Chapter 71 - 71 70 Skrýt's Nut

Words : 1476 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

71: Chapter 70: Skrýt’s Nut 71: Chapter 70: Skrýt’s Nut Evening. The rain had eased up slightly, prompting Liu Wenkai to drive off. The further verification was left to the criminal police behind him; as a frontliner, his job was to find a direction and charge forward. The fine raindrops, driven by the wind, struck the windshield like intermittent streams of urine, making visibility alternatively clear and blurry. Fortunately, there were few cars on the road, and with clenched determination, Liu Wenkai focused on driving, arriving at his destination faster than the navigation had predicted. The destination was a hot pot restaurant spread over two floors of operation. The parking lot downstairs was not devoid of cars—quite a number of people were braving the windy and rainy weather for a meal. Before getting out of the car, Liu Wenkai addressed the other three passengers, “Our target is Zhou Lei’s girlfriend, Wang Na. She is currently the prime suspect, but we’ll start with questioning. Pay special attention to the males around Wang Na. If Wang Na is the murderer, we have to consider she may have an accomplice. It’s very rare for a woman to plan and execute a murder alone. Additionally, disposing of a body requires physical strength and equipment.” Zhang Enze, sitting in the passenger seat, said, “Let’s also pay attention to the kitchen equipment, to see if there’s anything that could be used to dismember a body. The upper half of the corpse hasn’t been found yet.” “Yeah, watch out for anything that slices or chops,” Liu Wenkai added. “That last part just made my skin crawl,” Zhang Enze complained, “Just protect the crime scene and be decisive when making an arrest. Ah, we’re a bit short on manpower to guard both entrances.” “We’ll have to make do with what we have today. No one else can come up from the precinct—highways are closed. Even if we ask Qinghe City for support, they couldn’t send anyone,” Liu Wenkai could have waited until tomorrow, since the body had already been drifting for several days, and if the murderer hadn’t fled before, there was no reason they would choose to do so today.” However, after years working on major cases, Liu Wenkai knew that oftentimes, coincidences happen just like that. Besides, weather is unpredictable. The current conditions may be bad, but they didn’t affect the execution of their mission, and they met the basic requirements for action. If they waited until tomorrow, who knew if the weather would worsen? If a heavier storm came compared to today, even making an arrest would become difficult. It was also due to this uncertainty about the weather that he disliked stakeouts; he decided to make the arrest in the complicated interior of the hot pot restaurant. Of course, another main reason was that today was not a definitive arrest operation, but an investigative action primarily for questioning. Liu Wenkai was just wary that the questioning might turn into an arrest. In this weather, catching someone who had fled would be difficult. The four of them disguised themselves as customers and sat down in the hot pot restaurant. Then, without ordering, Liu Wenkai claimed they were waiting for someone, dismissed the waiter, and whispered, “Wang Na is at the front desk, the cashier near the door. I’ll go find the manager to arrange a room for us and then call Wang Na over. Xiao Zhao, follow me.” Liu Wenkai said this as he went through the waiter to find the manager, then waited with Xiao Zhao in the resting area of the back passageway. Zhang Enze and another criminal police officer took a seat in an elegant booth about ten meters away. A faux vine partition separated them from the front desk, but they still had a clear view of the kitchen area. After a long wait, Wang Na finally got up and headed toward the back passageway. Zhang Enze and the other criminal police officer quickly followed suit. The group successfully ushered Wang Na into the passageway, closed the door behind them, and cornered her in the cramped supply room. “Tell me, what’s your relationship with Zhou Lei?” Liu Wenkai’s eyes sparkled. To this young woman barely in her twenties, regardless of how many escape rooms or murder mystery games she’d played, Liu Wenkai was confident he could interrogate her thoroughly and show her what it’s like when someone who has looked into the profound darkness of humanity pierces through lies. “Zhou Lei is my ex-boyfriend,” Wang Na frowned and said, “The red packet money he gave me was voluntary. Calling the police after a breakup is really tasteless.” Liu Wenkai also frowned; she seemed to be playing the part well. Zhang Enze asked, “When was the last time you saw Zhou Lei?” “What’s this about?” “When a police officer asks you a question, you should answer properly. If you don’t want to talk about it here, we can go to the police station,” Liu Wenkai regained his composure and once again took the more assertive approach. Wang Na looked around, but there was no colleague to help her, so she said, “It’s been over a week, I think. I can’t remember clearly.” “Where did you meet?” “Right here in the shop. He came to me, and I told him that since we’d broken up, he should stop nagging and leave,” she said. “Was there a conflict?” “No. What exactly is this about?” Watching Wang Na’s expression, Liu Wenkai decided to drop a bombshell and said bluntly, “Zhou Lei is dead. Didn’t you know?” “Dead?” Wang Na showed a surprised expression. “Is he really dead?” Liu Wenkai frowned again. “What do you mean, ‘Is he really dead’?” “I mean... just...,” Wang Na hesitated for a few seconds and then said, “Just the other day, Zhou Lei sent a message saying he was going to die. I found it quite disgusting. It seemed like he was just crying, making a scene, and then threatening suicide, so I just... I blocked him...” “What did he send? Show me,” Liu Wenkai urged. Wang Na hesitantly took out her phone, went to the WeChat contact blacklist, and selected Zhou Lei’s avatar, a squirrel from the Ice Age. A line of text appeared before everyone: I can’t hold on anymore. Life has always been harsh for me, and now, it’s become utterly colorless. I once believed that everything would get better. You used to be the rainbow in my life; now, you are not anymore. I’m leaving, and it’s likely that no one will even know about it. Just like Scrat got its acorn, it’s meaningless now. Liu Wenkai and Zhang Enze looked at each other, both becoming silent. This WeChat message could be considered a standard last word, and from the perspective of a criminal investigator, Wang Na’s behavior did not appear to be that of a liar. “What does it mean that ‘Scrat got its acorn’?” asked Zhang Enze. “It’s... Scrat is the squirrel from Ice Age, which is a Hollywood animated movie. That squirrel is always chasing an acorn, never managing to catch it,” said Wang Na, realizing the seriousness of the situation, she became more careful. Liu Wenkai was slightly irritated. “He sent you that kind of message, virtually a farewell note, and you still blocked him?” “I... I didn’t think he would actually commit suicide. I thought it was some sort of tactic he’d learned somewhere. He normally seemed like a cheerful person...” Wang Na spoke softly. “If I had known, I definitely would have tried to talk him out of it.” Liu Wenkai sighed heavily, as if re-examining a deep darkness, then pulled out his notebook again and slowy said, “How was his relationship with his parents? Have you ever met them? Did Zhou Lei have any other relatives?” Even with a farewell note, it could not completely prove that Zhou Lei’s death was a suicide; there remained the issue of the dismembered body to be resolved. Wang Na spoke softly, “I never met his parents, but I heard they divorced a long time ago and both remarried. Zhou Lei wouldn’t go back for the holidays; he was raised by his grandmother, who passed away a couple of years ago.” This was yet another piece of evidence supporting the suicide theory. Zhang Enze shook his head silently and asked, “Have you two ever talked about any significant places? Especially around the Tai River area?” Wang Na reflected for a moment and said, “He was quite fond of Traveler’s Bridge over there. He used to say he wanted to buy a house there.”

Chapter 71 - 71 70 Skrýt's Nut

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