69: Chapter 69: How did he know the correct answer?

“Who did you see?” Yang Tian asked, placing his phone under the table.

“Zi zi zi~~ Zhang Zhixiang!”

“Hmm?”

Yang Tian looked up at the group of young people. Sure enough, one of them was a young man wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, about 1.78 meters tall, with a buzz cut. He looked ninety percent similar to the Zhang Zhixiang seen in the surveillance video.

He quickly found Qi Dongwei’s WeChat and sent him an address.

“Tomato Milk Tea Shop, come quick!”

[Writing this, I hope readers will remember our domain name. Taiwan Novel Network is super easy to use and very comprehensive.]

Standing on top of his phone, Xiaoqiang raised its front legs and crossed them, asking with a puzzled expression, “You’re a cop yourself, why call someone else over? Can't you just arrest him?”

“An Assistant Police Officer doesn't have law enforcement authority; I can't make arrests.”

“Zi zi zi zi~~ Then you're way too lame!”

“Shut up!”

Even Xiaoqiang looked down on the profession of an Assistant Police Officer... Yang Tian couldn't help but roll his eyes at it.

However, he also knew that changing the opinions of some people—or some insects—wasn't something that could be done overnight. As long as the Salted Fish Assistant Police Officer System was still there, he would never be truly inferior.

He picked up his milk tea and found a seat near Zhang Zhixiang to sit down.

What he didn't expect was that Zhang Zhixiang, who had just gone through a murder and the National College Entrance Examination, showed not a hint of panic. Instead, he appeared incredibly calm and composed in public, even laughing and playing with his classmates.

It was as if those three lives were as worthless as weeds to him!

A demon like this was truly terrifying.

Ten minutes later, Qi Dongwei rushed into the milk tea shop in a hurry, instantly attracting the attention of everyone inside.

He immediately shouted, “Where is he?”

“Over here!” Yang Tian raised his hand to signal.

Qi Dongwei walked over.

“What do you want to drink?”

“What kind of time is this? How do you have time for milk tea? Where’s the guy?”

Yang Tian gave a look, and Qi Dongwei followed his gaze, then looked down at the photo on his phone.

“He changed his hair?”

“Yes.”

“No wonder it was a bit hard to recognize him. Let's go, should we take him away directly or what?”

“No rush. Let's have a cup of milk tea and play a few rounds of games first!”

“Huh? At a critical moment like this, you're still drinking?”

“Drink up. Why wouldn't we? Keeping watch is also work.”

“Makes sense!”

“Ding! The suspect is right in front of you, yet you chose to rot away by drinking milk tea, even leading your salted fish apprentice to turn a blind eye. The stench of a salted fish is growing stronger. Congratulations, Host, for obtaining 50 salted fish points!”

“Current Progress: 1700/2000”

Not bad, not bad!

Adding the salted fish points earned from slacking yesterday, he had now accumulated 1,700 points.

The two of them kept watch until dark before Zhang Zhixiang’s group finally dispersed.

As soon as Zhang Zhixiang left, Yang Tian and Qi Dongwei immediately followed.

As they approached a deserted intersection, Yang Tian and Qi Dongwei rushed forward, each pinning one of his arms.

Zhang Zhixiang immediately began to struggle.

“Who are you? Why are you grabbing me!?”

“Police, don't move!” Qi Dongwei showed his police ID.

“Even the police can't just arrest people for no reason! What did I do wrong that you're arresting me?”

[How did the cops find me? Could they have already found evidence of the murder?] — Zhang Zhixiang's inner thoughts.

Hearing this, Yang Tian yanked his wrist hard, and Zhang Zhixiang immediately began to wail like a ghost.

“Ow, ow, ow! Gentler, be gentler...”

[No, that's not right. I destroyed all the evidence that needed to be destroyed. It's impossible for them to know I killed them!] — Zhang Zhixiang's inner thoughts.

“If you know it hurts, then cooperate properly!”

Yang Tian and Qi Dongwei each grabbed one of Zhang Zhixiang’s arms and forced him into the police car. Qi Dongwei handcuffed one of Zhang Zhixiang’s hands to the grab handle on the right side of the back seat and then sat on the left side.

Yang Tian immediately started the car.

After driving for about ten minutes, Qi Dongwei felt the route was wrong and asked curiously, “This isn't the way back to the branch office, is it?”

“Yeah, we're not going back to the branch yet.”

“Then where are we going?”

“To the abandoned factory.”

“What are we going there for?”

“You'll find out in a bit.”

Yang Tian drove the police car straight to an abandoned factory in the suburbs.

The stench of rust hit them. The surroundings were filled with piles of industrial waste and desolate, rusty buildings, shrouded in darkness.

Yang Tian stopped the car, opened the back door, and said to Qi Dongwei, “Get out. I want to ask him a few questions alone.”

“Okay.”

Qi Dongwei got out of the car and lit a cigarette.

Inside the car, Yang Tian turned off all surveillance and recording equipment, his eyes looking at the other man like cold blades.

“I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to answer it. If you give the wrong answer, I'll punch you!”

Seeing the serious look in his eyes, Zhang Zhixiang finally began to feel afraid. He pulled back his head, shifted his body away, and feigned a pitiful look, asking, “You're the police, and you dare to hit people?”

“I'm not a police officer; I'm an Assistant Police Officer.”

“Then on what grounds are you arresting me?”

“The one outside the car is a police officer!”

“Still, you can't hit me. Hitting people is illegal.”

Yang Tian suddenly gave a cold laugh and asked in return, “Then is murder illegal?”

Zhang Zhixiang’s expression froze for a moment, then he pretended to be innocent. “I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't kill anyone.”

[How does this idiot know I killed someone?] — Zhang Zhixiang's inner thoughts.

The next second.

“Wrong answer!”

Yang Tian clenched his fist and slammed it into the boy's stomach. The pain caused his veins to bulge, his face to turn red, and his expression to twist in agony.

“Second question: where were you from 7:00 AM to 8:30 AM on June 7th?”

Zhang Zhixiang clutched his stomach with one hand and responded with great difficulty, “I was sleeping at my grandmother's house. I slept until after 8:30 before I got up. I almost missed the college entrance exam!”

[The power went out at 7:00 AM. I took advantage of my grandparents not paying attention to sneak out, then went to Balihe Community. I waited for that young woman I'd been thinking about to appear, looking for a chance to strike] — Zhang Zhixiang's inner thoughts.

“Wrong answer!”

“Bang!”

Yang Tian slammed another punch into his chest.

In an instant, a dull, suffocating pain swept through his entire body. He collapsed onto the seat, gasping for air in agony.

“Third question: how did you get into Xiao Min's house?”

In his pain, Zhang Zhixiang looked at Yang Tian with a face full of shock.

[How could he know I went to Xiao Min's house?]

[Has he really discovered that I killed them?]

[Should I tell the truth now? I'm so scared, Dad!] — Zhang Zhixiang's inner thoughts.

Seeing that Zhang Zhixiang wasn't speaking, Yang Tian immediately raised his fist.

Fearing another beating, Zhang Zhixiang immediately replied, “At that time, she was pushing a baby and carrying a bag of vegetables. She looked like she was struggling, so I helped her carry the vegetables home. That's how I got inside!”

“Correct answer!”

Zhang Zhixiang breathed a sigh of relief, but the next second, he suddenly realized something. He looked at Yang Tian in terror and asked in disbelief, “Are you a man or a ghost? How do you know the correct answer??”