Free Web NovelChapter 24: Chapter 24: Homicidal Maniac
Jiang Li glanced at the message from Qiao Siyuan and pretended she hadn’t seen it. She turned off her phone, tossed it into her bag, and after resting for a moment, got out of the car and walked toward Ji Qinghe and his team.
She wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help.
When Jiang Li arrived, Ji Qinghe and his team were reviewing the surveillance footage from across the street from Lu Yuanji’s house, trying to identify his customers.
Among the crowd of people on the screen, Jiang Li was surprised to see a familiar face.
’Qiao Siyuan? What’s he buying this wine for?’ Jiang Li frowned in confusion.
Ji Qinghe heard her muttering and turned to look at her. "Jiang Li, you know this man?"
"Oh, an ex-boyfriend. He wanted me to go back with him, but I just blew him off."
Jiang Li took a photo of the screen and walked over to Han Yanmei. "Why did he come to buy your wine?"
Han Yanmei looked at the man on Jiang Li’s phone. She remembered him well; after all, Qiao Siyuan was quite handsome.
"He wanted to have a child, so that’s why he bought it."
Jiang Li frowned. ’What on earth is Qiao Siyuan up to?’
"Did he say anything else?"
Han Yanmei hastily shook her head. "N-no, nothing else."
Lu Yuanji, who had been knocked unconscious, still hadn’t woken up. Jiang Li fixed her gaze on Han Yanmei.
"D-don’t look at me. I don’t know anything! Lu Yuanji made me do it all." Han Yanmei flinched.
"We’ve got it!"
Zhao Shuo walked in, followed by the chief of the local police station.
"This Lu Yuanji has a criminal record. When he was eighteen, he killed his own parents. He was released five years ago and has been drifting aimlessly around the village ever since.
Later, he met Han Yanmei, they got married and had a child. He got a job working in the cafeteria of the village elementary school. The boy from that day was Cao Shunyang, nine years old, a left-behind child.
His family lives at the foot of the mountain, and he was only looked after by his elderly grandparents, so he walked to and from school by himself. That gave Lu Yuanji the perfect opportunity to strike."
There was another case involving a child on his way home from school, but the parents later withdrew the report, claiming their child had accidentally slipped on the mountain path and fallen to his death."
Ji Qinghe and Zhou Tiancheng took the case file from his hands.
Wearing glasses and gloves, Qin Shu searched every corner for relevant evidence.
One of the officers suddenly found a bag in the corner and quickly called Qin Shu over. "These look like unprocessed bones. And from the looks of it, the victims aren’t just children."
Qin Shu’s expression was grim. "Take it all back for detailed analysis."
Lu Yuanji soon came to. Seeing the police surrounding him, fear crept into his heart. "I... I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"
He had only just gotten out of prison. He didn’t want to go back.
Zhou Tiancheng scoffed, then had his men escort Lu Yuanji and his wife back to the police station.
Under intense interrogation, Lu Yuanji confessed. After getting out of prison, he had wanted to turn over a new leaf and live a decent life, but he was always stuck at the bottom, earning only two to three thousand a month.
Coupled with his gambling addiction, it was never enough. Once, he lost thirty thousand, and the loan shark demanded the money back immediately, refusing to give him any extension.
In a fit of desperation, he killed the man. He was terrified. He didn’t want to go back to prison, so he decided to get rid of the body and eliminate all traces of the crime.
But just then, the school principal found him to discuss the next day’s menu. The principal wanted to make braised pork for the children to celebrate Children’s Day on June 1st.
After that day, he spiraled out of control.
If Ji Qinghe hadn’t held him back, Zhou Tiancheng would have rushed forward and punched him.
Lu Yuanji looked up, pleading for mercy.
"I... I didn’t want this. I didn’t do it on purpose! Just give me one more chance! I’ll turn over a new leaf, I promise I’ll be a good person."
Meanwhile, Qin Shu was looking over the lab reports, her body trembling with rage. "He’s an absolute animal!!!"
Jiang Li, meanwhile, was relaxing comfortably at the police station, while Qiao Siyuan was going frantic trying to find her.
Qiao Siyuan placed the lychee wine he’d bought in his car and took out his phone, incessantly calling and texting Jiang Li. But she didn’t reply to his messages or answer his calls.
Qiao Siyuan stared at the lychee wine in his car, then gritted his teeth and called his mother.
"Hello, Si Yuan? Are you bringing that little bitch Jiang Li back? Don’t you worry, your mother has already moved into the big house with Xue Yan and my precious grandson.
The old place is empty, so you’ll have free rein when the time comes."
Chen Xiufang said cheerfully. Her precious grandson was finally going to be saved.
Listening to his mother, Qiao Siyuan ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "No, that bitch Jiang Li is hiding. And after I spent a fortune buying this lychee wine for her.
I was planning to just make her drink it—maybe she’d get pregnant on the first try. The woman’s mentally ill; I have no desire to be around her every day."
Qiao Siyuan was parked outside the building where Jiang Li used to live. Staring up at her old apartment, he was fuming. ’If I had known Jiang Li was this cunning,’
’I should have just dragged her into the car and driven off that day.’
"That’s simple. Just call the police! You can report someone missing after twenty-four hours, can’t you?" Chen Xiufang, who had her phone on speaker, placed a plate of meticulously prepared fruit in front of Wu Xueyan.
"We can’t afford any delays on this, Si Yuan! The longer this drags on, the more danger Xue Yan and my precious grandson are in. You have to hurry back!
Once this is all settled, you two can get your marriage certificate. I don’t want my precious grandson to be illegitimate."
Chen Xiufang was beside herself with anxiety. ’If I’d known it would be this much trouble, I should have just gone with my son back then,’ she thought.
’The two of us could have just grabbed Jiang Li and locked her up!’
"You’re right, I can call the police! Mom, I’ve got to go. My apologies to you, Xue Yan, and my precious son for the wait."
With that, Qiao Siyuan hung up, got in his car, and headed for the nearest police station.
"Hello, I’d like to report my girlfriend missing. It’s been twenty-four hours since I’ve heard from her. Could you please help me find her?"
"What’s your girlfriend’s name?"
The officer picked up a pen and a notepad to start taking down the information. They’d been getting a lot of missing person cases lately.
"Her name is Jiang Li. She’s twenty-four. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her since I dropped her off the night before last."
Hearing the name, the officer thought he’d misheard. ’Jiang Li? As in, our station’s master investigator, Jiang Li?’
"Do you have a photo of her?"
"Yes, yes, I do." Qiao Siyuan quickly opened the photo album on his phone.
