After a lap of searching, everyone was dead tired. They began sitting on the ground and chatting with each other. Xu Xiaodong said, "We searched more carefully today than grave robbers. Why didn't we find the body that old man talked about?"

A police officer said, "It's not necessarily a corpse though?"

"What could it be? It couldn’t be rotten green pepper shredded pork stuffed in a big bag and transported to the hills?"

Old Zhang waved his hand and said, "There’s still a large area of barren land in front of us. If we were to dig three feet into the ground, maybe we could actually find a body."

"No, it's impossible to search anymore today."

The police were a little reluctant to admit that sometimes unsolvable cases were a case of bad luck. They seemed to have grown accustomed to solving cases after cases following Chen Shi. Today's work made everyone a little discouraged when they came out empty-handed.

Lin Dongxue said, "Why do I think that the more we check, the more we’ve drifted from the truth?"

Xu Xiaodong replied, "If Brother Chen was here, what do you think he would say?"

Lin Dongxue thought about it. "'If I were the criminal...'"

"How about it?"

"No, no. I don't have a quirky mind like his."

"Ah, everyone is human. Why can Brother Chen get it, but we can't?" Xu Xiaodong sighed while holding his legs.

They were empty-handed after a full day. The thought of not being able to report anything when they got back home inevitably made them frustrated, but they were really hungry. They returned to the city for a meal before rushing back to the bureau.

Lin Qiupu was not idle that day. He brought in several people who had bad blood with Hao Jie's father. The interrogations were done over the course of eight hours, and although statements were made, everyone expressed that they had nothing to do with the case.

These people had to be let go first. Lin Qiupu came out of the interrogation room and saw the crowd with dirty faces. He asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No. We found a witness, but the information he provided may not be related to this case." Old Zhang explained.

"Don't forget to record it down."

"Captain Lin, it’s not me who said this, but this case may not be solvable."

"Don't retreat as soon as you come up. Head back for today and have a good rest. We’ll continue tomorrow."

The crowd left, but Lin Dongxue was the last one to leave. Before leaving, she said, "Brother, I bought you something to eat. I put it on your desk."

"I see." Lin Qiupu replied indifferently. "Hurry back!"

As soon as Lin Dongxue left, Lin Qiupu sprinted back to his office. When he saw a bag of fresh fungus on the table, he was a bit surprised. Then, sat in front of the computer and started searching. "The meaning of gifting fungus."

After eating a hearty meal of stir-fried fungus, Lin Qiupu pondered over the documents he took home with him. The case was flawless, and he couldn’t even make out the murderer’s motive.

After thinking hard for a full night, he fell asleep depressively. He went to the bureau the next day and happened to see Chen Shi. He was overjoyed, but deliberately put on a poker face and said lightly, "You came at just the right time. Yesterday, we found a boy's body. Come to the conference room. I’ll be talking about the case."

"I'm sorry but I have some private business to take care of today. You guys will have to take care of this one yourselves!"

"This guy..."

Today’s case discussion was even more dull than yesterday’s. The entire meeting room was filled with an atmosphere of “Hurry up and invite Chen Shi.” Lin Qiupu wasn’t unaware of this, but he had just talked about it with him and the guy seemed to be unwilling to do anything to help due to some personal issues he needed to deal with.

You only know of some people’s importance when they’re not around.

Lin Qiupu shook off these thoughts and knocked on the table to continue the meeting. "Our task today is ..."

After the meeting finished, he returned to his office. Chen Shi called as soon as he sat down. "Captain Lin, do me a little favor. I need to take a case file away. Could you ask the chief to write a note for me?"

"Go find him yourself!"

"The chief and I aren’t familiar with each other. Just do me a favor!"

"Humph, I asked you for help and you didn’t, but now you’re coming to me asking me for help instead?”

"Oh, you seem to hold grudges?"

"Where are you?"

"At the archives!"

Lin Qiupu rushed to the archives room and asked what happened. Chen Shi tapped on a file in his hand. "I want to review this case!"

"Are you playing?” Lin Qiupu laughed angrily. "I have a child-killing case right now. Instead of helping, you want to review this old case?”

"This case may be related to Zhou Xiao."

"Are you sure?"

"I’m sixty percent sure."

"I don't believe your nonsense. Where did you get the lead from? Don't tell me that it's from a random epiphany where you thought you needed to review old cases and to somehow obtain an earth-shattering secret!”

"How about this? I’ll help you with the child-killing case. Then, you need to authorize me to investigate this case. What about it?”

Lin Qiupu was secretly ecstatic and was waiting for this sentence the whole time, but he couldn't give it to him for free. He raised a finger. "If you can solve the case within a day, I’ll promise you!"

"Only one day?"

"How free do you think I am to play with you every day?"

"Okay, okay, let's see... Keep this file for me."

The two of them went to the office. Chen Shi sat down and began to look at the information. He said, "I'm thirsty. Get me a cup of tea."

"Don’t try to take a mile when I give you an inch. Do you think I found you because I couldn’t solve the case myself?"

"It's all written on your face anyway." Chen Shi laughed.

"Don't try to figure me out. You’re all inflated right now[1]!"

"Did I get inflated[2]?"

Lin Qiupu went to pour him a glass of water, as Chen Shi looked at the documents. "What about the officers?"

"They’ve gone out to check for clues again."

"Don't check. What are you playing at? You’re not checking the things you should be and instead checking stuff peripheral to the main point!”

Lin Qiupu felt like he was ridiculing him. He sat down and folded his arms. "Detective Chen, why don’t you tell us what we’re missing then?"

"The situation of the victim. His height, blood type, strengths, hobbies, and whether there are contradictions between the parents of the victim's family."

"Why do we need to check this?"

"Do you think this is a kidnapping case? Do you think that’s why there’s no need to investigate these? If it were a homicide, would you investigate it?"

"Of course I would!"

Chen Shi threw the documents on the table and knocked on it. "The murderer didn't show up on the day of the ransom payment. Their purpose was not money, but murder. Have you decided if it was murder due to hatred or love yet?”

"Your hypothesis can’t stand up to reason. From the various details we’ve found, it’s speculated that the murderer committed the crime by themselves. Perhaps it was the first time they committed a crime, so they were afraid and gave up halfway to hide away.”

"No, the killer was very clever. Every detail was very carefully considered and no flaws were made throughout... In fact, didn’t they intentionally let the body be found?”

"Why do you say that?"

"The bloody clothes weren’t buried with the deceased but were discarded nearby. According to the autopsy report, the victim was poisoned first, and then had his head was smashed in. The murderer forged a victim getting killed for ransom, but the real purpose was to murder them or get rid of their responsibility as a guilty party."

“Get rid of responsibility? I don't understand!"

Chen Shi asked purposefully, "Is Hao Jie the one who died?"

1. Lin Qiupu is talking about his ego.

2. The way Chen Shi responds can also mean, “Did I get fatter?” Which would mean he’s ignoring Lin Qiupu and making a joke instead.