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

Chapter 434 A Dream Interpretation (10,000 words per day, 13 days)
Fan Tianyou's file was not thick; it contained only a fairly standard investigation process.

Since it was confirmed by classmates and other teachers that he did not have much interaction with Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang during his daily free time, he was not the subject of any special interview.

The first document in the file folder was Fan Tianyou's household registration information, which contained some basic information.

Fan Tianyou is not a local of Hongcheng, but comes from a place called Changfengling. Zhou Yi had never heard of this place before, but the name must be a mountainous area.

To achieve this level of success coming from a mountainous area is truly remarkable; they are a prime example of how knowledge can change one's destiny.

However, the problems of people from mountainous areas are also obvious, namely that their household registration information is very basic and does not contain specific information about their family members.

The second document is the faculty and staff information provided by the school, which includes Fan Tianyou's detailed resume.

He was born in 1964, entered the School of Accounting at a prestigious university in 1985, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1989.

Then in 1989, he went abroad to a foreign university that Zhou Yi had never heard of to pursue a master's and doctoral degree. The specific enrollment period stated in the materials was from August 1989 to June 1994.

After returning to China in the latter half of 1994, he joined Hongda and was hired as a lecturer.

In less than three years, at the beginning of this year, he was successfully promoted to associate professor.

Zhou Yi didn't understand the academic system, but he could still tell that this speed was astonishing.

However, that's not the point. Perhaps they are indeed academically excellent, or they have received help from influential people.

The third document is the transcript of Fan Tianyou's interrogation.

The police officer first asked him what he thought of Xu Liu. His answer was similar to that of most of the teachers: she was quite smart, but her mind wasn't on her studies, which was a pity.

However, he also admitted that things are different in China and abroad. In China, many students study the hardest in high school, and after getting into university, many of them are content with just graduating.

Therefore, he respects each student's personal choice.

When asked about his impression of Lu Xiaoshuang, Fan Tianyou's answer was almost identical to that of his previous life: ambitious, hardworking, studious, and simple.

He wasn't among the most outstanding students at Hongda University, but he was the kind of student that all the teachers liked.

He then mentioned a view that was different from his previous life: Lu Xiaoshuang seemed to have become much more cheerful in the past two months, and her academic performance had also improved significantly.

This perfectly aligns with the changes brought about by Zhou Yi's arrival.

Then, the police officers in charge of the case asked him to explain in detail where he was and what he was doing from the evening of April 28th to April 30th, and whether anyone could testify to this.

This is a question that everyone will inevitably be asked when they are surveyed.

In my previous life, this timeframe was from May 3rd to 6th.

In fact, providing an alibi for a previous life is relatively more complicated.

Because in her previous life, Lu Xiaoshuang disappeared after class on May 3rd, which was a Friday, and the next two days were the weekend. Her body parts were discovered on Monday the 6th.

Therefore, people do not need to go to school or work on the weekends in between, and many people have plans to go out. Once people start moving around, it becomes very difficult to verify the authenticity of all their behavior.

The same applies to this life. Some people will always have periods of solitude, or a low profile in certain environments. For example, someone might say that they went to watch people play basketball alone near the court at night, but no one may notice them, so they cannot provide a completely sufficient alibi.

Therefore, given this situation, it is necessary to analyze its rationality logically.

For example, the time spent alone is relatively short, not exceeding two hours, and there is no continuous time spent alone. Instead, the perpetrator makes their presence known to others every now and then, and then disappears again. This is to prevent the murderer from deliberately timing their alibi by having "witnesses" present.

As for why short periods of solitude can be considered suspicious.

The reason is that the entire crime process is quite complex and the crime lasts a long time. In particular, Wang Yao, the forensic doctor sent by the provincial capital, took more than 100 pieces out of more than 1,000 pieces of the body parts and then used the most advanced high-powered microscope he brought to observe microorganisms, and finally put forward a reference conclusion.

These were over a hundred samples, each marked with the time of discovery. Wang Yao recorded the microbial growth index of each sample and sorted them according to the discovery time, finding a relatively regular curve.

In other words, the discovery time and the number of microorganisms are directly proportional, and the fluctuation range is within a reasonable range.

Wang Yao also presented a lot of professional theories, which left many people confused and impressed.

But in the end, they all understood Wang Yao's final conclusion.

That is, cutting the corpse into more than a thousand pieces and deep-frying these more than a thousand pieces of the corpse were completed within a concentrated period of time.

There is a possibility that the slicing and frying steps can be performed separately.

But slicing is definitely done within a certain timeframe, and so is frying.

If it were done in stages, such as cutting and frying a portion, then cutting and frying another portion half a day later, the number of microorganisms that would grow would not be what it is now.

Wang Yao said that organic matter will rot, whether it is raw or cooked.

Decay is accompanied by the growth of microorganisms, so scientific data does not lie.

Based on this conclusion, and considering the experimental data from Song Yiming's previous work, which lasted at least eight hours, it can be inferred that even if the two steps of dismembering and cooking the corpse were performed separately, each step would still take at least four hours.

Moreover, there is the possibility of travel time to and from the destination, so setting the time within two hours is already very rigorous, not to mention the additional factor of continuous alone time.

Therefore, during the investigation, the task force only gathered information about the situation during the two-hour or less period of solitude, without including it in the scope of suspicion for a second review and investigation.

However, this rule didn't exist in the previous life because the methods of committing crimes in the previous life were far less complex than in this life. If the murderer had a very strong mental fortitude and relevant professional experience, they could have completed that level of dismemberment within three hours.

As for disposing of the body, it is entirely possible to dispose of the body in a dispersed manner over multiple time periods.

After all, if the location for disposing of a body is observed and identified in advance, the act of disposing of the body itself takes very little time.

In his previous life, Fan Tianyou's alibi was as follows.

After getting off work on May 3rd, he left through the east side gate of the school and went to the snack street outside the east gate, which is a noodle shop on Dongsheng Road, and ate a bowl of pork chop noodles.

Then he rode his bicycle to Xishan Cemetery, which is about seven kilometers away from Hongda. It took him about forty minutes to ride there.

He went to Xishan Cemetery to pay respects to his girlfriend, who had passed away in an accident while he was in college.

The night before, he dreamed about his girlfriend, who said that the grass in front of their house had grown too tall and was annoying.

He felt that his girlfriend was upset because he hadn't visited her in a long time, so he decided to go to sweep her grave on Friday night.

He bought a pair of candles and some paper money at a small shop next to Xishan Cemetery, and asked the shopkeeper for a receipt.

After buying the items, he went into the cemetery, found his girlfriend's grave, and discovered that there were indeed tall weeds growing in front of the tombstone, just as his girlfriend had described in her dream.

So he pulled up the weeds, lit candles and burned paper money, and stayed for a while before leaving. When he got home, it was almost nine o'clock. After washing up, he lay in bed, read for a while, and then went to sleep.

He lives in a new apartment provided by the school, which is not inside the Grand University complex, but is only about one kilometer away.

The next morning, he ran into a colleague downstairs when he went out and greeted him.

Due to the special environment of the cemetery, the task force was unable to find a suitable witness.

However, the task force verified Fan Tianyou's photo and the receipt he provided. The owner of the incense and candle shop next to the cemetery confirmed that the handwritten receipt was from him because it had a date on it. He also confirmed that it was Fan Tianyou in the photo, saying that it was him, and that it was dark when he came to buy things that day, and he was wearing a hat.

But more importantly, the next morning, May 4th, the bespectacled man came to him with a receipt, saying that he had bought something here the night before, but when he got home he found that the change seemed to be wrong.

The boss was furious, saying that he had been in this business his whole life and never cheated customers, because he was selling things for the dead, and cheating people would be against his karma.

As a result, the other party took out a ten-yuan note and handed it to the shopkeeper, saying that he had misunderstood and that he had found out at home that the shopkeeper had given him ten yuan too much change.

The boss immediately thanked him.

The task force later verified the matter with Fan Tianyou.

In addition, at the grave of Fan Tianyou's girlfriend, the task force did find unburnt candles and traces of weeds being cleared.

Although there were no eyewitnesses, the physical evidence and objective circumstances were basically consistent with Fan Tianyou's description.

Then, on the 4th and 5th, although it was the weekend, he had corresponding alibis.

After returning from the cemetery on the 4th, he met up with two friends for dinner and went fishing nearby. They didn't leave until after 8 p.m.

Although he didn't make plans with any friends on the 5th, he went to the nearby Xinhua Bookstore in the morning and made a purchase record. Because he inquired about several books in detail, the bookstore staff remembered him.

After buying the books, he returned to Hongda, which was captured on CCTV at the main entrance.

He ate lunch at the school cafeteria, and his meal card shows the transaction record.

I went to the library in the afternoon. There are borrowing records and eyewitnesses.

He ate dinner in the cafeteria again that night, and didn't leave through the main entrance until after 8 p.m., as evidenced by CCTV footage.

As for the night, since he is single, not a local and does not live with his family, and the large off-campus talent apartment building has no surveillance or access control.

Therefore, a clear alibi cannot be provided.

But this is also a problem that single people encounter when they are surveyed. Of course, they can't prove it if they are sleeping alone at home.

However, Fan Tianyou did not own a car or a house, and he even offered to have his apartment inspected by the special task force. The inspection ultimately revealed that the apartment did not meet the criteria for the primary crime scene.

Therefore, considering his whereabouts over the past two and a half days, the task force in the previous life ruled him out as a suspect.

When Zhou Yi repeatedly reviewed the case files of the Hongda case, his only suspicion about Fan Tianyou was that the next day was Saturday, so why was he in such a hurry to go to sweep the tomb on Friday night? Wouldn't it be creepy to sweep the tomb at night?

However, given the ample physical and circumstantial evidence, it is possible that Fan Tianyou simply thought of it out of boredom at the time.

Other than that, there was nothing to doubt.

After all, there were no other clues pointing to Fan Tianyou being suspicious.

Just now, as Zhou Yi was reviewing Fan Tianyou's interrogation records, he began to answer questions about his whereabouts from April 28th to 30th.

He was in class at school on April 28th, so he has a very solid alibi.

Then, after get off work on the evening of the 28th, Fan Tianyou said he went to Xishan Cemetery because!
The night before, he dreamed about his girlfriend, who said that the grass in front of their house had grown too tall and was annoying.

This sentence happened to be at the very end of a page, so when Zhou Yi saw it, he didn't pay much attention and naturally turned the page.

But in that instant, it felt like lightning had struck my mind.

Zhou Yi suddenly flipped back to the page and read the sentence word by word.

That's right, Fan Tianyou's original words were: "The night before, I dreamed of my girlfriend who passed away many years ago. She said that the grass in front of her house had grown too tall recently, which was annoying. I figured she was probably upset that I hadn't visited her in a long time, so I decided to go and sweep her grave after get off work."

That's right, his answer in the previous life was exactly the same as his answer in this life.

Zhou Yi was even certain that not a single word had been changed!

The problem is that in this life, the question is about his whereabouts on April 28th, while in the previous life, this answer was used to explain his whereabouts on May 3rd!

How could a person have the exact same dream repeatedly in such a short period of time?

Even if there is an extremely small probability that Fan Tianyou had this dream on the night of April 27th, and then had the same dream again on the night of May 2nd.

But will he go to sweep the grave again just five days later?
Even if we went, the problem is, whose grave is overgrown with weeds so fast?!
Therefore, the two sentences about past lives and present lives are exactly the same, and there is only one reasonable explanation: Fan Tianyou lied!

Whether it was the night of May 3rd in his previous life or the night of April 28th in this life, he lied, and he used the exact same way of lying!

However, this exact same way of lying was the first time Fan Tianyou had ever used it in both his lifetimes.

However, for Zhou Yi, this lie was repeated time and again.

Zhou Yi never expected that the files he had reviewed countless times in his previous life would actually come in this way.

He thought that since the victim had changed, the time of the crime had changed, the modus operandi had changed, and the case was completely different, the corresponding investigation records would also change. His behavior of going through the massive case files countless times in the archives in his previous life was now completely useless.

But as it turned out, the efforts of the previous life took effect in the most unexpected way.

Fan Tianyou's lie about dreams is like an anchor, breaking through the constraints of time and space, firmly hooking onto the riverbed called truth, and fixing the grand case there.

Zhou Yi was the only sailor who could retrieve the anchor.

The moment Zhou Yi confirmed this statement, his first thought was that the murderer had been found.

In the previous life, after the scope of the investigation was expanded, it was found that some people lied about their alibis, but the purpose of lying was to cover up other behaviors, such as adultery, prostitution, and theft.

However, these alibis were eventually exposed by the police officers in the special task force. The reason was simple: these people were lying on the spot after the fact.

For example, when it comes to infidelity, the person involved may find reasons to hide it from their spouse, but ordinary people do not have the ability to investigate or the relevant authority, so it is easy to get away with it.

However, the task force will conduct a complex verification process involving eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, and circumstantial evidence.

These fabricated or poorly worded lies will be exposed immediately under the investigation of the task force.

Fan Tianyou's lie successfully evaded the investigation team, especially the receipt, which became the key to the credibility of his lie.

This shows that his lies were not fabricated on the spot when facing the investigation team, but were prepared in advance.

Although Zhou Yi didn't know how he did it.

Generally speaking, although the time from the occurrence of a murder to its discovery varies, in about 80% of cases, the victims have already been murdered or taken hostage within two to three hours of disappearing from public view.

Therefore, the alibis of Lu Xiaoshuang's last appearance in the previous life and Xu Liu's last appearance in this life within three hours are the most important.

In his previous life, the receipt from the incense and candle shop next to the cemetery was the key piece of evidence that allowed Fan Tianyou to successfully evade prosecution.

What about this life? Did he also rely on this receipt to prove his innocence?
Zhou Yi immediately looked down and turned the page to the next page.

Just like in his previous life, Fan Tianyou's routine after get off work was to exit through the east side gate of the school, eat a bowl of pork chop noodles at a noodle shop on Dongsheng Road, and then ride his bicycle to Xishan Cemetery.

Now, when Zhou Yi looks at this testimony again, his feelings are completely different.

Because of the intense suspicion that had taken root in his mind, every word Fan Tianyou uttered became highly questionable.

In his testimony from his previous life, Fan Tianyou said that he ate lunch and dinner at the school cafeteria on May 5th, which was a Sunday.

But why did he choose to eat noodles at the nearby food street on the very day of the incident?
If you don't have any doubts, it's just a simple meal; after all, no one says you can't eat out.

However, if there is any doubt, it is because eating at the school cafeteria requires swiping a card, and the card's system records the transactions, which can be checked.

The food street on the east side of the school sees over 10,000 people every day, with peak hours occurring after students finish class in the evening.

In such an environment, who would notice a lone diner?

If he said he ate at the school cafeteria, the investigation team would definitely check his meal card transaction records, which would be difficult to explain. Because Hongda is open to the public, the cafeteria does not accept cash payments to prevent people from the neighborhood from taking advantage of the situation.

So, upon closer reflection, none of Fan Tianyou's alibis on the first night of his previous life included any clear eyewitnesses; the strongest evidence was that receipt.

Although the incense and candle shop owner confirmed Fan Tianyou's photo, it was actually quite strange that Fan Tianyou went to return the money the next day.

Even if the shop owner really gave you ten extra dollars in change, is their moral standard really that high? Would they really go through all that trouble to return the money?

And then produce that receipt?
This seems more like a deliberate attempt to reinforce the boss's impression the next day, turning the boss into a witness.

The question is, where did this receipt come from?

Did he have accomplices?
However, Zhou Yi recalled carefully that Fan Tianyou only mentioned two friends on the second day, but he didn't find anything suspicious. These two people didn't even have any connection with Hongda.

Zhou Yi continued reading.

But what Fan Tianyou said next made Zhou Yi frown.

Because after he arrived at Xishan Cemetery, he did not go to the nearby incense and candle shop to buy candles and paper money.

Naturally, there would be no receipts that could serve as crucial evidence.

He said he went straight into the cemetery and then went to his girlfriend's grave.

The girlfriend he mentioned was named Chen Lin, who was also a student at Hongda University back then.

Then he said that he discovered that there were indeed tall weeds growing in front of the tombstone, just like his girlfriend had described in her dream.

He pulled up the weeds and chatted with his girlfriend for a while.

Seeing that it was getting quite late, he prepared to go back.

Then! He said he met someone at the cemetery.

This person is Chen Gengyun, the father of his girlfriend Chen Lin and the dean of the Hongda Social College!
Zhou Yi was completely stunned. Chen Gengyun was the father of Fan Tianyou's deceased girlfriend? What was going on?
Fan Tianyou is clearly lying now, because no matter how much my existence interferes with the development of this life, it cannot interfere with Fan Tianyou's mind and affect his dreaming of his girlfriend several days in advance.

Therefore, Chen Gengyun's appearance was also a lie.

Judging from the fact that Fan Tianyou did not arouse suspicion, Chen Gengyun must have testified as a "witness" that the "encounter" at Xishan Cemetery was real.

Zhou Yi immediately flipped through the pages, searching for the information in the verification section.

The first page contains the records that the task force found and confirmed with Chen Gengyun.

The record was only one page long, and it was to confirm with Chen Gengyun whether he had met Fan Tianyou on the evening of April 28th, including the location, time, and circumstances of the encounter, as well as what they said and did after meeting.

Chen Gengyun's answer was completely consistent with Fan Tianyou's account.

Fan Tianyou left, and Chen Gengyun arrived. After the two met, Fan Tianyou, who was originally about to leave, stayed with Chen Gengyun for about half an hour longer, and they talked about some things about his daughter before she passed away.

Chen Gengyun added that there were streetlights in the cemetery, so it wasn't as eerie as he had imagined. The two then left, saying goodbye at the cemetery entrance.

Chen Gengyun said with certainty that it was around 8:30 at the time, because he had checked his watch when he and Fan Tianyou parted ways.

In other words, the receipts and physical evidence from the previous life have become Chen Gengyun, the witness, in this life.

This comparison raises a series of questions.

Was the receipt from his previous life given to him by Chen Gengyun?

Why did Chen Gengyun only give Fan Tianyou a receipt instead of testifying on his behalf?
Why is there no receipt in this life, but instead he is forced to give false testimony?
Did Chen Gengyun know about Fan Tianyou's crimes? When did he find out?

Did Chen Gengyun merely give false testimony for Fan Tianyou? Or was he also involved in the crime? Or was he the mastermind behind this massive case?

Why was it Lu Xiaoshuang who died in the previous life? And why is it Xu Liu who died in this life, but the blame must be placed on Lu Xiaoshuang?

If Chen Gengyun participated in or even planned a grand case in his previous life, then why has the method of dismembering corpses changed so much in this life?

Zhou Yi's mind is now filled with one question after another.

If the Hongda case was a problem he couldn't solve at all before, then...

Now, the Grand Case is a problem for which he knows the answer, but still doesn't know the entire solution process.

Most importantly, you won't get a single point for simply writing down the answer to this question.

Zhou Yi scratched his hair and began to read Fan Tianyou's investigation materials word by word, not missing a single punctuation mark.

After reading it once, go back to the first page and read it again from the beginning.

He looked at it over and over again.

Before we knew it, the sky was already turning a pale white.

At this moment, whichever part of the document Zhou Yi's gaze landed on, the next paragraph would naturally jump into his mind.

He was like a human body scanner, meticulously scanning over and over again until he had recorded every single detail about Fan Tianyou in this life in his mind.

Sure enough, apart from the tomb sweeping and the dream, the other information was completely different from the previous life, which is consistent with the reasonable changes brought about by the passage of time.

But just like in his previous life, Zhou Yi now seems to be full of suspicion about forcibly creating an alibi.

For example, on April 29th, Fan Tianyou said that he was working at the school all day, with classes and academic exchanges at various times, and he had a solid alibi for all of these time periods. He even missed dinner at around 8 pm that evening because he was doing academic research and ate something at the school cafeteria.

But interspersed within these time periods, he has a lot of time alone. For example, he went to a nearby restaurant for lunch by himself, or when he had no schedule, he immersed himself in academic research in his office. Hongda provides independent offices for teachers at the associate professor level and above, after all, they are high-end talents.

These periods of solitude without witnesses generally did not exceed two hours.

But Zhou Yi calculated that all these times alone, from entering the school gate at eight in the morning to leaving the school at nine in the evening, amounted to nearly six hours.

In other words, although he claimed to be at school all day, he spent nearly six hours of that time away from other people.

Zhou Yi looked through the information of other teachers and found that some of them also had varying degrees of alone time, especially those who were associate professors or above and had private offices, as well as those who had very few classes on the day. So it was not Fan Tianyou's case, but Fan Tianyou had the longest cumulative alone time.

There must be something wrong here!

After leaving school at 9 p.m. on the 29th, he returned to the talent apartment and ran into a colleague on his way upstairs.

Then I washed up and rested until I went to work the next morning.

He had two classes on the morning of the 30th, with only an hour in between. The second class was for the 1996 Financial Management class.

After class, it was noon.

Because some classmates asked him a few questions, he left a little late. He knew that it would take a long time to get to the cafeteria at this time, so he went outside and got a takeout rice bowl to eat in his office.

The classmate who asked him the question was Lu Xiaoshuang.

In the afternoon, he went to the school's celebration that started at 2 p.m., but because he had overslept after taking a short nap at noon, he was a little late, by which time the event had already started.

The lighting was rather dim at the time, so he just found a corner to sit down.

He said that when he went in, he saw a registration form at the entrance and signed his name on it. Later he found out that it was for teachers and students who participated in the performance to sign in.

During the subsequent investigation, the task force found the registration form and kept a copy. It did indeed have Fan Tianyou's name on it, and the technical department had made a note confirming that the handwriting matched.

This shows how meticulous the task force's investigation was, fearing that they might miss any suspicious detail.

He wasn't entirely sure what time he left, but he did mention the performance he was on stage when he left.

Based on the performance order, this show will likely take place around 3:20 PM.

As for why he left, he felt that the environment in the auditorium was a bit dark, which made his eyes uncomfortable.

He returned to his office, put in some eye drops, rested for a while, then went to the school library to borrow two books before going back.

The borrowing record was later verified, and the borrowing time was 3:48.

The time Lu Xiaoshuang was abducted was 2 PM. Considering the duration of the ether's effect and the series of reactions from being locked in the trunk, the incident likely occurred between 2 PM and 3 PM.

According to the investigation, Fan Tianyou also had a valid alibi for this period of time.

But since Zhou Yi has determined that he is the murderer, all of his alibis are invalid in Zhou Yi's eyes.

Zhou Yi would be extremely suspicious of him unless there were two or more witnesses, such as during class, when he couldn't possibly be in two places at once to commit a crime.

Otherwise, Zhou Yi would doubt the authenticity of all evidence.

Given the precedent of that receipt and Chen Gengyun's testimony, it cannot be ruled out that there might be others who gave false testimony on his behalf.

However, suspicion is merely an attitude, not a result, much less evidence, and cannot be used to convict.

Therefore, he had to find a way to expose Fan Tianyou's lies and find out the truth.

But the tricky part is, how is he supposed to investigate?
It's not that he can't suspect Fan Tianyou; he can suspect anyone. But if he wants to investigate Fan Tianyou thoroughly, he has to report to the special task force and at least get Liang Wei's permission.

But for this guy with a "sufficient" alibi, he has to come up with reasons for a reinvestigation.

Either there are new clues pointing to it, or there is enough logical support to convince the leader.

He couldn't very well tell Liang Wei and Fan Tianyou that they had the same dream in their previous life, just a few days later. After all, their current logic only applied to the version of themselves that had memories of their previous life.

Of course, if it were just a matter of deploying the police force of himself and Chen Yan, he believed Liang Wei wouldn't object.

However, this also involves Chen Gengyun's case, and it cannot be ruled out that Liu Baoguo may also be involved.

Just by keeping an eye on Fan Tianyou and Chen Gengyun, he and Chen Yan were effectively locked down.

We need to find another helper.

But both Sister Qiao and Brother Biao had missions to complete and couldn't be in two places at once.

Suddenly, Zhou Yi thought of someone.

He immediately took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, Captain Wu, how's your rest going lately?"

……

When Director Wang returned to the internal affairs office, exhausted, he didn't see Zhou Yi, but only a file folder placed diagonally on top.

He picked it up, glanced at it, then straightened the file folder, muttering, "Fan Tianyou? This person has already been investigated..."

Meanwhile, in the vast girls' dormitory area, the dormitory supervisor had just returned from getting breakfast when she saw a man standing at the door of the duty room.

"What are you doing? Men aren't allowed in here... Oh, it's you, young man?" The aunt recognized Zhou Yi and said with a smile.

Zhou Yi stated his purpose directly and asked the aunt to call Mo Youyou out.

Seeing his serious expression, the aunt didn't ask any more questions and quickly agreed.

Mo Youyou had just woken up and was brushing her teeth when she heard the broadcast.

Everyone was stunned, and after a few seconds they thought they had misheard.

After being reminded by someone nearby, she realized that they were indeed calling her, so she grabbed her toothbrush and cup and quickly ran outside.

I ran downstairs and saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance of the dormitory area.

She rushed over and, panting, said to Zhou Yi, "Officer Zhou... Officer Zhou."

"Mo Youyou, I have a few questions I'd like to ask you."

With a look of worry on her face, Youyou said, "I...can I ask a question first?"

"what?"

"How is Xiaoshuang now?"

Actually, Zhou Yi had already guessed what she wanted to ask.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "She's fine, but she can't come back yet."

Hearing the words "she's fine," Mo Youyou finally breathed a sigh of relief, her heart, which had been hanging in suspense for so long, finally settled down. She kept muttering to herself, "It's good that she's alright, it's good that she's alright."

“However, you must keep this information a secret and not tell anyone,” Zhou Yi reminded him. “You can’t say a single word about it; it concerns Xiao Shuang’s safety.”

Fan Tianyou is the murderer, and he is also Lu Xiaoshuang's required course teacher. If he cannot be brought to justice, it means that Lu Xiaoshuang will be lying on the executioner's block every day unless she completely gives up her studies and leaves for another place.

It's not uncommon for investigators to be certain that someone is the murderer, but are unable to find sufficient evidence to convict them, and ultimately have to release them.

Zhou Yi absolutely cannot let this happen.

Mo Youyou nodded repeatedly: "I won't tell, I won't tell even if you kill me!"

"I have a few questions for you."

"Okay, Officer Zhou, please ask."

Has Xiaoshuang mentioned my business trip to you?

Mo Youyou hesitated before saying, "Well... that night you went to see Xiaoshuang, and after she came back I asked her. At first she wouldn't say, but then I told her..."

"What did you say?" Zhou Yi asked, frowning.

"I said... it must be Officer Zhou who confessed to you, otherwise why would she have taken so long? Then she said you were going on a business trip, so you came to tell her."

Zhou Yi sighed and shook his head in exasperation. This little girl was really something...

"Should I... not have asked?" Mo Youyou asked somewhat guiltily.

Zhou Yi didn't answer, but continued to ask, "Have you told anyone else about my business trip?"

Mo Youyou shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, I didn't say that."

"Are you sure? Think about it carefully again. For example, was it not said intentionally, but unintentionally?"

Mo Youyou frowned and thought for a while, then said timidly, "It seems like I accidentally said it... just once."

"Under what circumstances?"

"On the evening of the 25th, there was a social event at school. I wanted to go, but I didn't want to go alone, so I wanted to ask Xiaoshuang to go with me. But she refused, saying it wasn't safe to go out at night and that I shouldn't let her go. So I asked another roommate instead."

"Then you told the other person about my business trip?"

Mo Youyou said shyly, "On the way there, my roommate asked Xiaoshuang why she wasn't going, and I said... her husband, Officer Zhou, was away on a business trip, so he was strict and wouldn't let her go out to play. That was all I said, and I really didn't say it again."

As expected, the situation was exactly as I had predicted. "Was anyone around at the time?"

“There probably are…there are people passing by,” Mo Youyou quickly added, “but I’m sure there aren’t any I know.”

Mo Youyou and Xiao Bing had no interaction, so even if Xiao Bing passed by, she wouldn't notice.

But the speaker has no intention, and the listener has intention.

If my analysis is correct, it is very likely that Xiao Bing found out about my business trip through this coincidence.

However, this can no longer be confirmed, since Xiao Bing is dead.

Zhou Yi then asked if Xu Liu had shown any unusual reaction after he called Lu Xiaoshuang on the night of April 26th. However, Mo Youyou's answer was the same as during the previous investigation, saying that she hadn't noticed anything wrong with her.

Zhou Yi told Mo Youyou that if she thought of anything, even something as small and insignificant as possible, as long as she felt it was strange or abnormal, she should remember to call him.

……

An Yuan and Pan Hongjie strolled leisurely into the office, first making a cup of tea, then opening a newspaper to read the news.

The follow-up to Zheng Guangming's case took a while, mainly because Anyuan had never had such a major murder case before. So the city and province held several special meetings on this major serial murder case. As the main person in charge of solving the case, he naturally had to go to meetings with Director Guo.

However, he felt particularly good about being praised by a high-ranking provincial leader for solving the case, since he had never received such an honor before.

He instantly felt that he was destined for great success and a bright future.

It seems that it's not impossible for him to take over from Director Guo in the future. The name Pan followed by "Director" sounds like a perfect match.

With Zhou Yi and the others gone, An Yuan enjoyed clear skies and peace, making him happy and cheerful wherever he went these days.

The phone on the table rang. He took a leisurely sip of tea before answering it.

"Hello, this is Pan Hongjie. Who is this?"

"Team Leader Pan, this is Zhou Yi."

Upon hearing that it was Zhou Yi, Pan Hongjie immediately became excited.

"Zhou Yi, oh my, it's been so long since we last contacted each other! When are you free to come visit Anyuan again?"

"Captain Pan, I need to confirm something with you."

"What's up? Tell me, tell me," Pan Hongjie said with a smile.

"Is Zheng Guangming's driver, Feng Qiang, from Huaixing City?"

"Feng Qiang, wait a moment, I need to find the case file." He looked up and saw Xia Yu walk in, so he quickly called out, "Xia, come quick, it's Zhou Yi on the phone, you can talk to him for a bit."

Upon hearing that it was Zhou Yi, Xia Yu quickly answered the phone.

"Officer Zhou, hello, hello, I'm Xia Yu."

"Oh, Feng Qiang, yes, he's from Huaixing. I remember his address is No. 43, Laifu Street, Longhe District, Huaixing City."

"Yes, we located Feng Qiang a few days ago through the assistance of the southern authorities. Captain Pan sent Lao Chen and me over to interrogate him."

"It has been confirmed that Feng Qiang admitted to having an improper relationship with Huang Yanli, but claimed he was unaware of the case and left entirely under Huang Yanli's arrangement."

“He was released after the interrogation, but the local police made a record of his current address and contact information.”

"Okay, okay, I'll ask for you right away and tell you as soon as I find out."

"No, no, it's all what I should do. I didn't even have a chance to properly thank you last time."

Seeing that he was chatting enthusiastically, Pan Hongjie waved to him, indicating that Xia Yu should give him the phone.

But Xia Yu, holding the receiver, said, "Captain Pan, Zhou Yi has already hung up."

Pan Hongjie asked expectantly, "What's wrong? What does Zhou Yi want with us?"

"They want us to ask Feng Qiang some questions, it seems to be related to one of their cases."

"Really? How are they related?" Pan Hongjie said in surprise. "But it's definitely not as big as the case we solved."

……

In Hongcheng, Zhou Yi was making a phone call to An Yuan as he walked.

He asked Xia Yu to confirm with Feng Qiang whether he was Xu Liu's cousin, and when the two last contacted each other and what they talked about.

He had just hung up the phone when he looked up and someone brushed past him.

Zhou Yi felt his blood rush to his head instantly.

He had never met her in person, but he had seen her photos.

The person who passed by him was Fan Tianyou.

Zhou Yi stopped, turned around and called out, "Wait a minute!"

(End of this chapter)