"Not admitting it, thinking the law won't punish the masses?" William Carter nodded. "Alright then, detain them all together. Don't forget to notify their families to come and pay bail. If they don't have family, contact their workplace supervisors. I heard some individuals are also involved in illegal street occupation and unlicensed business? Perfect, let's be strict and severe with the punishment. From now on, I'll have my colleagues at the local police station keep a special eye on all of you with prior records."

Before he finished speaking, a middle-aged man around fifty started shouting, "Who are you calling a repeat offender? On what grounds are you accusing us of assaulting the police? Do you have any evidence? If you detain us without evidence, I'm telling you, I have a heart condition!"

William Carter didn't raise his voice or his eyelids: "Do you know what a law enforcement recorder is? Illiterate."

Samuel Reed walked over at just the right moment and handed William Carter a printed document. He took it and glanced over it, then gave the ringleader a meaningful look. "What a coincidence."

With that, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Principal Evans, this is William... No, no, just busy with nonsense—do you have a campus security guard named Brian Stone at your school?"

The middle-aged man causing trouble was stunned at first, then his face instantly turned pale, looking like he really might have a heart attack.

William Carter held up his phone and gave him a smile. "Could you check for me? 'Yu' with two stripes and a hook, 'Lei' with three stones, male, fifty-three years old—it's nothing serious, this uncle is still vigorous at his age, got into a fight and was detained by our colleagues at the police station. After being brought in, he claimed to have a heart condition. If something were to happen to him here, wouldn't that be a big problem for us? We can't take that responsibility, Aunt Evans, please send someone over as soon as possible to bail out this high-risk scammer."

"I... I, I, I was just trying to protect the safety of the neighborhood!" The middle-aged man named Brian Stone was clearly panicking before William Carter even finished the call. "It was self-defense!"

William Carter chuckled. "So you know what 'self-defense' is?"

Brian Stone pointed at a few young men who were clearly separated from them. "It was self-defense! One of those guys is the murderer from last night! I heard it myself!"

William Carter: "..."

No one expected that a public disturbance would inexplicably turn into separate interrogations.

All the detectives who were out investigating hurried back to urgently collect witness statements.

"According to that old scoundrel Brian Stone, after he turned off the lights to rest last night, he was half-asleep when he heard arguing—two men, both with out-of-town accents, the dialect was so thick he couldn't understand much, but it seemed like they knew each other." Samuel Reed pushed her long hair behind her head. "We've confirmed that Brian Stone's home is very close to where the body was found, less than fifty meters in a straight line. He lives in a single-story house, and with the back window open, he should have been able to hear."

William Carter: "About what time?"

"Not sure, but he said he went to bed at nine, and he usually doesn't have insomnia. If he was half-asleep, it shouldn't have been later than nine-thirty, which matches the estimated time of death. There are also a few other nearby residents who said they vaguely heard something, but since there are often drunken fights around here at night, they're used to it and didn't pay attention, nor did they bother to check."

"Chief Carter." Eric Harris, with a band-aid on his chin, poked his head in. "There's someone here, come take a look."

In the interrogation room, Jason Turner was wearing glasses taped together with clear tape, and sitting across from him was a thin, small teenager.

"This kid's name is Kevin Parker, claims to be eighteen, but I think he's underage. The group incident at noon today started because he stole five yuan from someone." Eric Harris said. "He's the deceased Stephen Wright's roommate in a shared rental, and probably the last person to see the victim alive."

William Carter nodded and pushed the door open to enter.

Kevin Parker quickly looked up at him, and maybe because Captain Carter's presence was too strong, the boy looked a bit panicked.

Jason Turner: "It's okay, go on."

Kevin Parker twisted his hands together, mumbling like a mosquito: "He... Stephen Wright is from H Province, same hometown as another of our roommates, but not the same town. I heard H Province is pretty big, and Brother Stephen's hometown is even more remote. He only came last year, he's a good guy, very outgoing, and he was diligent about cleaning up... he didn't have any grudges with anyone."

Jason Turner asked again, "Do you know if he had any relatives or friends here?"

Kevin Parker's chin dropped a bit, then he seemed to remember something and quickly shook his head. "N-no, I don't know, never seen any."

William Carter interjected, "Where were you between eight and ten last night?"

Kevin Parker's throat moved, still not daring to look at him, and he answered softly, "...at home."

"What were you doing at home?"

"Nothing... nothing, just... watching TV."

William Carter: "Alone?"

Kevin Parker seemed to realize what he meant, and his face suddenly changed.

"It's alright, kid," William Carter pulled out a chair and sat down in front of Kevin Parker, smiling kindly. "This is the major crimes unit, we only handle criminal cases. Attempted theft of five yuan isn't a criminal offense, so don't be nervous."

Kevin Parker could barely sit still.