Animal Detective

Zhao Tianxing spoke haltingly. "That’s right. If Wang Liang had adamantly refused to confess, there really would have been nothing we could do."

In other words, Hu Bin not only cleaned up Zhang Zhanhui’s mess, but he cleaned up Wang Liang’s mess as well.

Otherwise, with Wang Liang’s clumsy attempt to stage a break-in and robbery, he would’ve been caught the morning after the crime.

Shen Xin nodded in agreement. "I remember a detail. The mark outside Li Siyu’s door must have been made by them on the spot."

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"And when they did it, not only did they randomly carve similar marks on multiple floors, but they even carefully caught the falling plaster dust."

When he first discovered the mark, Shen Xin had specifically checked the floor for dust.

If it had been carved that night, the plaster dust would have definitely been on the floor.

But Mao Ruiqiang collected it, leading the special task force to misjudge the situation. They thought the mark was old and wasted a lot of energy investigating it as a break-in and robbery.

You have to admit, these spies are professionals. Meticulous down to the last detail.

Following the original trajectory of the case, although there were some suspicious points, without concrete evidence, it really could have turned into a cold case.

The outcome spoke for itself. After three days with no breakthrough, they had no other choice but to release Wang Liang and hope he would expose himself.

Thinking of this, Shen Xin asked curiously, "Captain Liu, what was the look on Wang Liang’s face when he heard the recording? It must have been priceless, right?"

According to Qian Zidan’s analysis, Hu Bin went through three psychological shifts in a very short time, anticipated many possibilities, adapted on the fly, and achieved the outcome he wanted.

As for Wang Liang, looking back now, he also went through a psychological rollercoaster.

At first, he killed in a fit of passion and was terrified to his core. By his own admission, he was ready to skip town.

Then he received the deceptive text message from Mao Ruiqiang and was thrilled, thinking he hadn’t actually strangled Li Siyu to death.

For the next few days, he withstood the interrogation, self-righteously proclaiming his innocence. He probably even believed it himself at that point.

Finally, when he realized even State Security was involved and things were getting too big, he couldn’t withstand Qian Zidan’s threats and told the truth.

At that time, he probably still thought it wasn’t a big deal. ’So I hit someone and stole something, what’s the big deal?’

But in the end, after all that, it turned out he had killed her after all.

Shen Xin was truly curious about his reaction to hearing the recording.

At the mention of this, Cui Xuesong laughed out loud. "Before we got the recording, he kept asking the guard on duty how many years he’d get for his situation."

"He’d even mumble to himself, saying it was fine, as long as he hadn’t killed anyone."

"Then he heard the recording and was completely dumbstruck. Anyway, he ended up pissing himself for real."

He hadn’t cracked during the intense interrogations of the past few days, but this finally scared him so badly he pissed his pants.

Yang Zeran chimed in, "I just listened to the recording, and to be honest, Wang Liang’s intent seems a bit ambiguous."

"But after he went downstairs the first time, he went back up again. At that point, was he already thinking that if Li Siyu didn’t agree, he would kill her?"

Shen Xin turned to look at Yang Zeran.

’He’s talking about the difference between a crime of passion and premeditated murder.’

’Or, to put it another way, the difference between a life sentence and the death penalty.’

If he had lost control during their argument upstairs the first time and strangled Li Siyu, that would be a straightforward, non-premeditated crime of passion.

If he managed to get forgiveness from Li Siyu’s family by paying them off afterward, he’d most likely get a life sentence.

But after the first argument, he went downstairs, sat in his car for a while, and then went back up.

Going back up at that point, as Yang Zeran suggested, could mean he went with the intention of settling the matter for good, even if it meant killing her.

Just chatting, Captain Liu said, "I think it counts as premeditated. When he went up the second time, his intention was clear. If Li Siyu didn’t agree, he was definitely going to do *something*."

Zhang Hancheng waved his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

There was no point in discussing this kind of issue; it was up to the prosecutor’s office.

He pressed the microphone button and told Qian Zidan, who was conducting the interrogation, to ask about how Hu Bin became the top donor.

The matter with Wang Liang was basically clear.

It was Zhang Zhanhui’s side of things that still had some questions.

Following Hu Bin’s plan, Zhang Zhanhui had pushed all the blame onto Mao Ruiqiang, so all of his current testimony was questionable.

Inside the room, Qian Zidan rolled his eyes and cut Hu Bin off. "Alright, that’s enough cursing. You could go on forever, couldn’t you?"

For the past few minutes, Hu Bin had done nothing but curse people out.

He called Wang Liang a pig and Zhang Zhanhui a moron, and cursed himself for being blind enough to choose him as a target.

"I’ll curse if I want to!"

Hu Bin glared and continued his tirade. "I’ve got his type figured out. A classic lecherous coward, all talk and no action, whose mind is filled with nothing but women."

"You know, after he did the deed, he even had the nerve to brag to me, telling me all about what he supposedly did to her."

"The girl herself said she’d never seen anyone so creepy. Shit, I can’t even be bothered to talk about it."

"And he’s obsessed with money, and that Panamera. Said that as long as he was driving a Panamera, he’d never have a shortage of women in the passenger seat."

"A guy like him? If I were a woman, I wouldn’t even give him the time of day."

Qian Zidan was amused by his righteous indignation and said teasingly, "By the way, don’t you have Deng Meixing? Why not have her handle it?"

With Deng Meixing’s methods, she could probably wrap Zhang Zhanhui around her little finger.

Hu Bin sneered disdainfully. "That’s my woman. Is he even worthy?"

"Your woman?" Qian Zidan paused for a moment, then said with amusement, "To hear you talk, it sounds like there’s real love between you two."

Hu Bin shook his head and sighed, looking up. "Not real love. At best, you could say we’re kindred spirits in misery."

"Section Chief Qian, to be honest, it’s tough for us too. The higher-ups force us to work, but when it’s time to ask for funding, they block it here and cut it there."

"They’re out there wining and dining, and they call us pigs at the drop of a hat. If I hadn’t started a company and made some money on the side, I wouldn’t even be able to scrape together the operating funds."

At this, he sighed again. "It’s better that I was caught. If I hadn’t been doing this for so many years, with so much baggage, I would’ve thrown in the towel and turned myself in to you guys long ago."

"Now I can finally give up hope. Section Chief Qian, I’m in your hands. I have nothing more to say. Prison, execution, whatever. I’ll take it."

"If you think I’m still useful and want to turn me, that’s fine too. I don’t care either way. I mean, for someone like me, what kind of good end could there possibly be?"

"Save up enough money to retire in some small country? As if. I fucking figured that out a long time ago."

He wore the expression of a man who had seen through the charade of life.

Qian Zidan waved his hand dismissively and chuckled. "Alright, we’ve come this far. Stop putting on an act."

Of everything Hu Bin had just said, aside from the insults, Qian Zidan didn’t believe a single word.

Zhang Hancheng’s voice came through the earpiece again.

Qian Zidan shot an irritated glance toward the observation room. ’Why don’t you come in and interrogate him yourself?’ he thought.

But he still asked about the "top donor" situation.

Hu Bin said, "That son of a bitch loves watching livestreams. He loves hearing those girls call him ’Big Bro.’ It’s so pathetic."

"I was worried he was spending too much online and would attract attention, so I used my own identity to open an account for him. That way, there wouldn’t be any problems."

In the observation room, understanding dawned on everyone.

Shen Xin said, "So, from the looks of it, Zhang Zhanhui really did spend a lot of money on Li Siyu."

The sixty-thousand-plus from the "top donor" was actually gifted by Zhang Zhanhui.

And this matter once again proved how meticulous Hu Bin was.

His account was registered on April 16th.

He said it himself: he was afraid that donating only to Li Siyu would be too suspicious, so he deliberately gifted to many other female streamers before handing the account over to Zhang Zhanhui.

On May 7th, his account made its first donation to Li Siyu.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhanhui had stopped donating to Li Siyu at the end of April, a perfect handoff.

At the same time, he also required Zhang Zhanhui to continue donating to other female streamers afterward to maintain the facade.

This level of counter-surveillance skill was definitely the mark of a seasoned professional.

Zhang Hancheng pressed the microphone button again, telling Qian Zidan to have Hu Bin detail the events of the day of the crime.

He wasn’t interested in how Hu Bin approached and corrupted Zhang Zhanhui.

Shen Xin immediately looked at Hu Bin.

The general situation was clear, but there were still some lingering questions.

Hu Bin said, "At 11:30, that idiot contacted me, explained the situation, and asked me what to do. My fucking head nearly exploded."

"I mean, I may be a spy, but I still have some standards. But him? He fucking redefined my understanding of scumbags."

"But what could I do? I couldn’t just ignore him. Section Chief Qian, let me tell you, this guy is insidiously treacherous. He even fucking threatened me, asking what would happen if he got caught and ratted me out."

Thinking about it, Hu Bin let out a laugh of pure anger.

"He thought he could get a handle on me?" Hu Bin scoffed. "Right then, I decided I had to use this opportunity to take him down."

"I told him to wait there, that I would handle it."

"Originally, I was going to go myself. I was already in the elevator when I remembered he’d used my account to make donations. So I went downstairs, bought a pack of cigarettes, and went back up."

In the observation room, a thought suddenly struck Shen Xin.

Earlier, when they were confirming Hu Bin’s status as a suspect, Zhang Yaxin had mentioned he’d checked on Hu Bin’s movements.

At 11:40, Hu Bin had left his home for a short time.

It now seemed that was when Zhang Zhanhui had contacted him.

Inside, Hu Bin continued, "After that, I sent Mao Ruiqiang. Damn it, that guy is useless too."

In Hu Bin’s eyes, it seemed everyone was a useless teammate.

"All he ever does is ask me for money. And you can’t even say he really loves his wife and kids. From what I know, he’s spent plenty on other women."

"There was the issue with the car, so I thought about having Mao Ruiqiang swap cars with that son of a bitch. As it happened, his own car was registered to his mistress."

"But I realized then that it would be hard for me to get out of this clean. The only way was to find a scapegoat, and Mao Ruiqiang was perfect."

"We have his wife and kids. It’s easy for me to control him."

"I figured, as long as he drove the car in, he’d definitely be traced afterward."

"We were in contact the whole time on his way there, discussing how to handle the scene. I told him I’d checked the street view maps and the surrounding area was covered by traffic cameras, so there was nowhere to park. I told him to just drive straight into the complex. I said there was a free parking period, and if it left a record, I could find someone to take care of it later."

"Once he drove in, I told him that plan wouldn’t work, that it would be better to just sell out that son of a bitch."

"As for whether he’d expose us after being caught, it didn’t matter. We could use this to threaten him, get the materials, and then pull out immediately."

"So he also left a record. That way, it would leave evidence for you guys, proving that he was the one who cleaned up that son of a bitch’s mess."

Qian Zidan nodded repeatedly.

In the observation room, Shen Xin was in disbelief.

Judging from Hu Bin’s confession, Qian Zidan’s psychological assessment of him was almost flawless. He had him pegged perfectly.

Hu Bin was a seasoned professional, meticulous in his planning. But Qian Zidan was his equal: experienced, and skilled in reasoning and analysis.

Without a doubt, they were both masters of their craft.

And Hu Bin’s subsequent confession continued to align with Qian Zidan’s deductions.

He gave Mao Ruiqiang a reason, saying that the phone in Wang Liang’s possession was very important. He had him tail Wang Liang to confirm whether it had been destroyed.

Mao Ruiqiang went off foolishly, and as it happened, he was spotted by Shen Xin.

Then, during their escape, Hu Bin even blamed Mao Ruiqiang, berating him for being careless and getting spotted by the police, and threatening him into taking all the blame.