Insights Chapter 62: Cleaner

Chapter 62: Cleaner

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Director Ding was almost certain that Cai Jinliang was the “scapegoat” mentioned by An Nan. He asked in a trembling voice, “What happened to Cai Jinliang later?

Gu Yanchen flipped through the case records and said, “Cai Jinliang once confessed in court, but his testimony was not accepted due to mental issues.” He found the record in the final supplementary document, “Cai Jinliang died in a mental hospital this year.”

The living scapegoat had turned into a dead one, leaving no evidence behind. This was a case from the time of the former chief Wang, handled by the subordinate branch, and now it seemed to be a wrongful case. What made Director Ding even more panicked was that he didn’t know how many more such cases existed. 

Director Ding pressed his hands on the file, his face darkened. “We must investigate thoroughly! When we meet with the branch later, we’ll request the information and investigate all past cases together!”

An Nan on the opposite side chuckled lightly, rattling the handcuffs in his hands, making a crisp sound. “Now, do you believe I haven’t lied to you? But let me tell you, investigating is futile. Because the aftermath of this case was cleaned up by the cleaners for three months, there’s no evidence left for you to search.”

An Nan seemed rather amused than concerned about his confession

“What are the cleaners for?” Gu Yanchen remembered An Nan mentioning three professions: planner, set designer, and cleaner.

An Nan said, “Cleaners, also known as cleaners, are responsible for cleaning up bloodstains, corpses, digital traces, and tampering with records. They can modify everything from household registrations, identity cards, bank information, to surveillance records, anything you can think of.”

Director Ding furrowed his brows tightly. Nowadays, people heavily relied on electronic information, but much of this information needed to be manually filled in by grassroots personnel before entering the police system. With so much information and numerous personnel involved, no one could guarantee that these records wouldn’t contain errors

Bribing grassroots personnel or hacking into computer networks could facilitate tampering, but if the trusted information turned out to be false, it could be exploited… These criminals could easily obtain new identification documents. Trafficked children could have legitimate birth certificates. Scams and online gambling could stealthily withdraw money from accounts, making it impossible to recover. Even matters of life and death could be altered. They could create “living dead” to execute tasks or keep dead people “alive” to take the blame or claim retirement benefits. With the help of cleaners, some people could commit evil acts with impunity, escaping supervision and punishment.

Director Ding suddenly realized that the seemingly invincible electronic information databases built over many years were riddled with vulnerabilities. Some things had clues to their existence. Evil was like cockroaches in a house: when you found one, there were likely several more hidden away. The exposure of one case indicated that several more were happening in places unknown to the public. Just thinking about these things sent shivers down one’s spine.

Gu Yanchen couldn’t figure out which side An Nan was on. He didn’t seem like a killer but rather like an informant who readily provided information to them.

Director Ding redirected the conversation to the current case, “Who paid you to kill Zuo Junming?”

An Nan replied, “I don’t know.”

Director Ding asked again, “Where do your people stay?”

An Nan smiled, “We often change addresses. No matter where we lived before, it has been cleaned up now. We don’t leave anything behind for you to investigate.”

“Where do these people who do such things come from?”

“Some are released prisoners, some are from welfare homes, raised from childhood, and there are some whose origins I’m not sure about…”

Director Ding asked Anan, “And you, how did you get involved with these people?”

When asked this question, An Nan paused. His smile grew broader, “As for my story, I won’t tell you even if you ask. You better think about what else you want to inquire about while I’m in a good mood.”

Director Ding continued, “Who is in charge of this organization?”

An Nan paused for a moment, “We call him the boss.”

Gu Yanchen asked, “So, it was the two of you who killed Zuo Junming?”

An Nan replied, “That task was mainly completed by the Hound. I was only responsible for holding the murder weapon under surveillance at night, leaving behind a silhouette. Because I have long hair, my silhouette resembled that of Zhang Kabei.”

With a few words, An Nan distanced himself completely, portraying himself as merely a newcomer accomplice Following that, Director Ding began to inquire about the details of the case, and An Nan recounted the entire process of the case, including how they interrogated Zuo Junming according to procedure the previous night, and how they traced and attempted to kill Zhang Kabei after the incident as a scapegoat.

Gu Yanchen asked, “What was the result of interrogating Zuo Junming? Did he reveal where the other half of the ashes are?”

“At that time, it was the Hound who interrogated him. Zuo Junming seemed to have mentioned a name…” An Nan recalled, lowering his head for a moment. “I didn’t catch it all, but the buyer seemed to have the surname Wu.”

With a surname Wu, wealthy, and having a young male death in the family intending to marry a distant relative, this narrowed down the scope of the mastermind behind the scenes.

Director Ding asked, “Who planned this case?

Since they had already found the set designer, who was also the executor, the planner should be an accomplice as well.

An Nan replied, “This case was planned by Mr. Qing Shui. He is the most beloved son of the boss and his successor.”

Upon hearing this, Director Ding snorted, “If he let you get caught, it seems the plan wasn’t that perfect. You’d better cooperate with the police. Although the forces of evil are lurking in the shadows now, the police will eventually capture them. If you cooperate fully with us, you might get a reduced sentence.”

An Nan smiled but remained silent, seemingly unaffected by the conditions presented to him. The interrogation lasted for over an hour. Towards the end, An Nan said, “Now, I’m a little tired, and there’s only one question left. You can consider it carefully.”

After the interrogation, Gu Yanchen didn’t fully trust this mysterious killer named Anan. Since his partner had died, An Nan could fabricate the case as he pleased.

Gu Yanchen and Director Ding exchanged whispers and asked their biggest question, “Why are you willing to tell us all this?”

From the beginning of this case, there had been some inexplicable and illogical aspects. The core point lay here, where they couldn’t explain An Nan’s motive.

An Nan smiled, leaning back in the interrogation chair, “We’re all just workers, working for the boss. As the saying goes, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ I’m not happy with my boss, always keeping us busy. Naturally, the best way to vent is to tell the police some of his secrets. Although you can’t openly investigate in the City Bureau, you’ll have to be cautious in the future. That way, we can retire sooner.”

Director Ding asked again, “Who is your boss, exactly?”

“I’ve already answered your last question. Although I don’t like my boss, I’m not prepared to reveal him. Compared to that, the trustworthiness of your police protection is even more dubious. What if I fall back into his hands?”

Shen Junci asked, “Anything else you want to say?”

An Nan remained silent for a moment, his gaze falling on Shen Junci, smiling. An Nan said slowly under the interrogation room’s lights, “Do you believe in karma and retribution?” 

For a moment, everything around fell into utter silence. It was an ordinary phrase, yet not so ordinary. Such words shouldn’t have come from a killer’s mouth.

Shen Junci looked at An Nan in front of him, but suddenly remembered someone. They had finished eating beef noodles behind the school, and when they put down their bowls and chopsticks, that person asked, “Lin Luo, do you believe in karma and retribution? Our efforts today, our unwavering perseverance, will all have meaning.”

It was as if a beam of light suddenly lit up in the midst of darkness and chaos. Shen Junci smiled and suddenly understood many things and found answers. He understood why this strange person named An Nan appeared here and why he said these things to them… Someone had sown seeds in the darkness, and in the struggle between good and evil, new shoots had finally emerged. After saying these words, An Nan fell silent again, seemingly returning to his previous state, refusing to speak no matter what. 

After the conversation with An Nan, Gu Yanchen organized the clues in his mind. Some seemingly unrelated points finally connected. It was likely that only the wealthy businessmen within the Hetu Trading Association could afford the people from this cleaning company.

Gu Yanchen became increasingly certain that they were involved in the June 19th case. Compared to back then, they had evolved and become more discreet in their actions.

The interrogation concluded, and the few of them left the interrogation room. Bai Meng didn’t know how to document these events, so she asked Director Ding, “Director Ding, how should I write these things?”

Director Ding instructed her, “Divide the matters into two parts. Regarding the ashes case, that’s already an established fact. Get his statement signed and archived, and it won’t affect the issuance of the police announcement. As for what he said about the cleaning company and the wrongful cases, we’ll take our time to investigate later.”

He then called a few others over. “By the way, you guys, don’t mention this to others for now. Follow my lead and make arrangements uniformly.”

Gu Yanchen responded, “Understood.”

Shen Junci also nodded beside him. Without thoroughly understanding these dark matters and wiping them out completely, rashly declaring war without sufficient preparation would lead to failure and danger. Director Ding decided to personally investigate how deep this water ran.

Shen Junci insisted on listening to the entire interrogation, feeling exhausted at this point.

Gu Yanchen stopped him, “Today, let me take a day off for you. Go home and rest properly.”

Shen Junci hesitated, “What about you?”

Gu Yanchen replied, “The case is at a crucial stage. Let’s see if we can capitalize on our advantage and find the mastermind behind this.”

Shen Junci said, “Just remember to rest and don’t let your wounds get infected.”

Gu Yanchen could see Shen Junci’s concern. “I’ll take a nap in the duty room later. Don’t worry, I can handle it.”

Only then did Shen Junci comply and went back to the medical examiner center to pack up and head home.

—

Penang, afternoon. After a night of rain yesterday, today was a sunny day, especially in the afternoon, with clear blue skies and no clouds in sight for miles. At three o’clock in the afternoon, Wu Xi’en and his wife were led by someone to the Yao family residence located in the east of Penang.

Early this morning, the Yao family had sent them an invitation, stating that there was an important matter to discuss and hoped that he and his wife could come for a meeting. This was a private residence of the Yao family, quite spacious, with pavilions and terraces inside, totaling five entrances from outside to inside. The Yao family was a prominent family in Penang, primarily engaged in the spare parts business.

Forty years ago, the Yao family started with making bicycle baskets and became the leader in the bicycle basket industry. At that time, more than half of the bicycles in Penang’s streets came from the Yao family’s factory. Later, the Yao family began to diversify into shared bicycles, electric bicycles, catching every wave of change in transportation, and prospering greatly, with assets worth billions.

At this moment, the Wu couple sat in the tea room of the house, sunlight pouring in through the windows. Both of them were dressed in black, their expressions indifferent, unable to appreciate the beauty of the surroundings. After they settled down, a maid poured tea, then left.

The tea served was the exquisite West Lake Longjing. Mrs. Wu took a sip, and she and her husband glanced at each other, their eyes somewhat uneasy. Wu Xi’en was prepared and held his wife’s hand to comfort her, saying, “It’s okay. Once we meet them later, this matter will be over.”

The Wu couple didn’t wait long before they saw a middle-aged couple in their forties walking out. The man was wearing a shirt and suit, while the woman was wearing a traditional Chinese dress, her hair tied up. This was Yao Lin, the current head of the Yao family, and his wife.

The two families took their seats, and the maid was asked to leave. For a moment, the two couples sat quietly, not saying a word. It seemed like a family gathering, yet the atmosphere was not so pleasant.

Yao Lin didn’t beat around the bush and directly addressed Wu Xi’en, “Mr. Wu, I met you at a meeting in Penang before. I heard that your son recently passed away…”

At the mention of this topic, Mrs. Wu couldn’t hold back anymore, her eyes immediately turning red.

Wu Xi’en said, “He passed away fifty days ago. We just finished the forty-ninth day’s rituals for him.”

Yao Lin said, “My condolences. We also experienced the pain of losing a son half a year ago.”

Both families were middle-aged, sympathizing with each other’s grief.

Mrs. Yao cleared her throat and said, “Let me get straight to the point. We invited you here today to talk about the matter of ghost marriage. Did you ever ask a medium named Zuo Junming to arrange a marriage for your son with Miao Yiqi?”

The Wu couple had been extremely cautious about this matter, and now they were suddenly confronted with it. The Wu family had made their fortune in recent years through seasoning, making them one of the newly rich. The Wu family had recently come into some money, but tragically, their only son had suddenly died in an accident. Now, just over a month had passed, and because they wanted to arrange a ghost marriage for their son, they hadn’t formally buried him yet. Upon hearing that the ashes of Miao Yiqi were available, they spent three million yuan just to find a good match for their son.

Yao Lin sighed, “This is all because of that guy named Zuo. He actually sold the same corpse twice. He charged us five million, gave us half of the ashes, then turned around and sold the same ashes to you. I know it’s not your fault, but we can’t bury only half of the ashes.”

Mrs. Wu trembled as she asked, “Are you saying that the ashes we received are incomplete?”

Mrs. Yao nodded.

Wu Xi’en asked, “So how do you suggest we resolve this?”

Yao Lin said, “Let’s be frank. I hope you can bring out the other half of the ashes. In return, to show our apology, my family will compensate you partially and help find a new bride for your son.”

Mrs. Wu became anxious, “That’s not acceptable. We’ve waited so long for this marriage, spent millions, just to marry a desired daughter-in-law. What you’re doing is unfair to us, isn’t it?”

Wu Xi’en added, “There’s an order to things. We made an agreement with Zuo Junming first, and he agreed to the price of three million yuan. The ashes should rightfully belong to us.”

Yao Lin interjected, “Don’t be hasty. We’re discussing this, aren’t we?”

Wu Xi’en proposed, “How about I give you the money, and your family brings out the other half of the ashes? Then you can find another set of ashes. Do you agree?”

The two families couldn’t come to an agreement and started to argue.

Mrs. Yao said, “If you insist on this attitude, then there’s no need for further discussion. Since the ashes are incomplete, they can’t be used. If you don’t agree, we can just dispose of both halves of the ashes.”

With this statement, the arguing Wu couple fell silent.

“This is just a loss for our Yao family,” Yao Lin slammed his cup on the table, spilling some tea, “But if you insist on this, then we may have a falling out.”

Wu Xi’en suggested, “Shouldn’t we call the one who sold the ashes and clarify this matter?”

Mrs. Wu, who had been handling this matter previously, reached out and pulled her husband’s hand, whispering, “The one who sold the ashes seems to be dead.” Then she looked at the two of them with surprise. “His death couldn’t be because you hired someone to kill him, could it?”

Mrs. Yao sighed, “There are no outsiders here. Let me be frank with you. We’ve made efforts to find you. Zuo didn’t listen, so we took care of him directly. Now, how to resolve this matter depends on you.”

The Wu couple fell silent for a moment. The implication of her words was vaguely threatening.

Yao Lin said, “If you’re willing to be friends with our Yao family, we’ll be grateful. Not only that, I can also introduce you to some people, maybe even get you into the business association. By then, you can make not just a few million, but tens of millions easily.”

One played the good cop, the other played the bad cop, combining flattery and intimidation. The Wu couple exchanged glances but couldn’t make a decision.

Mrs. Yao personally poured water into their cups. She wiped her tears, feigning pity, “My family didn’t want things to come to this. It’s just that I had a dream recently. I dreamt that my son was lonely underground and insisted I choose a ghost bride for him. We consulted a master, and Miao Yiqi was supposed to be my daughter-in-law because my son was gone. If they can be together underground, it would be considered a beautiful thing.”

She spoke as if it wasn’t something repugnant and against common sense.

It was only at this point that Wu Xi’en spoke with a serious expression, “How much compensation can you offer us?”

Yao Lin, sensing the tone, started to make an offer, “One million.”

Mrs. Wu became agitated again, “Only one million? If you can offer us three million to compensate for our losses, then we’ll take the ashes.”

“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have waited for so long. Although we’re not a wealthy family, we won’t be satisfied with such a small amount of money. We need a contract…”

“In fact, my son and Miao Yiqi are more compatible…”

The two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

Yao Lin frowned and looked up, “Didn’t we say we were discussing important matters here and no one should disturb us?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people walked in from outside. Leading them was Gu Yanchen, who had only slept a few hours since last night and finally encountered the mastermind behind the scenes. Thinking that the case was about to be resolved, Gu Yanchen showed no signs of fatigue but instead seemed invigorated.

Yao Lin sensed something, but still stood up and asked hoarsely, “Who are you?”

“We’re the police,” Gu Yanchen waved his police badge, “The police have confirmed that you are related to the case of the stolen ashes and the murder for hire. Please cooperate with us and come with us for questioning.”

This morning, the detective team finally followed the clues and confirmed that Wu Xi’en was one of the traffickers. Later, they also found out from the accounts that the Yao family had large sums of money going to unknown sources.

The detective team started monitoring Wu Xien’s communication in the morning and quickly discovered that Yao Lin had contacted Wu Xien and arranged to meet him. The police promptly detained the Wu couple, who, faced with the evidence, had already confessed to purchasing the ashes. In order to obtain evidence of Yao’s hiring of a hitman, they came here to accompany this play. The goal was to make the Yao couple reveal the truth about hiring someone to kill.

The Wu couple were equipped with recording devices. The police had also long since surrounded the Yao family’s yard; it was like catching turtles in a jar. Their conversation just now was recorded word for word. It wasn’t until they heard Yao Lin confessing to hiring someone to deal with Zuo Junming that Gu Yanchen ordered the officers to enter.

At this point, the expressions of the Yao family changed, realizing they had fallen into a trap. They then got up and followed the officers outside.

“Look at these people, all dressed in fine clothes, looking righteous, but talking about things they shouldn’t be discussing.” Lu Ying said, “I don’t understand, at this point, why argue over this? When the ashes are mixed together, what difference does it make? Is there someone else joining the ghost wedding and bridal chamber?”

Bai Meng snorted, “I think the sons of the two families are quite matched.”

Lu Ying said, “Yeah, why not just bury them together, save all the arguing.”

Both families were arrested and brought in for questioning. Gu Yanchen conducted the interrogation himself, and when he was done, he received a message from Director Ding asking him to come over.

Gu Yanchen walked to the entrance of the criminal investigation building when suddenly a horn sounded outside. A black Audi stopped outside the City Bureau, and a man got out of the car.

On this hot summer night, the man was dressed in a suit and tie, immaculately groomed. Gu Yanchen happened to know him; they had dealt with each other during logistical work. The man’s name was He Wenlin, a lawyer from the Penang Law Firm. He Wenlin was skilled in defense, and wealthy clients liked to hire him. He, too, was open to any client as long as they paid.

He Wenlin looked at Gu Yanchen downstairs and said, “Captain Gu, I’m here to see my client.”

Gu Yanchen replied, “He’s in the interrogation room; just finished confessing the whole crime process.”

He Wenlin asked, “They confessed everything?”

Gu Yanchen nodded, “Everything.”

If it were any other lawyer, they might have cursed their luck; the less said during interrogation, the easier the case to argue. But He Wenlin wasn’t like ordinary people; he ascended the steps with a smile, “Thank you, Captain Gu. Looks like this case is going to earn me more.”

Gu Yanchen chatted with him briefly then went to the office of the leader. Director Ding was waiting for him and cautiously closed the door. Gu Yanchen sat across from Director Ding, seeing how much Director Ding had aged in less than a day.

Then Director Ding sighed, “Captain Gu, today I’ve been thinking about what that guy, An nan, confessed…”.

The old chief never imagined that this case would involve these matters. So far, he had only chosen to pursue the lead of hiring by the Yao family and had An Nan transferred to the detention center for strict supervision. How to conclude the case was still under consideration.

Director Ding took out a stack of documents and handed them to Gu Yanchen, “The DNA comparison results for that Anan, rushed out overnight.”

Gu Yanchen opened the file; it was a juvenile offender’s case file. Fingerprints could be erased, but blood and DNA, once entered into the database, would be preserved and difficult to tamper with.

Gu Yanchen glanced at it, his brow furrowing slightly, “The village massacre case?!” He was young at the time, but he had heard of this case.

He never imagined that behind this An Nan, there would be such a story.

Director Ding’s expression darkened, he nodded slightly, “He and I share the same surname; his real name is Ding Yueran.”

In this world, there is both good and evil, and that child was the fruit borne of evil. He was born into darkness, and too much blood had coalesced around him. Now mentioned, the evil lurking within that case still makes one shudder.