Chapter 026: The Nancheng Case (Nineteen)

The incandescent bulbs in the surveillance room hummed incessantly. Wen Rou pressed a button and said, "Li Rui, come out for a moment."

Li Rui was busy wiping away the tear tracks from Yu Meili’s eyes with a tissue. Upon receiving the order, he tucked the tissue away and walked out.

As soon as he entered the surveillance room, Wen Rou announced, "Li Junyan has confessed."

Li Rui shook his head. "What I need now is the complete sequence of their crimes."

"The massive amount of evidence we gathered from Jia Wenming’s home is enough to ensure he has no room to argue," Wen Rou argued.

"It’s not enough," Li Rui said firmly. "To make him confess to his entire criminal history, we must strike at the most vulnerable part of his inner self."

"And what do you think that could be? Do you really believe a monster like him even has such a thing?"

"He certainly does." Li Rui loosened his tie, revealing a scar on his collarbone that glistened under the lights like enamel. His expression remained steadfast. "Time is short, and I need more information. Tell you what: you feed me Li Junyan’s confession through my earpiece while I continue the interrogation with Yu Meili. Jia Wenming may be cruel and lecherous, but he still possesses a shred of humanity when it comes to women—the fact that there were no murders at Yu Meili’s hands proves that. If we dig deep enough, we will find his weakness."

Wen Rou paused to consider this, then replied, "Fine. But we don’t have much time. Be quick!"

"Understood!"

Li Rui left the surveillance room. When he returned to the interrogation room, his leather shoes clicked hollowly against the floor tiles. Yu Meili straightened up abruptly, the metal joints of the interrogation chair groaning in protest.

As soon as he sat down, Li Rui put on a stern face. "Yu Meili, you’ve done a service to the case. Li Junyan has been brought in."

Li Rui slid a copy of Li Junyan’s confession across the metal table. The rustling sound of the paper against the cold surface made Yu Meili’s pupils contract. "But we have a problem. We need to verify if her statement is true and if anything was left out. I need you to fill in the final pieces of the puzzle."

Realizing she had earned some leniency, Yu Meili offered, "I’m willing to help. I’ll tell you everything I know."

"Good. Go ahead," Li Rui nodded.

"After I left Jia Wenming back then, I went home from Na City for the Lunar New Year, and we lost touch. Ever since he started living with me, he rarely brought money home, and his relationship with Li Junyan grew distant. But regardless, Li Junyan was his legal wife, so he would occasionally return home to stay for a few days."

"Later, Jia Wenming started recruiting again. He brought in Li Fuping and Liu Meixin. Liu Meixin had been through a lot and no longer cared about anything; she followed whatever Jia Wenming arranged. Their strategy was simple: have Liu Meixin pose as a sex worker, solicit customers at the train station, bring them to a rental house, and then kill them," Yu Meili explained.

"The courtyard I rented for Jia Wenming had three rooms. Liu Meixin would bring the 'fish' into one room, while Jia Wenming waited in another with a butcher’s knife. Sometimes, Liu Meixin would drug the 'fish's' drink, and once they passed out, Jia Wenming would kill them. Other times, as soon as the 'fish' started undressing, Jia Wenming would rush out with the knife. Facing a gleaming butcher’s blade, who would dare resist? They would naturally hand over their money, hoping to be spared. But once Jia Wenming took the money, he would stab them straight through, kill them, and drag them into the cellar. It was decisive, clean, and never went wrong. One after another. But one day, there was an accident."

"What kind of accident?" Li Rui asked.

"That day, after Liu Meixin lured a 'fish' and brought him to the rental house, Jia Wenming rushed out as usual. But he didn't expect this 'fish' to know martial arts. The man kicked Jia Wenming hard in the chest. The blow terrified Jia Wenming; he collapsed to the floor and couldn't get up for a long time, and the butcher’s knife fell to the ground. When the man saw Jia Wenming fall, he turned and ran, but he couldn't get the door open in time. Seeing this, Jia Wenming scrambled up. Just as the man managed to open the door and stepped one foot into the yard, Jia Wenming caught him from behind. With a few quick strikes, he stabbed him to death. After killing him, Jia Wenming sat back down, rubbing his chest, feeling the pain. This incident made him wonder: what if he encountered another tough target?"

According to Yu Meili, Jia Wenming stopped committing crimes for a period after that.

There was another crucial reason: the cellar was full. They couldn't fit any more bodies. What were they to do? It was impossible to empty the cellar and expand it. So, Jia Wenming simply dug a new cellar next to the one in the kitchen.

Fearing he would run into another hard target, Jia Wenming decided to find accomplices.

"I don't need to say much about Li Fuping. He was a farmer from a nearby village. When Jia Wenming worked as a butcher, he used to have Li Fuping haul his goods, so they knew each other. Later, the two even stole things together. Whenever Li Fuping was hauling cargo, he would drop by the rental house, and over time, they grew closer. Later, Jia Wenming met another man he got along with, named Sun Dali. He was a big, tall guy who worked at a vegetable company," Yu Meili said.

Eventually, the three of them gathered. Jia Wenming introduced Li Fuping and Sun Dali, and over drinks, he laid out his path to wealth, waiting to see if they had the guts to join him. After some persuasion, both were hooked.

To test their nerve, Jia Wenming made them carry out a murder themselves. Jia Wenming went to the train station, found a woman, and brought her back to the rental house. Upon arrival, the woman saw two other men there.

She asked, "Who’s doing the job?"

Jia Wenming pointed at the two men and said, "Them."

The woman was unhappy. At the station, it was supposed to be Jia Wenming, who looked somewhat handsome, but now she was faced with these two ugly brutes. She said she wouldn't do it and tried to leave.

Would Jia Wenming agree? He walked up and slapped her hard several times, leaving her dazed. He growled, "If you dare to leave, I'll kill you!"

Under these circumstances, the woman had no choice but to submit. Li and Sun then had their way with her. Once finished, Jia Wenming tossed them a nylon rope and ordered them to strangle her.

Sun Dali steeled himself, put the rope around the woman’s neck, but didn't dare pull hard. The woman instinctively grabbed the rope and easily pulled it off. Sun Dali put it back on, she pulled it off again—this went on repeatedly as she begged for her life.

Seeing this, Jia Wenming kicked Sun Dali aside, grabbed the butcher’s knife, and plunged it into the woman’s chest. A few strikes later, she stopped moving. Sun Dali sat on the floor, paralyzed with fear.

Li Fuping, witnessing this, was equally stunned.

Jia Wenming handed the butcher’s knife to him and said, "Here, you take a few stabs!"

Li Fuping took the knife and, steeling himself, stabbed the woman’s abdomen repeatedly.

Jia Wenming was highly satisfied. He declared that since they had all killed this woman together, none of them could escape; they were all grasshoppers on the same string. As he spoke, he opened the cellar and let them look at the pile of corpses inside.

Lei Chen’s pen tip suddenly pierced the paper, the ink blooming into a black blot over the words "joint murder." He demanded, "Did you witness them killing the victims with your own eyes?"

Startled by the sound, Yu Meili shrank back, her speech accelerating: "I saw it, I really saw it. I was sleeping in the room at the time."

"Enough. Continue," Lei Chen said coldly.

"After that, there were two ways they killed. Either the three of them would bring a woman back to kill, or they would have Liu Meixin or me 'fish' for them. Usually, it was Liu Meixin, while he had me handle customers during the day to keep up appearances."

"Did they have specific targets?"

"Almost none. It didn't matter if the take was large or small; even a fly has meat on it," Yu Meili said.

"However, Sun Dali eventually quit. He was terrified and went into hiding. So, other than me, Jia Wenming’s group was left with only Li Fuping and Liu Meixin."

"Wasn't Jia Wenming worried that Sun Dali would sell him out?"

"No. To Jia Wenming, if Sun Dali didn't want to work, that was fine; it didn't matter if one person was missing. Li Fuping, however, was worried. He knew Sun Dali knew everything and feared what might happen if he talked. He considered just killing Sun Dali, but that had to be put on hold."

"Why? What happened?" Lei Chen asked.

"One night, Sun Dali had been drinking heavily and was stumbling home. On the way, he saw two people standing by his door. While he was dazed, they approached—it was Jia Wenming and Li Fuping. Jia Wenming said it had been a long time and invited him over for a drink. Sun Dali refused, but Jia Wenming and Li Fuping grabbed one of his arms each and tried to force him away. Just then, someone behind them called out to Sun Dali. All three turned around and saw Sun Dali’s brother and a friend. That saved Sun Dali’s life. After getting home, Sun Dali lay in bed thinking, realized something was wrong, and didn't sleep a wink. At dawn the next day, he left Na City for good."