Who pulled the trigger 4 The flames gradually raged, Shi Qian cold...

"All right, we understand. Thank you." Lin Shichu nodded and exchanged a glance with Song Ranran.

"He went to the previous restaurant every Tuesday, and this one every Wednesday... wow, he really did eat his way down the whole street." Song Ranran checked her notes and marveled, "But why did it have to be here? It's far from both his home and his office, and it's such a rough area."

"No idea." Lin Shichu shook his head, then suddenly took out his phone, glanced at it, and said, "The captain just said... to send him Lin Zhou's financial information."

Like the residential complex itself, Lin Zhou's home was shabby and cramped.

"Cough, cough... how long has it been since anyone cleaned this place?"

Ever since he had been shot, Pei Qingyu's heart and lung function had noticeably weakened. Even with a mask on, the dust that rushed at him still made him choke, leaving him coughing nonstop. Xun Yin stepped forward and unobtrusively shielded him behind his back, slowly pushing the door open.

"This is..."

Chapter 4: Who pulled the trigger 4 The flames gradually raged, Shi Qian cold...

"Why is it so run-down and messy in here?" Pei Qingyu said softly, carefully avoiding the shards of glass scattered across the floor as he walked inside.

"No idea... but Song Ranran just sent me Lin Zhou's financial information." Xun Yin looked up, only to find, unexpectedly, that Pei Qingyu was nowhere in sight. His heart tightened, and he hurried farther inside, only relaxing slightly when he spotted Pei Qingyu in the inner room.

"Hm? What's wrong with his finances?" Having waited a long time without getting an answer, Pei Qingyu turned curiously and found himself facing Xun Yin, who was entering the room with tension written all over his face. He frowned and called out in reminder, "A-Xun?"

"Mm... Lin Zhou's biggest expense was food. The monthly amounts were essentially consistent, nothing wrong there. But comparing them with his pay records..." Xun Yin gradually came back to his senses and frowned.

"A hole in his finances?" Pei Qingyu took the phone and glanced at it.

"No, the accounts add up. It's just that his spending at one restaurant was beyond what his salary could support. I checked, and there were practically no savings in his bankbook." Xun Yin surveyed the shabby home, frowning slightly.

"Generally speaking, someone in this situation is either living for the moment without planning for the future, or being forced into it for some reason." Pei Qingyu straightened up and stretched. "But someone living for the moment wouldn't work overtime at the office until the early hours every day."

"He needed money. Not to maintain his life, but to stay alive." Pei Qingyu suddenly turned to Xun Yin. "Call Lin Shichu and the others. Tell them to bring their search equipment." As he spoke, he stepped aside. Sunlight spilled into the shabby little room, revealing a fingerprint clearly imprinted on the glass.

"His home might always have been this run-down, but it wasn't necessarily this messy," Pei Qingyu said softly. "Someone broke in before we got here."

For the first time, police sirens filled the old residential complex. With residential areas all around, it was difficult for the police vehicles to get in. Xun Yin went downstairs to meet Lin Shichu and the others, while Pei Qingyu stood frowning in Lin Zhou's kitchen.

Lin Zhou ate practically all three meals out every day, so by rights, his kitchen should have been just for show. Yet the stove was heavily coated in cooking grease, indicating that he cooked frequently.

Pei Qingyu stepped forward and lightly wiped the nearby counter. A fine layer of dust immediately coated his glove-apparently, Lin Zhou had indeed cooked here before, but not recently.

Drip-

It seemed the old water

fau-

cet could not bear the silence and had made a little noise. But Pei Qingyu suddenly frowned in discomfort, his heart inexplicably fluttering. He whipped around. "Who's there?"

No one outside answered. Pei Qingyu lightened his footsteps and slowly walked over, and a flustered figure suddenly emerged.

"Hello, I saw the door standing wide open..." the man began haltingly. Looking at Pei Qingyu, who was pressing a hand to his chest and watching him with a frown, he offered a ingratiating smile. "I'm the next-door neighbor. My name is Shi Qian."

-Had Song Ranran and Lin Shichu been there, they would have recognized Shi Qian as the owner of the restaurant they had just visited.

"Impossible. There's no way eating there could cost that much," Song Ranran said with certainty. "I remember that place. It's just an ordinary little home-style restaurant. There's no way he could have spent so much there. Right, Lin?"

"That's right." Lin Shichu nodded. "The owner told us himself."

Xun Yin nodded without saying anything. An inexplicable sense of foreboding came over him, and he turned and quickly picked up his pace.

"Hello, I'm a police officer. Did you have much contact with Lin Zhou?" The palpitations from earlier had not yet subsided. Pei Qingyu unobtrusively leaned against a nearby table, slowly steadying his breathing.

"We weren't very close, mostly because he was so busy." Shi Qian looked utterly honest and answered each question as it came. "He seemed to work overtime a lot. The soundproofing here is bad, and every time he came home in the middle of the night, he'd wake me up."

"Then did you hear anyone come in last night or today?"

"No. He didn't seem to come back at all last night. I went to work this morning, so I don't know if anyone came." Shi Qian shook his head honestly, then asked cautiously, "Officer, did something happen to him?"

Pei Qingyu glanced at him and said simply, "He's dead."

"Ah." Shi Qian seemed startled. With trembling hands, he took out a cigarette and lit it. Thick cigarette smoke immediately filled the cramped room.

Since developing heart trouble, Pei Qingyu had become particularly sensitive to irritating smells, and Shi Qian seemed to be a heavy smoker.

The faint smell of smoke on him when he first entered had already made Pei Qingyu cough a little. Now that it had suddenly grown stronger, Pei Qingyu's heart began pounding violently. He coughed uncontrollably, bending slightly at the waist and drawing shallow breaths.

"Officer, are you all right...?" Shi Qian seemed stunned with fright. He watched Pei Qingyu gasp in distress, not daring to move an inch.

"It's noon, yet you're able to be home. That means either you work very close by, or you run your own business and have no one supervising you." Pei Qingyu did not answer his question, choking out between coughs, "Judging by the grease-stained white hem showing beneath your jacket-you're a chef?"