The next morning, the captain is still waiting for his release. He's worried that the police will come to arrest him, but the lieutenant reassures him that the case is over. The lieutenant tells the captain that it's unclear whether or not he drowned. He also tells him not to be scared, because he's heard the witness say that he saw someone else instead of the captain, and that's the first time he'd heard him say that. He doesn't believe that the murder was random, but he does believe that it was violent and cruel. He says that even if the murder were random, it wouldn't be the same as the murder of nian . He adds that, with the current technology, they don't know if the diatoms were present in the body before or after the murder. They can't even tell if the body was cut by a propeller or if it entered the water after it had been cut. This is the way criminal cases are solved, the lieutenant says. The captain says that if the police come looking for him, he'll be waiting until he finishes the cigarette he gave him.