A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

One of the springs in the back seat of the police car was sticking out, and Wu Liang would get a sharp pain every time he went over a speed bump.

"Captain Sun, your car should be totaled by now."

Wu Liang pulled the spring out from under his buttocks and casually put it aside.

"The team is short on funds," Sun Jin replied to his daughter's complaint on his phone. "Besides, you're not here to enjoy yourself."

"This is a reasonable suggestion. What if we break down on the road? Wouldn't that delay our work?"

"We can't get rid of it." Fang Lue patted the steering wheel. "The engine belt was just replaced last month."

"The belt has been replaced, but the seat springs aren't?"

"It doesn't matter; the back seat is usually occupied by suspects."

"..."

Shuangtang Town is 120 kilometers away from Tongcheng. The route involves taking a provincial highway, then a county road, and finally an unnamed rural road.

Shen Xuejun's small supermarket is located at the east end of the town.

Fang Lue parked the car across the street, and Sun Jin got out:

"Let me make this clear first, this guy's mouth is as tight as if it's welded shut. Last time, Xiao Fang and I sat for an hour and didn't even get a glass of water."

Wu Liang glanced at the half-open roller shutter door of the supermarket: "Was this the outfit you wore last time?"

Sun Jin looked down at his jacket. Although it wasn't a police uniform, just by standing there, everyone within a ten-meter radius knew he was from the government.

Wu Liang unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and took out a pair of black-rimmed glasses from his bag and put them on.

"Attorney Wu, what's with this look again?"

"Intellectual image".

The infrared sensor on the door beeped.

Shen Xuejun was counting the shelves with his back to the door. Hearing footsteps, he didn't turn around and continued wiping the dust off the shelves with a rag.

Wu Liang remained silent, his gaze sweeping over the furnishings in the shop.

The small shop, about ten square meters in size, sells nothing more than cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, tea, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Wu Liang got a clear look at the man's appearance.

He looks much older than in the photos in the archives, and there's no trace of his former vigor.

His gaze first fell on the two police officers, and then he looked at Wu Liang, whose style was completely different, and frowned slightly.

"Shen Xuejun," Sun Jin began, "Last time we came, you said you couldn't remember Shen Xin's disappearance."

"Twenty years have passed," Shen Xuejun sighed. "I really can't remember."

"Can't remember your own daughter who's been missing for twenty years?"

"Officer," Shen Xuejun gave a bitter smile, "I served seven years in prison, and when I got out, everything had changed. My wife remarried, and my daughter had disappeared without a trace. Now I just want to retire in town and don't want to get involved anymore."

Wu Liang picked up a bag of sunflower seeds next to the cashier, scanned the code, paid, and started cracking them open.

"Mr. Shen," he said, chewing on sunflower seeds, "how long have you been running this supermarket?"

Shen Xuejun's lips twitched slightly as he looked at him. He still knew to pay.

"About ten years."

"That's quite a long time. Can one person manage it all?"

"It's alright."

"That's true." Wu Liang kowtowed again. "It's peaceful being alone. You don't have to worry about others, and others don't have to worry about you."

Shen Xuejun didn't reply. He took out a cigarette case from his pocket and pulled out a lighter.

"Boss Shen." Wu Liang placed the bag of sunflower seeds on the cashier's counter, patted the crumbs off his hands, and said, "I'm a lawyer. Let me tell you about a case I recently took on."

Sun Jin and Fang Lue both turned to look at him.

Weren't we supposed to be here to elicit information? Why did it turn into storytelling?

Wu Liang ignored their glances and continued talking to himself.

"I recently took on a criminal case. The client is a rural man, an honest and simple man who has farmed in the village for most of his life. His wife is mentally ill, and quite seriously so."

"This woman is pitiful. She was abducted to a remote village and has been there for twenty years."

Wu Liang described it vividly.

"She was already mentally unstable at the time, but she could still recognize people. Later, her condition worsened, and now she can't even remember her own name. She's not well-liked in the village. When children bully her, she just laughs stupidly and doesn't know anything else."

Fang Lue looked puzzled.

Isn't that describing Shen Xin?

Shen Xuejun was taken aback and looked at Wu Liang, his gaze gradually shifting from his previous evasiveness to a fixed stare.

"But she will do one thing."

Wu Liang seemed to suddenly remember something, and shook his head with a sigh.

"She was rarely lucid, but whenever she was, she would crouch in a corner and sob softly."

"Whenever her husband in the village asked her, she would always look up, her eyes blank, and the first thing she would ask was, 'Do you know what it is?'"

Wu Liang paused for a moment and looked at Shen Xuejun.

"She was calling out to her father."

Shen Xuejun lowered his head, and in the shadows, his hand silently clenched into a fist.

Wu Liang continued speaking.

"Later, her daughter grew a little older and learned to write. One day, after school, she taught her mother to write her name in the yard. The woman held the pen, stared at the paper for a long time, but didn't write her name."

She wrote the character "军" (army).

Fang Lue's eyes widened, and he was about to say, "Attorney Wu, how did you know?" when Sun Jin, quick as a flash, stepped on his instep.

Fang Lue's expression turned a deep liver color.

The lighter that Shen Xuejun had picked up fell to the ground, its plastic casing bounced twice, and then fell under the shelf.

Wu Liang squatted down and helped him retrieve the lighter from under the shelf, placing it on the checkout counter.

"She just kept going crazy. Sober, confused, going back and forth."

He straightened up and looked at Shen Xuejun.

"But you ask me, how come a woman who has been insane for twenty years and can't even remember her own name can remember the word 'Jun'?"

The supermarket was so quiet that only the mechanical sound of the freezer compressor could be heard.

Shen Xuejun buried his head in the shadows behind the shelves, his lips trembling, but he couldn't utter a single word.

A while later.

"she……"

Shen Xuejun's voice suddenly went hoarse.

"...Where is she now?"

Wu Liang did not answer the question.

"Mr. Shen, twenty years ago, your daughter, Shen Xin, disappeared in Feishui City. The Feishui police opened a case and investigated, but she was not found."

"The police file only goes this far. But what the file doesn't record, only you know."

"If you want to help your daughter, or rather, if you still love your daughter, I urge you to cooperate with us."

"help?"

Shen Xuejun suddenly raised his head, his expression tense.

"What's wrong with my daughter?"

This time, Wu Liang was confused and turned to look at Sun Jin and the other person standing behind him.

"Didn't you tell him that Shen Xin is suspected of murder?"

Fang Lue scratched his head awkwardly.

"Team Leader Zhao said the chain of evidence was not yet complete and didn't let us speak."

"kill?!"

Upon hearing this word, Shen Xuejun slumped against the shelf, his entire body going limp.

"So... I still can't escape...?"

Wu Liang did not ask any further questions.

The story I just told was half true and half false, but he believed that as a father, no matter how much he tried to hide it, he couldn't possibly remain completely unmoved once he learned the truth about his daughter.

After a long while, Shen Xuejun finally recovered a little.

"What happened back then..." he finally spoke, his voice low, "wasn't what you think."

"What?"

"...My daughter wasn't abducted; someone is trying to frame me."

Sun Jin subconsciously took half a step forward, and Fang Lue's hand had already reached for the recorder in his pocket, but Wu Liang stopped him with a look.

"Who?"

"One..." Shen Xuejun's Adam's apple bobbed, "...someone I shouldn't have offended."

He looked up, about to continue speaking, when his gaze passed over Wu Liang's shoulder and landed on the supermarket entrance.

Wu Liang and the other two were completely focused on Shen Xuejun and did not notice a figure flash past outside the door.

Shen Xuejun's expression changed instantly.

"I'm not feeling well today... I'm not feeling well today."

He straightened up, and beads of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

"Come back tomorrow. Give me some time, and then... I'll tell you everything I know."

Wu Liang frowned, realizing the change in Shen Xuejun's gaze, and turned to look at the door.

But there was nothing outside the door.

Wu Liang looked back at Shen Xuejun, the man who had just been about to speak, but now he had reverted to being that cowardly old man.

"Boss Shen—"

"Tomorrow." Shen Xuejun interrupted him, this time with a resolute tone. After speaking, he went back into the inner room of the supermarket, leaving the three of them with only his back to them.

Wu Liang and Sun Jin exchanged a glance.

"Captain Sun, check the security camera footage at the entrance. It looks like someone is watching us."