Chapter 306 - 54_2

Words : 1085 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

Chapter 306: Chapter 54_2Tan Yunlong began the inspection and noticed many traces of water seepage on the floor: "What’s going on here?" "I don’t know. It started leaking last night, even the shops downstairs came to me about it. We knocked on the door and checked, the bathroom pipes here were normal, and there was a lot of water on the ground, so we suspected that maybe some other place’s water pipe was leaking and seeping in." Li Zhiyuan knelt down on the ground, allowing himself to get closer to these water stains. Although they had been cleaned up, the remaining stains were still somewhat sticky. This was very consistent with the characteristics of the water spilling from the Corpse. Tan Yunlong looked at the innkeeper and asked, "After he moved in here, apart from going out by himself, has anyone else come to this room looking for him?" Li Zhiyuan raised his head and also looked at the innkeeper. The innkeeper waved his hands: "No, no one came to this room looking for him." Li Zhiyuan could tell, the innkeeper’s micro-expressions showed he was lying. But Li Zhiyuan knew Tan Yunlong must have heard it too, because Tan Yunlong had set a trap while asking the question. In such a secluded room, with your front desk outside, how can you be sure no one entered his room? The correct answer should be "I don’t know," not a definitive "No." Tan Yunlong said sternly: "I’ll give you another chance, think carefully before you answer. Do you know if he was involved in something? If we find out later that you lied today, that’s abetting a crime, even accessory." The innkeeper immediately panicked, with a conflicted expression and finally made up his mind: "Ah Mei came here." "Who?" "The one from the hair salon downstairs, she came here." "Did you arrange that?" "No...not really." The innkeeper’s complexion looked terrible, starting to sweat. Right now, it’s almost an unspoken rule that inns do this kind of business on the side. Some innkeepers collaborate and share profits, while some are outright pimps. "Where is she?" "Just downstairs." Tan Yunlong and Li Zhiyuan walked out, went next door to the hair salon, and Ah Mei was one of the two women knitting on the sofa. Seeing Tan Yunlong walk in, one of the women naturally went to pull down the shutter door. It wasn’t until she saw Li Zhiyuan following behind that she froze and couldn’t help but smile, "Little brother, you here to have fun too?" "He is with me." "Alright, big brother, pick one of us, the other will stay and watch TV with the kid." There was a black-and-white TV in the room, which was probably broken and not plugged in. It’s just that Li Zhiyuan was still too young. If he had been a few years older, he too would have been "serviced." "Which one is Ah Mei?" "Brother, pick me, aren’t you here for the first time? A friend introduced me, right?" Tan Yunlong took out his ID: "I’m a police officer, here to ask you something. Sit down." The two women were shocked, but the other reacted quickly, her flirtatious demeanor resurfacing, only to be halted by Tan Yunlong’s gaze. "Last night, did you work at Happiness Inn? Remember room 8025?" "I...I don’t remember." "Think carefully before you answer, I’m not here for a brothel raid this time." The woman beside Ah Mei nudged her arm: "Hurry up and tell the truth, cooperate." Ah Mei also became flustered and said, "I worked with several clients last night, I don’t know which one was that room." The other woman immediately changed color and said, "You actually did it secretly behind my back..." It was clear that Ah Mei had a closer relationship with the innkeeper. In places like this, unless a client specifically selects someone, they usually take turns with strangers. For those staying at the inn, they certainly wouldn’t be regulars, given that the hair salon has small booths with beds inside. Li Zhiyuan reminded her: "His room floor was very wet, with a lot of water, and the room was very damp." "Ah, I remember now, it was him. But I didn’t sleep with him. He gave me money, but only asked me to get a kettle from the front desk to boil water for him, saying he was very thirsty. I boiled a lot of water for him, then he let me go." "Any other details, such as his accent?" "He seemed to have a northern accent, plus, he had a black briefcase. Other than that, I don’t know, we didn’t undress." "Facial details, think again." "He was quite tall, about 1.8 meters, very thin, but muscular, wearing a duckbill cap, skin was quite dark, like tanned, with peeling on the back of his hands. I even asked if he got sunburned." Tan Yunlong nodded. Although there was no direct photo, from the description, it indeed matched the man who visited Zheng Haiyang’s mother at the mental hospital. "If he looks for you again, remember to find an opportunity to call the police, he’s very dangerous." "Huff... huff..." Ah Mei patted her chest in fear. Being arrested for prostitution was just detention, and in their line of work, they really feared the police, but more so the bad guys. Tan Yunlong lifted the shutter door, leading Li Zhiyuan out and back onto the motorcycle. After driving away for a while, Tan Yunlong suddenly said, "Xiao Yuan, some things can never be completely cleaned up." "Huh?" Li Zhiyuan was momentarily puzzled, thinking Tan Yunlong was talking about the case, but he quickly understood and responded, "Uncle Tan, I understand." "A house can never be permanently clean, so it must be cleaned regularly." "Yes, Uncle Tan." S~eaʀᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Retired elders in the family courtyard would also share similar sentiments, treating him as a well-liked younger generation, hoping to pass on the right values. The next stop was Zheng Haiyang’s house. Zheng Haiyang’s home was a new two-story self-built house, which Li Zhiyuan had visited on the day of the funeral. Originally, Zheng Haiyang’s family conditions were quite poor, but Zheng Haiyang’s father was good at handling affairs, and over the years had indeed made a substantial amount of money working as a sailor with his wife, and built a new house.

Chapter 306 - 54_2

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