Chapter 24: Digging, Digging, Digging, Right Before Everyone's Eyes

Qian Cheng carefully thought over Yu Dazhang's words.

It should have appeared, but it didn't?

What a mess... Qian Cheng scratched his head.

So itchy, feels like a brain is about to grow.

Back at the Criminal Investigation Detachment.

Yu Dazhang and Qian Cheng once again arrived at the room next to the interrogation room.

Still the same team members, almost exactly as when they had left.

Which means... the interrogation is still going on.

"Why has the interrogation taken so long?" Yu Dazhang asked.

He estimated that the trip to the crime scene earlier had taken at least two hours.

Adding the interrogation time before that, this interrogation had already lasted more than three hours so far.

Under normal circumstances, an interrogation would not exceed twelve hours.

This was to prevent the interrogation from dragging on too long, causing the criminal suspect to become fatigued or subjected to unnecessary pressure, thereby affecting the truthfulness and voluntariness of their statements.

Compared against that, three hours wasn't long, and it hadn't exceeded the stipulated time.

But for an initial interrogation, it had already exceeded the normal time limit.

Generally, the first interrogation was meant to grasp the criminal suspect's basic information and understand the other party's psychological state.

To put it bluntly, to see whether the suspect was willing to confess voluntarily or had the intention to stonewall.

Then the information would be compiled, and a meeting held to formulate an interrogation plan.

So the first interrogation usually lasted around an hour and a half, and even with extensions, it rarely exceeded two hours.

Interrogations were conducted one after another.

It wasn't the way ordinary people imagined, where a single interrogation would lay the whole case bare.

If it really were like that, very few criminal suspects could endure it—they'd be worn to death by the grilling, and there'd be no need for a subsequent court verdict.

So the current situation was absolutely not normal.

"Because the suspect cracked."

One of the team members at the computer explained:

"Not long after you two left, Kong Lingjie suddenly lost control of his emotions, saying he couldn't take it anymore, that he didn't want this either."

"It was a rare opportunity, we saw a breakthrough, so of course we kept the interrogation going."

Yu Dazhang frowned upon hearing this.

The way Kong Lingjie was acting, the most likely explanation was that he didn't want the interrogation to end.

He was stalling, holding up the people interrogating him.

The longer the interrogation went on, the greater the psychological pressure on the suspect.

Conversely, the same was true for the interrogators.

As time dragged on, the personnel handling the interrogation would fall into a kind of habitual thinking, believing everything was under their control.

In that state, people were most prone to making mistakes!

Yu Dazhang watched for a while longer, further confirming his own guess.

This Kong Lingjie was digging a pit bit by bit, digging a pit for Lu Zhongxin right in front of the entire task force.

Every time Lu Zhongxin asked about something crucial, he acted very resistant, but each time he managed to leak some substantive content.

For example.

"You say you don't know Zhang Yan, so why did you single her out?"

"I-I-I-I, did I say I singled her out? Ah, seems like I did, she looks a lot like my seatmate from school, ah no, I never met her, what Zhang Yan, I don't know her, you're misleading me."

It looked like resistance, but in reality he was gradually luring Lu Zhongxin into his trap.

Making Lu Zhongxin feel that with just a little more effort, just a little more, he could get the suspect to confess everything.

Yu Dazhang looked at Kong Lingjie on the surveillance screen, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

Feigned reluctance!

This was clearly the move of a green tea bitch fishing for a sucker, yet he'd actually used it here.

In Yu Dazhang's eyes, the two people going back and forth on the surveillance screen were both talking nonsense.

It was like...

Lu Zhongxin: "Why did Qu Yuan jump into the river?"

Kong Lingjie: "I'm not that close to him, I don't really know." Lu Zhongxin: "Was it you who pushed him in?!"

Kong Lingjie's eyes darted away, his expression flustered:

"T-t-t-this fast and you've already traced it back to me? N-no, it wasn't me."

Isn't this even clearer now.

That's right, Kong Lingjie was fishing for Lu Zhongxin.

Even if you asked him right now: did you burn down the Old Summer Palace?

He could immediately put on a guilty look and feed you some substantive content.

There was no point in continuing the interrogation... Yu Dazhang also roughly understood how Lu Zhongxin had been trapped in his previous life.

A simple, honest exterior, scheming calculations behind the scenes, plus a convincing performance during questioning.

Crucially, he was also going along with Lu Zhongxin's line of thinking.

Aren't you asking me to confess?

Please... save... 6... 9... book.... bar....!

Fine, I'll cooperate with you. I'll cooperate fully.

I'll take full responsibility for the crimes, but we need to put on a convincing show.

What kind of acting is the most authentic, the easiest to make people believe?

Without a doubt, it has to be playing yourself.

Only someone who has been beaten down by society, someone used to being meek and timid in life, could portray guilt, cowardice, and weakness so authentically.

The person behind the scenes took human nature fully into account.

Master, your past-life downfall wasn't unjust... Yu Dazhang reached his final conclusion in his heart.

Picking up the microphone beside the computer, Yu Dazhang said quickly:

"Master, ask him how he abducted Zhang Yan to the rental apartment. Make the process as detailed as possible."

Lu Zhongxin in the interrogation room heard Yu Dazhang's words through his earpiece, paused, then looked up at the surveillance camera on one side,

thought for only a second, and gave a slight nod.

This was also a form of collaboration within the task force.

If someone observing from outside noticed a problem, they could promptly alert the interrogator.

The professional term for it: checking for gaps and filling them in.

Then Lu Zhongxin shifted his line of questioning:

"Did Zhang Yan go home with you willingly?"

The moment that question came out, Kong Lingjie froze completely.

No longer answering every question like before, he seemed to be hesitating, or perhaps avoiding, his whole face flushed red.

Ha, hit a blind spot... Yu Dazhang figured the person behind the scenes hadn't taught him how to answer this one.

Probably the other party hadn't expected that, with the suspect already talking, the police could still come up with such a logical question.

"Master, stop." Yu Dazhang picked up the microphone again:

"Let the suspect rest for a bit. We should have a meeting and discuss things too."

The other team members, hearing this, all looked at Yu Dazhang.

Whose side are you on?

Letting the suspect rest—how could you even say that out loud.

At the same time they also noticed that this chubby little trainee seemed to actually have ideas of his own.

What surprised them even more was that Lu Zhongxin in the interrogation room really did stop.

Watching the suspect being led out of the interrogation room, the team members were all full of question marks.

Between these two, who is actually whose master?

How come every time this newcomer speaks, Deputy Team Leader Lu Zhongxin obeys without question.

Under everyone's astonished gazes, Lu Zhongxin walked in.

"Dazhang, did you find something?"

Look, he's asking that fatty again!

Everyone in the room shifted their gazes back to Yu Dazhang.

"I did find some new leads." Yu Dazhang nodded:

"Let's go to the meeting room. It's not something that can be explained in a word or two."

(End of chapter)