Blackmail

"Done!" Xu Mo picked up the sketchbook on the table and showed it to Han Fei.

The latter took the sketchbook: "Let's go, we need to check this person's identity."

The two of them left the room where the body was being held, one after the other.

Using the face Xu Mo had drawn in the sketchbook, they ran a search in the police database.

The results came back quickly. The person Xu Mo had drawn was named Xiang Jun.

"Pull up Xiang Jun's file for me," Han Fei said to the officer operating the system.

The officer immediately complied, pulling up Xiang Jun's detailed records.

Xiang Jun, male, thirty-three years old, from a small county near Ram City, had a criminal record, was involved in a homicide, and had been released from prison just over half a month ago.

The officer also found Xiang Jun's prison intake photo. It was a half-body shot, and the tattoo on his arm was clearly visible—identical to the one on the unidentified male corpse.

Seeing this, Han Fei was certain. The deceased was Xiang Jun. The tattoo in his prison photo matched the one on the body perfectly.

No wonder Xiang Jun hadn’t shown up in the missing persons database. It made sense that no one would report him missing after he’d spent so much time in prison.

"Killed not long after being released? Could it be revenge from the victim’s family?" Han Fei murmured.

Xu Mo, standing beside him, nodded. "I think that’s a possibility."

Just then, the officer searching through Xiang Jun’s records spoke up.

"Huh… Captain Han, Captain Xu, take a look. Xiang Jun’s bank account has multiple deposits. The earliest one was half a month ago, right after he was released. The most recent was three days ago. All the transfers came from the same account, totaling over 200,000 yuan."

Hearing this, both men immediately sensed something was off and turned their attention to the computer screen.

A man just out of prison, receiving over 200,000 yuan from the same bank account? There had to be something fishy about this.

"Find out who sent him that money," Han Fei ordered.

"Got it."

The officer quickly looked up the bank account that had sent the money to Xiang Jun.

The investigation revealed that the person who had transferred the money was none other than Liang Youping, who had gone missing three days ago.

Now things were getting interesting.

Did Xiang Jun and Liang Youping know each other? And there were financial transactions between them?

A man the police had almost mistaken for the victim actually knew the real victim!

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

Xu Mo’s instincts told him that Liang Youping’s disappearance and Xiang Jun’s death were somehow connected.

The person who sent the money was missing, and the person who received it was dead… What was the relationship between them?

Xu Mo furrowed his brow, deep in thought, and soon came up with a plausible explanation.

"Captain Han, I have a theory," Xu Mo said. "The first time Liang Youping sent money to Xiang Jun was right after Xiang Jun got out of prison. The last time he sent money was just before Xiang Jun died. This suggests that Liang Youping is definitely connected to Xiang Jun’s death. It’s very likely that Liang Youping killed Xiang Jun."

"Look at the timing of Liang Youping’s transfers. The first one was half a month ago, and then he sent money every few days, right up until Xiang Jun’s death."

"This was extortion. Liang Youping didn’t want to keep paying Xiang Jun. He felt Xiang Jun was insatiable, so he killed him to end it once and for all."

Han Fei followed Xu Mo’s line of reasoning and agreed that it made sense.

Xiang Jun, after being released from prison, had repeatedly extorted Liang Youping. Liang Youping couldn’t take it anymore, so he killed Xiang Jun.

"But there’s one question. Why didn’t Liang Youping report the extortion to the police?"

"Why didn’t he report it…" Xu Mo repeated Han Fei’s words, also puzzled by this point.

After a few seconds, both men seemed to realize something at the same time, their expressions lighting up with understanding.

They looked at each other and said in unison, "Xiang Jun had dirt on Liang Youping!"

And it must have been something significant.

Otherwise, Liang Youping wouldn’t have been too afraid to go to the police. Whatever Xiang Jun had on him was something he couldn’t afford to let the authorities know, so he had no choice but to keep paying.

And precisely because this secret was so important, Liang Youping decided to kill Xiang Jun. Dead men tell no tales.

"Xiang Jun spent ten years in prison, a full decade in the dark. What kind of dirt could he possibly have on Liang Youping? What kind of secret could still be used to extort money after ten years, and drive Liang Youping to kill him?" Han Fei asked Xu Mo.

Xu Mo didn’t hesitate. "Murder."

"Xiang Jun went to prison for murder. If the person he killed was somehow connected to Liang Youping, then everything makes sense."

"Exactly!" Han Fei nodded. "That must be it. Ten years ago, Xiang Jun and Liang Youping killed someone together. For some reason, Xiang Jun didn’t expose Liang Youping at the time. Instead, after being released, he immediately went to Liang Youping and used this secret to extort money from him."

"Liang Youping, fearing the secret would come out, didn’t dare go to the police. He had no choice but to keep paying Xiang Jun. But he didn’t expect Xiang Jun to be so greedy, constantly demanding more money, like a bottomless pit. Maybe to finally free himself from Xiang Jun’s demands, or maybe to ensure the secret died with Xiang Jun, he decided to kill him."

This also explained why Liang Youping had mysteriously disappeared.

After killing and disposing of the body, he fled in fear of being caught, taking his sister-in-law with him.

I can understand fleeing after committing murder, but why take his sister-in-law instead of his wife? Xu Mo couldn’t help but silently complain.

"Use the surveillance system to track Liang Youping’s current location!" Han Fei ordered the officer.

Now that they had a suspect, the next step was to make an arrest.

The officer immediately checked Liang Youping’s location using the surveillance system.

The results showed that Liang Youping had last been caught on camera two days ago.

"Captain Han, Captain Xu, Liang Youping was last seen on camera two days ago near the airport. After that, there’s been no trace of him."

"Two days without being caught on camera?" Han Fei instinctively felt something was wrong.

Just then, the police station received another emergency call.

The caller reported finding two bodies near the roadside close to the airport…