Chapter 285: Quite a Lot to Take In

A grand gift?

Yu Dazhang looked at him in confusion.

A man who was going to ascend into ash today—what gift could he possibly have for him?

"Let's hear it." He was genuinely intrigued now.

A man's words grow kind as death approaches; perhaps Zhou Zizhe really could reveal some unknown secret.

"Before, in the same cell as me, there was a man named Fang Peng." Zhou Zizhe said slowly:

"He came in for robbery, but from my observation and understanding, the cases he committed weren't limited to that."

"Once during a chat, he said that a few years earlier, when he was driving a taxi, he had taken in several girls from out of town who came to Songhai to work."

"Kept them locked up like pets, made them play with him."

Hearing this, Yu Dazhang sitting across from him frowned slightly.

He seemed to have seen a similar plot in some movie.

No—that wasn't a movie!

He suddenly remembered—the 2011 slave case, six women imprisoned in a basement, two of them already dead when discovered.

The criminal had actually been a public official.

If one of the women hadn't escaped, the case might never have been uncovered.

Then there was the 2012 disappearance of an eighteen-year-old girl, locked in a cellar by an air-conditioner repairman.

Going further back, in 2005 a Sichuan girl, too pretty for her own good, was kept in a well by a thug; later, thirteen female skeletons were dug out of that well.

Cases like these were too numerous to count.

According to the Domestic Missing Persons White Paper, that...

Let's not go any deeper.

In short, missing persons has always been a major problem, and among all criminal cases, it's the hardest to solve and the most far-reaching.

"Could he have been bragging?" Yu Dazhang raised the question:

"Or was it his imagination?"

The detention center's environment was relatively closed off; inmates bragging and chatting together was common, and few took it seriously.

"No." Zhou Zizhe said with certainty:

"He brought it up more than once afterward, and the content never varied—plus it held up logically."

"On the surface, what he said sounds a bit outlandish, but if you analyze it carefully, everything he said can be explained."

If anyone else had told Yu Dazhang this, he probably wouldn't have paid much attention.

But Zhou Zizhe was different—before his crime, he had been a student at the police academy, studying criminal investigation.

And his observation and judgment were both sharp, his logical thinking strong.

There's no denying that during the police academy period, Zhou Zizhe was absolutely one of the best among his cohort.

"Did he mention anything more specific?"

Yu Dazhang was now taking it seriously:

"For instance, the time of the crime, the location of confinement, the victims' names, the method used."

Time, place, people—every single point was critical; any one of them could lead to more useful information.

"Well..."

Zhou Zizhe thought for a moment, then said:

"The time is unknown—he only said it was when he used to drive a taxi. You can check his past for the specifics."

"He never mentioned the location either. As for names, he did use what sounded like pet names."

"Xiaoyao, Xiaojia, Xiaoyue..."

That Fang Peng guy couldn't have been kidnapping people at a KTV, could he... hearing those kinds of pet names, Yu Dazhang couldn't help but have unpleasant associations.

Even though they were only pet names, he still took out his notebook and wrote down the three names.

"Thank you for the lead."

Yu Dazhang said, standing up and walking over to him, pulling a pack of Huazi from his pocket:

"Have a cigarette."

Zhou Zizhe didn't take it:

"You know I don't smoke."

"Doesn't matter whether you can or not." Yu Dazhang said with a smile:

"You've got to find something to do in this last stretch—waiting is the hardest part."

Zhou Zizhe paused, then nodded, took the cigarette and put it to his lips. After Yu Dazhang lit it for him, he went back and sat down across from him.

"The lead you just gave me can keep you alive for quite a while longer—you should have spoken up sooner."

Zhou Zizhe acted as if he hadn't heard, taking a deep drag.

"Cough, hack, wheeeze..."

After a violent fit of coughing, he looked up at Yu Dazhang:

"Fake cigarettes, huh? Why are they so harsh?!"

Who told you to inhale that hard... Yu Dazhang took out the pack and waved it in front of his eyes:

"Huazi, with the label. Good cigarettes wasted on you—take it slow."

Zhou Zizhe recovered a bit, put the cigarette back to his lips, and took a slow drag.

"It really is a fine way to pass the time."

He narrowed his eyes, looking thoroughly content:

!

"Like you said, waiting is the hardest part. Let's just leave it at that. Besides, I never intended to drag this out just to stay alive a little longer."

"I owe you a favor for the human-trafficking case, so with this, we're even."

Yu Dazhang didn't answer, just gave a slight nod.

He understood exactly how Zhou Zizhe felt.

From the moment the death sentence was handed down, Zhou Zizhe had already begun living in torment.

Even if this bought him a little more time, it only prolonged the torment.

Before Zhou Zizhe had even finished one cigarette, two bailiffs walked in.

"I'm leaving now."

Zhou Zizhe was very calm:

"Thank you for coming to see me. It kept these last moments of mine from being too unbearable."

Yu Dazhang looked at him and suddenly felt a pang of regret.

If he hadn't done something so extreme, in the not-too-distant future he might well have become an excellent police officer.

Now, the calm he wore somehow gave off an inexplicable sense of sorrow.

But there was no "if." A mistake was a mistake, and Zhou Zizhe was destined to pay the price for what he'd done.

The shackles scraped against the floor with a clatter as Zhou Zizhe slowly walked outside.

Reaching the doorway, he suddenly turned and said to Yu Dazhang:

"Oh, right. Fang Peng also said he only robbed because he had no money to keep his women. If I'm not mistaken, they should still be alive. You'll need to move fast."

That was a lot of information… Yu Dazhang's mind spun rapidly, trying to grab the key point.

Why would Zhou Zizhe assume the captive women were still alive?

Fang Peng should have been in the detention center for quite some time by now.

Logically speaking, if they couldn't get out, they'd have starved to death by now.

He wanted to chase after him and ask, but when he stepped outside, he watched Zhou Zizhe climb into a death-penalty execution vehicle marked with the court's name.

Forget it.

The armed PAP (People's Armed Police) standing nearby were no decoration.

Death-row escorts were mainly handled by bailiffs, but with support and cooperation from the PAP.

This was hardly the place to try to hold him back—one misunderstanding and things would turn ugly.

Even in 2014, most death sentences had been switched to lethal injection; shooting was still used in some cases, because certain courts lacked the conditions for injection and could only do a firing-squad execution.

Watching the execution vehicle drive away, Yu Dazhang sighed.

The car was headed for the crematorium; the lethal injection would be administered on the way, and by the time they arrived, the body would go straight into the furnace.

Hope you die completely… Yu Dazhang muttered in his heart.

He'd heard that abroad there were cases where someone wasn't completely dead, and during the cremation process…

They woke up.

(End of chapter)