By the afternoon, Chen Shi had recovered and he went to the bureau. Tao Yueyue was also there. She had been driven to the bureau in a police car and had her lunch there at noon. At the moment, Xu Xiaodong was with her.

Seeing Chen Shi's arrival, Xu Xiaodong looked as though he had received an amnesty, and quietly said to Chen Shi, "Brother Chen, is the girl at your house an ordinary child? I chatted with her for an afternoon, and I was so shocked that I had no place to hide my shame. How can she understand everything?"

"That’s how a child is. They’ll show off when they learn something. Don't bother arguing with the likes of her... Your IQ can't even match a fraction of hers anyway."

"That’s over the line! I’m off!" Xu Xiaodong was driven away by the attack.

Tao Yueyue asked, "Uncle Chen, are you okay?"

"I’m okay..." Chen Shi raised his right hand, "It's just that my hand was left with scars after being electrocuted, and it won't heal for a few days. Honestly, child!"

"I was so scared all by myself!" Tao Yueyue rushed over and hugged him.

Seeing her like this, Chen Shi didn’t pursue the matter of the drawing on his face and patted her head, "Thank you for saving my life!"

"Can I keep the stun gun?"

"Yes, but don't use it on classmates."

"Okay!"

"Would you like me to take you home first? We’re going to interrogate the prisoner soon. It may take a lot of time, which will be quite boring."

The process of interrogation often lasts for several hours. It’s not as simple as getting the confession out of the suspect. Every detail of the case needs to be verified repeatedly, and then they have to return to the crime scene to re-enact the case. However, Chen Shi never participated in the latter procedure.

"I want to have a look." Tao Yueyue said.

"Let's go!"

In this interrogation, Chen Shi and Lin Qiupu were the interrogators. Lin Qiupu felt that Chen Shi always talked nonsense during the interrogation and made a mess of the written records so he needed to supervise the interrogation.

Gong Jianqin was cuffed to the interrogation chair and was still wearing the coat she was wearing during the attack. The hair that was originally tied up now hung down loosely and blocked part of her face, making her look a little despondent. When Chen Shi sat down opposite her, Gong Jianqin said, "It turns out that you have quite a lot of authority."

"I don't have any authority. Captain Lin had to nod and agree for me to participate in the interrogation... You have nice hair!"

"I’ve been growing it for quite a few years. When I go to prison, it’ll probably be cut off." Gong Jianqin said, a bit regretfully.

"Ahem!" Lin Qiupu motioned to Chen Shi not to talk nonsense. "Suspect, please state your name and occupation..."

After asking the basic questions, Lin Qiupu began to interrogate her regarding the case. The first case was Qin Yi who was killed in June last year. Gong Jianqin didn’t resist too much. She nodded and said, "I killed Qin Yi. The first time I killed someone, I was nervous. Before that, I studied many short videos of criminal cases. The efficiency of killing with a knife isn’t high. People will resist if they’re stabbed with a knife. But in terms of physique, I’m definitely not Qin Yi's match. So, I chose a hammer and used the hammer to smash the back of his head. As soon as he was struck, he collapsed on the ground struggling non-stop, and then I did it a few more times until he stopped moving. I took his cell phone because I had asked him out that day, and I was afraid of being caught. After thinking about it, I decided that it would be better to take away all the valuables on his body and frame it as a robbery-cum-murder. I then pushed the body under his own car."

Chen Shi said, "You’re quite clever. Qin Yi was discovered only after the body started stinking a few days later. In addition, the scene was in a bustling downtown area. The police investigation was mainly focused on some idle gangsters around the area. They didn’t expect it to be you, a real estate saleswoman.”

Lin Qiupu rolled his eyes at Chen Shi and whispered, "Will you die if you don't speak?"

Chen Shi pretended to look helpless and let Lin Qiupu lead the interrogation again. After asking about the details of Qin's case, Lin Qiupu continued to ask about the second case, the murder of Li Xiaolei in April that year.

Gong Jianqin said blankly, "Li Xiaolei was a disgusting middle-aged man. He often flirted with the opposite sex in customer service scenarios, such as with waitresses in restaurants, and with flight attendants when he flew. The other parties just smiled at him as part of customer service. It wasn’t because he was a very attractive person, but he just never got tired of it. Every time I talked to him, I felt very disgusted, but in order to sell the house, I could only bear it."

"Was your motive selling the house? Li Xiaolei took a fancy to House 1818, and you planned to kill him!"

"No, I wanted to sell the house at the time. At the beginning, killing Qin was out of impulse. Later, when Phase B was about to open, Li Xiaolei wanted to buy it in full. I planned to sell it. Later, I gradually learned about his personality. After that, I changed my mind again!"

"How did you kill him?"

"He asked me to go to his house that day. In fact, he had invited me many times before and I could only make excuses. When I made up my mind to kill him, I pretended to accept. We ate together and talked a lot, mainly because he was chattering endlessly. This disgusting man showed his true colors after some drinking. He kept implying that I should sleep with him. I said that I liked S&M. He agreed. I blindfolded his eyes. I handcuffed his hands and injected him with a syringe prepared in advance. Originally, I had planned to kill him after anesthetizing him, but that was the first time I used thiopental sodium. I wasn’t sure of the dosage and his heart stopped directly. It saved me a lot of effort. Afterwards, I took off his clothes because I wasn’t sure if there were any traces on his clothes. Then, I burned the clothes and scattered toilet disinfectant on him. There was no guilt in my heart at the time. This disgusting man looked like a cockroach in my eyes. I really wished that there was a liquid that could directly dissolve him."

Chen Shi said, "I should thank him for letting you learn the correct dosage for the medication, otherwise I’m afraid I can't sit here today."

"Don't interrupt!" Lin Qiupu complained.

When Lin Qiupu continued to ask questions, Gong Jianqin remained silent. Lin Qiupu urged, "Explain the case!"

"I want to talk to Mr. Chen."

"I’m the policeman. He’s just a consultant." Lin Qiupu felt that his authority was being defied.

"I want to talk to Mr. Chen!" Gong Jianqin insisted.

Lin Qiupu shook his head helplessly and handed over the interrogation to Chen Shi. Chen Shi asked, "Why do you want to talk to me? Because we’ve met several times, so we’re almost considered acquaintances?"

"Because I think we have some affinity. You may be someone who understands me... He’s just a layman who sits on the sidelines." She glanced at Lin Qiupu and Lin Qiupu's expression at the moment was very interesting.

"In the beginning, you really planned to sell me the house, right?"

"Yes, you’re very kind. I thought that you would treat it kindly."

"Until I did that thing this morning?"

"I was crazed with anger at the time, now..." She glanced at the handcuffs, "I seem to understand that it was Mr. Chen's strategy, but since you can see through this, you should understand why the four people died."

Lin Qiupu was confused when he heard this. Wasn't it because she wanted this house for herself?

"Very few people call a house ‘it’[1]. In your eyes, it is a living being with feelings. Throughout the entire case, we kept focusing on the people who wanted this house. It was just a commodity and a property to us, but we were wrong. This motive is too bizarre even for me. Miss Gong, you fell in love with it when you spent time with it day and night and when you praised it to others every day!"

Gong Jianqin's eyes moistened instantly, as if she had found a soulmate. She bit her lip and nodded.

"What?!" Lin Qiupu's eyes widened. At that moment, outside the interrogation room, the police onlookers also exploded into chaos. This was the motive? Who could have thought that this was the motive?!

Xu Xiaodong sighed, "Is Brother Chen's brain a black hole?"[2]

1. The “it” used here and when she said “I thought you would treat ‘it’ kindly.” is used to describe living beings.

2. Immensely large, infinite, containing everything etc.