chapter 8
They carefully pondered every logical link in Chen Shu’s statement, and the more they thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
Han Xue fell into deep thought. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, as if everything was just too coincidental, as if it had all been arranged in advance.
Her gaze landed on a segment of surveillance footage on her phone.
Immediately, Han Xue hurried out of the Interrogation Room and quickly pulled up the surveillance video from the old district at No. 222 Nanling Street.
Sure enough, it was just as Chen Shu had described.
The surveillance footage showed that at 11:35, two plainclothes men entered the residential complex at 222. A little over ten minutes later, the two men exited the building, one of them holding something, while the other escorted him to a black business van parked by the roadside.
It was clear that these two were members of their Criminal Investigation Team.
Then they drove away.
Shortly after, a man dressed entirely in black, wearing a mask and sunglasses, appeared in the surveillance footage.
Han Xue’s eyes lit up instantly.
He came down the stairwell, turned left, and entered a blind spot in the surveillance. Judging by his appearance, he should be the real culprit-“Chen Shu”.
Not long after, Han Xue looked away and let out a long sigh, but then she gave a bitter smile.
Half an hour later, in the Conference Room at the Police Station.
Han Xue announced her conclusion to everyone: “According to Chen Shu’s confession, there were four ‘Chen Shu’s’ involved in this case.
And one of them was a fake. In the end, the fake ‘Chen Shu’ was identified-his real name is Li Wei.
The real culprit, ‘Chen Shu’, has already fled.”
At this moment, the Conference Room was packed.
Han Xue paused, then continued, “I hope everyone takes this case seriously. It’s extremely bizarre-three ‘Chen Shu’s’ appearing in the same time and space is almost unheard of… I want everyone to treat this with utmost seriousness. From now on, we’ll work in 24-hour shifts. We must catch the mastermind behind this.”
“Understood!”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“It’s getting late, and some of you are tired. Those who are off duty, go home and rest. The on-duty personnel will continue tracking and monitoring. As long as this ‘Chen Shu’ dares to show himself, we’ll arrest him immediately.”
“Alright!”
Most people dispersed one after another.
But Han Xue stayed behind.
Lu Fan saw Han Xue lingering and took the initiative to ask, “Xiao Xue, what’s wrong? Is something bothering you?”
Han Xue let out a soft sigh.
Lu Fan was taken aback. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling troubled?”
Han Xue hesitated, but still voiced her doubts.
“Captain Lu, what if-I’m just saying, what if this is all a conspiracy?”
Lu Fan’s expression changed slightly at her words.
“A conspiracy? What kind of conspiracy?”
Han Xue glanced at Lu Fan, then continued, “I know I might be overthinking it.”
“But what if the ‘Chen Shu’ from this timeline has already been killed?”
Lu Fan was even more shocked by her words.
“You mean… the first culprit ‘Chen Shu’ ran away from the very beginning?”
“And the second ‘Chen Shu’ killed the current ‘Chen Shu’, pulling off a Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell trick on himself?”
The thought sent a chill down Lu Fan’s spine.
Han Xue shook her head. “I’m not sure if my guess is right, but I just feel something is off, so I stayed behind to ask.”
Lu Fan nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm, what you said is rare, but not impossible. After all, there have already been three versions of ‘himself’ appearing in this world!”
…
No. 222, Old District, Nanling Street.
He was dressed in black, wearing a hat and a mask, his entire face tightly concealed.
He passed by the entrance of a household, then walked straight into a residential building.
He went up to the second floor, pushed open the door, and entered the living room, closing the door behind him.
The room was rather messy, with various scattered items on the floor. Several packs of toilet paper were piled on the sofa, and a few magazines lay beside the coffee table.
Besides that, the room was filled with a strong smell of alcohol.
“Click.” He turned on the light, then walked to the sofa, bent down, picked up a cigarette box that had fallen on the floor, took out a cigarette, bit it, and lit it.
He was Chen Shu.
Chen Shu had already been cleared of suspicion and had returned home from the Public Security Bureau in the middle of the night.
After taking a deep drag on his cigarette, Chen Shu exhaled a pale blue smoke ring, then slowly raised his head to look at the ceiling.
“Hoo~~”
He let out a long breath, as if trying to clear his mind.
Then, he took out a drawing and a piece of paper from his pants pocket.
The drawing depicted a temple and a little rabbit. The rabbit was squatting at the temple gate.
There were three holes beneath the rabbit.
He then unfolded the piece of paper.
On it were the names and personal information of ten people-the very victims whose heads had been made into dishes in the locked-room case.
This list was something Chen Shu had requested from Han Xue.
When Chen Shu saw the names on the list, he was shocked.
He knew all the people on this list-they were all his patients!
And he also knew Li Wei, the one who impersonated the murderer “Chen Shu”; he, too, was one of his patients.
But he couldn’t recall the specific details.
Chen Shu’s mind was in a haze. Why were there three versions of himself appearing in the same timeline?
Was it really as he speculated-was his future self trying to stop his present self from committing a crime?
Chen Shu then took a knife out from the inner pocket of his clothes, muttering to himself.
He stood up from the sofa, walked to the balcony, and gazed at the pitch-black night sky in silence for a long time.
Chen Shu’s gaze fell on the outdoor air conditioning unit outside the balcony.
The air conditioning unit was covered in dust, and on the dust were a pair of footprints-clearly newly made.
Chen Shu reached out and touched the footprints.
“Chen Shu, I will definitely find you! Do you really think you can escape?”
He muttered in a low voice, then turned and went back to the bedroom.
Chen Shu lay on the bed, countless images flashing through his mind…
…
On the other side, the police were busy hunting down the real murderer, “Chen Shu.”
…
The next day.
May 26th
Early in the morning, Chen Shu went to the hospital to resign, but brought back a Patient List from the hospital.
This Patient List recorded the identities and situations of all his patients, including those he treated through “Black Work.”
Having resigned, Chen Shu was not worried. He checked his bank card-there was still enough money to last him a lifetime.
All this money had come from the patients he treated through “Black Work.”
So-called “Black Work” meant treating patients who couldn’t see the light of day, such as criminal suspects, celebrities, or big bosses who needed to deliver or abort children for their mistresses, and so on.
Chen Shu began to go through the Patient List, and sure enough, he found the information and medical records of the ten victims from the crime scene.