Day and Night
When Song Yuhang entered the training room, she immediately saw several people gathered around Duan Cheng’s computer.
“What’s going on?”
Duan Cheng turned back with a lingering anxiety and stammered, “Someone… someone replied to my post.”
Lin Yan leaned in to take a look. It was an anonymous forum, and the person who replied to Duan Cheng’s post had an ID composed of a string of numerical codes and a profile picture of a whale.
Zheng Chengrui promptly opened her laptop to search for this person’s IP address.
“Captain Song, we found it. He’s in an internet cafe in East City.”
Song Yuhang made a phone call to the nearby police station.
Half an hour later.
“Officer, I swear, it wasn’t me. I’m innocent,” said the disheveled man sitting in the interrogation chair behind the iron bars, with handcuffs on his wrists.
“I just… I thought it would be funny. You know how the newspapers say there might be someone who would actually commit suicide. I just wanted to see who would be dumb enough to do it. I had no idea it was a police operation. Hehe, hehe, I’m really sorry.”
The investigators slammed their pens on the table, “Are you full and looking for trouble? This is disrupting public order, threatening public safety, and causing confusion!”
A little while later, the criminal investigation personnel reported, “Captain Song, we’ve interrogated him thoroughly. This guy is just a small-time troublemaker with no legitimate job. He only has an elementary school education. He hangs out in internet cafes playing games. Writing code and programming might be his only skill…”
Song Yuhang flipped through a couple of documents, tossed them onto the table, and rubbed her temples, “Alright, lock him up for a few days to teach him a lesson. Let’s release him as a gesture.”
On the third day after the task force was established, the case had hit a dead end, and the police officers in the station were exhausted. By late at night, when Song Yuhang turned around, most of the people in the office were dozing off at their desks.
She sighed quietly in her heart, got up, and tiptoed to the wall, turned off the lights, preparing to step outside for a smoke.
When she reached the rooftop, Song Yuhang reached into her pocket and found that her cigarettes had become soggy in the water, rendering them unsmokable.
As she hesitated, a fair and slender hand extended in front of her, with the cigarette box open, “Here, no Chinese cigarettes, but you can make do with this.”
Song Yuhang smiled, took one, and tried to light it several times before it caught fire. “Not taking a break?”
“You’re not either,” Lin Yan remarked, shielding the flame with her hand as she lit her cigarette, no longer engaging in the ambiguous back-and-forth as they used to.
Song Yuhang watched her actions, feeling a sense of loss, but she simply said, “You should get more rest.”
Lin Yan smiled, “Closing your eyes can be just as nightmarish. It’s better to stay awake and alert.”
Seeing her standing here, Song Yuhang couldn’t help but recall their conversation in the corridor. She took a deep drag from her cigarette and asked, “Is that question important to you?”
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Lin Yan responded calmly, “You should ask yourself if it’s important to you.”
“I feel like I’ve touched on something, but I can’t quite grasp it. It’s like this case, seemingly right in front of me, yet utterly perplexing,” Song Yuhang said, her brow furrowing slightly. In just a few days, her eyes were bloodshot from late nights, dark circles had formed under her eyes, and her lips were chapped. Even her once vibrant gaze had grown dim.
The pressure of solving the case, the expectations of the deceased, and Lin Yan’s words had become the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Song Yuhang stood here, gazing at the city beneath her feet, and the person by her side was nothing but confusion, layer upon layer of it.
Lin Yan moved her lips as if struggling with something, but she didn’t say anything and extinguished her cigarette.
Instead, it was Song Yuhang who, as Lin Yan was about to leave, turned and said, “Wait for me. Once this case is over, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer.”
Song Yuhang, always prioritizing work.
Lin Yan smiled briefly and then turned back, saying, “I won’t be going home lately; I’ll be sleeping in the duty room.”
Song Yuhang was momentarily stunned but understood her implication.
Feel free to come to me if you have any questions; I will also devote myself entirely to solving the case.
What’s even more important is that she deciphered the unspoken words Lin Yan wanted to convey: even if you can’t answer that question, we don’t know what the outcome will be, but one thing will always remain unchanged.
We are colleagues who spend day and night together, as well as comrades who share life and death.
What a subtle kind of romance.
Song Yuhang’s melancholic heart suddenly brightened. Her features relaxed, and her troubled expression faded. As she was about to descend the steps, she called out to Lin Yan.
“Hey, the cigarettes still don’t taste right. Next time, invite me to smoke a Zhonghua.”
Lin Yan, with her back turned, raised her middle finger.
Song Yuhang laughed, but then she saw Lin Yan’s wrist turn over, clearly making an encouraging gesture.
The officer could no longer contain the joy at the corner of her lips. She took two hearty drags, crushed the cigarette against the railing, and looked down at the bustling traffic and vibrant city lights below. In her eyes, the fighting spirit was reignited.
* * *
“Hey, Lingling, what’s going on with you? You were actually late today, luckily the homeroom teacher arrived late too, or else…” After class, a classmate affectionately linked arms with her and swayed.
Bai Ling sat at her desk, head lowered, silent, unlike her usual lively self.
Her classmate called her a few more times before finally bringing her back to her senses.
Bai Ling removed her friend’s hand from her arm, her smile appearing somewhat forced and pale. Her friend then noticed the injuries on her face.
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“I’ll go to the restroom for a moment.”
“Hey, Lingling…”
Her friend couldn’t stop her in time. Bai Ling rushed out of the classroom, making her way to the restroom, where she turned on the tap and splashed water on her face.
In a bustling environment with people coming and going, discussing unrelated topics, she still felt a dark, malevolent, and lecherous gaze fixed upon her.
Everything that had happened the previous night was causing her immense anguish.
Bai Ling choked back tears, her hands resting on the sink. Large tears streamed down her face. “Why… why me? What did I do wrong?”
In a daze, she felt someone gently place a hand on her shoulder.
She turned to find the familiar yet unfamiliar stranger, still shrouded in a black robe.
“Bai Ling, look at yourself in the mirror. Is it still you?”
Bai Ling widened her eyes, gazing at the girl before her who was no longer the same as the pure and innocent girl of the past.
This girl with a face marked by pain, regret, struggle, sorrow, and resentment was not her. It was not her.
Bai Ling stumbled back a couple of steps, supported by someone, and the voice spoke again.
“Bai Ling, do you want to find your true self? Do you want to go to a place without pain? Come with me, follow in the footsteps of the white whale.”
“Bai Ling, Bai Ling…” Someone urgently shook her shoulder, rescuing her from that elusive dreamlike state.
She snapped back to reality as if coming back to life, turning to see her homeroom teacher who touched her forehead gently, “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been standing here muttering to yourself for half the class. If you’re not feeling well, you should take the day off and go home.”
Bai Ling forced a smile and bowed to her teacher, “Thank you, I’m fine. I’ll go back to class now.”
* * *
Early in the morning, the Jiangcheng City Police Department convened the fourth special task force meeting regarding the “White Whale” case.
Feng Jianguo was an observer, and Song Yuhang presided over the meeting.
After a brief break of a few hours, her condition was noticeably better than the previous day. The redness in her eyes had diminished, and she stood tall and confident in her police uniform.
“Since we haven’t made significant progress in either the search for the license plate or the questioning of eyewitnesses, let’s change our approach. We should consider the motives of the suspect and work backward to determine what kind of person might be committing these crimes to narrow down our investigation.”
She turned her gaze to the forensic team, and Lin Yan stood up, handing over a report, “Based on the autopsy results for He Miao, Fan Lin, and Wu Wei, it’s evident that the perpetrator is meticulous and left no traces at the crime scenes. They also seem well-versed in psychological manipulation. Additionally, a certain type of neurological drug was found in the blood of all three victims. I speculate that the individual may have a background in the medical field or some medical experience.”
Song Yuhang nodded and slightly curled her lips toward Lin Yan, “Furthermore, this person is also a computer expert, proficient in programming and coding. We boldly speculate that their modus operandi involves searching for suicidal tendencies in adolescent students online, subjecting them to psychological manipulation, and ultimately meeting them in person, using some method or substance to coerce them into committing suicide.”
“So, we can roughly outline several characteristics of the suspect: a black Santana vehicle, high education, knowledge of psychology, previous employment in the medical field, currently unemployed.”
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“They possess a certain level of computer skills, have internet access at home, introverted personality, severe psychological abnormalities, a propensity for violence or murder, and a preference for operating at night rather than during the day.”
“Most serial killers have a history of animal abuse, bedwetting, or arson. This person is no exception, and may even exceed these behaviors, suggesting an unhappy childhood that sowed the seeds of hatred in their heart.”
As she spoke, she glanced at Lin Yan unintentionally, but the person was lounging in the chair, idly twirling a pen, paying her no attention at all.
Song Yuhang turned her face back and continued, “Due to the extended duration of the serial crimes, I estimate this person to be over thirty years old. The ocean represents inclusivity, vastness, the power of life, or mystery. And the white whale is at the top of the marine food chain. I speculate that this person may have a special connection to such elements, or in other words, what they desire, pursue, and become obsessed with is related to the ocean and white whales.”
In just one night, she had completely clarified her train of thought and narrowed the scope of the investigation. The officers at the police station felt an adrenaline rush, and even Zhang Jinhai couldn’t help but sigh, “A talent with great potential; the younger generation is truly formidable.”
She was indeed the person Zhao Xiang valued. Feng Jianguo lifted a teacup, took a sip, and then left quietly.
He trusted Song Yuhang with this case.
In just one afternoon, out of over 4,000 owners of black Santana vehicles, she screened and interviewed 68 individuals who were highly educated, had a background in psychology or medicine, worked in the medical field, were proficient in computer technology, and were around thirty years old.
From morning to night, Song Yuhang didn’t even have time to drink a glass of water.