Courtyard House: Starting with handing over the keys, the state helps me abuse birds.

Xie Weihong mentally reviewed the technology blueprints awarded by the system and was just about to try practicing the first level of the Bone-Eroding Body Refining Technique when there was a knock on the door.

"Knock knock knock".

The knocking was neither too loud nor too soft, carrying a businesslike rhythm.

Xie Weihong raised an eyebrow and gently scanned the area outside the door with her divine sense.

There were two people standing at the door.

An older man and a younger man, both wearing faded police uniforms. The older one was in his forties, with a square face, furrowed brows, and sharp eyes that seemed to pierce through people's hearts.

The young man was probably in his early twenties, with a somewhat naive look on his face, having just started working. He was holding a notebook and a pen.

Xie Weihong stood up, straightened her clothes, and then went to open the door.

The door opened.

The veteran policeman's gaze immediately fell on his face, scrutinizing him from head to toe before he spoke: "Are you Xie Weihong?"

"Yes, that's me." Xie Weihong nodded.

"I am Duan Chengyi from the police station." The veteran officer showed his badge. "This is Xiao Li. We received a report from the hospital that several people were seriously injured and hospitalized in your facility last night. We've come to check on the situation."

His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable air of authority.

Xie Weihong stepped aside: "Please come in."

Duan Chengyi stepped into the house, with Xiao Li following behind. As soon as they entered, their eyes swept around the room.

The room was small, and the furnishings were simple, almost rudimentary. There was a bed, a table, two chairs, and some miscellaneous items piled in the corner. The floor was somewhat messy, with obvious signs of a struggle.

Duan Chengyi's gaze deepened.

"Sit down." Xie Weihong moved the only intact chair to Duan Chengyi, while she herself sat on the edge of the bed.

Xiao Li took out his notebook, ready to take notes.

Duan Chengyi didn't sit down. He stood in the center of the room, his hands behind his back, his gaze returning to Xie Weihong's face: "Tell me, what happened last night?"

Xie Weihong spoke, her tone as calm as if she were talking about someone else: "Last night, in the middle of the night, Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, He Yuzhu, and Xu Damao broke into my house with ropes, trying to strangle me."

The words fell.

Xiao Li paused, looking up at Xie Weihong with a look that said, "Are you kidding me?"

Duan Chengyi frowned even more deeply: "What did you say?"

"I said, those five men came to kill me in the middle of the night with ropes," Xie Weihong repeated, her tone still calm. "I beat them up, and they should all be in the hospital now."

Duan Chengyi remained silent for a few seconds.

He quickly ran through the names in his mind.

He knew Yi Zhonghai; he was a well-known "old man" in the area, a model citizen even listed by the street office. Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui were also the old men in charge of the compound. He Yuzhu was the cook at the steel rolling mill, and Xu Damao was the projectionist.

These people, came in groups to kill people in the middle of the night?

"Comrade Xie Weihong," Duan Chengyi's voice turned serious, "Do you know what you're saying? False accusations are a legal offense."

"I know," Xie Weihong nodded, "so everything I said is true."

"Where's the evidence?" Duan Chengyi stared at him.

Xie Weihong pointed to the corner of the wall: "The rope should still be there."

Xiao Li walked over quickly and, sure enough, dragged out a piece of hemp rope from behind the pile of debris—not just one piece, but several pieces, all torn apart, but it was clear that they were originally several complete ropes.

Duan Chengyi took the rope and weighed it in his hand.

The rope was new, rough in texture, the most common type of hemp rope on the market. He examined the break carefully—it wasn't cut, it was ripped off. How much force must that have taken?

"These few pieces of rope don't prove anything," Duan Chengyi said, placing the rope on the table. "They might have been prepared by you yourself."

"What about their injuries?" Xie Weihong asked. "The hospital should have records, right? Fractures, dislocations, internal injuries—I couldn't have injured myself, could I?"

Duan Chengyi remained silent.

He did receive a call from the hospital saying that several people with serious injuries had been sent there; they were all from the same hospital. But he hadn't verified the specifics yet.

"Why do you think they want to kill you?" Duan Chengyi asked from a different angle.

Xie Weihong looked at him and suddenly smiled: "Officer Wang, you've been working in this area for quite a few years, haven't you? You should have heard of Yi Zhonghai to some extent."

Duan Chengyi did not respond.

Yi Zhonghai did have a good reputation, at least on the surface. When the neighborhood committee mentioned him, they all said he was a "warm-hearted" and "responsible" old comrade. But that didn't mean Duan Chengyi completely believed him.

As a police officer, he had seen too many people who were two-faced.

"I want to know why they wanted to kill me," Xie Weihong continued. "However, I can guess a little. It might be because of my parents."

"Your parents?" Duan Chengyi's eyes flickered.

"My parents were martyrs," Xie Weihong said. "They sacrificed their lives while on duty more than ten years ago."

Upon hearing this, Duan Chengyi and Xiao Li's expressions changed.

Duan Chengyi's tone became noticeably more serious. "Do you have any proof?"

"Yes." Xie Weihong got up and pulled out a yellowed document from a tin box under the bed. "This is a certificate from my parents' workplace."

Duan Chengyi took the document and examined it carefully.

The documents are genuine.

He returned the documents to Xie Weihong, his tone softening slightly: "In that case, the hospital should take better care of you, how could they..."

"Taked care of?" Xie Weihong laughed, a cold laugh in her voice. "Officer Wang, do you think I look like I'm being taken care of?"

Duan Chengyi looked around the room.

The house was bare and they owned nothing.

This is certainly not the kind of life that someone being cared for should have.

"My parents should have received a pension from their workplace after they died," Xie Weihong continued, her voice calm but her words sharp as knives, "but I didn't receive a single penny."

The room suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Li's pen stopped on the paper, and the ink bleed into a black dot.

Duan Chengyi's pupils contracted slightly.

If Xie Weihong's statement is true, then the nature of this matter is completely different.

"Are you sure?" Duan Chengyi's voice was very low. "Do you have any evidence regarding the compensation?"

"I have no evidence," Xie Weihong shook her head, "but I can check with my workplace—if they dare let me."

He paused, then looked at Duan Chengyi: "Officer Wang, do you think it's normal for a martyr's orphan to not receive a single penny of compensation for over a decade?"

Of course it's not normal.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Duan Chengyi asked.

"Speak?" Xie Weihong smirked. "Speak to whom? Yi Zhonghai is just an old man in the compound; even the neighborhood committee believes him. Who listens to me, an orphan?"

These words were so blunt, so blunt that they made one's heart sink.

Xiao Li couldn't help but interject, "Then... then you can come to the police station!"

"So what happens after that?" Xie Weihong looked at him. "You say I suspect people in the hospital embezzled my pension? Do you have any evidence? Without evidence, it's a false accusation. Then Yi Zhonghai will bring the whole hospital to testify, saying I have mental problems and repay kindness with enmity—who do you think will believe me?"

Xiao Li opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Duan Chengyi remained silent for a long time.

He went through the whole story in his mind: the orphan of a martyr, who hadn't received any pension for over a decade, the people in the facility pretending to care for him but actually bullying him, and now it had escalated to the point of someone coming to his door with a rope in the middle of the night to kill him...

If all of this is true, then this is no longer an ordinary neighborhood dispute.

"Come back to the station with me first," Duan Chengyi finally spoke, "to take a detailed statement."

Xie Weihong nodded: "Okay."

"Xiao Li, you stay here." Duan Chengyi turned to the young policeman. "Protect the scene. Don't let anyone in. Especially no one from the compound. Understand?"

"Understood!" Xiao Li straightened his back.

Duan Chengyi then looked at Xie Weihong: "Bring the martyr's certificate."

When the three of them came out of the house, a lot of people had already gathered in the yard.

Qin Huairu stood by the pool in the middle courtyard washing clothes, her hands moving mechanically on the washboard, but her eyes kept glancing this way. Peeping eyes were also hidden behind the windows of the other houses.

With Jia Zhangshi, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, He Yuzhu, and Xu Damao, the main characters, all in the hospital, the place was much quieter, but the oppressive atmosphere was even stronger.

Duan Chengyi glanced around, said nothing, and led Xie Weihong straight out.

After leaving the courtyard, I got on a police sidecar motorcycle parked at the entrance of the alley.

Duan Chengyi had Xie Weihong sit in the sidecar, then climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

The motorcycle sputtered out of the alley and turned onto the main street.

"We're here." Duan Chengyi parked the car in front of the police station. "Come in with me."

Xie Weihong followed Duan Chengyi into the building, through the corridor, and into a small room. The room contained only a table, three chairs, and rules and regulations posted on the wall.

"Sit down." Duan Chengyi pointed to the chair opposite the table and sat down in the main seat.

Soon, a policewoman brought in two cups of hot water, along with a notepad and a pen.

"Let's begin." Duan Chengyi opened the record sheet. "Name, age, address..."