Chapter 49: Heaven's Net Is Vast

Yu Dazhang also wanted the case to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, but some things simply couldn't be rushed.

The state Zhou Zizhe was in right now had already cost him the ability to communicate with others.

In the interrogation just now, Yu Dazhang had torn open the scar deep in Zhou Zizhe's heart and then frantically rubbed salt into it.

If he kept going, the nature of it would change, so he could only stop.

Back in the next room, the team members looked at Yu Dazhang with a hint of awe in their eyes.

"Did you figure out the cause of this case long ago?" one of the team members asked.

"No," Yu Dazhang denied.

"That story was something I just made up on the spot."

Made up on the spot? The team members looked at him with skeptical eyes.

You think we believe that or not?

Why couldn't we come up with something like that?

Is this you keeping a low profile or showing off?

Seeing that Yu Dazhang didn't want to talk, the others tactfully didn't press further.

The story really was something he made up on the spot, but it was also a complete whole pieced together from the known clues.

The main inspiration came from Zhang Yan's line in the surveillance video: I never thought that way.

To put it in modern terms, a Chinese-to-Chinese translation would be… I treated you as a brother, and you actually wanted to sleep with me.

To be precise, it wasn't a story, but the truth of the matter as Yu Dazhang had deduced it.

He didn't want people to focus their attention on it, so he deliberately told it to Zhou Zizhe in the form of a story.

There were two loopholes in the interrogation just now.

One, lip-reading.

Two, call records.

So far, no one had noticed that he could lip-read.

When he spoke to Zhou Zizhe just now, he also only brushed past it in a single line, saying only that he could read it.

Yu Dazhang wanted to give people the impression that he was bluffing Zhou Zizhe, that being able to read Zhang Yan's words in the video was something he used to trick the suspect.

Because he wanted to use this to cover up an even bigger loophole… Zhang Yan's call records.

Although when Zhang Yan's body was discovered, her phone was long gone.

But as long as you knew the phone number, you could still pull them up.

If the fact that he could read lips was discovered, someone would surely question Yu Dazhang: why didn't you pull Zhang Yan's call records?

You've already determined that the victim and the murderer were on a call in the surveillance video, so couldn't you just check the call records and lock onto the target directly?

If it were done that way, how would he ever make the suspect sweat.

This was also a place Yu Dazhang himself considered improper, carrying a bit of personal grudge.

He was willful just this once… so no one could be allowed to know.

Yu Dazhang knew very well that what truly made the other person feel like every day was a year, that living was worse than dying, was those two days before being caught.

Don't ask.

If you ask, the answer is: made up on the spot.

Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

After a while, Lu Zhongxin came back.

"Dazhang, the situation just now was so rare—you should have seized the moment when the suspect's psychological defenses collapsed and wrapped it up in one go."

Easy for you to say; in your past life you fell on this very point… Yu Dazhang didn't want to embarrass his master, so he could only brush it off:

"It still has to be by the book. You can't rush a case—that's something you taught me."

"Did I say that?" Lu Zhongxin rubbed his nose, thought for a while, and had no recollection of it.

In another couple of years you will have said it… Yu Dazhang shifted the topic:

"It's not just him as a suspect—there are still two more, aren't there."

He meant Zhou Hongfu and Kong Lingjie.

These two were both bona fide accomplices, and both had a direct connection to the main perpetrator, Zhou Zizhe.

"Which one do you want to interrogate?" Lu Zhongxin asked.

"Kong Lingjie," Yu Dazhang answered very crisply:

"His act should come to an end too."

One hour later.

Yu Dazhang, a file folder in hand, walked into the interrogation room with Lu Zhongxin, one in front of the other.

Having lived two lives, this was Yu Dazhang's first time facing Kong Lingjie directly. Compared with the surveillance footage from a few days ago, Kong Lingjie's now wooden, pale face carried a few shades of a deathly stillness.

As if he had lost the most important thing in his life, he had become dispirited and haggard.

"You've been overusing your brain these past few days, haven't you," Yu Dazhang said teasingly the moment he sat down:

"Stop overthinking. Since you've already been exposed, just come clean honestly."

Lu Zhongxin found his disciple's tone a bit flippant, and couldn't help reaching out to pat his thigh.

That's telling me to rein it in… Though Yu Dazhang understood his master's meaning, his tone didn't change:

"Before we start, let me tell you something—you guys… are wiped out."

Across from him, Kong Lingjie finally reacted when he heard the words "wiped out."

The look in his eyes as he gazed at Yu Dazhang was steeped in deep distrust, as if he suspected he had misheard.

Even Lu Zhongxin at the side furrowed his brow—this didn't look like an interrogation at all, not a shred of solemn atmosphere.

"Don't believe it?" Yu Dazhang gave a glance to his master beside him.

Please... collect... 6... 9... Books...!

Lu Zhongxin:????

What does that mean?

He doesn't believe it—why are you looking at me?

Where's the tacit understanding between master and disciple… Yu Dazhang really wanted to cover his face.

He pointed at the case file Lu Zhongxin had brought in and gave another glance.

Show the suspect the case file?

Lu Zhongxin was even more confused.

Can he even read it? And besides, is he allowed to see the case file?

Seeing his master still didn't get it, Yu Dazhang reached out, opened the case file, tapped twice on it, and gave another glance.

Lu Zhongxin's CPU nearly burned out.

You want me to take it over and explain the contents of the case file to the suspect?

Do you really have to be this thoughtful?

Will the suspect appreciate your kindness?

Finally, master and disciple lost themselves in a maze of hints and glances.

Kong Lingjie, sitting across from them, was also baffled—they seemed like they wanted to show me something, but hadn't decided what to bring over.

Yu Dazhang nearly forgot what he had intended to do.

All that glancing had made his eyeballs ache; it seemed his master still didn't understand.

Generation gap~

I should've brought Qian Cheng in from the start.

Helpless, he pulled out two photos clipped inside the case file and gestured twice toward Kong Lingjie.

The force of his motion made it look like he was about to slap the photos onto Kong Lingjie's face.

If you still don't get it, I'm switching sects… Yu Dazhang silently decided in his heart.

Lu Zhongxin awkwardly took the photos, stood up, walked to Kong Lingjie's side, and placed the two photos side by side on the interrogation chair's panel.

The photos showed Zhou Hongfu and Zhou Zizhe, father and son.

Both wore orange jumpsuits, with a string of numbers on the left chest.

The instant Kong Lingjie saw the two photos, his eyes widened wide.

Especially when he saw Zhou Zizhe's photo, his emotions surged visibly.

He stared intently at the photo, his hand involuntarily clenching into a fist.

"You—you how did you find them?" Kong Lingjie asked, voice trembling:

"I never said anything—how did you figure it out?"

"The net of heaven is wide, yet lets nothing slip…" Yu Dazhang drew out the phrase, then turned to glance at his master.

But he waited two full seconds without Lu Zhongxin saying a word.

No tacit understanding at all—master-disciple bond is dead~

He had to continue:

"But nothing escapes it."

His tone was full of resignation.

Just say it—this atmosphere, these words—didn't stir any resonance in you at all.

What a failure I am as a disciple.

"Fine, I'm done playing along."

Yu Dazhang looked bored, pulled a small bottle—thick as a thumb—from the folder he'd brought in.

This time, he walked over to Kong Lingjie himself and waved the bottle before him:

"Actually, his real name should be Kong Zizhe."

(End of Chapter)