Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 428 Self-Immolation Incident (Day 8 of 10,000 words)
Liang Wei said that Ni Jianrong had personally gone to the Labor Bureau to retrieve the documents.

The deputy director of the Labor Bureau said that Dong Lu's medical insurance had a large number of usage records from the end of 1989 to the beginning of 1990.

So Ni Jianrong rushed over immediately.

Of course, Zhou Yi thought that Captain Ni wanted to express his gratitude and maintain the relationship, since the documents could be sent by fax and there was no need to go in person to pick them up in the pouring rain.

“Captain Liang, I think Dong Lu must have been admitted to the graduate program at Hongda University,” Zhou Yi said.

Liang Wei nodded: "Yes, you think the same way I do."

No wonder I searched through all the student files at the school before but couldn't find Dong Lu. It turns out she wasn't on the undergraduate student list at all, but on the graduate student list.

"Have you checked Dong Lu's graduate student information?"

As soon as Zhou Yi finished asking the question, he saw Liang Wei frown, and he immediately sensed something was wrong.

Sure enough, Liang Wei's answer was: "I checked, but I couldn't find it."

Not found? That's even stranger. Hongda pays all the medical insurance premiums, so how could it not be found?
At this moment, Xiang Jie said, "I went to Fang Gexin to check, and there is indeed no such person. Fang Gexin said he was unaware of it, and if they can't find it, then there is no such person."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but curse, "Isn't this ridiculous? If you're not a student of Hongda University, how did you get your medical insurance paid in!"

Liang Wei said, "This matter is indeed very strange. I just called their Vice Principal Zhang to ask about the situation in person. We can't always have them contacting us; we have to take the initiative to reach out to them too."

Liang Wei raised his hand to check his watch: "It's 11 a.m. now. I have an appointment with the other party at 2:30 p.m. Zhou Yi, you'll come with me then."

Zhou Yi answered without hesitation, "Okay."

Moreover, the timing was perfect, because he happened to have some other things to investigate.

After Liang Wei left, Zhou Yi immediately dialed the TV station's number and then found Ding Chunmei.

Ding Chunmei was quite surprised to receive the call, because she knew about the major case and the special task force; after all, the television station had better access to information.

She thought Zhou Yi was looking for her because of something related to the major case, but instead Zhou Yi asked her for Song Shasha's contact information.

Although it was strange, I still gave Zhou Yi the contact information that could be used to find Song Shasha.

Zhou Yi immediately made a phone call and quickly got in touch with Song Shasha.

"Officer Zhou?" Song Shasha asked in surprise as she answered the phone.

"It's me, Song Shasha, hello."

"Officer Zhou, is there something you need?" Of course she knew that a murder had occurred at the school, and she also knew that there were police officers stationed there for a long time, so she couldn't help but feel nervous when Zhou Yi contacted her at this time.

"I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Do you have some time now?"

"Yes, should I come to you, or should you come to me?" Song Shasha asked.

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and said, "I'll come over. Do you have a quiet place there?"

In the conference room, Liang Wei made a phone call to Xie Guoqiang. The experienced man had already sensed something amiss with the medical insurance issue. He needed to discuss it with Xie Guoqiang, after all, this was Hongcheng, not the provincial capital.

Standing by the window, Liang Wei suddenly saw Zhou Yi open an umbrella, walk into the pouring rain, and walk quickly away.

Liang Wei was a little curious. Had this kid discovered some new clue?
The rain was too heavy, and Zhou Yi couldn't see the road clearly. He could only check the road signs at each intersection to confirm his direction.

By the time I got to the graduate student dormitory building, I was soaking wet.

Just as Zhou Yi put away his umbrella, Song Shasha walked over and said, "Officer Zhou."

Zhou Yi glanced at her; Song Shasha was wearing a long dress, still exuding an elegant, scholarly air, but the hem of the dress was covered in rainwater and mud.

Seeing Zhou Yi's gaze fall on her skirt, Song Shasha smiled helplessly and said, "That's why I don't usually check the weather forecast."

Zhou Yi smiled, pulled up his soaking wet trouser legs, and said, "Me too."

Just now on the phone, the two of them arranged to meet at Song Shasha's graduate student dormitory. She said that her roommate had gone on a business trip with her supervisor and would not be around recently.

Zhou Yi didn't bring her to the task force for two reasons: first, she had nothing to do with the case and there was no need to add to her psychological burden; second, the things he wanted to find out might not actually be related to the case, so it was better not to make a big deal out of it.

Once upstairs, Song Shasha opened the door and invited Zhou Yi inside. Zhou Yi placed his wet umbrella at the doorway.

The conditions in the graduate student dormitories were indeed much better. Although Zhou Yi had never seen Lu Xiaoshuang's dormitory, he knew it was an eight-person room, and how good could the conditions be in an eight-person room?

The graduate student dormitory consists of double rooms, with the bed, wardrobe, and desk neatly arranged on either side, and a separate bathroom.

Song Shasha pulled up a chair for Zhou Yi to sit on, then poured him a cup of hot water and put a tea bag in it.

"Officer Zhou, my humble abode is simple and I have nothing to offer you. Please have a cup of hot tea."

"Thank you."

"Officer Zhou, you called me... because of that case?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the case."

"Oh, I see." Song Shasha breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Then ask me anything you want to ask, I'll answer everything I know."

"So, do you remember the last time I had dinner with you guys, you mentioned something about self-immolation?" Zhou Yi asked.

That's right, what Zhou Yi wanted to ask was about the night after they solved Zhang Hui's case, when he went to eat there to save Ding Chunmei.

During the meal, Song Shasha mentioned that the building next to their dormitory used to be a dormitory, and a girl there committed suicide by self-immolation, and the school later blocked the news.

When Zhou Yi learned that Dong Lu's medical insurance was collected and paid on her behalf by Hongda, but the school could not find Dong Lu's graduate student file, he immediately thought of this matter.

A girl self-immolated, and the news was blocked.

These keywords inevitably made him think of Dong Lu's situation.

Especially regarding the school's attempt to suppress information, to put it bluntly, unless someone dies, the school really can suppress the news.

Like steel mills, universities have security departments, which handle incidents such as theft and fights on their own.

Unless it really escalates to the point of causing death or serious personal injury.

Therefore, for burns like this, the school's security department is the first to handle them.

Given that most leaders tend to downplay major issues and dismiss minor ones, it explains why Dong Lu's graduate school information is no longer available.

However, he needed to understand the situation further and couldn't just tell Liang Wei without any basis, because Liang Wei had made an appointment with the school leaders, which clearly meant he wanted to negotiate on this matter.

He'll have to hand Liang Wei the knife then.

In response to Zhou Yi's question, Song Shasha nodded: "I remember."

"Could you elaborate on what you know about this self-immolation incident?"

Song Shasha said shyly, "All I know is what we talked about during our last meal, I don't know the specifics."

Zhou Yi persisted, asking, "I remember you said it was a senior student who told you?"

"Yes, I was a first-year graduate student at the time, and the senior student was a third-year graduate student. We had the same advisor."

"Are you able to contact your senior classmate now?"

Song Shasha nodded and said, "Sure, we even had dinner together last month."

Zhou Yi took out his phone and handed it to Song Shasha, saying, "Could you please call her now?"

"Okay." Seeing Zhou Yi's serious expression, Song Shasha knew he must have something important to say, so she took the phone and started dialing, turning on speakerphone.

A moment later, the phone was answered, and a woman's voice asked, "Hello, who is this?"

"Sister Yali, I'm Sasha."

The person on the other end of the phone looked puzzled, as if glancing at the caller ID: "Sasha? Is this your phone number? Did you buy a new phone?"

"No, I used someone else's."

"Oh, what's up? Is there anything I can do for you?" the person on the other end asked with a smile.

"Sister Yali, it's like this, I have a police officer here with me."

The other person was taken aback: "Police...police?"

Then he asked, "Are you the handsome young man we talked about when we had dinner last time?"

Caught off guard, Song Shasha blushed slightly and quickly said, "Sister Yali, Officer Zhou has some questions he wants to know, so I called you. Do you remember last year when you told me about something, about the building next to our graduate student dormitory, saying that a girl once set herself on fire in the dormitory?"

"I remember, so what?"

"Could you tell me the details you know? The more detailed the better, Officer Zhou is listening right here." Song Shasha emphasized this to prevent any further unforeseen circumstances.

"Let me think about it... After all, I heard about this from my senior..."

At this moment, Zhou Yi spoke up: "Hello, Sister Yali, I am Zhou Yi from the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Bureau. Please provide as much detail as possible, such as the time, the parties involved, etc. The more detailed the better."

Zhou Yi had one more thing to say: if you don't know either, then please ask your senior.

At worst, we can just nest them like Russian nesting dolls, layer by layer, and I refuse to believe we won't be able to find out the information.

Even if the school blocked the information at the time, there would always be people who knew the parties involved and had some detailed information.

If Dong Lu did indeed pursue a master's degree at Hongda University and suffered burns, then there must be people who know her who would know this.

Just like Lu Xiaoshuang and Xu Liu's roommates and classmates.

Perhaps years from now, the grand case will seem terrifying and mysterious to future students, sparking much debate. But for people today, it will not seem mysterious, only terrifying.

Song Shasha's senior classmate is named Yu Yali. She said that if she remembered correctly, her senior classmate told her that the self-immolation incident happened seven or eight years ago in the winter, before the winter vacation had started.

The building where Song Shasha and her classmates live now wasn't originally a graduate student dormitory; the building next door was.

When Zhou Yi arrived, he glanced at the building and confirmed that it was indeed less than ten meters away from the graduate student dormitory building, where there was a building of similar height.

Although it was raining heavily and there was no sun today, he could still tell which way was which.

This building is on the west side, and under normal circumstances, the sunlight it receives in the morning is affected by the neighboring building on the east side. Generally, the building on the east side would be chosen as the dormitory.

Yu Yali said that the two buildings are actually quite similar in structure, and they were originally built as dormitories for faculty and staff.

It seems that the dormitory was not built because many faculty and staff members protested.

Song Shasha asked with a slightly frightened expression, "Sister Yali, is it because this used to be a cemetery?"

"No, it's because everyone wants a house on the east side, saying that the houses on the west side have poor lighting, are exposed to the afternoon sun, and are hot in summer and cold in winter, so they made a fuss."

Upon hearing this, Song Shasha breathed a sigh of relief, then smiled at Zhou Yi and said, "Indeed... It's unbearably hot in summer and freezing cold in winter."

Zhou Yi didn't find it strange at all. It's human nature to be concerned about inequality rather than scarcity, so it's normal for people to make a fuss about it.

Yu Yali said that after the commotion, the school simply converted the building into a graduate student dormitory. However, there weren't that many graduate students, so only the building on the east side was put into use. Now, the building on the west side is used as a warehouse to store miscellaneous items.

Then the incident occurred in dormitory 404.

When Zhou Yi heard the house number, his heart skipped a beat. Although he wasn't as superstitious as his mother, the number was indeed considered unlucky.

The layout on the other side is the same as here, with two people per room.

Yu Yali said, "My senior told me that the accident happened in the middle of the night. Many people first heard a shrill scream, and then the people living on the fourth floor opened their doors and said they saw a person on fire running in the corridor while shouting for help."

Zhou Yi frowned and asked, "And then?"

"I heard that a brave girl grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and rushed over to put out the fire. Then the ambulance arrived and took the person away."

"Is someone dead?"

"I'm not too sure about that. Anyway, I heard that the school talked to all the students on the fourth floor later. During the conversation, they mentioned that after an investigation by the school's security department, it was confirmed that the girl's suicidal behavior was due to personal problems, which meant self-immolation." Yu Yali's tone was full of disdain, clearly thinking that this was nonsense.

When Zhou Yi looked up, Song Shasha looked even more distressed.

Yes, it's no wonder they don't believe it; it really is too far-fetched.

Regardless of whether this person is Dong Lu or not, even if it is someone else, it is not uncommon for people to have suicidal thoughts due to setbacks in life and relationships.

However, there are many ways to commit suicide, such as cutting wrists, burning charcoal, ingesting pesticides or sleeping pills, hanging, jumping off buildings, etc.

How many people who commit suicide would choose such a painful and complicated method as self-immolation to end their lives?

And then he rushed out shouting for help.

Self-immolation is not as simple as lighting your clothes with a lighter; it involves pouring gasoline or other accelerants on your body and then setting yourself on fire.

People who shout for help have a strong will to survive, and there will be many opportunities for them to change their minds during this process.

If this person is Dong Lu, then it's even more impossible.

At that time, a year and a half had passed since she was raped. Her ability to get into a prestigious graduate program showed that she had moved on from the trauma and was ready to embrace a new life.

Even if they haven't completely recovered, at least they won't take their own lives again because of this.

As for emotional setbacks, that's even more impossible. Based on what we know so far, Xiao Bing's feelings for Dong Lu can be summed up in four words: unwavering and devoted.

Therefore, self-immolation is impossible.

Was that an accident?
But this is a graduate student dormitory, not a special environment with open flames, so how could an accident of this magnitude occur?
Another very important point is some of the details in the rumors surrounding this matter.

A person engulfed in flames committed suicide by self-immolation, but no one described it as a fire. Even when the school spoke with students, they did not refer to it as a fire.

If it's a fire, such as a fire accidentally starting in dormitory 404 that causes severe burns to this person, then there's still the possibility of an accident.

But no one mentioned it was a fire. Why?
Because in the event of a fire, it must be reported to the fire department. Universities are public resources, and fire safety issues are extremely serious matters.

Is this the reason the school chose to conceal it?
Or is there some other hidden story behind this?
Yu Yali said, "Anyway, after the incident, dormitory 404 was sealed off. First, all the students on the fourth floor moved to this building, and then everyone moved there. The building across the street became a warehouse for storing miscellaneous items."

Zhou Yi asked, "Is it confirmed that the person who self-immolated was a girl?"

"Yes, it's a girl. All the people living on that floor are girls."

Song Shasha explained, "There are six floors in total here. The boys live on the first to third floors, and the girls live on the fourth to sixth floors. I guess it was the same before."

Zhou Yi nodded and then asked, "What about the other person in room 404? Were they in the dorm that night?"

"I don't know about that. That's all I know."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "Looks like I'll have to use a nested doll."

"Miss Yu, could you please help me find out some information about the girl who was burned back then?" Seven or eight years ago isn't too long ago. It's probably possible to find out about someone who is a senior's senior by nesting the information.

"No problem. Cooperating with the police is every citizen's duty. Besides, you're Sasha's friend."

"Thank you very much. Please do it as soon as possible. This is my contact number."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi thanked Song Shasha and prepared to leave.

At this moment, Song Shasha asked, "Officer Zhou, have you eaten?"

"not yet."

"Would you like to grab something to eat together? It's lunchtime now."

Zhou Yi raised his hand to look at his watch: "Oh, it really is. I'm so sorry to have kept you from eating. You should go and eat now."

"Aren't you... going?"

Zhou Yi pointed to the building to the east, which was obscured by the rain outside the room window, and said, "I'm going to go take a look there first."

Song Shasha looked up and suddenly felt a little scared. She had only been afraid to look at the other side at night before, but after that phone call, she didn't dare to look directly at them even during the day.

If that girl who set herself on fire had died, how much resentment must she have harbored?

As Zhou Yi was leaving, he suddenly remembered something, casually pulled out the photo the old dean had given him, pointed to Dong Lu in the picture, and asked, "Have you seen this girl before?"

He remembered that Song Shasha had only started her master's degree two years ago, so she definitely wouldn't have any interaction with Dong Lu. But he thought that maybe they had seen each other in a group photo somewhere, so it wouldn't hurt to ask one more question.

Song Shasha looked at Dong Lu and slowly shook her head: "Never seen her before."

Suddenly, she pointed to Xiao Bing beside her and said, "Isn't this Teacher Xiao?"

Zhou Yi asked in surprise, "You know Xiao Bing?"

“I became interested in French last year and attended a few of Professor Xiao’s open classes.”

Zhou Yi nodded, then that's considered normal contact.

Song Shasha casually said, "But it's strange, that night I saw Teacher Xiao coming out of the building across the street."

"Which night?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"It was the night I met you at the school gate. When I came back, I ran into Teacher Xiao and we said hello. Judging from the direction he was coming from, it didn't seem like he was coming from our building, but rather from the building across the street."

Zhou Yi was startled. Wasn't that the night before he went on his business trip to Anyuan, when he came to say goodbye to Lu Xiaoshuang? It was strange; why was Xiao Bing here at the graduate student dormitory building?
She had previously suspected that Xiao Bing might have followed her that night because he knew about her business trip, but she thought it was unlikely. Theoretically, Xiao Bing wouldn't have the ability to monitor and follow her right under her nose.

Now that we know he appeared at the graduate student dormitory, it means he wasn't following us and Lu Xiaoshuang at the time.

How did he know he was going on a business trip?

Leaving the graduate student dormitory building, Zhou Yi rushed into the rain and ran directly to the other side.

Although they have the same structure, the building opposite clearly exudes a sense of desolation as soon as you enter.

There was a musty smell in the air.

Strangely, the other party's door was open, and there was no one in the guard room at the entrance.

Zhou Yi peered through the window of the duty room. It was just as dilapidated inside, covered in dust, and looked like no one had been there for a long time.

This means that there is no one on duty or guarding this building.

Zhou Yi went up the stairs and found some traces between the third and fourth floors.

There is a straight line mark on the wall and ceiling, left by rust, and there are also traces of several expansion screws on the wall.

It was probably left behind after the iron gate was removed.

It's estimated that there used to be an iron gate between the third and fourth floors, probably to prevent male students living on the first to third floors from entering.

It was probably demolished after the self-immolation incident, after all, how many people would have died if a fire had actually broken out?

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Zhou Yi stood at the entrance and looked around.

The corridor was dimly lit, with dormitory doors on both sides.

Only at the end of the corridor was there a window, letting in a faint light.

"This is really suitable for filming ghost movies," Zhou Yi said with a self-deprecating laugh, looking at the eerie corridor.

He patted himself down; he didn't have a flashlight.

However, he touched the pistol at his waist.

This is the truth; all demons and monsters are just fluff!
Zhou Yi walked into the dormitory area on the fourth floor. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the sound of rain coming from afar.

The doors to all the dorm rooms on both sides were closed.

Zhou Yi looked up and quickly found room 404.

On the faded light green dormitory door, several numbers with peeling paint were written in black pen.

Zhou Yi stood at the door and reached out to turn the doorknob.

I thought it would be locked, but to my surprise, the door opened when my hand went light.

As the door was pushed open, the rusty hinges creaked and groaned, like a woman's painful groan.

Zhou Yi was not startled by the sound. Instead, he immediately recognized from the rusty hinges and the jerky feeling when the door was pushed open that the room had not been opened for a long time.

A thick cloud of dust swept over, welcoming this uninvited guest.

Zhou Yi waved his hand to brush away the dust.

The room was pitch black, and the glass windows were covered with cardboard.

However, the sliver of light streaming in from the corridor allowed Zhou Yi to vaguely see the situation inside the room.

The room was empty; there was nothing there except dust.

Zhou Yi remembered the location of the light switch at the entrance of Song Shasha's dormitory, so he reached out and groped in the same spot and found the switch, albeit an old-fashioned one.

*Snap!* The switch was turned on, and the light bulb above my head lit up.

This surprised Zhou Yi somewhat.

As the lights came on, the room became clearer.

As expected, there was hardly any furniture in the room, except for a chair lying alone on the floor in the corner, with some book pages and newspapers scattered on the floor.

Zhou Yi did not go in immediately, but first looked around the room.

Although the lighting was dim, Zhou Yi discovered some clues: there were footprints in the room!

It's very messy, stretching from the doorway all the way to the window.

The windows were covered with cardboard with yellow tape, but one of the cardboard pieces had fallen to the ground, and you could vaguely see the rain outside.

The light was too dim just now, so Zhou Yi didn't notice.

He crouched down and carefully examined the footprint closest to him.

The footprint was clearly left on a thick layer of dust, as there is a clear boundary between the edges and the surrounding dust. However, it must have been there for some time, as a thin layer of dust has settled behind the footprint.

It seems someone was here not long ago.

Xiao Bing?
Zhou Yi stood up, took out his phone, and prepared to call Chen Yan, asking him to bring people from the technical department to extract the footprints and then match them with the footprints that had been found earlier.

Regarding the footprints, we have extracted two sets of footprints plus a little bit.

The two sets were found in Xiao Bing's home. Based on the current situation, it is almost certain that one set belongs to Xiao Bing and the other set belongs to Dong Lu.

As for the remaining little bit, it was a quarter of a footprint found in the weeds of the alley next to the No. 2 Steel dormitory; it was a right foot.

After the technical department took samples and photographed them, they attempted to reconstruct the images.

However, the result was not ideal.

Because this footprint is less than a quarter of the original, it is very difficult to accurately recreate it.

Ultimately, we can only arrive at a rough range, which is that the overall footprint size is likely between 41 and 43.

This result is better than nothing, as it is too broad and different styles of shoes will have different designs.

However, a match was made with Xiao Bing's footprints, and it was found that they did not fit, indicating that the person who took Lu Xiaoshuang hostage and drugged her was indeed not Xiao Bing.

It's not Dong Lu either.

Because the front part of these footprints was wider than Xiao Bing's footprints, not to mention Dong Lu's.

The most valuable part of this footprint is the pattern on the sole of the shoe.

It has a wavy pattern, but no logo or other features were found. Lao Qiu is currently looking for shoes on the market to see if any brand has a matching or similar sole pattern.

I've compared them to the shoes in Xiao Bing's house at least, and found none that match.

Just as Zhou Yi was about to make a phone call, a somewhat panicked voice suddenly shouted from the end of the corridor, "Who! Who's there?"

Zhou Yi peeked out and saw a flashlight beam shining on his face.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but squint and cover his eyes with his hand.

"What are you doing?" An old man carrying a flashlight came running over.

After seeing Zhou Yi's appearance clearly, she breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh my god, you scared me to death! I thought I saw a ghost in broad daylight."

"Young man, what are you doing here? What are you doing here?"

Zhou Yi took out his identification and said, "Hello, sir, I'm a police officer."

The old man looked at the documents and asked in confusion, "Police, why are the police here? Aren't you all in that building on the east side?"

The old man clearly knew the general situation.

Just as Zhou Yi was about to ask a question, the old man glanced at the door behind him and asked in confusion, "Is the lock not working again?"

"Again?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly, "Sir, when was the last time it broke?"

"It broke down inexplicably almost a month ago," the old man said helplessly, looking at the door lock.

Could these footprints really have been left by Xiao Bing?
Zhou Yi asked the old man and learned that he was not a formal employee of the school because he had already retired.

However, since I was idle at home with nothing to do, I asked a relative to find me a cleaning job.

Because of their connections, his relatives assigned his work area to the graduate student dormitory area, which consisted of two buildings, but in reality, he only needed to clean one building.

However, his relatives reminded him that although the building did not need to be cleaned, it contained school supplies, so he had to patrol it occasionally to prevent anyone from stealing things.

But actually, he said that although this place is a warehouse, it is full of things that nobody wants. Even if they were given to him, he would find them in the way. He doesn't know why the school keeps them instead of throwing them away.

Zhou Yi smiled but didn't say anything. Keeping junk without throwing it away was probably suspicious; some items might have been junk when they were purchased, but not on the books. If they were thrown away, the accounts wouldn't match up during inventory checks, so even junk couldn't be thrown away.

In 2011, Zhou Yi and Lu Zhengfeng worked on a case involving a middle school vice principal in charge of procurement.

I bought a batch of so-called student eye protection devices at a unit price of 36,000 yuan, but the actual cost was less than 100 yuan per unit.

Finally, a conflict arose between him and his subordinates over the distribution of spoils, resulting in manslaughter during the fight. He then disposed of the body.

After he was arrested, his problems were thoroughly investigated.

The principal of an ordinary middle school in the provincial capital amassed more than eight million yuan in seven years, most of which he squandered. In the end, less than three million yuan of the ill-gotten gains were recovered.

So this kind of thing is nothing new.

The old man was clearly an honest man. He said that so many things were stored here, and no one had come to fix the lock on the main gate downstairs or the lock inside the house.

Zhou Yi asked the old man if he knew what had happened here before.
The old man shook his head vigorously, saying that his relative told him to just avoid 404.

As he spoke, the old man took two steps back, as if there was something creepy in 404.

Zhou Yi hurriedly asked why.

The old man said mysteriously, "Young man, my nephew said that someone died in this house, burned alive."

Zhou Yi's heart skipped a beat. Burned to death? The person is dead?
Isn't it Dong Lu?

Zhou Yi quickly asked the old man, "What's your nephew's name?"
As a result, the old man refused to say anything, feeling that he would be fired if he did.

Zhou Yi had no choice but to threaten him, saying that if he really refused to talk, he would have to handcuff him and take him back.

When the old man saw that Zhou Yi had taken out handcuffs, he could only say that his nephew's surname was Fang and that he was a leader in the student affairs office.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi thought, "This is like the flood washing away the Dragon King's temple! What a coincidence!"

He called Chen Yan and asked him to bring people to collect the footprints.

Then I checked the time and it was already lunchtime. Knowing Director Fang's personality, he probably wouldn't be in the office at this hour.

So I wasn't in a hurry to go.

After collecting the footprints and returning to the task force to eat a boxed lunch, Zhou Yi called Chen Yan to go find this Director Fang.

When Fang Gexin saw them arrive, he was very enthusiastic, but it was the kind of official enthusiasm that came from a bureaucratic tone. He even asked them if they had eaten.

Looking at his smiling face, Zhou Yi said, "Director Fang, I just ran into an old man."

Fang Gexin was taken aback: "Old man?"

He said that you, Director Fang, are his eldest nephew.

Fang Gexin suddenly realized: "Oh, oh, that's an elder relative of mine. His family isn't well-off, he's retired, and he asked me to find him some odd jobs, so I..."

Fang Gexin, who had been smiling, suddenly froze and asked, "Officer Zhou...where did you run into my relative?"

"It's the graduate student dormitory building." A smile doesn't disappear easily; it can shift. Now it's on Zhou Yi's face. Zhou Yi said with a smile, "I met your relative in room 404 of the old graduate student dormitory."

A hint of panic flashed in Fang Gexin's eyes, probably because he hadn't expected the police to find room 404 so quickly.

He tried to ease the awkwardness with a smile, but his facial muscles twitched uncontrollably.

Zhou Yi knew it; that was right, this Director Fang really did know something.

Although, given his character, he might not actually know Dong Lu, when something like this happens at school, if the school leaders want to cover up the news, such as hiding Dong Lu's information, and since student records are handled by their student affairs office, they naturally can't avoid him.

Maybe he's just a lackey working for the school leaders.

"Officer Zhou... Officer Zhou, what are you doing there? That's not a graduate student dormitory, it's just a warehouse for storing miscellaneous items."

Zhou Yi feigned surprise and said, "Really? It's a warehouse. But room 404 is empty, there's nothing there. Director Fang, could something have happened there before? I heard someone burned to death in that room..."

"But there's no record of this in our police system's files. What's going on? Could it be that a murder case has been missed?"

Fang Gexin's face was very ugly, and he remained silent.

"Director Fang, why don't you tell me first, is the person living in this dormitory room Dong Lu?"

Zhou Yi stopped beating around the bush and directly mentioned Dong Lu's name. Since Xiang Jie had just asked Fang Gexin to check Dong Lu's graduate school information that morning, there was no need to continue probing.

To be frank, both sides know the truth about this matter; it's just a matter of how to bring it up.

Looking at Zhou Yi's determined expression, Fang Gexin sighed and then leaned close to Zhou Yi and whispered, "Officer Zhou, I beg you, please don't make things difficult for me, a menial worker. I just want to make a living. I know your task force has an appointment with our school leaders later. If you have any questions, I suggest you ask the leaders directly."

After listening, Zhou Yi nodded and said with a smile, "No problem, I'll be there in a bit anyway."

Upon hearing this, Fang Gexin immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

But Zhou Yi then added, "Then I'll tell your school leaders that Director Fang told us to ask, that he said to ask the leaders directly if there's anything, he just wants to make a living. Is that right?"

He turned to Chen Yan and asked, "Brother Yan, did you hear that?"

Chen Yan immediately nodded: "I heard that, that's what Director Fang said."

Upon hearing this, Fang Gexin was so frightened that he nearly wet himself: "No, no, no, officers! You're trying to kill me by saying this!"

Zhou Yi sneered inwardly, "Little brat, trying to play the official game and use a self-inflicted injury ruse on me?"
You're probably always there when we're eating meat and drinking soup, but when it comes to taking responsibility, you always back down?

Knowing what you fear most, how can I not control you?
Zhou Yi said, "Director Fang, to be honest, I don't want to make things difficult for you. But the problem is that you're making things difficult for me now. I'm just like you, a handyman. If you don't give me any benefits, then I can only drag you along to fill the sea with Jingwei."

As he spoke, he spread his hands, giving off an "I don't care" look.

Fang Gexin was dumbfounded.

This wasn't the first time he'd met Zhou Yi. Before the special task force was established and the victim's identity was confirmed, he'd noticed Zhou Yi when Wu Yongcheng brought people from the Third Brigade to ask him for their cooperation.

The reason is simple: he's been on TV.

He knew that the requirements for watching that program came from the city government, and he happened to care a lot about these kinds of instructions from above, so he watched it very carefully.

Afterwards, he even took the initiative to write a review for the school newspaper, which was published under the title: "Thoughts on watching the program 'Asking the Heart': On the alignment of grand spirit with the times of urban development."

Of course, the content was all about praising the school leaders for their foresight and vision, saying that when the whole city of Hongcheng was in danger, only Hongda remained steadfast and unshakable.

However, not long after, the grand scheme of things proved them wrong.

Therefore, he was deeply impressed by Zhou Yi.

However, during their first meeting, Zhou Yi barely spoke; it was Wu Yongcheng who negotiated with him.

He immediately realized that this Captain Wu was not someone to be trifled with.

They assumed that Zhou Yi was only chosen by the Municipal Bureau to make a good impression because he looked energetic.

Unexpectedly, he discovered today that the older members of this Third Brigade were not easy to deal with, and neither were the younger ones.

The older generation still cares about saving face, but the younger generation shows absolutely no mercy.

Helpless, Fang Gexin tugged at Zhou Yi's sleeve and whispered, "Officer Zhou, can I speak to you in private?"

Zhou Yi immediately followed him to the door, and then Fang Gexin whispered a few words to him.

Zhou Yi nodded, patted Fang Gexin on the shoulder and said, "Director Fang, don't worry, I won't mention this to the leaders."

Upon hearing this, Fang Gexin immediately clasped his hands together and said, "Thank you, Officer Zhou. Please don't tell anyone that I told you."

Zhou Yi and Chen Yan left the student affairs office. Chen Yan asked, "What did Director Fang say to you?"

"He admitted that the person who used to live in room 404 was Dong Lu."

"Great, now all the information matches up."

"He also mentioned something," Zhou Yi said with a gloomy expression.

"what?"

He said Dong Lu applied to withdraw from school on her own.

(End of this chapter)