Film and Television: My Cheat Code is AI

(Thanks to: Defying Heaven, Once Upon a Time There Was a Mountain, There Was a Temple on the Mountain, Reading Without Eyes^^, and the three of you for your monthly votes, thank you very much.)

The Office of Major Crimes Unit Six.

Just as Lao He put the boxed lunch on the table, the news came on the TV.

"At approximately 5:18 PM on May 1st, officers Ma Zhigang, Zhou Limin, and Zhao Baoshan from the 001 patrol unit of the Municipal Public Security Bureau were conducting a check on a man suspected of gambling when the man suddenly pulled out a gun and attacked the officers. Ma Zhigang and Zhou Limin were killed in the attack. After the incident, leaders from the Municipal Bureau rushed to the scene..."

Old He stood in front of the TV with his lunchbox in hand, without sitting down.

The door was pushed open, and Yang Zhen and Chang Baole walked in, dragging their suitcases. They still smelled of instant noodles from the train. Lao He turned his head and glanced at them.

"I'm back."

"Hey." Yang Zhen leaned his suitcase against the wall, glanced around the office, and asked, "Old He, what's wrong?"

Old He was the only one in the office. There were three boxed lunches on the table, but he hadn't had time to eat them.

Old He handed a boxed lunch to Chang Baole, his voice muffled: "Sigh, two more comrades have sacrificed their lives."

Chang Baole took the lunchbox but didn't open it. "Who is it?"

Old He looked at him, paused for a moment, and then said, "Ma Zhigang and Zhou Limin from the patrol team."

Chang Baole's hand stopped on the lunchbox, and he asked in surprise, "Who did you say?"

"They are your classmates, Gangzi and Erminzi."

Chang Baole took a step back, his leg bumping into the stool behind him. He plopped down on it, the stool leg scraping against the ground with a sharp sound. He sat there with his lunchbox on his lap, his hands resting on the lid of the lunchbox, his fingers numb.

Yang Zhen glanced at Chang Baole, then turned back to ask Lao He, "When did this happen?"

"Just last night." Old He sat down, put his chopsticks on the lunchbox, and didn't touch them. "Old Zheng didn't call because he thought you were escorting the fugitive on the train."

Where are the people in our group?

"None of them have come back since the incident last night," Lao He said to Yang Zhen. "Of the sixteen people in the team, except for the three of us, they've all gone to the 501 Special Task Force for the Major Assault on Police Officers." He handed Yang Zhen a boxed lunch and said, "The chief has given a firm order, saying that this case must be solved at all costs."

Chang Baole slammed his hand on the table, making the lunchbox bounce. He stood up and rushed out.

Just as Yang Zhen was about to give chase, the phone on the table rang. He grabbed the receiver and said, "Hello, Major Crimes Unit Six." After listening for a few moments, he replied, "Okay, got it, I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, he said to Lao He, "There has been a home invasion robbery in Fuda Community." Then he pushed open the door and went out.

Old He chased after him to the door, holding two boxed lunches in his hands, and called out, "Hey, eat before you go, don't go hungry."

The footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor. Old He looked down at the boxed lunch in his hand and sighed, "Sigh, I'm so focused on the case that I don't even care about my health. I'll take it to them later."

Chang Baole got into the driver's seat and had just put his hands on the steering wheel when Yang Zhen caught up and stood by the car door, saying, "I'll drive."

The two switched seats, Yang Zhen started the car, stepped on the gas, and the car shot off.

Chang Baole looked out the window, realizing they were going the wrong way. "Where are you going?"

"Fuda Residential Area".

Chang Baole said angrily, "Why not go to the municipal bureau's special task force?"

Yang Zhen gripped the steering wheel, not looking at them. "There's a new case now, robbery and murder."

"But……"

"But what?" Yang Zhen's tone was not harsh, but his words were rapid. "The assault on the police has alarmed all the police officers. Everyone is busy solving this case now, and we don't need you."

Chang Baole turned his head, his eyes reddening. "I'm different from them. Gangzi, Erminzi, and I are classmates."

Yang Zhen paused for a beat before speaking: "I know you're classmates." He looked at the road ahead, "But first, you need to consider that you're a criminal investigator."

Chang Baole turned his face to the car window and stopped talking.

"Let's go to Fuda Residential Area first."

Fuda Residential Area is an old-style six-story residential building. The police tape has been put up, and the red and blue police lights are turning silently downstairs. Yang Zhen parked his car outside the police tape and turned off the engine.

The technical investigators went in first, followed by the forensic doctor. Yang Zhen and Chang Baole waited outside. About forty minutes later, the body was carried out, wrapped in a yellow body bag, pushed out of the stairwell, and put into a car.

Yang Zhen put on gloves, shoe covers, and a hood, lifted the cordon tape, and went inside, with Chang Baole following behind.

The house was quiet. There was a large pool of blood on the living room floor, half-dried, with blackened edges and a dark red center. The smell of rust mixed with the stench of blood was heavy in the air. The furniture showed no signs of being disturbed. The television was turned off. There were freshly bought groceries in the kitchen, still in bags.

Chang Baole crouched down and picked up a kitchen knife from the pool of blood. The blade was stained with blood, and the wooden handle was soaked through. He picked it up and put it into the evidence bag very gently.

Yang Zhen stood beside the pool of blood, looking down. In the very center of the pool of blood was a key. The key wasn't lying there bare; it was threaded onto a rope, which was soaked through with blood and turned dark brown. A small plastic tag was attached to the key, with the words "Jiajia" written on it.

Police officers from the local police station came over with a notebook. "The deceased was named Liu Chunhua, a 38-year-old woman. She was killed by a kitchen knife. Her necklace and ring were stolen, but no other valuables were lost."

Yang Zhen was still staring at the key. "Who reported it?"

"Uncle Zhang, my neighbor."

Yang Zhen stood up, took off the glove on one hand, and walked out the door.

Mr. Zhang stood near the police line at the entrance of the building, accompanied by a police officer. He was in his sixties, with gray hair, wearing a faded T-shirt, and his fingers were trembling slightly.

Yang Zhen walked over and asked, "Grandpa, what's going on?"

Grandpa Zhang sighed, his voice weak: "Sigh, I was fine when I left home at noon, only half an hour later. I bought some noodles at the market to go home and cook lunch. When I got to my door, I saw that the door across the hall was open, and Jiajia was standing there in the foyer, lost in thought. I was a little puzzled."

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"When I went in, oh my god, her mother was lying on the living room floor. Oh my, the blood!" He gestured with his hand to his leg. "Even now, my calves are still trembling."

Yang Zhen turned to the police officer behind him and asked, "Who else is in their family?"

"The couple divorced, leaving Liu Chunhua with her twelve-year-old daughter, Jiajia."

Yang Zhen looked at Grandpa Zhang and asked, "Where's the kid?"

Grandpa Zhang pointed behind him: "The child is with my wife."

Yang Zhen walked over in that direction and found Jiajia on a bench by the police line, leaning against Grandpa Zhang's wife, her hands on her knees, her head down. Half of her ponytail was undone, and several red marks were visible on the back of her neck, as if she had been scratched by something, or perhaps left during a struggle. She wasn't crying, her face was expressionless, she was just sitting there, her eyes fixed on the ground.

The police officer bent down, leaned close to Jiajia, and said in a very soft voice, "Jiajia, the police are here. Tell me how your mother died."

Yang Zhen reached out to stop the policeman. "Alright, that's enough," he said, looking at Jiajia in a low voice, "Look how scared you've made the child."

He turned his head.

"Baole, quickly take the child to the hospital."

"Yes."

Chang Baole squatted down, took Jiajia's hand, which was icy cold and clenched into a fist, her nails digging into her palm and leaving several white marks. Chang Baole did not force it open, but gently patted the back of her hand, pulled her up, and walked towards the ambulance.

Yang Zhen stopped him and said in a low voice, "She has a wound on the back of her neck, keep a close eye on her."

"clear."

Mr. Zhang's wife also went along.

Yang Zhen turned and walked back to Grandpa Zhang's side. "Excuse me, is Liu Chunhua usually home?"

Grandpa Zhang shook his head. "She's not here. It's not easy for her to raise a child alone. She works incredibly hard, afraid of losing her job. She usually doesn't get back until seven or eight o'clock. I don't know why she left work early today."

"Who picks this child up after school?"

"Sometimes my wife picks me up, but most of the time she comes back by herself. She has her own key."

Yang Zhen asked, "The keys are worn around your neck?"

Grandpa Zhang looked up, startled. "Hey, how did you know?"

Yang Zhen left with a hint of doubt, while Grandpa Zhang watched his departing figure.

Back at the Major Crimes Unit 6, Yang Zhen found the place in complete chaos as soon as he entered, with everyone busy with the 501 major police assault case.

Yang Zhen saw Ji Jie on the phone and was about to go over to say hello and ask about the situation when Old Zheng came out and said, "Yang Zhen is back. I heard you rushed to the crime scene as soon as you got back."

Yang Zhen asked, "How's the case of assaulting a police officer?"

Old Zheng, holding a teacup, said, "Come here, I have something to tell you." After walking closer to Old Zheng's office door, Old Zheng continued, "This morning we conducted a thorough investigation of Zhao Bin, the owner of the gambling den. He provided us with crucial information about the suspect. Now, our most important task is to ascertain the suspect's identity." He then lowered his voice and asked, "How's things going on your end?"

After Lao Zheng led Yang Zhen to the office, Yang Zhen said, "On the surface, this case in Fuda Community looks like a home invasion robbery, but the perpetrator only stole the victim's jewelry and didn't touch any other property in the house. It seems that robbery was not his main purpose. According to our investigation of the scene, the perpetrator was very skilled and left no fingerprints. We only collected some footprints. The only eyewitness, Jiajia, is currently receiving treatment in the hospital due to severe trauma."

Old Zheng said, "We must take care to protect Jiajia."

Yang Zhen said, "I've already sent Bao Le over there. How about sending Zhang Yang along?"

Old Zheng said, "Okay, I'll take charge of the task force, and you take charge of this case."

Yang Zhen continued, "I also found a thin ligature mark on Jiajia's neck. This mark was most likely left by the assailant when he tore the key off with too much force."

"Broken the key?" Old Zheng put down his teacup, walked to his filing cabinet, and said, "This is exactly the same method used in the series of child rape cases that happened two years ago." He then took out a file and handed it to Yang Zhen.

"A case of raping minors?" Yang Zhen said, taking the documents and looking at them.

"Yes," Old Zheng continued, "The suspect followed female primary and secondary school students who were walking home alone after school, and broke the key while they were using it to open the door, thus breaking into the room and committing the crime."

Yang Zhen asked, "Has this person been caught?"

Old Zheng shook his head and said, "He's still on the run. All we know is that he once used the name Ma Hongsheng."

"Could this person have reappeared?"

Old Zheng said seriously, "Yang Zhen, you need to be extra careful because more than a dozen girls have been brutally murdered in this case. Because the girls are still young, their descriptions of the physical characteristics of the perpetrators are inconsistent, which has led to the perpetrators still being on the run. This case has been classified as a major case among major cases, so we don't have absolute certainty. Let's investigate it as a burglary."

"it is good."

"There's one more thing, we can't tell Ji Jie about this."

"Why?" Yang Zhen had just finished speaking when he saw Old Zheng lower his head, and quickly added, "If you don't tell me, I won't ask anymore."

At this moment, Ji Jie walked in and said, "The landlord, Zhao Bin, has provided a new clue. The suspect in the police assault case has a mistress named Wang Hongli, and this is her temporary residence."

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's get moving!"

After Yang Zhen left, he said to Zhang Yang, "Go to the hospital and find Bao Le. Your task is to take good care of the child."

Zhang Yang replied, "Yes."