Chapter 52: You Did This on Purpose

The interrogation records of Zhang Yan’s parents were indeed taken personally by Yu Dazhang.

According to them, the Zhou Zizhe family only became wealthy later.

Zhou Hongfu was originally a carpenter, but by a stroke of luck, he became a construction contractor—a foreman.

When Zhou Zizhe came to the Zhou household, they were still just an ordinary family.

In Zhang Yan’s parents’ impression, the boy never spoke much and never greeted people.

But their own daughter loved to play with him.

The fact that Zhou Zizhe was not Zhou Hongfu’s biological son was no secret among neighbors.

After all, any family suddenly gaining a boy would draw attention.

Especially since the Zhou family already had a girl.

That girl had repeatedly, in public, told Zhou Zizhe, “This is my home, not yours.”

Neighbors who lived nearby for long enough could all see it—they just kept quiet.

Later, when the Zhou family grew rich, they moved to a new neighborhood just across the street, and the two children naturally saw less of each other.

Yet Zhou Zizhe kept finding excuses to visit Zhang Yan every few days, sometimes bringing small gifts.

In Zhang Yan’s parents’ eyes, they were simply siblings who had grown up together.

Even when they learned of Zhang Yan’s murder, they never suspected Zhou Zizhe—not at all.

Would Yu Dazhang show Zhou Zizhe these interrogation records?

Definitely not.

He would never let Zhou Zizhe find any logical connections in these records.

He’s a man who exploits every possible advantage and acts with extreme extremism.

He alone dragged both his biological father and adoptive father into the case as accomplices.

Yu Dazhang would never give such a man even the slightest chance to turn things around.

“Don’t even think about the records,” Yu Dazhang refused, then offered a hint:

“You can deduce from my earlier story.”

After a pause, he continued:

“Oh, by the way, you’ve already deduced it—you looked at the records to verify whether your deduction was correct.”

“Too bad—you’re destined never to see these records.”

It wasn’t that he wanted to toy with Zhou Zizhe.

He was using this method to tell the man: your petty schemes mean nothing to me.

Yu Dazhang knew perfectly well that getting such a man to confess voluntarily was impossible.

Only by shattering all his illusions and extinguishing his last shred of hope would he cooperate in the interrogation and admit his crimes.

Zhou Zizhe showed no anger; he remained calm, clearly having anticipated Yu Dazhang’s refusal.

“Fine, I won’t see the records. But can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead,” Yu Dazhang replied bluntly, though his expression turned terrifyingly dark.

“Where did I slip up?” This question was effectively Zhou Zizhe’s indirect confession.

Yu Dazhang recognized it: if he answered this question, Zhou Zizhe would immediately confess all his crimes.

So he had to answer.

And he had to give a convincing answer.

“Before I answer, let me guess first.”

Yu Dazhang glanced at Qian Cheng.

Qian Cheng immediately understood and began searching through the case files.

“You never went to Kong Lingjie’s home—the fake crime scene.”

At this, Qian Cheng brought a report to Zhou Zizhe and held it out with both hands.

“This is the crime scene investigation report for Kong Lingjie’s rented apartment—only his footprints were found inside.”

After Zhou Zizhe finished reading, Yu Dazhang continued:

“This is your biggest flaw.”

“If you had gone with Kong Lingjie to transport the body to the apartment, your expertise and perfectionist nature would have allowed you to fabricate a flawless scene.”

“But you didn’t—because you looked down on your biological father; in your eyes, he wasn’t worthy to be your father.”

“So you chose to take the risk rather than set foot in his home.”

“Kong Lingjie simply placed the cleaned corpse on the bed.” “Do I need to say more?”

The room fell silent. Zhou Zizhe frowned, as if deep in thought.

After a long while, he said:

“There were no signs of violent struggle, and the footprints didn’t match.”

“Even so, noticing these details proves you’re no ordinary detective.”

“Crime scene investigation is the technical unit’s job—they only collect existing traces.”

“Nowadays, detectives rely entirely on completed investigation reports; few bother to deduce on their own.”

“You essentially did the work of two departments.”

“No wonder you’ve outmaneuvered me.”

Hearing the last line, Yu Dazhang knew the case was settled.

In other words, Zhou Zizhe had begun to confess.

Seeing him fall into thought again, Yu Dazhang stayed silent, watching quietly.

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If you confess, I’ll cooperate fully—I’ll cooperate completely… Even if Zhou Zizhe now asked for a cigarette, Yu Dazhang would give him one.

Confessing takes a lot of mental effort, you know.

After about a minute, Zhou Zizhe suddenly frowned:

“With your abilities, once the technical unit finished investigating Zhang Yan’s home, you’d have found me quickly.”

“No—the timeline must be even earlier!”

“When you reviewed the surveillance footage of Zhang Yan returning home, you already knew it was me she was talking to.”

“If so, you could have used her phone number to retrieve the call logs and found me.”

“Yet you passed up both opportunities—and instead waited like a hunter, letting me come to you.”

“Why?”

“Why did you do this?!”

Again, the most annoying thing was a clever criminal… Yu Dazhang knew he’d eventually notice—but he hadn’t expected it so soon.

The case is about to close—just confess quietly, why make it so complicated?

So stubborn, so irritating!

“I made a mistake,” Yu Dazhang bluntly lied.

No one is perfect; forgetting once or twice isn’t a big deal.

Who doesn’t make small mistakes?

“Impossible!” Zhou Zizhe shouted in protest:

“Without meticulous thinking, you wouldn’t have pushed this case this far.”

“You couldn’t possibly have missed such a crucial detail—you must have had some purpose.”

Yu Dazhang said nothing, only watched him quietly, a faint, unreadable smile on his face.

Zhou Zizhe suddenly felt as if he were being toyed with like a rat.

No—this wasn’t an illusion.

“I get it!” Zhou Zizhe suddenly widened his eyes:

“You did this on purpose—you’re dragging me out, letting me suffer in dread.”

“You believed I’d inevitably walk into your trap, so you dared to do this.”

“Why?”

“We had no connection, no grudge—I can’t imagine why you’d torment me this way.”

“For those two days, I nearly ended my life several times—but I couldn’t bear not seeing the scene for myself.”

“It was unbearable…”

“You must have planned this—you even calculated this.”

“Is solving a case really worth this? Isn’t catching the killer enough?”

“Why?!!”

By the end, Zhou Zizhe nearly screamed—his inner collapse and despair were clear.

“You’re overthinking,” Yu Dazhang said, feigning innocence, even shrugging:

“I really did make a mistake.”

(End of Chapter)