Chapter Six: The Western River Bar

  Xihé Bar was indeed the largest bar in Lincheng, and when Wu Hui and his friends arrived at Xihé Bar, it was already packed with people. Zhang Qiang said a few words to the waiter, who then led the three of them to a private room. "Set meal A!" Zhang Qiang said, after which the waiter left.

  Wu Hui and Guo Yining looked towards the bar, where a new bartender had taken over. The bartender appeared to be in her early 20s, with long black hair adorned with some red streaks. Although she was dressed in a mature and dazzling outfit, her thick makeup revealed that she was actually a young girl. The victim, Wang Nuosheng, must have looked like this before, but now, who would still remember her?

  Wu Hui bowed his head and said a few words to Zhang Qiang, who was somewhat reluctant but still walked towards the bar. As for hitting on women, Zhang Qiang could be said to be an old hand at it.

  Seeing Zhang Qiang and the young female bartender chatting, Guo Yining called over a waiter and whispered a few words to him. The waiter nodded and left, soon returning with a well-dressed person to Wu Hui's card table.

  "Are you the bar manager?" Guo Yining took out her ID and asked.

  "Hello Captain Guo, I am the manager of this bar. Is there anything I can help you with?" The manager took over Guo Yining's ID, looked at it, confirmed his identity and handed it back to him.

  "It's like this, I want to see the surveillance footage from before Wang Nuo died. I saw that you have a surveillance camera pointing right at the bar, shouldn't it be saved?" Guo Yining pointed to a surveillance camera on the roof, which was pointing directly at the bartender's counter.

  "That's right, we have surveillance footage saved, I'll copy it for you right away."

  "Okay, I'll go with you. It's a good opportunity for me to ask you some questions."

  "This way, please!"

  Guo Yining left with the bar manager, leaving Wu Hui alone at the table. During this time, several women approached Wu Hui and tried to strike up a conversation, but he sent them away with various excuses.

  After Wu Hui drove away another woman, Guo Yining finally returned, "I didn't expect you to be so charming, just a short while ago, and beautiful women are delivered to your doorstep!"

  "Don't tease me, did you get it?"

  "Ah, got it!" Guo Yining waved the U-disk in his hand. "Zhang Qiang, this kid, is really in his element here." Seeing Zhang Qiang ordering cup after cup of wine, Guo Yining couldn't help but worry if his salary would be enough to cover tonight's expenses.

  "He's always been a night owl, but over the past two years he's toned down a lot. You haven't seen his life before, that was truly a life of revelry and extravagance." Since that incident, Zhang Qiang has also changed a lot.

  Guo Yining felt a pang of heartache as he patted his chest pocket again, "I hope he can get some valuable clues out of this, so my money won't be wasted."

  "Don't worry, Zhang Qiang has a plan in mind." Seeing Guo Yining's painful expression, Wu Hui secretly smiled to himself.

  The atmosphere of the bar was indeed good. Wu Hui and Guo Yining, while waiting for Zhang Qiang, unknowingly drank a lot of wine.

  Around 3 am, Zhang Qiang finally left the bar, slightly drunk, and came to Wu Hui's card seat. As he watched Zhang Qiang leave, the bartender had a hint of reluctance in his eyes.

  "How is it? Did you ask anything?" Guo Yining hurriedly asked as he helped Zhang Qiang sit between him and Wu Hui.

  "Don't worry, Captain Guo, this money is absolutely worth it. Off you go, back to your place!" Zhang Qiang gave the bartender a flirtatious glance before leaving.

  Guo Yining saw Zhang Qiang getting a bit drunk and couldn't help but worry that he would forget some important things.

  "There's nothing to worry about, let's talk about it when we get back." Wu Hui saw the concern in Guo Yining's eyes, but as for Zhang Qiang, he was confident that anything he entrusted him with would be handled properly.

  Back home, Guo Yining couldn't wait to ask Zhang Qiang: "How was it? Did you get any valuable leads?"

  Zhang Qiang rushed back home, ignoring everything else, and ran to the faucet, gulping down several mouthfuls of cool water. "Let me have a drink first, I've said so many insincere compliments tonight to help you get clues."

  "I'll treat you to dinner next time, isn't that enough?!"

  "This is pretty good, I actually found out something today. That little girl told me that Wang Nu has a crush on a man and they've gone out to eat several times. Although the little girl hasn't seen him, she heard from Wang Nu that the man is very rich and every time he comes to the Xihé Bar, he must have Wang Nu mix his drinks and give her special treatment." Zhang Qiang told Wu Hui what he had found out from the bartender.

  "And then, who was that man?"

  Zhang Qiang glanced at Guo Yi, "You've all said she's never seen her before. Didn't you get the surveillance footage from the bar? Just take a look and see who appeared next to Wang Nu."

  Guo Yino slapped her thigh, only then remembering the surveillance footage in her hand. "Right! How could I have forgotten this? The footage I got was from Wang Nuo's shift at the bar this year. It seems I need to go back to the bureau and get my colleagues to work overtime to find out who keeps appearing repeatedly. You all get some rest early, I'll head back first."

  After seeing off Guo Yino, Wu Hui didn't have much sleepiness. He returned to his room and reviewed the several cases again. He always felt that there was some connection between these cases, but what exactly was it? If he found the connection between these cases, then the answer would also surface.

  The first victim should be the culprit's random case, to vent his anger on his body. What is it that makes him lose his mind and lay such a heavy hand on a young woman?

  After a year, the perpetrator committed another crime. This time, the method was much more sophisticated than the first time. After abducting the second victim, he did not kill her immediately like the first victim, but instead tortured her to death over two days.

  The third case, compared to the second one, was three days apart. From the corpse, it can be seen that the murderer has become more and more enjoyable in killing people, and it can even be said that he is increasingly enjoying the feeling of torturing the victim.

  The fourth case occurred a month later. Although it was a month apart, it can be seen that the murderer made sufficient preparations for the fourth case. If Yang Liu had not died of cerebral hemorrhage, Wu Hui could have been certain that Yang Liu's suffering time would have been longer than anyone else's. After Yang Liu's death, the murderer stabbed her 73 times, indicating that the murderer absolutely knew Yang Liu and hated her to the bone.

  What's hidden in Xihé Bar that three of the four victims once appeared there? What connects these three people, and what about the single mother, did she appear at Xihé Bar? If so, then Xihé Bar must have someone connected to all four.

  Wu Hui somewhat regretted not asking Guo Yining for a surveillance backup, if he had to come now, he could also investigate what connection there was between the four victims.

  Since he couldn't sleep, Wu Hui decided not to sleep at all. He opened the window and let the cold wind outside blow into his bedroom. After drinking for a whole night, his head felt a bit dizzy, but the blowing wind made him feel much clearer.

  Lincheng, a third-tier city, seems to have good public security on the surface, but unexpectedly, three murder cases occurred within just two months.

  The city is very quiet at midnight, as quiet as a sleeping child. But what dreams are being dreamed by this seemingly sleeping child?

  Wu Hui slept until the next afternoon, if it wasn't for Guo Yining knocking on the door, he would have probably continued sleeping. Wu Hui looked at Guo Yining's somewhat disheveled face and knew that he must not have rested. Although his face was a bit tired, his eyes were shining with light.

  "Looks like there's good news!" Wu Hui poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Guo Yining.

  Guo Yining took the coffee and took a sip, "You're right, yesterday evening our whole team worked overtime to review the surveillance footage, and we finally found it. Do you know who it was? You definitely wouldn't have guessed, I didn't expect it to be him either."

  "Get to the point, stop beating around the bush!"

  "Liu Jianjun, was one of the three people at the airport, and he was the least suspicious person at that time. I didn't expect to see him again at the Xihé Bar, where he often appeared at Wang Nu's bar counter, chatting and laughing together, their relationship seemed unusual, who would have thought?"

  "It was him, Yang Liu, Liu Jianju, YL. It seems we should go visit Liu Jianjun after all. Looks like he lied to us." Wu Hui picked up his coat and pulled Guo Yining out the door.

  Liu Jianjun's residential area is a high-end villa district, outsiders are not allowed to enter, if it wasn't for Guo Yining showing her criminal police identity, the security guard would not have let the two people in.

  When Wu Hui and his group arrived at Liu Jianjun's home, Liu had just finished dinner and was watching the evening news. Seeing that it was Guo Yining who had come, he did not show any surprise.

  "I don't know if there's anything I can help you two with?" Liu Jianjun had the servant pour three cups of tea, then told him to leave.

  "Do you know these two gentlemen, Mr. Liu?" Guo Yining placed the photos of Wang Nuò and Yang Liu in front of Liu Jianjun.

  Liu Jianjun took a look at the two photos, picked up one of them, "I know Wang Nuo, I used to like her cocktails when I went to Xihai Bar, we chatted well and also had dinner together several times. We are all adults, I think there shouldn't be any problem?"

  "I think Mr. Liu should have also seen it in the news, Wang No was killed in September this year, so I'd like to ask, where was Mr. Liu between September 25th and 27th, what was he doing?"

  "This I need to check the itinerary, if I didn't remember wrong, in late September, I was in Beijing planning for the branch company's affairs, and never returned to Lincheng. The people from Beijing branch can all be my witnesses." Liu Jianjun took out his mobile phone and checked his schedule for September.

  "When did Mr. Liu return to Lincheng?"

  "On October 17th, I stayed in Lincheng until the 23rd. Then I went to Shanghai on a business trip and returned on November 9th."

  Wu Hui was listening to Guo Yining's questions on the side, and suddenly interjected: "Mr. Liu's house is so big, does he live alone?"

  "No, I live with my son and our maid Wu Ma." Liu Jianjun replied to Wu Hui's question, finding it a bit strange.

  Upon hearing Liu Jianjun's response, Wu Hui looked at him and asked, "And what about Mr. Liu's wife? Doesn't she live with you?"

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