Chapter 61 Basement: We're the police, you're saved!
I woke up early this morning to another bright and sunny day.
Zheng Yu arrived at the police station with three team members. Upon seeing Jiang Ling, he immediately showed her two summons warrants and a search warrant: "All done, let's go!"
Jiang Ling nodded: "We need to act quickly, and we can use guns if necessary."
Zheng Yu touched her lower back, her eyes flashing with eager excitement.
Zheng Yu is a restless person. Having worked for so long, always in clerical work, peaceful but…boring. This time, finally being on an arrest mission and even getting to handle a gun, is fantastic!
The three team members that Zheng Yu brought were all young faces. Having witnessed Jiang Ling's crime-solving methods in the lecture, they respectfully greeted her upon seeing her: "Good morning, Teacher Jiang!"
Time was tight, so Jiang Ling didn't bother with the issue of address and directly invited everyone to get on the bus.
And so, the eight-person task force, in two vehicles, drove out of Jinwu Road, one after the other, and quickly headed towards Changhe Town.
Wen Liyuan sat in the police station waiting, her hands and feet trembling with fear.
This once powerful businesswoman, who dominated the business world for over a decade, is now revealing her vulnerable side.
She kept muttering something to herself.
If you listen closely, all you can hear are soft, fragmented prayers.
"Live! You must live!"
"God, I beg you, please keep Wen Mo alive."
"I would gladly shorten my life by twenty years, just to ensure Wenmo's safety."
Wei Changfeng, watching from the side, felt a pang of sadness. Sigh, after being a policeman for so long, the thing he feared most was witnessing life and death.
I just hope Wen Mo is still alive.
Inside the Chu family villa.
Chu Jingen usually gets up late, around nine o'clock, but today he was a little restless and got up before eight o'clock.
He stood by the window, lit a cigarette, and watched Hu Shuifen busy in the vegetable garden. As he exhaled the smoke, a sinister glint appeared in his cloudy eyes.
Suddenly, he remembered something and shouted, "Shuifen!"
Hu Shuifen's hunched back suddenly straightened up, as if she had been electrocuted, and she reflexively responded with a "Hey!"
Chu Jingen shuffled downstairs in his slippers and stood face to face with Hu Shuifen, who was hurrying into the house, in the entrance hall on the first floor.
Hu Shuifen stood there, as if she wanted to stick to the shoe cabinet door, feeling helpless and with her eyes downcast, like a moss exposed to unfamiliar sunlight, instinctively wanting to curl up in a dark and damp corner.
Chu Jingen's anger flared at the sight of her pathetic state. He cleared his throat and said, "Go cook."
The entryway wasn't spacious, and Chu Jingen's breath reeked of cigarette smoke, making Hu Shuifen feel a bit suffocated.
After hesitating for a while, Hu Shuifen cautiously replied with a single word: "Yes."
Hu Shuifen moved almost against the wall, trying to minimize her presence. When she nervously reached the TV cabinet in the living room, Chu Jingen's voice came: "Didn't you say anything to that brat of a girl, did you?"
Hu Shuifen stopped in her tracks and shook her head repeatedly: "No, no."
Chu Jingen was wearing a white undershirt, the tight fabric outlining the contours of his thick neck and broad chest. The muscles on his neck were bulging, exuding a primitive savagery.
He walked step by step to Hu Shuifen. Although he was wearing slippers, every step he took carried a heavy, undeniable weight.
"Thump!"
With a dull thud, Hu Shuifen was kicked hard in the stomach, but she didn't cry out in pain. She slowly slid down the wall.
Chu Jingen looked down at her pale face and sneered, "It'd better not be. Your daughter's got some ambition, becoming a policewoman and even finding a policeman. What, are you trying to challenge me?"
Hu Shuifen was in excruciating pain in her stomach, so much so that she couldn't speak and could only shake her head haphazardly.
Chu Jingen suddenly bent down, and his face loomed large in front of Hu Shuifen, startling her so much that she almost screamed.
"Make something nice to eat and send it down. We'll send him on his way tonight."
Chu Jingen's voice was deep and resonant, like the call of a demon from hell demanding a soul.
Hu Shuifen trembled and asked timidly, "He... he's very obedient, waiting for Xinyan... waiting for Xinyan to come back..."
"Smack!"
Chu Jingen raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face.
After finishing, he spat on the ground, grinned, and a strange smile appeared on his lips: "If you have to blame someone, blame your meddlesome daughter. The police are already at the door, are you planning to keep the pig alive for the New Year?"
Chu Jingen's slap was very forceful; Hu Shuifen felt her entire mouth filled with the taste of blood. She dared not spit it out, so she forced down a mouthful of saliva, compelling herself to swallow the blood.
Overwhelmed by fear, she mustered a sliver of courage and pleaded, trembling, "Wanwan and her boyfriend know nothing. He's just a lowly policeman at the local station; he'll be fine. Please keep him alive, please keep him alive..."
"Smack!"
Chu Jingen raised his hand and slapped him again.
"Is he your son? Why are you so protective of him! Let me tell you, hurry up and cook me a bowl of noodles. I'll make something nice to eat later and send it to him. It's his last meal, so he should eat something delicious."
Hu Shuifen dared not plead any longer, struggled to get up, and slowly walked towards the kitchen.
Chu Jingen looked at her thin, frail back and warned, "Don't get any funny ideas, or I'll kill all three of you!"
Hu Shuifen shivered and finally quickened her pace.
Hu Shuifen was adept at housework, and soon a fragrant, steaming bowl of egg and vegetable noodles was placed on the table. The fried eggs with their slightly withered edges, the rich aroma of lard, and the few freshly picked bok choy leaves from the garden—a mix of yellow, white, and green—made it look incredibly tempting.
Chu Jingen's mood finally improved a bit, and he began to eat his noodles with gusto.
Hu Shuifen stood helplessly in the kitchen, her hand gripping the stove, her heart pounding like a drum. What to do? What to do? Chu Jingen was going to kill someone again!
"Knock knock knock!"
There was a knock on the door.
Chu Jingen felt a chill run down the back of his neck for no apparent reason.
He took a sip of soup from the bowl before leisurely walking to the entrance and opening the door.
Several unfamiliar faces in police uniforms stood outside the door.
Chu Jingen's heart began to pound uncontrollably. But he didn't show it on his face at all. He narrowed his eyes, let out a burp, and asked, "What?"
Zheng Yu stepped forward, showing his police ID and summons: "Chu Jingen? We need your cooperation in the investigation of Wen Mo's disappearance. Please come with us."
Disappearance case?
Chu Jingen shuddered violently, as if struck by an invisible hammer. The carefully crafted "honest man" image on his face, maintained for decades, shattered and peeled away instantly like a cheap plaster mask. His eyes widened in horror, the whites of his eyes filled with hideous bloodshot veins, and his pupils contracted violently with extreme fear, shrinking to almost the size of pinpoints.
Chu Jingen forced a simple, honest smile, but it was so bitter and stiff it was nauseating: "Officer, what missing person case? What does this have to do with me?"
Zheng Yu, with a cold expression, reiterated, "Please cooperate with our investigation."
She took a step back and touched her lower back with her right hand.
The man in front of me imprisoned Wen Mo, abused Hu Shuifen, and sexually abused Chu Xinyan. He has an extremely strong desire for control and a twisted and perverted mind. He is a very dangerous person.
Zheng Yu's actions made Chu Jingen's heart skip a beat.
The police's reaction was wrong!
They came prepared, and their intentions were not good.
"I... what did I do? You've got the wrong person!" Chu Jingen's voice trembled with extreme tension, sounding like sandpaper rubbing against rusty iron.
He tried to force an innocent, even somewhat naive and aggrieved expression, but his distorted features and the bulging, worm-like veins on his forehead betrayed the immense panic churning within him.
Yesterday, Su Xinwan suddenly came to their door, bringing with her a policeman surnamed Liu. That Liu was wandering around their living room aimlessly—the police had been watching him for a long time! This realization was like a cold, venomous snake burrowing into his heart, sending chills down Chu Jingen's spine.
Three young police officers stepped forward, one of them flashing a search warrant.
wrong.
We can't let the police into the house!
Once the police find him, he's doomed!
The ferocity of his stubborn resistance was completely ignited by the fear of impending death! The fear on Chu Jingen's face was instantly replaced by a trapped beast-like, hysterical madness.
"Fuck you!" he roared, his facial muscles contorted with extreme emotion, making him look like a demon. His body unleashed a beastly strength beyond his years, like a wild boar cornered, head down, charging recklessly toward the courtyard gate.
At this moment, Chu Jingen had only one thought in his mind: Get out! He can't be caught! Absolutely not!
Just as Chu Jingen started his charge, two well-trained police officers, as if they had anticipated it, pounced on him from the side with lightning speed.
One person used precise grappling techniques, their iron-like hand gripping his wrist tightly. The immense force almost crushed his bones, and the excruciating pain caused Chu Jingen to let out a shrill scream.
The other man ducked down and delivered a swift sweeping kick, precisely striking his forward-moving ankle.
"ah--"
Chu Jingen felt an irresistible force coming from his wrists and ankles at the same time, and his body completely lost its balance. His massive body, like a wall that had been blown up, fell forward heavily without any cushioning, crashing hard onto the cold, rough cement ground.
"Ugh—!"
Dust billowed, accompanied by Chu Jingen's painful and desperate groans. He instinctively tried to struggle, twisting his body wildly like a fish thrown ashore, rubbing his mud-covered face against the rough ground, attempting to kick with his unrestrained legs and headbutt the police officers who were pinning him down.
He let out incoherent screams, a mixture of excruciating pain, fear, and rage: "Let me go! Let me go! What right do you have to arrest me! I didn't do anything!"
Sweat, dirt, and tears and snot that he couldn't control due to extreme fear covered Chu Jingen's face. He was a complete mess, and there was no trace of the kind and honest appearance he usually pretended to have.
"Don't move! Move again and I'll shoot!"
The cold muzzle of the gun and several strong arms pressed Chu Jingen firmly to the ground like iron hoops.
Zhou Wei rushed in through the courtyard gate, his knee slamming into Chu Jingen's lower back and shoulder blade.
The excruciating pain nearly suffocated Chu Jingen.
Chu Jingen usually hit people by kicking and slapping them. After the other person fell to the ground, he would continue to press down on their lower back and twist their arm until he heard them scream in pain, only then would he release his grip with a sense of satisfaction. But today, when the fists and feet finally landed on his own body, Chu Jingen finally knew what pain and suffering were!
Liu Haoran followed closely behind, twisted Chu Jingen's hands behind his back, and quickly took out the handcuffs.
The cold, hard handcuffs snapped shut with a crisp, metallic sound that signaled the end, firmly locking Chu Jingen's sin-stained wrists.
The moment the handcuffs locked, Chu Jingen saw Liu Haoran's face clearly.
I saw him in the living room yesterday; he was that young policeman with a bright, sunny smile.
At that moment, Chu Jingen seemed to understand something.
The brute force that had been frantically struggling within his body seemed to be drained away instantly. Chu Jingen stopped his futile twisting and collapsed onto the cold ground, his chest heaving violently as he let out heavy, desperate gasps like a bellows.
In those wide-open eyes, all the previous ferocity and madness had faded, leaving only boundless, abyss-like fear.
He stared intently at Liu Haoran, his lips trembling violently, gasping for breath, but unable to utter a complete sentence.
The fortress of pretense collapsed completely, exposing Chu Jingen's despicable, cowardly soul, trembling and utterly vulnerable in the face of absolute power and the law.
Chu Jingen was filled with unbearable regret!
If I had known, I should have kicked Su Xinwan and that policeman surnamed Liu out of the house immediately yesterday.
If I had known, he should have disposed of the evidence last night.
If he had known, he shouldn't have been bewitched by that bitch Hu Shuifen and agreed to let Su Xinwan apply to the police academy!
Regret and remorse weighed heavily on Chu Jingen's heart. He felt like a drowning man, suffocating and experiencing excruciating pain in his lungs. The shadow of death loomed over him.
Chu Jingen has been arrested.
Hu Shuifen was then taken away by the police.
The cold morning light pierced through the gaps in the clouds and fell on Hu Shuifen's withered face.
Hu Shuifen didn't scream or struggle; she stood there stiffly, like a piece of rotten wood struck by lightning. Her lips trembled violently, but no sound came out. Resignedly, she lowered her head very slowly, her disheveled gray hair hanging down, obscuring her face, which had turned deathly pale and was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
Hu Shuifen saw Jiang Ling, and she also saw Liu Haoran.
She seemed to understand something, yet she also seemed to understand nothing at all.
Countless thoughts popped into her mind. Hu Shuifen wanted to ask but didn't dare. She opened her mouth but her throat felt blocked, and she couldn't say a word.
She really wanted to stop Liu Haoran and ask: Are you really Wanwan's boyfriend? You promised me you would treat her well, are you lying to me?
She also wanted to stop Jiang Ling and ask: Did Wanwan send you? Did she report her father?
However, Hu Shuifen said nothing.
And so I watched them walk through the villa gate, with witnesses and a search warrant.
Hu Shuifen knew that Chu Jingen's secret could no longer be kept.
Her world collapsed.
A large group of people came up from the outside of the Chu family villa.
With so many city police officers deployed and the police station chief personally overseeing the operation, the Chu family's commotion is truly enormous.
Changhe Town hasn't been this lively in a long time.
Chu Jingen, the factory director who always greets people with a smile, carrying a mobile phone and a briefcase under his arm, was handcuffed by the police!
Hu Shuifen, who was honest and unassuming, always hunched over and dared not look people in the eye, was also taken away by the police.
A group of people were also searching the Chu family villa.
A middle-aged couple with gray hair and thin builds rushed over.
The woman suddenly let out a "howl!" and pounced on Chu Jingen like a madwoman, reaching out to scratch him with her claws.
Chu Jingen was caught off guard and his face was grabbed, leaving a deep finger mark that ran from his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth, dripping with blood.
The woman cried and screamed, "I killed you! I killed you! You beast in human clothing! You evil ghost who deserves to go to the eighteenth hell! You killed my son, my son... He was still three months away from turning eighteen, he was still a child..."
The man supported the woman, tears streaming down his face.
The man walked up to Chu Jingen, spat fiercely in Chu Jingen's face, pointed his finger at him, and roared in a hoarse voice.
"Chu Jingen! Why did you kill him? When I saw you at school, I would respectfully call you Director Chu, and my son would even call you Uncle Chu with a smile. How could you be so inhuman? Why did you kill him?! Huh?!"
"You're a ghost, an evil ghost! Heaven has eyes, you can't escape, you only have one path: death, do you hear me? Death!"
The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, while the man cried and cursed. When the onlookers saw their faces clearly, they all looked sorrowful.
"Oh, it's Zhang Lei's parents."
“They only had one son, Zhang Lei. After Zhang Lei was killed, the two of them aged more than ten years in an instant. It’s pitiful.”
"Was it Chu Jingen who did it? Why?! That's terrifying!"
After losing their only son, Zhang Lei's parents lost all their energy and spirit. If it weren't for their desire to find the real culprit, they probably would have died.
This morning, when they were summoned to the police station and Zhou Yongcheng showed them the jade pendant for identification, their hearts began to pound. Although the police didn't say anything, their intuition told them: the real culprit had been found!
Therefore, after leaving the police station, they did not go home, but waited nearby.
Let's wait and see where the police car goes.
Let's wait and see where something big happens.
That's why Zhang Lei's parents were able to arrive at the Chu family villa so quickly.
When they saw Chu Jingen, head bowed and handcuffed by the police, their hatred roared wildly. It was him! This seemingly honest Chu Jingen had killed their child!
How could they possibly restrain themselves? They rushed forward, tearing and cursing, venting all the pain that had been building up in their hearts for four years.
The townspeople, having finally understood the whole story, were all stunned.
The thought that the murderer was right next to them, and that they had bumped into him on the street and greeted him just yesterday, sent chills down their spines.
Chu Jingen really kept his true intentions hidden!
He killed someone and still has the nerve to show his face in the sun, how shameless!
In an instant, rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, and clods of dirt were all thrown at Chu Jingen.
"Kill him! Kill this murderer!"
"To be torn to pieces!"
"Get out of Changhe Town! Get out!"
Chu Jingen was like a wandering ghost.
The appearance of Zhang Lei's parents stripped away the last bit of pride he had left.
He thought he was disguising himself well, that no one would ever find out, and that even with his disability, he would always be the daring, resourceful, and successful "man" in the eyes of the world.
But after committing so many evil deeds, the day of reckoning has finally come.
The police haven't convicted him yet, but all the people in the town, the neighbors who used to fawn over him, have convicted him!
They called him a murderer and a demon.
Chu Jingen may not know that this is called social death.
Although he is still alive, the world has already condemned him to death, and he has nowhere to go in his hometown.
This realization made him even more breathless, like a fish thrown ashore, struggling but unable to escape the fate of being dried by the sun.
Zheng Yu signaled his men to take Chu Jingen and Hu Shuifen back to the car to prevent them from being drowned in the spittle of the crowd or being killed by unidentified objects.
His death is no loss; let's not burden the enthusiastic people.
Jiang Ling led her men into the basement.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Ling's goal was very clear.
No key?
Just use a fire axe to split it open!
An indescribable stench, a mixture of heavy musty smells, dust, disinfectant, and a faint, nauseating sweet, bloody, and putrid aroma, assaulted my senses.
The beam of the flashlight swayed in the dim space, illuminating the image on the wall.
All of them are ink paintings.
The painting depicts swaying reeds, blooming irises, lush wild grass, soaring birds, rippling lake water, and a setting sun about to disappear into the distance…
It's as if all the beauty of the Hyperbola's banks has been gathered on the walls of this basement.
Upon seeing this enormous image, Jiang Ling took a deep breath and called out, "Wen Mo!"
No one responded.
Only her voice echoed in the dark, cramped basement.
Go down the steps.
Zhou Wei, being a former reconnaissance soldier, moved the fastest and quickly reached the basement floor, stepping onto a cardboard box with a loud "bang!"
Various wooden crates were piled up in the basement, some were broken, revealing colorful clothes inside, and some were tightly closed, with no one knowing what secrets they held.
Under the beam of the flashlight, Zhou Wei opened a cardboard box and shouted, "Xiao Jiang, there's something in here!"
It was a pile of art supplies. There were paints, palettes, and some paper, all showing signs of use.
Jiang Ling followed closely behind, and her eyes dimmed considerably upon seeing them.
It is certain that Wen Mo once lived here.
The paintings on the wall, and all the art supplies, are traces of his existence.
Three years...
Could he survive such a long time, being confined in this dark, damp, and cramped space?
"Here! There's someone here!" Li Zhenliang's shout broke the silence.
Everyone followed the sound.
Deepest in the basement. A cramped space, like a dog cage, made of thick steel bars. Inside the cage, a shape that is almost indistinguishable from a human.
He was so thin he was just skin and bones, his ribs clearly visible beneath his thin, translucent skin, as if they would break at the slightest touch. He wore only a dirty, tattered T-shirt that barely covered his body, and his exposed skin was covered with layers of bruises, whip marks, burns, and scabbed wounds, with hardly an inch of undamaged skin.
His exposed wrists and ankles were covered with ring-shaped bruises, like a broken doll that had been completely destroyed and abandoned in a corner, curled up in an extremely unnatural posture, as if trying to shrink himself into a crack in the ground.
Under the beam of the flashlight, he looked like a dried-out pickled vegetable, his face so thin it was unrecognizable, his eyes dull and empty.
The bright light made him uncomfortable, and he slightly raised his right hand to shield his eyes. He seemed to have lost the ability to speak, and didn't say a word. Even when the police made such a commotion, he hadn't uttered a sound.
Jiang Ling picked up a fire axe, chopped open the large lock on the iron cage, and crouched down to crawl into the cage.
Jiang Ling finally saw his face clearly.
His eyes were tightly closed, his eye sockets were sunken, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible. His chest rose and fell only very slightly and intermittently, each time as if he had exhausted his last bit of strength.
The luster of life in him had dimmed to the extreme, as if it might be extinguished at any moment.
It's Wen Mo!
He is still alive.
Jiang Ling's voice was very low, almost a whisper: "Wen Mo? We are the police, you are saved."
Wen Mo didn't move, remaining huddled in the corner.
Jiang Ling shone the flashlight on the police officer's ID card: "Look, this is my police officer's ID card."
Wen Mo slightly opened his fingers and looked out through the gaps between them.
The golden shield on the police officer's badge gleamed in the light.
Wen Mo slowly lowered his hand from his face.
"Ah...ah..." He tried to speak, but his throat felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence.
Jiang Ling turned her head: "Quick! Take him to the hospital."
Jiang Ling's voice trembled uncontrollably.
Zhou Wei and Li Zhenliang carefully lifted him out of the cold iron cage, and Wen Mo's faint, almost imperceptible breath suddenly quickened.
His lips moved very slightly, uttering a broken, indistinct syllable barely louder than a breath, filled with childlike helplessness and a deep-seated longing: "Mom, Mom..."
This faint, almost inaudible call was like a poisoned dagger, piercing the heart of everyone present.
Upon receiving the news, Wen Liyuan sped off to Changhe Town Hospital.
She was crying one minute and laughing the next.
A pair of eyes burned with a mad flame.
—Her son is still alive!
—Her Wenmo is still alive after being imprisoned for three years!
Su Xinwan stood by the office window, staring blankly at the swaying branches outside. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and countless thoughts surged in her mind.
—By now, Jiang Ling and the others should have Chu Jingen under control, right?
—Can Xinyan finally be free?
—My mother must hate her a lot, right?
The second hand of time ticks on and on.
Evil will eventually be exposed under the sunlight!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com