You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

Municipal Public Security Bureau, Major Crimes Unit Case Discussion Room.

The air was thick with smoke, creating a somber atmosphere.

The ashtrays were piled high with cigarette butts, and every detective's face wore the word "frustration."

Li Mingyu's eyes were bloodshot as he paced back and forth in the conference room, muttering to himself repeatedly.

"A cover-up, this is definitely a cover-up..."

Su Qingge crossed her arms and leaned against the window, watching the endless stream of cars outside. Her usually cool and capable face was now covered with a deep sense of powerlessness.

"Bang!"

The conference room door was suddenly pushed open.

Director Lu Zhenhua walked in with a livid face.

He was followed by several inspectors, each with a solemn expression as if they were attending a funeral.

Lu Zhenhua slammed a document heavily on the table, making a loud noise that startled everyone.

"Look! Look at everything!"

His voice was filled with anger.

"Wang Defa's lawyer's letter! He's accusing us of abusing our power and maliciously defaming citizens!"

"More than a dozen media outlets in the city have called me dozens of times; they've practically blown up my phone!"

"I don't care what methods you use, I want to see results within three days!"

Lu Zhenhua's gaze was like a knife, sweeping over everyone present.

"The reputation of the Jiangcheng police cannot be trampled on like this!"

After saying that, he turned and left with his men, leaving behind a deathly silence and an even heavier pressure in the room.

"Oh shit!"

Li Mingyu slammed his fist hard on the whiteboard.

"I'm going to stick with him!"

He turned around abruptly and stared intently at Old Zhao, the gardener who was "weeping bitterly" in the surveillance footage.

"Take him to the interrogation room! Use any means necessary! I refuse to believe we can't get him to talk!"

"Captain Li, this is against the rules..."

A young police officer whispered a reminder.

"Rules? They're practically shitting on our necks now, and you're talking to me about rules?"

Li Mingyu was completely blinded by rage.

Just as he was about to order the gardener, Old Zhao, to be dragged to "class"...

A lazy voice drifted from the corner.

"What's the rush?"

Lin Chen leaned back in the main chair, twirling a pen in his hand, as if the director's thunderous rage had nothing to do with him.

"He didn't kill the person, so interrogating him won't make a difference."

Swish!

All eyes instantly focused on Lin Chen.

Li Mingyu exploded on the spot, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Lin Chen! Are you fucking talking nonsense?"

"The chain of evidence is right here, and you just contradict it all with a single word?"

"Do you think you're some kind of god, and we're all fools?"

Lin Chen's pen suddenly stopped.

He slowly raised his eyelids, and his eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness, now held a sharp, all-knowing insight.

"Chain of evidence? That's something they fed to you."

He stood up and walked to the large screen displaying the autopsy report.

"The deceased was dismembered, cooked, and deboned with professional skill, the cuts were smooth, and there was no hesitation or carelessness."

"This shows that the person who did it was either professionally trained in anatomy or an experienced butcher."

As Lin Chen spoke, he casually pulled up Old Zhao's personal information and medical examination report.

"Zhao Dahai, 53 years old, early stage of Parkinson's syndrome."

On the screen, a surveillance video of Old Zhao pruning roses in the garden was displayed, and his hands were trembling slightly uncontrollably.

"A person whose hands tremble even when holding scissors, do you expect him to precisely chop a person into hundreds of pieces, each one uniform and separating the flesh from the bone?"

A mocking smile curled at the corner of Lin Chen's mouth.

"Is he a surgeon or a Michelin-starred chef?"

"..."

Li Mingyu opened his mouth, but the anger on his face instantly froze, and he couldn't utter a single word.

In the conference room, the other detectives looked at each other, their eyes revealing a sudden realization.

Yes, they were all fooled by that perfect confession, but they overlooked this most basic logical flaw!

Lin Chen ignored everyone's reactions, walked straight to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and drew a big red circle on Wang Defa's kind-looking photo.

"Wang Defa has extreme mysophobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a perverse desire for control."

"He can appreciate bloodshed, but he will never allow filth to appear on his territory."

"Let a gardener chop people into mincemeat in his villa, leaving the whole place covered in blood and entrails?"

Lin Chen pressed the tip of his pen heavily against Wang Defa's face, his tone resolute.

"He thinks it's dirty."

These two words, like a heavy hammer, struck hard on everyone's heart.

"So he needs a 'hand,' a shadow living in the shadows, to take care of all the 'garbage' for him."

Su Qingge's eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly stepped forward.

"You mean, hiring someone to kill?"

"No."

Lin Chen shook his head, his eyes becoming deep and cold.

"They are raised in captivity."

He switched screens and brought up the architectural diagram of the hillside villa.

"I asked my colleagues in the technical department to help analyze this drawing, and they found something very interesting."

He pointed with a laser pointer at several intricate red lines inside the main building.

"These are the ventilation ducts for the villa."

"But their size far exceeds that of a typical dwelling, with a diameter large enough for an adult to crawl on."

"Moreover, their layout is very strange, connecting the master bedroom, the study, the basement, and even... the dog cage."

A chilling deduction gradually took shape in Lin Chen's description.

"This 'shadow' lives in the wall cavity of the villa."

Lin Chen's voice was very low, yet it seemed to lower the temperature of the entire conference room by several degrees.

"He fell asleep listening to Wang Defa's breathing and judged his master's mood by the smell of his cigars, like a loyal and hungry hunting dog kept in the dark, waiting for the command to tear it apart at any time."

"hiss--"

A collective gasp filled the conference room.

"A real-life version of Parasite?"

Li Mingyu subconsciously made a sarcastic remark, but this time, his tone was devoid of sarcasm, only filled with horror.

"But...how can you prove it?"

"prove?"

Lin Chen sneered, turned around, and his eyes gleamed with the excitement a hunter has when he sees his prey.

"Of course, it's about luring the snake out of its hole."

He looked around at everyone, finally fixing his gaze on Su Qingge, a cunning smile playing on his lips.

"Wang Defa is the kind of person who is arrogant, suspicious, and pursues absolute control and perfection."

"Team Leader Su, you need to contact a few media outlets we trust right now and release a false message."

Lin Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a magical power that allowed him to control the entire situation.

"For example, the police found the deceased's lost cell phone in the sewers near Wang Defa's villa."

"After technical recovery, the phone contained crucial audio evidence, enough to overturn the gardener's testimony and directly identify the real culprit!"

"and then?"

Su Qingge immediately understood Lin Chen's intention.

"Then……"

Lin Chen's smile deepened.

"You then 'casually' reveal to the media that at 10 p.m. tonight, this 'key piece of evidence' will be secretly escorted back to the city police's evidence center by two officers, not by highway, but by the riverside avenue in the suburbs."

Li Mingyu was terrified and couldn't help but shout.

"You're insane!"

"Are we going to gamble the entire city bureau's reputation on this? If we're wrong, every single one of us will be fired!"

Lin Chen glanced at him, his gaze as if he were looking at a student who hadn't yet grasped the basics.

"Because Wang Defa pursues perfection and cannot tolerate any flaws in his work."

He walked up to the whiteboard and used a marker to draw a pair of sinister eyes on the kind-looking photograph.

"A non-existent cell phone is just a speck of dust on his perfect crime."

"He will definitely send his 'shadow' tonight to personally wipe away this eyesore of dust."