It wasn't until eleven o'clock at night that the door to the interrogation room was pushed open. Two officers placed freshly printed documents on the interrogation table.
"Wei Wu, real name Zhang Wu, male, thirty-six years old, employed at a pharmaceutical company. Frequently went out during late-night hours over the past six months. Using forged identification documents, he rented multiple underground rooms in the suburbs. Cross-referencing surveillance footage…"
"Kong Xiangming, real name Kong Yin, a fugitive wanted by authorities. Xinhai police suspect this individual in connection with two cases of intentional homicide."
Seeing the documents on the table, Chen Ge sat up ramrod straight. Things were going even more smoothly than he'd imagined.
Kong Xiangming turned out to be a wanted fugitive. That meant there was plenty he wouldn't even need to explain—the police would believe him on their own.
"See? I wasn't lying to you, was I?" Chen Ge raised both hands. "One more question, if you don't mind—what's the bounty for capturing the fugitive Kong Yin? Xinhai is a first-tier city, so the reward must be a lot higher than what we get in Jiujiang, right?"
"The bounties are issued uniformly by the Ministry of Public Security. They have nothing to do with local cost of living." Captain Yan had someone nearby unlock Chen Ge's handcuffs, then personally poured a cup of hot water and set it in front of him. "Now tell us—how did you find these two people?"
"I keep telling you I'm a victim, and you won't believe me!" Chen Ge said, looking thoroughly wronged.
The sound of his voice made several officers in the interrogation room feel a creeping chill run up their spines.
"No one disbelieves you. It's just that everything needs to be supported by evidence." Seeing that no one else seemed willing to speak up, Captain Yan had no choice but to step forward himself. "Don't take it to heart. Also, next time if you can, try to hold back a little. If you actually beat someone to death, you won't be able to prove you were in the right, no matter how justified you are."
Captain Yan didn't quite know why he felt compelled to give Chen Ge this kind of warning. He had a nagging feeling that this was only the beginning.
"Fine. I'll try my best."
"I'll personally go inquire about the bounty for you tomorrow. Now, can you tell us about these two people?" Captain Yan had already figured out Chen Ge's personality—he dangled the bounty as bait first.
"The thing is, I really am a victim." Chen Ge's tone turned serious. "You should remember when I went to livestream at the mental hospital and accidentally discovered that living people were being held captive by the patients?"
"Mm, I remember." Something seemed to jog Captain Yan's memory. "Those patients had photos of you entering New Century Paradise. You're saying these two were sent by the mental patients to cause trouble for you?"
"Cause trouble?" Chen Ge shook his head and took a slow breath. "They were trying to kill me."
The moment those words left his mouth, the interrogation room went silent. Given the police's own investigation report, the officers present all understood that what Chen Ge said was very likely true.
"This is their revenge against me."
"Because you discovered their secret in that abandoned mental hospital? And they want to kill you for that?" A younger officer sitting beside the table spoke up.
"They're all mentally ill. Their worldview is completely different from ours." Chen Ge thought for a moment, then decided to tell Captain Yan what he could, to prevent unnecessary casualties on the police's end. "After brief contact, I found that their psyches are completely twisted. They view everything through their own pathological value system. What's worse, they genuinely believe they're the ones who are right and that it's the rest of the world that's sick. You absolutely cannot deal with them according to normal logic. They're extremely dangerous."
"Mentally ill people carrying out murders driven by a pathological worldview?" Captain Yan tapped his fingers lightly against the table—a habit he only displayed when deep in thought.
"I'm telling you the truth. And you need to be extremely careful—they're different from ordinary mental patients."
"Different?"
"During the day, they can disguise themselves to look completely normal. It's only in the dead of night when no one's around, or when they're alone, that their twisted side comes out." Chen Ge was issuing a warning to Captain Yan and his team. These lunatics were not like typical mental patients—the vast majority of them were, in fact, far more cunning than ordinary people.
"Understood. Most serial killers do tend to have psychological and emotional deficiencies."