After leaving the interrogation room, Yu Hanjiang held the notebook, his expression grave.
He returned to his office and carefully reviewed Xiao Wu's statement again—his phone number had been stolen after being deactivated; he went to the Music Conservatory last night only to look for Ye Qi; he left the stadium with Liu Qiao at 9 pm and then found the body by the lake; the hair found at the crime scene must have been secretly collected by someone to frame him.
Every answer Xiao Lou gave sounded like a sophistry, and a sophistry with completely untenable reasons at that.
However, Xiao Lou's eyes were open and sincere when he said these words, unlike the shifty gaze that a typical suspect would have when lying. He kept his eyes fixed on Yu Hanjiang's, and there were no unnecessary fidgeting movements as he spoke, as if he were calmly stating the facts.
Was he really framed? Or was his acting so superb that he could hide his true identity perfectly even in front of me?
Yu Hanjiang frowned as he looked at the documents in his hand—every piece of the investigation pointed to Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao as the perpetrators. They had a plausible motive, sufficient time to commit the crime, and multiple pieces of physical evidence. Furthermore, both of them hadn't returned home all night and couldn't provide alibis. Their sudden trip to the Music Conservatory to find Ye Qi and their coincidental appearance at the lakeside were also difficult to explain.
Based on the current evidence, the most reasonable conclusion in this case is that Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao conspired to commit the murder.
But Yu Hanjiang still felt something was wrong.
Firstly, given Professor Xiao's intelligence, since he had already come up with the idea of faking Ning Xue's "accidental fall into the water after drinking," why did he call her using his own phone number at the crucial moment before Ning Xue's death? Couldn't he have just found a public phone booth without surveillance cameras? Phone numbers are registered under real names; his number could be easily traced. This action was utterly foolish.
Secondly, how do we explain the inscriptions on the trees by the lake? The inscriptions look very old. Would Xiao Lou, a professor in the Forensic Medicine Department, really have the time to investigate which tree Zhang Hengyu and Ning Xue carved their words on? The appearance of the inscriptions seems more like the work of an acquaintance who knows Ning Xue very well, with a vengeful mentality of "making you die where you made your vows."
Thirdly, Xiao Lou is a professional forensic doctor. How could he have made such a basic mistake when preparing Zhang Hengyu's specimen, sealing a large amount of fresh blood in a specimen soaked in formalin? Moreover, there are many ways to kill someone. Since he could make Ning Xue "accidentally fall into the water after drinking," why didn't he make Zhang Hengyu "die accidentally"? Instead, he made the other person into a specimen and placed it in the laboratory building to wait for the police to discover it.
The hair left at the scene also seemed deliberate. Hair loss is a normal metabolic process, but how could it be such a coincidence that both people's hair fell in the same corner, making it look like it was placed there?
Yu Hanjiang frowned, stroking his chin as he carefully pieced together the case. The more he thought about it, the more something seemed amiss. Convictions rely on evidence, but they can't be judged solely on evidence—because evidence can be forged.
Yu Hanjiang put down the case files and dialed the internal line: " Xiao Lou is now the prime suspect in the serial murder case. Apply for a formal arrest warrant immediately. I will monitor his movements closely 24 hours a day while he is in custody."
The person who received the call was taken aback for a moment, then said, " Captain Yu, just send a few people to keep an eye on things. Do you need to monitor it personally?"
" Xiao Lou is very clever. If he escapes, we can't afford to take the responsibility." Yu Hanjiang paused, then added, "Place him in room number 1, the closest to us, and detain him in solitary confinement."
The voice on the other end of the phone immediately replied, "Understood, Captain Yu."
***
Xiao Lou was locked in cell number 1.
The closed cell had only one heavy iron door. With a clang, the door slammed shut, leaving him only a narrow window offering a view of the empty corridor outside. Xiao Lou, now a prisoner, rubbed his temples with a bitter smile and turned to sit on the hard wooden bed.
He found a camera on the roof and thought that if Yu Hanjiang kept his word, he should be watching him on the monitor right now. That way, Hunter wouldn't have a chance to create the illusion that he had "committed suicide out of guilt" while in custody.
Next, we'll have to wait for news from Liu Qiao.
Since Liu Qiao escaped in time, it means she sensed something was wrong and might have witnessed his arrest. She'll definitely try to contact him. Furthermore, if any of the people Xiao Lou asked Yu Hanjiang to summon are teammates, they can be contacted quickly—letting the police find people is much faster than Xiao Lou doing it himself.
Sure enough, at lunchtime that day, a person wearing a Police Station uniform walked to the door of cell number 1. The person was thin, with his head down, and looked somewhat familiar.
He opened the food delivery window below the cell and said, "Time to eat."
It's Xiao Wu.
Xiao Lou stepped forward, about to grab the food, when he heard an extremely soft voice in his ear: " Professor Xiao, this is Liu Qiao. What are your plans? Do you want to escape with me? I can use Elsa's ice and snow to freeze the entire Police Station."
It turns out that Liu Qiao impersonated Xiao Wu using the [ Twin ] card.
This card can replicate the identity of anyone seen within the past half hour. Liu Qiao used it several times back in Liuxi Village. Clearly, Xiao Wu had just left the Police Station and was subdued by Liu Qiao, who was lying in ambush. Immediately afterward, Liu Qiao impersonated Xiao Wu and came in to look for Xiao Lou.
She was able to find Xiao Lou's place so quickly, which was obviously because she took advantage of Xiao Wu's identity as a trainee police officer.
Xiao Lou knew Yu Hanjiang was watching on the surveillance camera and couldn't say much, so he lowered his voice and said, "Don't make any rash moves yet. I'll have Yu Hanjiang go and relay a message to the other teammates. You're a suspect now too, so stay hidden and don't let anyone..."
They caught them.
Liu Qiao understood Xiao Lou's meaning, nodded, and quickly got up and left.
However, just as she reached the office door, Yu Hanjiang suddenly opened it and stared at her sharply: " Xiao Wu, delivering food to people shouldn't be your job, right?"
Liu Qiao was startled. Could it be that Yu Hanjiang had realized she was an imposter?
Meeting the man's deep gaze, Liu Qiao pretended to be Xiao Wu, scratched his head with a dry laugh, and said, " Captain Yu, I just feel that Professor Xiao doesn't seem like the murderer, and I wanted to ask him more about the details of the case. However, he won't say anything."
Yu Hanjiang stared intently at him: "Really?"
Liu Qiao nodded vigorously: "Okay, I'll go get the takeout first. Captain Yu, have you had lunch? Would you like me to order takeout for you?"
Yu Hanjiang waved his hand: "No need."
Seeing that he didn't ask any more questions, Liu Qiao turned and quickly left. Yu Hanjiang watched his retreating figure thoughtfully until Xiao Wu's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor before closing the door and going to cell number 1.
Xiao Lou was eating while sitting on a wooden bed.
Yu Hanjiang stood at the door and asked calmly through the iron bars, "Is the food to your liking?"
Xiao Lou's gaze remained calm: " Captain Yu wants to try the 'prison food' that most people rarely get to eat?"
Yu Hanjiang, unable to respond, frowned and changed the subject, saying, "We've found out about the people you asked me to summon. What's your relationship with them?"
Xiao Lou said calmly, "They are connected to this case. I suspect the murderer is among them."
This statement is obviously nonsense. Xiao Lou's real purpose is to get Yu Hanjiang to help him find potential teammates as soon as possible, and also to let these potential teammates know about Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao being framed and find a way to find out the truth.
If there were only him and Liu Qiao in this world, the difficulty would be too high. What if Liu Qiao didn't escape in time and got caught? Wouldn't that be a dead end? Therefore, Xiao Lou deduced that there was at least one teammate who could help solve the mystery.
Seeing Xiao Lou's serious expression, Yu Hanjiang was skeptical of his words.
After a moment, Yu Hanjiang said, "Alright, I will summon these people one by one to investigate their connection to the case. Also, do you know where Liu Qiao went?"
Xiao Lou shook her head: "I don't know."
Yu Hanjiang: "If you cooperate with the police investigation and reveal your accomplices, the judge may appropriately reduce your sentence when sentencing you."
Xiao Lou looked up at him and said, "I'm not the murderer, Liu Qiao isn't my accomplice, and I really don't know where she is."
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
Xiao Lou was very stubborn; it seemed he wouldn't confess until Liu Qiao was caught. He insisted on his innocence, and Yu Hanjiang couldn't get anything out of him, so he had to call in the people on Xiao Lou's list one by one.
The first person summoned was Mo Xuemin. Old Mo looked completely innocent: " Zhang Hengyu? Ning Xue? Xiao Lou? I don't know any of them. I'm just an interior designer. Officer, are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"
Where were you at 9 PM on December 31st?
"I accompanied my daughter to the mall, bought her a New Year's gift, and we went to the square to watch the fireworks show together. I have many photos on my phone."
Looking at the photos on his phone, Yu Hanjiang realized that he had indeed spent the entire evening shopping with his daughter, and had nothing to do with the case.
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue, who were called over later, could testify that they watched the New Year's Eve gala at home on the evening of the 31st; moreover, surveillance footage from their neighborhood showed that they did not go out again after returning home from work.
Chu Huaying practiced boxing at the gym on the evening of the 31st, and her coach can provide her with an alibi.
Gui Yuanzhang was giving a speech in another city, not in Jiangsu City at all.
Tang Ci said that he ate at Western Restaurant, and the waiter's and the payment records on his phone could prove that he was not involved in the case.
After seeing the six people off, Yu Hanjiang came to cell number 1 with a sullen face to find Xiao Lou: "You said these six people might be the murderers, but they all have complete alibis." His gaze was deep, and his low voice revealed obvious displeasure: " Xiao Lou, are you deliberately misleading me and wasting my time?"
Xiao Lou got up and walked up to him, meeting his gaze through the iron bars: "What are they saying?"
Yu Hanjiang was displeased, but he still patiently said, " Gui Yuanzhang is not in Jiangzhou, Chu Huaying is practicing boxing at the gym, the couple Long Sen and Qu Wanyue have been watching TV at home and haven't gone out, Mo Xuemin is shopping with her daughter, and Tang Ci is eating alone at Western Restaurant. The witnesses and physical evidence are all there, and none of them had the opportunity to commit the crime."
Xiao Lou smiled slightly: "I understand."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow: "What do you know?"
A person is eating at Western Restaurant, and Tang Ci is also in this world.
Tang Ci doesn't like Western food at all; he prefers light-flavored vegetarian dishes. What was he doing going to Western Restaurant alone? Naturally, he was going there to meet up with his teammates, following the pre-arranged code from Xiao Lou.
Last night, Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao went to find Ye Qi first, and then witnessed the body in the lake, so they didn't have time to go to Western Restaurant.
Xiao Lou breathed a slight sigh of relief: " Is Tang Ci the Western Restaurant on the top floor of the Yuehua Building near Central Square?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "That's right. You suspect he has a problem?"
Xiao Lou shook his head: "No, he's my friend. He can vouch for me. I stopped using that phone number 136 a long time ago. Captain Yu can ask him carefully if he remembers what Xiao Lou said to him when he changed his phone number."
Tang Ci did not leave the lobby outside the police station.
He was wearing a simple white sweater and black...
Wearing long pants, he sat in the corner, looking refined and quiet. Some policemen passing by occasionally glanced at him, and he looked back calmly, his eyes unwavering. No one could tell what he was there for.
People who usually come to report a crime or are summoned usually look nervous, but this person sat there calmly, as if he were sitting in his own living room drinking tea.
Yu Hanjiang spotted him immediately, walked up to him, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Tang, I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. Please come with me to the interrogation room to give a statement."
Tang Ci nodded, got up, and followed Yu Hanjiang.
Upon entering the interrogation room, Yu Hanjiang went straight to the point: " What exactly is your relationship with Xiao Lou?"
Tang Ci thought for a moment and said, "Friend."
Yu Hanjiang said, "He used to use a mobile phone number, 136258965XX, but he changed it later. Did you know that?"
Tang Ci looked at Yu Hanjiang in silence: "What happened? Did Professor Xiao get into trouble?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Please answer my question."
Tang Ci didn't know what had happened and didn't dare to answer casually. He slowly said, "I'm sorry, I accidentally lost my phone a few days ago and just got a new one. Professor Xiao's phone number and chat history with him are not saved on my new phone."
The answer is neither yes nor no.
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow slightly: "Do you remember what he said to you when he changed his number?"
Tang Ci said, "I don't remember. Let me go back and think about it carefully."
When faced with any questions thereafter, Tang Ci always gave the same answer: "I don't know."
Looking at his calm and indifferent demeanor, Yu Hanjiang didn't think he was lying, so she had no choice but to let him leave.
After exiting the police station, Tang Ci put on a black coat and hurried to the underground parking lot. Just as he started his car, a stranger entered his line of sight and, without his permission, opened the back door and got in to evacuate.
A flash of light appeared in Tang Ci's hand, and the mechanical spider instantly extended eight sharp claws, tightly binding the person in the back seat.
A girl's voice rang in his ears: "Mr. Tang, I am Liu Qiao."
Tang Ci turned around and saw the unfamiliar man's face disappear as quickly as if being peeled off, revealing a delicate, fair-skinned young girl's face—it was Liu Qiao.
Tang Ci was quite surprised. He didn't put away the mechanical spider, but asked in a deep voice, "What happened?"
Liu Qiao said, " Professor Xiao was framed and was arrested by Captain Yu as a murderer and locked up in the police station."
Tang Ci: "........."
If Ninth Brother were here, he would definitely swear and curse, "Fuck!"
Tang Ci rubbed his temples: " Yu Hanjiang in this world isn't a teammate?"
He simply couldn't believe that Yu Hanjiang would actually put Xiao Lou in jail.
Liu Qiao said, " Professor Xiao used Captain Yu to call everyone back for questioning in order to find teammates. As it stands, it's very likely that there are only the three of us in this world, and the others have no idea about the code."
The two exchanged secret signals to confirm their identities before Tang Ci said, "We need to find a way to rescue Xiao Lou."
Liu Qiao said, "He probably had Captain Yu act as a messenger. The question Captain Yu asked you is the key."
Tang Ci also realized what was happening and said, "The phone number is the information that Xiao Lou asked Yu Hanjiang to pass to me."
Liu Qiao nodded: "How should we investigate?"
Tang Ci lightly gripped the steering wheel and started the car: "Let's find a safe place first. Leave the research to me."