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

Chapter 432 The Murderer Has Been Found

Chapter 432 The Murderer Has Been Found (Thanks to 'Bloomhardt' for the generous donation - 12 days of 10,000-word updates)
At the meeting, Shi Tao spoke passionately and eloquently.

Director Xie was clearly getting impatient and tapped the table, signaling him to get to the point.

Shi Tao quickly nodded and bowed to explain that he understood.

He did find something, and there were only two main areas of focus.

One method involved interviewing local witnesses in Xinbei Township.

One is the investigation of other mine entrances.

That is, the ideas that Wu Yongcheng and I provided to him.

Of course, Shi's style is to avoid mentioning others if possible.

The key is to be as vague as possible.

In summary, he made two discoveries.

First, they went door-to-door and eventually found two local elderly women who said they had seen a black car in the vicinity on the afternoon of May 1st.

The two elderly women naturally didn't recognize the car model or remember the license plate number, but they did know that this type of car was used by bosses back in the day.

This suggests that the car itself is probably not bad.

This also indicates that the frequency of cars appearing in Xinbei Town is relatively low.

The two elderly women were working in the fields by the roadside at the time, and the car wasn't traveling on a main road, so they found it strange and took a second look. Unfortunately, they were too far away to see what the driver looked like.

Then Shi Tao and Gu Changhai followed the road the old lady had mentioned and the direction the car was going, searching all the way.

Finally, it circled into a mountain hollow.

Although it is called a mountain valley, Hongcheng only has mountains in Yanyang County to the east, namely the barren mountain that Sanpo Village is backed by and borders Taicheng.

The so-called "mountains" in Xinbei Township are actually just high mounds of rocks and soil. They were formed by the accumulation of rocks and soil dug out from underground during the coal mining era.

Even so, these small hills are still seven or eight meters high, enough to completely block the view.

This shows just how much the underground of Xinbei Township has been dug up.

Shi Tao and Gu Changhai searched inch by inch in this mountain valley and finally found some tire tracks.

And it just so happened that it came just before the heavy rain this morning; otherwise, the rain would have wiped out all traces.

They handed the film they shot to the technical department, and after it was developed, they compared it with the tread patterns of car tires on the market.

Xie Guoqiang affirmed the discovery, but wondered why finding tire tracks didn't have to be done in such a complicated way.
So Shi Tao mentioned the second discovery: another mine entrance.

He and Gu Changhai began searching near where they found the tire tracks, and within a radius of 1.5 kilometers, they discovered three abandoned mine entrances.

All three mine shafts were boarded up.

However, the wooden plank on one side of one of the openings had rotted, causing it to not seal properly, and there was still water inside the opening.

The presence of standing water indicates that the hole is likely blocked and not very deep, meaning that rainwater cannot drain out after flowing back in, nor has it completely evaporated.

The other two holes were sealed tightly, but they found pry marks on the nails in the wooden board at one of the holes, as the rust on the nails had peeled off and there were dents in the board.

This indicates that the opening was recently opened and then sealed again.

Shi Tao had the technical staff who accompanied him collect evidence of the traces at the entrance of the hole, and then removed the wooden planks at the entrance.

They immediately noticed something amiss: there were obvious signs that the ground at the entrance of the cave had been deliberately cleared.

Moreover, this mark extends into the mine shaft for at least thirty meters.

But later on, as the sand inside the mine decreased and the rocks increased, no trace could be found.

In other words, Wu Yongcheng and Zhou Yi's guesses have been confirmed.

The hole through which the murderer disposed of the body is not the same hole through which Lu Xiaoshuang came out!
It's highly likely that the murderer didn't know the structure below was so complex, and even less did they expect Lu Xiaoshuang to regain consciousness so quickly.

This result is both a result of the murderer's oversight and a consequence of Lu Xiaoshuang's strong will to survive.

Then Shi Tao analyzed what Zhou Yi had told him back then, and everyone nodded in agreement. Those who didn't know the truth felt that Captain Shi was quite capable.

Xie Guoqiang highly praised Shi Tao's discovery, saying it was a pity that no valuable evidence was extracted.

Shi Tao's dark face suddenly broke into a wide grin, revealing two rows of not-so-white teeth.

This appearance even confused Director Xie.

"Clang clang clang clang!" Shi Tao suddenly pulled out an evidence bag.

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on his hands.

Inside the evidence bag was a dirty, black cigarette butt.

"This was... found in the cave?"

Shi Tao nodded smugly: "That's right!"

Jiang Biao asked, "Team Leader Shi, this wasn't left behind by the miners from before, was it? It's so dark."

Shi Tao was displeased: "How could I not even be able to tell the difference? The surface of this cigarette butt is black, but the core inside is still white. How could it be something left more than ten years ago?"

Xie Guoqiang immediately stood up and walked over, took the evidence bag and looked at it carefully. He wanted to pat Shi Tao on the shoulder, but he held back because he saw that Shi Tao was covered in dirt.

He shouted loudly, "Great! Our team, Team Stone, has done a great service! Very good!"

"Qiu Zhiyong, quickly conduct a technical analysis on the cigarette butt, extract the saliva from it, and then send the sample to the provincial department for DNA testing. Be quick! Oh, and also confirm the brand of this cigarette! Investigate, investigate who smokes within the current scope of the investigation, and conduct a thorough re-examination and re-investigation of all smokers."

This cigarette butt can definitely be considered the most effective evidence in this case so far. Combined with the characteristics of the mine, it can be basically determined that the murderer accidentally lost it.

That's why Xie Guoqiang was so agitated; if DNA could be confirmed through cigarette butts, the murderer could be identified.

But Zhou Yi felt something was amiss.

Leaving aside whether the DNA on the cigarette butt will degrade in this environment, or whether it can still be extracted and detected.

It would be best if we could, but at the very least we could trace it back by the brand of cigarettes.

The strange thing is that Shi Tao said it was found in a mine. Judging from the black surface, it must have been stepped on. It must have fallen naturally just over ten days ago, so it couldn't be this dirty.

But the problem is, the murderer shouldn't be smoking in this environment, in theory.

If you're too nervous and need to calm down by smoking, you should finish it in the car.

Unless, of course, the murderer is a heavy smoker who can't go a minute without a cigarette.

However, if that's the case, when he first stopped the car and grabbed Lu Xiaoshuang by the neck to feed her water, Lu Xiaoshuang would probably smell a strong odor of smoke.

A heavy smoker's fingers will definitely smell of smoke.

But obviously not.

Moreover, given the murderer's cunning, it's unlikely he would have simply smoked it in the mine and then tossed it away carelessly.

Did you smoke it outside, put it in your pocket, intend to throw it away later, and then accidentally lose it?
That evidence is far too coincidental.

However, he did not raise any objections, because it is meaningless to raise doubts without proposing solutions; he would wait for the technical assessment and DNA test results before making any decisions.

After the information was almost synchronized, Director Xie said some encouraging words, especially emphasizing that everyone should learn from Shi Tao.

After the meeting, Zhou Yi wanted to find Liang Wei to say hello first and then request access to Liu Baoguo and Chen Gengyun's files.

As a result, someone grabbed me, and when I turned around, there was a big, dark-skinned guy behind me.

"Captain Shi, what's wrong?"

"Hey Zhou Yi, I forgot to mention this in the meeting earlier. This investigation direction was mainly proposed by you and Lao Wu. My brain just isn't working well, it's stuck."

Zhou Yi knew what he meant, so she quickly pretended to be stupid: "Huh? Really? I don't remember. Oh dear, my brain isn't working well, I'm stuck. But I still have to thank Captain Shi, the clue you found further proves that Lu Xiaoshuang is not the murderer."

Shi Tao understood and patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder gratefully, saying, "Good brother! I'll remember you, big brother!"

Zhou Yi was both amused and exasperated; Captain Shi's strengths and weaknesses were too obvious.

"Team Leader Shi, why don't you go wash up first? Especially Teacher Gu, he looks like an African."

After seeing Shi Tao off, Zhou Yi turned around again and found that Liang Wei was gone.

Just as I was about to leave the meeting room to look for it, my phone rang in my pocket.

When I picked it up, I was surprised to find that it was a call from Qian Hongxing.

He immediately tensed up.

"Hello, Mr. Qian?"

"Brother Zhou, it's me." It was Lu Xiaoshuang's voice on the other end of the phone, sounding somewhat hurried.

"Xiaoshuang, what's wrong? Did something happen to you?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"No, I'm fine, nothing's wrong. But I just suddenly remembered something."

"what's up?"

“I remember that when I was kidnapped and locked in the trunk, they stopped the car and forced me to drink water. Before I passed out, I thought I heard a cell phone ringing. The sound came from the car in front of me.”

"A cell phone ringtone? What kind?"

At that moment, Qian Hongxing's voice came from the background of the phone. He said loudly, "It's a Nokia, that's the sound, listen to it."

After he finished speaking, a piece of electronic music that Zhou Yi and most people were very familiar with came from the phone.

"Drip, drip, drip."

This is Nokia's classic ringtone, carrying countless memories for many.

Especially around 2007, cell phones everywhere had this ringtone!

But even in 1997, Nokia mobile phones were still quite expensive.

"Are you sure?" Zhou Yi asked.

Lu Xiaoshuang said firmly, "I'm sure that was the first time I heard that ringtone. It was only when Sister Yuling's new phone rang that I remembered it."

That's right. If Lu Xiaoshuang had never heard this ringtone before, it would be impossible for her to find a rhythm she had never heard before familiar.

"That's great, Xiaoshuang! This information is very important!"

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi rushed out and saw Xie Guoqiang, Liang Wei, and others at the end of the stairs.

He shouted, "Director Xie, we have a major new lead!"

This shout attracted everyone's attention.

Shi Tao, who was washing his face in the toilet, suddenly raised his head.

After listening to Zhou Yi's explanation, Xie Guoqiang instructed, "Very good, this clue is very important. Here's what I'm saying, Zhou Yi, when you have time, go find Director Wang and go through all the previous investigation materials. If there are mobile phone numbers in the personal information, have Director Wang arrange for someone to replace the phone model. If it happens to be a Nokia, you personally supervise and ask them."

"understand!"

After seeing Director Xie off, Zhou Yi prepared to go to the internal affairs team to find Director Wang.

I ran into Qiu Zhiyong on the way and quickly greeted him.

"Is your hand alright?" Qiu Zhiyong asked.

Qiu Zhiyong is a typical technical talent. He is calm, meticulous, and doesn't talk much. He is always willing to help, but his presence is usually very weak.

In his previous life, he worked diligently as the head of the technical department until his retirement, having worked his way up from the bottom step by step.

Qiu Zhiyong's initiative to show concern for him surprised Zhou Yi.

Because of his personality, he's the kind of person who only talks a lot at work, and usually just nods and greets everyone.

"It's okay, it's bandaged and I got a tetanus shot."

Qiu Zhiyong smiled faintly and said, "In that situation, you actually dared to cover Dong Lu's mouth with your own hand. Weren't you afraid she would bite your fingers off?"

"Hey, just bite it off and then put it back on," Zhou Yi joked.

Qiu Zhiyong patted him on the shoulder and said, "Good, you're a real man."

"By the way, the results of the footprint comparison extracted from dormitory 404 are in."

Zhou Yi quickly asked, "How is it?"

"After comparison and confirmation, two sets of footprints were extracted from room 404, which are completely consistent with the two sets of footprints extracted from Xiao Bing's home."

In other words, the footprints in room 404 belonged to Dong Lu and Xiao Bing.

"Section Chief Qiu, is there a third person?"

Qiu Zhiyong shook his head and then left.

If there was no third person, it means that Dong Lu's original personality had a breakdown and ran back to dormitory 404, and Xiao Bing also ran to dormitory 404 to find her.

The timing should be exactly the night she went on her business trip to find Lu Xiaoshuang, because Song Shasha ran into Xiao Bing on her way back to the dormitory.

But he only saw Xiao Bing; he didn't see Dong Lu.

This indicates that Xiao Bing did not find or bring back Dong Lu from room 404.

But since Xiao Bing was able to find room 404, and Fang Gexin's relative said that the lock on room 404 had been broken before and no one had fixed it.

It's possible that this isn't the first time Dong Lu has returned there when she's having an attack.

Why she wanted to go back is unknown, because when a mental illness strikes, there is no logic to it.

A meticulous person like Zhou Yi cannot fathom the logic in the mind of a mentally ill person.

But clearly, returning to dormitory 404 was a strong obsession for Dong Lu.

If Xiao Bing always finds her and brings her back, then why didn't he find Dong Lu when he went there that night?

What special circumstances have occurred?
Zhou Yi looked at the night sky; this time was exactly the same as that day.

He decided to walk the same path he had taken with Lu Xiaoshuang that day.

So I returned to the entrance of the girls' dormitory area and walked forward based on my memory.

He kept walking and walking until he and Lu Xiaoshuang stopped to talk.

Zhou Yi stood in the same spot, looked up, and glanced around.

Then, in a certain direction, a dark building suddenly appeared in the night, which was the original graduate student dormitory building.

It's less than 30 meters from here.

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes, scanning the building with his gaze.

Finally, they narrowed it down to the window of room 404.

The moon is very round tonight. Under the moonlight, you can see that the brightness of the moonlight reflected from one of the windows is different from the others. It is the window where the cardboard that was covering it fell off.

If we consider our positions at the time, we could have seen Lu Xiaoshuang's face right from that window!
Zhou Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

In other words, while he was giving Lu Xiaoshuang countless instructions, Dong Lu was watching Lu Xiaoshuang intently from the window of room 404.

He also recalled Chen Yan's analysis from before.

Chen Yan analyzed that Xiao Bing may have transferred his original feelings for Dong Lu, who was not burned, to Lu Xiaoshuang, who looked very similar to Dong Lu. Therefore, he secretly took a picture of Lu Xiaoshuang and wrote a French poem expressing his feelings on the back of the picture.

As a result, Dong Lu discovered the photo, leading her to believe that Xiao Bing had fallen for someone else, so she tore up the photo.

Thinking about it now, Chen Yan's analysis is very likely, because it matches what Dong Lu's original personality said: "Xiao Bing doesn't want me anymore."

Chen Yan believed at the time that this might be the motive behind Dong Lu's stalking of Lu Xiaoshuang and her intention to commit a crime, as well as the reason why Xiao Bing was caught in a dilemma and could only remind Lu Xiaoshuang to seek refuge with him.

At the time, I agreed with this analysis because it was indeed reasonable.

However, there are also some logical gaps.

For example, how did Dong Lu find Lu Xiaoshuang?

She had no connection with Lu Xiaoshuang, and apart from the fragment of that photo, there was no other information about Lu Xiaoshuang at Xiao Bing's house.

It couldn't have been Xiao Bing who told her.

But now, standing in this spot, looking out the window of room 404.

This logical gap has been filled!

That night, Dong Lu saw Lu Xiaoshuang from the window of dormitory 404 and immediately went downstairs to follow Lu Xiaoshuang back to the dormitory.

Her body shape and voice were female, and it was nighttime, so the dormitory supervisor might not have noticed or verified her identity.

That is to say, she was even able to follow Lu Xiaoshuang into her dormitory and hear others calling Lu Xiaoshuang's name!
So Song Shasha only met Xiao Bing that night, because Xiao Bing didn't find Dong Lu in room 404.

That's why she was able to follow Lu Xiaoshuang on April 30th.

Moreover, it is very likely that Dong Lu did not only follow Lu Xiaoshuang on April 30th.

It's very likely that she's been stalking Lu Xiaoshuang ever since that night.

If... that's really the case, then Xiao Bing's unusual reaction when reminding Lu Xiaoshuang to go find him makes sense.

Chen Yan may be right.

Dong Lu has had a relapse and is trying to harm Xiao Shuang. Xiao Bing can't control her. Something else may have happened on the 30th, which is why Xiao Bing has to risk being suspected to warn Lu Xiao Shuang.

That also explains the other problem.

Why did Xiao Bing run away with Dong Lu?

After Lu Xiaoshuang disappeared, no one except the police knew whether she was dead or alive.

Xiao Bing couldn't possibly know.

However, after the case was filed, although the task force took some action, people around Lu Xiaoshuang, such as Mo Youyou, must have known that Lu Xiaoshuang had not asked for leave, but had disappeared.

If Xiao Bing truly harbored different feelings for Lu Xiaoshuang and had been paying close attention to her every move, he would have easily discovered that Lu Xiaoshuang had disappeared!
His instinct was to think that Dong Lu had killed Lu Xiaoshuang!

That's why he was so concerned about Lu Xiaoshuang's safety when Chen Yan and I went to find him.

He wasn't trying to test the police; he genuinely cared about Lu Xiaoshuang's life or death.

There may be emotional factors involved, as well as fear that Dong Lu might actually commit murder.

So the door was locked from the inside at that time, which is why Xiao Bing was extra careful in the inner room, because Dong Lu was in the basement just a wall away. So, when she and Chen Yan returned and eavesdropped, they couldn't hear anything at first because Xiao Bing had gone down to the basement to question Dong Lu.

But most likely, it was Xiaoshuang's personality that was in the basement at the time.

He couldn't get an answer and couldn't be sure whether Dong Lu had really killed Lu Xiaoshuang.

That's why he slammed the door in anger, which is why Zhou Yi heard that loud bang from outside.

He may have gone through a fierce internal struggle, but ultimately, his complex feelings for Dong Lu overcame his reason.

He implicitly admitted that Dong Lu was the murderer, which is why he immediately took Dong Lu and fled.

Xiao Bing and Dong Lu are like twins in one body.

If either party loses the other, they may lose the meaning of life.

So in the end he chose Dong Lu. He thought Dong Lu had killed an innocent person, but he still chose Dong Lu!
Zhou Yi couldn't help but burst into laughter, but the laughter was filled with helplessness and sorrow.

The laughter sounded particularly abrupt in the quiet night.

He was laughing for a while, then suddenly stopped laughing. After a brief silence, he let out a roar of resentment.

But soon, everything returned to calm.

……

Chen Yan discovered that Zhou Yi had disappeared after the meeting.

He asked several people, but none of them had seen him, which made him worried.

Because a large-scale investigation was to be launched, Qiao Jiali went to help. Apart from the leaflet issue that Director Xie specifically asked him to investigate, what really bothered Jiang Biao was Zhou Yi's words before the meeting.

He didn't bring up this question at the meeting because it was just a guess, and he wouldn't be able to answer if Director Xie asked him what exactly was missing.

So as soon as the meeting ended, he said he was going to review the previous search using the map, and then he disappeared.

Chen Yan came out of the restroom, wanting to find Zhou Yi and ask him what to do next.

Since he was no longer required to retrieve Chen Gengyun's household registration information as originally agreed, he felt somewhat lost.

But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find Zhou Yi. Just as he was about to call Zhou Yi, he saw someone slowly walking towards the small building from the balcony. It was Zhou Yi.

"Zhou Yi, where have you been? I was just looking for you."

Zhou Yi looked up but didn't say anything.

Chen Yan keenly sensed that something was wrong; Zhou Yi's expression was extremely tired, an expression that rarely appeared on his face.

He quickly ran downstairs and came to Zhou Yi.

Sure enough, it wasn't his imagination; Zhou Yi's complexion was not good, as if all his strength had been drained.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Chen Yan asked with concern.

Zhou Yi waved his hand: "It's nothing, I just feel a little tired and can't muster any strength."

On his way back, he kept thinking about what the outcome was for Xiao Bing and Dong Lu in their previous life.

Although the burns were a fait accompli, at least Xiao Bing didn't have to die in his previous life.

This is what happened because Dong Lu and Xiao Bing argued over the photos.

But if Dong Lu hadn't gone to find Lu Xiaoshuang that night, she wouldn't have discovered Lu Xiaoshuang's identity, and none of what happened afterward would have occurred.

Even if she learned of Lu Xiaoshuang's identity through other means or by chance, and then followed Lu Xiaoshuang, the murderer in the previous life was definitely not Dong Lu, as her mental state was not capable of carrying out such a complex criminal activity.

So Xiao Bing might be saddened by Lu Xiaoshuang's death, but at least he won't run away because of the police investigation, and therefore won't encounter the murderer.

But he and Dong Lu will be fine; they will continue to live together as before, until one of them passes away.

Therefore, my appearance changed everything.

In order to save Lu Xiaoshuang, he indirectly caused the deaths of two people, Xu Liu and Xiao Bing.

This was not what he wanted to see, but the occurrence of this major case in this lifetime had completely slipped out of his control.

So for the first time, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

He knew that the murderer who killed Xu Liu and Xiao Bing was not him, but he still felt guilty.

Chen Yan thought he was sick and quickly went to help him up, but Zhou Yi smiled and waved his hand, indicating that he was fine, just a little tired.

Chen Yan said, "Wait here, I'll go find you a cot, you can take a nap, and you'll feel better after a nap."

Zhou Yi did not refuse, and soon Chen Yan somehow got hold of a cot and placed it in the office where the two of them often stayed.

I even got him a blanket so he could sleep on it and he'd be fine after a good night's rest.

Chen Yan's tone was just like that of an older brother. In fact, if we put aside the fact that Zhou Yi was reborn, Chen Yan, who was two years older, was indeed like an older brother.

Soon, Chen Yan noticed that Zhou Yi was snoring softly. He tiptoed over and pulled the blanket up for Zhou Yi.

Then he left, turned off the lights, closed the door, and prepared to go see if Sister Qiao needed any help.

Zhou Yi didn't sleep well; she kept having chaotic dreams.

It was as if everything around him had turned into a vortex, closing in on him from all directions.

He was woken up by his phone ringing incessantly in his pocket.

It was dark around him, but when he held his phone up to his eyes and looked at it, he immediately felt wide awake.

He sat up immediately because the call was coming from Qian Hongxing's landline.

Why would Qian Hongxing call at this hour? Has something happened to Lu Xiaoshuang?

He quickly answered the phone: "Hello."

"Hello." Lu Xiaoshuang's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Brother Zhou, are you busy?"

Zhou Yi glanced at the time on his phone screen; it was already past one o'clock.

"No, I'm resting. Why aren't you asleep yet at this hour?"

"I...I just wanted to call you and talk to you," Lu Xiaoshuang said softly.

Do you have a telephone in your house?

Sitting on the sofa in the downstairs living room, Lu Xiaoshuang hugged a cushion and said softly, "No, I called you from downstairs in the living room. I didn't dare to be too loud, because I was afraid of waking Uncle Qian and Sister Yuling."

Upon hearing these two titles, Zhou Yi couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm glad you're alright." Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the blanket that had fallen to the ground.

"Brother Zhou, do you remember that night in the hospital when I said I didn't want to die, that I still had so many things to do?"

Zhou Yi nodded. "Of course I remember."

"Can I add a few more?" Lu Xiaoshuang asked, pouting.

"How many more? What do you want to add?"

"I want to add..."

"Let's go to Yunxia Mountain together to watch the beautiful sunrise."

"And... I'll take you to the vast Northwest to see the boundless expanse of land and sky."

"And...and..."

Seeing that she didn't speak for a long time, Zhou Yi asked, "What else?"

Lu Xiaoshuang chuckled softly, "I'll keep the last one a secret for now, and tell you later."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but smile: "Okay, it'll be a secret. I'll tell you when you want to."

"Mmm," Lu Xiaoshuang said softly, "Brother Zhou."

"What's wrong? Is there something you need to keep secret?"

Lu Xiaoshuang's tone suddenly changed on the other end of the phone, becoming very serious: "I believe you will definitely catch the murderer, because you are a hero, a hero of Hongcheng."

"My hero!"

Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment. Lu Xiaoshuang's words seemed to have instantly shattered the knot in his heart.

Yes, Lu Xiaoshuang didn't die. She survived being dismembered in her previous life.

Although I didn't rescue her myself, wasn't it because of my appearance that the course of the grand case was changed, and Lu Xiaoshuang ultimately survived?
The person speaking to me on the other end of the phone now is a living, breathing person.

This person was able to live because his appearance subtly changed everything.

That is the greatest significance of his existence!
As for Xu Liu and Xiao Bing, although their deaths were partly due to the cruel twist of fate, he should not have to bear the burden of it all.

He is the murderer, and he must pay the price for the crimes he committed!

"Xiao Shuang!" Zhou Yi's voice was filled with strength again. "Thank you! Go to sleep now."

"Okay, goodnight."

"Good night."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi stood up again, and the helplessness he had shown earlier was no longer on his face.

He left the office, took a deep breath of the cold night air, and then headed towards the internal affairs team.

In the office of the internal affairs team, various documents were piled up like mountains. Although the lights were on, only documents could be seen, not people.

"Director Wang, are you there?" Zhou Yi called out, but there was no response from inside.

As soon as I turned around, I bumped into someone—it was Director Wang.

"Hey, Zhou Yi."

"Director Wang, why is there no one here?"

Director Wang said with a wry smile, "Didn't the leader say that we should expand the scope of the investigation? So I divided the people into two groups, one to the Student Affairs Office and the other to the Personnel Department. We have to make preparations, there are so many documents, we can't just move them all over here."

That's right. The comprehensive investigation in the previous life only managed to find more than 3,000 people out of tens of thousands for the investigation. There's no way that massive amount of data could be transferred over.

"I came back to get something. Is there something you need?"

"Here's the thing, we just discovered a new lead about cell phone ringtones, so Director Xie asked me to go through the files we've already investigated to see if anyone is connected to this lead."

"Oh, then you can look here." Director Wang said as he entered the room, pointing Zhou Yi through the mountain of documents: "This pile is for Xu Liu's roommate, this pile is for her classmates, this pile is for her teachers, and this pile is for Xu Liu's family and relatives."

After finding the document he needed, Director Wang tossed out a "Take your time looking at it" and then hurried away.

Zhou Yi smiled helplessly. In order to investigate Liu Baoguo, Director Xie had no choice but to prepare a whole plate of dumplings for a comprehensive investigation.

Being a leader isn't easy.

After a moment of reflection, Zhou Yi began to pick up the documents and start flipping through them one by one.

This was the first time he had reviewed the core investigation materials other than those of Zheng Jianxin since joining the task force.

Firstly, I don't have time; I'm constantly on the go, running around everywhere.

Secondly, he already had a thorough understanding of the investigation data on these people from his previous life.

Although the victims are different, the scope of the investigation within the school remains the same, except for family members and social connections outside the school.

So Zhou Yi first went through the last pile of documents, which included records of interviews with Xu Liu's parents and two younger brothers, as well as records of visits to Xu Liu's relatives, neighbors, and teachers and classmates from high school.

The investigation in Xu Liu's hometown of Huaixing was led by He Bin, mainly with the strong support of the local Huaixing police. Otherwise, with so many people and only He Bin and his team of two, it's unknown how long it would have taken to investigate.

The Huaixing police were very helpful. They pulled out the household registration information of both of Xu Liu's parents and made it into a table. They checked the records of those they had checked and wrote down the reasons for those they hadn't. The logic was quite clear.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi saw a familiar name on the list.

Xu Liu's mother was named Feng Ailian. Feng Ailian had an older brother named Feng Dahai, and Feng Dahai had a son named Feng Qiang.

"Feng Qiang? Isn't Feng Qiang the driver of Zheng Guangming in the An Yuan case and Huang Yanli's lover?" Zhou Yi asked doubtfully. Was this a coincidence or just a case of people with the same name?

Although Feng Qiang is a very ordinary name, there are probably tens of thousands of people named Feng Qiang across the country, but seeing him at this time is too much of a coincidence, especially since the reason given for Feng Qiang on the list is "working away from home".

Moreover, Zhou Yi discovered that when he was in Anyuan, he didn't seem to have any contact with Feng Qiang's hometown; it was Xia Yu who was in touch with Feng Qiang's colleagues there.

Perhaps Xia Yu had mentioned before which city Feng Qiang was from? That's why the name Huaixing sounded familiar when I saw it in Xu Liu's file?

Zhou Yi immediately took out his phone to call the Anyuan Municipal Public Security Bureau, but after checking the time, he put the phone down and decided to wait until dawn.

After going through this pile of documents and finding nothing special, Zhou Yi started going through the first pile again.

My roommate has a total of six file folders, and the first one is Mo Youyou's.

As Lu Xiaoshuang's best roommate, Mo Youyou was questioned in the most detail, a total of three times. Although the questions were similar each time, the purpose of the repeated questioning was only twofold: either to raise suspicions or to hope that the other party could recall as many details as possible.

Mo Youyou is clearly the latter.

Mo Youyou did mention some details later, such as that on the evening of April 25th, she had asked Lu Xiaoshuang to attend a social event, but Lu Xiaoshuang did not go; she also mentioned herself, specifically that she called Lu Xiaoshuang on the evening of April 26th, but there was nothing special about it, except that after Lu Xiaoshuang answered the phone, Mo Youyou and her roommates made a few good-natured jokes.

One question Zhou Yi couldn't figure out was how Xiao Bing knew he was on a business trip.

Now that Xiao Bing is dead, no one can answer this question anymore.

However, based on the previous speculation, Xiao Bing went to room 404 to find Dong Lu that night, so it was impossible for her to have followed him nearby and overheard his conversation with Lu Xiaoshuang.

Therefore, the problem should lie with Lu Xiaoshuang.

In theory, Lu Xiaoshuang wouldn't actively publicize this matter, but it's possible that she might unintentionally mention it to Mo Youyou, with whom she has a close relationship.

Mo Youyou is an outgoing person and a bit of a blabbermouth. Perhaps she said something in public that Xiao Bing happened to overhear?
Zhou Yi flipped through Mo Youyou's interrogation records but found nothing that could confirm his speculation. He decided to go and ask Mo Youyou directly at dawn to confirm it.

After putting down Mo Youyou's information, Zhou Yi looked at the student files that were stacked so high they were almost falling over, and hesitated.

After thinking about it, I realized that it was unrealistic for students to have cell phones and cars to commit crimes these days, so I skipped the student information and started looking at the teacher section.

Including the counselors, there are a total of thirteen teachers.

Zhou Yi recalls that there were seven male teachers and six female teachers among them.

These seven male teachers will definitely be the first to be investigated.

Zhou Yi picked out the file folder with the name written on it.

Suddenly, a name on one of the file folders caught his attention.

"Fan Tianyou..."

He remembered that this person seemed to be the teacher of Lu Xiaoshuang's required course, Principles of Economics.

I should be 33 years old this year, single, an associate professor, with overseas study experience, having obtained master's and doctoral degrees abroad.

A 33-year-old associate professor with a doctorate—not to mention in the 1990s, even 20 years from now, he would definitely be considered a young talent, a top talent among his peers, and a key target for the university's development.

Zhou Yi looked at the name on the file folder and realized that Professor Fan had been mentioned two or three times before.

During the interrogation, Lu Xiaoshuang said that after class on the morning of the 30th, she stayed behind to ask Professor Fan for help because there were some things she didn't understand. She only had one teacher with the surname Fan, namely Fan Tianyou.

Then, during Zheng Jianxin's interrogation, he mentioned that when he sent love letters to Lu Xiaoshuang, his excuse was to return a book.

This book was a reward that Fan Tianyou gave to Lu Xiaoshuang.

And there's one more thing!

Zhou Yi immediately pulled out Zheng Jianxin's file from the student records and found the most recent interrogation record, the one from the time he and Chen Yan went to ask him questions.

At the time, she questioned Zheng Jianxin about whether he had been following Lu Xiaoshuang. Zheng Jianxin admitted it, but said he hadn't noticed anyone else following Lu Xiaoshuang.

The reason they stopped following was because the teacher discovered and warned them.

At that time, Zhou Yi asked him to repeat the specific circumstances of his discovery.

His exact words were: "That day, I was following Lu Xiaoshuang to get hot water, hiding behind a tree and watching her, when suddenly someone asked me what I was doing. I was startled, and when I turned around, I saw Professor Fan. He looked at me and then at Lu Xiaoshuang not far away, frowned, and asked me if I was following a classmate. I was terrified, and I... I admitted it. I thought Professor Fan would tell the counselor, and I didn't want to be punished... so I begged him, and he said that because he felt sorry for me, he wouldn't say anything this time, but warned me not to do it again."

Zhou Yi also confirmed Professor Fan's name with him, and Zheng Jianxin's answer at the time was: "Professor Fan Tianyou".

Zhou Yi went over it in his mind and recalled the investigation data of Professor Fan from his previous life. He remembered that this person had a solid alibi and, like Xiao Bing, did not own a car or have a record of having taken a driver's license test.

So it was automatically ignored. When Zheng Jianxin's information was returned to the internal affairs team, I was reminded that this matter might need to be verified later.

Upon seeing this person's name again, a question suddenly popped into Zhou Yi's mind: Why did Fan Tianyou assume that Zheng Jianxin was stalking Lu Xiaoshuang?

Isn't this indication a bit too explicit?
With suspicion in mind, Zhou Yi opened Fan Tianyou's file and began to carefully examine the documents inside.

Everything seemed normal; the basic information was the same as in the previous life.

Regarding the content of the interrogation, since the victim and the time of the incident have changed, most of the content is different from the previous life, but no abnormalities were found.

During the investigation, Fan Tianyou clearly and logically recounted his alibi for the three days from the 28th to the 30th.

There seemed to be nothing unusual.

Zhou Yi flipped over without thinking.

But the next second, his hand suddenly froze.

Then suddenly, I flipped back to the previous page.

His finger landed on a sentence Fan Tianyou had said.

The vast case data from my previous life flooded my mind like snowflakes.

Suddenly, a piece of paper from his previous life flashed into his mind.

Zhou Yi held up the piece of paper in the real world to his eyes.

At this moment, his eyes were like a mirror.

On either side of the mirror are two pieces of paper from different times and spaces.

There was a sentence on each of the two pieces of paper, and through Zhou Yi's eyes, they overlapped perfectly, without any difference!