Netherworld Investigator

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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Lao Yao told us that Zou Wei arrived with another man, who looked like he was a Taoist priest. It turned out that Zou Wei was so afraid of his dead wife’s ghost that he had to ask a Taoist priest to accompany him.

That didn’t matter to us, of course. Even if Zou Wei had brought a priest with him, he’d still be meeting with his dead wife soon!

Once the two men entered the building, Lao Yao began to make preparations. The projector and the speaker had been connected to a computer here, and Lao Yao controlled them remotely.

I saw blood ooze out of the walls. A ghostly voice echoed in the corridor. If I hadn’t known that it was Lao Yao’s doing, this would’ve been a terrifying scene indeed.

Zou Wei screamed and begged the priest, “Please help me, Master!”

We then heard the ringing of a bell in the corridor. Lao Yao informed us that it was the Taoist priest trying to exorcise the evil spirit. He was also spreading raw glutinous rice everywhere. Lao Yao scoffed and said this must be a fake Taoist priest, since even a layman like him knew that glutinous rice was only used against possessed corpses, not ghosts.

“Let’s advance to the second phase!” I ordered.

Wang Yuanchao and I held up a big plastic board in front of us and approached Zou Wei in the corridor. The projector projected an image of a car on the board, while the speaker played the sound of a loud crash.

“Get away from me!” Zou Wei shouted hysterically. “I didn’t kill you! I didn’t kill you!”

Through a small hole on the plastic board, I saw Zou Wei collapsed on the floor. The fake Taoist priest was so scared he pissed himself and crawled away to escape.

As we walked forward, Xiaotao followed behind us. When Zou Wei saw her, his eyes bulged in sheer terror. His dead wife had just appeared in front of him out of thin air.

Lao Yao then played a recording of Xiaotao’s voice.

“Look at what you’ve done to me, darling…”

Zou Wei whimpered, then knelt on the floor and desperately pleaded, “Please let me go, Xiaoli! I had no choice! I had to pay off the debt!”

Pay off his debt? I wondered, excited that we now had a new clue to follow through.

Suddenly, she burst into tears and wailed while covering her face. It even creeped me out. I then noticed that Zou Wei had wet his pants. He was now kneeling in a pool of his own urine.

“How could you be so cruel!” yelled Xiaotao. “I will never let you off! I will always haunt you till the day you die! You will never live in peace!”

“It’s all Fat Wu’s fault!” shouted Zou Wei. “He pestered me about the debt all the time! I wouldn’t have done such a thing to you if it hadn’t been for him! You know I love you more than anything!”

“Was he involved in my murder too?” Xiaotao asked.

“Yes, he was! It was all his plan! Go find him! I’ll tell you his address!”

Zou Wei then blurted out an address. I knew it would be wise to be sceptical of his claim, but nonetheless this Fat Wu might turn out to be an important witness to the case.

I made a gesture to Xiaotao, and she quickly slipped through a door. Wang Yuanchao and I then followed her into the room and we blocked the door with the plastic board, which prevented Zou Wei from seeing what went on inside.

We quietly observed him through the small holes of the plastic board. Once he walked by the room, I made a gesture to Xiaotao again. She joked, “Looks like you’re having fun with this!”

“I just want to bring the murderer to justice, that’s all!”

As soon as Zou Wei walked past the door, Xiaotao slipped out the door and tapped Zou Wei on the shoulder. Zou Wei jumped in fright and his legs turned so wobbly he could barely stand up straight. He slowly turned around. Xiaotao said, “I’m going to pay Fat Wu a visit. Once I’m done with him, I’ll come back and kill you!”

Then she bared her teeth at him, and Zou Wei collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Seeing that he’d lost consciousness, we quickly got out of the building and headed towards the man called Fat Wu according to the address given by Zou Wei. We arrived at an old apartment building, and we rushed towards the room that Fat Wu was supposed to be in. Wang Yuanchao effortlessly knocked down the door, then pinned the man inside to the floor. A bag full of white powder dropped to the floor. It was a drug.

“There’s probably about a hundred grams in here,” remarked Xiaotao as she weighed it in her hand. “According to the law, you could be sentenced to death if you possess more than fifty grams.”

Fat Wu put his hands together and begged, “Please, officers! I never used any of the drug! You can take it away!”

Xiaotao actually lied about the law. Fat Wu would only be sentenced to death if he was caught selling more than fifty grams of the drug. Possessing it would only result in being detained for ten to fifteen days, or if his addiction was very serious, he would be sent to a rehab center for three to six months.

Xiaotao stood up, grabbed Fat Wu’s collar, and asked, “I’m Officer Huang. Have you heard of me before?”

“Yes, of course!” he answered. “Everyone on the street knows you and Officer Wang. If you need me to do anything for you, just say the word!”

Xiaotao asked him about Zou Wei’s murder of his wife. Fat Wu pretended not to know Zou Wei at first, but when Xiaotao threatened to arrest him for the drugs, he admitted, “Alright, alright! He killed his wife a year ago because he owed me five million yuan in debt…”

“Was it you who planned it?” Xiaotao sharply snapped.

“Absolutely not! I never even finished middle school! How would I ever think up a smart plan like what he did?”

Fat Wu confessed every detail about the murder plan and even provided us a with a piece of evidence. It was a document signed by Zou Wei which proved that he owed Fat Wu a huge sum of money. This was unfortunately only indirect evidence, but it was much better than nothing.

The document, the autopsy report, and Fat Wu’s testimony could be enough to arrest Zou Wei for murder. China’s laws gave more weight to direct material evidence, but the combination of witness testimony and circumstantial evidence might make a strong enough case to convict Zou Wei in court.

Xiaotao then gave Sun Tiger a call and reported everything. He reprimanded her for acting so brashly, yet praised her for having done a great job immediately after that. Coincidentally, Director-General Cheng was in Nanjiang City at the time, and Sun Tiger promised us that they’d both come to support us at the police station tomorrow morning.

Early next morning, we brought Fat Wu to the police station. When Captain Lin saw us, his eyes widened and he yelled, “Huang Xiaotao! Why are you still—” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Sun Tiger and Director-General Cheng entering the building. 

“Director Sun just informed me about the case of the car accident from a year ago,” said Director-General Cheng with a stern face. “Officer Huang Xiaotao conducted an investigation and obtained enough evidence to prove that it was in fact a murder! I want the case re-opened and the murderer captured immediately!”

Captain Lin nodded nervously and replied, “Yes, sir. I’ll get an arrest warrant straight away.” He then turned to Xiaotao and said, “I hope you can understand why I stopped you before. I was in a difficult position, you know.”

Xiaotao gave him a salute and stated, “Captain Lin, for not obeying your command and acting without permission, I deserve punishment!”

Sun Tiger laughed. “Captain Lin was only doing his job, and Huang Xiaotao was passionate about bringing the murderer to justice. I don’t see the need to punish anyone here!”

Captain Lin was visibly relieved. “Director Sun is right. If more police officers were like Huang Xiaotao, the criminals would have nowhere to hide, and Nanjiang City would be a thousand times safer!”

Xiaotao turned around and surreptitiously winked at me.

Later, after being arrested, Zou Wei pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was soon transferred to the judiciary court pending trial.

Not only was Xiaotao’s performance stellar in this case, she also became a legend for successfully overturning the investigation of an old case. I later heard that at the commendation ceremony, Officer Zhang took off his own police badge and requested to be punished for having failed to fulfill his duty, causing the murderer to run free. But Xiaotao pleaded for his case and in the end, the only punishment Officer Zhang received was a deduction in his salary.

Xiaotao treated me to dinner. She excitedly told me that she might be able to take a short vacation soon. She asked me if I’d like to go to the Wuyi Mountains with her and I enthusiastically agreed.

Unbeknownst to us, a terrible storm was brewing right at that moment!

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