Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Time rewinds by three minutes.

More than thirty people, in groups of two, searched around the entire City Garden District for Zhang Shaowu’s whereabouts.

"Old Li, you go check the hotpot restaurant inside, I’ll go to the barbershop next door."

"Okay."

Li Chengguang was an old traffic cop, due to retire in a year.

Having worked as a traffic cop all his life, Li Chengguang had patrolled the streets from his very first day on the job.

He never expected that just before retirement, he would participate in a detective operation.

Moreover, it was Li Chengguang who had just found the motorcycle in the bushes.

For his meritorious investigation, he would at least receive a commendation.

The Authentic Large Copper Pot.

This hotpot restaurant, Old Li had been to before; the taste was not bad and quite authentic.

It’s just a pity the location was average, sandwiched between several buildings.

On weekends, if there was nothing to do, he could bring his wife for a meal here.

Li Chengguang thought to himself, and took a glance inside from the entrance.

As a result, just this glance, he saw Zhang Shaowu taking his last bite of lamb.

Li Chengguang blinked, confirmed he hadn’t seen wrongly, and immediately walked past the store entrance.

He, a soon-to-retire traffic cop, naturally couldn’t rush in alone to make an arrest at this moment.

Otherwise, if he couldn’t catch the person and ended up in trouble himself, it would be a disaster.

Furthermore, at the start of the operation, Lu Chuan and Gao Xiang had emphasized that they must work in pairs, report immediately upon finding anything, and refrain from acting independently.

Ensuring he was out of sight from the hotpot restaurant’s entrance, Li Chengguang quickly took out his walkie-talkie.

"Team Three has located the target!"

"Team Three has located the target, The Authentic Large Copper Pot!"

"The target is dining at The Authentic Large Copper Pot!"

Hearing the voice through his earpiece, Lu Chuan immediately led his team over.

Gao Xiang, who was on his way to Sun Tao’s house, didn’t go there and rushed back with his team instead.

"Team Three, Team Three! Do not act rashly, wait for us to arrive!"

"Wait for us to arrive!"

Although Zhang Shaowu was suffering from cancer, he had killed four people and was considered extremely dangerous.

Lu Chuan, with various system rewards and skills, naturally wasn’t afraid of him, but others couldn’t say the same.

If any accident happened, no one could bear the consequences.

Fortunately, Lu Chuan wasn’t far from The Authentic Large Copper Pot, reaching outside in just over a minute.

Through the glass door, Lu Chuan could see Zhang Shaowu and Sun Tao facing each other.

And the opponent’s right hand was concealed in his coat.

Zhang Shaowu stared at the dark muzzle of the gun before him, then glanced at Sun Tao’s son.

"Sun Tao," Zhang Shaowu finally took a deep breath, "It’s been ten years, and you don’t remember me?"

Hearing Zhang Shaowu call his name, Sun Tao carefully discerned the person.

After a long while, he uncertainly said, "You... you... you’re... Shaowu?"

"How did you end up like this?"

Zhang Shaowu gave a bitter smile.

"Ten years in prison, what else did you expect me to become?"

"Get down!"

At this moment, Lu Chuan also charged forward.

"Zhang Shaowu, stay calm! Take your hand out, slowly take it out, do not move."

"Sun Tao! Step back!"

Lu Chuan was confident he could shoot Zhang Shaowu dead with one shot, should he make any sudden moves.

But Zhang Shaowu paid no attention to Lu Chuan, nor did he make any movements.

He merely watched Sun Tao retreat and said with a smile, "You should thank your son. If it weren’t for his piece of candy... you’d have met the King Yama by now."

With those words, Zhang Shaowu drew his right hand from his coat.

Along with it, the dagger.

Ah!

Only then did Sun Tao’s wife realize that this man was here to kill.

Sun Tao also reacted, immediately picking up his son and running back.

"Everyone out! Everyone get out!"

Lu Chuan blocked in front of Sun Tao’s family and the other diners, looking at Zhang Shaowu, "Zhang Shaowu, don’t act rashly!"

"Slowly place the knife on the ground, hands on your head!"

Zhang Shaowu did not resist.

At this point, what was there to resist?

Three minutes later, Zhang Shaowu was handcuffed and escorted out of the hotpot restaurant.

Gao Xiang had finally arrived at this time.

Handing the person over to the other party, Lu Chuan immediately called Li Donglin.

"Director Li, the person has been arrested."

"He was caught in a hotpot restaurant, just as he was about to make his move with Sun Tao and his family."

Hearing the news, Li Donglin breathed a long sigh of relief.

This case had indeed put a lot of pressure on Li Donglin.

The probability of serial murder cases occurring is actually quite low.

Over the decades, less than ten serial murder cases had occurred province-wide.

And killing two or three people in a spree was already considered a lot.

Unlike Zhang Shaowu, who had killed four people in one spree.

And the time intervals were very short, with all the murders committed within a week.

Most crucially, the fourth murder happened on the day the major crimes unit arrived.

To say there was no pressure would be a lie.

The major crimes unit had to not only apprehend the suspect but also prevent further murders with all their might.

Now that the person is in custody, the remaining tasks have become simpler.

Binzhou City Criminal Police Brigade Interrogation Room.

Zhang Shaowu confessed to his criminal acts without any objection.

The motive for murder was actually very simple, everything stemmed from an engineering contract ten years ago.

According to Zhang Shaowu, ten years ago, six of them together contracted part of a construction project.

Back then, it was Zhao Kai who introduced the project.

Zhao Kai claimed to have connections, able to get in touch with the developer.

At that time, the real estate industry in the country was booming, so as long as a building was erected, no matter how it turned out, a hefty profit could be made.

Thus, with the real estate business so hot, not everyone could grab a share of the pie in contracting projects.

"Zhao Kai did get in touch with that developer, who indeed offered us a portion of the subcontract work, but demanded full funding from us."

Lighting a cigarette, Zhang Shaowu took a few puffs before continuing, "Back then, a minimum advance of 30 million was needed to take on this job. We gathered some friends, scraped together six people, each contributing over five million."

"Since I was the one with construction experience, I handled the job, hired the workers, and got a larger share during the dividend."

"Unfortunately... the boss ran off."

"The building became an unfinished project, and our money went down the drain."

"Moreover, there were still outstanding wages to the workers."

"Since I was the one who hired them, I had to settle their wages, while the others... became unreachable, afraid I’d come after them."

"Back then I knew the boss kept a mistress and frequently stored cash at their place."

"So I stole that money."

"Although I paid off the workers, I served ten years in jail for it."

"In truth... I thought I’d just let it go."

"I was only forty, with life still ahead of me... but a month ago, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer..."

Facing the end of his life, Zhang Shaowu felt he had to do something.

At least someone should pay for his ten years of life.

Zhang Shaowu explained clearly his motives for murder, the process, and so on, hiding nothing.

But...

"I plead guilty, but I have no remorse!"

"Why were we all deceived together, and yet only I had to go to jail?"