“But why would a girl like Chu Yan want to kill a triad boss?” wondered Xiaotao. “Could she actually be a professional assassin? That’s a bit too far-fetched, isn’t it?”

“We’ll have to investigate her father’s background,” I said. “We’ve already found the prime suspect. I’m sure we’ll reach the truth of the matter soon enough.”

The next day, Xiaotao called me and told me that they’d found Chu Yan’s father and that he’d soon be brought in for questioning. Dali and I rushed to the police station. When we arrived, Xiaotao was already waiting with Chu Yan’s father in the interrogation room. The man was bespectacled and seemed gentle-mannered. After taking a seat, I perused through the information that the police had gathered about the man. He was highly educated, and he used to work in a scientific research institution before turning to business. He was now a self-made entrepreneur.

“Let’s start, Mr. Chu,” said Xiaotao.

Chu Yan’s father cleared his throat and began, “My daughter is a pitiful child. She was born with this strange disease, and the doctor told me that she would not live much longer than twenty years. Her mother was also frail and sick, and she died when my daughter was little. I scoured the world for a cure to my daughter’s disease, but to no avail. She has always been on medication all her life. Swallowing pills and getting injections are like normal daily activities for her. Still, she never complained and soldiered on. I’ve shed many tears when I think of the fates of my wife and daughter, but I managed to stay strong because my daughter has always comforted me and stayed by my side.”

“She disappeared a few days ago,” he continued, “and I was worried sick. I couldn’t do anything else but spent my every waking moment looking for her. I even ordered the employees of my company to help me. Thankfully, you brought her home safely. I’m sure what she did could be counted as self-defense, right? How could a girl who’s stayed at home all her life ever have any connection with the underworld?”

I scrutinized the man’s expressions and found out that he had been telling the truth.

“Does Chu Yan have any friends?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “She never goes out of the house. She never went to school either due to her condition. The only person from the outside world that she interacted with would be her tutor.”

“Is the tutor a man or a woman?”

“She’s a female college student,” he replied. “She was very kind and friendly to my daughter. They were practically sisters. But later something happened and she had to go back to her family, so she couldn’t be my daughter’s tutor anymore. My daughter was very sad when she found out.”

When he spoke of the tutor, he subconsciously adjusted his glasses. It was obvious that he was hiding something from us.

I gave Xiaotao a signal, and she asked him if he’d like to have another cup of tea. He thanked her.

“Can you tell us more about this tutor?” she asked.

“I’ve always been very busy at work every day,” he replied. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about her…”

I noticed that he had gotten a little nervous.

“Tell us what you know, then!” I demanded.

“Well… The girl’s name is Xiao Lanlan. I heard that her family is very poor, so she has to work while she studies to pay for her tuition. Although I hired her as a tutor, she did more than teach my daughter to read and write. She took very good care of her as if they were sisters. Both my daughter and I are very grateful to her, and I paid her quite handsomely too.”

By that point, his micro-expressions betrayed him. I knew he wasn’t telling the truth, but he wasn’t a suspect, so there was no way that I could pressure him. Xiaotao and I exchanged a look, and Xiaotao said, “Okay, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Chu. You can go back now.”

“Um… What will happen to my daughter?” he asked Xiaotao nervously.

“That’s up to the court, not us.”

“She’s physically frail,” he said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for her to be detained in jail…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Xiaotao assured him. “This is a special case. She’ll be allowed to stay home before the trial.”

“Thank you very much, Officer!”

As soon as he left, Xiaotao immediately asked her officers to track down Xiao Lanlan. Eventually, they did find a university student in Nanjiang City who matched the descriptions, but the girl was already dead!

We headed to the hospital where Xiao Lanlan died. The doctor checked her medical records and informed us that she died of intracranial hemorrhage. She could have been rescued, but she arrived too late. In fact, she took her last breath in the ambulance.

“Intracranial hemorrhage,” I mumbled. “Was it an impact to the head?”

“Yes,” answered the doctor. “She was probably hit by a car.”

“Probably?” asked Xiaotao.

The doctor explained that the ambulance found her lying on the side of the road. The person who called 120 was never found. It might have been the driver who hit her.

Xiao Lanlan’s body had already been cremated, so no more evidence could be collected from her. My first hunch was that her death was caused by Chu Yan’s father, but in that case, how did the triad boss Cao Da fit into the picture?

I asked the doctor what else he remembered. He seemed reluctant, so I assured him, “Don’t worry, the police will keep everything under wraps.”

“Well, when she was sent here, I noticed a layer of mucus on her lower body and between her legs. I’m not a forensics expert, but I’m pretty sure that it was semen. It’s despicable! Some bastard was taking advantage of her when she was unconscious!”

Things started to make sense when I heard this, but there were still some missing puzzle pieces. I fell into deep thought and everything around me became a blur.

Xiaotao had to shout my name several times before I came back to reality.

“What happened to you, Song Yang?” she asked. “You suddenly left the room without saying anything. It was like you were sleepwalking!”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “We have to get Xiao Lanlan’s photo and question someone!”

That someone was Baldy. He was still detained at the police station, so we returned and met him there.

“Do you know this woman?” I asked, showing him the picture of Xiao Lanlan.

Baldy stared at the photo for a long time before replying, “Yeah. I remember the mole at the corner of her mouth. She used to work at the Tianxiang Pavilion nightclub.”

I smiled. Now all the puzzle pieces had fallen into place, forming a clear picture. I’ve figured out the truth behind this case!

“How did she die?” I asked.

Baldy was about to answer but stopped short.

“Um, I’m sorry, Song-ge!” he said. “I don’t know this girl after all!”

“Don’t lie to us, bastard!” snapped Xiaotao. “Tell us the truth or I’ll put you in the same cell as the Blood Wolf gang!”

Baldy’s cheeks twitched. “I really don’t know her, Officer Huang! You know how every girl looks alike with makeup on nowadays!”

“Don’t you want to know the truth behind your boss’s murder?”

Baldy was clearly a little shaken, so I added, “Your boss killed this girl, didn’t he? Do you know why he died so tragically? It was because of the karma that he accumulated in his life! And now that his murder is still unsolved, his soul is cursed to wander aimlessly in this world, unable to reincarnate!”

I made all of that up, of course. But I knew that people of the underworld were generally superstitious, so I wanted to give Baldy a little scare. Sure enough, Baldy’s eyes widened, and he cried, “Forgive me, boss! Don’t worry, I’ll help you move onto the next life!”

Once he was done crying, he wiped his tears and confessed, “The boss didn’t kill that girl. I did!”

He explained that Xiao Lanlan was very poor, and to make matters worse, her mother had cancer. Although Chu Yan’s father paid her a lot, it was still far from enough to pay for her mother’s cancer treatment. One of her classmates suggested working at the Tianxiang Pavilion nightclub, and she went there thinking that she would be hired as a waitress. She found out what she’d gotten herself into too late. At first she refused to do it, but after receiving threats from the gang members, she accepted the reality that there was no escape. At the very least, she was only required to entertain the upper crust members of the Black Panthers gang and not any random man on the street. Besides, the money she earned from this line of work was indeed substantial.

Half a year after that, Baldy visited the nightclub to let off some steam. He was in a tempestuous mood, and Xiao Lanlan, who was assigned to entertain him, did something to annoy him. He flew off the handle and threw an ashtray at her. It hit her head and she collapsed immediately. When he checked up on her, he found that she was already not breathing.

Baldy was terrified. The gang had one rule, and that was to never burden the gang with a murder charge. Fortunately, he was in the gang’s own turf, so he was free to take care of the body however he saw fit. He smoked a few cigarettes to work up his courage and was preparing to take the body to an isolated place and bury it. But just then, he had an idea. The girl was dead, and she still looked ‘fresh,’ so why not take her to the boss a special ‘gift?’