Chapter 206: The Strange Falling Woman

The woman lying on the hard stone floor was Lou Zhen!

Luo Fei rubbed his eyes, fearing he had misseen, but the face was unmistakably Lou Zhen! He had been ordered by Gu Changzheng to keep watch on this woman for a time—he could not possibly be wrong.

At that moment, police sirens sounded from afar; evidently, bystanders had already called in the incident. Luo Fei began evacuating the crowd while dialing Gu Changzheng's number.

The first to arrive were officers from the Yinzuo Plaza police station, followed by Gu Changzheng and forensic examiner Old Zheng from the branch. Seeing Lou Zhen lying on her back, eyes wide open, Gu Changzheng was stunned—how had this woman died here? Who killed her?

Who killed her? That was Gu Changzheng's first thought! How could this woman have jumped? Everyone around her might die—but she would never let herself die!

After examining the corpse, Old Zheng concluded: the skull was fractured, with breaks around the foramen magnum and cervical vertebrae; the torso and limbs were all fractured. Based on the direction and nature of the external force, it was determined to be a single-impact injury—meaning the victim died from a fall from height, resulting in full-body bone fractures and massive internal hemorrhage. The skull fracture pattern and body position after impact indicated the victim's head struck the ground first.

Hearing Old Zheng's report, Gu Changzheng formed an initial judgment in his mind—Lou Zhen did not jump herself. Most jumpers face the ground, though it could not be ruled out that she jumped with her back to the ground; however, such cases were rare.

At this moment, Gu Changzheng made a mistake—he had already formed a biased assumption. Soon after, officers conducting the scene investigation discovered evidence on the 8th floor proving Lou Zhen had indeed committed suicide!

The matter was simple: Lou Zhen chose to jump from a commercial building in the Yinzuo Plaza complex, eight stories tall. Floors one through three housed a mid-sized restaurant; floors four through eight were a business hotel, both operated by the same owner. The 8th-floor platform contained only an elevator machine room and a large open area with several rows of iron pillars, each as thick as an arm, connected by wire mesh—used by hotel staff to dry bed linens and other laundry.

Gu Changzheng and the others arrived on the 8th-floor platform, where the officer pointed beneath a wall over a meter high: "Captain Gu, we found this letter under here."

Gu Changzheng walked over and saw only a common red brick on the ground. The officer said: "According to witnesses, they saw the victim jump from this platform. During our inspection, we found an unsealed envelope beneath this brick." Gu Changzheng did not look at the "letter." Instead, he leaned over the cement wall and peered downward.

After questioning the owner earlier, Gu Changzheng learned the first floor had unusually high ceilings—nearly six meters—while other floors were about 3.1 to 3.2 meters. The roof was roughly 28 meters above ground. The wall atop the roof stood one meter high and forty centimeters wide. Aside from the brick, there was nothing to stand on. Lou Zhen was only about 165 cm tall. To jump, she would have had to climb the one-meter wall first, then turn around and leap backward. Given her height, gender, age, and strength, climbing without a stepping aid would have been difficult—and her clothes would surely bear abrasions from friction against the wall.

Yet, based on Old Zheng's examination and his own observation, Lou Zhen's clothing showed no such abrasions! How had she climbed the one-meter wall and then turned her back to leap off?

Clearly, Lou Zhen had been thrown from here.

At that moment, Luo Fei approached Gu Changzheng, holding the suspected "suicide note": "Captain Gu! You should take a look!"

Gu Changzheng took it and unfolded it. It was a handwritten letter in Lou Zhen's voice, stating that she had caused the deaths of her two daughters and was consumed by guilt. Now that her beloved An Nang had also left her, she saw no hope in life and could no longer bear living with remorse—so she chose suicide, hoping it might lessen her sin.

After reading the "letter," Gu Changzheng stated firmly: "Lou Zhen did not kill herself. She was not the type to feel guilt."

"Luo Fei, where's the owner now?" Gu Changzheng handed the "letter" to Luo Fei.

"Oh, over there!" Luo Fei took the letter back and waved toward a middle-aged man standing nearby, his face heavy with worry.

The man trudged over, looking dejected: "Officers, you wanted me?"

The owner's surname was Tian, a local. Luo Fei had already questioned him about the building's basic details. Now Tian looked at Luo Fei.

Luo Fei said: "Mr. Tian, this is Captain Gu from the Criminal Investigation Unit. He has some questions for you."

Tian nodded at Gu Changzheng: "Captain Gu, good day. Why did she choose my building? Sigh!" Gu Changzheng, seeing the man's distress, comforted him: "Mr. Tian, don't worry too much. We'll uncover the truth quickly and minimize negative impact. But we'll need your full cooperation."

Tian had been anxious ever since the suicide—fearing police would blame him for inadequate safety measures in a public place, and worried the victim's family might come to his restaurant to cause trouble. Now, seeing this official speak kindly, he finally relaxed.

He hurried to say: "Captain Gu, whatever you need—I'll do everything I can!"

Gu Changzheng smiled and patted his shoulder: "No problem. I just have a few questions." Tian nodded eagerly. Gu Changzheng pointed to a metal door leading to the platform: "Is this door usually left open like this?"

Tian followed his gaze and shook his head: "No. The platform is used by guests to dry linens. The key is kept by the floor supervisor on duty. The door is locked and unlocked daily on schedule—we keep duty logs."

"Good." Gu Changzheng glanced at Luo Fei beside him. Luo Fei understood: "Mr. Tian, who was the floor supervisor on duty today?"

Tian called over a young woman in her twenties with a pale face: "Huang Li, come here." The girl approached timidly. Gu Changzheng asked: "Bring me the log for today's door access."

It was a routine question—but the girl's body began trembling uncontrollably. Before she could speak, she suddenly burst into tears!

This instantly drew the attention of everyone present.