And this time, he clicked the send button.

EPILOGUE

THE NEXT DAY, Party Secretary Li had a busy day in the Shanghai Police Bureau.

In a press conference arranged at a moment’s notice, Li took over the job of talking to the media, declaring that the ‘yellow mask serial murder case’ had been solved, though he didn’t bring up any details.

‘Let me say this first, it’s because of the excellent work done by Chief Inspector Chen together with his long-time partner Detective Yu that the case has been successfully solved.’

It looked just like another shrewd move on the part of Li, Detective Yu observed, without making a comment there.

Li had to give credit where it was due, particularly with Chen seen as being in Zhao’s favor. It might also have been a lesson Li had just learned. For crucial cases like this, at a crucial moment, he still needed Chen, so he had to openly sing the praises of the chief inspector. And last but not least, Li did not have to answer any questions too difficult for him.

‘For the serial murder case, the perpetrator was pushed over the edge at the death of his wife, killing at random. As for the detailed information, you’ll have to talk to Chief Inspector Chen. We have discussed it numerous times, but he really excels in criminology. In the meantime, he has been engaged with another important job from Beijing, therefore is too busy to come to the press conference today. He’ll go over the case with you as soon as possible, and as much as possible too. In short, under the leadership of our great Party, the Shanghai Police Bureau is confident of keeping the city secure and safe for the people.’

Li was indeed a seasoned talker, always politically correct. Yu produced a cigarette, shaking his head.

Inspector Chen had been engaged with another investigation, though not the one Party Secretary Li had mentioned in the press conference, from Comrade Secretary Zhao.

Chen had just learned from Melong some clues to the identity of the secret video holder: Miao Dehua, the son of a former rival ruthlessly crushed by Geng in the Party system. Miao had purchased the video for a staggering amount of money, for revenge, waiting for the most damaging moment to release it online. With the unexpected death of Xiang, holding it any longer could be less damaging for Geng, so Miao lost no time posting it on the Internet.

With the serial murder case solved, and with so many exposures of corruption in the Party system, people no longer paid attention to the video scandal like before. It was hinted in the official media that one of the anti-government netizens had posted the video online, and that it was a matter of time before such a law-breaking netizen would be punished, but for the moment, that was about it.

It was not a case under his investigation anyway, Chief Inspector Chen concluded.

Two days later, Chen got a short text message from Zhao.