Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 264 Sharing the Same Eyes as Evil
It's still early to talk about eating.

Even though Yuan Qing has explained the whole story, the case is only half complete. There are still many other things that need to be investigated.

How should Qu Xiangbin and Xu Youan be convicted of the voyeurism incident? How can we clarify how many videos were produced and how many victims were affected?
How can we determine the veracity of Yuan Qing's testimony, and how can we verify the validity and logic of the evidence?
How do we notify Xu Youan's parents and tell them that this is a murder case? How do we find out why they were unwilling to continue the investigation before?
Also, what role did Chu Yun play in this matter?
In response to these issues, Zheng Yan and his team went on another round of errands.

Tan Jia didn't need to get involved in these things; she stayed in the office to sculpt her dough figurines.

This time, the crime scene was very simple. There was only a damaged car and a camera. The victim in the car had his head down on the steering wheel, so there was no need to create a face. It was very simple.

But after she finished shaping it and looked at it again and again, she still felt it wasn't enough.

Surveillance has appeared too many times in previous cases. The group of people who advocate justice have mastered the use of surveillance, spanning three cases: a poisoned yogurt case, a theft and stabbing case, and the victim being myself. It almost turned into a science fiction drama.

When something occurs too frequently, even the most ingenious and subtle murder method becomes just another ordinary clue.

Therefore, simply placing a camera in this dough sculpture would not provide any clear direction.

If one had to pinpoint the key and unique aspect of this case, it would be the empty back seat, the scene the murderer saw from afar… Tan Jia thought for a moment and then conjured up an eye.

Yuan Qing saw the scene of Xu Youan's death through this "eye," proving that she was remotely involved in the murder.

Tan Jia also shared the same perspective with Yuan Qing through their "eyes".

The eyes are easy to sculpt; just press out the shape with a sculpting knife and then carve out the curves, and that's about it.

She stared at it for a while, then thought she should sculpt a large clay sculpture of herself; this eye would be more suitable for her story.

Before the enormous, suspended eye are Luo Zhiyong, the murderer of his wife, who also has his eyes open; the Zhao family, where everyone harbors wicked thoughts; Xue Jing, who personally pushed the suffering Qu Li off the high-rise building; Qi Sufeng, grinning as she tries to strangle the ingrate; the surveillance cameras spread throughout the city by the forces of justice; the stalker fan hiding in the closet, peering through the crack at the deceased; and God, looking down at the NPCs in the social simulator…

She opened her eyes along with the murderers, some excited and some in pain, and saw the crime scene.

Let's call it "Eyes That See Evil".

She was so engrossed in design concepts that she didn't even notice when Tan Ming and Xiao Chen returned looking annoyed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

“Xu Youan’s parents are very difficult to deal with. I think Yuan Qing should have investigated them together before the marriage! Didn’t they not want us to investigate before? Now that they have found out the problem, they say that Yuan Qing led them to strongly demand that the investigation be stopped a few days ago, making them think that Xu Youan did something illegal and wanted to leave a good name for his son. They questioned why we didn’t explain clearly at the time. If we had explained clearly, they would definitely have allowed the investigation.”

“They believed it as soon as they were led astray, which means they must know what kind of person Xu Youan is in private. They all genuinely believe that it's respectable for Xu Youan to be killed in a car accident,” Tan Jia said, scribbling on a scrap of paper without looking up. “They have more than one son, don't they?”

Tan Ming nodded: "Xu Youan is the second of the three sons."

Xiao Chen: "However, among their family and the families of their daughters-in-law, Yuan Qing's family is the richest and the most capable. They are fierce towards us, but they behave very politely towards the Yuan family."

She let out a snort through her nose.

The door opened and closed again, and Zheng Yan returned, his face full of thought, still pondering as he drank water from his teacup.

"What are you thinking about, Captain Zheng?" Xiao Chen asked.

"Yuan Qing admitted that she realized something was wrong with Xu Youan when Chu Yun was telling her story, but she denied Chu Yun's role in the matter. Do you think Chu Yun might have known all along that Yuan Qing was Xu Youan's wife and deliberately approached her to tell those things?"

“It’s possible, but she didn’t know that Yuan Qing would kill someone because of this. Maybe at first she just wanted to make things difficult for herself and the perpetrator’s family. Or maybe she just wanted to subtly tell Yuan Qing that Xu Youan was a scumbag and wanted her to get out of the fire as soon as possible,” Tan Jia said.

Whether it was intentional or well-intentioned, who can say for sure?

"Never mind, even if Chu Yun did it on purpose, she didn't say anything wrong." Zheng Yan put down his teacup and exhaled heavily into the air.

"If Xu Youan had died two months later, Yuan Qing would have cleaned up all the mess, and it would have been almost a perfect crime. It's just a coincidence that he experienced two car accidents on Chengnan Avenue, neither of which were caused by human intervention."

Tan Jia continued, "It means even God wants to take him down."

"...Well summarized. Next time, remember to tune in to the legal channel and avoid superstition."

Two clicks later, the office door handle was turned again. They thought it was the police coming to inform them of something, and their discussion continued.

Unexpectedly, when the door opened, a familiar person was standing outside.

"Sister Wu Yang?" Tan Jiaxian noticed and called out in surprise. Xiao Chen and Tan Ming immediately surrounded her.

"Wu Yang? What brings you here at this hour? Is your vacation over?"

"You've gotten so dark, I almost didn't recognize you. Why didn't you come back sooner? Then we wouldn't have had to use one cow as two horses."

"We missed a lot of bizarre cases when you weren't around. Some of them were really hard to handle without you."

The three of them chattered away, and Wu Yang answered each question with a cheerful laugh. His tanned face was radiant with energy.

Zheng Yan coughed.

Their conversation stopped, Wu Yang straightened up, raised his hand and saluted him: "Captain Zheng, I'm back to report!"

Zheng Yan looked her over and laughed, "It's good that you're back. Perfect timing, the latest case is over, we were planning to go out for dinner. Better late than never, let's go."

It's still that family-style seafood buffet, and it's still the same group of people.

Lin Zhiyue still sat next to Tan Jia, but he had integrated very well. He would pick out Tan Jia's favorite shrimp cakes and queue up with Xiao Chen to get limited edition Australian lobsters.

Tan Jia, Zheng Yan, and Wu Yang were chatting, while Tan Ming was talking to the waiter about what side dishes and drinks to order.

It was still dusk, a gentle breeze was blowing, and the guests at the next table were chatting about their children's grades, their experiences at the tourist attractions, and their troubled love stories, as if the murder and the raging sea of ​​hatred were far away.

Zheng Yan was giving another earnest psychology lecture when Tan Jia's bowl and plate jingled as Lin Zhiyue used tongs to put a few Arctic surf clams into her bowl.

"this is delicious."

"Isn't that a bit inappropriate, Xiao Lin? I used a phrase I said to you before, and you're just copying it verbatim?" She crossed her chair legs and looked up at him.

Lin Zhiyue: "You mean 'You can try this'."

"You remember that clearly? We'd only met two or three times back then."

Lin Zhiyue stopped talking, lowered her head to eat the shellfish, and the tips of her slightly red ears were visible at the edge of her black, tousled hair.

She chuckled softly beside her.

By the time we finished this seafood buffet, it was getting dark.

Tan Jia was driving back with a car full of people when he happened to pass Chengnan Avenue and stopped at the intersection to wait for the traffic light.

The others were either exhausted or drunk, and some had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. The soft snoring and the clicking of the turn signals mixed together, creating a soporific effect.

But Tan Jia remained clear-headed, quietly gazing at the horizon where the lights stretched out in a line, making it difficult to distinguish distances after a while.

The lanes were clear and unobstructed, and the parts of the damaged vehicles had been cleaned up so thoroughly that there was no trace of the horrific accident that had occurred there.

“I had a car accident here on my first day back, and then I started having dreams,” Tan Jia suddenly said softly. “Back then, you should still be locking yourself in your villa in Haicheng, painting all day long.”

Lin Zhiyue quietly stayed with her, saying, "Mm."

The encounters between people are truly unpredictable and wondrous stories.

Looking at the two faces vaguely reflected in the windshield, she said, "This case just happened to happen here, and it gives me the feeling that it will start here and end here."

Perhaps another car accident will occur, causing her to lose the ability to dream?
But nothing unexpected happened until the green light came on and they left Chengnan Avenue.

When all the lights came on, Lin Zhiyue said, "It's dark."

Tan Jia rested his elbow on the car door, turned his head to feel the wind, and looked at the time on his watch.

As darkness falls, what will the next dream be?
I wrote the endings of two or three chapters, but I was never satisfied. It felt like if I wrote a little more, the next story should begin; if I wrote a little less, it would end too abruptly. After some editing, I finally condensed it into one chapter, stopping just before the next story begins.

If I were to continue writing, this subject matter could go on forever, but my initial plan was to stop at under 600,000 words. This case happens to echo the opening and highlight the theme, so stopping here is just right.

The main story is now finished. Next up are a few side stories, not many. I see everyone wants to see the "what if" scenarios/slice-of-life moments of Kaname and Kobayashi, so I'll think about how to write them.