Insights Chapter 95: Murder KPI

Chapter 95: Murder KPI

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

In the interrogation room, the interrogation was still ongoing.

In the police investigation, Zhao Chuanwen had a bad reputation. He was a strange-tempered old man, had no friends, was wealthy but stingy, liked to take advantage of others, and was extremely harsh towards others. He would complain to the community, take possession of public facilities, and would rage over trivial matters.

Although Wei Sen’s reputation was slightly better, it wasn’t much different.

They collectively took advantage of supermarket promotions and often held grudges over trivial matters, making many people dislike them.

However, Zhang Lijie was seen as a “good person” in the eyes of many.

Facing Gu Yanchen’s questioning, Zhang Lijie’s chest rose and fell as he sat in the interrogation chair with a strange expression on his face.

He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

After a few seconds of silence, he smiled bitterly. “Officer, you’re still too young. People change. Perhaps I used to be a good person, but I’m not anymore.”

Gu Yanchen retorted, “So you decided to kill the two elderly? You knew perfectly well that it’s against the law!”

Tears welled up in Zhang Lijie’s eyes as he spoke, “Late at night, I couldn’t sleep. I lay on my crowded little bed at home, listening to my wife snoring beside me, and the sound of my son and daughter-in-law crying next door. And the sound of my grandson struggling to breathe due to a heart condition, coughing incessantly. On such a night, I suddenly felt that being a good person was meaningless.”

With tears in his eyes, his expression gradually turned sinister. “The thought of killing arose at that moment, I didn’t want to be a good person anymore!”

Gu Yanchen stood up, pressing his hands lightly on the table, shaking his head. “No, that can’t be your motive for murder! There’s something you’re not telling us.”

Gu Yanchen had interrogated many criminals before, but he had never felt so exhausted from an interrogation. It wasn’t physical exhaustion but rather mental exhaustion. He distinctly felt that the person in front of him was hiding something, but he just couldn’t get it out of him.

None of his usual interrogation strategies or methods seemed to work on the person in front of him.

Gu Yanchen felt powerless; he realized that he might not be able to extract the truth.

The motive for murder wasn’t strong enough; that was the biggest loophole.

Zhao Chuanwen’s negative review was from two months ago. After that review, they had several interactions. At that time, Zhang Lijie showed no signs of abnormality.

Zhang Lijie had long carried a rope for hanging with him. He wandered at the subway station, waiting for Zhao Chuanwen to appear. This wasn’t a crime of passion; it was premeditated murder.

He continued to pressure Zhang Lijie.

Gu Yanchen asked, “Did you kill for money? Did someone promise you money if you killed them?”

At this question, Zhang Lijie leaned back in the interrogation chair and suddenly burst into tears. “Officer, please let me go. I’ve confessed to my crime, why won’t you believe me?”

Gu Yanchen asked, “Were you influenced by someone else, or did you believe in something? If you have a reason, you must tell the police. Only then can you apply for a reduced sentence. Based on your current confession and the evidence, you’ll be sentenced to death.”

In the past, the death penalty was enough to deter criminals.

But Zhang Lijie shook his head, his face pale. He clenched his teeth. “I’m not lying. There’s nothing more to it. I killed someone, and I accept the death penalty!”

Gu Yanchen said, “Don’t you think about your family? What will your wife think when she hears about your death sentence? What about your grandson? Don’t you want to see him again?!”

When Zhang Lijie was taken away, Gu Yanchen felt that Zhang Lijie had some affection for the child.

Under immense pressure, Zhang Lijie broke down. He covered his face and burst into loud sobs. This middle-aged man cried extremely miserably, barely able to speak.

But he still didn’t relent.

In the end, he simply gave up arguing. “Officer, I’ve said all I need to say. I’ll detail the specifics of my crime in my confession. As for anything else, I have nothing more to say. Please let me go, I’m tired.”

This scene was too strange; the officer struggled to save the criminal in front of him, yet the criminal was eager to confess and be sentenced.

After Zhang Lijie signed his confession, Gu Yanchen walked out of the interrogation room and into the observation room next to it.

Shen Junci was sitting on a chair, leaning against the back, silently drinking tea.

Gu Yanchen sighed and tossed the case file onto the nearby table. “It’s the same result again. I still haven’t found the root cause.”

Shen Junci said, “You’ve done your best.”

But Gu Yanchen felt a sense of defeat.

He sat across from Shen Junci, propping his legs up on the table beside him, and pressed his fingers against his forehead.

He felt exhausted.

This wasn’t the first recent case like this. They had encountered at least three similar cases.

These weren’t complex or mysterious crimes; the perpetrators had no prior criminal records and were first-time offenders. Yet, they employed extremely brutal methods to murder elderly people living alone.

Among the culprits was a mother who had just given birth to her second child, a helpful laid-off accountant, and now Zhang Lijie, an ordinary delivery man.

These were people who wouldn’t typically commit murder under normal circumstances, yet they carried out cruel crimes.

It was as if, in a moment, they were possessed by demons.

Once caught, they readily admitted guilt, confessing to the crimes without hesitation. But when it came to their motives for murder, none of it made sense.

It wasn’t a crime of passion; it was premeditated. The killers were calm, as if their hatred had been accumulating, gradually building up until it reached a critical point and then suddenly exploded into violence.

There might be a strange monster in the hearts of these criminals, but he couldn’t paint a psychological portrait of them.

Shen Junci comforted him, “Let’s go over everything again and see if there’s any overlooked information.”

Initially, they started investigating these cases because of what Mu Xin had said to them that night.

According to Mu Xin, there might be deaths in Penang that people weren’t aware of.

After Gu Yanchen reported this to Director Ding, they summarized the death statistics in Penang from the past few years.

For those few days, Gu Yanchen immersed himself in those numbers.

People often wrote down various numbers, but these numbers were different because behind each one was a human life.

Gu Yanchen felt that the turnover of human lives was like the metabolism of cells.

Newborns came into the world, the elderly passed away, and every year, tens of thousands of people died naturally in this city alone, and tens of millions nationwide; it was a vast number.

Then, he noticed some strange phenomena.

In recent years, the number of deaths has been increasing year by year.

It wasn’t until Director Ding took office that the trend of growth began to slow down.

Then he noticed a very abnormal indicator.

The number of deaths among people over seventy years old, whether from murder, accidents, or natural causes, had increased by fifty percent, while the number of deaths among those aged eighty to one hundred had increased by three hundred percent.

At first, he thought this increase was due to an aging population.

But later, they compared the death figures of elderly people in several cities with populations similar to Penang’s, and the death rates among the elderly in those cities didn’t show a significant increase.

People might lie, but numbers wouldn’t.

In other words, there were indeed people intentionally murdering these elderly people in their city.

Recently, Director Ding had begun demanding that each sub-bureau conduct thorough investigations and registrations of elderly people living alone in their respective areas and conduct door-to-door visits.

Normally, people wouldn’t notice, but once they started looking, they realized many of these solitary elderly people were living in blind spots within the community. Investigating revealed numerous issues.

Unlike the elderly with children or those living in nursing homes, many of the solitary elderly people were living lives unknown to others.

They shopped alone, cooked alone.

When they fell ill, there was rarely anyone to accompany them, and they went to the hospital alone. Perhaps before the age of sixty, these things weren’t a big deal, but as they grew older and their health declined, their memories faded.

Perhaps they wouldn’t wake up after one night’s sleep, or perhaps a fall would cost them their lives. They had been busy their whole lives, and in the end, death was as light as a feather. Then the central bureau began requesting that each sub-bureau track and investigate these cases of elderly people’s deaths.

During this period, they had already had several cases, and the more they investigated, the more they felt something was amiss. Looking at the several case files in front of him, Gu Yanchen began to ponder. Could this be the truth that Jin Yuewen discovered?

The death of Jin Yuewen, the foundation, the deceased old man, the killer… These seemed like individual pieces that gradually connected into a line—someone plotting to seize the assets of these elderly people? But this was just his speculation, without any evidence, and it seemed to be missing an important piece.

How could people be persuaded to willingly commit murder? Gu Yanchen couldn’t tell if Meng Shi would be the key point. Was this instigation to commit crimes? He remembered the previous case where Zhao Meng’an had committed an unforgivable crime only after being incited, but Zhao Meng’an already had a dark side within him. The perpetrators in these cases were different. Even if they weren’t absolutely good people, they were at least ordinary individuals.

Even with the temptation of money, normal people knew that murder came with a price. Instigating, brainwashing, manipulating minds—these terms were easy to say but difficult to achieve, especially to brainwash so many people. Murder wasn’t like pyramid schemes; after all, pyramid schemes were just for money, and people had their own moral compasses, making it difficult for them to commit murder.

If someone said, “I can make you willingly kill someone.”

Most people would scoff at such words, thinking it was absurd.

So, what kind of force could make a normal, ordinary person lose their rationality and turn into a demon? What made them become ruthless killers who, after committing murder, faced the death penalty calmly and kept their secrets?

Gu Yanchen furrowed his brow in thought. Without knowing the facts behind these cases, without understanding the motives of these murderers, they couldn’t uncover the truth, let alone stop more atrocities from happening.

During Gu Yanchen’s contemplation, Shen Junci had been quietly sitting by his side. He lowered his head to take another sip of tea and then looked up. “I have some thoughts…”

Gu Yanchen listened attentively, realizing he might be heading down a dead-end, so hearing someone else’s thoughts might help him find a way forward.

Shen Junci tapped his fingers along the edge of the cup with his slender fingers, “Firstly, I think the impulse to kill comes from within them. So, this shouldn’t be a case of hiring or buying killers; in other words, these people are all voluntary killers.”

Gu Yanchen nodded, agreeing with this assessment. During the interrogation of these suspects, he had come to the same conclusion. The suspects had autonomy; the victims were their chosen targets, and the method and time of the crimes were their own decisions. They exhibited clear guilt towards the victims, and they knew that murder came with consequences.

“I feel they’ve been brainwashed. After being brainwashed, they’ve taken killing as their mission, as a way to solve problems, even as…”

Shen Junci paused here, searching desperately for words in his mind to describe that strange feeling.

After a moment of silence, he continued, “As if it’s their job, just like an employee completing their KPIs.”

Despite the shocking nature of his words, Shen Junci’s handsome face remained calm.

Gu Yanchen contemplated. He had also noticed this; when he mentioned whether someone paid them to commit murder, these individuals neither refuted nor agreed. This was different from the reactions of hired killers, who, even if inadvertently, would display some emotion: So what if murder is illegal? At least I’ve received extra compensation. But these perpetrators showed none of that in their responses. In their words, there was no sense of plundering for money in committing murder. So, this was definitely not a simple case of hiring killers.

Gu Yanchen also struggled to describe that strange feeling; it was as if, even if they were paid for committing murder, it was their earned wage, something they deserved.

Shen Junci probably felt the same way, which was why he used the term “murder KPI.” Shen Junci continued, “From the information we currently have, the killers are all ordinary people who aren’t wealthy. I believe they would want to do something to improve their lives.”

Gu Yanchen followed his line of thought, “So, they might attend some gatherings or events through friends’ introductions, or… find part-time work.”

Shen Junci nodded, “You’re right. These people becoming killers, I think, is not a coincidence. They must have gone through something, become what they are now, and done these things. So, we have a way to verify…”

Gu Yanchen’s expression shifted as he heard this. His brow relaxed, his eyes deepening with understanding, “We can experience everything they experienced.”

Shen Junci nodded. It was the best way to understand what had happened.