Chapter 2

The crowd grew angrier.

“Don’t be afraid, Vũ! If making a fuss gets results, we’ll go with you to headquarters every day!”

In the end, Hàn Vũ calmed them herself.

“Thank you for caring. But what happened to Tiểu Kỳ wasn’t the police’s fault. They found the killer quickly, and I’m truly grateful. Please go home. Don’t interfere with their work.”

She performed well.

I had told her she must appear willing to cooperate.

Officers were human. Personal feelings entered their investigations.

If they sympathized with her, they wouldn’t pursue everything to the bitter end.

That was how she could get through this.

The older officer wiped his sweat.

“Quite a turnout. You must be well liked.”

She made tea and smiled bitterly.

“Small businesspeople like us aren’t like officials. No one pays us a salary. No one looks after us when things go wrong. We can only rely on one another. But what brings you here today?”

She poured him pu-erh tea.

He smiled gratefully and handed over a card.

Ngô Tranh.

“I was there when we found Tiểu Kỳ. I’m deeply sorry for what happened. Today, though, we’re here about Lưu Khải.”

“His parents reported him missing yesterday. Given the conflict between you, we need to consider whether you’re connected. Please don’t be upset. This is routine. It doesn’t mean you’re a suspect.”

I knew at once he was lying.

An ordinary missing-person inquiry didn’t need so many officers.

They suspected her of killing him.

They had come for evidence.

That shouldn’t trouble her.

We had rehearsed police questioning many times.

But what she did startled me.

She placed her wrists on the table.

“Yes. I killed him. Arrest me.”

Ngô Tranh and I looked equally shocked.

“Ms. Hàn, you’re legally responsible for what you say. Are you really admitting you killed Lưu Khải?”

“Yes. I admit it. Tell me, if I couldn’t even kill the person who murdered my daughter with my own hands, what would I have to live for?”

She choked up.

Flustered, he asked the female officer to comfort her.

Beneath my surprise, I admired Hàn Vũ’s skill.

Her answer was better than I had imagined.

Criminal investigation was a professional science, supported by psychology, biology, and centuries of experience.

Honestly, deceiving officers during questioning, especially experienced ones, was almost impossible.

They could detect lies in the smallest details.

My original strategy was for her to say as little as possible.

Instead, she attacked first.

Effectively, she threw the problem back at them:

I’m telling you the truth. Whether you believe it is your business.

As expected, Ngô Tranh didn’t take her literally.

He thought she was venting.

We had survived that hurdle.

He took out his notebook and asked what she had done at specific times, reconstructing the timeline.

Surveillance let the police estimate when Lưu Khải disappeared.

But that was useless.

I was the one who abducted him.

Hàn Vũ had remained in the bakery.

Many customers could confirm it.

Unless they considered an accomplice, her alibi was solid.

Ngô Tranh reached the same conclusion.

She hadn’t had the opportunity.

He took out a pair of medical rubber gloves.

“Ms. Hàn, if you don’t mind, we’d like to look around. We won’t damage anything.”

The officers began immediately.

They filled more than ten evidence bags with rolling pins, bread knives, even butter knives—anything that might have been a weapon.

One checked the storeroom, wardrobe, and fridge.

Another pressed clear tape repeatedly against the floor, collecting hair and prints.

Others tapped the walls and opened the false ceiling, making sure there were no hidden spaces.

Ngô Tranh was particularly interested in the oven.

He said he was from Xinjiang and had a similar one at home for naan and baked buns, though much smaller.

Casually, he asked:

“What’s its maximum temperature?”

“About five hundred degrees. I normally use three hundred.”

He nodded as though it meant nothing.

I guessed he was calculating whether it could destroy a body.

Human bones broke down at between six hundred and eight hundred degrees.

Below that, a charred skeleton remained, difficult to dispose of.

But I had made a device to raise the chimney temporarily, pushing the chamber above eight hundred.

That was how we had dealt with Lưu Khải’s remains.

After the search, the officers put everything back.

“Besides this shop,” Ngô Tranh asked, “do you rent or own any other premises, warehouses, or homes?”

She shook her head.

“No. We live upstairs. I have to start kneading at three in the morning. Kỳ Kỳ always complained she never got to sleep in…”

She cried again.

He sighed and patted her shoulder.

“Don’t worry. We’ll clear your name soon.”

A few days later, the police returned everything they had taken.

They had apparently found nothing suspicious.

I breathed out in relief.

The ordeal had been worse than I expected.

I hadn’t slept properly for days, imagining myself handcuffed and imprisoned.

They hadn’t opened a criminal case.

That was our victory.

Without a criminal case, there would be no detention, and no so-called “great memory-restoration technique.”

Once Hàn Vũ was cleared, they would lean toward a runaway.

Too many children went missing across the country.

Lưu Khải wasn’t special enough for them to devote everything to finding him.

His parents were even less likely to pursue it relentlessly.

I heard they both had lovers and scarcely cared about their son.

After his grandmother died, they simply threw him twenty yuan a day and left him to his own devices.

After he killed someone, they came home even less, each trying to push responsibility onto the other.

Those irresponsible parents had played their part in Tiểu Kỳ’s tragedy.

Sadly, the law couldn’t punish them.

A few days later, a special customer appeared in my noodle shop.

Ngô Tranh.

When I noticed him, he was chatting with my wife.

I hurried over with a plate of snacks.

“Officer, what brings you to our little shop?”

“No need to be so formal.” He smiled. “I was hungry and stopped for noodles. Your wife tells me you graduated from a Project 985 university? Isn’t running a noodle shop a waste of your talents?”

I gave an ingratiating smile.

“I wanted more time with my child. Besides, however difficult a customer is, they won’t ring in the middle of the night to shout at me.”

He drew me down to sit and chat.

There was no obvious point to the conversation. He really might have come only for noodles.

I decided to probe.

“Two bars and two stars—that’s about department-head level, isn’t it? Why are you running around instead of working in an office?”

He waved a hand.

“Oh, don’t ask. I’m no good at politics. I just like crime scenes and studying the details.”

I thought it over.

If he had risen from the ranks through investigative skill, he must have handled hundreds of cases, with almost none unsolved.

In other words, a genuine master detective.

I swallowed.

Matching wits with him was suicide.

I was about to find an excuse to leave when he took out a surveillance image.

Lưu Khải.

“The higher-ups think he may have run away. They want to treat this as a missing-child case. I disagree.”

He tapped the photograph.

“His behavior is unusual. He’s clearly trying to conceal his movements. I think he was following someone.”

Then he produced another image.

“A bun in her hair. White sweater. Blue dungarees…”

He looked up.

“You have a daughter too, don’t you? About Tiểu Kỳ’s age?”

My heart pounded.

In criminal investigations, motive mattered enormously.

Especially murder.

It needed a strong enough motive.

My plan had depended on them not knowing mine. I could cover for Hàn Vũ while her alibi cleared her.

I hadn’t expected him to discover my motive so quickly.

And infer I was her accomplice.

Once that possibility stood, her alibi collapsed.

If he reopened the investigation, both of us would be suspects.

The scrutiny would be unprecedented.

Then everything would be over.

Cold sweat poured over me.

My palms were icy.

The world spun.

Ngô Tranh smiled.

“Let me be clear. I haven’t come to investigate today. I have no recorder or listening device. Relax.”

“Honestly, I sympathize with Hàn Vũ. I understand your predicament.”

“I also have some connections in the justice system. If you turn yourselves in, I’ll do what I can to get your sentences reduced.”

“How much?” I couldn’t help asking.

His smile deepened.

“For you, kidnapping means at least five years. If it causes a death, fifteen or more.”

“But if you maintain that you didn’t know her revenge plan, I can try for around five.”

“As for her…”

“The court will consider the loss of her daughter and her prolonged depression.”

“Perhaps seventeen or eighteen years.”

I smiled bitterly.

Lưu Khải killed Tiểu Kỳ.

Not one day in prison.

Hàn Vũ would pay with the best years of her life.

Wasn’t fairness the very point of law?

Gradually, I calmed and met his eyes.

“Thank you for the warning. I’ll make sure my daughter isn’t hurt.”

“Whatever it costs.”

I deliberately stressed the last words.

His smile disappeared.

“In all my years, I’ve never seen a truly flawless crime.”

“Would you like to reconsider?”

“I’ve thought it through.”

“I’ll always stand on the side of justice.”

He frowned.

“Killing a child is justice? Your moral standards are low.”

“Murder isn’t, of course,” I replied.

“But if the law can’t protect me, I’ll use every means to protect myself.”

“To me, that’s justice.”

He seemed to think further words pointless.

He sighed.

“Then we’ll meet again.”

It was too early to surrender.

Motive alone wasn’t enough.

He still needed evidence.

To open a criminal case, a complete chain.

Weapon.

Body.

Crime scene.

Any one would be dangerous.

If he found none, we won.

Sure enough, he reopened the investigation.

More than ten officers turned the bakery upside down.

They missed no corner of the floor.

First tape, then luminol to test for fluorescence.

They checked the entire ceiling.

Two officers put yellow tape outside and announced that anyone crossing it would be treated as disturbing public order.

The neighbors could only watch helplessly.

Ngô Tranh didn’t search my shop.

He seemed certain Hàn Vũ had killed Lưu Khải.

Nearly all his attention went to her.

Throughout the search, he watched her quietly.

She looked distracted.

Holding a piece of dry bread, breaking bits off and eating.

A young officer reported:

“So far, no relevant traces, and no possible weapon.”

Ngô Tranh shook his head.

“You could kill a child that size with your bare hands. A weapon isn’t necessary.”

“Find the body and traces of the crime.”

“Did you check the oven? Measure its temperature?”

“Yes. Just over five hundred at most.”

He walked around and pointed at the chimney.

“A little modification can raise this kind of oven’s temperature considerably.”

“Take that down. Check the gaps for hair.”

They immediately obeyed.

Removed the whole chimney.

Stripped off the insulating metal.

Even pulled out the glass wool and examined it carefully.

But it was clean as new.

Gloves on, Ngô Tranh examined each machine.

Finally, his gaze stopped at the bread mixer.

Crack.

The bread in Hàn Vũ’s hand snapped.

He caught that instant.

He examined the machine closely and found the mixing paddle had recently been replaced.

The lubricant hadn’t even set.

He removed it for a luminol test.

No fluorescence.

Clearly disappointed, he ordered the whole mixer sent to the forensic laboratory for microbial culture and attempts to recover Lưu Khải’s DNA.

A few days later, the results came.

Nothing.

He was formidable.

From observation alone, he had deduced roughly how we killed Lưu Khải and disposed of him.

What he didn’t know…

Was that the evidence was right before his eyes.

The neighborhood businesses united outside police headquarters, demanding an end to Hàn Vũ’s harassment.

It even became a trending story online.

She requested compensation, nothing excessive: cleaning costs and lost business.

I knew Ngô Tranh wouldn’t give up easily.

But for the moment, he couldn’t call on further resources.

His superiors were clear. Lưu Khải’s case would be treated as a missing child.

I breathed out in relief.

It still wasn’t over.

After the police cleared Hàn Vũ, his parents remained convinced she had killed him.

They repeatedly harassed her at the shop.

Understandable, perhaps.

They had scarcely looked after him, but he was still their own flesh and blood.

The neighbors cornered the couple in the bakery and beat them.

After that, they didn’t dare appear openly.

But stones and bricks regularly struck her shop at midnight.

The display glass was smashed countless times.

Anyone could guess those appalling parents were behind it.

I urged her to call the police.

She didn’t want to trouble them.

Meanwhile, her mental state worsened.

She had been a beautiful woman.

Beautiful enough that my wife grew jealous if I looked a little too long.

Since Tiểu Kỳ’s tragedy, that radiance was gone.

She hadn’t smiled once.

We urged her to close the bakery and spend some time in her hometown.

Or move somewhere else and never return.

But she couldn’t leave the place where she had lived with her daughter.