"Name?"
"Chen Kequn."
"Age?"
"Sixty."
"What's your current job?"
"What job? I'm retired, I can't work anymore."
"Alright, next person, please."
…
It was clear that Xu Changsheng had accepted Su Ming's suggestion. After carefully considering it for a few moments, he agreed with Su Ming's reasoning.
Analyzing from every angle, the most likely suspects capable of committing a secondary crime against the victim's body would indeed be the residents around Huainan River.
Furthermore, although there were many elderly people beyond the police line, once they ruled out those who were too old or immobile, only about ten people remained.
So, Xu Changsheng set up a temporary platform for questioning. Wang Hu asked each person a few simple questions, while Xu Changsheng and Su Ming observed their expressions and reactions.
Judging by the rough handling of the victim's body, the suspect likely wasn't skilled in crime. They could probably identify the culprit just by observing micro-expressions and body language.
As they questioned each resident, only one middle-aged man was left. This man had tried to stay at the back of the crowd when Xu Changsheng announced the questioning, as if looking for a chance to slip away. He had even placed himself last in line, seemingly to prepare responses to the questions in advance.
These two behaviors caught Su Ming's attention.
…
When the middle-aged man in an old t-shirt, casual pants, and worn sandals—clearly not well-off—came forward, Su Ming pressed Wang Hu's shoulder, signaling him not to speak. He then asked,
"Name?"
The man breathed a small sigh of relief at the familiar question, though he still seemed a bit nervous.
"Xu Yiguo, my name is Xu Yiguo."
"How old are you?"
"Forty-five."
The second question relaxed him further, as he'd already prepared an answer.
"What did you use to cut off the victim's fingers?"
"I haven't worked in a while; I'm just an unemployed drifter, collecting scrap and doing odd jobs at construction sites…"
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing what he'd said. His hands shook slightly as he forced himself to stay calm.
"Of-Of-Of… Officer, w-what did you ask me?"
"What do you mean, cutting off? I-I didn't cut off her fingers! I've never even seen her before! Today's the first time I've seen her!"
"Are you sure you're not asking the wrong person?"
Seeing Xu Yiguo's anxious, flustered reaction, Su Ming gave a mocking smile and shrugged.
"Oh? The wrong person, huh?"
"You can swim, right? And you're pretty good at it—at least strong enough to pull a body through water?"
"Have you ever worked in butchering, firefighting, medical work, salvage—anything that involves handling corpses?"
Xu Yiguo's eyes changed. He avoided Su Ming's gaze, and sweat appeared on his forehead.
"N-No, I haven't done that."
"I worked at a construction site until the boss… the boss let me go, so now I just…"
Before he could finish, an older woman still hanging around in the crowd shouted,
"Xu Yiguo! Are you lying to the officers? Didn't you work at the crematorium a few years back?"
"And you got fired for stealing jewelry off the dead! The families reported you, and that's why you've been scraping by since then!"
"You didn't work at any construction site! All you did was odd jobs! Wait—oh no, I get it now!"
"Good grief, you didn't… you didn't kill someone, did you?!"
Her voice was loud and clear, drawing the attention of others around her, who began discussing it, and even more details started to emerge.
"What? Xu Yiguo killed someone? Really?"
"Why wouldn't he? He has a record! He stole jewelry from the dead at the crematorium!"
"Not just theft! I heard he owes tens of thousands from gambling! Killing someone wouldn't be out of character!"
"Hey, now that I think about it, didn't Xu Yiguo come home late last night and then go out again? Maybe he was out there killing someone?"
"Someone, please arrest him! We don't want him in our neighborhood! He might kill us next!"
…
The gossiping voices reached Su Ming, Xu Changsheng, and Wang Hu. Among the chatter, certain details stood out: Xu Yiguo's gambling debt of tens of thousands, his past as a crematorium worker, his record of stealing from the dead, and his late-night outing the previous night.
All these clues and pieces of information were coming together.
It was now almost certain…
After the victim was murdered, Xu Yiguo committed a secondary crime. Not only did he damage the corpse and steal critical evidence, but he also tied the body with construction debris to conceal any evidence left by the real killer.
Clearly, Su Ming's unconventional questioning had completely disrupted all of Xu Yiguo's prepared answers, and even led to several neighbors pointing fingers at him.
At that moment, Xu Changsheng, an experienced detective standing in the back, realized that the primary suspect was right in front of them.
No longer polite, he glared coldly and warned sternly:
"Xu Yiguo."
"I'm giving you one last chance: hand over the items you stole last night and tell us every detail you know about this case."
"If you do, there may be an opportunity for leniency and a reduced sentence."
"Otherwise…"
"Even if you're not the murderer, hiding the corpse and destroying evidence is enough for an obstruction of justice charge, which could mean up to ten years in prison!"
"I'm counting down from three."
"If you still don't talk, then there's nothing left to say. We'll just take you to the station and search your house ourselves!"
"Three!"
"Two!!"
"One!!!"
As soon as Xu Changsheng finished counting, Xu Yiguo finally broke under the psychological pressure, shouting in distress.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything!"
"I didn't kill anyone! I swear! I just saw her floating on the river and thought, since she was already dead, the jewelry wouldn't go to waste, so I took it!"
"I didn't do anything else! Even if I tried to weigh her down with stones afterward, she still got fished out, right?"
"I didn't kill her! I really didn't!"
After his outburst, Xu Changsheng finally let out a sigh of relief. He pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs from his belt and cuffed Xu Yiguo's hands, firmly restraining him.
"Let's go!"
"Take us to your house right now. I need to see every item you stole from the victim!"