Lin Dongxue opened her eyes and stretched her body fully. It was actually quite comfortable sleeping in Chen Shi's car. She asked Chen Shi, who was sitting next to her and playing on his phone, "What time is it?"

"2:00 in the afternoon, did you sleep well?"

Lin Dongxue breathed out against her hand and sniffed her own breath. Chen Shi thoughtfully handed her a piece of gum. Lin Dongxue didn’t reach out for it, and just opened her mouth to receive it instead. Chen Shi had no choice but to peel the wrapper off for her and stuff it into her mouth.

"Has the search warrant come through?" Lin Dongxue asked, chewing the gum.

"I just went in and asked. The third team plans to act tonight, and surprise the old man when he’s least expecting it."

"The third team really likes to act at night. That group of people are all skilled at staying up late... Then what should we do now?"

"Should we go for our meal?"

"I'm wondering if we should go and question that employee again. I think he might be lying. One afternoon should be enough."

"We’re just idling anyway, so let's do this!" Chen Shi started the car.

When they arrived at the door of the employee's house, Chen Shi said, "The same as usual. You ask the questions and I’ll see if he’s lying."

As he no longer needed to go to work, the employee was playing games at home to kill time. When the two arrived, he put down the game console and said warmly, "The house is messy, so just sit down wherever you’d like!" while secretly glancing a few times at Lin Dongxue.

He took out iced tea and coke from the refrigerator and asked them what they came for.

Lin Dongxue looked around, "Do you live with your family?"

"Yeah, I don't have my own house. I can only live with my parents. They’re so annoying. Fortunately, they’re not here today."

"Do you normally live in the pawn shop?"

"I live in the small garret above because clients would also come in the evening. I was often busy until late at night."

"Regarding your testimony, I want to clarify something. How did you wake up at 4:00 in the morning when the crime happened?"

"It was for this? You didn't need to make a special trip here just for that. You police are really diligent! I heard a ‘dong’ noise coming from downstairs, and when I ran down, I saw the boss lying on the ground with a person standing next to him. I was so scared that I turned and ran. I broke one of my toenails going up the stairs. When I think about it now, it’s still terrifying." The man displayed a fearful expression.

Chen Shi thought to himself that he talked a lot of nonsense. When some people lied, they would subconsciously add a lot of unnecessary details. When he said these words, his expressions were also too exaggerated.

These were all signs of lying.

"Do you wake up easily?" Lin Dongxue then asked.

"Yeah, I’ve always been a light sleeper..."

"From the traces at the scene, the boss and the murderer had a conversation with each other. Maybe there was an argument during that period. Since you sleep very lightly, why weren't you woken up prior to that?" Lin Dongxue stared at the employee's eyes to exert pressure on him.

The employee gulped. "I heard... I heard that. I just treated it as a client coming in and didn’t pay it any mind, so I didn’t get up. I shouldn’t have to get up and have a look whenever I hear someone talking, right? A pawn shop opens its doors to welcome clients."

"Then what did they talk about?"

"I couldn't hear too clearly. There was something about the painting. It’s hard to hear through the floor. Besides, I was in a sleepy daze at the time."

"Did you hear a man's voice or a woman's voice? How many 'guests' were there? When did they arrive?" Lin Dongxue asked in quick-fire succession.

"I can’t remember... I can't remember clearly." The employee vaguely noticed that the atmosphere wasn’t right. "Well, I need to go to the bathroom."

Lin Dongxue nodded.

After he left, Lin Dongxue asked Chen Shi, "How was it? Did he lie? Looking at his expression, I think he lied!"

"Great minds think alike. Continue to exert pressure. Let me give you a small suggestion. When questioning, you can make little movements to distract him, so that he can't concentrate on lying."

"Haha, no wonder my brother is always twirling his pen during interrogations. I thought it was just a bad habit!"

"Your brother's interrogation skills are superb... although he isn’t excellent in other areas."

"If you want to compliment someone, you should just do that, but you just have to make it a backhanded compliment!"

Chen Shi was attracted by the gaudy game screen on the computer. He went over and took a look. "I don't understand these new games at all. Is this an online game?"

"It should be a single player game!" Lin Dongxue casually clicked open Steam on the taskbar, and exclaimed, "This kid bought so many games!"

"Were they bought recently?"

"Yes, there are dates..." Lin Dongxue's voice became quieter. She thought out loud, "These would cost a lot of money. Could he afford them with his salary?"

The employee came out of the bathroom, saw the two of them "studying" his games, and said with a smile, "I don’t play too well. I just started. Do you guys usually play games as well?"

"You bought a lot of games recently. Did you make a small fortune?" Lin Dongxue asked with a sneer.

The employee's expression changed before a smile appeared on his face. "No... no, it's money my dad gave me."

"How much did he give you?"

"Three, four thousand..."

"Can you give your father a call? I want to verify it."

"Don't, don't!" The employee suddenly knelt down. "I admit that I lied. I shouldn't do that kind of thing. Please don't arrest me!"

Lin Dongxue was slightly startled, as she didn't expect this kid to react like this. "What did you do?"

"I... I took some valuables from the pawnshop to sell."

"Taking advantage of Boss Shen’s murder?"

"Yes. The scene was a mess anyway, so I just went with the flow... I took some things. This isn’t considered theft, right?!"

Chen Shi said, "This conflicts with your previous statement. You said that after seeing the murderer, you ran away in a panic and went to the nearby police station to report it to the police. Before the police arrived, you stayed at the police station and you had no chance to take those things. Perhaps your original testimony was a lie. You didn’t escape straight away after seeing the murderer. You stayed at the murder scene for a while. Since you can take things away from the scene unhurriedly and the murderer didn’t kill you to silence you, it means that you’re in cahoots with them and conspired to kill Boss Shen together!"

The employee never expected that the rook he threw out to protect the general[1] would expose his fatal flaw instead and result in his being checkmated.

"No... it's not like this. It's not like this. Why would I murder Boss Shen? Boss Shen and my dad are friends, and he treated me well..."

"It's useless saying this!" Chen Shi roared, "Who is the murderer you saw at the scene?!"

"Liu Feng!"

"What was he wearing?"

"Black suit!"

"It was so dark, could you see him clearly?"

"It must be him!"

After firing off a series of questions quickly, Chen Shi unexpectedly displayed his trump card.. "Was he alone or were there two people?!"

"Two..." Realizing his slip of the tongue, the employee hurriedly covered his mouth.

Chen Shi sneered, "Did you just say that Liu Feng is two people?"

"I... I mean he and Boss Shen. You asked so quickly, I had no time to think."

"You mean you had no time to make something up! You probably don’t know this, but the evidence currently available to the police has shown that Liu Feng didn’t go to the pawn shop that night at all. The murderer was someone else. I have reason to believe that you are deceiving the police purposefully. You know the murderer. The other party bribed you, or you were an accomplice from the beginning."

"No, I'm not an accomplice!" The employee lost his ability to think, instinctively defending himself. His face was covered with cold sweat.

Lin Dongxue said, "XX, I now suspect that you have committed perjury and must exercise the right of detaining you!"

1. Chinese chess pieces. To sacrifice one thing for greater benefit.