I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 87: Chapter 85: Capture

The snow that had been falling all day finally stopped.

The whole city was busy clearing snow.

Su Miaoyi had stayed at the Municipal Bureau, not yet heading back. The roads were slippery, making it a hassle to get a ride, and with the case still unsolved, she wanted to stay in case she was needed.

So she didn’t leave.

Qi Feng came back with some news.

One of the apprehended thieves had seen the man with the facial tattoo.

But the man always wore a hat and mask to cover the tattoo, so the thief had never seen his face.

All he knew was that everyone called the man "Erqing," but he didn’t know his real name.

He also said Erqing often hung around the overpass.

So once the snow stopped, the overpass became a key surveillance location.

Once the snow stopped and the area was cleared, people started setting up their stalls again, selling Spring Festival couplets and ’Fu’ characters for good fortune.

Worried about tipping their target off, they didn’t conduct a wide-scale canvass, instead questioning a few people discreetly.

The people they questioned had all seen a man with a facial tattoo.

Apparently, about a month ago, a man with a facial tattoo had been beaten up in the area.

An old man had stepped in to break up the fight and helped him.

The witnesses remembered it clearly: the old man sold candied haws, looked to be in his eighties, and was with his mute granddaughter.

It was almost certainly Wei Hong and Wei Lan.

However, none of them knew the man with the facial tattoo.

After some discussion, they decided to set up a stakeout near the overpass.

The area was almost entirely filled with stalls selling Spring Festival couplets and other New Year’s goods.

Only three of them sold food.

On the first day, Su Miaoyi ate wontons at a stall with Qi Feng and Zhuang Yanzheng.

They were awful.

It was the first time in her life she’d ever had wontons with carrot filling.

After they finished, Qi Feng asked why her eyes were red.

Su Miaoyi said she was sad that the carrots had died.

Then their shift ended.

The next day, Su Miaoyi, Yan Cheng, and another officer ate colorful little dumplings.

Su Miaoyi struck out again.

The green dumplings were made with celery juice, the red ones with tomato, and the orange ones with carrot juice.

Every single one was made with an ingredient she hated.

’At this point, I’d rather just become a fairy and drink dew.’

And then their shift ended.

The third day was the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month, right before New Year’s Eve.

The case remained unsolved.

It was time for their shift.

Su Miaoyi, Zhuang Yanzheng, and Chu Xingrou were at a stall eating noodles.

She was meticulously picking out the cilantro.

’This is what I get for forgetting to tell them beforehand.’

’I’m avoiding these three food stalls for the rest of my life.’

Zhuang Yanzheng, who had already finished his food, watched her pick out the cilantro.

He’d offered to get her a new bowl, but she refused, insisting on picking it all out herself.

"If there were a competition for picking vegetables out of food, you’d definitely win first place," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Then you should organize one. Make the grand prize financial freedom," Su Miaoyi retorted.

"That’s basically highway robbery," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi chuckled. As she glanced up, she spotted someone approaching from the other side of the street.

He was bundled up in a puffy down jacket.

And walking quickly.

He wore a hat and a mask.

His face was completely obscured.

Let alone any tattoos.

But his build and his general presence matched what Su Miaoyi had seen in her vision.

Su Miaoyi kept her chopsticks busy. Just as the man’s gaze swept in their direction, she lowered her eyes to her bowl, still picking at the cilantro, and murmured, "Eleven o’clock."

Chu Xingrou, who had been focused on her noodles, bit clean through a strand when she heard Su Miaoyi. She didn’t dare move, simply lifting another clump of noodles with her chopsticks.

Zhuang Yanzheng, however, remained perfectly calm, sitting with one leg crossed over the other as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

"Can’t see his face or the tattoo, but he’s a dead ringer," Su Miaoyi said. "He’s about to enter your line of sight."

She was sitting across from Zhuang Yanzheng.

Chu Xingrou looked up just in time to see someone hurry past on the opposite side of the road.

Zhuang Yanzheng spotted him a moment later.

He stood and started after him. "He’s heading for the apartment buildings. You two go through this alley entrance and cut him off from behind."

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou shot up and moved out.

Zhuang Yanzheng quickly followed the suspect.

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou had just entered the residential area through the alley when a call came in from Zhuang Yanzheng. He’d caught the man.

He told them to just come on out.

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou immediately stopped, panting from the run. After catching their breath, they decided not to backtrack and instead kept walking forward.

It was a shorter way out.

"Finally caught him," Chu Xingrou said.

"Now we can go home and have a peaceful New Year tomorrow," Su Miaoyi said.

Chu Xingrou sighed. "My family doesn’t approve of me being a detective. I can’t even imagine the ambush I’ll walk into tomorrow."

Su Miaoyi smiled. Just as she was about to reply, she suddenly heard something.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

Chu Xingrou pressed her lips together and held her breath, listening. "I don’t hear anything," she whispered. "What was it?"

"It sounded like a very faint gasp," Su Miaoyi said.

Chu Xingrou listened again but still heard nothing.

Su Miaoyi pinpointed the direction. "Over there."

The two of them quickly rounded the building to their right but saw nothing.

A little farther on was the complex’s perimeter wall. Beyond it, separated by a narrow gap, was the wall of the neighboring complex.

It was a low brick wall, obscuring the view of what lay beyond.

Su Miaoyi took a running start and vaulted onto the wall to look over.

The first thing she saw was Song Yucheng, his neck in someone’s grasp, on the verge of suffocation.

The moment she landed on the wall, the other man turned his head and looked right at her.

Their eyes met.

It was Cao Hong.

"Call for backup," Su Miaoyi told Chu Xingrou as she leaped down from the wall.

Cao Hong grinned malevolently. "Look who’s come to die."

"Run!" Song Yucheng’s eyes were bloodshot from the lack of air, and he looked like he could pass out at any second.

But the moment he saw Su Miaoyi, he still squeezed a single word from his throat.

Without a word, Su Miaoyi rushed forward and threw a kick.

Cao Hong dodged nimbly, but he dragged Song Yucheng with him, refusing to let go.

"Run!" Song Yucheng choked out again.

Su Miaoyi grabbed Song Yucheng’s arm while driving the heel of her other hand toward Cao Hong’s chin.

The move was lightning-fast and powerful.

Cao Hong tried to back away with Song Yucheng again, but with Su Miaoyi holding on, his only way to evade the blow was to release his hostage.

Otherwise, Su Miaoyi’s strike would have been fatal.

The moment he was released, Song Yucheng crumpled to the ground.

Having made the call, Chu Xingrou jumped down from the wall as well.

"Help him," Su Miaoyi told Chu Xingrou, then closed in to engage Cao Hong.

Cao Hong was highly skilled and incredibly strong.

In the close-quarters fight, Su Miaoyi was evenly matched with him.

She had to dodge his attacks and immediately counter.

A series of her spinning elbow strikes were all parried.

Cao Hong shoved her against the wall and threw a punch. She caught the arm pinning her, twisted to the side, and dodged the blow.

The punch slammed into the wall.

Su Miaoyi felt the whole wall shudder from the impact.

If it weren’t for Chu Xingrou, Song Yucheng would have passed out for good.

He gasped for air, coughing violently.

His throat was damaged, and his voice was a raw rasp. He looked toward Su Miaoyi and managed to force out two words: "Help her."

Seeing that he was out of immediate danger, Chu Xingrou got up to help.

Su Miaoyi managed to take him to the ground and land two punches before Cao Hong grabbed the back of her jacket and threw her down as well.

Su Miaoyi’s down jacket was ripped open.

Feathers exploded into the air.

Amidst the flurry of feathers, they both scrambled to their feet and were at each other’s throats again.

Chu Xingrou joined the fray, making it two against one.

Su Miaoyi was already a match for him, so when Chu Xingrou joined in, Cao Hong was instantly overwhelmed.

Chu Xingrou restrained him from behind.

Su Miaoyi smashed a fist into his face, followed immediately by an elbow strike.

Cao Hong broke free and counter-attacked.

This time, Su Miaoyi restrained him from the front while Chu Xingrou attacked from behind.

By the time Zhuang Yanzheng arrived, the two women had Cao Hong pinned to the ground and in handcuffs.

Worried he might break free, Su Miaoyi even pulled the drawstring from her ruined jacket and used it to bind his hands a second time.

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