Chapter 6
“The footprint comparison results are back?”
Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Jiafan seemed completely unaffected by the excitement radiating from the driver’s side. He remained focused on his phone, barely lifting his head as he asked the question in an even tone.
Pang Guang instantly deflated.
“Tch. No fun at all.” He grumbled under his breath. “Aren’t you even curious how I figured out something was off with that guy?”
Straightening up, he continued at a measured volume.
“You told me to canvass the area around the crime scene earlier, remember? Honestly, there are barely any residents left in that neighborhood. I went through two entire apartment buildings and only managed to get answers from around ten households.”
“I probably never would’ve noticed him if he hadn’t been so unlucky. When I was checking the first floor, this elderly lady found out I was a cop and insisted on asking me for a favor.”
“She said the apartment upstairs had been vacant for years, but lately she’d been hearing noises at night. It was keeping her and her husband awake, and she said it was nearly giving them heart attacks. Since she couldn’t get in touch with the owner, she wanted me to try contacting them as a police officer and find out what was going on.”
At first, Pang Guang hadn’t paid much attention.
Old apartment buildings had terrible soundproofing. The noises the couple heard might not even have been coming from upstairs.
Still, he promised to report the matter to the local precinct so they could coordinate with the neighborhood committee.
But when he reached the second floor, despite knowing the unit was supposedly empty, he found himself knocking on the security door anyway.
To his surprise, that knock really did uncover something.
Through the rusted metal door came the faint sound of footsteps.
Testing the waters, he knocked twice more and identified himself.
The response was a series of much clearer, chaotic thuds and crashes.
The situation had been urgent. Even though it wasn’t entirely by the book, Pang Guang hesitated only briefly before gritting his teeth and ordering the accompanying officers to force the door open.
The moment they rushed inside, a shadow darted into the southernmost bedroom, leaving behind a living room in complete disarray.
There was no time to inspect the scene.
Pang Guang immediately gave chase.
By then, the man already had half his body hanging out the window.
Pang Guang only managed to let out a furious shout before the figure disappeared from sight.
Everything that followed was something Luo Jingyao, as one of the people involved, knew better than anyone.
But the important part wasn’t the chase or the fight between her and the suspect.
It was what the police found afterward.
During their search of the so-called vacant apartment, investigators recovered a set of footprints that didn’t belong to any police personnel.
Technicians compared those prints on the spot with the footprints collected from the murder scene in the neighboring building.
The result was a match.
At this point, Pang Guang could no longer hide his pride.
“And that’s not all.” He swayed his head smugly. “The two officers who escorted our suspect to the hospital found traces of human blood on the soles of his shoes. The samples have already been sent back to the bureau. If they match the victim’s DNA, isn’t that basically checkmate?”
Unfortunately, no one in the vehicle seemed interested in sharing his excitement.
In the back seat, Luo Jingyao sat quietly with her eyes lowered, looking as though she were meditating.
Strictly speaking, she was only a contracted instructor. Some of the things being discussed were already beyond what she should have been hearing.
As for Lin Jiafan, he showed no sign of excitement despite the major breakthrough.
His expression remained as calm as ever.
“Boss, what are you looking at?”
The traffic light turned red, and Pang Guang stopped the van. Stretching his neck, he tried to peek at the screen.
“Nothing much.” Lin Jiafan finally lifted his head slightly. “Just watching the video Director Zhang posted in the group chat this morning.”
Behind his glasses, his eyes shifted toward the rearview mirror and landed on the woman in the second row who seemed lost in her own thoughts.
Though he hadn’t directed the remark at anyone in particular, Luo Jingyao’s eyelid twitched immediately.
Noticing Pang Guang’s curiosity, Lin Jiafan thoughtfully reopened the video.
Instantly, the shrill cries of Huang Guojun’s mother, Wang Guifen, filled the vehicle.
For some reason, the spacious van suddenly felt much more cramped.
Amid the shocked exclamations of the surrounding crowd captured in the video, Pang Guang whipped around in his seat.
“Wait—was that you disarming someone bare-handed?” he exclaimed. “Damn, Coach Luo! The Tianjin Public Security Bureau owes you two favors just today.”
“…We’re all on the same side, aren’t we?” Luo Jingyao replied after desperately searching for an appropriate answer.
As impatient horns sounded from the vehicles behind them, Pang Guang stepped on the accelerator and returned to a question he’d asked earlier.
“By the way, Coach Luo, did you come to Hexi District because that woman piqued your curiosity? I’m telling you, she’s not exactly stable. There wasn’t a single issue with Huang Guojun’s case two years ago. No matter how much she makes a scene, it won’t change anything.”
Faced with the young officer’s endless chatter, Luo Jingyao could only force an awkward smile.
“Eh? I was also thinking—”
Before he could continue, Lin Jiafan interrupted.
“Focus on driving. The bureau said if you get one more traffic violation this month, they’re putting a disciplinary mark on your record.”
“No way! Seriously?!” Pang Guang’s face fell instantly. “Everything I do is for work!”
Fortunately, he finally stopped asking questions.
Luo Jingyao quietly let out a breath of relief.
But the moment she raised her eyes, she found herself meeting Lin Jiafan’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
The corners of the man’s lips lifted slowly.
He gave her a small, friendly nod.
Luo Jingyao froze briefly before nodding back.
Thinking about it carefully, this seemed to be the second time he’d helped her out of an awkward situation.
Was he worried she’d feel uncomfortable?
Captain Lin really was a gentle person.
The thought surfaced silently in her heart.
Soon, silence settled over the van once more.
About fifteen minutes later, the vehicle pulled smoothly to the curb.
“Thank you, Officer Lin. Officer Pang.”
Luo Jingyao climbed out and stood stiffly on the sidewalk. Raising her right hand, she gave them a somewhat awkward wave.
Then, wanting to be extra polite, she added:
“See you tomorrow.”
The moment those words left her mouth, Pang Guang’s broad grin vanished.
The police van roared to life and sped away in the blink of an eye.
Only a distant, perfunctory “Goodbye, Coach Luo,” drifted back with the dust kicked up by the tires.
Luo Jingyao remained where she was for another two minutes, watching the police vehicle disappear into the distance.
Behind her stood the entrance to her apartment complex.
After a long hesitation, however, she turned around and headed toward the subway station across the street instead.
That night, neon signs glowed brightly among the shops of a residential neighborhood.
Their reflections shimmered across puddles scattered on the pavement, breaking into dazzling colors.
Footsteps echoed through a narrow alley.
The next moment, Luo Jingyao’s faint reflection appeared in a small puddle.
She switched on her phone’s flashlight and carefully checked the house numbers lining the alley.
Eventually, she stopped in front of a metal gate.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sudden sound shattered the stillness of the night.
Somewhere nearby, a dog began barking.
The noise from the distant shops blended into an indistinct hum.
“Who is it?”
A sharp, impatient female voice called out from inside.
“Excuse me, is this Wang Guifen’s home?”
Luo Jingyao curled her fingers around the plastic bags she carried and asked politely.
Creak—
The gate opened from within.
Wang Guifen’s round face appeared in the doorway.
“What do you want with me?”
Before Luo Jingyao could answer, the woman recognized her.
She immediately took a large step back, her face filling with suspicion.
“You? How do you know where I live?”
“I came specifically to apologize.”
Luo Jingyao spoke sincerely.
“The situation was urgent this afternoon, and I really was a little too rough. The police have already given me a serious lecture about my behavior afterward.”
As she spoke, she raised her hands, displaying several large bags of fruit.
“As for your address, I practically begged the police for it.”
Of course, that was a lie.
The only reason she’d managed to find this place was because of the clothes Wang Guifen had been wearing when she caused a scene outside the Public Security Bureau that morning.
While pinning the woman to the ground, Luo Jingyao had accidentally noticed four embroidered characters on the front of her shirt.
Da Han Song Bone Therapy.
Following that clue, she located Wang Guifen’s workplace, then obtained her address through the company.
“I’m truly sorry about what happened today,” she continued earnestly when she noticed the woman’s lingering suspicion. “I was only worried you’d accidentally hurt yourself. You should think about your own health too. If you’d gotten injured back then, who would be left to seek justice for your son?”
Perhaps her face was simply too convincing.
Under her relentless sincerity, Wang Guifen’s expression gradually softened.
Her gaze never once left the bags of fruit.
Seeing this, Luo Jingyao immediately pushed them forward.
“Well, fine. I won’t hold it against you.”
Wang Guifen snatched the fruit bags with surprising speed, unable to hide the satisfaction in her eyes.
At the same time, she started closing the courtyard gate.
There was no way Luo Jingyao would let that happen.
With a quick sidestep, she slipped neatly into the yard as though she hadn’t noticed the woman’s stunned expression.
Then she shamelessly launched into flattery.
“This courtyard is so clean and comfortable. Auntie, you must be an incredibly capable homemaker!”
As the saying went, you couldn’t slap a smiling face.
And after accepting someone else’s gifts, it was even harder.
Wang Guifen’s lips moved several times, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her guest to leave.
“Come in and sit for a bit.”
Watching Luo Jingyao wander near the doorway, she finally extended the invitation while struggling to carry the fruit bags.
“Thank you, Auntie.”
Luo Jingyao naturally accepted and followed her inside.
The room was lit, but it wasn’t particularly bright.
The entire space couldn’t have been more than thirty square meters.
To the right sat a bed, a simple fabric wardrobe with a zipper, a square wooden table, and two bamboo chairs.
The area beneath the bed was packed with miscellaneous items, so full they looked ready to spill out.
The left side had been partitioned off using two mold-stained wooden boards.
Behind them, piles of trash occupied one corner.
A gas stove sat on the windowsill, and below it stood a bucket filled with murky wastewater.
Carrying the fruit, Wang Guifen disappeared behind the wooden partition.
“Have a seat,” she called casually.
“Thank you, Auntie.”
Luo Jingyao responded as she strolled toward the table.
Her eyes quietly swept across every corner of the room.
Then suddenly—
Her gaze stopped.
Near the head of the bed.
Holding her breath, she listened carefully to the sounds coming from behind the partition.
Then she softened her footsteps and slowly approached the bedside.
This is…
“What are you looking at?”
Without warning, Wang Guifen’s puzzled voice sounded from behind her.
At the sound of it, Luo Jingyao’s grip on her phone tightened instinctively.
