Page 262

Zhou Fengxu hung up the call and lifted his gaze.

"Uncle Zhong has regained consciousness," he informed.

Shi Boren stepped down from his desk, stretched, then nodded at Chu Yuening. "Come on! Brother Ren will take you to wrap things up!"

Chu Yuening hopped down, shaking her milk tea cup with a smile. "Who's taking who?"

"Oh, can't I take you?" Shi Boren joked, then let out a long sigh. "If only that case about the kidnapped girl was solved, we wouldn't have this worry. After the statements are recorded, we could all go out for an afternoon tea together."

"It's not solved yet?" Chu Yuening had already calculated the murderer's details a few days ago. She tilted her head, swirling her milk tea. "Did my calculations miss the mark?"

That didn't make sense. Her divinations were rarely wrong.

"No," Shi Boren explained with concern. "We've tracked down a person named Ma Zhengqi. His profile matches the information you provided in every aspect. We also found his statement in previous cases."

Chu Yuening was puzzled. "If they suspected him, why wasn't he arrested?"

"Because someone provided an alibi for him," Zhou Fengxu interjected, closing the written report and capping his pen. "The person who gave the alibi suddenly died of a heart attack on the street a few days later. Ma Zhengqi took the opportunity to smuggle himself to America and hasn't returned to Hong Kong in the past ten years."

With the case once again interrupted and at a standstill, everyone was furious.

"I heard he fled abroad?" Chu Yuening could understand why Zhou Fengxu furrowed his brows; the situation indeed posed challenges. "Is there any way to catch him?"

"The police have already applied for international cooperation. The Americans are tracing Ma Zhengqi's whereabouts, and they'll deport him back to Hong Kong as soon as they find him."

Team D was not content with this outcome.

Who didn't know how many illegal immigrants there were in the United States? It would be like finding a needle in a haystack to locate an ID-less criminal among billions.

It was uncertain when, or if, Ma Zhengqi would be deported back.

It was nearing the end of the workday, and the group decided to head downstairs together. Chu Yuening waited for them in the corridor, leaning against the wall while sipping her milk tea.

Suddenly...

A sound from the side caught her attention.

At the end of the corridor, a middle-aged couple ascended the staircase.

Despite being middle-aged, their hair was entirely white. The man hunched over as he walked slowly with his head down, while the woman strolled alongside him at a leisurely pace.

They seemed disconnected from the world around them. The air was thick with an oppressive silence, and their expressionless faces conveyed a profound sorrow that enveloped them.

Chu Yuening couldn't help but feel a pang of distress upon witnessing this scene.

"Ning Ning, what are you looking at?"

As the four of them emerged, Shi Boren noticed Chu Yuening's persistent gaze on the corridor. His eyes followed her line of sight, and upon recognizing the faces of the middle-aged couple, his pupils dilated in surprise.

"Brother Xu, look."

Zhou Fengxu closed the office door and turned his gaze. Upon seeing the approaching couple, his expression gradually turned serious.

When the couple reached the entrance to the office, he took the initiative to speak up, "Mr. Zheng, Mrs. Zheng."

"Is it Detective Zhou?" Mrs. Zheng asked. Upon receiving an affirmative response, her swollen eyes glistened as she spoke with a raspy voice. "I heard that Xin Ya's case has been reopened. Can you… please tell me if they've found the killer?"

As if yearning for an answer.

Mrs. Zheng's hands trembled, as if she were struggling to suppress her emotions.

"I'm sorry, but the case is still under investigation. We can't disclose any details," Zhou Fengxu averted his gaze and looked at Shi Boren. "Please, Mr. and Mrs. Zheng, take some rest."

"Oh, oh! Right." Shi Boren snapped back to reality and opened the office door again. "Mr. and Mrs. Zheng, please come in and rest. You must be tired from the journey."

Both of them recalled the tremendous blow the Zheng family had suffered. For the sake of their remaining two children's health and safety, the entire family had moved to the New Territories.

Mrs. Zheng shook her head. "We're not tired."

The thought of her daughter's tragic death made her eyes redden once more. She pounded her chest, overwhelmed by grief. "Eighteen years… It's been eighteen years."

It was like a heavy punch to the heart.

Mrs. Zheng found it increasingly difficult to catch her breath. Suddenly, her emotions crumbled, and she leaned on her husband's shoulder, wailing in despair. "My daughter has been gone for eighteen long years, and her body has yet to rest. For these eighteen years, every time I close my eyes, I see the horrifying scene of her murder."

A tiny girl, her blue-tinged body exposed, lay beside her unseeing head, discarded on a trash can.

The more Mrs. Zheng thought about it, the more she wept uncontrollably.

Her daughter was only eight when she was brutally murdered. How could any parent endure such a loss?

In those eighteen years,

every night she relived her nightmare, constantly drowning in the despair of losing her child. What could she do to ensure that the perpetrator who harmed her daughter would face equivalent retribution?

Hearing the commotion, Shi Yubing emerged, concerned about Mrs. Zheng's distraught state. "Mrs. Zheng, a reopened case means the police have found new leads. Please rest assured, we will bring the culprit to justice."

Mr. Zheng, overwhelmed with pain, clutched at Shi Yubing's arm. The memory of finding his daughter's severed head still haunted him; he had knelt on the ground back then, cradling it in his arms, his hair turning white overnight from sheer grief.

"Madam," he asked, his voice trembling, "can the murderer still be caught?"

"Eighteen years have passed. Can the murderer really still be found?"

"Mr. Zheng, please trust the police," Shi Yubing reassured the family, though she herself felt conflicted.

As an inspector in Team D, she was well aware that the prime suspect had smuggled himself to the United States. However, whether or not he was the real culprit remained to be verified.

Currently, without finding the suspect or solid evidence of the crime, they were in a precarious position.

How could she adequately respond to the family's probing questions?

Even she couldn't be certain after eighteen long years – would the real culprit truly be apprehended?

Chu Yuening leaned against the wall, quietly sipping her milk tea and listening attentively.

Suddenly...

She heard a thud.

A pair of knees knelt before her.