Animal Detective

Chapter 261 - 233: The Family’s Undying Cur

That afternoon, police cars departed from the Songling Branch, heading first toward Lishui.

On Zhangqing Road, Zhou Hui, in handcuffs and escorted by two officers, was brought to the roadside to identify the crime scene.

The Nanlin Branch also sent people, and traffic police were on-site to manage the flow of vehicles. Still, a large number of passing cars slowed down, curiously watching the scene unfold.

After identifying the scene of Yang Maocai’s car crash, they headed to the location where the minivan had been recovered from the water.

Near the Sanhe River, Zhou Hui pointed at the surface of the water as a photo was taken for the record.

On a concrete bridge not far away, a crowd of people had gathered, pointing and staring in their direction.

With the scene identification for Yang Maocai’s case complete, it was time to move on to Han Xiaolong’s.

The group got back into their vehicles and departed for Wuba Village.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei got into one of the cars. The pair had stayed an extra two days and planned to head back once the scene identifications were complete.

After they were in the car, Ding Yuwei nudged Shen Xin with her elbow and whispered, "Are you sure I don’t smell? I swear I can."

Before leaving for the assignment, they hadn’t expected to be stuck in Pingyu for over half a month.

As a result, they had packed a limited amount of clothing.

Of course, they could have bought more, and the hotel had a washing machine.

But when things got busy, who had the time?

Today, Ding Yuwei’s clean clothes hadn’t dried, so she’d put on an old, unwashed outfit. She had felt self-conscious ever since leaving the hotel, asking Shen Xin several times if she smelled bad.

As she spoke, she leaned in closer, tugging at her shirt for Shen Xin to take a whiff.

Shen Xin pushed her hand down. They weren’t alone, after all.

Then he whispered, "Have you ever considered the possibility that the smell you’re picking up is actually me?"

Ding Yuwei, at least, knew enough to do laundry whenever she had a spare moment.

Shen Xin, on the other hand, would just collapse onto his bed as soon as he got back. He’d been rotating the same two outfits for a while now.

Ding Yuwei froze. She leaned in, took a careful sniff, and confirmed it. The smell was coming from Shen Xin. Speechless, she said, "You’re too lazy to do your own laundry, and when I offer to help, you refuse."

Shen Xin waved a dismissive hand.

’Our relationship isn’t at that stage yet.’

If he had come with Zhao Tianxing, on the other hand, Shen Xin would have pestered him to do his laundry for him, even if Zhao Tianxing hadn’t offered.

Zhao Tianxing was very meticulous about his lifestyle; he even wore men’s cologne sometimes.

Just then, Wang Cheng, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, asked conversationally, "Shen Xin, do you think Zhou Hui would have really killed his mother in the end? I mean, that’s his own mom."

He was referring to Zhou Hui’s phone.

When they arrested him, they had checked his phone and found that the guy had been searching for ways to kill an elderly person without breaking the law.

Liu Jie had questioned him about it.

He claimed he knew his mother, Huang Qingmei, had lied for him, concealing the fact that he had returned home very late on the day of Han Xiaolong’s murder.

He was afraid the police would question Huang Qingmei again and worried she wouldn’t be able to withstand the pressure—that she would choose justice over family and expose him.

So, he came up with the idea of killing his mother—a preemptive strike to uphold his own version of ’justice over family’.

He believed this was the last loose end. If his mother died in an ’accident,’ then even if the police suspected him, they would have nothing on him.

Of course, when Liu Jie questioned him, he claimed he was only thinking about it and would never have actually done it.

Shen Xin thought for a moment before replying, "Who knows. But I think once an idea like that enters his head, he’d be capable of anything if he were truly cornered."

The guy is ruthless and cruel.

He smashed a rock on Han Xiaolong’s head and couldn’t feel any breath from his nose afterward.

But Han Xiaolong wasn’t dead yet.

In a state of extreme panic, checking for breath is completely unreliable.

The autopsy report also confirmed it: Han Xiaolong had suffered a severe blow to the head, fallen into a deep coma, and then been thrown into a well, where he drowned.

It’s normal for people to react excessively when they’re emotionally agitated and panicked.

So when Zhou Hui heard Han Xiaolong threatening to tell the whole village, he panicked and struck him. At that moment, it was purely a crime of passion.

But after knocking Han Xiaolong unconscious, he should have calmed down. Instead of stopping and getting Han Xiaolong medical help, he chose to cover up his crime by disposing of the body.

It was the same with Yang Maocai.

Unable to endure the blackmail, he made the cold-blooded choice to run Yang Maocai down with a car.

You could say it was a case of one misstep leading to another, but if Zhou Hui didn’t have that cruel, cold-blooded streak in him, he never would have been capable of such things.

So when he was cornered, it’s entirely possible he would have chosen to kill his own mother.

And Shen Xin believed that Liu Jie had perfectly grasped Zhou Hui’s psychology. That was how he’d ultimately found the crucial clue by tailing Zhou Hui, cracking the case.

Take Zhou Hui’s visit to Yang Maocai’s house, for example.

Initially, the team had analyzed that Zhou Hui was testing to see if the police had reopened the investigation.

That was part of it. He’d grown suspicious and afraid when surveillance cameras were suddenly installed throughout the village.

But during the interrogation, Zhou Hui revealed that the main reason he went was his fear that Yang Maocai had kept some evidence against him.

He had never found the so-called evidence Yang Maocai claimed to have, and the fear that it existed drove him, uncontrollably, to go search for it again.

If he hadn’t gone, who knows when the police would have turned their attention to Yang Maocai.

If he hadn’t gone to check on the spot where the van was submerged, who knows how much longer it would have taken to find it.

Shen Xin felt he had truly learned a thing or two from Liu Jie’s grasp of criminal psychology.

By the time the convoy reached Wuba Village, it was almost four o’clock.

They approached from the west, where the bridge at the village entrance was already crowded with villagers.

No one rushed out to block their path.

Li Jing, Huang Qingmei, and Yang Maocai’s parents were all at home, under the watch of officers dispatched by the Qingyuan Police Station.

An officer was also with Luo Limei.

The cars drove slowly through the crowd.

Inside the car, Zhou Hui turned his head and looked through the window at the familiar faces staring back at him.