Chapter Fifteen: Peace

To say that Li Yancheng had any romantic intentions toward Deputy Director Duan's youngest daughter would be entirely inaccurate. He viewed her strictly as a neighbor's little sister; when one is away from home, it is only natural to offer help where one can.

Perhaps due to his mature psychological age, he currently felt no passion for romantic entanglements. It had been over ten days since his soul had transmigrated into this body, and his only goal was to stay safe. As for everything else, that would have to wait until after the Reform and Opening-up. By then, he would still only be in his thirties, and it would not be too late to pursue whatever he desired.

Stay safe? His intuition was truly spot on. Some people were simply too reckless, and they had failed to protect their own safety.

Nearly twenty days had passed since the homicide in the Dianhai District, yet the public security bureau had yet to make any headway; they lacked even a single decent lead. During the week of snowfall, three more cases had occurred in different districts: West City, East City, and Yangchao. If one counted the initial case in Dianhai, it was as if the perpetrator was sweeping across the city from west to east.

The reason for this assessment was that the victims in these four cases shared similar backgrounds, and the modus operandi was almost identical, making it highly likely that the killer was the same individual. This drew the intense focus of the Municipal Bureau. They handpicked detectives from each of the four districts and formed a special task force led by the Chief of the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division to centralize command and investigation.

Chief Tian of the Municipal Bureau had been a comrade-in-arms of Jin Zhihai's late father. To help build the credentials of his fallen comrade’s son, he specifically had Jin transferred to the task force. Although some at the East City Precinct were dissatisfied, they had no grounds to complain, as the case in East City had occurred within the jurisdiction of the Meishan Police Station, where Jin Zhihai was stationed. He had been the very first officer to arrive at that crime scene. In essence, he held the first-hand information regarding the incident. Thus, the Municipal Bureau’s decision to bring him onto the task force was entirely justifiable.

Today was the inaugural day of the task force, and they had spent the entire day in meetings summarizing the existing clues from the four cases. By the time the meeting concluded, it was past eight in the evening. Dazed and exhausted, Jin Zhihai followed his colleagues from the precinct out of the conference room.

"Zhihai."
"Section Chief."

Hearing Section Chief Zhang of the precinct's Criminal Investigation Division call him, Jin Zhihai quickly pulled himself together and caught up.

"You were the first to arrive at the scene in our district. Setting the other three cases aside, what is your take on ours?"

"The motive is clear: it was targeted specifically at the victim, Nie Fan. Furthermore, the perpetrator had clearly spent a long time tracking and scouting him, possessing a deep understanding of his daily routine. Otherwise, the killer would have gone to his home instead of the secret mistress's place, which he only visited once a week. Also, this killer is exceptionally skilled at surveillance. Whether it was Nie Fan or the victims in the other three cases, none of them were ever alone; they usually had many people around them to do their bidding. Yet, despite so many people, not a single one noticed they were being followed. This alone speaks volumes about the killer’s capability. Chief, I strongly suspect..."

"That’s enough. Don’t say another word." Before Jin Zhihai could finish, Section Chief Zhang cut him off.

His suspicion was shared by everyone else. Earlier in the meeting, some had hinted at it, but no one dared to state it explicitly because no one wanted to believe it. In truth, the members of the special task force felt no sympathy for the four victims. They were racking their brains to solve the cases partly because of the heinous nature of the crimes, and partly because...

According to the subordinates of the deceased, over the past year or so, all four individuals had privately embezzled significant amounts of confiscated funds. While there were no exact figures, the amount already verified for Cui Haiyang in Dianhai alone reached several hundred thousand yuan in cash. The problem was, now that they were dead, where had that money gone? It had vanished into thin air.

Consequently, the missing money was now the primary focus of their investigation. If Cui Haiyang had embezzled that much, what about the other three? If they all had similar amounts, the total would be an astronomical sum. The strategy decided upon in the meeting was to track the money to find the culprit. With such a large amount—and it wasn't just cash, but also gold and other precious metals—hiding such physical assets was not easy, which should theoretically make the investigation easier.

However, Beijing was not a small place, and uncovering the truth would be no simple task. With four consecutive cases and no solid leads, the task force had a long road ahead. All the officers left the conference room with furrowed brows.

...

Today was Saturday, December 30th. Tomorrow was Sunday, and the day after was New Year's Day, allowing for a two-day break. Of course, for Li Yancheng and Zhou Guotao, who were there on a medical support mission, there were no such holidays.

After finishing dinner at the canteen, the two returned to their dormitory to tidy up their clothes, preparing to head to the town bathhouse for a good soak. Unlike the bathhouses in the city that were open daily, the town bathhouse only opened on Saturdays and Sundays. It was less crowded on Saturday nights, as nearby villagers wouldn't travel all the way over in the dark; they usually arrived on Sunday mornings, some as early as five o'clock. Especially approaching the New Year, the bathhouse would be packed to the point where one couldn't even find space to stand in the large soaking pool.

To bathe, one needed both money and a bath ticket, which were distributed as a welfare benefit by the town's work units and villages. A single ticket plus five cents granted unlimited time; one could arrive at opening and stay until closing without issue, provided one didn't mind being pruned. In the city, bathhouses even had beds in the rest area, and some people would truly spend the entire day there. They would order a pot of tea with unlimited refills, buy a few snacks, soak in the pool, and then sit on the beds drinking tea, eating sunflower seeds, and chatting away. When rested, they would head back for another soak, or even hire someone for a back scrub or a pedicure—it was a true bathhouse culture.

The town bathhouse lacked such amenities; there were no beds, no food, and no pedicures, though back scrubbing was available. To get a scrub, one had to purchase a ticket in advance and wait for the attendant to finish with others before taking a turn. Lying on the slab next to the pool while the attendant scrubbed you down with a towel, only to jump back into the water afterward, was an incredibly refreshing experience. If one didn't go at least once a week, the whole body would feel itchy.

Li Yancheng and Zhou Guotao entered just before seven-thirty and didn't emerge until after ten. Perhaps because the roads were too muddy, it wasn't very crowded, and the two enjoyed a thorough, satisfying soak.