Cui Yan was not so stupid as to not realize that he had been used by the imposter to shoulder the blame. Now the question was, why did he change his mind all of a sudden when he had clearly been running from the police all this while?

"Maybe... he’s being threatened by the imposter?" Someone took a guess.

"But don’t you need to own something important to be threatened?" Another officer argued reasonably. "As for Cui Yan... what did he have? To put it simply, he lived in a rented apartment, he doesn’t have a car and hell, he doesn’t even own insurance. At most, he only has his reputation as a famous feng shui master. But even his reputation has already gone into shambles once we discovered Qin Zhen’s corpse in his house. What else does he need to protect?"

"His life?" Kang Guanyu chimed in. He had just said it casually, but then everyone’s eyes suddenly turned to him in a whosh, scaring him into flinching. "Eh, eh, I’m just guessing! What can be more important to a person than their life?"

The officers mulled over his words and nodded. For once, what Kang Guanyu said made perfect sense. If the imposter had really threatened Cui Yan’s life, then it was reasonable for him to cower and comply. But...

"Isn’t it making it easier for us?" Chen Lian asked with her brows creased. "Supposedly, Cui Yan’s life is really in danger. But now that he’s in the police station, we can watch over him 24/7 and make sure that nothing happens to him. We can even take things one step further – strike a deal with Cui Yan to defeat the imposter. As the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. In this case, if we strike a deal with Cui Yan, then it will be a win-win situation for everyone. It doesn’t make sense for the imposter to place himself in such an unfavorable position."

Everyone pondered on her words and felt like their heads were swelling up like balloons. Just a little poke and they would burst with a pop.

"It seems like another interrogation session is in order," Director Zhang stated lightly, then he patted Li Zhi on the shoulder. If they wanted to know something, then what was more efficient than asking the related party themselves? "I will have to trouble you again."

Helpless, Li Zhi could only step up to the task.

When he met Cui Yan again, the man had a smug look on his face as if he knew that everything had proceeded as planned. "How is it, Captain Li?" he asked, a hint of mocking laughter in his tone.

If Li Zhi had to be honest, he did not sound like someone whose life was being threatened. But of course, this was all his mere assumption. And the worst thing a detective could have done was to jump into conclusion based only on inferences. Li Zhi would never allow himself to do that. Hence, he kept the doubt to himself for the time being and sat down opposite Cui Yan.

He did not beat around the bush. "You are not Qin Zhen and Wu Liang’s murderer."

Obviously, Cui Yan was taken aback by this firm opening sentence. He fixed Li Zhi a stare, his gaze narrowed.

Well, that was a good reaction, Li Zhi mused. Cui Yan was not stupid, but he was not the sharpest tool in the shed either. Now that he already lowered his guard thinking that everything had gone well, it was easy for Li Zhi to gauge the answer by taking him off guard. "You are not the murderer," he casually tapped his pen on the notebook. "So why are you admitting to the crime? Let’s see... are you being threatened? Is your life in danger?"

Cui Yan’s eyes flashed before he swiftly covered it with a disdainful chuckle. It was so brief that Li Zhi would have missed it had he not been trained to observe micro body language. Granted, Cui Yan would not be hailed as a mysterious feng shui master if his acting skills were lousy in the first place.

Li Zhi added, "Does the imposter threaten to kill you if you don’t obey his words?"

Strangely, this time Cui Yan’s reaction was the opposite. His shoulders visibly relaxed and he regained his momentum again. "Me? Being threatened?" He scoffed in mock laughter. "Captain Li, you sure have a wild imagination. You have seen it in the video. I, Cui Yan, fear nothing under Heaven and above the Earth. Who could possibly threaten my life?"

Wrong conjecture, Li Zhi scribbled down furiously on his notebook. There was a high possibility that Cui Yan was indeed being threatened, but his enemy was not the imposter. But if that was the case, then who? Who could be dangerous enough for him to make a deal with a psychopath like the imposter? All of a sudden, Li Zhi recalled what the imposter had said about the cat and mouse game with more than one cat, and his eyelids twitched.

"And what did you call him again? Imposter?" Cui Yan barked out a laugh. He laughed so hard that his shoulders shook and tears almost squeezed out of his eyes. "Gods, thank you for giving me a good laugh..." he wheezed lightly. "Seeing that we will be meeting each other often in the future, I will let you in on something. That guy, he is the Master of Disguise and Manipulation."

Li Zhi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. What was the difference between it and imposter?

"You are not the murderer," Li Zhi brooded.

Cui Yan replied with a shrug, "Can you prove it?"

That’s right, it was exactly where the problem lay. They could not prove that Cui Yan was not the murderer, but at the rate where they were going, he would be locked in as the culprit for sure. Pursing his lips, Li Zhi started to ask him more difficult questions such as when Qin Zhen was replaced and when he was killed because the police still could not sort out the chronology of the event.

But this time, Cui Yan learned to act difficult. He gave a smile that was not a smile, "Is that important? You have already found the corpse, the evidence and the culprit, what else do you want?"

"Then what method are you killing him with?"

"Drugs."

"What kind of drugs?"

"Heh, why should I tell you?"

Li Zhi’s forehead throbbed as he struggled to restrain his temper. If it was any other person, Cui Yan would have already been thrashed to the ground and beaten into pulp. It was lucky that Li Zhi’s temperament was the most stable among all and could still maintain a civil relationship. However, it was clear that Cui Yan was unwilling to answer any more questions – or he simply had no idea at all.

Just like he had said, the police already gathered the evidence and caught the culprit, what else did they want? No! How could Li Zhi be reconciled with such an ending? The motive, the logic, everything was jumbled up! If he were to accept the conclusion of the case just like that, then his surname was not Li!

Just as Li Zhi was wracking his brain trying to tackle this matter from another direction, Director Zhang’s voice came from the earpiece, "End the interrogation and come back." The director’s voice was stern and solemn, and Li Zhi knew better than to go against him when he was being serious.

Frowning, he could only conclude the interrogation for the time being and hurriedly returned to the meeting room. Everyone was still there, and the air was buzzing with soft murmurs and discussion. Director Zhang sat at the head of the table with a thoughtful look on his face.

Somehow, Li Zhi did not have a good feeling about this.

He sat down on his seat and elbowed Rong Simo beside him, "What’s wrong?" However, Rong Simo was none the wiser. He shook his head, puzzled. Director Zhang had only gone out to accept one phone call and when he returned, he immediately summoned Li Zhi back and stayed in a contemplative mood.

Li Zhi cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Oh, you’re here?" Director Zhang was brought out of his reverie and knocked on the table. "Okay, now that everyone is here, I have an important announcement to make. Listen carefully." The atmosphere instantly stagnated as everyone waited for Director Zhang to speak. And when the man finally did, he directly dropped a nuclear bomb that combusted the air to bits and pieces.

"Quickly close these two cases with Cui Yan as the culprit. Write the report and send it to me tomorrow night at the latest."

Everyone’s jaws practically dropped to the ground.

...What? What did Director Zhang just say?!

This time, Li Zhi could not hold himself back anymore. He was the first one to protest, his voice was shaking due to rage and frustration. "He is not the real culprit! If we close the case just like that, it means we are letting a dangerous person roam free! How can we ensure that there won’t be a second Qin Zhen or Wu Liang in the future?!"

Everyone echoed Li Zhi’s words. "That’s right, we haven’t even caught the imposter yet!"

"I thought we had sworn to catch him earlier, so why are you going back on your words now, Director?!"

"Is it an order from above?!"

Words of anger and protest piled up one after another, turning the meeting room into one large noisy space. In retrospect, Director Zhang’s order this time was indeed very unusual. How could he expect this group of hot-blooded people to settle down? Asking them to turn a blind eye to the truth... could they still be considered law enforcers this way?!

— No! Li Zhi could not do that. He refused to back down even if he killed him!

"Calm down," Director Zhang pressed on his temple helplessly, having expected this kind of reaction. "I am not telling you to let the imposter go, but we’re just using the small fish to hook the big one, okay?" When he saw everyone’s puzzled and unreconciled look, he heaved out a sigh. "I’ve just received a word from the higher-ups. The source of this information has been confirmed."

He swept his gaze around and stressed over each word, "Three days from now, there will be a big move in the underworld. Xuanlong’s Boss is summoning all of his elite subordinates back. Do you understand what I’m saying? Three days from now, Xuanlong will once again be rebuilt. The Boss, the imposter and even... XIU, everyone will show up once again. We have to prepare ourselves for an ambush."

.

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Case 2: Turtle Caught In A Jar[1] — Discontinued (cold case)

[1] Taken from Chinese idiom ’catch a turtle in a jar’ meaning to set oneself as an easy target. Hmm, is it referring to Wu Yuan, Cui Yan, Jia Molei or... He Juan? Or all of them? Hehe