Before leaving the surveillance room, Xie Qingyan had the technician screenshot and archive both the man who appeared at 10:28 and the woman who appeared at 11:18.
"We need to identify the man," Xie Qingyan said. "He had contact with Chen Wan and was present on the night of the incident. He can't be ruled out as a suspect."
Yin Wuwang nodded.
Stepping out of the building, the sunlight was harsh. Yin Wuwang squinted and pulled sunglasses from his pocket to put on—this was the third modern item he'd learned to use correctly in this world, after the phone and the microwave.
"What do we investigate next?" He asked.
Xie Qingyan walked beside him, pace unhurried.
"Two threads." Xie Qingyan said. "First, identify who that man is and his relationship to Chen Wan. Second—"
He paused.
"The bar's business registration."
Yin Wuwang raised an eyebrow. "What did you see in the surveillance?"
"When Chen Wan came out through the employee passage to meet that man, his attitude was polite but firm." Xie Qingyan said. "If he were the owner, he wouldn't have used that attitude—an owner can simply throw someone out. His demeanor was more like a manager watching the place for someone else, handling something he didn't have the authority to decide on."
Yin Wuwang paused, mentally replaying the earlier footage.
True. Chen Wan's body language had carried a sense of helpless passivity. That wasn't an owner's bearing.
"So you suspect the bar doesn't belong to Chen Wan." Yin Wuwang said.
"Not suspicion," Xie Qingyan said. "Verification. The bank statements at Chen Wan's residence show he was repaying large amounts of debt. How could someone who owes millions simultaneously own an operating bar?"
Yin Wuwang clicked his tongue internally. He should have thought of this connection yesterday—oh well, if Fuguang thought of it first, then Fuguang thought of it first.
They got in the car. Before Yin Wuwang started the engine, he glanced at the rearview mirror—Xie Qingyan was looking down at his phone, checking something. The lines of his profile were very clean in the light filtering through the car window.
Little Deer Assistant 9527's voice drifted over: "Master, the rearview mirror is meant for checking vehicles behind you, not for looking at—"
Yin Wuwang mentally cut off its voice.
The car pulled onto the main road, heading toward the station. The only sound inside was the occasional navigation app announcement.
Waiting at a red light, Yin Wuwang unconsciously glanced to his right.
Xie Qingyan's profile was illuminated by light coming through the car window. He was looking down at his phone, brows slightly furrowed—the expression he only wore when highly focused.
Yin Wuwang looked away, staring at the red light ahead.
Today in the surveillance room, he'd been very close to Fuguang. Close enough to feel body heat through shirt fabric.
In the cultivation world, they'd fought across a hundred and eighty thousand li for three thousand years. The occasional clash, when sword edge met demonic energy, put them only a few zhang apart.
But a few zhang and a few inches were different things.
At a few zhang of distance, he could pretend he was just fighting. At a few inches of distance—he could smell the laundry detergent.
The light turned green. Yin Wuwang stepped on the gas.
"In the surveillance room today," Xie Qingyan suddenly spoke, gaze not lifting from his phone, "when you were pointing at the screen, that technician kept looking at us."
Yin Wuwang's hand tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
"Because we're in a couple character setting." He said, voice carefully controlled. "Getting close is normal."
"Mm." Xie Qingyan said.
Just one syllable. No rebuttal, no follow-up questions.
As if... he was used to it.
Yin Wuwang stared at the road ahead, not daring to look right again.
The word "habit" was scarier than the word "like."
By the time they returned to the station, it was nearly noon.
The business registration results came through that afternoon.
Captain Lin said over the phone: "Night Wanderer Bar underwent a share transfer five years ago. The original registrant was Chen Wan. Five years ago, it was transferred to a company called 'Long Wei Trading.' Chen Wan went from owner to bar manager, continuing to handle daily operations."
Yin Wuwang put the phone on speaker and set it on his desk. Xie Qingyan sat across from him, pen in hand.
"Long Wei Trading." Xie Qingyan repeated the name.
"I had someone look into it," Captain Lin's voice came through the phone. "The legal representative is named Liu Long. He's in various businesses, owns several companies. No criminal record in our system, but there are some civil penalty records—all gambling-related."
"Gambling." Yin Wuwang said.
"Right." Captain Lin said. "I'll dig deeper into Liu Long's background and let you know what I find."
The call ended.
The office was quiet for a moment.
Yin Wuwang watched Xie Qingyan. Xie Qingyan had his head down, rapidly writing something in his notebook. His handwriting was beautiful—every stroke carried a sword cultivator's force, horizontals level and verticals straight, each character's structure as precise as carving.
"Let me organize this." Xie Qingyan finished the last character and turned the notebook around for Yin Wuwang to see.
Three columns were listed:
Known:
Chen Wan transferred the bar to Long Wei Trading (Liu Long) five years ago Chen Wan's residence showed large debt repayment records (paid 5.6M, 900K remaining) Long Wei Trading's legal representative Liu Long has gambling-related records Chen Wan went from owner to manager, continued working at the bar
Inferred:
Chen Wan owed Liu Long a large debt for some reason The bar was used as collateral Chen Wan was "working off his debt"
To Investigate:
Specific relationship between Liu Long and Chen Wan Identity of the man who appeared at 10:28 in the back alley Identity of the woman who appeared at 11:18
Yin Wuwang finished reading and tapped his fingers on the table.
"Chen Wan's residence had no photos of girlfriends," he suddenly said. "A place he'd lived for years, without a single intimate photo. Either he deliberately erased all traces, or—"
"He didn't want anyone to know." Xie Qingyan picked up his thought.
Their eyes met for a second.
Yin Wuwang remembered what Little Deer Assistant had said before: Chen Wan's character had three contradictions—warm guy, scumbag, pitiful man. Even the author couldn't write clearly what kind of person he actually was.
Now he was beginning to think maybe Chen Wan really was all three simultaneously.
A person who was once a warm guy, forced to wear a scumbag's shell, while deep down being a pitiful man.
This kind of complexity wasn't rare in the cultivation world either.
[End of V2_Chapter 24]
Next: A former partner with a record, a puzzle piece that fits too perfectly, and a broken system that can't finish its sentence.