Chapter 142: The Truth Is Finally Out

It was such a simple case, yet, for eight whole years, there had been no investigations carried out to uncover the truth.

The culprit had been allowed to remain unpunished by the law.

Tears began to well up in An Xiaoning's eyes upon witnessing such a tragic event.

"Let's go and arrest the bad guy together, shall we?" she asked as she stood up.

"But I'm scared..."

"Don't be, I'll be here with you, so will Big Brother and Grandpa."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ma Jianguo protested, "Team leader, why am I addressed as 'Grandpa'!?!"

"I can't help it, you look too old," An Xiaoning answered with a chuckle.

"Hey, that's a personal attack!" Ma Jianguo hissed.

"Take all the items on the table, quick. We're leaving," An Xiaoning instructed as she opened the door and strode out, holding an umbrella in her hand.

They then drove towards Jiang Shui's house. The male victim's parents were rather puzzled to hear that they had requested to visit their eldest daughter's home but proceeded to show them the way nonetheless.

Since it was still the festive season, the victim, Jiang Ying's sister and brother-in-law were both at home.

Upon their arrival, Jiang Ying's sister, Jiang Xin questioned, "You guys are..."

"We're from the Special Crime Investigation Unit of the Police Headquarters. We're here today to inquire about the details of the murders of your sister, her husband, and her daughter," An Xiaoning explained.

"Please, have a seat. Feel free to pose any questions you may have," said Jiang Xin as she poured them a glass of water each.

"I suppose this is your husband?" asked An Xiaoning as she glared at the middle-aged man who was the same one in the photo.

"Yes."

After a moment of silence, An Xiaoning continued, "May I ask you a few questions?"

"Go ahead," the man answered, remaining unfazed.

"You two are the biological sister and brother-in-law of the victims, respectively. May I know if you shared a close relationship with them? Or were you guys unable to get along well and had a strained relationship with each other? Or were you guys just distant?"

"We didn't get along too well, but the differences we had doesn't really matter since we're relatives, after all."

With a nod, An Xiaoning continued, "Their daughter, Jiang Shui, is your niece right? May I ask why you removed her pants? As a father and uncle, you shouldn't be doing that."

"Removed her pants? I didn't. I really didn't," he quickly denied, as if he was being wronged.

Having already expected him to react that way, An Xiaoning had hatched a plan before arriving. Jiang Shui had remained in the police car, which was why An Xiaoning could speak her mind freely without having to worry about reminding Jiang Shui of her unhappy past.

"Wu Dayong, do you know how I found out about your misdeed? It was Jiang Shui who told us that you removed her pants, and her mother had caught you in the act," An Xiaoning said with a squint.

Unable to tolerate what she was hearing, Jiang Xin screeched, "Bullshit, that's ridiculous. It has already been eight years since Jiang Shui died, how could she have possibly told you that!"

"Indeed, she had passed on eight years ago. But she had also remained at home for eight years as she did not dare to go out. She's really too young, at only five years old. I've gotten Inspector Ma to take several photos, which we showed Jiang Shui, asking her to identify the culprit. She pointed out that it was your husband who did it. She even began to tremble in fear upon seeing the photo of your husband. If he wasn't the one who did it, I'm really curious as to why a spirit would still be so afraid of him, even after so many years have passed," said An Xiaoning.

"You're spouting nonsense, what spirit are you talking about? You belong to the police investigation unit of the city, yet here you are, spreading superstitious beliefs which aren't true at all."

"Please wait while I bring Jiang Shui here. You'll see for yourself if it's really just superstition," said An Xiaoning as she turned around to leave.

An Xiaoning's words had sparked a variety of reactions amongst Jiang Ying's parents, Jiang Xin, as well as her husband, Wu Dayong.

Soon, An Xiaoning entered with an umbrella in her hand before taking a seat and leaving an empty space beside her.

"Don't be afraid, we're all here with you. This is your aunt. Tell her, what did uncle do to you?" said An Xiaoning, pointing at Jiang Xin.

Jiang Shui did not dare to look at Wu Dayong as the shock robbed her of her senses.

Time crawled by second after second while everyone waited in silence for Jiang Shui to speak up.

However, Wu Dayong was completely unbelieving of An Xiaoning's words and simply thought she was merely trying to scare him by fabricating the story about Jiang Shui's spirit.

An Xiaoning began to feel a little anxious at the fact that Jiang Shui had yet to speak up, but she continued to wait patiently nonetheless.

Jiang Shui gradually became less afraid and began to speak while looking at An Xiaoning, who was anticipating her answer, "I came to Auntie's house to play that day..."

Jiang Xin and her parents were dumbfounded at the abrupt voice, while Wu Dayong began to look around for Jiang Shui's presence, in utter disbelief of what he just heard.

"Don't worry, take your time to speak. You may trust me and everyone else."

"Then, Auntie brought Brother and Sister to the garden to harvest some peanuts. While I was watching some cartoons, Uncle picked me up and put me onto the bed, before removing my pants. Mother came in at this time and witnessed everything. She then got into a heated argument with Uncle, and he began strangling her neck. Finally, Mother became motionless and Uncle... Big Sis, he's a bad guy. Return my mother to me!"

Wu Dayong sat on the floor in utter shock of what he had just heard. Meanwhile, Ma Jianguo had managed to save a voice recording of Jiang Shui's statement.

Jiang Xin began to wail and shriek in agony as she began pounding Wu Dayong. "Why, why, why did you do that? Why!"

Tears streamed down the faces of Jiang Xin's parents, as well as their son and daughter.

Wu Dayong was shocked speechless. He then admitted to the crime he had committed, after which he was taken away in handcuffs and brought into the police car by Zu Dong and Gong Le.

The rest then headed to the graves of Jiang Ying, Liu Yan, and Jiang Shui.

Jiang Ying's mother began to speak while crying tears of grief as she sat before the graves.

An Xiaoning got down onto a squat and turned to look at Jiang Shui.

"I've bought you some beautiful clothes, shoes, and hair accessories. Look, there are also some money and ingots here. I'll burn them as an offering to you later on. Hand the money and ingots over to the guards of the underworld, they won't make your life hard then. Jiang Shui, I hope you reincarnate into a good family," said An Xiaoning.

"Big Sis, I'd still like to be with you," Jiang Shui said, smiling sweetly.

Pursing her lips, An Xiaoning answered, "I'd like to stay with you too, but, that's impossible. Go on, I'll burn you all of these."

Jiang Shui flew towards her grave and her figure began to fade away into nothingness.

An Xiaoning then set all the items on fire and burnt them as an offering to her.

An Xiaoning waved back at Jiang Shui who was waving at her smilingly, clad in the beautiful clothing and hair accessories.

The case was cracked within just a few days of An Xiaoning's intervention.

Thus, she instantly became the topic of discussion amongst major news and tabloids across the country.

News of An Xiaoning managing to solve the case which had not been cracked for eight years became viral online, as netizens who were initially doubtful of her capability began engaging in discussions across all platforms.

On the other hand, people also began bashing and criticizing the police for their lack of efficiency in dealing with cases.

However, all of these did not matter much to An Xiaoning.

She began to feel an overwhelming sense of sadness as she listened to Wu Dayong's confession in the interrogation room.

After strangling Liu Yan, Jiang Ying, and Jiang Shui to death, Wu Dayong had abandoned their corpses in a cellar used to store sweet potatoes...