Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qin Shan Jing Jiang Central Park, 8:00am.
“Check!” Leader Jin Zhenbang exclaimed happily as he placed a chess piece down.
“F*ck!” Zhao Yu shouted. He was seated opposite Leader Jin and now filled with tears. “No, no, give me a chance! I won’t move my knight anymore!”
“Ha! No way!” Jin Zhenbang quickly grabbed hold of the piece. “Once a piece is moved, there’s no going back! Ha! Stupid chess piece, not so great now, eh?”
“Alright, alright…” Zhao Yu rolled up his sleeves and swept the pieces off the board. “Let’s go again. This time I won’t go easy on you! At first, I was living by the motto ‘respect your elders, love the young’. I knew that you had a favorite move so I gave you an opening, who knew you would take advantage of my kindness?! Come, get ready to lose this time!”
“Hmph! Come at me! Do you need me to give you my two cannons? Or maybe the king? Hahaha!” Jin Zhenbang took his teacup and drank happily. The sunlight was bright and gave off a sense of comfort despite it being winter.
Zhao Yu originally wanted to see Jin Zhenbang at his house, but after calling, it turned out Old Jin was at the park playing chess. So, Zhao Yu went straight there to find him. Old Jin’s usual chess buddies weren’t there so Zhao Yu ended up playing a few rounds with him.
Zhao Yu was setting up the chessboard as he secretly observed his surroundings. His Invisible Detector was turned on at the moment. He had no choice, the hexagram willed it. Based on the hexagram, Old Jin was a suspect so he had no choice but to be on high alert.
“You a**hole…” Leader Jin said as he arranged his chess pieces. “Why did you involve me in your speech? Don’t you know how shy I am? After the meeting, a bunch of people were laughing at me!”
“Ew! Don’t make me puke!” Zhao Yu said as he mimed himself vomiting. “If you’re shy, then pigs can fly!”
“F*ck you!” Old Jin scolded Zhao Yu. “You should know very well that I have no relation to the Demon case! Yet, for an upstart, you did pretty well. If it were me, I would not have had that courage!”
“Alright, enough praise! I’ll become arrogant!” After setting up the chessboard, Zhao Yu moved first with his knight.
“Starting with a defensive maneuver?” Old Jin observed. He had a well thought out plan and moved his cannon. “Don’t you see? I’m actually praising myself! Giving you the yellow notebook was my brilliant plan! A horse that can go a thousand miles is okay, but Bo Le the horse tamer is even better, right?”
“Ah, no wonder you always skipped my horse!” Zhao Yu complained. “After half a day, you’re equating me to a steed? But this steed did something incredible! Catapult forward!”
“Soldiers forward!” Leader Jin said calmly. “What’s so incredible?”
“The Rural Cooperatives Homicide Case has been solved by me and the culprit has been apprehended!” Zhao Yu said jovially, moving his horse again.
Old Jin’s chess piece fell and he stared with disbelief. “Don’t try to trick me! You’re using underhanded means to win, right?”
The police had yet to announce the news that the Rural Homicide case had been solved as the investigation involving Mian Jiguang was still underway, so all the police in Qin Shan had yet to find out. Zhao Yu decided that Old Jin was trustworthy and began to tell him a rough summary of what happened from start to finish.
Although it was a summary, it still took a full 20 minutes. As expected, Jin Zhenbang was dumbfounded after hearing what Zhao Yu had to say. He did not think Zhao Yu was capable of solving such a case, and he did not think the case would be so complicated!
“Checkmate!” Finally, after Zhao Yu finished the story, both his rooks had made their way into the enemy base, checkmating Jin Zhenbang. “Haha! I’ve finally won!” Zhao Yu said, snapping his fingers. “Oh, Old Jin, this matter is still confidential so keep it a secret for now!”
“Uhm…” Old Jin lowered his head, still in shock, not believing the outcome of the match.
“Come, come, set up the board. Let me win another round!” Zhao Yu pushed the chess pieces off the board and reset them as he spoke.
“Ah, that’s too much man,” Old Jin said. He was no longer in the mood to play. “Back then when we were investigating, the murderer and Yang Zebiao were hiding in the bungalow behind the village cooperative society? How could it be? The local police even brought the police dogs to search, yet…”
“It was precisely because Cheng Lingfei dared to take a risk that the whole situation was so complex!” Zhao Yu said, sighing.
“You can’t look at it that way!” Leader Jin said, blaming himself. “If we had gathered more details from the start maybe the Rural Cooperatives Homicide Case wouldn’t have become a case in my notebook. Because Wang Xuejun used his position to give Cheng Lingfei’s mother an interest-free loan, if we had begun the investigation with her, perhaps the case would have been solved earlier! If so, then there wouldn’t have been so many more deaths to follow. Jiang Ke and Yu Fusheng wouldn’t have succeeded, and if they didn’t succeed then Qu Ping wouldn’t have… argh!” Jin Zhenbang shook his head and sighed.
“Alright Old Jin,” Zhao Yu said. “When a crime happens, there are many things that cause it. It’s impossible to predict. Whether it’s a coincidence or caused by humans, it’s out of our control. What we can do is to try our best, get to the bottom of the case, and seek justice for the victims!” As he said this, Zhao Yu placed down a chess piece. “Actually, I came here to find you today to ask about the last case in your notebook.”
“Ah, that…” Leader Jin had yet to regain focus. “Seems like out of the unsolved cases, the Huayun Mountain Massacre case is the last on the list, right?”
“That’s right!” Zhao Yu nodded.
“Okay…” Jin Zhenbang frowned. “I recall having told you this before, right? That when the case took place, I was back in Qin Shan as a team leader and wasn’t a part of the Special Forces?”
“No, you didn’t…” Zhao Yu said.
“Back then, I was back to square one!” Jin Zhenbang said. “The details of the case were related to me by an old colleague, so it won’t be as detailed as the other four cases! Although I had not experienced it first hand, due to the sheer severity of the case, I recorded it anyway!”
Ah, no wonder there was so little information… Zhao Yu thought to himself. It seemed like he would have to gather more information by himself in order to investigate the case. Unfortunately, he did not have the authority to carry out the investigation and would have to come up with another plan.
“Nine years ago, it was raining heavily one night. A family of four were all killed, and the murderer still roams free!” Jin Zhenbang explained. “After tracking down so many footprints and fingerprints, dispatching a massive amount of manpower, and searching for many years, the culprit is still not behind bars! It’s such an embarrassment!”
“Don’t say that!” Zhao Yu said. “Every unsolved case is that way for a special reason. Perhaps the Huayun Mountain Massacre Case has some hidden secrets!”
“Zhao Yu, I’m counting on you to find out the truth!” Old Jin said. “Solve all five of the unsolved cases and you’ll have earned your title as one of the best!”
