Chapter 43: Vacation

"What on earth is wrong with this family? Do they have some kind of misunderstanding about when someone can be reported missing?" Luo Wei hugged a bowl of instant noodles, sipping the hot broth. Although he had benefited from Kang Ge's company earlier in the evening and eaten a hearty meal, a busy blink of an eye had brought them to the middle of the night. His dinner had long since been digested, and after standing in the cold wind for hours, the instant noodles were less for filling his stomach and more for warming his body.

"Impossible," Qi Tianhua said, shaking his head in disagreement the moment the thought was voiced. "Even if there's some misunderstanding, an adult can be reported missing after 24 hours. This has been four days! And whether it's her husband, parents-in-law, or her own parents and relatives, not a single one of them noticed that this Wang Huihan was missing? That's simply absurd."

"Yes, if she were from out of town, it might be a bit easier to understand since they wouldn't necessarily stay in close contact day-to-day. But she's a local, and her family is right here in the city. That really doesn't make any sense," Yan Xue agreed, finding the situation rather odd.

"So I have an idea, though I'm not sure if you'll agree," Kang Ge proposed. "Tomorrow, let's first contact the deceased's workplace. She registered some information there during her previous administrative detention. Let's see what they have to say, and then we can decide whether or not we should contact her family right away."

"You mean to prevent the family from purposely failing to report her missing? If we just follow standard procedure blindly, we might end up being passive and let others lead us by the nose?" Yan Xue understood Kang Ge's intent. "I have no objection. I agree!"

"I agree too," Qi Tianhua said, finding the approach quite feasible.

"Me too! It looks like when we call her workplace, we'll have to be a bit covert and not too direct," Luo Wei said, rubbing his hands together. "So, what do we do next?"

"Our main task next is... to sleep!" Kang Ge said with a smile, pointing at the wall clock. "Even if you're deeply dedicated and want to work around the clock, Wang Huihan's workplace isn't going to have the same mindset as you!"

The others followed his gesture and realized it was almost one o'clock in the morning. At this hour on any other night, sleepiness would have long since overtaken them, but after a night of intense, high-focus busyness, they didn't feel a shred of sleepiness at all.

However, getting rest was a task in itself at this stage. Once the direction for the next day's work was set, the group split up to rest. Yan Xue had originally planned to make do for half the night at the precinct, but it happened to be a night when the duty room couldn't spare a bed. Kang Ge immediately decided to walk her back. Fortunately, her place wasn't particularly far from the unit, so it wouldn't waste too much time.

Along the way back, Yan Xue was relatively quiet. Kang Ge didn't speak at first either, but eventually couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? Are you too tired to talk, or are you struck by the reality that the case on your hands has turned into a serial murder investigation?"

"The latter reason accounts for a good portion of it, but not all," Yan Xue sighed. "I was just thinking that previously, I had some suspicions about Shi Shugao, and about Cong Fangfang's spooky roommate. I even thought Cong Fangfang's best friend and her boyfriend were a bit suspicious. But now that this new victim has popped up, and the dumping ground was staged with a Lolita dress, a wig, and a swing, I feel like my prime suspect has instantly shifted to Xin Rui.

"Yet whenever I think of Xin Rui, I can't help wondering why he still hasn't accepted our alternate account's friend request. Could it be that he feels he might be exposed, so he hurriedly wrapped up this case and is now preparing to flee?"

"No, that possibility doesn't exist," Kang Ge dismissed Yan Xue's worry as unnecessary. "Judging from the staging we saw at the crime scene today, I don't think those are the actions of a suspect preparing to flee.

"You can clearly sense from that scene that every single move this person made was methodical, without a shred of haste, and showing not the slightest hint of panic. To put it somewhat inappropriately, the biggest trait the suspect gives us is emotional stability. He feels like a person with a remarkably strong psychological fortitude.

"I still harbor considerable suspicion toward Xin Rui, but I don't think he's likely to pack up and fly far away out of fear of exposure. Given that he was still holding exhibitions locally after Cong Fangfang's murder, if he truly is the suspect we're looking for, he's definitely the type who likes to stick around after committing a crime to admire his own work."

Hearing Kang Ge's analysis, Yan Xue's brows finally relaxed a little, and she let out a slow breath. "What you're saying makes sense! Just now, I couldn't help thinking: if I had seized the moment to add him as a friend when he hit on me back then and quickly set the 'fish hook,' how great would that have been? If we missed our chance to handle this properly, allowing him a second opportunity to commit a crime, and then he slips away as our prime suspect, I would genuinely die of guilt!"

"Look at you. This is what I mean—you have an abundance of a sense of justice and plenty of drive, but your biggest personality flaw is that you love taking all the responsibility upon yourself. There's no need for that," Kang Ge said with a soft sigh, shaking his head. "When Xin Rui suddenly approached you back then, how were you supposed to add him? Use your personal WeChat account? There wouldn't even have time to change your profile picture and Moments. No matter which of you scanned the other, you'd have to open the app, and your chat history would be visible to each other. Wouldn't that expose you even faster?

"Besides, whether Xin Rui is actually the suspect we're looking for remains a question mark. Judging by the situation of the second victim, Wang Huihan, she was clearly a target the killer had been eyeing for a long time. Her murder didn't happen much later than Cong Fangfang's. So I don't believe that even if you had added him when he hit on you, squeezed information out of him, and found sufficient grounds to detain him, Wang Huihan would have remained safe and sound."

Yan Xue nodded. She knew Kang Ge was stating objective facts, and that she was once again falling into her old habit of overthinking. With many clues still unclear, there was truly not enough evidence to substantiate any suspicion yet, and no need to add to her own mental burden.

She rubbed her temples, let out a long breath, and unknitted her brow. "You're right. No more dwelling on useless thoughts. I'll get a good rest tonight, and tomorrow we'll dive right into investigating Wang Huihan's situation to see if she and Cong Fangfang had any intersections or commonalities!"

"That's the spirit!" Kang Ge turned his head and smiled at her. "Remember, when the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. I'm taller than you, so don't worry about anything. As long as I'm here, it won't crush you!"

Yan Xue nodded, her feelings growing somewhat complicated for a moment. Because of her parents' gentle and accommodating tempers, the phrase she had heard most growing up was "Never mind, Mom and Dad don't mind, just bear with it." She had never once heard anyone tell her, "Don't worry, I've got everything covered."

For someone who was always striving to support others and eager to shoulder the responsibility of every task she handled, being supported and sheltered by someone else for a change felt rather nice.

When they got back, it was truly late. Yan Xue skipped washing up entirely, took off her outer clothes, and lay down on the bed. Closing her eyes, she couldn't help replaying the images from the crime scene in her mind. The information from the forensic pathologist and the myriad trivial details surrounding Cong Fangfang flashed continuously through her brain.

Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap.

Suddenly, a few soft knocks against the wall reached her ears. The sound was faint; if it weren't for the deep silence of the night and Yan Xue lying there wide awake, she might never have caught it.

Kang Ge's bedroom shared a wall with hers, so Yan Xue instantly guessed where the sound had come from.

She felt around her pillow for her phone and messaged Kang Ge: "What is it?"

"Are you lying there letting your imagination run wild again? If you don't want to fail to get up tomorrow morning and mess up our subsequent work, get some rest right now and don't let me catch you 'punching the clock'!"

The message was closely followed by a dynamic sticker of a little figure rolling up its sleeves with a fierce expression on its face.

Seeing Kang Ge's reply, Yan Xue couldn't help but laugh. She hurriedly sent back a good-night emoji, closed her eyes, and forced herself to quiet her mind. After what felt like a long while, she finally drifted into a deep sleep, right up until her alarm clock woke her the next morning.

Because they had rested far too late the previous day, Kang Ge didn't get up early to cook. The two of them arrived at the unit on empty stomachs, but Qi Tianhua and Luo Wei had bought plenty of breakfast items like fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and wontons. Having enjoyed a delicious dinner thanks to Kang Ge the night before, they naturally returned the favor at breakfast, bringing enough for Kang Ge and Yan Xue as well.

Kang Ge pressed two cups of coffee for himself and Yan Xue, and they ate a blended Chinese-Western breakfast. Afterward, the group clarified their investigative direction for the day: Luo Wei and Qi Tianhua were mainly responsible for confirming whether any intersection existed between Wang Huihan and Cong Fangfang; Kang Ge and Yan Xue would take charge of vetting Wang Huihan's workplace and family situation; while the others searched for potential surveillance footage around the crime scenes.

Kang Ge and Yan Xue first contacted Wang Huihan's workplace and obtained a response from the company without much effort.

Wang Huihan worked at a telecommunications company as a telephone operator. Her main duty was calling customers to recommend various newly upgraded data plans. The nature of such a job obviously did not require business trips.

Once they got in touch with her workplace, Yan Xue and Kang Ge were told that Wang Huihan had taken annual leave, claiming she was going traveling to a southern city very far from W City, which happened to be experiencing a wonderful season for tourism and vacation at the moment.