Chapter 89: Sewer

Chapter 89: The Sewer

"What are you doing? Why are you arresting me?"

The young man with dyed yellow hair kept shouting, and Li Mingliang frowned, pressing harder on the back of his head: "Stay still!"

The young man was pinned to the ground, his neck twisting frantically, but he couldn't break free.

Li Mingliang glanced back at Shen Qingye, his voice tinged with doubt: "Xiao Shen?"

Shen Qingye looked at him, her gaze sweeping over the silver chain around his neck, ignoring the noisy voices only she could hear, and said, "I just saw him earlier."

Captain Yang's gaze hardened, and Shen Qingye explained, "An hour ago, when I was upstairs, he was nearby. I didn't pay attention at the time. But now—"

Before she could finish, everyone understood her meaning.

Now, with the temperature outside over 30 degrees Celsius, this man was loitering here, his behavior was suspicious.

Captain Yang fixed him with a piercing stare, his expression turned grim, looking quite intimidating: "Speak! What are you doing here?!"

The young man's cheek was pressed against the ground, his eyes shifting nervously, as he stubbornly retorted, "What's wrong with me being here? Who says I can't come here? Do I need a reason to be here?"

In the urgency of the moment, no one had paid attention, but now, upon closer inspection, they noticed that his voice was quite young, though his face was smeared, his features still showed a hint of youth.

Shen Qingye frowned deeply.

Li Mingliang spoke coldly, "Do you live around here, just wandering aimlessly?"

The young man's voice was weak, "I live around here."

Captain Yang's gaze pierced through him, "Then where do you live? Take us there."

The young man blinked nervously, "Why should I take you there? Just because you say so—"

With a loud "bang," Li Mingliang slammed his hand on the ground beside him, raising his voice, "I'm warning you, don't play games with me! There was a murder case in this area recently, and your suspicious behavior gives us reason to suspect you're the killer!"

The young man shrank back, clearly frightened. Captain Yang's icy voice cut through the air, "I'll ask you again: what are you doing here?"

The young man finally gave up on insisting he was just going home, stammering for a moment before whispering, "I came to meet a friend!"

"Where is your friend?"

"He's not home today."

"Take us to his place, and we'll wait."

The young man was sweating profusely, "I don't know where he lives. We usually meet outside..."

Captain Yang fixed him with a piercing stare, "Outside? Where exactly?"

The young man opened his mouth, his throat moving, his eyes blinking rapidly.

"Can't say? Then let me ask you, why did you run when we called you?"

"I, I..."

He stammered for a long time without giving a clear answer. Shen Qingye chuckled softly, "What's the matter, can't come up with a story?"

The young man looked up at her, his eyes filled with resentment. It was her, just now, it was her who suddenly spoke up. If it weren't for her—

Yue Lingchuan furrowed his brow and stepped forward, positioning himself slightly in front of Shen Qingye.

Shen Qingye seemed unfazed, her gaze steady and deep, like a tranquil pool: "Since you can't come up with a story, why don’t I help you out?"

"Let me guess, your home isn’t nearby, and you don’t have friends in the area, so you came here... to observe the police?"

The young man’s pupils dilated suddenly. Shen Qingye listened to the incessant chatter from the pendant, extracting important information while not missing any subtle expressions on his face. She stepped forward and said, "You wanted to see what the police have uncovered recently, whether they’ve found any clues. After all, even though you wiped the fingerprints off that knife, you’re still worried traces might remain. If the police make progress, you could prepare accordingly."

She took another step forward, crouching slightly in front of the young man, looking down at him: "You also want to know whether the police have found what you hid."

The young man’s breathing quickened, a flicker of panic in his eyes, and he spoke with forced bravado: "You, you're slandering me!"

Shen Qingye let out an 'oh,' her eyes narrowing slightly, and said with certainty, "You’re really worried we’ll find that thing."

"Why? Because... it bears your traces?"

The young man’s breath hitched slightly. Shen Qingye tilted her chin up slightly: "Let me think, how did you carry something so large out? With a bag?"

The young man’s eyes darted around. Shen Qingye asked again, "What kind of bag? A woven bag? A duffel bag? Or... a plastic bag from Ruan Hongling’s house."

"I see, you used a plastic bag from her house." Shen Qingye looked at him and slowly smiled: "When you tossed the plastic bag, did you consider the fingerprints you left behind?"

The young man’s panic deepened, and he stiffened his neck: "What are you talking about? What murder? What head? I don’t know anything!"

Shen Qingye observed his desperate, nearly unhinged state, her smile remaining calm: "Seems I hit the mark."

She tilted her head slightly and said slowly, "That thing—you did throw it away."

Captain Yang watched from the sidelines, observing how she nearly fully controlled the young man’s emotional state, and couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Yue Lingchuan, feeling a bit more curiosity and respect for this young girl.

The young man’s chest rose and fell violently, his gaze at her practically spitting fire, but he still tried to force himself to calm down: "Is this how you cops slander people? I get it, you’re desperate to solve the case, but you can’t just pin crimes on anyone, can you? I don’t know anything about any case, let alone where that head you mentioned is!"

Shen Qingye looked at him and suddenly laughed. Captain Yang and the others also showed a hint of a smile.

The man was stunned, his mind racing, trying to recall what he had just said. Shen Qingye had already given him the answer:

"When did I say that thing was the victim's head?"

The young man was stunned, staring at her blankly.

Shen Qingye had already stood up, looking down at him with a gentle smile, but her tone was inexplicably chilling: "As far as I know, when the police broke in, only they saw the body. Even the victim’s neighbors didn’t know the specifics of the body. How did you know the victim’s head was missing?"

"Who told you?"

The young man looked at her beautiful face, his eyes directly facing the sun, feeling a bit dizzy. His throat was dry, and he swallowed hard, a loud gulp echoing in the space.

"I..." he croaked.

Shen Qingye tilted her head slightly, looking at him leisurely: "Hmm?"

"Go on."

Captain Yang's face darkened: "At this point, you still want to deny it?"

He tightened his grip on the young man's arm, making him yelp: "Hurry up and confess!"

The young man's face was pale, but he still insisted he knew nothing. Shen Qingye sighed lightly and said, "You still don’t want to talk."

The young man stared at her fiercely. Shen Qingye nodded understandingly: "It's okay, then I’ll guess again."

The young man, hearing these familiar words, felt his heart skip a beat, almost instantly recalling the recent situation.

He couldn't help but shake his head inwardly. No, it couldn’t possibly be known to her—the place he hid it was very well concealed. She couldn’t possibly know—

"Your home shouldn't be too close to here, and this is a residential area, busy and full of prying eyes, clearly not a good place to dispose of a body."

"Plus, during this time, police dogs have searched, sanitation workers haven't reported anything, no abnormalities were found. So, you must have discarded the head somewhere far and desolate."

The young man's lips were tightly pressed. Shen Qingye completely disregarded his reaction and continued on her own accord: "This residential area is in the middle of Huangning District. To the south there’s a large night market residential area, which would be quite risky; to the east it's close to Zhongyuan District and Shangyang District, and there aren’t any secluded spots there either. To the west is Huilin County, out of the city—I guess you don't live in Huilin County, do you?"

The young man's jaw was tense. Shen Qingye withdrew her gaze, satisfied, then added: "Then after you killed, you must have headed north."

"If I remember correctly, the north of this area belongs to the countryside. There aren’t many people around at night."

She looked at the young man's increasingly tense expression and smiled faintly. "Where did you dump that head?"

Her calm eyes gradually turned cold:

"By the roadside weeds?"

"A small grove you passed?"

"Or an abandoned house? A ditch? Or maybe buried under a tree?"

The young man, hearing her guesses, involuntarily relaxed a little. But Shen Qingye laughed. "Doesn't seem like any of those."

"Then let me think... It's been roughly a week since the incident, and with this weather, the head would definitely start to rot and stink. Where could you hide it without it being found?"

"Not in water..."

"Could it be underground then?"

The young man's face gave a slight twitch. Shen Qingye's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, so it really is underground."

"Underground, but not under a tree, not in a grove." Shen Qingye's eyes lit up as if she had thought of something, and suddenly spoke: "You didn't toss the head into a sewer, did you?"

The young man suddenly looked up at her, his expression shocked and stunned.

Shen Qingye, seeing this, smiled pleasantly. "Ah, I guessed right—it really is in the sewer."

The young man's face instantly turned pale.

...

Ten minutes later, under the intense questioning of the veteran detective, the young man finally couldn't withstand it and confessed the specific location of the head.

Another ten minutes later, the group sped to the maximum and finally stopped by a roadside seven kilometers away from the crime scene.

Captain Yang took out the iron rod he bought on the way, tilted it into the hole of the manhole cover, pried and twisted, finally opening a crack in the manhole cover. Then Yue Lingchuan and Li Mingliang stepped forward together to lift the manhole cover. With a "bang," the manhole cover heavily hit the ground.

No one had the mind to look more. Shen Qingye took out the flashlight from the car, shone it inside—

It was a rainwater well. Luckily, Pingjiang hadn't had rain recently. There was only a shallow layer of water at the bottom, almost dry.

Because of this, the red plastic bag was particularly noticeable in the dim sewer.

"Hahaha!" Captain Yang suddenly laughed out loud, reached out and patted Shen Qingye's shoulder. "Good job, good job!"

His gaze at Shen Qingye was full of obvious praise, the previous disdain had long disappeared. "Xiao Shen, Xiao Shen, this time it really is thanks to you! You are our great hero!"

Captain Yang seemed overly excited, his large hand slapping Shen Qingye's shoulder with loud "thuds," making Yue Lingchuan frown deeply.

He tugged Shen Qingye behind him, and Captain Yang paused, turning to glare at him. Yue Lingchuan said seriously, "Captain, let's hurry and call the Trace Examination Unit first."

Captain Yang's expression shifted, and he glanced at him again, somehow sensing that the guy seemed a bit annoyed.

Weird.

He scratched his head, still feeling elated, and laughed heartily twice before taking a couple of steps aside and pulling out his phone to make a call.

Shen Qingye was left standing nearby, raising her hand to rub her shoulder with a pained expression. Meeting Yue Lingchuan's concerned gaze, she fell silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Her eyes lit up, a stark contrast to the intense pressure she had exuded during the interrogation.

Yue Lingchuan couldn't help but feel momentarily dazed.