That evening, Captain Lin called back.
"That man who appeared in the back alley at 10:28," Captain Lin's voice carried a hint of excitement, "I had someone take the surveillance screenshot around the bar area to compare. The owner of a repair shop recognized him—He Jinsong, Chen Wan's former business partner."
"Partner?" Yin Wuwang and Xie Qingyan spoke almost simultaneously.
"Yes. Night Wanderer was originally opened by two people. Chen Wan provided the ideas; He Jinsong provided the money. Later they had a falling out, and He Jinsong withdrew." Captain Lin said. "And this He Jinsong isn't exactly clean—three years ago he got into a fight over a business dispute. He has a record."
"What kind of dispute?" Yin Wuwang asked.
"Some stock issue. He claimed someone owed him money, went to collect, things got physical. The other party pressed charges." Captain Lin's voice crackled slightly through the phone speaker. "He served six months. Got out and kept a low profile since then—until now."
Yin Wuwang connected this to the surveillance footage: He Jinsong waiting for Chen Wan in the back alley, exchanging a few words with Chen Wan, then being rejected and leaving. His body language at the time had shown frustration and anger. The way his shoulders had slumped, the forceful way he'd shoved his hands back into his pockets—classic signs of someone who'd just been denied something they badly wanted.
Had motive. Had a record. Was present on the night of the incident.
On the surface, all arrows pointed to this person.
But Yin Wuwang's instinct whispered: Not right.
This person was too "perfect." Perfect like a chess piece deliberately placed there.
Little Deer Assistant 9527's voice suddenly emerged, choppy and broken, as if desperately squeezing words through interference: "This person... crackle... in the original manuscript... crackle crackle... the author wrote his name and motive... but the plot after that... crackle... wasn't finished..."
Yin Wuwang frowned. "What do you mean wasn't finished?"
"Crackle crackle... meaning... a half-developed suspect... crackle... behavioral logic incomplete... crackle..."
Then Little Deer Assistant's voice was completely swallowed by interference.
Yin Wuwang cursed internally: Broken artifact spirit.
He looked toward Xie Qingyan. Xie Qingyan was tapping his pen tip lightly against the table, rhythm slow, as if thinking.
"What's your take?" Yin Wuwang asked.
Xie Qingyan didn't answer immediately. He reviewed the three clues in his notebook again—He Jinsong was the former partner, had a record, and had contact with Chen Wan in the back alley on the night of the incident.
"Too smooth." Xie Qingyan finally spoke. "Smooth enough to seem fake."
Yin Wuwang's lips curved slightly upward.
See? Without this sovereign saying anything, Fuguang already smelled something off.
"But we can't skip over him." Xie Qingyan capped his pen. "Regardless of whether he's the killer, he appeared at the scene that night. We have to clarify what he was doing. And—"
He stood and walked to the window.
"He was rejected by Chen Wan. He went to find Chen Wan that night because he definitely had something to discuss."
Outside the window was Cloud City's evening. The clouds on the horizon were burned to a dark orange by the setting sun, and the distant skyscrapers became silhouettes in the light.
Xie Qingyan stood with his back to Yin Wuwang, his voice drifting from the window with the particular stillness of evening:
"Whatever He Jinsong wanted to discuss might have been related to the bar's ownership. Or to Chen Wan's debt."
He turned around.
"Either way, he knows Chen Wan's background."
Yin Wuwang looked at Xie Qingyan's backlit silhouette. The sunset came through from behind him, gilding the edges of his shoulders and hair with warm color.
He thought of something completely unrelated to the case.
Then immediately strangled that thought.
"Then we investigate He Jinsong first." Yin Wuwang stood, picking up the car keys from the table. "Tomorrow."
Xie Qingyan gave a slight nod.
Back at the apartment, Yin Wuwang spread the surveillance screenshots from today across the dining table.
Three photographs. Zhang Yunxiang entering the back alley. He Jinsong leaving the back alley. The unidentified woman emerging from the shadows.
Xie Qingyan walked over with a freshly brewed cup of tea and sat across from him, gaze falling on the third photograph.
Several seconds of silence.
"She waited in the shadows for at least an hour." Xie Qingyan set down the teacup. "Only after Zhang Yunxiang fled did she emerge."
"Premeditated." Yin Wuwang said.
"More than that." Xie Qingyan's finger lightly tapped the edge of the photograph. "She knew exactly where the cameras could and couldn't see. Her familiarity with that back alley wasn't like someone visiting for the first time."
Yin Wuwang looked at that blurry figure. The woman with the pleasant voice. The woman who manipulated Zhang Yunxiang. The woman hiding in the back alley shadows.
Three descriptions that might all belong to the same person.
"Could they be the same person?" He asked.
Xie Qingyan didn't answer. He arranged the three photographs side by side and stared at them for a long time. His finger traced an invisible line connecting the three images—Zhang Yunxiang's panic, He Jinsong's frustration, and that shadowy figure's calculated patience.
Then he said one sentence.
"If it's the same person—among all the clues we currently have, she doesn't appear anywhere."
Yin Wuwang understood what he meant. They'd interviewed bar employees, checked the victim's residence, reviewed surveillance footage. And yet this woman—if she existed, if she was real—had left no trace that they could identify. No name. No face. Just a pleasant voice that two different people remembered, and a shadow that knew exactly where to hide from cameras.
The ceiling light above the dining table emitted a soft hum. Three photographs lay side by side; the figure in the rightmost one was so blurry the outline was barely visible.
A vast, invisible net had already been cast. And she was hiding somewhere in this city. And they hadn't even seen her face clearly.
Tomorrow they would investigate He Jinsong. But Yin Wuwang had a feeling—the former partner was just another piece on the board. The real player was still in the shadows.
[End of V2_Chapter 25]
Next: The former partner's alibi, a debt that goes deeper than expected, and a name that keeps coming up—Liu Long.