They Are All Liars

They Are All Liars

Old Chen suspected that Li Banfeng, He Jiaqing, and Lu Xiaolan were caught in a love triangle.

Li Banfeng was a little angry.

No, not a little. He was very angry.

But he held it back.

Not only did he suppress his anger, the corners of Li Banfeng's mouth lifted, revealing the faintest smile.

Old Chen was deliberately provoking him to obtain the information he wanted.

He might even force me into having an episode on the spot, then arrest me outright as a suspect with a mental disorder.

Without any emotion, Li Banfeng said word by word, "Lu Xiaolan and I don't even count as friends. We have no other relationship. You can ask my college roommates, or find other classmates to testify."

Old Chen asked again, "Really no other relationship?"

Li Banfeng answered calmly, "If there is, there is. If there isn't, there isn't. If you don't believe me, go investigate. It's that simple. No need to make a simple matter complicated."

It really was that simple.

Old Chen nodded. "I believe you."

Li Banfeng continued, "It's true that I was the one who took He Jiaqing to the hospital, but you can't treat me as the murderer because of that, can you?

"His Third Uncle is at the hospital. Why don't you call him over, and we can clear this up together?"

"No one is treating you as the murderer. Otherwise, I would have taken you back to the police station long ago." Old Chen felt around for his cigarette pack and resisted the urge to pull out a cigarette. "As for He Jiaqing's Third Uncle, you mean He Haisheng, right? He was the one who called the police. He brought me to the hospital, and he was the one who told me to find you."

Li Banfeng fell silent.

This Third Uncle was very sinister.

Old Chen tucked the cigarette pack back into his coat. "Before He Jiaqing's accident, he ate with you and drank with you. After one drinking session, he fell unconscious.

"You said you took him to the station. We'll check the surveillance footage there. I believe what you said is true, and I hope this matter has nothing to do with you.

"But I have to remind you: the current circumstances are very unfavorable to you. For the next while, cooperate with our investigation as much as possible, and try not to leave Yuezhou."

Click-clack~

Li Banfeng's phone rang.

The corner of Li Banfeng's eye twitched. This was very likely a message from He Jiaqing.

Whether he should tell the Chen-surnamed policeman in front of him about this left Li Banfeng deeply conflicted.

"Someone looking for you?" Old Chen smiled with a hint of meaning, as though he had seen through Li Banfeng's dilemma. "There may be things you don't want to tell me. That's fine. When you want to tell me, come find me."

Old Chen led Li Banfeng out of the ward. Once they reached the hospital entrance, they went their separate ways.

Old Chen got into a black sedan. A woman in her early twenties sat in the back seat.

She wore a business suit. She brushed back her ear-length hair, adjusted her rimless glasses, and kept her legs together as she turned sideways toward Old Chen. Only one-third of her plump peach rested against the seat.

Her name was You Xuehan, codename Tangyuan. She was the team's secretary.

Holding an exquisite notebook, You Xuehan asked respectfully, "Team Leader Chen, how did it go?"

Old Chen lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. The crow's feet and nasolabial folds on his face relaxed at the same time, and his spirits improved considerably.

"This kid has strong mental fortitude. He can keep his emotions under control, but I don't think he's a Dark Energy User. He should be a White Lamb.

"But he definitely knows something. Regarding He Jiaqing, has anyone called him these past few days?"

Hearing this, You Xuehan opened Li Banfeng's file. "We just checked his call records. Since He Jiaqing's accident, he has made one emergency call.

"His school called him twice as well. Other than that, there are no other call records, not even a single message."

"My guess is not that there were none, but that we can't find them." Old Chen blew out a cloud of smoke. "When he heard the message alert, Li Banfeng got nervous. Someone is contacting him, but he doesn't want anyone else to know."

The man in the front passenger seat turned around and offered a suggestion. "Since this person is suspicious, why not just arrest him?"

The man was around thirty. He had thick brows, large eyes, sharply defined cheekbones and jawline, and was fairly handsome. His hair was somewhat sparse, but it was combed sleek and shiny, perfectly neat.

"Arrest him?" Old Chen frowned and looked at the man in the passenger seat. "On what grounds?"

The man seemed not to realize there was anything wrong with his idea. "Since he has a motive, keeping him under control is the safest option."

"What motive does he have?" Old Chen's tone grew increasingly grave.

The man still did not seem to care. "If He Jiaqing's case has nothing to do with him, why did he take He Jiaqing to the hospital?"

Old Chen flew into a rage. "What the fuck kind of bullshit is that!"

The man said nothing and turned to look out the window.

His name was Xiao Zhengong. The people here called him Deputy Team Leader Xiao.

He kept looking out the window, his disdainful expression conveying a message.

He was not afraid of Old Chen, nor did he think he had done anything wrong. He simply did not want to waste words on this old man.

Though his back was to Old Chen, Old Chen could see his face clearly through the rearview mirror.

Old Chen sighed. "From the day you came to the bureau, I told you: things need to be done, rules need to be followed, and you can't forget your conscience. You still haven't understood a damn word of it!"

You Xuehan pressed her lips together. The stiff atmosphere made her uncomfortable, so she hurriedly changed the subject. "Li Banfeng's background has basically been checked. He's an orphan who grew up in the Welfare Institute. He has no criminal record, but he was investigated several times over acts of self-defense."

"Self-defense?" Old Chen was intrigued. He took Li Banfeng's file and looked it over. "One against three, two seriously injured, one lightly injured. One against five, one seriously injured, four lightly injured...

"He's that good in a fight? Doesn't look like it. His build seems pretty average!"

Old Chen carefully flipped through Li Banfeng's case file. Halfway through, he could not help laughing. "This kid really is crazy."

You Xuehan asked, "Team Leader Chen, should we keep an eye on Li Banfeng?"

After thinking for a moment, Old Chen said, "Have Light Bulb watch him."

You Xuehan reminded him, "Light Bulb has only been on the job for a month. Let Big Head handle it instead."

Holding his cigarette between his fingers, Old Chen took another deep drag. "He's just a White Lamb. No need to send Big Head. It'll be good practice for Light Bulb.

"Have Big Head watch He Haisheng. That one won't be easy to deal with."

On the subway, Li Banfeng took out his phone.

There really was a message on it, but it was not from He Jiaqing.

"Hello, this is Old Chen."

Old Chen?

He sent this?

That old bastard was deliberately bluffing me just now?

What did he mean by sending this message?

Was it only to bluff me?

Not entirely. By sending this message, he had effectively left behind his phone number.

He really wanted me to contact him on my own.

Li Banfeng had no intention of contacting Old Chen, but something made him very curious.

During their conversation, Li Banfeng had never seen Old Chen take out his phone. How had he sent this message?

Was someone secretly helping him? Or did this Old Chen possess some special ability?

He Jiaqing was currently asleep in the hospital. Could he also send messages to him?

This world seemed different from the one he knew.

Different or not, what did that have to do with me?

He Jiaqing's Third Uncle had come too. I don't need to concern myself with his affairs anymore. From now on, I'll honestly work my back to the bone and live my life. None of this has anything to do with me anymore.

Li Banfeng wanted to forget all of it as quickly as possible. He opened his phone and aimlessly browsed news from self-media accounts.

The first headline:

8.83 seconds! Sprint star Qiao Yuesheng shattered the 100-meter world record again. After the race, he said something unbelievable in an interview!

What did he say?

Li Banfeng opened the article.

"At the recently concluded Diamond League, sprint star Qiao Yuesheng once again broke the world record he set last month, clocking 8.83 seconds. Who could have imagined that this legendary sprint star had nearly given up on his dreams because of financial hardship? Qiao Yuesheng was born into an ordinary farming family..."

The article was very long. It began with Qiao Yuesheng's birth and went all the way to his Diamond League victory. Li Banfeng scrolled to the end and finally saw the line Qiao Yuesheng had said:

"Dreams have nothing to do with skin color."

A very inspiring line.

Except Li Banfeng remembered saying those words last year.

And it was precisely from last year onward that he, as an Asian, had conquered the 100-meter track and broken the nine-second barrier.

The next headline:

Famous artist Chu Zikai exposed the shameful underbelly of the domestic entertainment industry with a single speech.

"Ten years ago, Chu Zikai stunned the Chinese music scene with a song called 'I am Your Guokui.'

"His clear, sincere voice moved countless fans. Yet this exceptionally gifted leading figure of the music world made a startling statement in public, allowing countless people to see the little-known inner workings of the entertainment industry.

"This year's thirty-one-year-old Chu Zikai was born into an ordinary worker's family. He loved music from childhood..."

Starting from his birth again.

Li Banfeng could not be bothered to keep reading and skipped straight to the next article.

Shocking! The sun is not alone—astronomers discover it may have a sibling.

"Recently, astronomers made a startling discovery. Our sun may not be alone. It may have an unknown companion star.

"As the master of the Solar System, the star humanity depends upon for survival, our sun was born 4.6 billion years ago..."

Even the sun had to start from the year it was born.

These self-media accounts were all taught by the same fucking master!

Click-clack!

Amid his irritation, Li Banfeng received another message. This one was from He Jiaqing.

"Brother, don't believe them. They're liars."

Li Banfeng replied, "Who are 'they'?"

"Third Uncle, the police, and the He Jiaqing you saw. They're all liars."

Li Banfeng put away his phone and suddenly felt that the subway car was colder than usual.

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(End of chapter)