As the fog dispersed, Jiang Cong found a breakthrough in the case. Immediately, he said to Yang Heng, who was still in a state of chagrin, "Back to the police station. We'll work overtime for a meeting. I've found the root of the problem."
Yang Heng was overjoyed. He took out his phone with a trembling hand and started calling everyone to inform them.
At 8 p.m.
Jiang Cong stood in the middle of the meeting room. Everyone was sitting upright, holding notebooks and carefully recording Jiang Cong's analysis.
"Previously, we all thought that Zhang Lu had gone home and was seen by Granny Wang. But if the person Granny Wang saw was a fake Zhang Lu, then things can be reasonably explained." Jiang Cong propped his arms up and leaned forward. The light from above shone on his face, making him look even colder.
Hearing Jiang Cong's bold speculation, everyone in the meeting room couldn't help but gasp.
It was just too incredible.
"If it was a fake Zhang Lu, then where is the real Zhang Lu? And why did the fake Zhang Lu stage this play?" Qin An was the first to raise a question.
"The victim was just an ordinary senior - two girl. Why would someone go to so much trouble to kill her?" Yang Heng also couldn't believe Jiang Cong's speculation.
The others all nodded and whispered among themselves.
Was it really worth going through such a round - about way just to harm a high - school student with no background?
Jiang Cong's black eyes were calm. Facing the different looks from everyone, he remained calm. "The real Zhang Lu didn't go home. Maybe he was kidnapped, or maybe he was hidden somewhere where no one could find him. That's why the fake Zhang Lu dared to go back to Zhang Lu's home openly and deliberately let the neighbors see him."
"Do you mean..." Yang Heng suddenly stood up. The chair under him made a loud noise because of his movement.
He didn't care about that. He couldn't wait to share his thought with Jiang Cong.
"The fake Zhang Lu is the murderer!" Yang Heng shouted, his voice a bit hoarse.
Jiang Cong gave Yang Heng an approving look. Then, following Yang Heng's words, he spoke again, "Yes. This is why all the evidence pointed to Zhang Lu, but the murderer wasn't Zhang Lu."
Everyone in the meeting room suddenly understood. The whole story became clear in their minds.
After killing Sheng Qingqiu, the murderer put on Zhang Lu's usual clothes under the cover of darkness, imitated his movements, and sneaked into Zhang Lu's home.
Then, the murderer deliberately left Sheng Qingqiu's blood on the doorknob of Zhang Lu's room to attract the police's attention.
Because of the neighbors' "eyewitness testimony", naturally, in others' eyes, Zhang Lu went missing after May 8th.
But in fact, Zhang Lu was probably deliberately kidnapped by the murderer before the crime.
And all this was to delay the time of Zhang Lu's actual disappearance in order to cover up the crime.
Jiang Cong tightened his thin lips. His deep facial features radiated a different kind of brilliance.
"Then... should we track down the whereabouts of the fake Zhang Lu according to the surveillance information next?" Qin An's pen tip tapped on the paper, leaving marks of different depths.
Jiang Cong nodded and calmly gave the order, "The members of the case - solving team should search Zhang Lu's home carefully again. Then, retrieve all the surveillance footage along the route and check them one by one."
"Yes!"
Soon.
The case - solving team found a micro - pinhole camera in Zhang Lu's room.
When connected to the computer, it showed no readable data.
The light from the computer screen reflected on Jiang Cong's face. His jaw was tense, and a hint of anger flashed across his eyes quickly.
After handling cases for so many years, few people dared to play tricks on him so boldly.
Obviously, the murderer had already expected that the impersonation of Zhang Lu would be discovered, so he took action in advance and cleared the data in the camera first.
Leaving the camera without destroying it together was an invisible provocation to Jiang Cong.
Jiang Cong curled his lips into an enigmatic sneer. The sharp look in his eyes made Yang Heng tremble with fear.
This Jiang Cong was a bit scary.
Although Jiang Cong usually spoke very little and couldn't be called gentle and elegant, he was by no means as cold - looking as he was now, like Satan returning from hell.
Once the sleeping lion wakes up, the long - awaited pursuit will be staged, leaving the prey nowhere to hide.
Yang Heng secretly thought that the murderer might really have angered Jiang Cong this time.
In fact, Jiang Cong wasn't a very broad - minded person. For those who stepped on his bottom line, he would only secretly stir things up and let those people reap what they sowed.
"Very good." Jiang Cong casually unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, looking a bit lazy and sexy. "Since you want to play, I'll play with you properly."
On the other side.
The fake Zhang Lu received an anonymous letter.
The letter was stuffed under the door.
The fake Zhang Lu warily looked around but didn't find any trace of the police.
He bent down, picked up the envelope, and unfolded the letter paper.
The person who wrote the letter was very smart. All the words on it were cut from various publications and pasted together.
"Hide the person well." The fake Zhang Lu murmured the content of the letter, chewing on its meaning repeatedly.
The black and wide sweatshirt completely enveloped the young man. Half of the fake Zhang Lu's face was hidden in the darkness, like a venomous snake that had been lying in wait for a long time, spitting out a terrifying venom, while the other half of his face was illuminated by the light, perfectly outlining the young man's delicate side profile.
This sharp contrast between black and white was just like the young man's character, seemingly good and evil, full of contradictions.
The fake Zhang Lu slumped on the sofa leisurely, lit a lighter, and put the letter paper on it.
The flame quickly engulfed the letter paper, which instantly turned into ashes.
The young man gently blew a breath, and the paper ash scattered.
"This feeling of destruction is really addictive." The young man murmured. His eyes were covered by his already a bit long bangs, looking even more gloomy.
The picture turned back to the police station again.
Jiang Cong was sitting alone in his office.
It was pitch - black outside the window. The tree shadows made a "rustling" sound under the gentle breeze, leaving one after another uncertain shadows on the window.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The sound of knocking on the door rang out.
"Come in." Jiang Cong's voice passed through the door panel and clearly reached the person's ears.
The door was pushed open. It was Yang Heng.
"Any findings?" Jiang Cong took a sip of the green tea. With his legs crossed, he was looking through the relevant case materials in the file bag while asking.
Yang Heng's tone sounded very heavy. He answered with a hoarse voice, "We retrieved the surveillance footage from various places in Zhang Lu's community, but that person seems to know very well where the blind spots of each camera are. Even when he appears, it's just for a flash, and we can't see his face clearly at all."
The situation was getting more and more complicated.
Jiang Cong closed his eyes and sorted out the complicated clues in his mind. His fingers tapped on his leg rhythmically.
Yang Heng held his breath and stood quietly aside, not daring to interrupt.