‘Yes?’

‘For the serial murder case, one of the victims was hit while jogging out in the morning?’

‘Yes, the third victim, a young girl named Yan.’

‘Did she wear a mask while jogging out on a smoggy morning?’

‘That’s a good question. Yes, she had a mask with her – to be more exact, the mask had fallen aside on the bank, at some distance from her body.’ Yu went on after a short pause, ‘And for your question, I have another one. If you were aware of breathing all the toxic air into the lungs while jogging out in the smog, would you have chosen to wear a mask?’

‘Not me, I simply would not jog outside these days, but I don’t know about others. Some people could be crazy enough for their working-out fix in the morning. At least, I’ve seen mask-wearing people playing tai chi in People’s Park. Still, jogging could be a different story. Running, you’ll be hard-breathing or even breathless. Think how much more uncomfortable it would be with the horrible air and the suffocating mask.’

‘Again, your answer is no?’

‘I guess I would say so. But what comes over you, Yu? You’re suddenly turning into a mask expert. Is this about your investigation again?’

‘I’ll tell you more this evening.’

After spending more than an hour doing research for the preview in the afternoon, Inspector Chen concluded that it was impractical to prepare without seeing the documentary first.

So he took out the case report, the pictures and the video Detective Yu had sent him via Old Hunter in the park.

Yu had done a good job gathering so much at a short notice, Chen thought, with hardly any cooperation from Detective Qin.

Particularly so for the video, through which he skimmed, wondering how it could be related to the murder case.

He moved on to an examination of the pictures. With the video he had just seen, he paid more attention to those of Xiang. Not just those at the crime scene, but also some in the newspaper. She looked quite an intellectual in the Wenhui office, in sharp contrast to the image in the video in the massage room. Then he took a look at those at the crime scene. She lay face down on the street, with the half-finished cake on the curb beside her.

Gazing at the picture for a couple of seconds, he shook his head. He felt sad, tired, not like a cop, or at least not up to the job of a cop.

Still, he had to make a visit to the Shanghai Writers’ Association. He had no choice.

Before lunch, Detective Yu dialed Inspector Chen, who picked up the call instantly.

‘Something new from Peiqin’s talk with Lianping, Chief.’

Yu briefed Chen on what Lianping had told Peiqin regarding Xiang, Zhou, as well as other relevant information.

Chen listened without interruption.

‘It’s so nice of Lianping,’ he said simply.

‘Yes, she’s really nice.’

Yu then moved on to a detailed description of the investigation he had done into the yellowish masks.