Chapter 853

Gao Yicheng stood at the end of the hallway for a full ten or so minutes, smoking two cigarettes. He held his phone, the screen showing "Luo Zhiwei" lit up, but he hesitated to dial.

He repeatedly pondered the few audio clips he had just heard.

"That Zhou surnamed person is coming to see me again…"

"Officer Zhou's phone…"

"I want to report it, but the police aren't reliable…"

This series of information made Gao Yicheng sense a terrifying aura, and at the same time sense a life opportunity! On a stage where every carrot has its own hole, such a life opportunity is rare to encounter.

In the entire criminal investigation detachment, there are at least seven or eight officers surnamed Zhou.

But how many Zhou surnamed personnel could make Su Qingyu deliberately record before her death, with fear in her tone? As a veteran criminal investigator, Gao Yicheng already had a clear answer in his mind.

The life opportunity lay before him, but this matter must not be rushed.

Who is Captain Zhou?

That guy is the provincial police shooting champion, having cracked Along list of major cases; last year's serial robbery case was taken down by his team, earning him a personal second-class merit.

He enjoys high prestige in the police force and is deeply trusted by his superiors.

Without solid, undeniable ironclad evidence, acting rashly against him would be tantamount to making an enemy of the entire Wuzhou police force, and the outcome would surely be a dead end.

He thought it over for a while.

Gao Yicheng unconsciously slipped his phone back into his pocket, decided not to report this to Director Luo for the time being, and wait for news from Old Li, hoping to find surveillance footage of Su Qingyu's meeting with Captain Zhou before her death.

Old Li has a very traditional, common name—Li Guoguo.

He is the technical backbone of the criminal investigation detachment, specializing in electronic evidence and surveillance tracking. Gao Yicheng has worked with him for eight years, knowing he is reliable and tight-lipped.

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Old Li pushed open the door to Gao Yicheng's office, then pulled it shut behind him.

"Captain Gao, I've checked."

"How did it go?"

Gao Yicheng looked up at him.

Old Li pulled out a chair and sat down, his expression somewhat complex: "Su Qingyu's office was indeed equipped with surveillance. I've already retrieved the footage from around July 18 and watched it from start to finish."

"Any findings?" Gao Yicheng asked.

"None." Old Li shook his head. "On July 18, Su Qingyu was at the company all day. Many people entered and left his office—staff, clients, delivery personnel—but none were surnamed Zhou."

Gao Yicheng frowned: "Not a single Zhou?"

"Exactly. Everyone he came into contact with, according to the surveillance, is not surnamed Zhou." Old Li paused, then added, "Could their meeting place have been somewhere else?"

Gao Yicheng fell silent for a few seconds.

The recording said that on July 18, "a Zhou" came to see him. Since the company's surveillance didn't capture it, the meeting must have taken place outside the company.

"What about his home? No surveillance there?" Gao Yicheng asked.

Old Li lit a cigarette and slowly replied: "Su Qingyu's home also has surveillance, but it's local storage, not networked. To retrieve the relevant footage, we need to go to his house and find the storage device."

Gao Yicheng's brows knotted even tighter.

Su Qingyu's home.

Who lives there now?

Zhao Linlin.

"Captain Gao, there's one more thing."

"Speak."

"When I checked the surveillance, I noticed that after July 18, Su Qingyu's behavior over the next few days was clearly off." Old Li said: "He often sat alone in his office in a daze, spoke softly on the phone, sometimes turned pale after hanging up, and when staff came in to deliver documents, he wouldn't react for Along time."

"What does that indicate? It indicates that Su Qingyu indeed endured tremendous pressure those days. The words in the recording weren't made up!"

Gao Yicheng looked indignant.

He again instructed Old Li: "Keep this quiet for now. Go immediately to retrieve the Su family's surveillance. Looking at Wuzhou's overcast sky, a heavy rain might be coming…"

Elsewhere.

Zhao Linlin hasn't been at ease these past two days either.

As for her husband Su Qingyu's life or death, she had already tossed it to the clouds. Yesterday she received a police call saying the body had been found, and she had nothing to say.

All of this was within her expectations.

Yet the feeling of a rabbit's death fox's grief still lingered; she knew clearly that in some people's eyes, the Zhao Family remains a threat as long as anyone is alive.

For this reason, she urgently wanted to find a refuge.

And the ideal refuge would be Lin Dongfan's embrace. In her view, the person truly holding the power of life and death in Wuzhou is not Wang Qigang, but Lin Dongfan.

However…

These two days she has not continued to bring soup to the municipal government, nor has she contacted Lin Dongfan.

Instead, she has focused on promoting public welfare with the Women's Federation, believing that Lin Dongfan is not someone who judges only by looks or figure; to earn his recognition, she must first demonstrate some genuine effort.

That evening.

Zhao Linlin had just finished a meeting with the Women's Federation when her phone rang—an unknown number.

She hesitated, then answered: "Who is this?"

"Ms. Zhao? I'm Li Guoguo from the criminal investigation detachment." Li Guoguo said on the phone: "Regarding your husband's case, we need to check the surveillance at your home. Are you home now?"

"I'm not home; the Women's Federation still has an event, I might be busy until evening." Zhao Linlin glanced at the time—it was already past five: "I should be able to get home around eight."

"Alright, I'll come at eight thirty." Li Guoguo said: "Please cooperate."

"Okay, no problem."

After hanging up, Zhao Linlin felt inexplicably uneasy.

Checking the surveillance?

She recalled the home surveillance host, recalled the footage she had unintentionally flipped through that night—the man with his back to the camera, that blurry profile.

She never dared to look again.

Nor did she dare to delete it.

Now the police are coming to retrieve…

Zhao Linlin bit her lip, forget it, let them investigate.

Anyway, her death has nothing to do with Su Qingyu's death, nor with Zhao Tianyu's death. Whatever is in the surveillance, it won't implicate her.

Thinking that, she felt a bit more at ease.

Seven-thirty.

The event ended.

Zhao Linlin drove home; the villa area was quiet, streetlights casting a dim yellow glow. She parked her car in the surface garage, grabbed her bag and walked toward the front door.

The moment she opened the door, she froze.

The living room lights were on, even though she clearly remembered turning them off before leaving.

Zhao Linlin stood at the doorway, not daring to go in, and called out tentatively, "Mom, is that you?" No answer came from inside.

Could she have misremembered? Did she forget to turn off the lights when leaving?

Thinking that, Zhao Linlin relaxed her vigilance; considering the huge pressure these past days, her constant unease, forgetting to turn off the lights was normal.

She took a deep breath, walked inside, and pulled the door shut behind her.

Just having changed into slippers.

As she looked up, she saw a tall man rush out from the stairwell corner! His face was covered, like a vicious robber, gripping a baseball bat in his hand.

"Who are you?!"

Zhao Linlin stumbled back several steps in fright, her back hitting the door she had just closed. She reflexively tried to open the door to escape, but in her panic she pulled the handle several times without success.

"Don't come over! Do you want money? I'll give you…"

She didn't finish her sentence.

The baseball bat was already swinging down toward her head.

She instinctively dodged to the side; the bat grazed her shoulder and smashed into the wall with a dull "thud," chipping a piece of plaster.

Zhao Linlin gasped in pain, not thinking further, she scrambled and crawled toward the living room.

Footsteps pursued her relentlessly from behind.

She grabbed the large vase from the coffee table and threw it backward without looking. The vase crashed with a "bang," shattering everywhere, though it didn't hit anyone.

"Help! Help! …"

Regardless of whether anyone could hear, Zhao Linlin instinctively shouted at the top of her lungs. Surely no one could hear. Not to mention the house's excellent soundproofing, and the villa area having few residents to begin with.