Sang Tong glanced at the noodles in Ye Jinchen’s bowl. Red chili oil floated on the surface of the bone broth, making it look quite delicious. She decided to try it next time.

She was sipping on her soy milk through a straw, but there was still some left in the cup, and now she was starting to feel a bit full…

“Captain, about yesterday’s case…” It felt rude to just stare at someone eating, but saying nothing seemed awkward too. After thinking it over, Sang Tong decided it was better to talk about something useful and reliable.

“We don’t discuss cases during meals,” Ye Jinchen said, looking up. Sang Tong obediently replied with an “Oh.”

Ye Jinchen’s eating speed didn’t seem fast; in fact, it was almost elegant. But while Sang Tong still hadn’t finished her soy milk, he had already eaten two bowls of noodles.

“Are you done eating?” Ye Jinchen put down his chopsticks and asked Sang Tong.

“Yes,” she quickly answered, puffing her cheeks as she finished the soy milk in one gulp.

“Like a little squirrel,” Ye Jinchen thought to himself.

By the time they finished breakfast, the cafeteria was gradually filling up. Not seeing anyone from Group 8, Sang Tong and Ye Jinchen tidied up their dishes and left through the cafeteria’s main entrance.

It was still before eight o’clock when they returned to the office, and it was completely empty inside. Ye Jinchen went to his desk while Sang Tong stood at the door, not moving.

“You sit here,” Ye Jinchen said, pointing to the seat beside him.

Sang Tong: ...

She scanned around. There were eight desks, six were taken by the original six team members, and one corner desk was piled half a person’s height with various files.

She wanted to sit in the corner but didn’t dare ask.

If that weren’t the only empty seat, she truly wouldn’t want to sit next to him!

The leader had spoken, so there was no reason to refuse. It felt exactly like when she was in school and had to sit next to the teacher’s podium—pressure at max…

“These are the materials from yesterday’s case. Take a look first,” Ye Jinchen placed a thick stack of documents in front of Sang Tong.

“Okay,” Sang Tong nodded and resignedly began her day as a worker bee.

She gave the files a quick glance. Not only was there information about yesterday’s case, but also two previous cases.

The first charred body case happened three months ago in a town below. Because only one set of footprints was found at the scene and other evidence was insufficient, it was initially classified as a suicide.

The second case occurred two months ago in a county near the city. During the investigation, some doubts were raised by officers, and further inquiry revealed signs very similar to the first case. That’s when it was escalated to the provincial level and assigned to Team 8, already several months ago.

Sang Tong examined the files carefully. The similarities between the three cases were quite obvious: all scenes were in relatively remote areas near water sources, and all involved charred bodies.

There was a smell of gasoline at the scenes, but no containers were found. Based on the degree of burning, about five liters or more would have been needed, yet no trace of gasoline containers had been found in any case.

“The comparison results are in the socks belong to the deceased,” Xu Ran yawned as he walked into the office.

Sang Tong wasn’t surprised, since she had already seen the scene. That kind of speed was truly Team Eight’s efficiency, much faster than what she was used to in the county.

Although Team 8 always handled cases urgently, a full autopsy report would still take some time. For now, the preliminary conclusion was that the deceased had been burned to death.

“Get ready. We leave the scene at 8:30,” Ye Jinchen stood up and said to Sang Tong.

“Okay,” she replied, then watched as Ye Jinchen and Xu Ran left. She didn’t ask any further since there wasn’t much to prepare.

It was hot outside, so she just brought a bottle of water to avoid yesterday’s problem of barely getting a sip. Thinking it over, she brought two extra bottles.

At 8:35, Sang Tong and Ye Jinchen got into a car together. The car looked a bit flashy, not like something the bureau would usually use. Sang Tong only glanced once and didn’t dare ask.

“Are we going to the scene again today?” Sang Tong asked.

“Yeah, but before that, we have to go somewhere else first,” Ye Jinchen said.

Since he didn’t say where, Sang Tong didn’t press. She had just arrived and didn’t know the area, following the leader was the best choice.

“Save your number and add me on WeChat to make contacting easier.” As they reached an intersection, a black phone suddenly appeared in front of Sang Tong.

She instinctively took it, then heard the other say, “The password is 110.”

Sang Tong: ...

She didn’t want to know her leader’s phone password at all!

Her little inner rebel was clawing away, but her face showed nothing. She unlocked the phone, entered the password, then added her own name under the contacts.

“Should I open WeChat?” Her finger hovered over the green app, and she couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah, I didn’t memorize my WeChat ID. Scan my code yourself,” Ye Jinchen said, driving seriously.

Sang Tong, having received a reply, opened Ye Jinchen’s WeChat. She had to admit, his chat list looked very much like that of a hardworking professional, all members of Team Eight.

His profile picture was just a black square. Sang Tong thought for a moment, then opened her own WeChat QR code, took his phone, scanned it, and clicked “Approve.” After switching phones a few times and editing remarks, she finally finished.

“Added,” Sang Tong said.

“Okay,” came the response. “Join Team Eight’s group chat. All the other colleagues are in there.”

“Oh,” Sang Tong replied and obediently began adding the group and other colleagues. She guessed everyone was busy, as there was little response.

After all that fuss, Sang Tong finally finished. When the traffic light turned red and the road was clear, she returned the phone to Ye Jinchen.

To avoid awkward silence, she kept her eyes on the phone, but after a while, she worried her leader might think she was slacking off by playing on her phone. So she put it away, feeling awkward and unsure what to say.

She had been dreaming and barely slept well before waking up this morning. Now her eyelids felt heavy and sore. Tilting her head slightly, she slowly closed her eyes.

Ye Jinchen caught her in his peripheral vision—she looked sleepy, eyes closed, head bobbing slightly. He withdrew his gaze and focused on driving.

Before leaving the office at three in the morning, he had finished reading Sang Tong’s personal file. Her resume was impressive, she took the college entrance exam at sixteen and finished a four-year bachelor’s degree in under three years.

After graduation, she joined the county police force, handling everything from murder cases to petty thefts. In just one year, she had been involved in over a hundred cases and played a key role in solving them.

At her age, such experience was extremely rare. Regardless, her personal abilities were clearly strong—even outstanding.

But those were just words on paper. Her true capability, he would assess personally. The provincial team wasn’t short of talented people, and if she had truly earned her place on merit, he would give her the fullest opportunity.

Though Sang Tong had her eyes closed, she wasn’t asleep. She had already seen some images from the scene and felt something was missing.

If there was a second person at the scene, why was there only one set of footprints?

Her phone vibrated. She opened her eyes and glanced down, a high-temperature orange alert from the meteorological bureau, marked prominently in bright orange on the screen.

County K had been rainy recently. She had complained about the wet conditions, making it hard to run scenes. She hadn’t expected it to be so hot here.

Suddenly, as if recalling something, she searched on her phone. The rainy season lasted from June to October every year. She saw that her province had also experienced many rainy days this year.

Images of the footprints from the scene popped into her mind again. The front part was already blurry, but the heel marks of the high-heeled shoes were especially clear.

The previous two cases were similar, only the heel marks of women’s high heels were found at the scene. No footprints from a second person appeared.

“Captain, I have a bold guess,” Sang Tong suddenly turned to the driver beside her.

“Go ahead,” Ye Jinchen didn’t look at her but listened carefully.

“The second person’s footprints were probably covered by the rain. Because of the heel, the high-heeled shoe leaves deeper marks that are less likely to be washed away. If the culprit wore flat shoes, their shallower marks could easily be erased,” she explained seriously.

The scene was by the river, and after rain, the shallow areas easily flooded, making it even easier to hide footprints.

“I just checked. It rained during the time the victim was attacked.” The culprit likely used this to disguise the scene.

Ye Jinchen stopped the car and turned to see Sang Tong’s excited face. His Adam’s apple moved before he said, “This possibility is very high.”

“Right!” Sang Tong smiled happily at the confirmation. Ye Jinchen responded with a quiet “Hmm,” suppressing a slight smile, not wanting her to get too proud.

“Why did you guess yesterday that the place near the water source was the primary crime scene?” The traffic light turned green, Ye Jinchen started the car, and his colleague asked, “Normally, when someone catches fire, their first reaction should be to run toward water. If what you said is true, then the victim’s running path doesn’t follow that usual logic.”

Sang Tong was momentarily stunned. Since she had seen the scene yesterday, she was even more certain that the victim ran from the riverbank toward the fields. But now, how could she explain that?

The victim’s socks were found by the riverbank, which could prove this point. The victim struggled by the water’s edge, which caused the socks to come off, leaving bloodstains near the heels.

“That is indeed strange, but what if there was something by the riverbank that frightened the victim even more?” Sang Tong spoke boldly.

“Frightened?” Ye Jinchen raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe, from the victim’s perspective, the perpetrator standing by the water was scarier, so her first reaction wasn’t to save herself by running into the water, but to escape from the killer. Unfortunately, she was engulfed by the fire after only a few steps.”

In Sang Tong’s view, the victim didn’t avoid the water to save herself; rather, there was something more terrifying there.

When facing danger, a person’s instinct to survive is extremely strong. The best choice is to rush into water to extinguish the flames on their body. But compared to the water source, there was something else she feared more. Besides the killer, Sang Tong couldn’t think of any other explanation.

That person poured cold gasoline on her, ruthlessly threw down the fire source, and then coldly watched her struggle...

Because she feared that figure closer to the water, feared that slowly approaching demon, she chose to run in the opposite direction, but it was all in vain.

“You make a valid point, but all hypotheses require evidence to back them up,” Ye Jinchen raised his chin and replied calmly.

Sang Tong pressed her lips together. She knew that... but didn’t it also mean that he hadn’t refuted her theory?

After a two-hour drive, Ye Jinchen took Sang Tong to the county. They circled around a few times and finally stopped at the entrance of a modern residential complex.

After showing their ID's to the security guard, they were allowed in. They found a parking space and parked the car. Sang Tong followed Ye Jinchen out of the vehicle.

Finding the correct building number, Ye Jinchen led Sang Tong up to the fourth floor, rang the doorbell of apartment 401, and waited a moment. No one answered. Ye Jinchen pressed the doorbell two more times, still no response.

Ye Jinchen did not give up and continued pressing, waiting for about five minutes before finally hearing some movement.

“Who is it?!” An impatient male voice came from inside, and then the door was opened just a crack.