How You Can Sue Me for My Crimes in Dreams

”Four years ago, during the Spring Festival!”

Li Jianye’s voice boomed, cracking like thunder next to their ears.

All the police officers immediately rushed over.

”According to the information from support staff, it was four years ago, specifically during the Spring Festival!”

Xu Huo stood straight, his head bowed in silent thought.

The four victims had been together since childhood, but they only became this inseparable around that time.

Nothing unusual happened before that Spring Festival, but right after, the four of them abruptly left. They gave no reason, and all transferred from Penglai City, two hundred kilometers away, to Jiangdong District!

’Nothing abnormal before that...’

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, pondering for a moment before turning his gaze to another spot.

”Transferring schools? A transfer handled by their parents?”

’You can’t transfer schools without your parents handling the paperwork. But if they had to ask their parents to do it... how would the victims have deceived them?’

’Keep in mind, that was their third year of junior high. Even if it wasn’t as critical as their senior year of high school, the pressure of suddenly moving to a new environment is no small thing. What reason could have convinced their parents? None. Elders tend to impose their own will on the younger generation. No flimsy lie would have been enough to persuade them!’

’Unless... there was no deception at all!?’

”A cover-up!?”

A look of shock appeared on Li Jianye’s face, but after a moment of thought, understanding dawned.

”But, the cover-up wasn’t perfect.”

Xu Huo looked at the information that had just come in and continued to think aloud, ”They were panicking. The moment the Spring Festival was over, they immediately changed jobs, transferred schools, and moved!”

”What made them so panicked?”

For example, imagine a towering cliff in front of you. The closer you get, the more terrified you become, which gives you an overwhelming urge to run away!

But the opposite is also true:

the farther away you are from the cliff, the safer you feel.

The same goes for a crime!

If the victims did something wrong back then and told their parents, and if their parents cleaned up the scene perfectly and hid a hypothetical body where no one could find it, the victims would never have behaved like this!

In fact... if the body was hidden, the perpetrators would have been even less likely to run far away!

They would only feel safe if they could watch over the hidden body, seeing that no one had discovered it. The moment they got too far away, panic would consume them!

Unless...

’Something could threaten them... The killer?’ Xu Huo’s mind raced.

’And the police!’

For someone who has broken the law, only two things can threaten them in a case like this.

One, people they’ve wronged.

Two, the police!

’Which one was it?’

”The thing that threatened them four years ago wasn’t the killer. Otherwise, they never would have settled for just moving to Jiangdong District.”

Xu Huo frowned.

If the body is the cliff, he reasoned, then the killer is... a tiger.

The cliff won’t move. You can always watch it, and staying at a safe distance is enough. But a tiger is different. It can follow you. It can move!

And just like that, in only four short years, the killer had followed them from Penglai City to Jiangdong District!

When facing a tiger, you run as far as you possibly can. You’d never feel safe just by moving from a ten-meter danger zone to one a hundred meters away!

”So it was...”

”The police!?”

Zhao Shui suddenly spoke, a look of surprise on his face.

”Running away implies they didn’t handle the body properly. The short distance they moved means they weren’t afraid of a person seeking revenge. Besides that kind of killer, the only thing that could threaten them is the police!”

In that moment, all sorts of theories flashed through everyone’s minds.

”Wait a minute,” Zhao Shui interjected. ”Doesn’t that contradict the fact that the killer left the bodies at an intersection?”

The theory was that the victims had gotten away with a crime, escaping the long arm of the law. That’s why the killer, angry at the police’s failure, tortured the four bodies and displayed them for all to see!

”What if a case was filed, but it went cold?” Xu Huo asked.

Judging by the victims’ behavior, they were in a state of utter, flustered panic.

When does a person become like this?

When walking on a tightrope!

”For example, say you have some... sensitive material on your phone. Do you panic when you’re the one holding it?”

”No.”

”Do you panic when someone else holds it? A little.”

”What if that person opens a hidden folder and asks you for the password? Are you panicking now?”

”Only when you’re walking a tightrope like that do you feel true, utter panic!”

”For the perpetrators, an open case file would be the most agonizing torture!”

”And given everyone’s reactions... it’s likely the investigation was opened, but then went cold. The police might never have even considered the four of them as suspects.”

A thirty percent homicide clearance rate means the archives are overflowing with cold cases.

The public has little faith in the police’s abilities, leading to a high crime rate these days.

For victims, this means only a thirty percent chance that their murder will be avenged.

But for the killer... there’s a seventy percent chance they can get away with it, as if nothing ever happened!

”Contact the Lanshan District in Penglai City immediately!”

The idea struck Li Jianye, and without a moment’s hesitation, he turned to Zhao Shui.

’Whether the case went cold after being filed or the body was just hidden too well... it’s all just speculation until we investigate!’

’Verification is the only thing that matters!’

”Four years ago, during the Spring Festival!”

Xu Huo stressed the point. ”Civil disputes, criminal cases—any incident that was reported or had a case filed during that time period. Pull all of them!”

”Got it!” Zhao Shui nodded sharply and stepped aside to contact their office support.

As long as a case was filed or reported, the police system could find it. It just took one phone call and a few minutes to pinpoint it!

For the time being, Xu Huo decided against investigating the four victims’ parents.

Using the prisoner’s dilemma on them would probably yield some useful information, but he figured it wouldn’t help them catch the killer.

At most, they were accessories who helped with the cover-up and cleaning the scene; they weren’t at the heart of the conflict.

After a while, Zhao Shui returned from the squad car carrying a laptop. It was considered a relatively high-tech piece of police equipment, but its thickness still made Xu Huo raise an eyebrow.

But it wasn’t a big deal. The police system wasn’t very demanding. Even in ’23, he figured police in some small towns were still using computers from ten or fifteen years ago.

”I’ve got them!”

”Penglai City, Lanshan District. Four years ago, early 1999. During the seven-day period including February 15th, 16th, and 17th, there were a total of...”

How many cases could there possibly be during the New Year’s holiday?

To be honest, the New Year’s holiday was always a time when police had to work overtime.

Especially during the Spring Festival itself.

Fires, brawls, civil disputes, drunken disorderly conduct, murder...

The quantity of incidents might drop during those few days, but the severity would rise.

The fires caused by fireworks alone were far more serious than your average emergency call.

”Why are there so many?”

Li Jianye frowned.

The sheer variety of disputes was dizzying. Trying to find one related to the victims in this mess... ’It’s going to be difficult.’

It would be easy if the victims’ names were mentioned, but if they were officially listed in any of these disputes or cases, they wouldn’t have needed to run in the first place—the police would have arrested them on the spot!

Xu Huo said nothing.

He was staring at one particular case, his eyes narrowed and his brow slightly furrowed.

”Wait a minute. Have our people at the station ask for the details on this case.”

Li Jianye paused and followed his gaze. He saw a rape case.

Victim’s identity: unknown. Suspect’s information: unknown. A complete mystery with zero progress...

”Is this related to our four victims?”

Li Jianye frowned. He couldn’t for the life of him see how this case could be related to the victims.

”Also, this case from four years ago...”

Four years ago, the victims weren’t very old. Almost no one would have suspected them.

But that doesn’t mean it was impossible!

Of course, that wasn’t the reason it had caught Xu Huo’s attention.

The reason was...

”There’s one clue I don’t know if you all remember.”

Looking at Li Jianye and the others, Xu Huo spoke, slowly uttering two words.

”The bar.”

”The victims had cocktails in their systems, meaning they almost certainly went to a bar. I don’t need to explain what most people are looking for when they go to a bar. What’s most important is...”

Looking at the others, meeting their eyes, Xu Huo slowly voiced the question that bothered him.

”The killer...”

”How did he know they would be at a bar?”