At that thought, a chill ran down Xiao Zhang’s spine as a shadow slowly fell over him from behind.

He turned and jumped.

At some point, Gu Yezhou had appeared behind him.

“Boss, w-when did you get back?”

Gu Yezhou glanced at him. “Have you ever even been in love?”

Xiao Zhang silently lowered his head.

Before coming here, Gu Yezhou had already gone through the basic background of everyone in the station.

Xiao Zhang did indeed have a five-year-old daughter, and he was indeed a father.

But not by blood.

Nor had he married a woman with a child.

He was simply a bachelor who had adopted a little girl from an orphanage.

A man who only wanted to be a doting girl-dad, but wanted no wife—yet he cared for that little girl with remarkable attentiveness.

A single man raising a daughter. It wasn’t easy.

“Boss, I heard the test results came back. Was Li Xiaoqiang the one who used the ashtray?” Xiao Zhang quickly changed the subject.

Gu Yezhou nodded. “He admitted that when he went to deliver the hard drive, Shi Li opened the door. The two of them disagreed, and in a fit of anger, Li Xiaoqiang hit him with the ashtray. After that, he panicked and ran.”

“That doesn’t add up,” Sang Ning said, her voice cool. “Li Xiaoqiang may be a thug, but he doesn’t smoke. Same as Lin Zehui. And no one brings an ashtray along when delivering a portable hard drive, do they?”

“Correct. According to Li Xiaoqiang, when he and Shi Li argued, he grabbed the ashtray in the room and struck him with it. The ashtray was already in Shi Li’s home.”

Gu Yezhou paused. “But Shi Li didn’t smoke. Your autopsy report noted that in detail. You did well.”

Since Sang Ning had performed the autopsy, if the victim had a smoking history, the lungs would have shown clear changes. But Shi Li’s lungs were pale pink, not marked by the charcoal-black patches caused by long-term smoking.

Being praised out of nowhere made the tips of Sang Ning’s ears turn faintly red.

“So you mean… there was someone else in Shi Li’s apartment at the time?”

Gu Yezhou nodded. “I asked Li Xiaoqiang. He said after knocking Shi Li unconscious, the moment he saw blood flowing, he was so frightened he immediately ran. The time he went to see Shi Li was right when you left Ping’an Apartments. He’d been watching you the whole time.”

At the words *watching you the whole time*, a chill crawled over Sang Ning.

She couldn’t help imagining it—if he had wanted to do something to her, would she already be dead?

“Then he…” Sang Ning asked with difficulty, “Why was he watching me? It can’t be because he liked me, right? There was nothing between us. Even if he did like me, he could have said it to my face. We only knew each other because of the two professors.”

“That part isn’t clear yet. He only said it felt thrilling to follow someone without being noticed.”

Gu Yezhou was repeating Li Xiaoqiang’s exact words.

Another wave of disgust washed over Sang Ning.

“So the real killer isn’t him. He only indirectly caused Shi Li’s death?”

Gu Yezhou nodded. “I’m going to the Lin Group in a bit. I may have to deal with your blind date. Want to come?”

“I’m coming too! I want to go too,” Shen Chen said excitedly from the side.

Sang Ning nodded. “Fine. I’ll go with you. There’s nothing I can really help with here anyway.”

With that, the two of them walked off side by side, leaving Shen Chen to enjoy his excitement alone.

When Sang Ning rounded the corner, she still glanced back at Shen Chen, feeling that the boy was silly in an oddly endearing way.

“Shen Chen has the temperament of a child. Don’t take him too seriously.”

Gu Yezhou gentlemanly opened the front passenger door for her.

Sang Ning paused, then smiled and got in. “I can tell. But his ability really is outstanding.”

The engine started.

Watching Gu Yezhou fasten his seat belt, Sang Ning asked, “You still suspect Lin Zehui is the real killer?”

“What do you think?” Gu Yezhou didn’t look at her. He turned the wheel and stepped on the accelerator.

Completely unprepared, Sang Ning’s body lurched forward.

Irritated, she said, “I don’t think he is. Not because he’s my ex-boyfriend, even if he lied to me about his identity.

But I truly can’t believe he’d dare kill someone. How could someone who faints at the sight of blood do that?”

Even if his appearance, build, and age matched the killer.

At the start, after they arrested Li Xiaoqiang, the reason they hadn’t confirmed him as the murderer was simple—his build didn’t fit.

The coffee table in Shi Li’s apartment was glass, thin glass. It couldn’t possibly support the weight of two grown adults.

If the killer had used it to hang someone from the ceiling fan, cracks would have been inevitable.

But not only was there no crack on the table, it had been wiped completely clean.

The killer was meticulous.

“And besides, I still feel Li Xiaoqiang isn’t telling the truth. You’re just going to let him off that easily?”

In Sang Ning’s experience, the veteran detectives she’d worked with before would interrogate suspects half to death until they spilled every last detail.

Gu Yezhou said, “There are plenty of suspicious points around Li Xiaoqiang, but I can’t waste all my time on him. With Professor Li involved, Li Xiaoqiang will confess on his own before long.”

Sang Ning was momentarily speechless.

“Captain Gu really is confident.”

Waiting for a suspect to tell the truth on his own?

If all criminals were that easy to crack and willing to confess, life would be wonderful.

When they arrived below the Lin Group building, Sang Ning immediately noticed the person sitting in the café nearby.

It was ten in the morning, and Lin Zehui was actually drinking coffee.

The aura around him was completely different from the pathetic man who had begged for reconciliation outside the police station in the early hours.

Across from him sat an elegant, dignified woman. Her makeup was heavy, and every smile, every glance, seemed deliberately practiced.

After parking the car, Gu Yezhou followed Sang Ning’s line of sight. When he saw the man, his brows drew together slightly.

Could it be that she still couldn’t let him go?

Seeing no expression on Sang Ning’s face, Gu Yezhou decided he was overthinking.

“Let’s go.”

Sang Ning withdrew her gaze and walked toward the office building.

The entire building belonged to the Lin Group.

This was Sang Ning’s first time entering such a large corporation.

·

Lin Zehui took a sip of coffee and set the cup down, turning his head toward the glass window.

Just now, it seemed two people had walked past.

One of them… he should have recognized.

“Mr. Lin, what are you looking at?” the woman asked curiously, turning toward the window.

There wasn’t even a leaf drifting by the entrance of the office building.

Lin Zehui chuckled. “Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. She wouldn’t come here. After all, I lied to her.”

“Your sweetheart?” the woman teased. “I heard the one thing Young Mr. Lin never lacks is women, yet you’ve never touched any of them. Is that true?”

Lin Zehui swept her with a cold glance. “Mind your own business.”

The woman pouted and took a document from her bag.

“This is what you wanted. I got it for you. Though I’m not sure whether it’s real or fake.”

“Fine. I know.”

Lin Zehui waved her off.

After handing over the file, the woman picked up her bag and left.

Only Lin Zehui remained, drinking coffee while reading the documents in his hand.

A chill gradually settled between his brows.