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His attitude surprised Han Hao, who remained stunned for a moment before asking, "Why did you take so long to arrive?"

"There are some arrangements at the bureau." Yin Jian hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth, "It's about personnel transfers... Luo Fei will become the acting captain of the city's criminal investigation team."

Han Hao felt a surge of blood rushing to his chest, overwhelmed with depression. It's true that comparisons are detrimental to one's circumstances. Just a day or two ago, Luo Fei was a suspect in his eyes, but now their positions were completely reversed. Receiving such news so suddenly was truly unbearable.

After a long while, Han Hao finally recovered and asked with a wry smile, "When will he take office?"

"The transfer order has been issued, and he should officially take office tomorrow."

"Good." Han Hao closed his eyes and sighed softly, "It's just in time for my interrogation. Now he'll have a chance to vent his anger."

Yin Jian clearly didn't believe Luo Fei would be as vindictive as Han Hao, but he still advised, "Captain Han, don't drag this out until he arrives. Just tell us what's going on. We're all your brothers, after all, we can't let you suffer..."

Yin Jian's tone was sincere, and Han Hao couldn't help but be moved. However, after a moment of silence, he shook his head: "I can't talk about it today... I'm too tired, I need to rest properly."

"Alright." In this atmosphere, Yin Jian was happy to save face. He looked at the two officers beside him, "You two take Captain Han away to rest first."

"This..." A junior officer seemed a little confused and asked absentmindedly, "How do I bring it?"

Yin Jian bit his lip: "What do you mean, how do I bring it? Follow the rules."

"Yes!" The young officer answered readily, but when he actually stood before Han Hao, he became timid and hesitant. "Captain Han, I..."

Han Hao offered his hands: "Cuff me."

As the young officer handcuffed Han Hao, he said, "We need to check the things on you."

Han Hao raised his arm, allowing the young officer to empty his pockets of all his belongings, including keys, identification, wallet, and cell phone. Once this was done, the young officer's gaze then settled on Han Hao's neck.

There was a metal pendant there, which, according to regulations, had to be removed.

Han Hao noticed the other person's gaze and said calmly, "These are photos of my son."

The young police officer looked to Yin Jian for help.

Yin Jian hesitated for a moment, then said, "Why don't you check that pendant?"

The pendant seemed perfectly normal; it was actually a flip-top brass picture frame. Once the flip was opened, a photograph was indeed pressed under the acrylic clasp. The photograph showed a chubby, smiling boy of about seven or eight years old, looking quite adorable.

The only safety concern with such a pendant is that a potential suspect might use it to commit suicide by swallowing it, but Yin Jian believed that Han Hao would never do that, so he ultimately allowed Han Hao to wear the pendant.

Han Hao's heart skipped a beat, but this change did not show on his face at all.

He guessed that the officers would never remove the cover and then uncover the photo. So no one would discover the piece of wire hidden on the back of the photo.

For a former police captain with exceptional skills, this small, unassuming piece of wire could carry so many expectations...

9:03 PM.

After each mission, he always makes sure to have a nice meal. Recently, he's developed a taste for Huaiyang cuisine.

Lvyangchun Restaurant is the best Huaiyang cuisine restaurant in the city. It is upscale and elegantly decorated, and its guests are mostly well-mannered members of high society.

When he arrived, his attire resembled that of a young, high-end white-collar worker. He always sat at the small table in the far corner. This was a position that allowed him to observe and control the entire situation, and finding and occupying such a spot was always his first priority, no matter the occasion.

The surrounding lighting was soft and comfortable, the tableware on the table was simple and elegant, and the wallpaper on both walls was painted with delicate green bamboo... He was very satisfied with this environment.

Here, his heart can find peace.

Of course, what pleased him even more were the dishes served in the tableware.

A bowl of steamed lion's head meatballs, with tender meat and a fresh but not greasy broth; a plate of blanched dried bean curd strips, with exquisite knife skills and a smooth texture; and fish.

Just as Sichuan cuisine is inseparable from chili peppers, Huaiyang cuisine cannot be without fresh river fish. Now is the season when mandarin fish are plump and delicious, so the main dish on the table is braised mandarin fish. The flat-mouthed, broad-bodied mandarin fish lies quietly in a thick broth, surrounded by a ring of bright green and tender bok choy hearts, and the whole dish exudes an irresistible aroma.

He picked up a bok choy heart and put it in his mouth, then put down his chopsticks and picked up a wine glass in front of him. The wine in the glass shimmered with a dark red luster, clearly a fine vintage. However, he didn't rush to drink it, but slowly chewed the bok choy heart. With each chew, the fresh aroma of mandarin fish diffused from the bok choy's fibers, lingering gently between his teeth and cheeks. After the aroma of that first bite had gradually dissipated, he finally brought the wine glass, which he had held for so long, to his lips and took a small sip.

A very small bite.

Fine food needs to be paired with fine wine, but he knew that alcohol would impair his thinking ability and also indulge emotions that could be suppressed. His teacher had taught him this principle long ago, and he had also personally experienced its harm.

He never drank much again after that.

Fortunately, at this moment, there was more than just fine wine to accompany the food; there was something else wonderful he could enjoy to his heart's content.

music.

The beautiful music came from the center of the restaurant. There was an artificial pool about two zhang in diameter there, and a platform in the center of the pool was set up as a small performance area.

The water surface reflects sound waves, making the music emitted from the performance area clearer and more pleasant to the ear. The owner has incorporated techniques commonly used in classical Chinese gardens into his restaurant, demonstrating his meticulous craftsmanship.

The performances are multi-dimensional, sometimes a piano solo, sometimes a female solo, and sometimes an exquisite water town dance... but none of these are his favorites. Every time he comes here, he waits for the violin solo that starts at nine o'clock in the evening.

The melodious and ethereal sound of the zither is perfect for washing away the dust of the mundane world from people's hearts.

The performer was a young woman with delicate features. Her long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. Her pure white, tight-fitting top accentuated her slender figure, and paired with a long, emerald-green dress, she looked like a pure white lotus blooming in the middle of a clear blue lake.

She always closes her eyes when she plays, perhaps so that she can focus more intently and bring out all her musical talents.

He didn't know why he liked listening to her music so much. Anyway, he had a strange feeling that the music was guiding him, leading him to a beautiful world that had long since passed away.

As the song was about to end, he called the waiter over.

"Send that girl the biggest bouquet of lilies and put it on my tab."

Giving flowers to performers you admire is a tradition at the Green Sun Spring Restaurant. The flowers are expensive, but the restaurant allocates half of the cost to the performer's on-the-spot payment. In fact, this is a very practical way for guests to encourage and praise the performers.

"Yes, sir." The waiter bowed humbly. "Would you like to leave a message, sir?"

He shook his head: "You don't need to tell her who sent it."

"I understand." The waiter bowed and left. And after the girl finished playing the piece, the bouquet of lilies was delivered to her as promised.

The girl stood up, the lilies wafting their fragrance from her chest. She bowed deeply to the audience in gratitude, and opened her eyes as if searching for the person who had given her the flowers.

He never wanted to be found by others, and this time was no exception. However, he sat still, calmly meeting the girl's gaze.

He knew the other person couldn't possibly see him.

On the girl's beautiful face, her large eyes were so pale and lifeless.

She is a blind woman.

October 27, 2002, 8:00 AM.

Luo Fei arrived at the director's office of the Municipal Public Security Bureau as soon as he got to work, where he met Director Song, the very person who had transferred him to the provincial capital's criminal investigation team.

This was a middle-aged man, well past fifty. He wasn't tall, and his build was slightly overweight. A lot of hair had fallen out of his head, revealing a shiny scalp. However, none of this detracted from his unique dignified bearing; it was an inner quality that would never diminish with the passage of time.

Luo Fei had already changed into the uniform of a criminal police captain. He faced his superior and gave a solemn and powerful salute: "Criminal Police Captain Luo Fei reporting for duty!"

"Luo Fei..." Director Song's deep male voice lingered for a long time before finally uttering only a short sentence, "I'm sorry you've suffered all these years."

Luo Fei's nose suddenly stung, and his heart surged with emotions like waves. However, he quickly suppressed these feelings, and a resolute expression soon replaced the fleeting pain on his face.

“If it weren’t for that case back then, you would have been my subordinate long ago.” Director Song looked at Luo Fei and sighed softly. “Do you know that at that time, all the police forces were keeping a close eye on the two most outstanding students in the history of the provincial police academy? One was you, and the other was Yuan Zhibang.”

Luo Fei met Director Song's gaze and replied firmly, word by word, "It's not too late now."

Director Song smiled slightly. Did he need to say anything more to a subordinate like this?

"Go, go and catch him!" That was his final concluding remark about the meeting.

Fifteen minutes later, in the conference room of the Criminal Investigation Brigade.

The members of the April 18th Special Task Force gathered together again to watch a short video on a projector.

The short film was shot with a regular portable DV camera, resulting in a rather blurry image. In addition, the filmmaker's skill level was quite amateurish, with frequent shaky footage and irregular camera transitions causing considerable annoyance to viewers.

Fortunately, these factors did not affect the presentation of the video content.

The video, which is 4 minutes and 55 seconds long, begins with a swear word.

“This is fucking geography class,” a high school boy wearing a yellow earring said to the DV camera. The camera then zoomed out to show the background of a classroom. At the front of the classroom, an older teacher wearing a white hat was lecturing to more than twenty students.

On screen, the students below the podium were clearly not paying attention: some were sleeping at their desks, some were chatting loudly, and some were making obscene gestures at the camera. But that wasn't the worst of it, because soon a curly-haired boy shouted, "Let's have our Xie Guanlong give us a performance!"

Yellow Earring quickly stood up, walked straight to the old teacher, and yanked the latter's hat off. The old teacher stared at Yellow Earring without saying a word, his face full of helplessness and embarrassment.

The man with the yellow earring teasedly twirled the hat around twice before putting it back on the teacher's head. He returned to his seat with a smile and waved triumphantly at the camera.

The old teacher stood there, humiliated. After a moment's pause, he chose to continue teaching.

But his lecture was immediately drowned out by insults and playful noises. In this high school classroom, the man with yellow earrings and the "cameraman" walked around everywhere, boys and girls stood up and played around at will, throwing things at each other, and profanities and laughter echoed throughout the classroom.

About a minute later, Huang Erhuan went up to the podium again. This time, he tried to flick the old teacher's cheek with his finger, and the old teacher hurriedly dodged to the side.

"Don't disturb others," the old teacher protested weakly, but such a protest was obviously futile. The camera panned to the curly-haired man, who said to the DV camera, "That's an idiot, kill him." Then, an empty water bottle flew from the curly-haired man's hand, heading straight for the podium.

At the end of the video, the person filming pointed the camera at her own face. She was a chubby, round-faced girl who proudly explained, "See? This is our class, the all-around class that can do anything."

After the video finished playing, the members of the special task force at the scene were secretly shaking their heads. They couldn't imagine that this was a classroom in progress, let alone that the words and actions shown on the screen were directed at their elderly teacher by a group of students.

Luo Fei, who was chairing the meeting, was also stunned. Some changes in this society had indeed reached a point that was difficult to understand. If he had only seen this video, he would have been so angry that he would have slammed his fist on the table and wanted to drag those brats out of the screen and give them a good beating.

But he didn't actually feel that way, because he knew these teenagers had already suffered the cruelest punishment.

"Yin Jian, tell everyone what's going on," he instructed the young man beside him who had just become his assistant.

Yin Jian nodded and picked up a few neatly arranged pages of paper. This was material he had worked overtime overnight to produce; he needed to make a good impression on his new boss.

"First, let me tell you about the background of this video. It was filmed on September 11th of this year in a senior high school class at a vocational school in this city. The person who filmed the video—the round-faced girl who appears at the end—uploaded it to her personal social media account two days later. The video was quickly discovered by netizens and spread widely online. Most people who saw the video were outraged by its content, and the condemnation of these students for insulting their teacher extended from the internet to real life. It's said that many netizens spontaneously came to the school gate to intercept the students, and major media outlets also reported on it. Under this pressure, the students apologized to the insulted teacher, Wu Yinwu, and Wu Yinwu hoped to settle the matter peacefully, so the incident gradually subsided two weeks ago. However, Wu Yinwu himself was expelled from the school because of this incident."

"The school didn't punish the student, but instead persuaded the teacher who was humiliated to resign?" Mu Jianyun interrupted Yin Jian in surprise.

Yin Jian shook his head helplessly: "That's how it is... You know how vocational schools are these days, making money is the top priority. Students are gods, and teachers are just employees."

"Is this what you call education?" Perhaps because he was a professional in the field, Mu Jianyun was particularly indignant. "If even the school itself doesn't respect teachers, it's no wonder the students are so unruly!"

"Yes, everyone who knows about this situation is furious. Moreover, those students did not genuinely repent; they even insulted the netizens who blocked them and mocked Wu Yinwu while offering a superficial apology. Later, when Eumenides launched an online campaign to call for the death penalty, some netizens posted comments denouncing their evil deeds."

"Why didn't this situation raise any alarm at the time?" Mu Jianyun was naturally referring to the online comments, which now seem to contain new clues about Eumenides' crimes.

Zeng Rihua gave a wry smile and said, "We kept this post with the intention of drawing out clues. But since Han Shaohong was assassinated, the number of views and replies to this post has been rising out of control. There are now more than 40,000 replies, of which more than 6,000 are accusing others of crimes. Trying to analyze Eumenides' next target from these is almost like looking for a needle in a haystack."

“But Yuan Zhibang just died yesterday. He was Eumenides’ ‘teacher.’ This could very well trigger him, making him particularly sensitive to the crime of insulting his teacher. You should be able to think of that.” Mu Jianyun glared at Zeng Rihua, whose job was to screen and filter online information.

Zeng Rihua swallowed hard, clearly unconvinced, but he still grinned and said, "Okay, okay, it was my carelessness. Thank you for your criticism, Teacher Mu."

Mu Jianyun turned his face away, but his expression had softened considerably.

Luo Fei's heart skipped a beat; he seemed to see a shadow of someone in Mu Jianyun: the same unwillingness to admit defeat, the same arrogance. Her analysis of Eumenides's criminal psychology did have some merit, but to expect Zeng Rihua to have predicted such a plot beforehand was indeed asking the impossible.

However, Zeng Rihua's reaction was quite different from his own back then. He probably would have retorted sharply then, wouldn't he? If time could turn back, and one of them hadn't been so competitive, what would have happened?

Unfortunately, history cannot accept hypotheticals. After a slight tremor in his heart, Luo Fei returned to the meeting room with a heavy heart. "Alright, let's get back to the case itself," he said to Yin Jian.

Yin Jian operated the projector, and a bloody photo appeared on the screen: two corpses lay in a luxuriously decorated room, and beneath them, the once green carpet was soaked in blood, turning into a dark mess.