Writing criminal investigation articles resulted in a life sentence, so I had no choice but to actua

Chapter 28: New Email

Ding dong.

When the phone screen lit up, Su Wan was bringing her third cup of coffee to her lips.

3:11 a.m.

Jiang Chen had already leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, his breathing even; it was unclear whether he was truly asleep or pretending. Lin Xiaoyu lay slumped over the table, her face buried in a stack of printed papers, emitting soft snores. Xiao Zhang stood guard at the door, his eyelids drooping, but his back was ramrod straight.

Only Su Wan was still awake.

She picked up her phone; it was an email from an unknown email address.

The recipient is Jiang Chen's reader email address.

The title is blank.

She hesitated for a second, but still clicked on it.

—It's a photograph.

Su Wan's pupils suddenly contracted.

The photo shows a narrow alley. The streetlights are broken, and only a single lamp in the distance casts a dim, yellowish light, barely illuminating the alley's outline. Several trash cans lean precariously against the wall, and the oil stains on the ground reflect light like puddles of black water.

Then there are the windows.

An old sliding window was half-open, the paint on the frame peeling off to reveal rusty iron underneath. On the windowsill, there was a clear footprint.

The sole has a wavy pattern.

Su Wan recognized the window. She had seen it just two hours ago.

Ma Ge BBQ, the kitchen, the window through which the deliveryman climbed out.

Click.

Su Wan put down her coffee cup, which clattered against the table.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes. His movements were so quick that it didn't seem like he had just woken up.

"You're here?" His voice was still a little hoarse.

Su Wan handed over the phone.

Jiang Chen took the phone and looked down at the photo. His expression didn't change, but the fingers gripping the phone tightened slightly—just slightly, so much so that it was barely noticeable unless you were staring at his hand.

"Good angle," he said.

Lin Xiaoyu was woken up and groggily looked up: "What's wrong?"

"The killer has released the photos," Su Wan said.

Lin Xiaoyu instantly snapped out of her daze, leaned closer to look at the phone screen, her eyes wide with disbelief: "This—this isn't that—"

"Yes." Jiang Chen placed his phone on the table, screen up, so everyone could see it. "He took a picture of me escaping through the window."

Su Wan frowned: "You escaped by climbing out the window? It was that deliveryman who climbed out the window."

"Yes." Jiang Chen nodded. "But he said it was me."

The office fell silent.

Lin Xiaoyu glanced at Su Wan, then at Jiang Chen, her lips moved but no sound came out. Xiao Zhang walked in from the doorway, stood behind Su Wan, and looked down at the photograph.

"Did he use a deceptive tactic?" Su Wan said.

"It's not a fabrication." Jiang Chen shook his head. "He's telling me he has evidence. Evidence that he fabricated to make it look like I escaped through the window."

The wind outside picked up a bit, making the blinds rattle and rustle.

Su Wan picked up her phone and looked at the photo again. The light was dim, and she couldn't make out the face. A person dressed in dark clothes was climbing out of the window; only a profile was visible.

"This profile does look a bit like you," she admitted.

"It's not just a bit similar," Jiang Chen said. "If I wore a food delivery uniform, put on a helmet, and stood in that spot, this would be the effect in the photo."

"So he was prepared from the very beginning." Su Wan's speech quickened. "He sent a delivery driver to deliver the food, had the driver escape through the kitchen window, and then took a picture from outside. But when we chased after him, the driver was already gone, and we only saw a silhouette. We would have mistaken that silhouette for the driver."

"But when the photo fell into his hands, it became—Jiang Chen escaped through the window."

Jiang Chen nodded.

Lin Xiaoyu's face turned pale: "This is too—too—"

"It's too dirty," Jiang Chen said for her.

"Yes! It's so dirty!" Lin Xiaoyu slammed her hand on the table with a loud bang. "What kind of tactic is this? Is he framing you?"

"It's not a frame-up," Jiang Chen said. "He's making preparations. Right now, this photo is just a photo. But later, when the time is right, he can put this photo into any story."

"What story?"

"For example—Jiang Chen fled the scene after committing the crime." Jiang Chen's voice was calm, as if he were talking about someone else's business. "For example—Jiang Chen destroyed the evidence and left. For example—Jiang Chen met with his accomplices."

Lin Xiaoyu's face turned even paler.

Su Wan stared at the photo, her mind racing. "Why would he send it to you now?"

"Because—" Jiang Chen paused, "he wants me to know that he has 'weaknesses' on me."

"He wants to control you?"

"No." Jiang Chen shook his head. "He wants me to obey."

The office fell silent again.

The second hand of the wall clock was ticking, tick-tock, tick-tock, each tick sounding like a countdown.

Su Wan took a deep breath and put her phone aside. "He won't succeed."

Why?

"Because the photos didn't capture faces, they can't be used as evidence. Besides, we have witnesses; we were all at the barbecue restaurant at the time, and it's impossible for them to be in the kitchen climbing through the window."

Jiang Chen looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Officer Su, are you defending me?"

Su Wan's face flushed slightly, but she quickly regained her composure. "I'm stating the facts."

"Okay, that's the truth." Jiang Chen stopped teasing her and turned to look at the densely packed words on the whiteboard. "But he sent this photo not just to make me 'obey'."

"And for what else?"

"So that I would know he's been watching."

Lin Xiaoyu shivered: "What are you looking at?"

"Watch us." Jiang Chen stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the dark night outside. "Leaving the barbecue restaurant, escaping through the window, taking photos, sending emails. This whole series of actions was part of his plan. He knew we would go to the barbecue restaurant, knew we would send a delivery driver, and knew the delivery driver would escape through the kitchen window."

"He knows everything."

Su Wan tapped her fingers twice on the table, tap, tap.

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know," Jiang Chen said, "but one thing is certain."

"What?"

"He's very excited right now."

Lin Xiaoyu was taken aback for a moment: "Excited?"

"Yes. Like—" Jiang Chen thought for a moment, "like what the comments said, he got 'high'."

Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh, then quickly covered her mouth.

"The game has only just begun." Jiang Chen turned around and looked at Su Wan. "He's been waiting for this moment for a long time. Finally, he has an opponent."

Su Wan stared at him for several seconds. "You're no match for him."

"Then who am I?"

"You are—" Su Wan paused, "You are his prey."

Jiang Chen paused for a moment, then laughed. "Officer Su, did you learn that from the comments section?"

Su Wan ignored him, picked up her phone, and forwarded the photo to the technical department. "Check the metadata of this photo. Shooting time, shooting device, GPS location—extract as much as you can."

She paused, then added, "Also, check the registration information for this email address."

"Okay, I'll contact them right away." Lin Xiaoyu took the phone, quickly typed a message, and sent it out.

Su Wan stood up, stretched her stiff neck, and made a soft cracking sound.

"Jiang Chen".

"Um."

What do you think he'll do next?

Jiang Chen walked back to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and drew a line under the word "Director".

"He will continue to send emails."

"What?"

"I don't know. But each one is worse than the last."

"The first letter was 'I'll write the next chapter,' the second was a photo of a bloody hand, and the third was a photo of the escape window." Jiang Chen wrote down each line carefully. "Next, he might send something even more private. Like photos of me, like photos of you, like—photos of us in the private room at the barbecue restaurant."

Su Wan's heart sank.

"You mean, he installed cameras in the barbecue restaurant?"

"It wasn't that there were cameras installed. It was his people who were watching."

Su Wan recalled Xiao Long's expression and the deliveryman's eyes. If their people were in the barbecue restaurant, every word they said and every action they took in the private room could have been overheard.

"So he knows we've found out Shen Ye's identity," Su Wan said.

"right."

"He knew we had cracked the encrypted folder."

"right."

"He knows we've seen those videos."

"right."

Su Wan stood up, and the chair slid backward with a piercing creak.

"So all our actions were under his watchful eye?"

Jiang Chen didn't speak, he just nodded.

A suffocating silence filled the office.

Lin Xiaoyu's phone suddenly vibrated. She looked down and her fingers began to tremble.

"Team Leader Su."

"explain."

"The technical department replied. The photo's metadata has been cleared, and nothing can be found. The email address was a temporary registration using a disposable phone number, which has been deactivated."

Su Wan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"A typical counter-surveillance tactic." She opened her eyes. "He's very professional."

"I'm not a professional," Jiang Chen said.

"What is that?"

"Yes—" Jiang Chen paused, "My profession."

Su Wan's pupils contracted slightly.

Occupation.

It's not a hobby, not a momentary impulse, and not a sign of mental illness.

It's a profession.

Some people make a living from this.

"The 'director' you mentioned," Su Wan's voice was a little hoarse, "is there—more than one person?"

Jiang Chen glanced at her but did not answer.

He walked back to his seat, sat down, picked up the now-cold coffee, and took a sip.

It's bitter.

"Officer Su."

"explain."

Have you ever thought about this question?

"What's the problem?"

"Why do all these things happen in the west of the city?"

Su Wan was taken aback.

West of the city. West of the city vocational college. West of the city crematorium. West of the city logistics park. West of the city Ma Ge barbecue. West of the city construction road. West of the city—it's all West of the city.

"Because their territory is in the west of the city," Su Wan said.

"Yes. But why the west side of the city?"

Su Wan thought for a while, but couldn't figure it out.

Jiang Chen put down his coffee cup, stood up, walked to the whiteboard, erased all the writing, and wrote down an address.

No. 78, Jianshe Road, Chengxi District.

Teachers' dormitory building of Chengxi Vocational College.

"This is the origin," Jiang Chen said.

"Everything begins here. All roads lead here. All people live here, or have lived here."

He turned around.

"So the answer is right there."

Su Wan stared at the address, and a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Are you going to Chengxi Vocational College?"

"It's not just that I want to go," Jiang Chen said, "it's that I have to go."

"When?"

"Now."

Su Wan glanced at the clock on the wall. 3:37 AM.

"It's not dawn yet."

"It's better before dawn," Jiang Chen said. "They won't be here by then."

Su Wan was silent for a few seconds, then stood up and picked up her coat.

"Xiaoyu, Xiaozhang, get the car ready."

"Captain Su!" Lin Xiaoyu stood up. "Where are you going?"

"Chengxi Vocational College"

Lin Xiaoyu's face turned grim. "That place—that place has been sealed off for five years. Going there at night—won't that—"

"Afraid?" Su Wan looked at her.

Lin Xiaoyu swallowed, neither admitting nor denying it.

Su Wan turned to look at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen's lips curled up slightly.

"The comments are right, I'm afraid I'll have to go too."

"After all—" He paused, walked to the door, opened it, and the night wind, carrying a chill, rushed in. "The deceased was unwilling to reveal any information, so solving the case still depends on the living."

The motion-activated lights in the corridor came on, casting a pale white light on him and a long shadow on the floor.

Su Wan followed him out of the office.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, thump, thump, thump.

Xiao Zhang and Lin Xiaoyu followed at the back, their footsteps hurried and disordered.

Outside the building, the night wind picked up. Several police cars were parked in the courtyard, their roofs covered with a thin layer of dew.

Su Wan opened the driver's side door and got in.

Jiang Chen sat in the passenger seat.

Lin Xiaoyu and Xiao Zhang sat in the back row.

Vroom—the engine started.

The car lights came on, and two beams of white light pierced the night.

Su Wan glanced at the rearview mirror; Lin Xiaoyu in the back seat was shivering. Not from fear, but from the cold. Or perhaps, from fear.

"Light rain."

"Um."

"You stay at the station."

Lin Xiaoyu was taken aback: "Why?"

"Because—" Su Wan paused, "it might not be safe there."

Lin Xiaoyu opened her mouth, wanting to say "I'm not afraid," but seeing Su Wan's eyes, she swallowed her words.

"Okay." She opened the car door, got out, and stood in the yard, watching the police car's taillights gradually disappear into the distance.

A cold wind blew by, and she wrapped her coat tighter around herself.

"Jiang Chen," she whispered, "you must come back safely."

The car drove out of the municipal bureau compound and turned onto Jianshe Road.

The streetlights receded one by one, their orange glow flickering on the car windows.

Su Wan gripped the steering wheel without saying a word.

Jiang Chen leaned back in his seat, gazing out the window.

"Officer Su."

"Um."

Are you scared?

Su Wan was silent for two seconds.

"Afraid."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid—" she paused, "I'm afraid that when I get there, I won't be able to accept what I see."

Jiang Chen turned and glanced at her.

The light from the streetlights flickered on his face, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

"Me too."

Su Wan's fingers tightened slightly on the steering wheel.

The car continued driving forward.

Construction Road is getting narrower and narrower, and the streetlights are getting dimmer and dimmer.

The houses on both sides went from tall buildings to low buildings, and from low buildings to ruins.

Chengxi Vocational College, almost there.