"The deceased is Zhou Zheng, a 25 - year - old male. He was a college classmate of Sun Shan and a local in City C. According to his parents, he went on a business venture with some classmates half a year ago and hasn't been back home since."
Bai Linglong pointed at the relationship chart on the whiteboard, drawn separately with red and black markers. "Moreover, he rarely called home. He didn't make a single call in the last month. Before that, he called about once every one or two months, and his parents didn't think much of it.
They didn't even know that he had a physical examination at a nearby hospital a month ago. So, it's possible that Zhou Zheng lied to his parents and actually stayed in the city.
Since he remitted a fixed amount of money to them every month, his parents believed that he was on a successful business venture and didn't ask him where he was.
We checked the bank. The remittances were indeed made by him, but from a neighboring city."
After Bai Linglong finished speaking, another tall and thin police officer continued. "After we listened to and analyzed the recording pen that Sun Yang brought back last time, I went to their university for an investigation.
Guess what? Three years ago, the four boys who fought with Sun Shan, including Zhou Zheng, all told their families that they were going on a business venture after graduation, and none of them has been home for half a year."
Hearing this, Bai Linglong pointed at the photos on the whiteboard. "The forensic doctor said that the body had been soaked in formalin for at least two weeks."
"Ouch..."
Su Yao grimaced as if she had a toothache. What a deep - seated grudge!
"Who is this?" Bai Linglong thought she looked familiar but couldn't remember for a moment.
Pei Yan had been directly pulled into the meeting room as soon as he arrived at the police station and hadn't had time to introduce anyone. So he said, "This is Su Yao. She will replace my assistant from now on."
"You look really familiar. Have we met somewhere?" Bai Linglong still couldn't recall where she had seen this gorgeous face.
"How would I know where you saw me? My photos are everywhere. Maybe in an app advertisement or something?" Su Yao didn't know how to answer Bai Linglong.
"Are you that famous actress? Su Yao, right?" Bai Linglong remembered seeing Su Yao's face in various advertisements. Although her looks had changed a lot, as a police officer, she was good at recognizing facial features and temperament.
"She will be my assistant and participate in this case with us." Pei Yan said. "But I hope you can keep this a secret because of her special identity."
"This is not appropriate, Lawyer Pei. The bureau leader only allowed you to participate in our case as a consultant because you helped us solve the shocking serial murder case in City C. We just signed the confidentiality agreement, and now you're bringing in a celebrity assistant. It will put a lot of pressure on us." Although Bai Linglong had only been in City C for a short time, she was already very familiar with the structure of the City C Police Station.
Pei Yan was specially hired as a consultant by the police station last year because he had solved a serial murder case that the City C Police Station had been investigating for more than a decade without success. That's why he, as a lawyer, could enter the police station and participate in the investigation of many cases. This famous lawyer Pei was really extraordinary, and even his assistant was a movie queen.
"I can also sign the confidentiality agreement." Su Yao took out a tube of mint candies and distributed them to Bai Linglong and Pei Yan.
"I need to ask the leader about this." Bai Linglong had already made a mistake in City B, and she didn't want to make another one.
Bai Linglong walked towards the bureau leader's office, leaving Su Yao and Pei Yan behind. Soon she came back and gave Su Yao a confidentiality agreement. "Please sign this confidentiality agreement, and then you can participate in the investigation of our case."
"You're really efficient. No wonder you're the people's police!" Su Yao gave Bai Linglong a thumbs - up, then picked up Pei Yan's pen on the table, casually signed her name, and handed it to Bai Linglong.
Bai Linglong nodded to show that she understood, but she didn't have time to be polite.
"Now let me introduce." Pei Yan successfully got Su Yao involved in the case. "Bai Linglong is the main person in charge of this case." Then he shouted, "Xiao Tang, has the drug test result come out?"
Xiao Tang, who had just entered the room with a stack of files in his arms, turned around. "Not yet. I'll hurry up." Then he quickly glanced at Su Yao, blushed, and quickly ran out of the room.
"Okay." Bai Linglong replied and glanced at Su Yao sitting opposite. Su Yao seemed to be used to the various reactions of her fans and wasn't too surprised.
Seeing that they were all very busy, Su Yao tugged at the man beside her who seemed to be looking at something else again. "Let's go and see Hu Zong."
Pei Yan put away his phone, nodded, said hello to Bai Linglong, and then went to the monitoring room next to the interrogation room.
Before the police officer in charge of the interrogation entered, Su Yao stopped one of them and glanced at his name tag imperceptibly. "Officer Zheng, right? Well, I'd like to ask you to..."
After Su Yao finished talking to Officer Zheng, she looked back and found that the broad corridor of the police station was filled with men and women in uniforms. They were looking at Su Yao. Some of them looked worshipful and were obviously her fans, while others looked curious and whispered to their colleagues. Su Yao felt like she was back on the red carpet, but she was a movie queen who had been in the industry for eight years. What kind of situation hadn't she seen? But being surrounded by the people's police was really a new experience.
More and more people gathered. The news that the movie queen Su Yao was at the City C Police Station spread like wildfire in the various groups of the police station. Even the bureau leader was alerted. He immediately contacted Pei Yan. After finding out the reason, he came out of his second - floor office, dispersed the on - lookers, and issued an order in the group, requiring all the police officers not to spread the news that the movie queen was working as a consultant at the police station without permission.
Seeing the continuous replies of "Received" in the group, the bureau leader finally started to deal with other things.
The investigation of the case continued.
Hu Zong, who had been locked up here for three days, was in an obviously bad mental state. When he saw someone come in, he just glanced at them and then continued to stare blankly at the table.
Officer Zheng knew that intimidation wouldn't work much at this moment. He sat opposite Hu Zong and said, "You still won't say where you got the stuff?"
Hu Zong replied listlessly, "Haven't I said many times? A friend told me to put it there. Then when someone wanted to buy it, I would go and get it. Isn't it already confirmed that it's just some special medicine for colds? What on earth are you guys trying to do by keeping me here?"
Another young police officer slapped his pen on the table. "How can you say we're keeping you here! This is just asking you to cooperate with the investigation! As long as you tell us everything you know, you can leave right away."
Hu Zong lifted his eyelids and glanced at him, then sneered. "I've known for a long time that all the police officers are useless. None of them can do anything right."
Officer Zheng was immediately angered by him. He stopped asking questions and got up to leave.
"I wonder how sad that little girl named Ding Rui will be." But before he walked out of the door, he said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft but just loud enough for Hu Zong to hear.
"He's very calm." Su Yao summarized after watching the whole process. "But he's too calm."
Pei Yan peeled a candy for her. After seeing her put it into her mouth, he asked, "What do you mean?"
Su Yao savored the fruity flavor spreading in her mouth and then said, "Based on the information I've read, Hu Zong is a street hooligan but has never been to the police station. Logically, he should be a timid person.
People like this tend to be wavering. It's completely reasonable for them to betray a so - called friend when it doesn't concern them. But he didn't. Except for saying that a friend told him to get the stuff to shift the blame, he didn't say a single word about who his friend was, where he was, or what his name was. Even when asked, he just mumbled something like 'I only met him a few times', 'I just tried it since I could make money', 'We only used code names and I don't know his real name'. "
Su Yao bit the candy. "There are only two possibilities. First, he really doesn't know who that friend is. Second, the friend is fabricated."
People's memories are limited. No matter how imaginative you are, the person you fabricate must have a prototype. Once you describe more than two characteristics of this person, the police will keep questioning you based on these characteristics. Under high - intensity pressure, people may say things instinctively.
"Learning acting requires a study of psychology. Just now, when that guy heard the name Ding Rui, his hand twitched for a moment, his eyebrows frowned involuntarily, and his breathing clearly accelerated according to his chest movements. This is a sign of anger. He's angry, and the cause of his anger is still related to Ding Rui."
After swallowing the candy, most of the plan in Su Yao's mind had taken shape. "Focus on investigating Ding Rui, and find a way to test Hu Zong's DNA."
"Okay."
While Su Yao was fulfilling her detective dream here, dark clouds were gathering on the Internet.
"I heard that you had an intimate relationship with Movie Queen Su before. Is that true?"
"Did you arrange this role for Movie Queen Su?"
"Is the man in the photos exposed by Movie Queen Su you?"
As soon as Du Ou walked out of the company, he was surrounded by entertainment reporters who had been waiting for a long time. They scrambled to hold the microphones in front of this rather thin man. The cameras were almost pushed into his face, for fear of missing any explosive news that could make tomorrow's headlines.
The man pressed his hands down to signal the reporters to be quiet. After they all fell silent, he cleared his throat. "Ahem, Xiao Yao and I are truly in love. There's no such thing as me keeping her. Even if there was, it was in the past. Now we're very much in love. I hope you don't bother her."
When the reporters saw there was something interesting, they became even more excited, just like birds seeing rice grains, and started to ask questions one after another.
After rejecting the call on her phone seven or eight times, Su Yao finally answered it, her voice drawn out listlessly. "—Speak."
Li Lin exploded when he heard this voice. "Su Yao!! You hung up on me so many times!! I can't stand this anymore!!"
After Li Lin finished shouting, Su Yao brought the phone closer to her ear. "We've known each other for so many years. We can only make do. What else can we do? Divorce?"