SES Chapter 108 Part 1

Chapter 108

Chen Xiangrong got a phone call, hurriedly straightened his clothes, and headed out. As soon as he stepped out of the building, he saw a big black car waiting. It was a huge thing, with a strange shape and a row of lights mounted on top—he had no idea what those were for.

In all his years in Nantian County, he had never seen a vehicle like that.

The car door opened, and Luo Ren waved him over. Chen Xiangrong jogged up, slipped into the passenger seat, and sat stiffly, unsure where to put his hands and feet.

Luo Ren glanced at him. Chen looked honest and awkward. The information Ma Tuwen had passed along said he was around forty, but he looked much older. His face was lined, his hands were rough, and one finger was wrapped in tape.

“You work at the county public security bureau?” Luo Ren asked.

Chen answered honestly, “No, I couldn’t get into the official staff. I’m on contract with a cleaning company. They outsource me to handle cleaning at the bureau building.”

Luo Ren gave a short grunt, stepped on the gas, and the car headed straight out of town.

Chen started to feel uneasy. Just last night, a relative had asked him if he had been around when that incident happened at the bureau. Someone wanted details and was willing to pay him a thousand yuan for it.

That was more than a month’s wages, so Chen had immediately agreed.

But now, sitting in this car, he suddenly felt jittery.

He swallowed hard and turned to Luo Ren. “Uh… I’ll only talk about what I know. I won’t do anything illegal.”

He emphasized again, “The things I say are already known by plenty of people. It doesn’t count as breaking any rules.”

“Buckle your seatbelt,” Luo Ren said without looking at him.

Chen had barely ridden in cars before. He fumbled around, couldn’t find the belt at first, and by the time he figured it out and hesitated over how to fasten it, the car had already stopped.

They had pulled up by the bridge at the border between town and countryside. Ever since the murder, the bridge had been a spot where crowds gathered. People wandered around, rubbernecking like the scene itself was a rare attraction. The site had long been cleared, the bridge separate from the embankment, but everyone still marveled aloud as if they’d witnessed it firsthand.

Luo Ren sat silently, looking at the bridge through the window.

“I heard she escaped?”

“She did.” Finally, Chen asked a question, and Chen nearly spilled everything at once. “No one thought she’d run. I heard she’d been cooperative at first. She’s pretty too, soft-spoken—who’d expect her to bolt? And then…”

The memory made him shiver. “She jumped right out of the building…”

That night, when the girl was brought in, Chen and a coworker had been on duty. As usual, they pretended to mop floors while sneaking glances, missing nothing.

The coworker had sighed in amazement, saying, “I always thought criminals looked fierce. Turns out it’s the quiet, refined-looking ones you need to watch out for.”

They had shaken their heads, finished mopping the hallway, and moved on to the restroom to clean.

While wiping down the sinks, a plainclothes officer walked in. After using the toilet, he washed his hands—and suddenly slapped the counter in frustration.

Chen had been around the bureau long enough to know most of the staff and sometimes chatted with them.

So he remembered asking, “Not confessing?”

That was everyday talk in the bureau.

The officer’s face flushed with anger. “Clamming up completely. The most infuriating kind.”

The coworker chimed in, “Yeah, standing against the people.”

The officer said, “We’ve spoken nicely to her. If she cooperates and admits things, then later in court, there’s room for leniency. But if she keeps resisting, does she not understand what that leads to?”

The coworker agreed, “Exactly.”

“She claims she was asleep when it happened, but there’s no proof. Her roommate sleeps like a rock, so she can’t back her up. On the other hand, Ma Chao saw her commit the act with his own eyes. And he’s not the only one.”

At that, Luo Ren raised his head. “Not the only witness?”

“Right. That Ma Chao kid saw her do it. Then, apparently about ten minutes after the crime, another guy—someone who had been out playing mahjong late—said he saw her nearby too. For the formal ID, it was Ma Chao who pointed her out. After she was brought in, that mahjong guy, named Song Tie, also picked her out through the glass. No mistake.”

Luo Ren grunted softly, then said, “Go on.”

Chen recalled how his coworker had encouraged the officer not to be discouraged. “Criminals need to be hit hard. No more nice words. Be strict! The tougher they resist, the tougher you respond!”

After two years of outsourced work at the bureau, his coworker’s talk had become polished enough to sound like an official report.

The officer jerked his chin toward the hallway. “The boss is talking to her now. She’s young, so we’re hoping to guide her onto the right path. Make her understand how serious this is.”

“According to Article 53 of the Criminal Procedure Law, even if the defendant refuses to confess, as long as the evidence is solid and sufficient, they can be convicted and sentenced. And now we don’t just have one witness—we’ve got two. They don’t know each other, so collusion is impossible. Their statements reinforce each other, forming a chain of evidence. If she still refuses to cooperate, she’ll bear the consequences.”

Chen had nodded. “That’s true.”

The officer muttered a few more things before leaving.

Then, by coincidence, just as Chen was finishing his shift, he ran into Mu Dai again.

There were officers before and behind her. She kept her head down, walking slowly in the middle. Her face was pale. Now and then she glanced up, her eyes vacant and lost.

Chen had felt a flicker of pity. He paused for a few seconds.

And in that pause, he witnessed the entire incident.

As they passed an open office door, Mu Dai looked inside.

It was one of the inner offices of the bureau. Chen looked too. Inside, two clerks were bent over their desks, writing. Because of the heat, the windows were wide open.

And then it happened—something that left him dumbstruck. Mu Dai suddenly bolted straight into that office.

It was the third floor. Exits were guarded at both ends of the hallway. No one expected her to rush into an office.

Even more shocking, she was so fast that before the two clerks even looked up, she had already launched herself out the window.