CHAPTER 1257: CHAPTER 1184: DETAILS

"Ren Kuangshan, we finally meet."

Meng Chengbiao held a thick stack of documents and sat opposite Ren Kuangshan. At first glance, there wasn’t any oppressive feel, like he was just a local government office worker in uniform.

The extremely tense Ren Kuangshan looked up at him, then at the tall young police officer beside Meng Chengbiao, who appeared somewhat simple-minded, and said with a taut face, "I have nothing to say, I want a lawyer."

"No rush for the lawyer, you’ll have the chance to see one later." Meng Chengbiao didn’t dwell on this topic and quickly moved on, "Let’s start with the process, state your name..."

Meng Chengbiao came along with Jiang Yuan, taking a government plane. They arrived quickly, with the plane flying at maximum cruising speed rather than economic speed. Liu Wenkai had caught the person and sent him in just as the plane landed.

However, after knowing that Ren Kuangshan was already in custody, Meng Chengbiao didn’t rush to interrogate him. Instead, he collected another round of information and prepared before bringing Jiang Yuan along to the interrogation room.

The number of interrogation experts who wanted to host and participate in this case was unknown, but at Jiang Yuan’s request, Meng Chengbiao, who was not well-known outside the province, stood out. Naturally, Meng Chengbiao didn’t dare to slack off and was fully alert.

First, by using the traditional procedural process like "name and age" to stabilize Ren Kuangshan’s state, slightly increasing his compliance, Meng Chengbiao then asked in a conversational tone, "Ren Kuangshan, how many years have you been driving big trucks?"

"Over twenty years, I guess." Ren Kuangshan answered indifferently.

He didn’t choose to remain silent because he knew he couldn’t get away. No need for legal expertise, any ordinary Chinese person knows how serious the crime of murdering an academician is. Ren Kuangshan just wanted to end it all quickly, including mentioning hiring a lawyer, which was for this purpose.

Meng Chengbiao also understood Ren Kuangshan’s mindset. He had encountered far too many suspects like this. In fact, most criminal suspects consider themselves a minority—which is indeed true—but as everyone knows, in China, minorities are essentially the majority.

Crazed killers are extremely rare among Chinese people, but most crazed killers are pretty similar. It’s like a school’s fast and slow classes, with the top honor students and the bottom struggling students; the states of the top and bottom differ vastly, but once inside their respective classes, you’ll see the students are uniformly mixed.

Although Meng Chengbiao was well-prepared, he didn’t deviate from the norm and simply said, "23 years, right? Starting from when you were 19."

"More or less." Ren Kuangshan realized that the police officer opposite must have thoroughly investigated his background. Considering the severity of the crime he committed, it’s not surprising the police tracked him to the border and knew his work history.

Meng Chengbiao appeared confident.

This was how he constructed his persona for Ren Kuangshan: an omniscient and omnipotent police representative, bolstered by a familial attack tactic.

If combined with a good cop, bad cop routine, it would cover almost all aspects of police interrogation. Even frequent offenders, without some special skills and luck, usually wouldn’t encounter higher-level interrogation techniques. Here, the assumed "memory recovery method" is considered a lower-level technique.

In reality, omniscient and omnipotent police don’t exist. Even with Meng Chengbiao’s preparation, he couldn’t possibly investigate all of Ren Kuangshan’s details in just those few days.

However, in the interrogation room, Meng Chengbiao would consistently reinforce this suggestion. Furthermore, he had a specific support brought along.

Meng Chengbiao turned to glance at Jiang Yuan, who had accompanied him. In front of Jiang Yuan was a computer, but unlike the officer beside him taking notes, Jiang Yuan’s computer had the backend open, ready to verify any details Ren Kuangshan confessed at any time.

If Ren Kuangshan confesses...

Meng Chengbiao picked up his teacup, took a light sip, pretending to be relaxed, and said, "You’ve really run far this time. Did you ever come here when driving before?"

"No." Ren Kuangshan frowned, becoming very wary. Although he did a lot of preparation for his escape, he clearly hadn’t given much thought to being interrogated.

"When you used to drive trucks, how many kilometers could you run in a month?" Meng Chengbiao continued.

"Who remembers that."

"What about approximately?"

"Varies."

"The distances used to be shorter, and now the distances are longer, right?"

"More or less."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you drive fewer kilometers in your youth, but more now that you’re older?"

"I never really calculated."

Meng Chengbiao smiled, "We can tell from your income. Is it because freight rates have gone down?"

Declining freight rates have always been a topic among truck drivers. When two drivers meet and light a cigarette, by the time it’s halfway done, they’d be complaining about freight rates.

Ren Kuangshan’s lips moved, as if triggered like a switch, and almost started talking extensively.

"That’s part of it, I guess." Ren Kuangshan restrained himself and continued to maintain a cold demeanor.

"It’s probably because you got married, right? When you’re young, you only have to feed yourself, but once you have a wife and kids, it’s different." Meng Chengbiao smiled.

Ren Kuangshan’s face changed: "What do you mean?"

Meng Chengbiao said, "I know you left money for your wife and kids..."

"That’s clean money I earned driving!" Ren Kuangshan said sternly.

Meng Chengbiao: "I know, you specially put it on two separate cards, not mixed, you asked a lawyer, didn’t you?"

Ren Kuangshan remained silent.

Meng Chengbiao stared at Ren Kuangshan for a while, waiting until the atmosphere hit freezing point, until Ren Kuangshan’s emotions had calmed down and he began to regain his confidence, then said, "And about the car accident, do you plan to pay compensation?"

Ren Kuangshan looked up sharply.

"Whether it’s murder or an accident, if someone is killed, compensation is a given, right?" Meng Chengbiao said, "You’ve been driving for so many years, you should understand this principle."

Ren Kuangshan gritted his teeth, unable to speak.

"In the language of our judicial system, this is called criminal concurrent civil liability. When the victim suffers physical injury or property loss, the victim and their family can file an attached civil lawsuit to claim civil rights. Moreover, the court can also order confiscation of property." Meng Chengbiao treated the interrogation like a negotiation.

He did not believe that earnest persuasion and sincerity could make the suspect honestly confess their issues. Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is a biological instinct, only by applying pressure can you squeeze out the desired information.

Of course, while applying pressure, you must also give the suspect a way out.

Meng Chengbiao looked at Ren Kuangshan and said: "We talked with the victim’s family, if you are willing to confess honestly and give up the mastermind behind the scenes, the victim’s family is willing to forgo the civil lawsuit. On our side, we can also overlook that bit of property you left behind, giving your daughter a basic living guarantee. The premise is that you must cooperate with our investigation."

Having just borne heavy pressure, the clouds of worry over Ren Kuangshan dispersed, and he spread his hands, saying, "Alright, what do you want to ask?"

In China, there is a standard for death compensation, which is usually based on the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the previous year, calculated over twenty years. Depending on the region, the highest is in Hu City, where the per capita disposable income of urban residents is 84,000 yuan, while the lowest province is only 25,000 yuan. As a result, for the same death, death compensation in some places is 1.68 million yuan, while in others it’s 500,000 yuan.

For victims who are elderly above 60 years, with each additional year of age, compensation is calculated as a reduction by one year, up to a maximum of age 75, which is calculated based on five years of the per capita disposable income of urban residents. Academician Lou actually qualifies under this.

Therefore, what Academician Lou’s family is forgoing is approximately 420,000 yuan in death compensation, 70,000 yuan in funeral expenses, totaling around 500,000 yuan.

This amount of money is not much for the adult children of an academician. What they are seeking is to bring the real culprit to justice, and definitely to pursue the death penalty for Ren Kuangshan.

This is a matter for after the case is submitted to the court, and Meng Chengbiao did not need to elaborate to Ren Kuangshan. As for what can be confiscated, under normal circumstances, only half of the joint property with the spouse can be seized, or to be more detailed, the court must first partition the property between Ren Kuangshan and his spouse before seizing the property owned by Ren Kuangshan.

Furthermore, the court must also ensure that Ren Kuangshan’s wife, especially his minor children, have the most basic living essentials and educational funds.

However, for Ren Kuangshan, who has already been arrested, leaving some money for his wife and daughter is almost the only thing he can do, or perhaps the last transaction of his miserable life.

Ren Kuangshan stared at Meng Chengbiao: "Don’t go too far..."

Meng Chengbiao waved his hand and said, "Let’s talk about the person who ordered you. Do you know him?"

"I don’t know." Ren Kuangshan shook his head slightly.

"How did you communicate?" Meng Chengbiao pressed on, as the space left for them to capture the mastermind was shrinking with the news of Ren Kuangshan’s capture being leaked.

For this target, Meng Chengbiao was not optimistic. The other party is likely a professional who would not easily leave traces, and by now, might have already left the country. However, Meng Chengbiao still intended to try his best without letting Ren Kuangshan notice.

Ren Kuangshan slightly shook his head and said, "At first it was phone calls, then it was through Little Blue Bird."

"You know how to use Little Blue Bird?"

"They taught me."

"They?"

"It should be two people, using a voice changer, but you could tell."

The quick question-and-answer session took place rapidly, but since there was no direct contact between the two sides, it made the investigation challenging.

Meng Chengbiao glanced at his outline, quickly adjusted his thinking, and asked: "Did you receive cash? How did you get the money?"

"They told me a place and a time, I went there, and got it," Ren Kuangshan said simply.

Jiang Yuan, who had been sitting in front of the computer all this time, raised an eyebrow and said, "Detail the time and place."