Upon returning from the Municipal Bureau office, Chen Cong immediately joined Wen Di from the detachment to interrogate the sender who had used the express courier to deliver the dismembered body parts to the pedestrian street.
The suspect looked very young. His name was Wang Jianan, a twenty-one-year-old college student who had moved from Huaixi Province to Jianghu City for his studies. Because he started school early, he graduated in 2019 and chose to stay in Jianghu City to work.
The residential apartment Jiang Zhi had tracked down was a place he rented with a fellow provincial native, serving as his dwelling in Jianghu.
After graduating, Wang Jianan had been working as a workshop quality inspector at a privately owned aluminum door and window manufacturing company. However, a month ago, he was fired for repeatedly arriving late and leaving early.
In the month that followed, he became a complete shut-in, neither looking for a new job nor planning to return to Huaixi.
Because the arrest happened so suddenly, as he sat in the interrogation room wearing a bewildered expression, he was still dressed in a thick, floral pajama set.
Having always been a law-abiding citizen whose most brutal and bloody acts involved torturing opponents in video games, the bewildered expression on his face instantly morphed into sheer terror the moment Wen Di said, "Wang Jianan, you are suspected of involvement in a murder and body-dumping case. Our detachment is now interrogating you in accordance with the law."
"Me? Suspected of murder?" He leaned back abruptly in disbelief. "How is that possible! I'm not a bad person! I absolutely didn't kill anyone! Uncle Police Officer! There must be some mistake! I don't even dare kill a fish at home, how could I kill a person?! Uncle Police Officer, you definitely got the wrong guy!"
Wen Di, who had just been called "Uncle Police Officer," couldn't help but look down at the investigation record again.
The Interviewee section read:
Wang Jianan
ID Number: 3602791999XXXX1256
Contact Number: 157XXXXXXX9
After repeatedly checking the suspect's ID number, he couldn't help but roll his eyes dramatically in his mind: Uncle? You think being born in '99 makes you special? I'm a 90s kid too, okay!
Despite thinking this, he maintained a strictly professional demeanor on the surface: "In all my time as a police officer, aside from those who turn themselves in, I have yet to meet a murderer who directly admits they committed a crime."
Intending to intimidate him, Wen Di deliberately slowed his speech to a crawl, every word dripping with a sinister undertone: "However, little kid... your uncle here advises you to be honest. Leniency for those who confess is your best option." He raised a hand and pointed at the large red characters painted on the white wall behind him. "You know how to read those words, don't you?"
Wang Jianan looked up. It was a slogan he had only ever seen in police procedural TV dramas.
"Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist." Wen Di slowly recited the slogan that everyone, from eighty-year-old grandpas to three-year-old toddlers, knew by heart.
Sitting in the other interrogation chair, Chen Cong hadn't spoken a single word from start to finish.
Wen Di jerked his chin toward Chen Cong, who naturally looked perpetually furious, and told the already teary-eyed Wang Jianan: "This is Captain Chen, the head of our detachment. You see that slogan behind you? We each handle half of it. I handle the 'leniency,' and he handles the 'severity.' According to the rules, I will ask the questions first. You need to seize this opportunity and answer properly. Understand what I mean?"
Seeing Wang Jianan nodding like a pounding garlic pestle, Wen Di squeezed out an amicable smile: "Then let's officially begin."
Wen Di pulled a photograph from a file folder, placed it on the table, and turned it around to face Wang Jianan. It was a photo of the backpack used to transport the body parts.
"Have you seen this before?"
Wang Jianan took a close look and nodded immediately: "I've seen it." Catching sight of the red "Leniency for those who confess" characters out of the corner of his eye, he quickly added, "I handed it to an express courier last night."
Wen Di stared straight into Wang Jianan's eyes and asked, "What did you put inside it?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? You handed over the bag yourself, and you don't know what was inside it?"
"It wasn't my bag," Wang Jianan defended himself in a small voice.
"Not your bag?" Wen Di chuckled in amusement. "Alright, then let me ask you: Since you recognized this bag, and the news across all platforms has been bombarding it all morning, why didn't you call the police?"
"What news? Why should I call the police?" Wang Jianan looked genuinely bewildered again.
Wen Di stared at him for a long time, his gaze feeling like it could burn a hole right through him: "You're not planning to tell me that you didn't know your backpack was the one used to dump a dead body in the Jiangning Road Pedestrian Street case, are you?"
"D-dead body?" Wang Jianan trembled in terror. His previously recovering eyes instantly reddened again. He sat stunned for a long time before putting on an expression like he'd been struck by lightning. Eyes wide, he asked, "U-Uncle Police Officer, are you saying there was a dead body in the backpack I sent?!"
Wen Di and Vice Captain Chen Cong exchanged a quick glance.
"You really didn't know?"
"I-I really didn't know!"
Wen Di sneered and tossed the pen in his hand onto the table. "You don't know anything. Then why do you think we brought you here?" He rapped his knuckles twice against the table right in front of Wang Jianan. "Even if you '99 kids never watch TV, surely you check Weibo or ZhiDao, right? The murder case has been hanging on the trending search lists across all major online platforms all day, and you're telling me you don't know? Let me tell you, Wang Jianan! Just based on the fact that you didn't call the police, I could detain you right now!"
Faced with Wen Di's suddenly raised voice, Wang Jianan—who felt the police had already mistakenly identified him as the murderer—grew even more frantic. Nose red with grievance, he defended himself: "I-I saw some news push notifications saying something about a body dump on Jiangning Road Pedestrian Street! B-but I didn't read them carefully at all! When you guys came looking for me, I had only just woken up! The moment I woke up, I jumped straight into gaming with my friends! I really wasn't deliberately hiding anything! If I had known there was a dead body in the bag, I definitely would have called the police!"
Seeing that the uniformed Wen Di sitting across from him hadn't written a single word on the interrogation record, Wang Jianan experienced a rare moment of brilliance. He instantly realized that this "Uncle Police Officer" didn't believe a single word he was saying.
Terrified and panicking, he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. His voice took on a sobbing tone: "It's true! The friends I was gaming with can all testify for me!"
"Then explain to me, why were the body parts with you? Also, since the backpack isn't yours, why was it sent out by you?"
"I was doing a favor for an online friend I met on a forum!"
"An online friend? What's their name? How long have you known each other? Which forum?"
Wang Jianan, who had been completely honest up until now, suddenly started dodging the questions with his eyes. After stammering for a long time, he finally squeezed out: "I can't remember clearly."
Patiently, Wen Di asked him a few more questions. But whenever the mysterious forum was mentioned, Wang Jianan would always act evasive and refuse to speak clearly.
He simply insisted that he was innocent and that the bag was just something an online friend asked him to help deliver.
His patience exhausted, Wen Di turned to Chen Cong: "Selling his labor for free to transport a dead body for a stranger he's never even met? Captain Chen, this kid qualifies for the Touching China✦ translator's noteTouching China (感动中国): An annual TV program broadcast by CCTV that honors individuals who have made significant, heart-touching contributions or sacrifices to society. Wen Di sarcastically implies Wang Jianan is so selflessly helpful to strangers he deserves a national award. awards, doesn't he?" Saying this, he gave Wang Jianan a fake, skin-deep smile: "I couldn't tell, Wang Jianan, but you're a true model of helping others in need!"
Both terrified and utterly embarrassed, Wang Jianan blurted out the most commonly used phrase on forums: "Everyone helps each other out, may good people be blessed with peace their whole lives."✦ translator's noteMay good people be blessed with peace their whole lives (好人一生平安): Originally a famous song title, it became a standard, polite phrase used by netizens on forums to thank uploaders who share pirated content, adult videos, or "resources" for free.
Wen Di slammed his hand on the table and stood up aggressively: "I don't have the time to sit here and listen to your storytime!"
Looking down at him from above, he demanded: "The backpack only has your fingerprints and the courier's fingerprints on it. The courier identified the bag as coming from you! Wang Jianan! You better honestly and completely explain everything from beginning to end right now!"
"I-I..."
"Of course, you can continue to sit here and make up bullshit! But let me remind you, this is a major case involving the murder and dismemberment of a police officer! If you don't confess voluntarily and lack the mitigating circumstance of turning yourself in... once we investigate and dig out the truth, you're absolutely eating a bullet✦ translator's noteEating a bullet (吃枪子): A slang term for being executed by firing squad (the traditional method of capital punishment in China).! Or perhaps, you'd rather our leader take over the interrogation!"
Wang Jianan bit his lip, his head bowed low. The two hands resting on the table clasped together and then separated, his face displaying an agonizing internal struggle.
Channeling his inner actor, Wen Di used one foot to hook the chair—which had slid backward due to his forceful standing—back toward himself. As he sat down, he sighed dramatically: "Tsk, born in '99, so young... what a genuine pity..." Finishing his sentence, he turned to Chen Cong: "Captain Chen, I recall the age of full criminal responsibility is sixteen, right? Wow, calculating it out, a '99 kid is already twenty-one!"
Chen Cong, who was being portrayed by his subordinate as a violent, law-enforcement demon cop, thought to himself: This guy really wasted his talent by not going to film school and becoming an actor.
Yet on the surface, he cooperated fully with his subordinate's routine, nodding with a heavy, grim expression.
"Yeah. If he really did it, it's enough to get him executed several times over."
Wen Di gave his superior a sly wink, then hardened his face again as he turned back to Wang Jianan. In a tone dripping with regret, he said, "Sigh, a young man in his twenties, raised with so much blood, sweat, and tears by his parents... Tell me, why did you do it? Tsk, no matter how young you are, doing something like this... your life is just over..."
The drawn-out ending syllables and the deeply suppressed tone struck Wang Jianan like a bomb.
Startled, he suddenly jerked his head up from staring at his hands and spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube: "I really am not the killer! I was just running an errand for someone! Last night around nine o'clock, a boss in the same city called me. He said he had to go on an emergency business trip and was rushing to the airport, so he needed an errand boy to go near Lane 99 on Zhongxin Road to pick something up and hand it to an express courier. The time, location, and sender's information were all arranged by him!"
Sitting up straight, Wen Di picked up the pen from his clipboard again and asked, "Which boss?"
Wang Jianan's psychological defenses had been completely shattered. Knowing it was impossible to hide it any longer, he answered honestly: "It's the online friend I mentioned earlier."
He was an otaku✦ translator's noteOtaku / Zhai Nan (宅男): A loanword from Japanese, describing a geeky guy who rarely leaves the house and is obsessed with anime, manga, video games, etc. in every sense of the word, possessing the same broad range of hobbies common to many shut-ins.
Video games, manga, girl groups, minor idols, Japanese adult action videos, uniquely functional dolls... These were all things he loved and was more than willing to throw money at.
Eventually, this young man—who had wide-ranging hobbies and was perfectly willing to generate electricity for love✦ translator's noteGenerate electricity for love (为爱发电): Chinese internet slang originally referring to fan creators who produce content for free out of pure love for the fandom. Over time, it evolved to mean spending one's own money, time, or energy to support one's hobbies or idols without expecting a return. with his wallet—found himself hopelessly trapped in severe financial difficulties after being unemployed for a month.
On February 1st, before his savings completely dried up, Wang Jianan, who had previously self-studied Japanese, decided to take proactive measures to improve his financial situation.
However, in a moment of hot-headed brilliance, harboring the noble ideal of applying what he had learned while balancing both his career and his hobbies, he chose to post a part-time job advertisement on the small forum where he frequently watched adult videos.
...
The update is here! Depending on how things go during the day, if the writing goes smoothly, there should be another update around 3:00 PM.
If there isn't an update this afternoon, then I'll see you all again at midnight tomorrow. Love you all!
My cuties reading the story, let's head over to the comments section as usual.
Touching China (感动中国): An annual TV program broadcast by CCTV that honors individuals who have made significant, heart-touching contributions or sacrifices to society. Wen Di sarcastically implies Wang Jianan is so selflessly helpful to strangers he deserves a national award.
May good people be blessed with peace their whole lives (好人一生平安): Originally a famous song title, it became a standard, polite phrase used by netizens on forums to thank uploaders who share pirated content, adult videos, or "resources" for free.
Eating a bullet (吃枪子): A slang term for being executed by firing squad (the traditional method of capital punishment in China).
Otaku / Zhai Nan (宅男): A loanword from Japanese, describing a geeky guy who rarely leaves the house and is obsessed with anime, manga, video games, etc.
Se Se (色色): Internet slang meaning erotic, sexy, or adult content (often referring to porn).
Generate electricity for love (为爱发电): Chinese internet slang originally referring to fan creators who produce content for free out of pure love for the fandom. Over time, it evolved to mean spending one's own money, time, or energy to support one's hobbies or idols without expecting a return.