AD | Chapter 2

Hearing him voluntarily bring up the past, Lu Qingfeng’s heart stirred slightly, but he didn’t say anything more. He walked straight toward the people who had reported the case. Jiang Huainan had just finished questioning them and stood up to leave. Seeing them approach, he handed the notebook in his hand to Lu Qingfeng. “Boss, I’ve asked almost everything. Take a look and see if anything is missing.”

Lu Qingfeng gave it a brief glance, then walked over to the elderly couple who had discovered the corpse. Seeing this, Jiang Huainan quickly said, “This is our detachment leader.”

The old lady obviously looked somewhat exhausted, while the old man beside her appeared even more impatient. “What else do you want to ask? Haven’t we already told you what we needed to say? How many times do you make us repeat ourselves?!”

“We know that you two were greatly shocked at the scene, but the police now need to collect enough information to catch the perpetrator of this case. So, we trouble you to cooperate. We will ask you a few more questions, and it will be done quickly,” Lu Qingfeng said gently.

The two hesitated for a moment, but finally compromised. “Alright. Ask away…”

“Do you two come to Taining Mountain for a walk every day after dinner?” Lu Qingfeng asked.

“Yes, my spouse and I have lived here for so many years. We come to this area for a walk every day. Usually, we wouldn’t go up the mountain, but since it rained last night, my trachea has been feeling a bit uncomfortable. Plus, I had indigestion after dinner, so I thought climbing up the mountain for a walk would help. The air up there is fresher, so…”

“So… you usually don’t go up there?”

“People living around Taining Mountain generally don’t go up. Not only are there no streetlights on the mountain at night, but even during the day, apart from some scavengers, very few people come to this area.”

Lu Qingfeng found it strange and asked again, “Why?”

But the old lady suddenly lowered her voice mysteriously. “Because someone died on that mountain a few years ago!”

“In the early years, no one knows what happened, but a pregnant woman jumped off the cliff on the mountain and committed suicide. It was said that she was about eight months pregnant when she died, and the fetus in her belly was already fully formed. Oh, the sight was tragic. It was truly a sin!”

“After that, not many people dared to go up this mountain. Everyone says that because of the pregnant woman jumping off the cliff, there are cries of babies whenever the sky is cloudy and raining. Moreover, none of the people who went up came back alive. They say this place is cursed and haunted!”

“My old man and I are just unlucky. We only wanted to take a walk on the mountain and breathe some fresh air. How… how did we end up encountering something like this!!”

Lu Qingfeng hurriedly recorded notes in his notebook. Lin Shuyao leaned in curiously to look, but he found that Lu Qingfeng had not written down what the other party had said word for word. Instead, he had directly written out his inferred results, such as “pregnant woman jumped off cliff to commit suicide,” “time of death temporarily undetermined,” “people nearby basically do not go up the mountain”… Each sentence was circled repeatedly.

“So, have you encountered any suspicious people while walking nearby recently?”

Hearing Lu Qingfeng’s question, the old lady was startled at first. She frowned and thought for a while before speaking. “Suspicious people? Now that you mention it, I do recall a suspicious person. At first, I thought that person was strange. I originally planned to keep an eye out and ask around, but my old man insisted on leaving. That person hadn’t even said anything yet, and he… pulled me away.”

Speaking to this point, the old lady pushed the old man beside her and scolded, “Old man, speak up. Tell the police officer yourself. Am I telling the truth or not!”

“Okay, okay, I’ll tell the police officer. Don’t pull me, don’t pull me.” After speaking to his wife, the old man turned his head toward Lu Qingfeng. “It’s like this, Officer. That day, my wife and I were coming back from our walk when we met a young man. That young man looked strange. Dressed all in black, he came up and asked us if we had seen someone named Zi Qing or Qingzi…”

After the old man finished speaking, seeing that Lu Qingfeng remained silent for a long time, he asked unhappily, “Hey, Officer, do you suspect us two?”

“How could that be!” Lu Qingfeng smiled. “We are just conducting a simple inquiry. Please don’t overthink it. Besides, we must thank you two for providing useful clues to the police. Alright, it’s late today, so let’s stop here for now. However, I must ask you two to stay in Rongzhou City for the time being. If we have more questions later, we may need to find you again. I hope you two will cooperate.” As he spoke, Lu Qingfeng closed the notebook in his hand and casually signaled to an officer. “Someone! Escort these two back home!”

With Jiang Huainan’s support, the two elderly people slowly left. Lu Qingfeng watched them depart, then turned and walked toward his car. “Speak up, Doctor Lin. What is your opinion on that couple just now?”

As he spoke, he casually took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag. He had just taken out his lighter and clicked it twice when Lin Shuyao snatched it away. “What are you doing smoking at the crime scene? I don’t want to inhale secondhand smoke next to you.”

“Sigh, I just got a craving. It feels uncomfortable not smoking. But after so many years, your temper really hasn’t changed…” Lu Qingfeng chuckled lightly.

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly realized something. The smile on his face faded. Suddenly, a lollipop was delivered in front of his eyes. “Since you have a craving, eat this instead. Smoking is bad for your health.”

Seeing the lollipop decorated with pink hearts and a big bear head pattern, Lu Qingfeng immediately laughed. “I’m a grown man, and you want me to eat this?”

Lin Shuyao glanced at him. “Take it or leave it.” After saying this, he was about to put the candy away, but it was snatched by the latter. “Although I won’t eat it, I didn’t say I didn’t want it. Ah, seven full years have passed. Suddenly receiving a candy is truly nostalgic. It’s good to keep it for storage.”

Lin Shuyao felt somewhat helpless. He smiled at Lu Qingfeng. “Hasn’t your temper also remained the same, unchanged from before?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lin Shuyao secretly hated himself for speaking faster than thinking. He coughed once and continued, “I think… they are probably not the murderers. However, they are indeed strange. Every time the topic of the pregnant woman jumping off the cliff to commit suicide comes up, their expressions become peculiar, as if they are hiding something. But investigating these matters is your job as criminal police. I am only responsible for interrogating the dead, letting the evidence on the bodies speak. As for questioning the living, that is not my concern.”

It wasn’t until Lin Shuyao followed Lu Qingfeng to the side of the car that he realized Lu Qingfeng had turned on the turn signal. He hurriedly asked, “Hey, where are you going?”

Lu Qingfeng looked at him inexplicably. “Of course, back to the bureau for a brief meeting. I have already notified everyone here. The brothers from technical investigation have finished taking photos, and the scene investigation is mostly complete. It’s too late now. The investigations Xiao Tao and the others are conducting will likely yield results in a few days. Besides, it looks like it’s about to rain…”

He paused, then continued, “Doctor Lin, don’t think that just because you are new, you can be disorganized and undisciplined. We don’t have the strange rule of clocking in and out on time here. Anyway, since you just arrived today, it’s a good opportunity to familiarize yourself. Hitch a ride with me. Let’s go back to the team first.”

“Hey, why are you…” Lin Shuyao’s rebuttal stopped halfway, and he didn’t know what else to say.

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Shuyao finally agreed and got into the car driven by Lu Qingfeng. As for his own car, it seemed to have been forgotten by him.

…

9:30 PM, Rongzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau was brightly lit.

Lu Qingfeng stood in the conference room with furrowed brows, sticking all the photos collected at the scene onto the whiteboard in front of him. “Is everyone here? Director Zhang just called. Because this case has caused a significant impact within Rongzhou City, Director Zhang has ordered us to solve the case within one week. Let’s temporarily refer to this case as the ‘Taining Mountain Case.’ Are there any questions?”

Everyone said “No” one after another. Then, Lu Qingfeng continued, “Xiao Tao, give us an overall overview of the crime scene situation.”