Chapter 19: The Simple-Minded Person Goes Out on an Errand and Stumbles Upon a Homicide Case

Dongfang Capital, Central Ring.

Southeast Walking Street.

This was the area Xia Qianyue was responsible for patrolling, and as a newcomer to the Martial Association's field staff, her job was actually quite relaxed.

To help newcomers quickly acclimate to field work, the Martial Association paired each new member with a seasoned mentor.

Xia Qianyue was now with her senior mentor on the main thoroughfare of the walking street, where the two of them were idling under an umbrella, engaging in what's colloquially known as 'slacking off'.

The senior mentor was a woman surnamed Wang, in her early forties, slightly plump in stature.

She didn't look like someone from the Martial Association; she resembled a neighborhood committee aunt more.

Sister Wang glanced at the walking street and then said to Xia Qianyue beside her, "Xia Xia, let me tell you, although it's a bit tough for those of us on field duty, the workload isn't that heavy."

"However, it's the weekend now, and there's quite a bit of foot traffic on the walking street. Keep your eyes peeled and see if there's anyone acting suspiciously around us—this is peak time for thieves to strike."

As Sister Wang spoke, she pointed at a man in a black hoodie, "Especially people who cover their faces like that, pay extra attention. On such a nice day, yet skulking around, who knows what they're up to, we need to focus on them."

Xia Qianyue diligently watched the target until he entered a nearby alley, at which point she turned her attention elsewhere.

"Sister Wang, from your tone, it seems like you've caught quite a few bad people, haven't you?"

"I've caught quite a few bad people, mostly petty thieves. The biggest case I remember involved a couple arguing—the husband almost stabbed his wife to death with a fruit knife. Fortunately, the neighbors noticed, and we field agents arrived in time to stop him from committing the act!"

Sister Wang spoke with lingering fear, "Actually, in our kind of work, it's fine as long as you don't make mistakes. Even if you do catch someone, it's best if they act out first, catching them red-handed. People nowadays, a lot of them have gone bad. If you don't catch them in the act, they won't admit to anything, and they might even falsely accuse you in return, so remember, even if you really see a thief, you must keep your cool and not act immediately, understand?"

"Mhm, I understand!" Xia Qianyue didn't completely grasp the concept, but she obediently nodded anyway.

She knew her mentor must have her reasons for saying so.

"Right!" Sister Wang then turned to her "little apprentice" beside her, "You mentioned earlier that someone was coming to find you, tell Sister Wang, who are they to you?"

Perhaps the task of patrolling the streets was too boring; Sister Wang's gossiping soul began to burn fiercely.

She herself was married with a happy family life and a son in high school with somewhat poor grades, so she enrolled him in several tutoring classes and planned to have him study hard over the summer break. But this was all trivial.

To a middle-aged married woman, the most curious thing was Xia Qianyue, the young junior.

"It's a friend of mine, not really anyone special to me~" Xia Qianyue's face turned a shade of red, as she quickly denied it.

"Hehe, you don't need to be so formal with Sister Wang. Let me guess, your boyfriend?" Sister Wang had seen it all before; she naturally noticed Xia Qianyue was hiding something.

"What boyfriend? Don't joke like that, Sister Wang!" Xia Qianyue's little head bowed down deeply, too shy to look up and respond, like a bashful little kangaroo.

"Come on, tell Sister Wang, where is the lad from? What does he do?"

"Well, he's just like me, hasn't quite graduated yet..."

Xia Qianyue had just replied when her phone rang.

She immediately opened WeChat and quickly saw the message from Zhang Wei.

"He's here!" Xia Qianyue was excited, finally escaping Sister Wang's prying.

"The young man is here? Where is he?" Sister Wang also quickly looked around.

Soon enough, a young fellow waved at them and briskly made his way over.

"So, this is the guy, eh? Hmm... he looks pretty honest and upright, not the type to be lured away by women."

Sister Wang looked at the newcomer, struggling to come up with appropriate words in her mind.

It was clearly a high EQ way of speaking; if it had been low EQ, it would have meant that the young man seemed too bland and unremarkable.

Plain and inconspicuous.

That was Zhang Wei.

"Zhang Wei!"

"Simple-minded person (or silly person)!"

Zhang Wei met up with Xia Qianyue, both of their faces beaming with smiles.

"Zhang Wei, why do you smell like perfume?"

But suddenly, Xia Qianyue's nose twitched, detecting a scent that made her uneasy.

Zhang Wei quickly sniffed his arm, calmly explaining, "Oh, that? It might be from the psychologist. I went to see the doctor today, and she's a woman."

Even though Jessica was very pretty and had a big chest, Zhang Wei had only met her once; there was no way anything could happen between them.

"Oh, I see," Xia Qianyue accepted the explanation without much suspicion.

"Come on, Xia Xia, introduce this young man to Sister Wang. What's his story?" Sister Wang immediately leaned in, ready to dig into every detail about Zhang Wei's ancestry.

"Sister Wang, what are you talking about? Zhang Wei and I are just ordinary friends!" Xia Qianyue hastily waved her hands, signaling a misunderstanding.

"Humph, Xia Xia, you really know how to keep things from Sister Wang. As if I would steal your man!" Sister Wang gave her a look and then turned to Zhang Wei: "Young man, are you and Xia Xia in that kind of relationship? Don't deny it; Sister Wang can see through you. There's something about the way you two look at each other. You might fool others, but you can't fool me!"

"Sister Wang?" Looking at the extremely gossipy woman in front of him, Zhang Wei felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Sister Wang, aren't you supposed to be on duty? Is it appropriate to keep surrounding me like this?" He quickly changed the subject, seeing Sister Wang's determined attitude.

"Ha-ha, young man, still playing coy with me, Sister Wang?" Sister Wang didn't care in the slightest and pointed around: "Besides, the street is so peaceful, what big events could possibly happen? At most, there might be some petty theft."

"The public security in Dongfang Capital is great; I'm not bragging about it!"

"That's right, Zhang Wei. Although I also hope to fight evil and promote justice, the public security in Dongfang Capital is so good that I've been on patrol for several days now, and it's like taking a walk every day," Sister Wang boasted, and Xia Qianyue immediately agreed.

Dongfang Capital, as an international metropolis with a population surpassing twenty million, is top-tier.

Yet, despite its size, crime is scarce.

For the field operatives of the Martial Association, it's hard to say whether this is good or bad.

The upside is, they don't have to deal with exhausting tasks, and their everyday patrols are as relaxed as Xia Qianyue described—just like taking a stroll every day on the streets.

The downside is, they lack opportunities for achievements. With no cases to solve, there are no merits to earn, and without merits, there's no chance for promotion. Many might end up like Sister Wang, spending their entire careers in field operations.

But for someone like Sister Wang, who lacks ambition, living a stable life and retiring in peace would be quite satisfying.

"Young man, come on and tell me more about you two young people. There's nothing much going on right now, and I can snoop around for Old Xia."

The Old Xia mentioned by Sister Wang is Xia Qianyue's father.

Xia Qianyue joined the Martial Association largely under his influence.

However, Xia Qianyue's father is just a grassroots field operative of the Martial Association, much like Sister Wang.

"Sister Wang, what's there to snoop about? It's quite embarrassing..." Xia Qianyue was somewhat overwhelmed by Sister Wang's enthusiasm.

Her cheeks were hot and flushed.

"When there's nothing to do, it gets boring. Without chatting about something, how are we going to get through the day?" Sister Wang sighed repeatedly.

Sometimes, the lack of things to do in a safe area can be sad.

"Ah, I really wish we could encounter some situation so we'd have something to do!" Xia Qianyue added.

Zhang Wei looked at the two of them and twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to say something.

But just as he was about to speak, something unexpected happened.

Bang!

From a building along the walking street came a strange noise, like the shattering of glass.

Zhang Wei, Xia Qianyue, and Sister Wang turned their attention to the noise and saw a window shatter on an upper floor and a dark figure fall from it.

Thud!

The figure landed on a sunshade of a snack shop below, destroying the chairs underneath, causing a loud commotion.

"Ah, there's blood!"

"Somebody's dead, help!"

"Call the Martial Association, quick, call the Martial Association!"

Then, from that spot, screams rose up as people scattered in every direction, and the passersby on the entire street were thrown into chaos.

"Xia Xia, come with me!" Sister Wang rushed towards the scene as soon as she saw the commotion.

"Hey, hey, hey, we're the field operations team. We've found a situation on Southeast Walking Street and request backup... repeat, we've found a situation on Southeast Walking Street and request backup, backup!"

As she sprinted, she pulled out her walkie-talkie and reported to the Martial Association dispatch center.

Zhang Wei hadn't expected that what they had just called boring would actually turn into a real incident.

Could his words have been a jinx?

Since Xia Qianyue had taken action, he had no choice but to follow.

After running all the way, he followed Xia Qianyue to the snack shop and saw the following scene.

The woman lying on the destroyed parasol and wooden tables and chairs was covered in blood.

Her clothes were already soaked red, she lay facing the sky, eyes wide and face twisted in a ferocious and terrified expression, but it was forever frozen in that moment, because she was dead!

"There's no wound on the chest, the injury is on the back, so much blood means she was stabbed in the back while fleeing, and finally broke the apartment's glass above..."

Zhang Wei looked up at the shattered glass the woman had hit.

"Simple-minded person, the killer might still be upstairs, it's been less than 30 seconds since the victim fell, they definitely haven't gone far!"

Upon hearing this, Xia Qianyue immediately understood and rushed into the apartment building.

But soon, she was flummoxed.

Because out of the elevator in the apartment building, more than a dozen people burst out, and people kept running out from the stairs next to it as well.

Xia Qianyue watched one passerby after another run past her, but she didn't know what to do.

"Simple-minded person, what are you doing, quickly secure the scene, don't let these people move, the killer might be mixed in among them!" Zhang Wei, who rushed in, hurriedly reminded.

But it was too late, many people had already dashed out of the apartment and ran off to God knows where.

Xia Qianyue actually stood there stunned, without saying a word.

"Zhang Wei, I, I think I did something wrong..."

It took a while for Xia Qianyue to come to her senses, looking somewhat lost at the entrance to the apartment.

"Simple-minded person, anyone would panic in this situation!" Zhang Wei could only pat her shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

"Then why didn't you panic?"

"Uh..."

Zhang Wei didn't expect Simple-minded person's focus to be so different, and he was at a loss for words.

It's not like he could say he had been through every conceivable scenario, could he?

5 minutes later, the people from the Martial Association hurried over and began to seal off the scene.

They set up barricades at the scene and began a thorough search of the entire apartment, while the forensic identification team began processing the body.

Xia Qianyue, following Sister Wang, stood outside of the scene, responsible for maintaining order.

"Sister Wang, this is a murder case, aren't we allowed to participate in solving it?!"

"Xia Xia, I know this is a murder case, but we are field agents, and our task is just to maintain the scene, the Serious Crime Team will handle murder cases."

Xia Qianyue's eyes kept stealthily glancing at the body, eager to find out what happened, but was stopped by Sister Wang next to her.

She understood the young person's desire to distinguish herself, but murder cases were not child's play; they required professionals.

A few more minutes passed, and finally, the Serious Crime Team arrived.

"It's actually Captain Wu from Team Seven!" Sister Wang, seeing the people from the Serious Crime Team, looked surprised.

"Sister Wang, what about Captain Wu?" Xia Qianyue hurriedly asked.

Sister Wang naturally couldn't say much, and just chuckled: "Oh, nothing, I just thought it would be someone from Team One or Two, didn't expect it to be Team Seven..."

This Captain Wu, named Wu Yong, was from the Martial Association Investigation Department Serious Crime Team, leading the seventh squad, composed of four members.

In addition to Captain Wu, the other three members had also arrived.

They were a gaunt, middle-aged man with a mustache at the corner of his mouth, a dark-skinned girl, and a man with a leopard's head and fierce appearance.

"So, this is the victim, what's the situation?"

"The victim was stabbed in the back, with wounds all over the left ribs, lungs, and other vital areas, all fatal injuries, and falling from such a height, there are multiple fractures and contusions throughout the body..."

Captain Wu inquired with the medical examiner and obtained preliminary forensic results.

"Where's the eye-witness?"

Then, Captain Wu asked the field agents on site.

All eyes turned to Sister Wang and Xia Qianyue, who were in charge of guarding the scene, as well as Zhang Wei who was nearby—they were the first to arrive at the scene and naturally were also the eye-witnesses.

"Take them to the headquarters for registration!" Captain Wu Yong gestured with a sweep of his hand, ordering people to lead Zhang Wei and the others away.

"Old Xing, Ah Ni, Tamu, the three of you come with me upstairs, let's see what the scene looks like, and if we can find any clues!"

Wu Yong led three team members into the first crime scene on the upper floor to begin the investigation.

As for Zhang Wei, since he became a witness, he could only enter the headquarters with the Martial Association staff.

To tell the truth, it was his first time at the Martial Association Headquarters, but he'd never imagined it would be because of a murder case.

...

Martial Association, Dongfang Capital Investigation Headquarters.

The Martial Association Building, located in the Inner Ring City Center of Dongfang Capital, was a building that seemed inconspicuous but couldn't be ignored.

The people coming and going here often carried a sharp aura, something ordinary people did not possess.

Zhang Wei was taken to the Serious Crime Team of the Investigation Department to give his statement.

The one responsible for recording his statement was Old Xing, the assistant captain under Wu Yong, a man whose appearance was also unremarkable, even somewhat sleazy.

"Young man, are you saying that you saw the victim fall from the building?"

"Yes, the crime scene was less than 100 meters away from us, just across a pedestrian path. At that time, we heard the sound of glass breaking, then we rushed to the scene immediately, but unfortunately, there were too many people running out of the apartment building, and we couldn't identify the culprit."

"You're not a member of the Martial Association. Why would you rush to the scene? Shouldn't you have escaped as soon as possible when faced with such an incident?"

"Because of Silly... Oh, I meant my friend wanted to hurry over, and naturally, I could only follow her!"

Zhang Wei said this as he glanced at Xia Qianyue, who was beside him making a statement, "She is an intern field agent of your Martial Association and needed to get to the scene."

"Hmm, a fine young lady. It's her first time seeing a corpse, yet she was not afraid," Old Xing nodded and continued, "Then did you see anyone suspicious, or someone with blood on them?"

"There were too many people at the time; I didn't notice anything," Zhang Wei shook his head.

His gaze moved across the Serious Crime Team's office area and fixated on a clipboard in the corner, where many photographs from the scene were posted.

"Have you found the murder weapon? It must have been a dagger, right?"

"Yes, it was at the scene, but unfortunately, there were no fingerprints. The murderer must have been wearing gloves."

"Then you should be able to retrieve footage from the surveillance cameras to see, with so many people at that time, there should be many cameras around the streets."

"Our people are looking at it now, and if any clues are found, we will be the first to know."

"That's good, but have you investigated the victim's background? Since this is a murder case, you naturally start with the identity of the victim."

"You don't need to tell us that; we've already thought of it. We've already contacted the victim's boyfriend, and he is on his way here. We..."

As Old Xing spoke, he suddenly felt that something wasn't right.

Am I from the Serious Crime Team or are you the one from the Serious Crime Team?

This kid came here to make a statement. Why is he suddenly asking me about the case?

Moreover, the way he inquired reminded him of some prosecutors, causing him to instinctively respond.

Old Xing got annoyed and immediately warned Zhang Wei, "Kid, stop making trouble here. I ask, you answer. Do you understand the rules?"

"Sorry, professional habit," Zhang Wei hastily apologized, realizing he had asked too much.

He had no choice; when he was defending criminal cases in the past, this was how he interacted with the investigation department, and such habits took a while to change.

Zhang Wei's statement was soon completed; after all, he was just an ordinary civilian, and the Martial Association personnel wouldn't make things difficult for him.

On the other hand, Xia Qianyue, after completing her statement, was pulled aside by Wu Yong for questioning.

Zhang Wei could only wait nearby, his eyes occasionally stealing glances towards the "clue board" to see how much evidence the Serious Crime Team had collected.

The clues consisted mainly of wounds on the victim's body, for which the medical examiner had taken many photos that were now posted here.

Besides these, there were very few other clues.

After Xia Qianyue finished being questioned, she came over to Zhang Wei, her face filled with excitement.

"That was so cool, was that the Serious Crime Team just now?"

Xia Qianyue's dream was to join the Serious Crime Team as an investigator. Having had a close encounter with her "idol," she was extremely thrilled.

"Do you want to solve the case?" Zhang Wei asked subconsciously.

"Of course! Captain Wu Yong just gave me his contact information. If I can remember any clues, he asked me to contact him immediately!"

As Xia Qianyue spoke, her eyes sparkled, clearly harboring some thoughts.

But Zhang Wei knew, having been exposed to the Serious Crime Team, this girl definitely wouldn't go back to patrolling the streets obediently.