Surveillance

After returning to the sub-station with the police, the blond man was taken away by officers. Once the paperwork was processed, the overnight interrogation would begin. The police had already secured enough evidence to essentially prove he was the perpetrator of the July 31st robbery and homicide; even if he refused to confess, it would be useless.

Xiang Kun was called into an empty conference room by Officer Chen. As soon as the door closed, Officer Chen couldn't help but nag:

"What were you thinking? Didn't I tell you explicitly not to act rashly? The suspect might have been carrying a controlled weapon and was extremely dangerous! Why did you still engage? Just because you can fight, you thought you could disarm him barehanded?"

Xiang Kun felt helpless. He didn't want to get involved either; he wanted to keep a low profile. But the blond man had lost his mind and charged at him with a knife—could he really just dodge? Tang Baona and her friend were right there.

However, he knew Officer Chen meant well and was concerned for his safety. As the saying goes, "No matter how good your kung fu is, you're still afraid of a kitchen knife." There were plenty of news stories about professional fighters being killed or maimed by street thugs ambushing them with blades.

"The guy was hiding in a narrow alley. I was originally guarding the outside, waiting for your team to arrive. Who knew he would suddenly go crazy and rush out with a knife? I had no choice; I couldn't just stand there."

After listening to Xiang Kun's explanation, Officer Chen thought for a moment, pointed to a chair to let him sit, and offered him a cigarette. When Xiang Kun declined, he lit one for himself and sat down.

Watching Officer Chen smoke, Xiang Kun couldn't help but feel puzzled. What was this setup?

"Mr. Xiang, I recall when we registered your personal information last time, you said your previous company went bankrupt and you were temporarily between jobs? How are things now? Any leads on new work?"

Xiang Kun found it strange that Officer Chen was suddenly concerned about his personal situation, so he carefully weighed his words before replying: "I think I'll take a break for a while, clear my head, and re-plan my career path."

"Mr. Xiang has practiced martial arts since childhood, right?" Officer Chen asked again.

"Uh, I wouldn't call it martial arts... just, I have a bit of an interest in kung fu and such. I've been practicing on and off by myself, hitting the gym, working on strength, that sort of thing. I've never trained systematically with anyone." In truth, Xiang Kun had never had any interest in kung fu or combat before, nor had he ever trained; at most, he just watched action movies. But he knew Officer Chen must be questioning his skills, so he had to fabricate a reason and provide an explanation.

Next, Officer Chen rambled on about various topics—Marvel superheroes, martial arts novels, and so on—leaving Xiang Kun increasingly confused. He finally asked directly: "Officer Chen, you must be very busy right now, aren't you? The suspect was just caught; don't you need to go interrogate him yourself?"

Officer Chen crushed his cigarette butt into the ashtray and said: "It won't start that quickly. You know, this kid actually has quite a bit of counter-surveillance awareness. After the case occurred, we checked the footage near the ATM and found that the ATM's internal and external cameras, the security cameras nearby, and the shop cameras—none of them caught the suspect. He chose a spot to strike that happened to have no surveillance, and he avoided other camera angles the whole way. The escape route he chose after the crime also avoided surveillance. Only a few frames caught a glimpse of his body, but it was impossible to determine his exact direction or identity..."

"Didn't you identify him the very next day?" Xiang Kun asked, puzzled. He didn't think the suspect was a smart man.

At first, he thought it was a vendetta or something, but later, when he heard the police say it was a robbery? What era was this? Would a smart person still commit armed robbery or murder on the street? How many people even carried large amounts of cash anymore? It was said that the victim, who died after being stabbed, had only withdrawn 1,000 in cash from the ATM to put in a red envelope for a wedding the next day. Combined with the suspect's background of having just been released from prison, it was likely the criminal mindset of over a decade ago; his so-called counter-surveillance skills were useless against modern forensic methods.

Officer Chen nodded: "That's because we obtained clear footage of him from other cameras, confirmed his identity, and found his residence in the city, where we found plenty of evidence. But this kid must have caught wind of the situation and realized it was serious, so he ran before we reached his place. That's how you happened to run into him on the street."

Xiang Kun listened intently without speaking. He knew that Officer Chen's uncharacteristic disclosure of these investigative details meant he definitely had something to say to him.

Sure enough, Officer Chen changed the subject: "At the time, we thought the suspect's ability to avoid multiple cameras so perfectly meant he must have scouted the location in advance, so we pulled the surveillance footage from the days leading up to the incident near the ATM and the surrounding intersections."

Xiang Kun's heart skipped a beat as he realized what was coming.

Officer Chen asked: "Mr. Xiang, that case you encountered that day—it wasn't a coincidence, was it? Have you been 'patrolling' around at night during this period?"

Xiang Kun finally understood why Officer Chen had been chatting about superheroes and martial arts novels. It turned out that his "night patrols" over the past few days had been captured on camera, and the police had discovered them while investigating the case.

Not sleeping at night and "patrolling" the streets until dawn for several days in a row—that was certainly not normal behavior.

Officer Chen believed that Xiang Kun had perhaps been inspired after stopping the crime downstairs at his apartment building and had started acting as a "vigilante," intentionally patrolling the streets every night to "do good deeds."

Xiang Kun shouted in his heart that he was being wronged; finding the stabbed victim that night was a genuine coincidence! And it was a coincidence he really didn't want to encounter!

But he couldn't explain it that way. Officer Chen's interpretation was actually the best-case scenario; otherwise, it would be hard to explain why he was out "patrolling" late at night for several nights in a row. He could only mumble in response.

After Officer Chen lectured him for another ten minutes, repeatedly warning him to call the police instead of playing the hero, he finally let him leave the sub-station.

Xiang Kun had caught the suspect today and would receive a 20,000 reward from the police station, though it would take some time to process. It was an unexpected windfall.

There were reporters and such asking for interviews, but Xiang Kun naturally declined them all. He also hoped Officer Chen wouldn't reveal his name or identity to the media. If possible, he hoped the online videos of him subduing the suspect could be restricted as well.

Officer Chen was quite appreciative of this, feeling that Xiang Kun was the type of person who truly wanted to "fight crime" rather than seek fame.

Standing at the entrance of the sub-station, Xiang Kun felt a lingering fear.

If he hadn't already known Officer Chen from stopping the crime downstairs, and if he hadn't been the one to discover that crime scene, giving the police a preconceived notion, the police would surely have investigated him as a suspect when they saw a "bald man" patrolling the streets all night, every night, on the surveillance footage!

If they had investigated and found that Xiang Kun not only patrolled all night but also spent his entire day at the gym, they would definitely have found it suspicious.

And if they had searched his room and found the records on his computer, or even the rabbit carcasses he had wrapped in layers and thrown into the street trash bin, there would have been even more trouble.

He didn't know what would have happened then. While he certainly wouldn't have been convicted of a crime, his physical mutation would undoubtedly have been exposed.

"It seems I wasn't careful enough before," Xiang Kun muttered to himself.

Fortunately, the tenant of the house he bought had given him a firm date, having found a place and preparing to move out; the house should be vacant around the 6th. He would move there then. Although the surrounding area had complete living facilities, the population density was relatively lower than here, and there weren't as many surveillance cameras.

After returning home, Xiang Kun replied to the WeChat message Tang Baona had sent earlier, briefly explaining what happened today.

Tang Baona also explained that Yang Zhen'er had misunderstood and thought he was scolding her, which was why she had gone over to argue. She also confirmed with Xiang Kun whether the bald man in the viral video titled "Hidden Martial Monk's True Kung Fu" was him.

By the time they finished, it was past midnight. Tang Baona finally stopped the conversation, and they wished each other goodnight. Before ending, she reminded Xiang Kun that the hiking trip they had planned was for Sunday at seven in the morning.

Chatting back and forth, they had unknowingly talked for nearly two hours.

The "friendship" between them, which had been somewhat distant and even "awkward," had unexpectedly become much more harmonious and normal because of this incident.