The countdown to closing the case set by Sir Pan ticked slowly away with each second hand movement of the wall clock in the CID room.
Assuming that six years ago, Zhang Huijing had indeed been at the crime scene—yet had completely denied any connection to Liang Wei from start to finish, without showing the slightest crack… then what exactly was the nature of the relationship between the two? A tangled romantic entanglement, or merely a transactional exchange of interests?
The doubts in Li Heng’s mind grew deeper.
That afternoon, Pan Liqin strolled into the CID room. Seeing Li Heng bent over her desk writing the closure report, he nodded with satisfaction and said nothing more.
He clasped his hands behind his back, his polished leather shoes clicking against the floor as his footsteps gradually faded away.
The moment his figure disappeared completely at the end of the corridor, Li Heng looked up: “Zhishan, immediately summon Zhang Huijing back to the station for questioning.”
Fang Zhishan rose from her desk without a moment’s delay: “Yes, Madam!”
Lin Jiacong watched Li Heng’s decisive manner and murmured to Old You in a low voice: “Our boss isn’t that green after all. On the surface, she plays along with Sir Pan, follows orders—but behind the scenes, she’s still investigating.”
Old You spread his hands and shook his head with a laugh: “Otherwise, how come she’s an inspector at such a young age, while I’ve been stuck as a sergeant all this time?”
…
Before long, Zhang Huijing was brought to the station by officers.
She still wore that gentle, submissive look—her eyes sincere as she spoke, her voice soft. Sitting in the interview room, she kept her hands properly placed on her knees, her gaze timid, appearing pure and harmless.
Faced with repeated questions from Li Heng and Old You, Zhang Huijing kept her eyes downcast, shaking her head earnestly, her face full of innocence.
“Madam, Sir, I really don’t know the person you’re talking about. I’ve explained this before.”
When shown photos of the crime scene, she studied them carefully before answering: “I’ve seen this place on TV. My colleagues also talked about it in the break room—this is where the bones were found.”
“One, two, three—quickly hide. Four, five, six—can’t be found. Seven, eight, nine—caught you…” Li Heng switched angles, slowly reciting the nursery rhyme. “Have you heard this rhyme before?”
Zhang Huijing lifted her eyes slightly, her gaze clear: “I remember it from playing hide-and-seek as a child.”
She then shifted to another memory—her childhood with her sister. They couldn’t afford toys back then, so they were each other’s only playmates. The house was small—you could spot someone hiding at a glance—so games usually ended quickly. But she and her sister still played tirelessly, running until they were drenched in sweat, laughing nonstop.
“I think every child in Hong Kong has heard this nursery rhyme.”
Old You had spent years in the force and was used to cunning, deniable suspects. The more ironclad the evidence, the more stubbornly they’d refuse to admit it—so he never really let them get under his skin.
But facing Zhang Huijing now, he couldn’t help feeling suspicious. Every expression, every response—it was all too natural. She seemed like a girl who’d been sheltered too well, who’d never known the harshness of the world—even her denials were soft-spoken.
Old You exchanged a glance with Li Heng.
If all of this was an act, then Zhang Huijing’s performance was frighteningly convincing.
“Where is your mother now?” Li Heng suddenly changed the subject, locking her gaze on Zhang Huijing’s face, not missing the slightest flicker of expression.
Zhang Huijing’s brow furrowed slightly, a hint of worry creeping in: “My mother lives abroad. You can call her overseas. Does this case have something to do with my mother?”
Her voice grew urgent: “You can tell me the truth—don’t be afraid. Has something happened to my sister?”
Old You finally couldn’t hold back his frustration. He slammed his palm on the table. “Zhang Huijing, you’re still lying after all this! Think it’s fun playing us? That nursery rhyme at the scene—it’s your handwriting! Once Tech releases the final results, the evidence will be airtight! You think if you just keep denying it, you can skate by? How long do you think you can keep this up?”
The sudden loud bang made Zhang Huijing’s shoulders flinch violently.
She looked up as if startled, her eyes instantly turning red: “Sir, you can’t accuse an innocent person. I really didn’t do anything. How can I admit to something I didn’t do?”
Her flustered, helpless demeanor was like a frightened little rabbit—anyone who saw her would feel a pang of sympathy.
Li Heng sat silently to the side, her gaze sharp, trying to detect any crack in the facade beneath that frail exterior.
Could Zhang Huijing really be involved in the case? Even if Tech’s final conclusion confirmed that the handwriting matched Zhang Huijing’s without a doubt—there was no date on the note. At best, the evidence only proved she had been at the scene; it couldn’t directly tie her to the murder. Liang Wei could even insist he’d found the note somewhere else. Under the principle of “in dubio pro reo”—when in doubt, rule for the accused—this piece of paper would never be enough to seal Zhang Huijing’s fate.
“Per police regulations, we will lawfully detain you for forty-eight hours.” Li Heng stood up and turned to Old You. “Switch personnel and continue the questioning.”
Stepping out of the interview room, Li Heng immediately called Gao Zijie over, her expression serious: “Take a DNA sample from Zhang Huijing and send it to Tech for comparison with the broken hair strands found in the clothing fibers six years ago. Even if there’s only the faintest trace, check it thoroughly.”
A few minutes later, she heard Tech complaining endlessly—frustrated groans drifting out.
“We’ve said it countless times—those hair strands were soaked in cement for years. There’s no way to extract a complete, valid DNA profile! We already submitted the report!”
“What’s with this iron-faced Madam from Team A? Making us run the same tests over and over—talk about making things difficult!”
…
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
More than half of the forty-eight-hour detention period had passed, and Zhang Huijing remained quietly in the interview room, showing no signs of agitation. She kept saying, calmly and gently, that she believed the law wouldn’t wrong an innocent person—that she was innocent, and the truth would eventually come to light.
On the other side, Liang Wei had already been transferred from the hospital back to the station’s holding cells. Ever since the police had brought him in again for questioning about Zhang Huijing, he’d stuck to the same story—they didn’t know each other, and everything was just a coincidence.
In subsequent interrogations, he remained equally unyielding—shutting down completely, staring blankly out the window, saying nothing. Each statement record bore only one line—
He’d already said all there was to say.
Li Heng spent most of her time at the station. Even late into the night, her office light stayed on.
Her subordinates worked overtime as well, determined to track down Zhang Huijing’s mother, Zhang Fengying.
At the same time, officers assigned to review the Cheung Sha Wan surveillance footage took shifts around the clock. The door to the audio-visual room opened and closed repeatedly as they went over the footage again, hoping to catch another glimpse of Liang Wei.
Li Heng flipped through the case files countless times, waiting for the DNA comparison results.
She had a feeling that the hidden truth was about to surface.
…
The deadline Pan Liqin had set was drawing closer.
But when the first ray of morning sunlight streamed into the CID office, the officers immediately threw themselves into another round of work.
Li Heng set down her breakfast on her desk and headed toward Tech.
Just as she reached the door of Tech, she ran into Xu Le’er, who was rubbing her tired eyes and chugging coffee, looking exhausted. Empty instant noodle cups and cookie wrappers were piled beside her on the desk—clearly she’d pulled an all-nighter.
“Any progress on the DNA comparison results?”
“Hold on.” Xu Le’er took a sip of water, wetting her dry lips. “The conventional methods really didn’t work. I tried re-processing the degraded fragments last night—still running the data now. Hoping to extract a usable sequence.”
Li Heng nodded: “You’ve worked hard. Get the results out as soon as possible.”
With that, she turned and left.
The moment she stepped back into the CID work area, Old You brought in a new lead.
Years ago, the old neighbors had spread rumors that Zhang Fengying had been having an affair—the other man had run some small business. If they could verify his name, maybe they could trace her whereabouts through business registration records.
This was the breakthrough they needed.
Meanwhile, Fang Zhishan was holding up a stack of telecommunications records, looking stumped.
The data from the telecom department was massive, and the system had been delayed by two days before exporting the complete records.
She rested her chin in her hands, her head spinning from checking the dense columns of numbers. She looked up: “This is strange. Madam said that at three o’clock that afternoon, Zhang Huijing called her mother. I cross-checked the call logs multiple times—during that time period, she didn’t dial any number at all.”
The CID room in the early morning was like a battlefield. As soon as those words landed, another officer quickly approached.
“Zhang Huijing’s forty-eight-hour detention period is up—they’re processing her release paperwork.”
“The handwriting verification results aren’t back yet.”
“Without sufficient evidence, we have no choice but to release her as per regulations.” Li Heng’s tone was decisive. “Put her residence and movements under surveillance.”
The officer acknowledged and immediately went to carry it out.
“Madam—” A field officer poked his head in. “Sir Pan wants to see you in his office right away.”
…
Li Heng turned and headed toward Pan Liqin’s office.
She was still thinking about how to handle him when she pushed the door open—and came face to face with a tall, familiar figure.
Shen Zhicheng walked straight past her without so much as a glance, showing no intention of greeting her.
His grandfather, concerned about the case’s progress, had rapped his cane and dragged him out of bed. Since their unpleasant parting at the newspaper stand, he hadn’t seen Li Heng again, and he had no desire to deal with her now—he planned to go straight to her superior.
Shen Zhicheng stepped ahead of Li Heng and took the seat opposite the Chief Inspector.
“Madam.” The urgent call came from outside the door. “Tech says the DNA comparison results are in.”
The call from Tech came through. Pan Liqin pointed to the landline on his desk, signaling for it to be transferred.
After giving a brief acknowledgment, Li Heng picked up the receiver.
On the other end of the line, Xu Le’er’s voice was professional and precise as she clicked her mouse: “The data’s finished running. A trace amount of DNA was indeed detected from the broken hair strands in the clothing fibers—high probability match with Zhang Huijing.”
Li Heng grabbed a pen and paper from Pan Liqin’s desk, waiting for the key details.
“But I have to tell you upfront—based on past experience, courts are very unlikely to admit residual sequences like this as evidentiary proof.”
Xu Le’er paused, clicking her mouse a few more times: “Also, when the system ran an automatic match against the kinship database, a set of DNA markers came up.”
Li Heng hummed in acknowledgment, her pen poised over the notepad, about to jot down the names Chi Ah Min and Zhang Huijing—
“The system matched… you,” Xu Le’er’s voice dropped slightly, “and a member of the public whose blood sample was recently entered for exclusion purposes.”
The voice on the phone was soft, but it sent Li Heng’s heart pounding.
She recalled the blood collection process at the hospital that day, and her head snapped up.
Shen Zhicheng had been lounging lazily in his chair. Sensing a scorching gaze, he turned his head.
He raised an eyebrow, his expression impatient.
Arrogant as ever, he shot her a glare without the slightest courtesy.
“Madam, are you still there?”
Li Heng steadied herself and gripped the receiver tighter. “Go on.”
There was a brief silence on the line, then the sound of mouse clicks—several of them, as if double-checking.
“The system-registered name: Shen Zhicheng.”
The confirmation hit. Li Heng stared at the person before her, her mind nearly blank.
Her fingers tightened unconsciously, the ink bleeding into a blot on the paper.
The call wasn’t on speaker, and the civilian had no interest in their work.
Shen Zhicheng, meeting her gaze, merely let out a light snort—
What are you staring at? Is there a case file on my face?
Then Xu Le’er’s voice continued through the receiver: “The kinship database comparison confirms you are biological siblings.”
“Also, based on the birth years in the system and the genetic relationship, it’s likely you are fraternal twins—either older sister and younger brother, or older brother and younger sister.”
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