Shi Li let go, looking up at Lin Zedong with gratitude shining in his eyes.

Lin Zedong strode to the door, grabbed the climbing rope, clenched his jaw—and lunged forward, aiming to slip it around Shi Li’s neck.

But Shi Li had been watching the doorway from the corner of his eye. The moment Lin Zedong moved in, he summoned every last ounce of strength and rolled aside.

The first attempt failed.

A vicious glare spread across Lin Zedong’s face.

Shi Li lay sprawled on the ground, the back of his head severely injured. He couldn’t even stand. All he could do was raise a trembling hand to block the rope coming at him—and when Lin Zedong came close enough, he seized his chance and bit down hard.

Lin Zedong never expected it.

The man actually bit his foot.

Pain exploded through his toes. Caught off guard, he fumbled to pull off his sock, his plastic-wrapped hands clumsy and uncooperative.

He hadn’t expected Shi Li to bite so viciously. When he lashed out and kicked him, his toes were yanked painfully in the process. A burning sensation shot through his foot as blood seeped out.

Enraged, Lin Zedong stuffed the sock he’d just pulled off straight into Shi Li’s mouth.

“Like biting people’s feet, do you? Try the taste of a sock.”

He shoved it in again and again, but the sock wasn’t nearly large enough to fully gag him.

Snarling, Lin Zedong looped the rope around Shi Li’s neck.

“Since someone already wants you dead, I’ll just lend a hand. Once you’re gone, the Lin Group will be spotless.”

Fueled by anger, he tightened his grip. Shi Li’s eyes rolled back, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Seeing him go limp, Lin Zedong quickly bound his limbs. Only a small amount of blood stained the floor. He glanced down at his own toes—fortunately, the cold weather worked in his favor. Within minutes, the blood on his foot had begun to clot.

The blood from the wound at the back of Shi Li’s head had also dried.

Lin Zedong reached out to check for breathing, but with his hands wrapped in plastic, he couldn’t feel anything.

Just to be sure, he decided to hang him. As long as he left no trace, the police would never suspect him.

He tied Shi Li’s limbs first. The dining chair was too far away—dragging it would make noise at this hour.

But just as he finished binding him, he heard footsteps outside.

His hands froze.

Moving quickly to the entrance, he switched off the lights.

A moment later, the sound of a door opening came from next door.

Sang Ning had returned.

Lin Zedong swallowed hard, tension knotting in his throat. Only when he heard her door close did he finally breathe again.

He stood in the darkness for a full half hour, unmoving. Only after he was certain there was no sound from next door did he turn the lights back on.

Then he began meticulously wiping down every surface in the room.

Once he finished, Shi Li still hadn’t moved.

Lin Zedong swiftly gathered anything he might have touched and carried it away.

When he reached the third floor, he noticed one door ajar. He peered inside cautiously—no one.

That gave him the nerve to stash everything there.

He made two trips in total, his movements nearly silent.

By the time dawn began to lighten the sky, he returned once more to Room 204—

And found Shi Li still alive.

The man was struggling, nearly crawling his way to the door.

Lin Zedong glanced up at the ceiling fan.

He grabbed the longer end of the rope, slipped it around Shi Li’s neck, and secured the other end.

Only after hoisting him onto the fan did he casually pull the sock from his mouth.

Then he turned and left without a backward glance.

Just like that, Lin Zedong slipped away from Ping’an Apartments before anyone had woken.

To avoid being caught on street cameras, he specifically had the taxi driver come into the apartment compound—there were no cameras inside.

Still dressed as he had been earlier, mask in place, he got into the car.

As his taxi drove out, another one happened to enter.

That coincidence eased his mind even further.

—

With the case solved, the entire Criminal Investigation Unit finally enjoyed a brief moment of rest.

“Who would’ve thought, Ning-jie,” Gu Yao sighed as she sorted files, having read through Lin Zedong’s confession, “he’d kill someone over something like this and ruin his whole future—just to hand everything to that useless brother. What a loss.”

Still, Sang Ning couldn’t shake the feeling that something about Lin Zedong and his secretary, Lin Shuyue, was… off.

She was deep in thought when Gu Yao spoke again.

“Ning-jie, now that the case is closed, are you going to get back together with Lin Zehui? I heard he waited outside the station all night that day. Even after you left, he refused to go—had to be chased off by the morning shift. That’s some serious devotion.”

She had no idea that Sang Ning was already her sister-in-law. Encouraging her to reconcile with her ex—there really was no one else like her.

Standing outside the forensic room, Gu Yezhou’s expression darkened.

He had just raised his hand to knock when the door opened.

“Captain Gu? It’s already off-duty hours. What brings you here?” Sang Ning asked.

She thought she’d misread the time, but a glance at the clock confirmed it—five o’clock.

Gu Yezhou cleared his throat. “Want to grab dinner together?”

“…Did I hear that right?” Gu Yao’s eyes widened. “You’re asking Ning-jie out? Bro, you never ask women out.”

“Bro?” Sang Ning looked between them in surprise.

Same surname… really?

“Yeah, Ning-jie, I told you before—my brother’s a cop, just not in this city,” Gu Yao explained.

Sang Ning had no memory of that whatsoever.

“It’s a celebration dinner. Want to come?” Gu Yezhou corrected.

Sang Ning waved her hand, about to refuse, when Xiao Zhang chimed in.

“Come on, the more the merrier. This is the first time our Yancheng station has cracked a case in under seventy-two hours. We’ve got to celebrate.”

Though, to be fair, cases this severe—especially ones involving the Lin Group—were rare in Yancheng.

Half-persuaded, half-dragged along, the group headed to a restaurant after work.

Everyone was in high spirits, so a few drinks were inevitable.

When Sang Ning finally decided to leave, she felt a hand catch her wrist.

“Where are you going?”

Gu Yezhou’s voice was low, edged with something almost accusatory.

It made her uncomfortable.

She tried to pull away, but his grip was surprisingly strong—and there were colleagues everywhere.

Fortunately, most of them were too drunk to notice.

“You’ve had too much. Let go,” she whispered.

Instead, Gu Yezhou shifted closer, the faint scent of alcohol brushing against her face.

Sang Ning turned her head away. “Captain Gu, I want to go home.”

“Where does my wife want to go?”

Whether he was truly drunk or pretending, it was hard to tell. His usually sharp eyes had softened, tinged with something almost pitiful—like he’d been wronged.

“Wife?” Gu Yao, equally tipsy, burst out laughing. “Bro, since when do you have a wife? If you want one, I can set you up!”

She staggered over, slinging an arm around Sang Ning’s shoulders, completely oblivious to their joined hands.

“Look, bro—how about Ning-jie? She’s the beauty of our police station.”

Gu Yezhou ignored her entirely.

Still holding Sang Ning’s hand, he pulled her straight out the door.