“It’s not my business at all. It was decided by Chief Wen. He said you’re my mentor, so I’ve taken you as my master.” Qiu Feng picked up a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Mu Yu.

“Well, I’ll go find Chief Wen later. You’d better find someone else. I can’t be your mentor.” Mu Yu didn’t take the water, just reached out a hand to ask Qiu Feng for the autopsy report.

“Master, if there’s anything I did wrong, please tell me, and I’ll change. Don’t go to the Chief. Look, I’m new here, and on my first day of duty, I ended up in the hospital. My head is still a mess now. If you don’t accept me as your apprentice, Wen will think I’ve caused trouble on my very first day, and that wouldn’t leave a good impression. Also, he announced that I’m Mu Yu’s apprentice in front of so many colleagues. If you change your mind now, who else would dare to take me in the future? If no one wants me, no one guides me, how pitiful would I be?” Qiu Feng hid the report behind him and didn’t give Mu Yu a chance to retort, blurting out all these words at once.

“You sure do talk a lot, don’t you? Hurry up and call Bai Xiang and Yan Yang to the meeting room for a discussion.” Mu Yu couldn’t help but smirk a bit, but she managed to control herself. It was really the first time she looked up to someone who was coaxing her. He was like a golden retriever wagging its tail.

“Yu, you’re here. The autopsy of the body has been completed. The deceased is indeed not Zhao Pengcheng. Its DNA is now being compared with the database, but the results haven’t come out yet.” Zhang Shaohui introduced to the detectives present, holding the photo of the corpse.

“The patrol officer who was surveilling the scene did see Zhao Pengcheng return to the rental house but did not see him leave. That’s why they notified us to make the arrest,” Yan Yang asked somewhat hesitantly, biting on the pen.

“I remember there are two intersections on the main road leading to the self-built houses in that urban village. There are surveillance cameras there. We can check for suspicious individuals later, especially those with similar body shapes to Zhao Pengcheng, not limited to men.” Mu Yu pondered for a moment, recalling that there were no surveillance cameras around the rental house, but there were cameras on the main road.

“Are you suspecting that Zhao Pengcheng might have disguised himself and escaped during the chaos?” Bai Xiang recalled that many people ran out of the burning building at the time, but they all stayed around because their belongings were still in it. However, many residents nearby rushed over to watch, and the police were busy evacuating the crowd. If Zhao Pengcheng had run away, they wouldn’t have noticed.

“Yes, the source of the body hasn’t been confirmed yet. I guess it’s very likely a member of the theft gang.” Mu Yu had dealt with several cases committed by this gang. They had killed several innocent jewelry store employees, and one of them had a child just over one year old. Just at this point, she was so angry that she felt an irresistible urge to grind her teeth.

“By the way, what was the cause of death?” Qiu Feng noticed that Mu Yu’s train of thought had completely deviated and hurriedly brought back the point. Since the identity of the deceased was still uncertain, it might be better to discuss the cause of death first.

“The deceased had open eyes, with no signs of trichiasis. There were no red spots, blisters, or local tissue necrosis inflammatory reactions on the surface of the body. Moreover, through the autopsy, there were no traces of burns, and no smoke or soot in the airway. So it was cremated after death. There was an increase in gastric secretions in its stomach, and there were obvious signs of food chyme, indicating death within two hours of breakfast. Additionally, during the toxicological examination of the food, we’ve found cyanide dimethyl mercury, which is the cause of death. The time the body was discovered was 10 a.m., probably around the time the deceased had breakfast, and someone poisoned him.” Zhang Shaohui analyzed the cause of death for the detectives.

“Can you analyze where the deceased had breakfast?” Mu Yu pondered, unsure if the food chyme could still determine the type of food.

“We only found some poorly digestible fried foods, but there are plenty of fried foods for breakfast, like fried dough sticks and pancakes. These kinds of breakfast are common everywhere,” Zhang replied, somewhat puzzled.

“If the culprit and the deceased arranged to meet at the rental room, they must have had breakfast nearby, not far away. Is there anything else?” Mu Yu inquired.

“Basically, just the DNA comparison left.”

“Alright, let’s split up then. Bai Xiang, take Zheng Xiaojie and Wei Chen to retrieve all the nearby surveillance footage and examine it carefully. Yan Yang, go find Chief Wen and go through the files of those theft cases again, re-scrutinize the families of the victims to see if there are any clues. You,” Mu Yu pointed to Qiu Feng, “come with me.”

“Me? With you?” Qiu Feng was somewhat surprised.

“Sure, aren’t you supposed to be my apprentice? Shouldn’t I test you first to see if you’re qualified to be my apprentice?”

“Yu, why can’t I go with you? It’s always been me before.” Yan Yang hadn’t expected that Mu Yu would ask him to stay behind alone to look up information.

“Your task is also important, who knows, the murderer might be among these relatives.” Mu Yu left and didn’t even look back.

“Great! I can go investigate the case with mentor.” Qiu Feng jumped with joy.

“Oh right, you take the car keys, you’ll drive.” Mu Yu turned around and said.

“Yes! Mentor.”

“Yun, I’ll still call you Yu in private, calling you mentor makes you sound old.”

The weather was hot, and the air conditioning in the police car wasn’t working well at all. Before long, Qiu Feng was sweating a lot.

“Can you focus on driving? It’s already this hot, listening to your chatter makes it even hotter.” Mu Yu couldn’t help but turn off the air conditioning in the car, then rolled down the windows, letting in a breeze that was obviously more comfortable than the air conditioning.

“Yu, were you always this quiet before?” Qiu Feng remembered the first time he saw Mu Yu. Although he was very nervous at the time, he heard Mu Yu talking to her mentor. Oh right? Suddenly, Qiu Feng remembered something. When Mu Yu saved him, she came with her mentor. Later, the questioning detective said that day they had received a tip-off and went to investigate, but ended up accidentally saving him. However, when Wen mentioned his colleagues just now, he didn’t mention Mu Yu’s mentor.

“Not fond of talking,” Mu Yu replied, looking silently out the window again.

Qiu Feng was curious about where Mu Yu’s mentor had gone, but he forcibly held back. Wen said something happened three years ago. Also, he noticed a photo lying face down on Mu Yu’s desk, and he vaguely felt that whatever happened three years ago that caused a huge change in Mu Yu’s personality must be related to her mentor.

“It’s rare for you to be silent.” Mu Yu hadn’t heard Qiu Feng speak for a while and turned to look at him.

“I guess we’re almost there, mentor.” Qiu Feng pointed outside.

“I’ve told you countless times, don’t call me mentor.” Mu Yu felt inexplicably annoyed whenever she heard this word.

Back then, she also talked a lot when she was with Tang Jiaxing, her mentor.

“Mentor, that corpse is exactly the Jurenguan (the swollen appearance of a drown body), right? It smells terrible. I’ll need to take a good shower when we get back. I’ve never encountered something like this back in the police academy. This time, I’ve really broadened my horizons. It’s great to have you be my mentor.”

Every time she was so chatty, Tang would just smile and then patiently tell her about some cases he had encountered or suspects he had caught.

“Yu, we’re here.”

Mu Yu was pulled back from her reminiscence by Qiu Feng.

“Oh, okay, bring your notebook, we need to make detailed records later.”

“This is a T-junction, and the rental building is at the intersection. There are a total of 7 breakfast stalls on these two streets, each selling fried foods. We’ll start by asking these seven stalls, and if we don’t get any leads, I’ll broaden the search.” Qiu Feng took out his notebook and reported the details.

“When did you investigate this?” Mu Yu was somewhat surprised; this young man seemed to go beyond her expectation.

“It was during the meeting. When Dr. Zhang mentioned breakfast, I already had these breakfast stalls marked on the map.”

“Good, then let’s split up and ask. That way we can save time.” Mu Yu took the map that Qiu Feng had prepared.

“Okay. Let’s meet in the middle from both sides. If there’s any update, call me immediately.” Qiu Feng shook his phone at her.

They were at the urban village, and most snack shops were planning to close after the morning business. It was already noon, and except for a few that were still serving lunch, most of the other shops were closed.

“Sir, do you have any surveillance cameras here?” Qiu Feng entered a shop where the shopkeeper and his wife were busy trimming vegetables.

“We’re just a small hole-in-the-wall place, what valuable stuff do we have to monitor?” The man didn’t look up.

“Have you seen this person in the photo?” Qiu Feng handed over Zhao Pengcheng’s picture.

“Who are you?” The boss became wary all of a sudden.

“I’m a police officer. I’m still in my probationary period and don’t have my credentials with me. I can call my mentor if you want.” Qiu Feng scratched his head, embarrassed about his identity.

“As long as you’re not urban management officers (responsible for managing street vendors in China), we’re running a legitimate business here. This person, did he have breakfast here this morning? He has a scar on his face right? So I remember him quite clearly.” The man carefully examined the photo of Zhao Pengcheng and had his wife take a look.

Qiu Feng was delighted to hear this, unexpectedly, besides being sent to the hospital today, things went smoothly.

“Did he have any companions?” Qiu Feng hurriedly asked.

“He was with a woman and a child having breakfast here. The child was particularly naughty and knocked over the vinegar on the table, so I remember it quite vividly,” the woman chimed in, recalling the incident where she had a brief argument with the woman because of it.

“Alright, I’ll call my mentor right away.”