Yin Feng said, "A Xu, let me conduct a polygraph test on Fu Wenxiu."
You Mingxu was taken aback.
Yin Feng said, "Earlier I saw a polygraph machine in the storage room next to the forensics department. It suddenly occurred to me that I know how to use it—I learned from a teacher."
Huai City was a major urban center in southwestern Hunan, so having a polygraph machine wasn't surprising. There had been a period when the province promoted the use of this technique, but as it was still relatively new and not considered conclusive evidence, county-level cities rarely used it, leaving the equipment largely neglected.
You Mingxu asked, "Is that thing actually useful?"
Yin Feng replied, "We won't know until we test it."
You Mingxu nodded. "Fine." She thought that even if it proved ineffective, it might at least intimidate Fu Wenxiu or serve as a way to probe his reactions.
"Do you think it could be him?" You Mingxu asked.
Yin Feng answered, "His mental state is abnormal, and his emotions are unstable. He possesses the technical skill to kill and dispose of Zhao Feier's body, so we can't rule him out as a suspect."
"Moreover..." You Mingxu added, "his fingerprints were destroyed too thoroughly—the skin on all ten fingers was almost completely worn smooth."
They acted immediately, recruiting two assistants from the forensics team and returning to Fu Wenxiu's home overnight to bring him back to the station. Fu Wenxiu had been roused from bed and was sullen the entire way, occasionally letting out sudden, eerie chuckles that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
Once inside the interrogation room, only Yin Feng and a young man from the forensics team, who had experience with the polygraph, faced Fu Wenxiu.
You Mingxu stood behind the dark glass. Perhaps due to a prior sense of mutual understanding with Yin Feng, Fu Wenxiu did not resist or refuse to cooperate. Instead, he seemed excited upon seeing the polygraph machine.
Inside the interrogation room, the tedious and lengthy process of questioning, measuring, and recording began.
You Mingxu watched for a while before glancing at her watch: 3:30 a.m. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she last slept. Now, immersed in an unnervingly quiet wait, her entire body seemed to collapse all at once. Her temples throbbed painfully, and waves of drowsiness washed over her.
She leaned back in a chair, staring into the interrogation room, and slowly closed her eyes.
Even as she told herself to rest, her mind refused to stop. In a daze, scenes related to the case replayed over and over. Faces flashed before her eyes, streets passed by. The depraved revelry at the Gold Splitting Treasure Company, a hidden tunnel; Fan Jia standing up in the meeting room and saying, "Let me go."
...
In a flash, she found herself on a quiet, long street. Standing in the cold wind, she watched as a person collapsed to the ground, and a tall, shadowy figure lifted them and disappeared into the darkness.
You Mingxu grew frantic, chasing desperately in her dream. But the vast slum, with its maze of winding, interconnected streets—who knew where they had gone?!
...
That's right—the car! Hazy yet mentally racing, her thoughts spun so intensely in her blurred consciousness that it almost hurt.
Back then, whoever transported Zhao Feier's body to the outskirts to dump it must have known how to drive, even if they didn't own a car.
But she had already checked the system: the vehicle ownership status of those four individuals matched what they had claimed. Aside from Shao Yuansheng, who owned a car, the others neither had vehicles nor driver's licenses. Shao Yuansheng was a suspect in a sexual crime, yet his fingerprints didn't match the one found on the box.
Car... fingerprints...
Car... fingerprints...
An image flashed through You Mingxu's mind.It was a courtyard, pitch-black, with nothing unusual except for some dark brown stains on the ground that had accumulated over the years.
It was the place she and Yin Feng had visited hours earlier.
There stood a large tree in the courtyard.
Beneath the tree was a deliberately cleared patch of ground.
There were traces of soil on the ground.
Back in that courtyard, the lighting had been poor, and she had only glanced briefly. But now, in her half-awake state, the imprints on the soil appeared vividly before her eyes.
They were tire tracks.
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