Si Ren looked at Yao Yu in surprise, then smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"You really guessed it. It was indeed his ghost who told me—or to be precise, he came to me in a dream."
Yao Yu wore a stern expression, tapping on the table to signal him to stop talking.
"Stop playing tricks and trying to scare people here. Do you know what kind of place this is?"
Si Ren spread his hands, looking quite helpless.
"Of course I know where this is, but that's just how the situation is; I have no reason to lie. Besides, I saved Li Jiacheng today, and that part is true."
Wang Liang crossed his hands on the table.
"Even if he did come to you in a dream, who in their right mind would believe things that happen in a dream? Besides, you had no prior connection to Li Jiacheng and didn't even know him. Taking such a huge risk for a complete stranger—do you think that's normal?"
Si Ren nodded, completely agreeing with Wang Liang's words.
"That's right, it's definitely not normal. But I'm someone who believes in fate, and my current job is driving at night—I drive a hearse! Do you think I'd believe in dream visitations or not?"
Once the conversation reached this point, it essentially hit a dead end. The police had no direct evidence to prove that Si Ren was the suspect in this serial murder case, yet right now, there was no second candidate besides him.
"Illegally and forcibly breaking into someone else's residence, damaging, defacing, or removing someone else's personal belongings is punishable by detention of 5 to 10 days, along with a fine of 200 to 500 yuan. Any objections?"
Hearing this, Si Ren lost his composure somewhat. If he were truly detained, he wouldn't be able to go to work on time, and the one suffering the consequences would definitely be him.
"Although I forcibly broke into someone's residence, my subjective intent was to save a life, and I actually did save the person. I won't accept such a sloppy judgment from you."
Yao Yu frowned imperceptibly. This punk was simply impervious to reason; no matter what was said, he always had his own set of excuses.
Wang Liang also shook his head helplessly. Just as Si Ren said, if Si Ren's subjective intent was to save someone, the charge of forcibly breaking into a residence would not hold up. Furthermore, at the very beginning of the interrogation, Si Ren had emphasized that he was entrusted by Li Jiacheng to save his granddaughter, which further corroborated his later account.
"Mr. Si, although we cannot prosecute you under the charge of forcible entry into a residence, we have the right to detain a suspect of a major case for two months. Do you understand what I mean?"
Si Ren wasn't afraid of being investigated at all. He hadn't killed anyone, so no matter how thoroughly they investigated, they wouldn't find anything on him. The only troublesome part right now was his job.
"It doesn't matter if you lock me up for a few months. I didn't do it, so you can investigate however you like—my conscience is clear. But I want to remind you of one thing: if you detain me for two months and still find nothing wrong, I will definitely sue you. If this incident causes my company to fire me, think carefully about how much compensation you'll owe me. To be honest with you, at my workplace, completing three years gets you a fully loaded Land Rover, five years gets you a three-bedroom apartment in the city center, and ten years gets you one million yuan in cash. Not to mention anything else, do I even need to tell you how much a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Lianhua City costs? I'm 24 this year, my monthly salary is 20,000 yuan, which is 240,000 a year. In 10 years, that's 2.4 million. I can still work for another 36 years in the future. Add all that up and it's over 10 million. If you think your police department can afford that compensation, go right ahead, I don't care. That's not even counting my emotional distress damages for letting you lock me up for two months for nothing."
Hearing this, Yao Yu gritted her teeth in anger.
"Stop spouting nonsense here. I've never heard of any company being that generous—giving away cars and houses just for reaching a certain number of years."
Si Ren glanced at her and shrugged helplessly.
"Just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The signed contract is still at my home; if you don't believe me, send someone to get it. I'm upright and have nothing to fear, so completely wasting your time on me is utterly meaningless. With that time, you should go out and find the real criminal instead of bickering with me over these boring topics."
Wang Liang was completely helpless against Si Ren's near-shameless behavior. They didn't have any evidence proving his crime, so they could only try to pressure him psychologically. Even though the two of them played good cop and bad cop, Si Ren still didn't reveal a single flaw.
"In that case, we'll detain you for 24 hours first. That is within our legal scope." With that, he took the lead and left the interrogation room.
Once outside, Yao Yu felt somewhat unreconciled, so she suggested to Wang Liang:
"Captain, this kid is slippery. It looks like he deals with us police often. If worst comes to worst, let's use some methods."
"Xiaoyu, everything must be based on evidence, not feelings. You can't possibly go to court and tell the judge, 'I feel' or 'I think,' can you? Besides, how many times do I have to warn you? We must enforce the law civilly. What is the point of extracting a confession through torture? Si Ren said one thing very correctly: instead of spending time interrogating him, we'd be better off going out and looking for more evidence."
Yao Yu took a deep breath, slowly exhaled to suppress her lingering resentment, and looked back toward the interrogation room.
"I hope you really are innocent. I'll keep my eye on you. If it really turns out to be you, hum, you won't hear the end of it."
Inside the interrogation room, Si Ren seemed to sense something and shivered.
"What's going on? This feeling doesn't feel quite right."
...
Inside the hospital ward, Li Wenjing slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes. Turning her head slightly, she realized she was in the hospital, and said weakly:
"Is anyone there?"
Just then, the nurse on duty walked past and hurried over.
"You're awake? How are you feeling?"
Li Wenjing replied in a soft voice:
"My head hurts a little, but everything else is fine. May I ask who brought me here?"
...
"Come out, you can go home now." Yao Yu entered the interrogation room and said with extreme reluctance.
When Si Ren heard he could go home, he was overjoyed. At first, the lighting in the interrogation room had been rather dim, and coupled with the anxiety during the questioning, he hadn't had the chance to observe her closely. But the moment Si Ren stood up, it felt as though the entire world had paused. His social circle had been relatively narrow, and he didn't go out often. Therefore, upon seeing Yao Yu's face, he was momentarily stunned. Although she didn't look as sexy as the receptionist at the detective agency, the police uniform she wore added a touch of heroic spirit.
Yao Yu felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at like that and spoke up:
"Don't want to leave? Then you can stay right here, and I'll let you look your fill!"
Si Ren quickly withdrew his gaze and smiled apologetically.
"Uh, I'm really sorry, I just zoned out. I was just reminded of an old friend."
Yao Yu rolled her eyes and urged:
"I don't have time to listen to you ramble here, get out quickly. By the way, even though we're letting you go, you must keep your phone turned on. We might contact you at any time to assist with the investigation. Also, you cannot leave Lianhua City, do you understand? You should go to the hospital now; the little girl you saved wants to see you."
Without waiting for Si Ren to ask questions, Yao Yu left.
"This fiery-tempered young woman... I wonder which poor soul will end up marrying her in the future. Let's observe a moment of silence for her future husband."
After gathering his personal belongings, he drove to the hospital. Entering the ward, he saw Li Wenjing sitting by the bed in a daze.