Bai Muchuan.The police officer badge showed the name of the man.
The photo of the man on the badge appeared slightly younger than the man in front of her, also wearing a faint smile on his lips.
The photo also had the same look as earlier—cold, bad*ss, s.e.xy, cool, and a seemingly complex personality.
As Xiang Wan thought of these words to describe the man before her, her heartbeat suddenly started to race and her tongue felt dry.
"Will you kindly repeat one more time? I didn"t hear clearly."
The man gave her a complicated gaze under the blazing summer sun.
"You"re being suspected of murder," he said, "please kindly cooperate with the investigation."
…
This time, Xiang Wan heard very clearly.
…
She had been a female otaku for many years and trusted her instincts very much, though she was often deceived or scammed.
Firstly, she did not know of any das.h.i.+ng, fair, and lean "detective" that lived in this shabby alley.
Secondly, whenever there was a need to bring in someone for questioning, the police would dispatch at least two officers. She knew general knowledge like this.
Thirdly, she wished she could stay at home for 48 hours a day, so how could she be involved in a murder?
Xiang Wan firmly believed that she had met a fake detective, a scammer.
Perhaps the only thing she didn"t understand was if this scammer was a love swindler or was only after her money.
"Ahem!" She cleared her throat. "How do you want me to cooperate?"
"You need to come with me!"
Dong!Xiang Wan"s heart sank. Looking at this man who hardly showed any emotion, she was convinced of her a.s.sumption.
"Alright, but I need to get changed first."
She flapped the collar of her blouse which was drenched from perspiration and dangled the keys on her hand as a signal for him to move out of the way.
He peered at her for a good five seconds before he slowly moved aside.
Xiang Wan tried very hard to pretend to be calm as she opened the door with her heart in her mouth. Her hand almost trembled as she tried to turn the key.
The door finally opened.
"Wait a while." Xiang Wan turned to smile at him before she swiftly ducked inside and proceeded to slam the door shut.
Just when the metal door was about to close, a hand suddenly emerged from the gap, and the door slammed heavily on it.
Gasp!Xiang Wan felt pain on behalf of the man but he remained indifferent.
"Let go!"
"…" It was not an easy feat to trap his hand, why would she let go?
Xiang Wan pushed her body against the door so as to ensure she had the man securely trapped. Her heart pounded against her chest so hard that it was drumming within her ears as she punched in the numbers of the police hotline—110.
"h.e.l.lo, 110 right? I"m reporting a case!"
The man did not move but studied her closely instead.
Through the gap, she could see the man"s gaze that felt sharp as a knife, like a pair of eyes from a wolf, as if she could be torn into pieces at any moment.
A chill rose from the bottom of her foot as every part of Xiang Wan became stiff.
"Yes, yes, yes, Green Garden Estate number three, sixth floor, building number three! There is someone impersonating as a police officer, and I"ve managed to trap him here…"
"…"
Xiang Wan ended her call. She felt somewhat at ease as the man did not struggle to pull his hand away.
"Young man, you"re so good-looking, can"t you just stay as a gigolo instead of s.n.a.t.c.hing business from scammers?"
"…"
"With your idol like face, you can simply get yourself a wealthy sugar mama to develop an improper relations.h.i.+p and earn some legitimate cash. Isn"t that easy for you? Why do you want to engage in illegal acts?"
"If you don"t let go, I"m going to charge you for a.s.saulting a police officer!"
"Haha!"This scammer is pretty savage too?Xiang Wan thought.
Xiang Wan used all her strength to press against the door while gritting her teeth.
"Okay then! When the police arrives, you can tell them that! AH—"
That was her shrill scream!
That hand suddenly seemed to have a life of its own as it forcefully pushed the door, along with her 90 pound body. Next, the man grabbed Xiang Wan"s wrist and pinned her onto the now open door.
His other hand was pressing onto the door as well, blocking most of the sunlight. She could faintly hear his breathing.
That sure was an exciting stunt!
Xiang Wan felt her heart shrink. "Help! Rape—"
There was a police station not too far away which was situated opposite the neighborhood. Xiang Wan could often see police vehicles move in and out of the place when she ate instant noodles by the window sill.
With her loud, shrill cry, some flurried footsteps could be heard coming from the stairs. A tall detective in civilian clothes was gasping. He had arrived earlier than the policemen just dispatched out by Xiang Wan"s call.
"Boss, what… I only went to get a pack of cigarettes. How did this, this, this… "
This, this, this—what about it?
His boss pinned a woman on the door, and the woman cried rape…
The "crime scene" was too picturesque that he was unable to describe it.
Bai Muchuan looked at him for two seconds before he let go of Xiang Wan.
"I"ll leave it to you now." He put on a pair of sungla.s.ses and strode away.
The weather was burning—Xiang Wan felt distressed—things had gone so wrong.
She saw Bai Muchuan"s now bruised hand where there were tiny blots of blood. Cold sweat spiralled up from her spine and flowed down from her forehead.
"Erm…"
She took a deep breath and tried to explain herself lest she get charged for a.s.saulting a police officer. But when that man let go of her and walked away, she smelt a faint, sweet peppermint scent that suddenly made her tongue-tied.
She couldn"t continue her words.
The tall, lanky detective was a straightforward person. He directly freed her from further embarra.s.sment. "You"re Xiang Wan, right? There"s a case that we need you to a.s.sist in our investigation. This is not the place to talk. We need you to make a trip to the Criminal Investigation Unit."
…
The interrogation room was cloaked in chilly air, making Xiang Wan s.h.i.+ver.
The deceased victim was Jin City"s famous local tyc.o.o.n—Zhao Jiahang.
Zhao Jiahang was in his thirties and was already the CEO of a public-listed company which had a market value of several hundred millions of dollars. Not only did he have a smooth sailing career, he also had an exquisite face which women adored. He led a life of envy.
Perhaps the only thing missing from his seemingly perfect life was that he had no offspring; his wife was half-paralyzed due to an accident that had befallen her many years ago, leading to her being unable to conceive.
However, although Zhao Jiahang was wealthy and charming, he did not abandon his half-paralyzed wife. He still loved her wholeheartedly—the perfect example of an exemplary husband.
When she saw the gruesome pictures taken by the police at the scene, Xiang Wan recalled the numerous pictures of this man that she saw in various media platforms. Each one of them was bright and handsome. For a moment, she couldn"t accept what happened to such a man.
"Who killed him?!"
"That is exactly what we wanted to ask you."
"Ask me? How would I know? I don"t know him at all."
The two detectives exchanged glances and handed her a doc.u.ment.
"Look at the details of the crime. Does it look familiar to you?"
According to the dossier, Zhao Jiahang was killed beside his SUV in the garage of his villa.
It was public knowledge that Zhao Jiahang loved cars as much as he loved his wife. He liked to modify vehicles and had spent a lot of money on installing a protective device on the SUV at the scene. The protective device would activate a supporting steel piece to balance and protect the SUV whenever it loses control.
Zhao Jiahang"s body was practically nailed onto the wall by the steel piece.
From the picture, Zhao Jiahang had experienced an extremely tragic death. The former glorious tyc.o.o.n"s eyes were unusually dilated with an incredulous and terrified expression that marked the end of his glamorous life.
Zhao Jiahang"s wife had gone to visit her own parents two days ago. No one else was in the house.
The surveillance camera did not capture anyone else at the garage except Zhao Jiahang himself.
No clues were found to suggest a possible homicide at the scene.
The police had preliminarily determined that it was an accident caused by vehicle failure. Zhao Jiahang was believed to have gotten out of his vehicle to check the abnormal condition without pulling the brake. He was then pushed to a corner in the garage by the moving vehicle, and the protection device was somehow triggered, resulting in him getting killed.
A man killed by a vehicle.
It was rare but not entirely impossible.
However, around 10 a.m. that morning, news of Zhao Jiahang"s death had just been released by the media when almost immediately, someone alerted the police that he came across a criminal case in a web novel by the t.i.tle of "Murder The Dream Guy" where not only did the crime happen in exactly the same way as the details, the victim"s background and road to success were very similar as well…
"I admit…" Xiang Wan gulped, her pupils shrunk as she looked at the detective who was taking down her statement. She quickly continued to finish her sentence, "When I wrote that character, I used Mr. Zhao"s background as reference."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
"Why did you do that?" The detective squinted his eyes.
"That, why did I do that? I wanted to write about a local tyc.o.o.n, but I don"t know any of them nor do I understand anything about them." Xiang Wan was in a hurry to explain herself, and was somewhat agitated. "I can only search for information about local tyc.o.o.ns in the internet that best fits the "Dream Guy" inside my novel as reference."
She was talking rather loudly and her fingers were tightly clenched.
There was silence in the interrogation room.
"Detective," Xiang Wan said after pondering for a few seconds, "have you read my novel? The murderer in my novel is the local tyc.o.o.n"s mistress. If this case is exactly replicated as per my novel, then…"
She felt a little embarra.s.sed as she destroyed the image of Zhao Jiahang, who was a good role model of a husband known to love his wife dearly, by giving him a mistress in her novel.
"Of course, I didn"t know if Mr. Zhao really has a mistress or not. What I wrote in my novel was totally made-up…"
"That"s not the point," a voice that sounded just nice interrupted her.
Xiang Wan turned and saw someone, backlit by the light from the door—it was Bai Muchuan.
He removed the white gloves on his hands and retracted his gaze from the novel "Murder The Dream Guy" to Xiang Wan. Her eyes appeared to be slightly enlarged when she saw him.
"The point is, Zhao Jiahang died yesterday night at around half past ten. Your chapter which is related to the details of the scene was published today at twelve midnight sharp."
At that instant, Xiang Wan felt as if all her blood cells had been frozen.
It was such a hot day, yet she felt cold from head to toe.