Monitoring

After returning to the precinct with the police, the yellow-haired man was taken away. Once the paperwork was finished, they would begin interrogating him through the night. The police already had some evidence, which was basically enough to prove he was the culprit in the 7.31 robbery-murder case. Even if he refused to confess, it wouldn't matter.

Officer Chen brought Xiang Kun into an empty conference room. As soon as the door was shut, Officer Chen couldn't help lecturing him:

"What's wrong with you? Didn't I tell you not to act rashly? The suspect might be carrying a prohibited weapon, and he's extremely dangerous. Why did you still engage him? Just because you can fight, you think you can catch a blade with your bare hands?"

Xiang Kun was helpless. He hadn't wanted to step in, either. He wanted to keep a low profile, too, but the yellow-haired guy had gone nuts and charged at him with a knife. What was he supposed to do, dodge? Tang Baona and her friend were right there.

Still, he knew Officer Chen meant well and was concerned for his safety. As the saying went, "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 ambushed with knives by street thugs and killed or maimed.

"That guy was hiding in a narrow alley. I was waiting outside for your people to arrive when he suddenly went crazy and rushed out with a knife. I had no choice. I had to step in."

After hearing Xiang Kun's explanation, Officer Chen thought it over, pointed to a chair, and told him to sit. Then he offered Xiang Kun a cigarette. Xiang Kun said he didn't smoke, so Officer Chen lit one for himself and sat down.

Watching Officer Chen smoke, Xiang Kun couldn't help wondering what this was all about.

"Mr. Xiang, I remember when we took down your personal information last time, you said your previous company had gone under and you were temporarily unemployed. How are things now? Any prospects for a new job?"

Xiang Kun found it strange that Officer Chen had suddenly become interested in his personal circumstances. He considered his words before answering, "I'd like to take a break for a while and get things in order. I want to rethink my career plans."

"Did you study martial arts from a young age, Mr. Xiang?" Officer Chen asked.

"Uh, I wouldn't exactly say I studied martial arts... I mean, I've always been a little interested in kung fu and stuff, and I've practiced on and off on my own. I also go to the gym and work on my strength. I've never trained systematically with anyone." Xiang Kun hadn't actually been interested in kung fu or combat sports before, let alone practiced martial arts. At most, he'd watched some action movies. But he knew Officer Chen must have questions about his fighting skills, so he had to make up a reason to explain them.

Officer Chen spent a while chatting about this and that, from Marvel superheroes to wuxia novels. Xiang Kun grew more and more confused, so he finally asked outright, "Officer Chen, you must be busy right now, right? The suspect was just arrested. Don't you need to interrogate him yourself?"

Officer Chen ground out his cigarette in the ashtray and said, "That won't happen right away. They haven't started yet. You know, this kid actually had a decent sense of how to avoid detection. After the crime, we checked the footage around the ATM. None of the cameras inside or outside the ATM, the nearby security cameras, or the cameras outside the shops caught him. The place he chose to strike happened to have no surveillance, and he avoided the other cameras' fields of view along the way. He picked an escape route that also kept him out of sight. A few cameras may have caught a glimpse of part of his body, but we couldn't confirm where he went or who he was..."

"But you identified him the very next day, didn't you?" Xiang Kun asked, puzzled. He didn't think the suspect was particularly clever.

At first, he'd thought it was some kind of revenge killing. Then he heard the police say it was a robbery. What era were they living in? Would any smart person rob people at knifepoint on the street and even kill them? How many people still carried large amounts of cash? Apparently, the victim who died after being stabbed had withdrawn only 1,000 yuan from the ATM. He'd planned to attend a wedding banquet the next day and needed the money for a red envelope. Given that the suspect had just been released from prison, he was probably still operating on a criminal's mindset from more than a decade ago. Whatever he knew about avoiding detection was useless against modern investigative methods.

Officer Chen nodded. "That's because we got a clear image of him from other cameras, identified him, and found his place in the city. We found a lot of evidence there. But he must've heard something and realized this was serious. He ran off before we got to his place, which is why you ran into him on the street."

Xiang Kun listened carefully without saying anything. He knew Officer Chen was acting strangely by suddenly sharing these details about the investigation because there was something he wanted to tell him.

Sure enough, Officer Chen changed tack. "At the time, we figured the suspect must have scoped out the area in advance to avoid so many cameras so neatly. So we pulled the footage from the ATM area and all the intersections nearby for the days before the crime."

Xiang Kun's heart gave a thump as he realized what was coming.

Officer Chen asked, "Mr. Xiang, you didn't just happen upon that case, did you? Have you been going around on nightly 'patrols' lately, volunteering your time?"

Xiang Kun finally understood why Officer Chen had been chatting with him about superheroes and wuxia novels. He'd been caught on camera "patrolling the streets" every night lately, and the police had spotted him while following up on leads.

Staying up all night and walking the streets for several nights in a row was obviously unusual.

Officer Chen thought Xiang Kun might have gotten the idea after stopping a murder outside his own building that night. Maybe he wanted to be a "volunteer cop," deliberately patrolling the streets at night in hopes of "helping people in need."

Xiang Kun wanted to cry out that he'd been wrongly accused. Finding the victim who'd been stabbed that night really had been a coincidence! And not one he'd wanted to have!

But he couldn't explain it that way. Officer Chen's interpretation was actually the best one; otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why he'd gone out "patrolling" in the middle of the night several nights in a row. All he could do was mumble a response.

Officer Chen lectured him for another ten minutes or so, repeatedly warning him to call the police if he encountered trouble instead of playing the hero. Only then did he let Xiang Kun leave the precinct.

Xiang Kun had caught the suspect today, so he'd be eligible for the 20,000-yuan reward from the police. He wouldn't get the money for a while, but it was still a pleasant surprise.

Some reporters had also arranged to interview him, but Xiang Kun turned them all down. He also asked Officer Chen not to reveal his name or identity to the media. If possible, he hoped they could limit how much the video of him apprehending the suspect circulated online.

Officer Chen admired him for this. He felt Xiang Kun genuinely wanted to "fight crime," not seek fame.

Standing outside the precinct, Xiang Kun felt a lingering sense of fear.

If he hadn't gotten to know Officer Chen after stopping the murder outside his building, and if he hadn't been the one to find the crime scene, giving the police a preconceived impression of him, then when they reviewed the footage from the previous few days, they would surely have investigated him as a suspect: a "bald giant" who stayed up all night "patrolling" the streets every single night!

If they investigated him and discovered he spent all night patrolling, then stayed at the gym all day, they would definitely find it suspicious.

And if they searched his room and found some of the records on his computer—or even the rabbit carcass he'd wrapped up in layers and tossed into a street trash can—there would be even more questions.

He didn't know what would happen then. They certainly wouldn't be able to pin a crime on him, but the fact that his body had mutated would definitely come out.

"Looks like I still haven't been careful enough," Xiang Kun murmured to himself.

Fortunately, the tenant in the apartment he'd bought had confirmed he'd found another place and was getting ready to move. He'd probably have the place empty by the sixth or so. Then Xiang Kun would move in. The neighborhood had all the usual amenities, but it was less densely populated than this one, and there weren't as many surveillance cameras.

After getting home, Xiang Kun replied to the WeChat message Tang Baona had sent earlier and briefly told her what had happened today.

Tang Baona also explained that Yang Zhen'er had mistakenly thought Xiang Kun was insulting her and had gone over to confront him. She also asked him to confirm whether the bald guy in the video currently going viral online, "The Reclusive Monk's Real Kung Fu," was him.

By the time they wrapped up, it was already past midnight. Tang Baona finally stopped talking, and they wished each other good night. Before signing off, she reminded Xiang Kun that their hike was set for seven on Sunday morning.

Without realizing it, they'd ended up chatting for almost two hours.

Their relationship had been a little distant, and could even be called "awkward." But unexpectedly, this incident had brought them together and made things between them feel much more natural.