142: Like a documentary

Half an hour later, when An Zhengjun arrived at Unit 1602, Building 7 of the Gemdale Peak Residential Area, the scene had already been secured by his colleagues who arrived earlier.

Standing at the doorway was an older Police Officer with a somewhat complicated expression on his face, holding an unlit cigarette in his mouth as he stared into the room, clicking his tongue in frustration.

"Old Zhang, what's the situation?" An Zhengjun quickly stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

Old Zhang pointed at Zhang Wenhai, who was being firmly pinned to the ground by two Officers in the living room and still struggling and cursing, then pointed at Lin Wanxing and Su Ning on the sofa, who were being questioned by a Female Officer, and... Jiang Ye sitting next to them, legs crossed and munching on an apple.

"Well, the basic facts are clear. Breaking and entering, armed, premeditated, with multiple prior harassment warnings on record. This time, it was an attempted assault with malicious intent, and the victims have stated they absolutely will not forgive."

He paused, his tone turning very strange:

"And... there's video and audio recording of the entire incident, with witnesses and evidence all in place. The chain of evidence is so complete we could send it for prosecution and sentencing right now... but damn it..."

Old Zhang hesitated, but ultimately couldn't hold back, pointing at Jiang Ye on the sofa: "Xiao An, what exactly is that Photographer..."

An Zhengjun, of course, knew what he wanted to ask and waved his hand, interrupting: "What do the suspect and the two girls say? Is the process clear?"

"The suspect says he saw that kid wandering around, but thought it was irrelevant and couldn't be bothered to deal with him."

Old Zhang spoke, finding it absurd even as he said it: "The two girls' accounts are similar, saying the suspect was acting crazy on his own, so of course they wouldn't proactively remind him. They just cooperated to buy time and wait for rescue."

"..."

An Zhengjun's eyelid twitched as he glanced at Zhang Wenhai, still cursing on the floor: "Arrange a psychiatric evaluation for him."

"It's already been reported and requested. I suspect mental issues are unavoidable. Damn it, you really do see everything in a lifetime—a crime with a live broadcast on-site..."

Old Zhang nodded: "Alright, I'll take some people to the Property Management to review the surveillance footage and strengthen the peripheral evidence. There's not much else to dig into here—it's like filming a damn documentary."

With that, he waved to the other team members, and they escorted Zhang Wenhai, who looked utterly unwilling, away from the scene.

An Zhengjun took a deep breath, walked into the room, scanned the three of them, and finally settled his gaze on Jiang Ye:

"What exactly happened? Tell me in detail."

"Brother An, I'm confused too!"

Jiang Ye looked at Lin Wanxing, whose emotions were gradually calming down, then at Su Ning, whose expression had softened considerably, and spoke earnestly:

"The three of us had just finished exercising and were heading home together, chatting, when he suddenly barged in with a knife. My blood rushed to my head, and I thought I'd risk my life to protect the safety of the people!"

"But strangely, this Buddy seemed... to completely ignore me? The whole time, he was focused on Miss Lin, ranting and raving, with his core demand being... ahem, wanting Miss Lin to submit to him."

"I was ready to transform into a safety barrier, swearing to defend Miss Lin's chastity with my life, but who knew Miss Lin's eloquence was so good? She actually talked the guy into a daze... and then you Police Officers arrived just in time to uphold justice."

Lin Wanxing, listening to Jiang Ye's explanation peppered with strange phrasing, twitched at the corner of her mouth, feeling it sounded odd, but upon careful thought, it was indeed the truth.

Moreover, she hadn't paid much attention in the chaos earlier, but now, recalling it, this seemingly unreliable guy seemed to have been intentionally or unintentionally shielding her from the side... She subconsciously glanced at Jiang Ye, her feelings somewhat complicated.

Seeing Lin Wanxing and Su Ning both nodding in agreement, An Zhengjun frowned and walked over to where Jiang Ye had been "live-streaming" earlier:

"Is this where you video-called me earlier?"

Jiang Ye pointed at Lin Wanxing's bedroom door: "I started the call in the bedroom, but then, as you requested, I came out to live-stream, so I moved here."

An Zhengjun "hmm"-ed, walked into the bedroom to look around, then partially closed the door, testing the angle from the doorway. He returned to the sofa, recalling the angle from the earlier video, and fell silent for a moment.

Hmm... no clue at all.

Jiang Ye swaggering into the bedroom, wandering around with his phone, conducting a real-time live-stream without a care in the world... any normal person would have noticed.

The only explanation could be that this person had some cognitive distortion due to a mental illness.

"Brother An, what will happen to this Zhang Wenhai in the end?" Jiang Ye asked curiously.

"First, we'll see the results of the psychiatric evaluation."

An Zhengjun gathered his thoughts and replied: "If the evaluation results are normal and he has full criminal responsibility, breaking and entering with a weapon and committing an assault with malicious intent—even if it was attempted—would land him three to ten years, probably around seven or eight. If there are issues with the evaluation, he'll undergo compulsory treatment first."

Jiang Ye "oh"-ed, glanced at the newly appeared skill bar in his mind, and nodded in satisfaction.

An Zhengjun circled the living room again, carefully inspecting the doors, windows, and traces at the scene, and indeed found nothing else unusual.

Although he felt the case was bizarre in every way, with the parties' statements largely consistent and the evidence solid, he could only accept the bizarre explanation of "a mentally ill patient selectively turning a blind eye."

He gave the three of them a few more instructions, said nothing further, and turned to leave.

As the door closed, the room fell silent.