As for disposing of the bullet casings, it was something Shang Pengyi did deliberately. He wanted to divert our attention to the trash can. By the time I returned to the provincial department, facing the landlady's confession, even without other physical evidence, Shang Pengyi wouldn't have been able to withstand it. He seemed very regretful that the landlady had betrayed him, as if he had never considered that she couldn't keep the secret.
"What a coward. If I hadn't partnered with you back then, I wouldn't be a prisoner now. Women really can't achieve great things. I'll ruin you! Even if you have money now, you won't have a chance to spend it! You ruined me!"
"Shang Pengyi, you will definitely be held legally responsible for everything you've done. No matter who helped you, now look, you've implicated the landlady too. While she might not be as serious as you, she's definitely looking at several years in prison. You're complaining here, but have you considered how she feels right now?" I analyzed with dissatisfaction.
"I don't have time to care about her life or death. She's just a burden, a double-crosser, with no guts. Otherwise, I'd be back home by now! Honestly!"
"You're still unrepentant. I really don't understand how you two got together!"
Actually, I was speaking a bit emotionally. I don't know why I acted that way at the time, perhaps I just couldn't stand scum like him. As expected, Shang Pengyi showed a disdainful expression: "You're not her anything, why are you saying so much? I've confessed anyway, I'll take my bad luck, alright!"
"This isn't bad luck, it's a just deserts, you know? If you hadn't done this for a little bit of profit, you wouldn't have ended up on this path. I'm wondering if you've encountered difficulties again recently?" I probed.
"Uh, nothing escapes your eyes. Actually, I didn't want to kill anyone, after all, it's murder. If he hadn't pressured me, you might not know, Huang Yuan... Hai."
What Shang Pengyi said next surprised us. Liu Yu Ning also asked in confusion: "No way? You're not tricking us? Officer Huang would do something like that?"
"You don't know him. Don't you know he likes gambling? Do you think police officers are..."
We hadn't investigated this. Later, when I confirmed with Gao Mingqiang, I discovered that Huang Yuanhai was actually Shang Pengyi's cousin. Because Huang Yuanhai had helped Shang Pengyi a lot when he was building a house back in their hometown, this guy had been threatening Shang Pengyi, demanding money for gambling. Over time, Shang Pengyi became financially strained. His economic situation worsened. He was desperate and had long wanted to get rid of Huang Yuanhai, but he never had the opportunity. This time, when he came to the hotel, he encountered a guest. It was a woman. Initially, Shang Pengyi thought it was a romantic encounter when he saw how forward she was. Little did he know, this was the beginning of his nightmare...
"That's right. At first, the woman was just with me, you know, the usual stuff between men and women. At the time, I thought she was a prostitute or a slut, so I thought it was okay to do whatever with her. However, later I became addicted to this feeling. She seemed to understand me so well, she spoke about all my inner pain, and then she gave me a gun. Then, she incited me, telling me to do something, which was to kill this thorn in my side. I thought she was trying to help me because I was suffering so much. I also asked her where she got the gun, but she didn't tell me, only saying that after I dealt with that guy, she would come pick me up and take me to a faraway place. However, after I killed him and returned to the hotel, I found she had already fled. That's when I realized I had been set up by this woman... Even though I really disliked my cousin, I didn't want to kill him. Later, I wondered if my cousin had a grudge against this woman, and she wanted to use me to kill him? Of course, I'm not sure about the specifics. You'll have to investigate that!"
"You should still remember what the woman looked like!" Liu Yu Ning pressed.
Shang Pengyi nodded vigorously and began to describe her. I took out paper and pen to sketch.
After drawing a portrait, I sent it to He Xin. The information department quickly investigated the person Shang Pengyi mentioned. I say investigated, not found. He Xin replied: "Based on our assessment, the person cannot be found. This individual's records have been erased. It's unexpected that such a situation would occur. I suspect this is to facilitate users who engage in role-playing for their addictions. Who are the easiest people to replace? Those without identities."
"How is that possible? I remember encountering a similar situation where records were erased before..." Liu Yu Ning looked at my message. I knew she was referring to a past case. Back then, even though we had a photo of the suspect, we were helpless. The photo seemed as if it had never existed in the world.
We used to think situations like this only happened in TV shows or novels, but in reality, achieving this is not as mysterious as it seems. It can be accomplished through certain means.
No equipment could retain its records, so how could we investigate? The woman had escaped. Later, I found Shang Pengyi and asked him to confirm the woman's appearance. At the time, I thought he was fooling me, deliberately misstating some features so we couldn't find her. However, after repeated questioning and observing Shang Pengyi's micro-expressions and body language, I realized he was telling the truth.
"Then we can only check the surveillance footage for people who left the hotel at that time. I'll have Xiahou and Gao Mingqiang try!" Liu Yu Ning suggested. I told her to go ahead and get busy. I took another look at Shang Pengyi in the observation room before leaving.
To speed up our work, I assigned a few more investigators to assist Gao Mingqiang and the others. After an unknown amount of time, they confirmed, through eyewitnesses and video footage, that the woman had been with Shang Pengyi. According to the landlord's information, she had left the day before Shang Pengyi was apprehended, around 11 PM. Based on this time, we checked the surveillance footage along the route. Even though we didn't know who she was, we could follow her trail to the place where she finally disappeared.
Finally, we determined she got into a Volkswagen on Donghai South Road. The car had no license plate, but with the help of the trip recorder, we tracked it all the way to the end of Donghai West Road, outside an ocean park. Before going in, I turned back and asked Gao Mingqiang: "Are you sure she went in?"
"Look, the car is parked right outside!"
I initially had doubts, but seeing the Volkswagen solidified my decision. I told everyone to follow me closely. The group accompanying me was quite large: special police, armed police, criminal police, and the Punishment and Sin Group. Everyone except the forensic and technical departments was present.