Chapter 713

After Li Guangzhi was brought to the police station, Tao Lu's phone never stopped ringing.

However, there was no sign of displeasure on Tao Lu's face; he responded positively to everything, taking calls when he should, and saying what he needed to say.

Huang Qiangmin specifically stood nearby to listen for a while, looking very much like he was learning a thing or two.

"There's no problem, right?" Zhan Kan, who was working on such a big case for the first time, couldn't help but ask with concern as he watched Huang Qiangmin and Tao Lu.

"What kind of problem could there be? Maybe he can even help Director Tao replenish his coffers, so he doesn't get drained dry by Old Huang," Liu Jinghui said, then smiled and added: "Later on, the procuratorate will definitely intervene early. Once they do, Director Tao just needs to push it over to their side, and it'll be fine."

According to current regulations, anyone who discusses a case with the procuratorate—whether it's a request, an inquiry, or just an unintentional mention—must have it recorded in a file. If this isn't done and someone exposes it later, the procuratorate will be held accountable.

Therefore, once a case reaches the procuratorate, ordinary phone calls won't be made.

As long as there's no problem with the case itself, Jiang Yuan didn't mind. He nodded and said: "Next, we'll see how the interrogation of Li Guangzhi goes. If it really was them, then this case can be considered closed."

"Yeah, it's finally over. It's a good thing it was done by two little brats; otherwise, it wouldn't have gone so smoothly," Liu Jinghui remarked with emotion.

There were many things in this case that couldn't be explained very clearly. The evidence collected by Jiang Yuan, the deductions made by Liu Jinghui, or the details uncovered by Xu Taining were all incomplete and could not reveal the full picture of the case.

This is also the troublesome part of gun-related cases. Killing with long-range thermal weapons is simply too easy, especially in the wild, where the information left behind is too scarce. Since the killer didn't bury the bodies, it increased the difficulty of finding the killer directly from the corpses and wounds.

Zhan Kan listened to their conversation, feeling a bit confused, and couldn't help but say: "Aren't you worried that the interrogation won't yield results? This Li Guangzhi managed to get a gun, and his family seems to have connections. If he refuses to confess, we won't have any evidence, right?"

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui were the exact opposite of Zhan Kan; they had handled so many cases that they both burst into laughter upon hearing Zhan Kan say this.

Zhan Kan was sensible and young, so he casually put aside his pride and asked: "Why are Master and Uncle laughing?"

"Let your Master explain," Liu Jinghui deferred.

Jiang Yuan didn't decline and said: "It's best if Li Guangzhi is willing to talk, but if he isn't, isn't there another one?"

A crime committed by three people cannot keep secrets, especially among teenagers; the one who didn't fire the gun will definitely talk. The one who fired will either try to feign composure or jump out to frame the other, and then both sides will start competing over details, which will naturally reveal the full picture of the case.

Soon, the police officer in charge of the interrogation came out to report.

Tao Lu beckoned Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui to enter the conference room together.

"According to the interrogation of the two suspects, the three of them really did find a gun while exploring." The interrogating officer started with explosive news, making Tao Lu rub his ears.

Liu Cheng, who was interrogating with him, gave a wry smile. He had asked several times before he believed it, and he shrugged helplessly: "Li Guangzhi and Liu Shun's grandfathers were from the same factory. They told them stories about preparing for war and famine back in the day, including stories about hiding weapons in air-raid shelters..."

"Usually, kids just listen to such stories and that's it. But Li Guangzhi and Liu Shun had heard them before and just let it go. This time, however, they wanted to film a short video, so they pulled in another classmate, Zhang Yanxi, to film an exploration of the air-raid shelter to find supplies left over from back then."

"As a result, they actually found them. At first, it was mainly some discarded items like bed boards, table legs, and clothes drying poles. Later, in one room, the three of them found a sealed weapons crate. Inside the crate was a full set of parts for a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle preserved in oil, plus a box of ammunition. The ammunition box was a tin box as long as an arm, sealed similarly to a canned luncheon meat. After prying it open, there were 15 paper-wrapped packages of bullets, with 25 bullets in each package, totaling 750 rounds."

Hearing this, Tao Lu couldn't help but say: "Cases of accidentally finding weapons happen every year. Don't they know to call the police? Don't they watch the news at all to see what others do? Do students nowadays not watch the news?"

"They just wanted to film a short video. Li Guangzhi's original words were... 'We thought, the opportunity is rare, let's film a few short videos before calling the police, and then film another video of turning in the weapons; maybe we can attract a lot of fans...'" The interrogating officer spread his hands and said: "They really did film videos. There are videos of exploring and finding the weapons crate, videos of unboxing the weapons and ammunition, and videos of practicing shooting... They are all stored on the digital camera Zhang Yanxi brought from home. We have already sent people to retrieve it."

Tao Lu gritted his teeth and said: "They even practiced shooting?"

"Three people, each fired 100 rounds. That's equivalent to 4 packages of bullets per person," Liu Cheng spread his hands: "The whole process was filmed. The location for practicing shooting was near the air-raid shelter, more than twenty kilometers away from the crime scene."

"What did they go over there for?"

"Hunting."

"Do they know how to hunt? What was the purpose of hunting?" Tao Lu said this, then asked and answered himself: "Filming a video?"

"Yes," Liu Cheng repeated: "There is a full video, but they didn't encounter any prey."

Tao Lu frowned tightly as he listened, and Liu Jinghui also shook his head repeatedly, unable to even force a smile.

Seeing this, Liu Cheng sighed helplessly and said: "When we first investigated, we also asked the classmates around Liu Shun, and Li Guangzhi was questioned. As a result, the little brat was very calm, and the police officer in charge of the investigation didn't expect a 16-year-old kid to cover it up so well. When we interrogated him, we had to bluff him a bit before he confessed."

"Who fired the gun?" Tao Lu couldn't spare the time to regret the funds that had flowed away like seawater; he picked the important things to ask first.

Liu Cheng said: "Li Guangzhi."

"The reason?"

Liu Cheng and the other interrogating officer looked at each other, and Liu Cheng said: "Currently, it seems very likely to be an accident."

"Standing in a tree to shoot, is that still an accident?"

Liu Cheng sighed: "Standing in the tree was to pose, and they also filmed the process. Li Guangzhi confessed that they were ready to leave at the time, and Zhang Yanxi handed the gun to him. He thought the bullets inside had all been removed because the ammunition pouch was with Zhang Yanxi. Zhang Yanxi, on the other hand, indicated that his ammunition pouch was already very heavy, and he had already said that whoever uses the gun should check it..."

"It's one thing not to unload the bullets, but to stand in a tree and aim at people?" Tao Lu became angrier as he spoke.

Liu Cheng had already finished being angry and could only shake his head: "It's just that 'spoiled brat' routine; they pick up a gun and want to aim at something. Li Guangzhi said he was too busy posing at the time and just pulled the trigger..."

"And then they all ran away afterwards?"

"Yes."

"They just took someone's life like that." Tao Lu shook his head heavily and looked at Jiang Yuan.

From his perspective, if the video is authentic, this case ends here.

Although the victim's parents are infinitely grieving and the victim died young, the result is already set.

Jiang Yuan noticed Tao Lu's gaze, looked back at Tao Lu, then looked at Liu Jinghui, and said slowly: "Just now you mentioned abandoned air-raid shelters. Within the capital's jurisdiction, there are many abandoned air-raid shelters, right? In our search scope, did we take air-raid shelters into consideration?"