The only way out of the village was sealed off by the armed police, meaning the Perseus family could not escape.
We searched for them for a long time without success, but then I suddenly had an idea. "They must be at home. The jammer has been cleared by the special police. Is there a signal now? Quickly check Li Haimin's information!"
"Alright, leave it to me. As long as we catch Perseus, we'll have evidence!"
He Xin agreed, and I, along with 50 special police officers and 20 criminal investigators, had completely surrounded Perseus's house.
Li Fan kicked the door open first, leading a few special police officers with guns drawn into the house. Gao Mingqiang, Xiahou, and I followed.
We moved around, guns pointed, vigilant, but Perseus's house was empty.
We searched near the furniture, in rooms, the kitchen, the bathroom, and even went upstairs to sweep, but found no one. Everyone was about to leave when I stepped on a section of the floor in the kitchen opposite the refrigerator and noticed signs of it having been disturbed.
I quickly crouched down and called over two special police officers. We pried open the floorboards, revealing a staircase leading to a basement.
Everyone understood. We grabbed our flashlights and weapons and descended. To prevent any hostage situations, we spread out, guns pointed, with Da Hei and Xiao Niu leading the way.
Just as we were about to reach the bottom, we heard two screams. As we stepped into the basement, dozens of flashlight beams swept across the area, revealing Da Hei and Xiao Niu biting Perseus and Bantu's arms!
The screams were theirs. Bantu pleaded, "We can go back with you, but Wei Ya is innocent!"
I raised my hand. "Take them all! We'll interrogate them later!"
As our people approached, Da Hei and Xiao Niu obediently released their grips, and the special police handcuffed Perseus and Bantu.
About an hour later, we sped back to the Guangming City Provincial Department.
"Mr. Perseus, we have actually been suspecting you all along. You must have noticed that you were being watched recently!" Zhang Keying said as soon as we sat down.
"Yes, you are indeed astute. How exactly did you discover our crimes?" Perseus asked.
Zhang Keying looked at me. She hadn't been sure herself, and it was time for me to explain.
"Perseus, I actually didn't know what those strange secret rooms were for at first. But one time, I was walking alone in those areas and discovered they had one thing in common: they were all close to the sea. If I'm not mistaken, you killed those people, didn't you? You had a controller for water flow impact valves. Those valves were installed near the concrete in the secret rooms. A huge flow of water would strike the stone near the altar. If you lured people there to stand on it, the stone would fly up, potentially carrying them onto the statue of the Dark Night God, where they would be impaled. It looked like some divine punishment, but it was just a simple physical killing device. Don't tell me the controller has been destroyed. He Xin will find it. Your motive for killing was likely Li Haimin. She was your mother, wasn't she? She died because Wales was still young. When the villagers were looking for a sacrifice, they chose him. But your mother, to save her young child, offered herself as a sacrifice. Wales was supposed to be your child, and if that were the case, you might have let it go. But then you discovered he wasn't your child at all, and you believed your mother's death was all his fault, which led to your desire to kill him. As for why Bantu cooperated, I imagine she couldn't have children back then and found some boy to fool you. When you found out, you were furious. After calming down, you thought of avenging your mother. This is roughly the whole story, isn't it, Mr. Perseus?"
Perseus didn't answer. He slumped limply in his chair, but his dejected expression was more convincing than any sincere reply. After some deliberation, he finally signed the confession.
With Perseus dealt with, Bantu, as an accomplice, no longer resisted and admitted her crimes. I thought the case was closed, but when I returned to Osiri Village, someone came looking for me. It was a villager who said Elder A Long had something to tell me.
Although they had clashed with us before, they were quickly educated and released by the police since they were not involved in the murders.
Upon arriving at Elder A Long's house, before he could speak, I said, "You are Wales's biological father, aren't you!"
"Hahaha, Officer He, you are indeed clever. They say your deductions are like divine intervention. But how did you figure it out?" Elder A Long's surprise quickly subsided.
If he hadn't sought me out and brought it up, I would have let it go. But since he asked me to come, it meant he wanted me to know, or perhaps he had already guessed that I had figured it out.
"I investigated Wales's birthplace, which is Osiri Village. Comparing your age with his, along with household registration information, it's easy to see. Your original name is Audley Ens, therefore, Wales should not have the same surname as Perseus, but should be Wales Ens. Am I correct?"
"That's right. Wales is indeed my son, but I had no choice to complete the great sacrifice. I was actually suspicious of Perseus and the others, but I couldn't act. So I had to use the police to investigate the truth of the case and, incidentally, complete the great sacrifice. It was a win-win situation. I succeeded, and the real murderer of my son was brought to justice."
"I admit you are very composed. I didn't notice these details before. Do you know about Mercia?"
"Yes. That's right, the will is true. Mercia is indeed Perseus's illegitimate daughter. I actually stayed at Perseus's house for a while back then. I was the butler here. But Perseus was very fond of womanizing and lost his fertility. Actually, neither Wales nor Wei Ya are mine. Speaking of which, Mercia was a miracle, or perhaps not Perseus's genes. But that's no longer important. Since Bantu didn't care, why should I? Alright, Officer He, the real reason I asked you here is that I want you to take this item."