"Three years ago, you were diagnosed with liver cancer. You were optimistic, and even though you had cancer, you fought against the illness with determination."
"At that time, you came across some people who, despite being young and perfectly healthy, would constantly say 'I don’t want to live anymore' over trivial matters."
"You disliked their pessimistic attitude. You thought to yourself, 'Even I, a cancer patient, am facing life bravely without thinking about death, yet these young, healthy people are contemplating suicide over things like breakups or losing their jobs.'"
"You felt jealous of them and resented them for not valuing their lives. That’s when the idea of killing them crossed your mind."
"You thought… since they all wanted to die, you would grant their wish. You would send them to their deaths."
"After killing the first nine people, you planned to continue, targeting more individuals who didn’t appreciate life. But then, you found out that you had been misdiagnosed—you never had cancer."
"Later, you sued the hospital, used the compensation money to start a business, and made some profits. Remembering the crimes you had committed, you decided to donate a large portion of your earnings to charity, hoping to atone for your sins."
As Xu Mo spoke these words, Qiu Yuanhang’s expression shifted repeatedly.
From initial shock to fear, and finally, he slammed his hands violently on the small table attached to the interrogation chair, his emotions boiling over.
"That’s right! You’re absolutely correct. I was jealous of them. I hated them. They were so young, with so much life ahead of them. Why couldn’t they cherish it?"
Qiu Yuanhang seemed like a completely different person now, far from the meek and ordinary man he had appeared to be when they first met at the noodle shop. His eyes were cold and menacing, sending chills down one’s spine. Those eyes now matched the gaze of a typical serial killer.
Originally, Han Fei had thought that interrogating Qiu Yuanhang would be a challenging task.
After all, this was a case from three years ago, and back then, the police had found no traces left by the killer at the crime scenes. This alone indicated that the perpetrator was both cunning and meticulous.
Yet, this same person, who had meticulously cleaned up all evidence after committing the crimes, had been provoked into confessing by just a few words from Xu Mo?
No, it wasn’t just simple provocation. Han Fei recalled Xu Mo’s words and Qiu Yuanhang’s reaction to them.
It was as if Xu Mo knew the details of the case, the entire backstory.
That was why his words had such a profound impact on Qiu Yuanhang, pushing him to admit to the murders.
However, Han Fei was certain that Xu Mo couldn’t have known the details of the case beforehand.
After all, the case file had only been handed to Xu Mo that morning, and he had only just learned about the case then.
So… Xu Mo had deduced the entire story purely through reasoning?
At this thought, Han Fei couldn’t help but look at Xu Mo with astonishment.
The ability to reason based on case files is a fundamental skill that almost every police officer possesses.
But someone like Xu Mo, who could deduce the entire sequence of events after just glancing at the file for a few minutes, was truly one of a kind. In all his years on the force, Han Fei had never encountered an officer with such formidable deductive skills.
Even he himself didn’t possess such an ability, or else this case would have been solved years ago, instead of dragging on until now.
Since Xu Mo had already laid out the entire case and Qiu Yuanhang had confessed, there wasn’t much left to interrogate.
Han Fei mostly stayed on the sidelines, only stepping in at the end to hand Qiu Yuanhang a statement to sign and confirm.
This cold case, which had baffled Han Fei and his team for three years, had been resolved by Xu Mo in less than a morning.
As they walked out of the interrogation room, Han Fei was still reeling from the shock.
"I never expected this. Three years of headaches, and you solved it in less than a morning. Your reasoning back there was brilliant. It felt like you already knew the inside story of the case—you deduced everything."
"Impressive. I’m in awe," Han Fei said sincerely, giving Xu Mo a thumbs-up.
Xu Mo simply smiled, not saying much in response.
Because Han Fei had guessed correctly—Xu Mo had indeed known the details of the case beforehand, including Qiu Yuanhang’s psychological state at the time.
He had been able to reconstruct everything not because of his deductive skills, but because he had an unfair advantage…
Of course, he couldn’t tell Han Fei that.
"You have successfully apprehended the fugitive. Reward received—+2 points to physical constitution!"
This reward was directly applied to his body. Xu Mo could feel his physical condition improve instantly, and he estimated that his strength had increased significantly, though he wasn’t sure by how much.
There wasn’t much to ponder about rewards that directly affected his body—curiosity wouldn’t help, as he couldn’t exactly examine them. He’d find out when the time came to use them.
Having spoken so much during the interrogation, Xu Mo felt parched.
He excused himself from Han Fei and went back to drink some water to soothe his throat.
As they left the interrogation room, Han Fei noticed that Li Chen was still questioning the suspect they had brought in.
He pushed open the door to the other interrogation room and called Li Chen out.
"No need to continue. Let him go. We’ve already confirmed that Qiu Yuanhang is the perpetrator in the case from three years ago."
Li Chen: "???"
"I just started. I haven’t even asked a few questions yet, and you’re telling me the interrogation is over? Qiu Yuanhang is the killer?"
"Is this efficiency for real?"
"Old hands are indeed the best. I’ve only asked a few questions, and Captain Han has already wrapped it up," Li Chen remarked.
Hearing this, Han Fei chuckled and explained, "I didn’t do anything. I just sat there. It was Captain Xu who handled the interrogation. If you want to praise someone, praise him."
"Captain Xu handled it?" Li Chen sighed. "That makes sense. Captain Xu is as sharp as ever, breaking our station’s record for the shortest interrogation time again."
Li Chen had witnessed Xu Mo’s interrogation skills before.
While others might spend an entire night struggling to get a confession, Xu Mo could wrap it up in ten minutes.
Every criminal Xu Mo interrogated seemed to fall under a spell, answering every question honestly and obediently.
"Let’s hurry up and release the person we brought in," Han Fei said, glancing at the time.
It was only 11 a.m. After lunch, there was still half a day left. Han Fei wondered if he should bring another case file for Xu Mo to review later.