When Xia Hang woke up, it was already daylight. He glanced at the bed beside him, only to find it empty. Han Huaixiao was already up.
Xia Hang lazed in bed for a while before finally getting up. He hadn’t showered last night, and after waking, his body felt sticky and uncomfortable. Thinking about how Han Huaixiao often came back from the training grounds with half-wet hair, there should probably be showers over there.
So he opened the drawer beneath his desk and pulled out a bag. Inside were clean clothes and toiletries that he’d bought online recently. Judging from how work had been going, overtime was becoming routine even without business trips, so he figured it’d be smart to keep spare clothes and necessities at the office. He just hadn’t expected to need them this soon.
When he arrived at the training grounds, he checked the time.
Still early.
It had been a long time since he’d exercised, so he decided to jog a few laps before showering. After putting his things down and doing a simple warm-up, he started running along the track. As he passed the area with the training equipment, he spotted Han Huaixiao doing push-ups shirtless.
One-handed push-ups.
The soft light before sunrise fell across his smooth, powerful muscles, highlighting every defined line, as sweat coated his body completely. Judging by how drenched he was, he’d probably been training for quite a while already.
The scene was almost offensively pleasing to the eye.
After running less than two hundred meters, Xia Hang stopped. Grabbing the nearby parallel bars, he lightly hopped up and sat on them, swinging his legs while counting for Han Huaixiao.
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…”
Halfway through counting, Han Huaixiao got up. He grabbed a towel nearby and casually wiped the sweat from his body before glancing at Xia Hang.
“What’re you doing here?”
“Running.” Xia Hang looked toward the track. “Exercising.”
“You call less than half a lap exercise?” Han Huaixiao snorted.
He’d noticed Xia Hang the moment he stepped onto the track, but Xia Hang still defended himself seriously, saying, “I haven’t worked out in too long! You have to ease back into it gradually, otherwise it’s easy to get injured.”
Han Huaixiao walked toward him step by step, his gaze dropping to Xia Hang’s feet swinging lightly against the bar.Because of the position, Xia Hang’s pant legs had ridden up slightly, exposing a narrow stretch of pale ankle.
Without warning, Han Huaixiao reached out and grabbed it.
Fresh from training, his hands were burning hot, and the patch of skin around Xia Hang’s ankle instantly felt scorching.
Xia Hang lowered his head and met Han Huaixiao’s gaze, and those lips that curled upward in a teasing smile.
His heart skipped a beat.
He’d only been sitting on one side of the bars, and in his distraction, his balance sank. His backside slid clean off the bar while both feet were still hooked on the opposite side. Normally, a situation like that wouldn’t have made him fall.
But Han Huaixiao was standing right there.
His usually sharp reflexes had apparently suffered catastrophic interference.
Seeing himself about to go down headfirst, Xia Hang awkwardly threw out a hand, preparing to catch himself, only for Han Huaixiao to grab him around the waist and smoothly spin him one hundred and eighty degrees midair before setting him firmly on his feet.
Once Xia Hang was standing steadily, Han Huaixiao let go, still looking at him with amused eyes.
“Why so nervous?” he drawled. “I just wanted to remind you that your shoelace came undone.”
Xia Hang lowered his head, and sure enough, the shoelace on his left shoe had come loose.
…Then why had Han Huaixiao grabbed his right ankle?
He crouched down to retie it. By the time he stood back up, Han Huaixiao had already walked more than ten meters away, and the shirtless upper body from earlier was once again covered by a T-shirt.
But if he went to shower now, he’d probably run into Han Huaixiao again.
Thinking about that teasing smile, Xia Hang decided not to go immediately. Instead, he slowly strolled another lap around the track at walking pace. Only after estimating that Han Huaixiao should already be done did he head toward the showers.
After showering, he went to the cafeteria for breakfast. By the time he returned to the office, everyone else had arrived.
Han Huaixiao, the same man who’d acted like a hooligan grabbing his ankle earlier that morning, had reverted back into the serious, composed Captain Han. He stepped out of the Captain’s office and said to everyone:
“Let’s do a quick update on everyone’s progress.”
“The bracelet Meng Qingjun’s classmate mentioned,” Xia Ling spoke first, “the one worth over twenty thousand yuan, I asked her mother about it. Her mother said she doesn’t own any bracelet that expensive. This morning, I went to their house with her and found the bracelet in one of the drawers in Meng Qingjun’s room. I’ve already contacted official customer service and asked them to help trace where it was sold.”
Ling Yue reported next: “I tracked down the renovation company responsible for Yang Ling’s villa and the villa under Dong Zijin’s mother’s name. Turns out both villas were renovated by the same company. But the company said they never received any request to build an underground passage connecting the two. I’m currently trying to contact the workers from the original renovation crew to see whether they know anything.”
“Yesterday at Meng Qingjun’s school,” Xia Ling added, “Brother Hang heard from a male student that he’d seen Meng Qingjun at Shuntai holding onto the arm of a man who looked around fifty years old and about half a head taller than her.”
“Meng Qingjun was one sixty-five,” Ling Yue immediately responded. “Half a head taller would put him around one seventy-five. The age and height both match Yang Yongfeng.”
“If the man Meng Qingjun was with at Shuntai really was Yang Yongfeng,” Kong Qinmao frowned, “then why did she search for Dong Zijin before she died?”
“That manager at Shuntai claimed there were no surveillance cameras,” Xia Ling sighed. “Brother Hang and I checked personally, there really weren’t any. If there had been cameras, things would’ve been much easier.”
At that, Han Huaixiao looked toward Xia Hang, saying, “The social media angle might be important. Xia Hang, explain what you found last night.”
Xia Hang nodded.
“Yesterday on the bus home, I overheard an older sister talking about her daughter being in an early relationship. The two kids had followed each other on a video platform and were using private messages to communicate. That gave me the idea to check Meng Qingjun’s phone.”
“I found one account that looked suspicious. But the chat history was empty.”
“I later had Tech Investigation restore the deleted messages. The other person repeatedly sent Meng Qingjun extremely explicit messages, but we’re still investigating who this person is.”
“This man is very likely connected to Meng Qingjun’s case.” Xia Ling’s face darkened.
“I still can’t figure out the point where Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin intersect,” Zhang Tianhua muttered.
At that moment, He Zhengye suddenly strode in, his expression grim.
“I think I’ve figured out what that unidentified drug was for,” he said coldly. “Those animals deserve to be cut into pieces.”
Han Huaixiao snatched the report from his hand. The others crowded around to read it as well, but the moment they saw the contents, everyone’s expressions changed dramatically.
Curses immediately erupted across the room.
The drug’s primary effect, put simply, was this: through long-term usage, it gradually altered the body, making it hypersensitive until the person eventually became a slave to desire.
Han Huaixiao stared at the report, face dark as storm clouds. “Xia Ling,” he said coldly, “that school counselor said Meng Qingjun believed her body was overly sensitive and that it troubled her, right?”
“Right.” Xia Ling answered instinctively before suddenly freezing. “Wait… don’t tell me that was caused by the drug?”
Han Huaixiao’s eyes hardened. “Go ask her parents whether she’d ever taken any medication long-term before. See if there’s any leftover medicine still at home.”
“Got it! I’ll go now.”
Just then, Wen Yu suddenly stared at the news notification on her phone, mumbling, “Huh? The name Yan Siyan sounds familiar.”
“You mean that super popular actress Yan Siyan?” Zhang Tianhua immediately reacted.
“Yeah.” Wen Yu opened the article link. “The article says she may have been abused by her boss. Paparazzi photographed her getting out of a car covered in injuries when she returned home. There were already rumors before that she wanted to terminate her contract, but her boss refused.” She then looked up, asking, “Brother Hua, you follow her?”
“She’s one of Dong Zijin’s lovers,” Zhang Tianhua nodded grimly. “Speaking of injuries… when Ling Yue and I went to Dong Zijin’s house last time, we also saw bruises on Yu Jing. We suspected domestic violence and wanted to help her, but she refused. Yan Siyan’s injuries were probably caused by Dong Zijin, too.”
“Meng Qingjun was also covered in similar injuries before she died,” Han Huaixiao added coldly, “and the place where she supposedly ‘accidentally drowned’ wasn’t far from the villa under Dong Zijin’s mother’s name.”
Suddenly, Ling Yue’s phone vibrated with a new message. After reading it, he exclaimed, “Captain Han! We found one of the workers from the renovation team for Yang Ling’s villa and Dong Zijin’s mother’s villa!”
“The worker said that before the renovation crew moved in, there were piles of dirt stacked in the courtyards of both villas. At first, he thought the dirt had been brought in for landscaping, but later, all the dirt was hauled away.”
Kong Qinmao immediately connected the dots, asking, “Doesn’t that basically prove there really is a passage between the villas? The dirt was probably excavated from digging the tunnel. Meng Qingjun most likely entered through Dong Zijin’s mother’s villa and exited through Yang Ling’s villa. That’s why surveillance never captured her entering Yang Ling’s place.”
“That has to be it.” Zhang Tianhua nodded heavily.
Right then, Xia Ling returned after speaking with Meng Qingjun’s mother.
“She said Meng Qingjun took some kind of ‘brain development’ medicine for about a year back in middle school. But she doesn’t like clutter, so there probably aren’t any leftovers at home.”
“And there’s more, the bracelet investigation came back. They found the surveillance footage from the day it was sold and sent it to me.”
With that, Xia Ling opened the video. The person buying the bracelet was a man around forty years old, and Kong Qinmao recognized him instantly.
“That’s Yang Yongfeng’s secretary. I saw him when we investigated the Children’s Hospital.”
“Bring Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin in for questioning,” Han Huaixiao ordered immediately. Then he suddenly remembered something and turned to Wen Yu, saying, “Check their exit records.”
Wen Yu rapidly typed on the keyboard. Seconds later, her expression changed. “Captain Han, Dong Zijin flew to the UK yesterday. And Yang Yongfeng is currently at the airport preparing to fly to the US.”
“Stop him.” Han Huaixiao’s expression turned icy as he ordered, “Brother Hua, take people to the airport. I’ll lead a team to search those two villas.”
………………
Han Huaixiao and Xia Hang arrived at the villas with the forensic team. The moment they opened one of the basement doors, the forensic officers were stunned by the torture devices inside.
After spraying luminol, reactions appeared everywhere across the basement.
“This isn’t a basement,” Su Chao muttered grimly, “it’s an execution chamber.”
Meanwhile, Han Huaixiao discovered a hidden switch on the wall of another basement room. Inside was exactly what they suspected: a passageway leading directly into the basement of the neighboring villa.
And inside that villa, they found another basement room filled with torture instruments.
When Yang Yongfeng was brought back to the bureau, his complexion looked poor, but he still carried the confidence and composure of a hospital director. Faced with interrogation, he remained utterly uncooperative.
Zhang Tianhua stared at him coldly, asking, “Yang Yongfeng, do you know Meng Qingjun?”
“I don’t,” Yang Yongfeng replied calmly.
Next, Zhang Tianhua played the surveillance footage of the secretary buying the bracelet for him to see, continuing, “Then why did the bracelet your secretary bought end up in Meng Qingjun’s possession?”
“I don’t know.”
Zhang Tianhua continued, “Your secretary already confessed. You instructed him to buy the bracelet, and after purchasing it, he handed it over to you. So where’s the bracelet now?”
“Forgot,” Yang Yongfeng said flatly. “Never saw it. Maybe I lost it somewhere.”
“You’re saying you lost the bracelet, and then Meng Qingjun just happened to pick it up?”
“I said I don’t know.”
Zhang Tianhua’s gaze sharpened. “Then what about the witnesses who saw you appearing at Shuntai together with Meng Qingjun?”
At that, Yang Yongfeng answered indifferently, “Business entertainment. It’s normal to have a hostess beside you for appearances. Girls like that are never worth remembering. I don’t know whether I ever hired the Meng Qingjun you’re talking about.”
“Then why was Meng Qingjun’s blood found on the torture devices in the basement of the villa under your sister’s name?” Zhang Tianhua slammed down another question.
“You should ask my sister that.”
“The torture devices stained with Meng Qingjun’s blood all had your fingerprints on them.”
For the first time, the composed confidence on Yang Yongfeng’s face cracked slightly. After that, no matter how they questioned him, he refused to say another word.
Zhang Tianhua and Xia Ling could only leave the interrogation room first.
“They also found Meng Qingjun’s blood on some of the torture devices in Dong Zijin’s basement,” Xia Ling frowned darkly. “Both Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin abused her.”
“Meng Qingjun was just an ordinary high school student.” Kong Qinmao clenched his jaw. “How did those two bastards even target her?”
At that moment, Tech Investigation sent over new information.
The person who had mutually followed Meng Qingjun and sent her those coded private messages was Manager Liu from Shuntai.
Xia Ling’s expression instantly turned ugly.
“Ninety percent chance that bastard Liu introduced Meng Qingjun to Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin.”
Manager Liu was immediately brought into the interrogation room.
This time, he didn’t deny it.
“I never forced an innocent girl into prostitution,” he said leisurely. “Meng Qingjun came to me herself and asked me to introduce clients to her.”
“Without your manipulation,” Xia Ling snapped, “how could a well-behaved high school girl possibly end up in a filthy place like yours?!”
“Do you have evidence that I manipulated her?” Manager Liu smirked.
Xia Ling stared coldly at him, asking, “What did those coded messages you sent her mean?”
“Nothing much. Just telling her where the clients were waiting.”
“How many clients did you introduce to her?”
“Don’t remember.”
“Did Yang Yongfeng and Dong Zijin get connected to Meng Qingjun through you?”
“I already said, I don’t remember.”
When Xia Ling came back to the office from the interrogation room, she cursed under her breath.
“One by one, their mouths are even harder than their rotten black hearts.”
Just then, Xia Hang returned from outside and said to Han Huaixiao:
“Yu Jing’s here.”
Han Huaixiao nodded. “Brother Hua, you’ve met Yu Jing before. You and Xia Ling interrogate her.”
Yu Jing sat on the interrogation chair with her head lowered. The moment she saw Zhang Tianhua, her lips twitched slightly.
Zhang Tianhua spoke gently, “Miss Yu Jing, we brought you here because we want to ask about Dong Zijin. We hope you’ll tell us the truth.”
Yu Jing nervously twisted her fingers together.
“I don’t know much about him.”
Zhang Tianhua looked directly at her, asking, “Do you want to keep being abused by him?”
Yu Jing fell silent again.
Then Zhang Tianhua said slowly, “Our tech team found the video Dong Zijin recorded of you and Li Jinpeng having an affair. It’s already been deleted.”
Yu Jing suddenly lifted her head.
“Really?”
“We’re police. There’s no need for us to lie to you.”
Only after a long pause did Yu Jing finally whisper:
“What do you want to know?”
“Does Dong Zijin have violent, abusive tendencies?”
“…Yes.” Yu Jing’s voice trembled. “He has a fetish. He can only get aroused by hurting people.”
“Do you know who he abused?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you ever been to his villa?”
Yu Jing’s whole body suddenly shook.
“Yes.”
“Do you know why he had a secret passage built connecting it to the neighboring villa?”
At that, Yu Jing abruptly burst into tears, finally confessing, “He and Yang Yongfeng are worse than animals! They have the same kind of fetish… Sometimes they even exchanged victims!”
Zhang Tianhua showed her Meng Qingjun’s photograph.
“Have you seen this girl in that villa?”
Yu Jing cried even harder.
“Yes… I did. That day, I was the one who let her go. She had a fever at the time. I didn’t know it was that severe… I didn’t think she’d accidentally fall into the lake.”
Zhang Tianhua immediately pressed further.
“Do you know how Meng Qingjun ended up at Dong Zijin’s villa?”
“She was probably delivered there by someone else. Dong Zijin is extremely cautious. Every time he goes there, he changes cars. He probably wouldn’t have personally brought her over.”
“Do you know who delivered her?”
“I don’t.”
“Was Dong Zijin close with Yang Yongfeng?”
Yu Jing nodded weakly.
“Besides having the same fetish, they also seemed to collaborate a lot professionally. Once, I overheard Dong Zijin talking to Yang Yongfeng on the phone. They mentioned some kind of experiment.”
“What experiment?”
“I don’t know.”
After finishing Yu Jing’s interrogation, Zhang Tianhua and Xia Ling had barely returned to the office when Wen Yu suddenly exclaimed:
“Oh my god! I found photos of Cai Yingxia, Wu Qiaoran, Tang Yueqian, Wen Mingxu, and two other boys on Manager Liu’s computer!”
Han Huaixiao immediately stepped out of his office, almost shouting: “Where on his computer did you find them?”
“In encrypted emails he sent out!”
Han Huaixiao’s expression turned sharp, ordering, “Find out who received them. Immediately.”
“Got it!”
More than ten minutes later, Wen Yu stared at the decrypted recipient list in shock once again.
“Captain Han!”
Han Huaixiao walked over to her computer, but even someone as composed as he couldn’t help looking stunned when he saw those two names.
“Two people,” Wen Yu confirmed. “One receives the girls’ photos, the other receives the boys’ photos.”
“…”
“Check whether Manager Liu has any connection with Lin Fei,” Han Huaixiao finally said. Back in his office, he thought for a moment before making a call. On the other end, a stern voice answered after a long pause.
“Huaixiao?”
“Uncle, it’s me,” Han Huaixiao said.
“What do you need?”
“I want to ask you about two people.”
After Han Huaixiao finished naming them, the tone on the other end didn’t change.
“What do you want to know?”
“What are their private lives like?”
“Neither of them is a good person,” his uncle answered. “Dirty perverts, both of them. One prefers little girls, the other boys.”
“I understand.”
“Need any help?”
“Not for now.”
“Your grandmother wants to introduce you to someone,” his uncle continued. “I’ve met that boy before; he matches you quite well. Come home when you have time and meet him.”
“No time,” Han Huaixiao refused. “I won’t have time for the entire next year.”
“You brat,” his uncle cursed. “Aren’t you afraid your grandmother will come all the way to kill you herself?”
“Uncle, since you’re already warning me,” Han Huaixiao coaxed, “might as well help me all the way. Talk her out of it.”
“If you don’t want to go on blind dates, then hurry up and sort yourself out,” his uncle concluded. Han Huaixiao understood that this meant he had agreed to help persuade her. After thanking him, he hung up.
After the call, Wen Yu brought another piece of good news.
“We’ve found it! Manager Liu also has encrypted email exchanges with Lin Fei!”
“What did they send?” Han Huaixiao asked.
“Photos. Lin Fei periodically sends him images, printed from his photo albums online shop,” Wen Yu concluded. “All of them are photos of good-looking children.”
“So that online photo-album shop isn’t really about printing albums…” Kong Qinmao interjected. “It’s a cover. The real purpose is selecting victims through their photos?”
Han Huaixiao turned to Xia Ling, asking, “Have you found out who the boss behind Shuntai is yet?”
“They’re hiding it very well,” she answered. “We still haven’t traced it.”
“There must be someone behind Manager Liu. Find them as soon as possible.”
Just then, Yang Yongfeng suddenly said he had something to confess. This time, Han Huaixiao and Zhang Tianhua took him in for questioning.
Zhang Tianhua: “Yang Yongfeng, what do you want to say?”
Yang Yongfeng: “I remember now. I know Meng Qingjin.”
Zhang Tianhua: “How did you know her?”
“My daughter attended the same tutoring center as hers,” Yang Yongfeng said. “A few times when I picked my daughter up, I saw her just getting out of class. Last month, after dropping my daughter off, I saw her waiting for a car by the roadside, so I gave her a ride. On the way, she kept looking at me, trying to seduce me with her eyes. A man can’t really resist temptation, so I took her to the lakeside villa.”
“So you were the one who sent her to Dong Zijun’s villa before her accident?” Zhang Tianhua asked.
“Yes,” Yang Yongfeng confessed. “Once, while I was with her, Dong Zijun caught us. He took a liking to her, so I told her to go and ‘accompany’ him for a while.”
“She agreed?”
“Yes. She had strong desires. Besides me, she was also seeing many people introduced by that Manager Liu Jingli from Shuntai.”
“You originally denied knowing her,” Zhang Tianhua continued. “Why are you suddenly admitting it now?”
“The first time I came to the police station, I was scared,” Yang Yongfeng mumbled. “After calming down, I realized only a confession could get me leniency.”
But after leaving the interrogation room, Han Huaixiao asked Zhang Tianhua, “Was he really scared when he first came in?”
“Not at all,” Zhang Tianhua disagreed. “He looked completely calm. At first, he denied everything, no matter how we questioned him. Why do you think he suddenly confessed?”
“His confession was too detailed,” Han Huaixiao concluded. “It feels like he doesn’t want us digging any further.”
“So there’s something else he’s afraid we’ll find out?”
“Probably.”
They were walking upstairs when Kong Qinmao and Xia Ling suddenly hurried over.
“What are you two rushing to do?” Zhang Tianhua called after them, when Kong Qinmao shouted back:
“A doctor from the Children’s Hospital just jumped from the building!”
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