A policeman raised his hand and asked, “About this mysterious figurine—why didn’t we find it in the house of the previous case? At the time, the whole house was a locked-room scene, and the police immediately arrived afterwards, so it was impossible for any outsider to break in and steal it.”

There was only one answer: someone in the police force was helping the murderer. But that was not a card I wanted to reveal at the moment, so I replied with a simple, “I don’t know!”

The room became even more boisterous when they heard my answer. I waited for them to calm down and added, “I did not handle the previous case, so I haven’t fully figured out many details about it yet. But I am sure that Yu Jun took the figurine from the murder scene by some means.”

I emphasized the words ‘from the murder scene’ and observed the look on Bai Yidao’s face as I spoke.

Another policeman raised a concern, “If the suspect has such an unconventional methodof killing, will we be in danger if we investigate the case?”

Everyone else echoed his concern immediately. The police were people too, after all. They wouldn’t want to sacrifice their lives for no good reason.

“You don't have to worry about this,” I tried to appease them. “The case is now clear, so the four of us will now take over the investigation. The rest of you will stay here on stand by until further notice.”

Everyone understood that ‘stand by’ practically meant a day off, so the police officers relaxed instantly.

I then announced the end of the meeting. Once most people were gone, Huang Xiaotao applauded and praised, “Well done! You were firm and thorough. You’re like a different person when you get serious.”

“You mean I’m way cooler than usual?” I joked.

“Get over yourself!” laughed Huang Xiaotao.

“By the way,” I added, “Can you speak to Officer Liao for me? I’d like you to get something from him.”

“He just went out. Want me to go find him now?”

“No, not right now,” I replied. “It’s best to see him alone. I want the list of all the members of the task force in this case and the previous case.”

“Roger that!” Huang Xiaotao nodded.

Then I asked Wang Yuanchao, “Old Wang, how is your shadowing skill?”

“I used to lurk in Myanmar for thirty days just to catch a major drug lord,” he answered monotonously. “I can shadow a dog without it knowing, let alone people.”

“Excellent! Then I have a special task for you. Today I want you to follow Bai Yidao. I want to know where he goes and who he meets, right down to the tiniest details.”

Wang Yuanchao nodded.

“Song Yang, are you suspecting that there’s a mole in the task force?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“There is this possibility,” I replied.

Dali screamed, “Holy shit! Infernal...”[1]

I glanced at him. Since the police had not left yet I was afraid that he would leak important information in such a way. Dali quickly changed his tone and said, “Infernal Ramen! You seriously never had it before, dude?”

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“A super spicy Japanese ramen that’s super delicious and so hot that you’d think you died and went to hell!” Dali managed to pull something out of his ass.

“Sounds interesting!” exclaimed Huang Xiaotao. “I love spicy food! We should try it when we go back!”

Once everyone else had left the room, Huang Xiaotao and Wang Yuanchao went out to do their tasks. Dali and I went outside and waited. After a while, Huang Xiaotao came back holding two sheets of paper in her hand.

“Here you go,” she said. “The lists of the task force members for both cases.”

I took it and perused it straight away. There were three people who were involved in both cases—Officer Liao, Bai Yidao, and Luo Weiwei.

I now had a rough idea of what was really going on. I folded the two pieces of paper and put them into my pocket, then announced, “Let’s go meet Yu Jun!”

Later, we arrived at the technology company where Yu Jun worked. Huang Xiaotao showed her police badge to the security guard and said that we wanted to see Manager Yu. The security guard said that would be difficult.

“Manager Yu is still working,” he claimed. “You might have to wait for a while.”

I exchanged a look with Huang Xiaotao, and she said, “Let’s go inside!”

The security guard’s pleas and excuses couldn’t stop us. We barged straight into the factory. I noticed that the security guard picked up his phone—he was probably warning Yu Jun about our arrival.

We went all the way to a workshop where uniformed workers assembled electronic products on the assembly line. Dali noticed that they were the latest iPhone models.

“Dude! Each of these cost six to seven thousand yuan but they’re all over the place here in a big pile like cabbages! If only I could just take a few out with me!”

“Don’t even dream about it,” warned Huang Xiaotao. “Their security is very tight here—all the employees are searched every time they leave this place.”

Someone who looked like a supervisor of the workshop came up and stopped us. “This is a restricted area! Outsiders are not allowed here!”

Huang Xiaotao showed him her badge. “We’d like to speak to Manager Yu.”

The supervisor’s tone softened as he told us, “Manager Yu is very busy right now. You can speak to me instead.”

“No, we must talk to Manager Yu,” insisted Huang Xiaotao.

At that moment, a bespectacled man wearing the uniform of the workshop came over to us and politely introduced himself. “I am Yu Jun, the man you’re asking to see. How may I help you?”

“We’re investigating a murder case and we have some questions for you,” said Huang Xiaotao.

Yu Jun frowned. “The two policemen who came yesterday said the same thing. I told them everything I know, so I don’t understand why you’d be here again. This murder has nothing to do with me. I just had some business dealings with Huang Youcai and met him a few times at some dinner parties before. That is the extent of my relationship with him.”

“Can we talk in private?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

Yu Jun hesitated, said a few words to the supervisor, then led us to his office. He took out the plastic cup from the cupboard and poured water on us. I noticed that a few of his fingers were wrapped in band-aid.

“How long have you known Huang Youcai?” Huang Xiaotao asked in a formal tone.

Yu Jun sat down on his luxurious office chair and replied, “Less than half a year.”

“What kind of business dealings went on between the two of you?”

Yu Jun grew impatient. “Miss Officer, I was asked the exact same questions yesterday. Must I answer them again today?”

“Just answer them, please.”

Yu Jun said that Huang Youcai met him at a dinner party. Huang Youcai said that he had a friend who sold children’s toys who wanted to make an order with Yu Jun to manufacture a type of toy car.

While Yu Jun worked at a large corporation which did not accept private orders, Huang Youcai pestered him on and repeatedly persuaded him, eventually even finding an intermediary party as a guarantor, so Yu Jun finally relented and agreed. He managed to manufacture the first lot of products after receiving a million yuan in deposit, but soon after that, tragedy happened to the Huang Youcai family. He met with the intermediary guarantor and they came to an agreement to transfer an amount of money from Huang Youcai’s account to Yu Jun. All the money went to the company to pay for the employees’ salary and the raw materials, so Yu Jun himself had in fact not benefitted from Huang Youcai’s death at all.

As he was speaking, I observed his manners and movements closely. When he finished, Huang Xiaotao looked at me and I plainly stated, “He’s lying!”

Yu Jun shot up to his feet immediately.

“Every word I said was true!” he objected.

I shook my head. “No. The blood vessels in the human nose are densely packed. When someone lies, the brain needs to operate at high speed to make up the words for the lie, causing blood to rush up to the head, making the nose hot and itchy. You might not notice it, but you touched your nose a few times as you were speaking—which meant that you were lying!”

Yu Jun stared at me with a strange look in his eyes. Huang Xiaotao cleared her throat and said, “Manager Yu, this is a serious case we’re investigating. Please tell us the truth!”

“All right!” conceded Yu Jun. I noticed that he was about to touch his nose again, but he consciously resisted the urge. “Huang Youcai and I were manufacturing fake iPhones!”

He went on to explain that his company had long been assembling mobile phones for Apple. They took the components that were shipped from abroad like the microchips, circuit boards and cameras then assembled them together and slapped the Apple logo on the final product, which would be sold on the market for six to seven thousand yuan. But when all the components were domestically produced, the cost to manufacture was only about two thousand yuan.

Huang Youcai saw this huge profit potential. He told Yu Jun that he had channels to get microchips and circuit boards at very low prices. Of course, these were all smuggled, and then they were assembled into mobile phones and sold by Yu Jun’s company. Although they were fake, the quality was not much worse than the original at all. In fact, most users wouldn’t even notice any difference from the authentic product.

The first batch of fake mobile phones were quickly manufactured, and Huang Youcai quickly sold them through his network. The two came to a good deal about the profits that they were making, but no one anticipated the tragedy that would befall Huang Youcai’s family. It took Yu Jun a lot of effort until he could finally get the money that should belong to him from Huang Youcai’s account.

After Yu Jun finished speaking, I shook my head. I pointed at him and declared, “You are still lying!”

1. Infernal Affairs. Seriously, go watch it.