raised a new question: if he survived, why did he have to live in hiding?

"Because we locked Liu Juncheng in the cage," Fan Lu’s eyes suddenly blazed with fury. "We hated him so much—we wanted him to suffer a fate worse than death."

It was incredible that such things had gone unnoticed for so long.

"This way, Chen Da could have both of us. And they even live-streamed the videos of Liu Juncheng being imprisoned, injecting him with drugs to make him go berserk. It was quite a show. Each customer paid a thousand yuan; with ten customers, we’d inject him."

Those were their own words.

Tang Jingjing muttered "perverts" under her breath.

The owner of the adult shop, who often supplied them with props, had also joined their group.

And the one supporting Chen Da onto the bus that day was that very person. As for the item they were searching for, our investigation revealed it was Liu Juncheng’s bank card.

Previously, all payments were deposited into Liu Juncheng’s account. After they imprisoned him, they wanted his card, but Liu Juncheng refused to give it up. There was about half a million yuan in it.

Liu Juncheng’s second "death" on the bus was also staged by them, including the manner of his death.

Their motive? It was for the live stream.

As for the content, it was exactly what we suspected.

Only now did we realize, to our horror, that Fan Lu hadn’t changed into prison clothes. She might still be carrying live-streaming equipment.

Soon, Tang Jingjing arrived with two female officers. Clearly, she’d guessed my intention.

Mr. Lin and I left as Tang Jingjing and the female officers searched Fan Lu. The result came quickly: "We found a miniature recorder with transmission capability in Fan Lu’s underwear. That’s likely how the live stream was broadcast."

"Li Xingchen," I called out. "Track down where the signal is being received."

Li Huai immediately replied, "Leave it to me." He carefully took the recorder, cursing under his breath at how obscene it was.

"Who instructed Chen Da to stream live?" I asked.

"One of your people," Fan Lu replied with a provocative smile. "He told us that with his backing, no one would ever find out about us. We raised nearly two million through this last stream. That big shot alone got almost a million."

It was so twisted, I nearly leapt up in rage. Who would have thought there was a rotten apple in the force?

Even Fan Lu didn’t know who the mole was, since Chen Da always contacted him directly.

After investigation, we concluded that Old Wang wasn’t one of them—they’d simply used him.

Anger burned in our hearts. A veteran who’d crawled out of a pile of corpses had died at the hands of a venomous woman. Truly, the heart of a woman can be the most malicious.

"You were streaming the whole time, even just now?"

Fan Lu nodded. "Of course, even that police officer was online. But you’ll never catch him—he’s too powerful."

Mr. Lin sneered coldly. "Even if it’s our chief, I’ll take him down."

"That’s right—it is your chief," Fan Lu said with a laugh. "Congratulations, you got it right."

I was stunned, but quickly dismissed the idea. Knowing Chief Wang’s temper, if I even hinted that I suspected him, he’d tear me apart.

Mr. Lin asked, "That little girl—is she your daughter?"

Fan Lu just sneered in silence.

Old Mo pressed her with more questions, but Fan Lu remained tight-lipped. At last, in desperation, she threatened, "I won’t say a word about my daughter. Don’t expect anything from me. If you push me further, I’ll bite my tongue and kill myself."

We all knew Fan Lu was extreme—she’d already streamed police business live, so self-harm wasn’t out of the question.

I looked at Old Mo. Mr. Lin sighed, "Let’s go see Li Fengyan."

Li Fengyan’s statement matched Fan Lu’s word for word. She even insisted that the mole was Chief Wang.

When asked about the girl, Li Fengyan also refused to speak. Pressed, she threatened, "If you keep pushing me, I’ll kill myself."

After we left, I asked Mr. Lin if we should hand the transcript to Chief Wang. He nodded. "Go ahead."

I grinned, "Mr. Lin, are you coming with me? There are some things I don’t dare say to Chief Wang alone."

Mr. Lin paused, then laughed at my cheekiness. "Well, since both suspects named him, I guess Chief Wang has to endure this."

When Mr. Lin explained my plan to Chief Wang, he nearly strangled me. "Nonsense—absolute nonsense. I’d never do something so disgusting!"

I smiled wryly. "What else can we do? Let the real mole keep destroying the police’s reputation?"

Chief Wang gritted his teeth, but finally agreed. "Remember this—I’ll make sure you regret this later."

I feigned indignation. "Why do I get punished but not Mr. Lin?"

Mr. Lin roared with laughter. "Because you’re the only one in custody!"

A few minutes later, the discipline committee took Chief Wang away. I’ll never forget the look on his face—he was fuming with rage.

Li Xingchen was practically in tears at the computer. "Chief Wang was my idol! How could he do this?"

At least Tang Jingjing was more mature; she suspected a setup and dragged me to her place, pressing a gun to my head and demanding I tell her the truth.

Knowing how emotional she was, I finally explained my plan to her. After hearing it, she glared at me. "You’re crazy! You’re just playing games with Chief Wang. Wait and see—he’s going to make your life miserable."

Three days later, the deputy chief was taken away. Chief Wang emerged from the car, looked at him, and sighed, "Old Han, I wore prison clothes for you for a few days. How do you plan to thank me?"

The deputy chief sighed. "Give me a cigarette. I haven’t had one of yours in ages."

Chief Wang burst out laughing. "Sorry, my cigarettes aren’t for dirty hands."

The deputy chief smiled wryly. "Fine. But remember, I’ll be back for you someday."

Chief Wang laughed, "I’ll be waiting."

The deputy chief was taken away.

In reality, Chief Wang had agreed to my plan—a little theater played out with the discipline committee’s old guard. The committee pretended to take Chief Wang, calling all the city’s police leaders to an emergency meeting and asking for opinions.

Most people believed Chief Wang couldn’t be involved. A few were undecided. Only the deputy chief subtly reported to the committee: "I heard Chief Wang enjoys playing QQ and video chatting during work."

It was a clear hint—implying Chief Wang was the mole!

So the committee focused on the deputy chief, and during the meeting, they sent people to search his home. Sure enough, they found key evidence.

Although he deleted his QQ account after every session, the techs recovered it—complete with extensive chat logs.

The deputy chief had no idea he was under suspicion until he was handcuffed.

The committee thanked us for our cooperation before leaving with the deputy chief. Chief Wang was having none of it—he snatched the car keys and tossed them to me. "Xiao Yang, hurry up and thank our colleagues for their help!"

I smiled awkwardly and glanced at Tang Jingjing. She promptly escorted the deputy chief to the car. "Sorry, Director—let’s go."

In the rearview mirror, I saw the discipline committee staff looking rather embarrassed. Chief Wang was clearly protecting his own this time.

The culprits were all apprehended, but there were still two unresolved questions about the case. First, whose blood was on the hammer found near the SUV? We’d done DNA tests on everyone in the village, but there was no match.

Second, where was Fan Lu’s daughter? Li Fengyan had claimed to have eaten the girl’s heart, but after an emetic test, we found no trace of human tissue in her stomach.

But those questions seemed minor now. Given the disturbing details of the case, the Public Security Bureau decided not to make them public.

A week later, someone reported a missing family member—the disappearance happened on the same day we found Chen Da’s body.

We extracted DNA from the missing person’s belongings and found it matched the blood on the hammer. The person was presumed dead, and locating the body became our top priority.

The SWAT team searched the entire village, but found nothing.

Just as hope was fading, a police dog began barking frantically at Zhou Fugui’s home, especially at the well. The SWAT team sent someone down and retrieved the missing person’s body, complete with Zhou Fugui’s fingerprints.

Zhou Fugui confessed. He’d had an encounter with Li Fengyan that day and, seeing a passerby, feared exposure—so he acted with murderous intent.

A month later, Chief Wang brought in a little beggar girl from the street. She wore a white nightgown, had no lower legs, and her bright eyes were full of anger and fear.

She was Fan Lu’s daughter, reduced to a beggar. The girl was innocent and sent to the social welfare center. After counseling, she regained hope and even helped solve an important mystery.

Her mother was skilled in the art of light and shadow, and could use special devices to create 3D holographic images in midair. The floating apparition of a little girl we’d seen before was nothing more than a trick of the light.

In all my years as a forensic doctor, this was by far the most bizarre and complex case I’d ever encountered.

The Major Crimes Unit Seven had won another great victory!