Chapter 525: Is Donating Money Atonement?

"Of course there's another possibility... that the murderer, after killing those nine people, didn't have time for a second crime before the disease took his life."

Speaking of that, Xu Mo shifted his tone:

"But that's clearly impossible; the killer's first foot just finished the murders and the other foot is already critically ill, not even having time for another crime. That's illogical, and a retrograde phenomenon wouldn't work that way."

Han Fei pinched his chin.

"So, up to now, is Qiu Yuanhang the prime suspect?"

"He later often donates to charity, actually because he feels guilty—this is his way of atoning?"

After Xu Mo said that, Han Fei also thought Qiu Yuanhang was highly suspect.

But he didn't arbitrarily conclude that Qiu Yuanhang must be the murderer; instead, he let the police continue to investigate other qualifying individuals.

"Send me a copy of this person's file, keep investigating, and see if there are any other qualifying individuals."

Later, the police also identified other qualifying individuals.

However, most of these people could clear their suspicion outright due to certain special reasons.

A small remaining group couldn't completely clear their suspicion, but compared with Qiu Yuanhang's, their suspicion was far less.

Han Fei looked at a suspect list that the police had spent over two hours compiling, and assigned tasks to several officers.

"Chen Ke, Li Chen, you two each lead a team to bring back suspects Guo Ming and Li Qifeng; Lao Zhang, you also take a turn..."

As for the top suspect Qiu Yuanhang, Han Fei and Xu Mo would capture him personally.

This guy is the biggest suspect; he may be responsible for nine lives, extremely dangerous and cunning, and Han Fei fears that assigning the capture to others could lead to mishaps.

To be safe, he chose to partner with Xu Mo to apprehend Qiu Yuanhang.

……

Police discovered that Qiu Yuanhang runs three noodle shops on Great Wisdom Road, all doing very well; almost every mealtime the shops are packed.

The money he uses for charity comes entirely from the profits of those three shops.

It's now a little past ten in the morning; barring any surprise, Qiu Yuanhang is certainly in one of the shops right now.

The two parked at one of the noodle shops and got out.

Although it wasn't yet lunch, the shop already had quite a few customers.

The server inside only glanced at them, then went back to work, showing no intention to attend to them.

Small shops are like this; menus are on the wall and at the ordering counter, you order yourself, and no server comes to ask what you want.

Han Fei and Xu Mo entered and walked straight to the ordering counter.

He flashed his ID to the cashier: "Police, your boss is Qiu Yuanhang, right? Is he in the shop right now?"

The cashier was startled at first, then shook his head.

"No... not here; our boss is in the branch across the diagonal."

Upon learning Qiu Yuanhang wasn't in this shop but in the opposite diagonal branch, the two didn't linger and left immediately.

"Across the diagonal, it should be that one," Han Fei said after stepping out, glanced across, then pointed to a noodle shop among the storefronts opposite.

Although there's a distance between the two shops, their names are identical, both opened by Qiu Yuanhang.

They walked on foot to the shop across the street, where they saw Qiu Yuanhang.

Before arriving, they had seen Qiu Yuanhang's photo, so they recognized him at a glance.

"You're Qiu Yuanhang, right?" Han Fei said as he approached, "We're from the Sanyang Road Police Station, we need to ask you something; come with us."

Upon learning their identities, a fleeting flash of surprise and panic crossed Qiu Yuanhang's eyes.

He then rose slowly, pursed his lips, and said three "yes"s in succession: "Um... okay, okay, okay, I'll tell the staff and then come with you."

"By the way, officer, may I ask what you're looking for me for?"

"You'll find out when you go," Han Fei said, shaking his head without revealing.

Qiu Yuanhang turned to the staff and said, "Xiao Li, I have to step out for a bit, I'll be back soon."

And so, Qiu Yuanhang walked away with the two.

Han Fei's imagined scenario of Qiu Yuanhang fleeing or resisting and hurting anyone never materialized; he obediently followed back to the station.

On the way back, Qiu Yuanhang caused no Mischief, but seemed nervous, restless the whole time, as if there were nails under his seat.

Not long after returning to the Police Station, the other officers who had gone on capture missions also brought back several suspects.

"Han Team, the people are back; do you want to interrogate them?" Li Chen said.

Han Fei shook his head: "You interrogate; I'll go interrogate Qiu Yuanhang."

Among all suspects in this case, Qiu Yuanhang is the biggest suspect, so Han Fei simply handed the interrogation of the other suspects to others, since he and Xu Mo couldn't handle it all.

In the Interrogation Room.

"Qiu Yuanhang, right? Relax, just answer whatever we ask, no need to be nervous."

"Okay, ask away," Qiu Yuanhang said, but his palms were already sweating.

Just a second ago, Xu Mo was courteous with a smile; this second he became stern instantly.

He didn't start with unrelated questions to lower Qiu Yuanhang's guard; instead, he immediately went straight to the point, pulling out the nine photos of the victims' "suicide scenes" from the case file and slamming them onto the small table attached to the interrogation chair.

At the same time, both eyes stared intently at Qiu Yuanhang and asked,

"You should be very familiar with these photos; I won't explain further. Tell me, why did you kill them?"

Upon hearing that, Qiu Yuanhang's throat tightened, he swallowed dryly, and quickly shook his head to deny.

"No, I didn't kill anyone, I didn't... you have the wrong person."

"Considering that you've been doing charity for three years to atone, I can give you a chance to speak honestly," Xu Mo said, staring at Qiu Yuanhang with intense pressure.

As a result, beads of sweat seeped onto Qiu Yuanhang's forehead.

But he still shook his head: "I didn't kill anyone; you really have the wrong person."

"So you have no intention of speaking honestly. If you won't say it, I'll say it for you. Since we've come after you, we must have some evidence; hoping for luck won't help."

Xu Mo learned the full background of this case from the brocade pouch; even without Qiu Yuanhang speaking, he could reconstruct the case details exactly.

At that moment, upon hearing it, Qiu Yuanhang would realize that everything he had done back then had been exposed; he would think the Police must have grasped all the evidence before moving to arrest him, and out of fear he would surely confess.

"Three years ago, you were diagnosed with liver cancer…"