Chapter 176 176 She Hates That Smile

Perhaps he thought he had done enough to distract the police, so after leaving the small town, Wu Yingze did not change his clothes. Instead, he drove the white car straight onto the highway and headed to the neighboring Qiu Ning City.

When they heard the news, Guan Xia and her team had just driven more than 30 kilometers out of the town. They had been busy for a day and a night without sleep, so Guan Xia really didn't have the energy to repeat the information, so when Xu Nian called, she simply turned on the speakerphone.

After Xu Nian finished speaking, before Guan Xia could even open her mouth, Zhong Xiaoyu suddenly perked up and said, "In that case, we don't have to chase Wu Yingze anymore. There's a large team of people from the special task force anyway. Even if we chase him, we might not be able to catch him in time."

As soon as Zhong Xiaoyu said this, the people in the car subconsciously looked at Guan Xia with questioning eyes.

Guan Xia thought for a moment and said, "Since Wu Yingze isn't continuing to obscure the situation, it's only a matter of time before the task force catches him. There's no need for us to join in the fun. Let's find a chance to get off the highway and see how we can get back to Shangshuang City. We don't know what's become of those missing people, and whether they've all been rescued."

Wu Yingze's matter came to an end. Guan Xia breathed a sigh of relief, but many things to do next popped up in his mind.

The missing persons are the top priority. In addition, there are two other core figures, Wu Xingxian and Peng Yuanwei, and then the arrest of the remaining peripheral members and the confession of the seller.

There were so many things to do that Guan Xia thought for a while before she remembered Liu Xiang and Geng Jing. These two people were no longer important now, but they still had certain value to Guan Xia and the others. After all, their purpose of coming to Shangshuang City was to investigate the disappearance of Ning Xin and her daughter. Ning Xin was dead, but how she died and the whereabouts of Ning Ping'an have not been found out yet.

With their heads full of questions that needed to be answered, Guan Xia and her colleagues returned to the Nanping Branch at noon on August 28, looking exhausted.

Compared to the crowded scene last night, there are far fewer people in the Nanping Branch today. It's no surprise that most of the people have been sent out to hunt down peripheral members and rescue missing persons. Only a dozen or so people are still struggling with the surveillance video.

Guan Xia and her friends came to Captain Zhou's office as if they were familiar with the place. Before they knocked on the door, they could faintly hear snoring coming from inside.

Seeing this, Guan Xia immediately stopped knocking on the door, thought about it, and simply slowed down his movements and carefully pushed the door open a crack.

Guan Xia stuck half of his head in to look inside, and sure enough, he saw several people sleeping in a mess. Some were sleeping on the floor, some were sleeping on the conference table, but most were sleeping with their hands and knees on the table.

Although Guan Xia's movements were very slight, perhaps because of the criminal police's alertness, Captain Zhou, who was snoring in the previous second, suddenly opened his eyes in the next second and looked at the door with a very sharp gaze.

Although his eyes were clearly open, he was still a little dazed. After seeing that it was Guan Xia, he froze for two seconds before rubbing his stiff shoulders and standing up from the stool. As he walked over, he asked, "You're back. How's everything going?"

Captain Zhou didn't lower his voice at all, but the others were not woken up. The one sleeping on the floor even turned over and continued to snore loudly.

Guan Xia simply opened the door wide and replied, "We've already found Wu Yingze's whereabouts, and the task force has been chasing him. If all goes well, they should be able to arrest him today."

Captain Zhou laughed inexplicably. "Hey, that's really strange! I've been investigating cases for so many years, and this is the first time I've encountered a case where the key evidence hasn't been found yet, but the person has already fled. I heard that the higher-ups are already considering issuing a search warrant. Judging by Wu Yingze's behavior, who knows where he might be hiding the evidence."

After briefly sharing some information, Guan Xia asked, "What about you guys? How's the situation? Have you found out where all the missing people are? When I came in, I saw a lot fewer people in the building. Did they all go out to arrest people?"

Captain Zhou subconsciously felt in his trouser pockets, apparently looking for a cigarette, but considering the presence of so many female comrades, he didn't pull it out. He simply tilted his head and said, "Those peripheral members' original intention was to attract the police's attention, so they didn't try to hide their crimes at all. The surveillance footage is almost always accurate. While you were still here last night, some of our colleagues had already left. Around 11:00 AM, we also tracked down the whereabouts of the last missing person."

Captain Zhou glanced at the time and said, "Those people are just trying to delay. In fact, they haven't left the area of ​​​​Shuangshi City at all. I estimate that the rescue operation should be almost over in the next two days."

Just as Captain Zhou finished speaking, a siren sounded downstairs that was so loud that it was a bit piercing. A group of people hurried to the window and looked down, and saw a series of police cars driving in. The first few cars parked and opened the doors, and saw two policemen in a group escorting a criminal suspect down. With such a rough calculation, this team alone had captured more than a dozen peripheral members and rescued six missing persons. After being frightened for several days, several of them were pale, dazed, and emotional. When they saw the national flag fluttering in the wind above the police station yard, they couldn't help crying.

"It's really hard for all these people," Captain Zhou said with some shame. "We fought the criminals with our wits and courage, but we didn't expect them to use us as bait. Luckily, no one was hurt and they all came back safe and sound. Otherwise, even in this position, we wouldn't be able to eat and sleep peacefully like before for the rest of our lives."

Listening to Captain Zhou's words, Guan Xia's heart was filled with gratitude. She was really grateful that the ultimate goal of these people was just to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Otherwise, even if Guan Xia and the others solved the case, they might still suffer from some psychological trauma.

The Nanping branch, which had barely quieted down for half a day, was bustling again. Guan Xia quickly asked Captain Zhou, "Where are Liu Xiang and Geng Jing being held now? Have they confessed everything? Can I see their statements?"

Captain Zhou was very decisive as he led them to retrieve the confession records. He said, "Both of them are now being held in the Chengnan Detention Center. They confessed, but Geng Jing was fine. He couldn't stand being provoked. The interrogation experts got everything they could out of him. Liu Xiang, on the other hand, is much more mentally competent than Geng Jing. They could clearly sense that she was hiding something, but even after being interrogated over ten times, she still held back. Later, we realized we had too many arrests and were running out of manpower, so we temporarily put her in the Chengnan Detention Center and will slowly work with her later."

As he spoke, Captain Zhou brought them to the room where the confessions were stored. After finding the confession records of Liu Xiang and Geng Jing, he handed them directly to Guan Xia.

Guan Xia opened Geng Jing's without any hesitation. Sure enough, she found the whole process of his killing Ning Xin on it.

According to the confession, Geng Jing actually had no intention of killing Ning Xin at the beginning. They disguised themselves on the day of the operation. Even if they met Ning Xin face to face, they were confident that they would not be recognized. But Ning Xin was too stubborn and persistent. She was obviously just an adopted daughter, but she refused to let go. She was beaten by Geng Jing until her nose and face were bruised and half of her face was covered in blood, but she still tried to fight to the death.

Ning Xin looked unwell and had little strength, but to a certain extent, she interfered with Geng Jing and the others' actions and added to their troubles. So Geng Jing killed Ning Xin in anger.

According to Geng Jing's confession, several years had passed since the incident and he had almost forgotten it. He only remembered stabbing the dagger into Ning Xin's stomach. He couldn't remember exactly where he stabbed her, but he did remember that Ning Xin was thrown into an abandoned room and died after a long time. Her blood had soaked the soil, and in order to deal with it, he had to ask his accomplices to move some soil from somewhere else to cover it up.

Before this, it was not the first time they had dealt with corpses, so they were quite familiar with the process. They chose a dark and windy night, transported the corpses into the deep mountains and forests, and buried them deeply.

As for Ning Ping'an's whereabouts, Geng Jing explained in his confession that he had no idea. He just followed Liu Xiang's instructions and dropped the child off on a secluded road. He drove away without looking back. Based on previous experiences, he knew that someone would take the child away on that road. Although he was sometimes curious about why those people asked for a child by name, since the money was too easy to make, he instinctively didn't want to explore it, so he never asked about it and never asked any further questions.

Seeing this, even though Guan Xia had expected it, she still couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. The cause of Ning Xin's death had been found and the murderer had been caught, but Ning Ping'an's whereabouts were still a mystery. Although they could guess that Ning Ping'an should be dead, at least they had to find him alive or dead, so they had to continue investigating no matter what.

After closing Geng Jing's confession record, Guan Xia took a deep breath before opening Liu Xiang's.

As expected, Liu Xiang seemed to have said a lot, but she was obviously avoiding the important points. No wonder Captain Zhou and the others could feel that Liu Xiang was hiding something. Judging from her confession, Liu Xiang's defenses were obviously not broken. Guan Xia could not understand how she could remain so calm until now. After all, she had done so many evil things, and even if she was not a core member, she could not escape the death penalty.

Guan Xia casually handed the two confession books to the others who hadn't read them yet. After thinking for a moment, he turned to Xu Nian and asked, "Is there still no movement from Wu Xingxian and Peng Yuanwei?"

Xu Nian nodded. "I just called them half an hour ago, and they both seemed to know nothing. Those who should be working are working, and at this hour, they might still be leisurely having a meal."

Guan Xia couldn't help but sneer in his heart. They were really leisurely. Everyone was trying hard to escape, but they were still in the mood to eat. It seemed that they were really treated as abandoned pawns, otherwise they would not be in the mood to eat at this time.

After everyone finished reading the two confessions, Guan Xia thought for a moment and said, "Since I have some free time now, I plan to go to Chengnan Detention Center to see Liu Xiang. I really want to know how she got to where she is today. She seems like a completely different person. She lost her own child, so she should be able to understand the feelings of other mothers who have lost their children. Why did she become the executioner of a criminal organization?"

Qi Bai was the first to respond. "Sure, there's no news from the task force yet. The missing persons rescue operation has been going smoothly these past few days. Once Wu Yingze is recaptured, we might be busy all over again. If you want to see him now, go see him now. You might not even remember him later."

Ji An also closed his statement and said solemnly, "I'm also very curious about how she got to where she is today."

Everyone quickly reached a consensus, but there was no need for so many people to go together, so only Xu Nian and Pang Le accompanied Guan Xia, while the others ate when they needed to eat and rested when they needed to rest.

After getting back in the car, Xu Nian skillfully took out some food from a corner and handed it to him. "Eat something first to fill your stomach. We'll buy some fast food on the way to Chengnan Detention Center later."

After simply filling their stomachs on the way, Guan Xia and her friends rushed to their destination at lightning speed and met Liu Xiang smoothly.

Several days had passed since I last saw Liu Xiang. She looked thinner, with dark circles under her eyes and red bloodshot eyes, looking a bit emaciated.

Liu Xiang's appearance was beyond Guan Xia's expectations. She originally thought that judging from her confession, Liu Xiang's heart had not been conquered, and her overall condition should be better than other criminals. However, Liu Xiang looked like she had not slept for many days, and she was in a trance as if on the verge of collapse.

Could it be that she was being taken care of by other criminals in the detention center? Guan Xia frowned and looked at her suspiciously. After Liu Xiang sat down in a special chair with handcuffs and leg shackles, he began to question her.

Guan Xia was pressed for time, and having not slept in a long time, she didn't have the energy or the energy to deal with her. She simply asked directly, "I know why you divorced back then, and I'm curious. You've felt the pain of losing your own flesh and blood, so you should empathize with women who have shared the same experience. But why did you help the evildoers and inflict the pain you once felt on others? Could it be because of jealousy? Jealousy of those people having happy families and lovely children?"

While speaking, Guan Xia stared at Liu Xiang's face, not missing any change in her expression.

But what Guan Xia didn't expect was that Liu Xiang's expression did change. It wasn't anger after being exposed, nor was it shame after being ridiculed. Instead, she just twitched the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a sneer, and said somewhat numbly, "There aren't so many shoulds and shouldn'ts in the world. When my child died, no one sympathized with me, so why should I sympathize with others? The world itself is indifferent. Everyone just lives their own life. In order to survive, I can only take care of myself. How can I have the energy to care about others?"

"To survive?" Guan Xia chewed over these two words in his heart with some surprise. Liu Xiang's tone sounded flat and numb, but Guan Xia felt a sense of resentment from it.

Without waiting for Guan Xia to ask, Liu Xiang suddenly spoke again, her half-closed eyelids lazily lifted a little to look at Guan Xia, and said: "Yes, life, life is in this world, who doesn't want to live well?"

Liu Xiang suddenly smiled lightly as she spoke, but the smile was very ironic. "I also wanted to live a good life in the past. I don't love my husband who I married through a blind date, but I love my child. He is so cute and will smile at me. He is still so little, but he knows how to put his mouth on my cheek, expressing his love in a clumsy but simple way, which made my face smeared with saliva. I know my ex-wife is not very good, but for the sake of the child, I am willing to endure it. I just started working again not long ago, and I don't have much savings. The house we live in is his pre-marital property. Even if we divorce, I won't get much money. He is so cute, I can't let him suffer with me. Wait a little longer, wait a few more years. As long as I save a little more money, I will live with him alone, even if we have to rent a house. But what is the result?"

Liu Xiang smiled again, her smile was very bright, but her eyes were sad and full of hatred. Even after so many years, she still remembered what happened back then vividly.

Liu Xiang said in a sharp voice, "He's dead, my child is dead, right here in the home where I live every day. His father, his biological father, is his murderer. What's even more ridiculous is that the child's death can only be attributed to an accident in legal terms. How ridiculous, how ridiculous! I'm in pain, I'm resentful, I want revenge, but everyone is telling me that the child is gone, you're still young, you should look forward, everything will be fine with time. If you really like children, just have another one. Maybe your mother-child relationship can be renewed, and maybe he'll be in your belly again."

"How ridiculous," Liu Xiang's voice became increasingly sharp, as if she had finally managed to utter something she had been holding back for a long time. "That was a life. Even though he had only been in this world for a few years, he was still a life. Yet, he seemed so frivolous in other people's mouths. When he was alive, it seemed like many people loved him. But after he died, I realized I was the only one who loved him."

"So you killed your ex-husband and that woman to avenge your child?" Xu Nian took the opportunity to ask a very crucial question.

Liu Xiang glanced at Xu Nian, and her expression suddenly calmed down. Guan Xia thought to herself that something was wrong. As expected, Liu Xiang said coldly, "Wasn't he killed in a car accident? I know you doubt me, but unfortunately, his death had nothing to do with me. Perhaps it was God's will that the couple is dead, which can be considered revenge for my child."

Guan Xia didn't expect that Liu Xiang's emotions would calm down so quickly. She had thought that Liu Xiang was on the verge of collapse, but now it seems that her mental state is pretty good, and she can at least hold on for a while.

Guan Xia thought they would return empty-handed today and were ready to come again next time. However, Guan Xia asked the same question again, and Liu Xiang became excited again as if she couldn't control herself.

Guan Xia vaguely got a glimpse of the truth from Liu Xiang's somewhat incoherent and repetitive words.

The reason why Liu Xiang worked for that organization was not only because she wanted to rely on them to avenge her child, but also because she was really jealous.

In a way, she did sympathize with other women like her, but in another way, she envied every mother whose children were well-behaved and whose faces were filled with happy smiles.

Whenever she saw people having fun with their children, she would have nightmares at night uncontrollably, dreaming of scenes from the past. In one second she dreamed of a child smiling sweetly at her, and in the next second the child turned into a corpse that had stopped breathing, was pale and limp, and would never move again.

After so many days and nights, she seemed passive, but in fact she actively became the executioner of that organization. She turned those smiling mothers into the same kind as her. Seeing their pain, she felt much calmer and no longer had nightmares. She hated that kind of smile.