Chapter 2
YANCHENG MUNICIPAL Public Security Bureau, 8:00 a.m.
Staff from various departments filed in for work. Yawning, Xiao-Sun—the support employee from the admin office—lugged a water dispenser refill jug over to the chief’s office. He pushed the door open and found Director General Zhang on the phone, holding his first tea of the day. He had a grave look on his face.
Zhang Chunjiu, the bureau’s longtime director general, was a wiry man in his fifties, a no-nonsense old relic. The weathered man carried his own tea with him wherever he went. Aside from his work cell, the only mobile device he used was a dumbphone with a battery life of more than two weeks per full charge. He never dressed casually at work, instead switching between several uniforms year-round. A deep groove sat between his eyebrows, and he rarely smiled.
The ancient landline in Zhang Chunjiu’s office had a leaky speaker. As Xiao-Sun crouched to open the packaging on the water jug, he heard a voice crackle through the static. “Yes sir. I know that, since it happened in my jurisdiction, it was a dereliction of duty on my part. But…”
Xiao-Sun’s heart clenched as he peeked at Director General Zhang’s inseparably knit brows. What’s gone wrong at a crucial time like this?
The city of Yancheng was in the middle of organizing an extremely important international summit. Leaders and journalists from various countries were present. Several businesses and schools were closed for the occasion, driving private vehicles within the capital was restricted based on whether their license plates ended with an odd or even number, and every department involved in public security was on high alert.
The old director general forced a calm tone, but as Xiao-Sun watched, a storm began to brew above his neck. “Nanping Boulevard North is less than two miles from the summit venue. As I said during our discussion, nothing can go wrong this month, no matter what. It’s best that even the roadside stalls be cleared away. And now you’ve come to me with a murder case? You’ve truly exceeded expectations, Lao-Wang.”
“But, Director General, it was late at night—”
“The order to step up night patrols was conveyed to all units a month in advance. Do you think criminals work a strict nine-to-five?”
“Yes—of course you’re right. And I don’t mean to dodge responsibility for this. But you know West Huashi has always been a mess, and we get so many people from out of town—”
After five minutes of patient back-and-forth with the head of the Huashi District Bureau, Director General Zhang realized the man was still rebutting everything he said without a hint of remorse. His temper flared abruptly. “Cut the crap!” he roared with the force of his accumulated ire. “Isn’t the West Side under your jurisdiction? Isn’t it your territory? Now you tell me it’s a mess, so what the hell have you been doing there all this time?!”
This outburst silenced the district bureau director on the line; Xiao-Sun remained silent as well.
Director General Zhang took a drink of his tea to calm himself, only to accidentally sip up some dregs. He spat the mouthful back into the cup. Then, extending a single vicious finger, he stabbed out the word strangulation on his dusty keyboard, and newspaper cuttings and screenshots archived on the bureau’s intranet flooded the screen.
In the small hours of the morning, the gruesome corpse of an adult male had been discovered lying in an alley in the West Side of Huashi. The news was initially posted online as one of those “strange-but-true” local tabloid stories—but of course, with the internet full of such creepy tales, it hardly made a splash. Then the head of the Huashi District Bureau, terrified of something going wrong at this pivotal moment, did something incredibly stupid: He tried to hush it up. First he insisted that the post be deleted, then suspiciously claimed that the bureau had found the body of some random vagrant who’d died of unknown causes, which only drew more attention to the matter.
To his surprise, the rascals who’d first found the body had been shutterbugs; they’d taken clear photos of the crime scene, and they posted them in a most sensational way. Paired with the secretive nature of the district bureau’s previous communiqués, this fired up the imaginations of citizens as they rode buses and trains to school and work during their rush-hour commute. What began as an insignificant little news item caught fire and spread throughout the whole city until even the municipal council phoned specifically to ask about it.
Director General Zhang put on his reading glasses and selected the post the most people had clicked on prior to its deletion. Its title, Suspected Steal-and-Strangle Gang Terrorizes City, was clearly phrased to be tantalizing clickbait. The post came with photographic evidence to boot. The moment he opened it, an uncensored image of a dead body filled his screen for maximum shock value.
Director General Zhang was truly lost for words. He wondered whether he should’ve saved his earlier bellowing for this moment instead. Then again, age limited his vocal abilities anyway. Forced to resume his regular volume, he told the head of the Huashi District Bureau, “Your talents are wasted in this line of work. You should be in advertising. Look how effectively you managed to spread this.”
“It’s those interfering brats who incited this! Who takes a selfie with a corpse? They have no conscience at all! But don’t you worry, sir. They’re all in my custody, and the posts and photos are being deleted as we speak. I can get everything under control.”
Director General Zhang leaned back in his seat, massaging his temples. “The important thing right now is to investigate the death as soon as possible. If there’s a murderer, catch them; if there’s some other criminal involved, arrest them. What’s the point of deleting posts? Are you an app moderator? Hurry up and settle this, and make sure your officers keep their mouths shut. I’m going to send some of my people over from the city bureau to provide technical expertise. If you haven’t sorted this out one week from now, Wang Hongliang, you can hand in your resignation and get lost!”
Done spewing venom at the district bureau director, Director General Zhang hung up. Xiao-Sun put the empty water jug to one side and picked up the small notebook he always carried. He was getting a feeling that the old director general would have something to say.
Sure enough, Director General Zhang gestured to him. “Get the criminal investigation team in here.”
Xiao-Sun looked up. “All of them, sir?”
Director General Zhang’s gaze turned back to the LCD monitor before him. The corpse in the photo had already swelled hideously, distorting its features—but those features still recognizably belonged to a young man. His glassy eyes faced the viewer, and his mouth gaped open as if in shock.
“Of course not. How would they fit in the room? Get Luo Wenzhou. Ask him to head over there with a few of his men. Maybe the case won’t be that complicated. Tell him I’ll take care of that old Wang Hongliang after this month. He’ll know what to do.”
Xiao-Sun hesitated. Director General Zhang directed a quizzical gaze at him through his glasses.
“S-sir…” Xiao-Sun forced a smile. “Sergeant Luo… He, uh, isn’t in yet.”