The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 967 analyzes and discusses how to break through the two-person barrier.

Xiao Wang slammed his hand on the table, making the documents on it jump up: "Those two are too cunning! Zheng Jun acted like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water during the interrogation, clearly knowing we didn't have enough evidence. And Su Man, her answers were so flawless, without a single emotional fluctuation, she was like a machine!"

Xiao Sun stared at the densely packed communication logs on the computer screen, his brow furrowed. "Their communications are too cautious. All content related to the case is in code, and the calls are extremely short. I tried to trace those overseas numbers, but they kept jumping between multiple virtual servers, making it impossible to find the source." He pulled up a timeline chart. "However, I discovered a pattern. In the months before and after the incident, they would make a phone call every Wednesday night at 10 PM, with each call lasting a fixed 58 seconds. This timing and duration must have a special meaning."

A murmur rippled through the conference room as everyone speculated about the secret behind the fixed-line call. Lu Chuan gestured for silence, then, after a moment's thought, said, "Let's start with their emotional weaknesses. Zheng Jun is extremely filial to his mother, and Su Man cares deeply about her child. But directly threatening them with family ties will only make them more wary, and might even provoke a rebellious streak. We need to find a different approach, one that will make them waver on their own."

Xiao Zhou stroked his chin and suggested, "Perhaps we could use a divide-and-conquer strategy? Tell them separately that the other is about to confess. Create the illusion of mutual betrayal and make them suspicious of each other."

“This approach is risky,” Lu Chuan shook his head. “If they trust each other enough, it will only make them more united. We need more convincing ‘evidence’ to force them to believe us.”

At this moment, Zhang Lin suddenly remembered something and pulled out an old file: "When I was reviewing Zheng Jun's criminal record, I found that he was imprisoned for taking the blame for a woman. Although the file didn't mention the woman's name, the timeline is close to when he met Su Man. Is it possible that this woman is Su Man?"

This discovery instantly heightened the tension in the meeting room. If Zheng Jun had indeed gone to jail for Su Man, then the bond between them was far deeper than imagined, and sowing discord between them would be no easy task.

“Let’s start from this point.” A glint flashed in Lu Chuan’s eyes. “Tell Zheng Jun that we already know what happened back then, and that Su Man has been using him all along. Then tell Su Man that Zheng Jun is planning to reveal what happened back then in order to reduce his punishment. At the same time, fabricate some ‘witness testimonies’ to make them think that we have the whole truth.”

Xiao Sun frowned, somewhat worried: "Wouldn't fabricating evidence violate procedure? What if they find out...?"

“This ‘evidence’ won’t appear in court; it’s just an interrogation tactic,” Lu Chuan explained. “Our goal is to break down their psychological defenses and get them to confess their crimes. Moreover, we do have a lot of real clues, but we need to present them in a more subtle way.”

Next, everyone began discussing the specific interrogation procedures and scripts. Xiao Wang was in charge of interrogating Zheng Jun, and he suggested, "I will first talk to him about his mother's illness to build rapport, and then drop a bombshell to catch him off guard. When he is emotionally agitated, I will press my advantage."

Zhang Lin plans to interrogate Su Man with videos of the child's daily life: "I will show her what the child looks like at kindergarten, and casually mention that the child has been asking where his mother is lately. I will use the child's longing to touch her heart, and then combine it with the 'evidence' we have fabricated to make her feel guilty and panicked."

Lu Chuan listened carefully to everyone's proposals, offering suggestions for revision from time to time. The meeting lasted for a full four hours, with everything from the opening remarks of the interrogation to the transition between each question, from observing the suspect's micro-expressions to strategies for dealing with various answers, being repeatedly scrutinized and refined. The sky outside the window gradually darkened, but the lights in the conference room grew brighter, as a psychological battle against a cunning criminal was about to begin.

Of course, no violence was used during the interrogation, but some psychological tactics were employed. Strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely compliant with regulations, but sometimes it's necessary to use a little shocking force, so some things were generally accepted as fact.

The next day, all preparations were complete.

The iron door to the interrogation room closed again, and Lu Chuan pushed the forged paternity test report in front of Su Man, the edges of the paper deliberately yellowed. On the monitor screen, Xiao Wang was pacing back and forth in another interrogation room, holding Zheng Jun's mother's medical record. This meticulously designed psychological battle officially began with the click of two metal locks closing.

"Su Man, do you know why Zheng Jun picks up the child from kindergarten every Wednesday without fail?" Lu Chuan's voice was like a dull knife slicing through the air. "We found the nurse from that year; she witnessed Zheng Jun standing guard outside the delivery room all night." He turned on his tablet and played an edited "witness recording," the background noise mixed with the distinctive smell of disinfectant from the hospital. "The young man said this is his and Su Man's child..."

Su Man's hand, which was wiping the photo frame, suddenly stopped, leaving five clear fingerprints on the glass surface. But she quickly regained her composure, lightly wiping them away with her sleeve: "The police officer's ability to fabricate stories is even better than a TV drama screenwriter." She raised her nude-nailed finger, pointing to the DNA data on the report, "This forged document even has the testing agency's official seal upside down."

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room next door, Xiao Wang slammed Zheng Jun's mother's post-operative photos onto the table: "You think 200,000 yuan for surgery can buy back a debt of gratitude?" He deliberately raised his voice to make sure the sound could travel through the walls. "Su Man already said that your taking the blame for me back then was just a bargaining chip in her hands!" The technician behind the observation window immediately cooperated, causing a brief period of static to appear on the surveillance screen.

Zheng Jun's neck scar swelled to a purplish-red, and the handcuffs scraped against the iron table with a harsh sound: "Nonsense! She..." Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly bit his lower lip hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed the rest of his sentence. Xiao Wang seized the opportunity to pull up a video of "a fellow inmate's testimony," in which a blurry figure sneered at the camera: "That idiot Zheng Jun, he's been completely fooled by a woman..."

The interrogation continued for three hours. Su Man began unconsciously picking at the cuticles under her nails; this was the first time she had shown any emotional fluctuation. Lu Chuan noticed this detail and suddenly changed tactics, playing the child's kindergarten surveillance footage: "Your son wet his pants again today." In the footage, a little boy was hugging a faded toy, calling out "Mommy" in a childish voice to the camera. "The teacher said he's been having nightmares lately, dreaming that monsters are taking his mother away..."