Chapter 31: I Killed Her!

In the conference room.

Lu Zhongxin finished the boxed meal before him in just five minutes.

Wiping his mouth, he opened the inspection report and began to read.

Two more minutes passed, then he set down the report and looked at Yu Dazhang:

"I understand what you mean. With this, Kong Lingjie will have no way to deny it."

Lu Zhongxin had been a criminal police officer for so many years; his experience was still very rich.

He could see that the direction of the case was becoming clearer and clearer.

This inspection report was physical evidence that could directly prove the rental house was not the first crime scene.

Using activated charcoal to treat the corpse, then cleaning up the charcoal afterward—wasn't that clearly fabricating the scene?

There was another possibility: Zhang Yan's corpse had been cleaned before being transferred to the rental house, and this possibility fit the scene conditions even better.

If it had been cleaned in the rental house, traces would inevitably have been left at the scene, certainly not escaping the technical department's investigation.

"Can we take him down today?" Yu Dazhang asked.

"No big problem," Lu Zhongxin replied confidently:

"He has already been driven into a dead corner by me. This time the evidence is ironclad; he definitely won't be able to hold out."

If the previous interrogations were a mutual war of attrition, then next Lu Zhongxin would launch a general offensive.

Evidence was the most powerful weapon in his hand.

"If possible, try to make him confess clues about the first crime scene," Yu Dazhang said with an anxious expression:

"I'm afraid that if too much time passes, the scene will be destroyed, and even if we find it then, it will be meaningless."

Although he knew this possibility was extremely small, even that Kong Lingjie might not know where the first crime scene was, Yu Dazhang still wanted to try.

What if?

Who can say for sure about luck?

Around five in the afternoon, the interrogation made a breakthrough.

Kong Lingjie broke.

Before the ironclad evidence, he could no longer argue; no matter how good his acting was, it ultimately could not withstand the ruthlessness of reality.

Under Lu Zhongxin's relentless pressure, his emotions collapsed.

"I killed her! I killed her!!"

Kong Lingjie sat in the interrogation chair, the handcuffs on his hands clattering nonstop; the whole person was on the edge of losing control.

"I'm a single man; seeing a young, pretty female student, I was moved by lust. I intended to commit an indecent act, she resisted fiercely, and then..."

"And then... and then I..."

His voice grew lower and lower, and his head bowed down.

"Continue, continue making it up," Lu Zhongxin, daring not to relax for a moment, pressed:

"Did you strangle her? And then you hid in a nearby small hotel. Was this testimony taught to you by someone?!"

As if hitting upon some secret, Kong Lingjie's body suddenly trembled; his face turned as pale as paper, and his whole body shook violently.

When he raised his head again, his eyes were bloodshot, like a wounded wild beast, roaring with force:

"Nonsense! You're talking nonsense!! No one taught me; I killed the person, I did the deed. Why drag others into it?!"

There was a flaw!

Lu Zhongxin frowned tightly, staring fixedly at Kong Lingjie opposite him, and asked quickly:

"Who is that other person?"

"He... he is..." Kong Lingjie quickly realized something was wrong and hurriedly shut his mouth.

But he maintained the posture of staring back at Lu Zhongxin, his momentum not diminished in the slightest.

From then on, no matter what Lu Zhongxin asked, he would not speak again.

At this moment, Yu Dazhang was sitting in front of a computer, staring at the surveillance footage.

Seeing Kong Lingjie look like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, he helplessly sighed:

"After all, we didn't get it out of him."

Although Kong Lingjie's emotions had collapsed, Yu Dazhang saw a kind of firmness in his eyes.

It seemed nothing could be squeezed out of his mouth.

But it didn't matter; the goal was achieved. At least now it could be confirmed that Kong Lingjie was taking the blame for someone else.

This was no longer an inference, but a fact.

Once this could be confirmed, the work below would be easier to carry out, and no one would question him anymore.

In future interrogations, Kong Lingjie would no longer act; this play had reached its curtain call.

The case had developed to this point; the famous big lawyer from his previous life didn't even get a chance to appear.

Even if he did appear, it would be to defend the real killer.

Yu Dazhang felt a wave of lightness through his whole body, and his stomach also shamelessly growled twice.

Sigh, hungry again~.

Early the next morning, the special task force held a coordination meeting in the conference room.

Since they were now acting separately, they needed to use the morning time to report each group's progress from yesterday.

Lu Zhongxin's side needed no explanation; Yu Dazhang already knew.

Qian Cheng had stayed at the forensic identification center all afternoon yesterday; the reply received was that the final results would take at least two days.

Did you think an autopsy was just dissecting the corpse and then studying the organs?

If it were really like that, it could be completed in just over an hour at the fastest.

A real autopsy is only the first step; dissection is just the beginning.

Histological examinations, toxicology tests, and the like all require time to complete.

If pathological sections are needed, the timeline extends to about a month.

So, producing final results in two days was truly an expedited completion.

Yu Dazhang's impatience was useless; he could only wait.

Please... collect... 6... 9... the... book....!

After Qian Cheng finished explaining the situation, Yu Dazhang turned his gaze to the two investigating Zhang Yan's social connections:

"How is the investigation into the victim going?"

One of them immediately replied:

"Zhang Yan's social circle is very transparent; aside from teachers and classmates, she had almost no other social interactions."

That's no different from not investigating at all... Yu Dazhang thought for a moment and asked:

"Was there not a single special relationship? A close friend of the same sex, or someone of the opposite sex with mutual affection—none of these at all?"

He had seen photos of Zhang Yan from before her death in the case file; using internet slang from a later era to describe her, her looks were online.

Add to that her flower-like age and her clear, beautiful face without any makeup.

The main selling point was invincible youth.

Yu Dazhang didn't believe a girl like that would have no boys pursuing her.

Especially on campus, compared to other girls of average looks, it would only highlight how unique she was.

Hormones are something that make men instinctively like pretty girls; this isn't something willpower can control.

Besides, there will always be a few bold ones who take action.

Seeing Yu Dazhang's unpleasant tone, the other team member hurriedly replied:

"There were a few who pursued her. According to Zhang Yan's classmates, several boys from her class sent her love letters, but nothing came of it."

"However, a boy named Zhou Yuwei from the next class has been getting very close to her recently."

Hearing this made Yu Dazhang angry; they investigated but didn't volunteer the information, forcing him to ask.

What's the matter? You think a probationary officer can't manage you?

"Then why didn't you say so just now?" Yu Dazhang's face darkened.

"Because he had no suspicion," that person hurriedly explained:

"We investigated the next class, and that boy named Zhou Yuwei did indeed have mutual affection with Zhang Yan."

"There was a bit of an ambiguous flavor to it."

"But his home and Zhang Yan's home are in opposite directions, and every day after school, classmates would walk home with them along the same route."

"On the day Zhang Yan went missing, he also walked home with classmates as usual; classmates can testify to this."

"So he simply had no time to commit the crime."

His meaning was clear: it wasn't that we didn't say it, but that saying it would be useless.

Yu Dazhang didn't think that way; in his eyes, no single clue could be overlooked.

It was still that same saying.

What if?

"Investigate further." Yu Dazhang glared at them:

"From now on, no matter what you find, even if it's just some boy buying her an ice pop, write it all down and tell me. Do you understand?"

Acting like he was scolding his own son... The two immediately nodded:

"Understood, understood."

Finally, Yu Dazhang turned his gaze to the two investigating Kong Lingjie.

One of them immediately straightened his back, a light shining in his eyes:

"We have a major discovery on our end; Kong Lingjie has half a relative..."

"Wait a moment!" Yu Dazhang dug his ear:

"Say what you just said again."

(End of this chapter)