Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Wh… What?” After hearing Zhao Yu’s astonishing conclusion, Captain Dou stammered. “Leader Zhao, you’re not kidding, are you? If it’s not Guo Yihang… Who else can it be?”
“Yeah… Who the heck is the murderer?” Li Qian was perplexed.
“Hum hum…” Zhao Yu sneered, then turned around and glanced at the rest of the group with his sharp eyes. He then said three words that stunned all of the people present…
“I don’t know!” he said flatly.
Captain Dou wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked helplessly, “Leader Zhao, what do you mean by that?”
“I’m telling the truth!” Zhao Yu said frankly. “I really don’t know who the real murderer is! But I can say one thing for sure… The murderer is not Guo Yihang!”
Everyone looked bewildered.
“Ha ha ha ha…” Zhao Yu was laughing strangely, seemingly at himself, then he finally answered, “Just now, when I was re-investigating the crime scenes, I focused on Kang Leming’s escape route. After being stabbed for the first time, Kang Leming ran nearly a kilometer. He ran away from the tents towards the windbreak!”
He then added, “You were all just able to see how difficult it was to walk on the path that we just went by! Moreover, he was running during the middle of the night. Also, Kang Leming could not run fast at all! Besides all of that, there are many traces of weeds that were trampled on along the way. So… We must ask ourselves, what does this mean?”
“It means that Kang Leming fell down and crawled over the weeds!” a young policeman replied eagerly.
“Yes!” Zhao Yu nodded in approval. “Think about it carefully. Kang Leming crawled on the ground. If the murderer wanted to kill him, wouldn’t it be so easy? So… Why did he wait until he crawled to the woods?”
“Hmm…” The policeman thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe the murderer just wanted to play with him, like a cat that is catching a mouse. Or… Maybe the murder wanted to insult him!”
“Is that possible? How could the murderer have had time to play games when he needed to kill so many people that same night?” Zhao Yu asked.
“Maybe the murderer didn’t really want to kill him! Could that be right?” another young policeman asked.
“Then… Why didn’t he want to kill Kang Leming?” Zhao Yu asked again.
“Um… Maybe… The murderer changed into Guo Yihang’s clothes and wanted to make Kang Leming mistakenly think that the murderer was Guo Yihang!” the young policeman guessed. “That means… The murderer wanted to frame Guo Yihang!”
“Come on, you’ve seen too many TV dramas!” The first young policeman clearly disagreed with this hypothesis.
“Interesting, but there’s one more thing, which also happens to be the key point…” Zhao Yu raised his eyebrows, then asked, “Who knows what it is?”
All of the other policemen frowned, and no one answered.
“Then, what about you?” Zhao Yu turned to address Captain Dou.
“Maybe the person who drove the speedboat away was not Guo Yihang? So, we might as well check the cameras carefully one more time. But, if the murderer was not Guo Yihang, is it possible that he might have died? We’d better search the island again!”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Zhao Yu said with a smile. “If Guo Yihang is dead, then the murderer would have had to ensure that we would not find Guo Yihang’s body! Think about it. This island is surrounded by the sea. If someone were to tie the corpse to a rock, then throw it into the sea, how in the world could we find it?”
“Yes, that’s true!” Captain Dou agreed. “The water depth around Yongjin Island is quite deep, and the visibility is not great. Thus, it would definitely not be easy to find a body. How about I call the marine police and have them send some submarines?”
“Um… That may be a good idea, but it looks like we are getting a bit off the mark.” Zhao Yu scratched his head and said, “We were discussing Kang Leming just now!”
“Yes, right.” As Captain Dou realized that he had just taken them down a rabbit trail, he asked, “What else did you find out about Kang Leming, Leader Zhao?”
“Ha ha…” Zhao Yu laughed to keep the moment light and ease Captain Dou’s embarrassment, then said, “I found the most critical thing! Kang Leming should be the last victim! The murderer must have dealt with everyone else before he finally stabbed Kang Leming.”
He added with wide eyes, “That is to say, judging from the order of the killings, Kang Leming was the last one who was attacked! However, the murderer did not want to kill Kang Leming because he wanted to use Kang Leming to prove that Guo Yihang is the murderer! Also, Kang Leming is a pimp! Because he knows so much, the murderer wanted to use him to make us believe that Guo Yihang is the murderer!”
Hearing Zhao Yu’s conclusion, the others were taken back for a moment.
“Leader Zhao…” Captain Dou couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you say that Kang Leming was the last one attacked?”
“Because his attack took the longest!” Zhao Yu pointed to his watch and said, “The killer spent far longer with Kang Leming’s attack! So, before that, he had to make sure that he had dealt with the others first.”
He then added, “Moreover, from the traces that were left behind on the route, the murderer was clearly not in a hurry, but was walking steadily. That was, until Kang Leming ran to the windbreak, when the murderer began to stab him again, then left a clue on him!”
“But…” Captain Dou shook his head. “I still don’t quite understand. Although the murderer was not in a hurry, how does that prove that the murderer is not Guo Yihang?”
“Yes, that doesn’t quite make sense.” Li Qian held the same opinion as Captain Dou.
“The murderer is not Guo Yihang!” Zhao Yu said affirmatively. “While I was investigating the crimes scenes just now, I imagined myself as being Guo Yihang, as well as the murderer. But I found that there were obvious differences between their mentalities!”
“Differences?” Captain Dou frowned, still clearly confused.
“I’ll explain this to you in detail.” Zhao Yu made a “be quiet” gesture, then said earnestly, “If the murderer is Guo Yihang, and he was doing this to seek revenge for his girlfriend Qiao Ruxue, then the murders that he committed on the island would be totally contradictory!”
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for further explanation.
In order to be able to express himself more clearly, Zhao Yu paused for a moment to collect himself. He then said, “Murderers normally have one of two mentalities. The first is a mentality of revenge, where the murderer kills without caring about anything else but seeking his revenge! Just imagine. If that’s the case, Guo Yihang would have killed him right away after poisoning the others. Then, he would either run away or confess.”
Zhao Yu continued, “The second mentality is that the murderer didn’t want the police to find out what he did. So, he’s going to destroy all of the evidence and hide from the police!”
He shook his head. “Obviously, if the murderer is Guo Yihang, these two mentalities don’t make sense! Think about it. Guo Yihang is a member of the crew. Even if there were no clues found, he would be the No.1 suspect.”
“Yes, that’s true.” A policeman thought about it and began to flatter Zhao Yu with his praise, “Why didn’t we understand such simple logic? That’s what makes you our leader!”
Zhao Yu went on to say, “The murderer’s methods of killing were all different and quite complicated. Also, the murderer left us riddle-like clues and intentionally spared Kang Leming’s life. Think about it. Guo Yihang couldn’t commit such a contradictory crime.”
Li Qian hurriedly added, “Although the young man spoke very little, he was a very good man. I didn’t see anything wrong with him the whole time I knew him.”
A young policeman then said, “You’re right. Since he knew that the police would suspect him anyway, his leaving the clues and sparing Kang Leming’s life would obviously not be necessary. So… Wow… Was Guo Yihang really framed by the real murderer?”
“Or…” Another policeman jumped in to offer a different hypothesis. “Maybe the man who Kang Leming saw was actually Guo Yihang, but Guo Yihang was being used by other people! Then, after the completed the mission, Guo Yihang was murdered by the real murderer!”
“Um… So…” Captain Dou nervously pulled at his untidy hair and said, “This case may have another secret, you mean? It’s not as simple as we thought? Who the heck is the murderer?”
The shrewd policeman suddenly remembered something, so he asked Zhao Yu, “You said before that there was more than one murderer! How do you know that?”
“That is simple.” Zhao Yu stretched out his arms and said, “I know this because of the means of transportation! If the murderer was not Guo Yihang, how did he get to the island? If the murderer came by boat and killed people, wouldn’t he need to drive the boat away? So, why was the crew’s speedboat also driven away? This must mean…”
As Zhao Yu was analyzing the case excitedly, his mobile phone suddenly rang. This time, it was Zeng Ke, who reported, “You asked me to investigate Gao Peng and Champion Pictures. I’ve got some important information…”
