It all matched up.
After hearing Wang Dachuan and Xiao Zhang's accounts, Xu Mo realized that his earlier suspicions were correct.
This was indeed a case of using someone else's hand to kill!
In this murder case, Ren Qin was not an accomplice; she was the mastermind.
As for the man who had previously been considered the mastermind, he was merely an unlucky soul who almost took the fall.
The man's act of killing was a fact, but it was also an accident—an accident that could have been avoided.
The deceased's supposed business trip was all a lie concocted by Ren Qin. Her aim was to lure the man into her home, where a confrontation with the deceased would inevitably occur upon his return.
Come to think of it, even if the deceased was a foster child with no blood relation, after decades of raising him, some affection should have developed. Even if the foster child died an accidental death, Ren Qin should have been deeply grieved and would take time to recover. How could she immediately concoct a scenario of the foster child committing suicide by slashing his wrists?
Unless she had already planned everything from the start.
"Is Ren Qin still in the interrogation room?" Xu Mo asked.
"Yes, she is," came the reply.
Xu Mo nodded and made his way to the interrogation room.
Inside the interrogation room, Ren Qin sat in the interrogation chair. Even after confessing, she still seemed uneasy, her face lacking the frankness of someone who had revealed everything. It was as if she still had something on her mind.
Xu Mo, holding a paternity test report, pushed the door open and entered, taking a seat opposite Ren Qin. He had a questioning expression on his face.
Ren Qin, sitting in the interrogation chair, was first taken aback, then asked doubtfully, "Officer, I've already confessed to the facts."
She thought Xu Mo didn't know she had confessed and was preparing to interrogate her again.
"I know you've confessed," Xu Mo said, his gaze fixed on Ren Qin as if trying to pierce through her. "But you haven't finished confessing, have you?"
In an instant, Ren Qin's expression changed repeatedly.
Xu Mo watched her closely, becoming even more certain of his suspicions.
He picked up the paternity test certificate he had just brought back from the identification agency and said with a meaningful tone, "We've just learned some information... the deceased was not your biological child."
Ren Qin remained silent, biting her lips. After a moment, she nodded faintly.
Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Mm..."
"We've talked to your neighbors, and they said they often heard commotion coming from your house. It was your adopted son beating you, wasn't it? After all the hardships you endured raising him, he turned out to be a ungrateful wretch. You must have hated him deeply."
Before Ren Qin could deny it, Xu Mo waved his hand, signaling her to stay silent, and continued speaking.
"We also inquired at the deceased's company. The night before his death, his boss hadn't assigned him any business trip. He was just told to entertain clients that evening. You knew the deceased would either be back that night or the next day. I want to know why you told Qin Guofu that the deceased was going on a week-long business trip."
After saying this, Xu Mo leaned back in his chair, watching Ren Qin, waiting for her response.
However, Ren Qin merely opened her mouth but couldn't utter a word.
After about a minute, Xu Mo lost patience and simply stated his conclusion.
"You harbored resentment toward your adopted son for frequently beating you without reason. You wanted to kill him but didn't dare to do it yourself, fearing that as a woman, you couldn't handle a strong, middle-aged man. So you schemed to use Qin Guofu as a scapegoat to kill your adopted son, right?"
"No! That's not it! I didn't!" Ren Qin hastily explained.
Xu Mo slammed the table, trying to intimidate Ren Qin into telling the truth.
"Then why did you tell Qin Guofu that the deceased was going on a week-long business trip when you knew he only had plans for that evening?"
In the dim light, Ren Qin couldn't see Xu Mo's expression, but she could sense the anger in his tone.
"I... that's what he told me. He said he was going on a business trip for a week. It was all him. He told me he was going on a trip." Ren Qin's voice was weak.
"How did he tell you that? Over the phone? A text message? Or did he tell you in person?"
In the age of big data, everything leaves a trace. Call records and chat histories are easy to check.
As for someone's whereabouts, that's even easier to track, with surveillance cameras everywhere.
Whether the deceased had contacted Ren Qin the night before his death, what messages they exchanged, or if they had met, would be easy for the police to uncover.
Ren Qin fell silent.
She lowered her head.
Her previous statement had been a desperate attempt to fabricate an excuse.
Xu Mo was right. The deceased's business trip was entirely fabricated by her, with the sole purpose of luring Qin Guofu into her home.
Qin Guofu and the deceased had never gotten along. They couldn't even share the same space. The deceased disapproved of Qin Guofu's relationship with Ren Qin, let alone allowing him to stay overnight in his house. A fight between the two was inevitable.
At that point, Ren Qin would fan the flames, and the heated confrontation would escalate to a life-and-death struggle.
After a moment, Ren Qin lifted her head and looked directly at Xu Mo, her expression calm as she admitted to the truth.
"You're right... I raised that beast for decades. Although we weren't related by blood, we had a bond that was almost like mother and son. What about him? Ever since he found out we weren't blood-related, he started beating me from time to time, showing no gratitude. I'd had enough."
"Even a dog knows to wag its tail for its master. But I raised a ungrateful wretch... That night, he told me he had to entertain clients and wouldn't be home. That's when I came up with this plan. I lied to Qin Guofu, saying that beast was going on a week-long business trip and asked him to stay at my place for a few days. In reality, I wanted him to help me deal with that beast. I couldn't handle him on my own."
At this point, Ren Qin stopped.
She was calmer now, her earlier unease completely gone. Having confessed everything, she had nothing left to worry about.
The subsequent events didn't need to be recounted, as she had already mentioned them before, and Xu Mo was already aware.
Wang Dachuan, who was sitting beside Xu Mo, widened his eyes in disbelief. The conversation between Xu Mo and Ren Qin had completely overturned his understanding of the case.
Wow... so Ren Qin was the mastermind!?
And that Qin Guofu was just a scapegoat. What's more, the old man still had no idea he had been used as a pawn.
Xu Mo is amazing!
If it weren't for Xu Mo suddenly realizing this, the case might have been hastily closed.
"However..." Xu Mo spoke again, "I still have one thing that puzzles me. Qin Guofu killed your adopted son, which was what you wanted, right? Why did you go through the trouble of staging a suicide scene?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
