Chapter 25: He Flees, He Pursues

The road was clear all the way. The police car quickly exited the highway and plunged into a country lane. Around them, wild reeds grew unchecked, some already taller than the car’s roof, rustling softly in the breeze.

Fu Yuan’s heart sank even deeper.

“How much farther?” Captain Guo asked, his eyes flickering with concern as he surveyed the dense vegetation sprouting around them.

At this rate, if they kept going, the car would be too large to proceed further.

This remote area was perfect for disposing of a body.

This wasn’t a kidnapping. If it were, the kidnappers would have contacted the family to demand ransom.

If the kidnappers had reached out, it wouldn’t make sense for the family not to call the police. Yet, no report had come in all this time.

So,

Could it really be a murder?

Captain Guo turned his gaze to the computer screen, where information about Wu Ping appeared alongside details of the victim who drowned on the beach yesterday.

Wu Ping was from a rural background and had shown exceptional talent in dance from a young age. Fortunate enough to be noticed by the city’s dance troupe, she received sponsorship to attend a prestigious university to study dance.

After graduating, she did not join the dance troupe as initially promised to become a lead performer. Instead, after experiencing the allure of city life, she developed an almost obsessive pursuit of wealth.

In just three years, she had dated five boyfriends, changing partners roughly every six months—each more affluent than the last.

She had married all five of them.

Looking over the data, Captain Guo felt a strange unease.

It seemed Wu Ping was cursed in marriage: the men she wed either died or ended up hospitalized.

Her most recent boyfriend, Tang Feng, was currently hospitalized with severe injuries, expected to remain for six months.

According to records, he had been in a car accident—he was driving, and the other party was fully at fault due to drunk driving.

The other deceased husbands presented no suspicious circumstances.

The first had died by suicide from depression; the second was fatally struck on the head by falling debris during a date; the third was killed by his brother with a knife amid family disputes.

The latest victim was the one who drowned yesterday.

According to the transmitted file, the drowning was ruled a suicide, with conclusive evidence, but Wu Ping firmly denied her husband took his own life.

Captain Guo sensed the entire case reeked of strangeness. Before investigation, nothing seemed amiss; once probed, every detail raised questions.

The immediate priority was to locate Wu Ping.

“Captain Guo, there’s an abandoned car up ahead!” the female officer called out.

The vehicle was parked in an open, deserted landfill.

Not far off stood a black sedan, already set ablaze; fierce flames licked the air while acrid black smoke spiraled upward.

Under the searing inferno, the car’s metal frame twisted and bent. The doors and hood bulged and curled, shards of glass littered the ground, and sticky glassy residues pooled around the wreck.

The license plate, warped by heat, was barely legible but still identifiable as “Lin A4448.”

“He couldn’t have gotten far,” Captain Guo said, opening the car door and about to signal his team to disembark, but his hand paused on the handle.

“Something wrong, Captain?” the female officer closed her laptop.

“A gun.” His eyes scanned the surroundings warily. The landfill was relatively open but encircled by thick vegetation and winding paths. “Everyone, take your weapons.”

Based on the black sedan, the perpetrators likely numbered no more than four, while they had only three detectives.

The area’s limited visibility and the fact that the suspects had already disabled road monitoring and silently abducted someone from the hospital suggested this wasn’t their first time committing such acts.

Without knowing the enemy’s armament, they had to stay cautious; bringing guns was the safer option.

...

Fu Yuan waited in the car.

Captain Guo and his two colleagues searched the “Lin A4448” vehicle first. Fortunately, they found no human remains.

They then scouted the surrounding area.

After a while, Captain Guo tapped on the car window, signaling she could get out.

“This is strange—could the car have driven itself here and then self-destructed?” the female officer said, circling the vehicle in puzzlement.

Fu Yuan joined them, noticing the shattered windows with four black holes where glass once was. She faintly recognized the shape of an Hermès bag that the woman always carried.

“They’ve been here,” Captain Guo said, bending down to pick up a lipstick. It was a black tube, almost undamaged.

“This is a sign someone was here.”

“Is this Wu Ping’s?” he called Fu Yuan over.

She glanced at it. The YSL logo in gold thread spoke of understated luxury, matching the style and size she had glimpsed the day before. “It should be.”

“Over here!” the female officer’s voice came from the other side.

The three hurried over.

“There are footprints here, though they’ve been tampered with,” the female officer pointed to some reeds with faint impressions, as if someone had stepped on them.

Since they had been focusing on drag marks earlier, they hadn’t noticed these subtle traces.

They followed the prints, the male officer struggling to discern the direction ahead.

After about ten minutes, the faint trail led them to the edge of a lake, where the marks became clearer.

Looking further, they spotted a woman’s figure in the distance.

Her face was pale; half her body submerged in water, the other half above. One hand stretched out with great effort, as if trying to pull herself from the water but failing.

In the distance, a pair of plastic foot covers floated on the surface, bobbing gently with the ripples, drifting away.

“That’s Wu Ping!” the male officer shouted, moving to rush forward.

Captain Guo gently stopped him, whispering, “Be careful.”

He scanned their surroundings warily.

The male officer approached the lakeshore, which was still damp, leaving a trail of footprints behind.

“She’s breathing—she’s alive!” He cupped his hand near her nose to check for breath and shouted back to the group on shore.

He hurriedly dragged the woman from the water. She was soaked, water dripping steadily from her, emitting a damp, fishy odor that inexplicably reminded Fu Yuan of rotten salted fish.

Aside from the footprints the male officer left as he walked out, no other marks were found along the lakeshore.

The killer must have been prepared in advance, hiding a kayak or small boat in the lake, or else was an excellent swimmer who escaped elsewhere.

“Should we keep pursuing?” the female officer asked, helping support the woman as she looked to Captain Guo.

Captain Guo paced the perimeter, then sighed with helplessness upon seeing the woman’s pallid face. “Let’s head back for now. We can’t catch up. This lake connects to the river outside, and without transportation, it’s hard to give chase.”

“First, get her to the hospital. Once she wakes, we might be able to get some information. Also, we don’t know how things are progressing with Qiu Siyuan and Xiao Yang... We’ll compare the database and continue the search later.”