Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Mr. Lang?” After hearing Cui Lizhu’s question about Lang Xiangyang, Li Yan thought carefully about it.
She then said, “When Mr. Lang retired, he was around 50… Um… Both Mr. and Mrs. Lang were from Beiqian. Mr. Lang’s wife had also taught in Yaoming. I remember that she used to be a middle school teacher. But, since she had already been retired for two years at that time, she moved back to Beiqian.”
She then added, “Mr. Lang retired early so that he could also return home with his wife. Um… I can’t say which it is for sure, but I recall that either Mr. Lang’s younger brother or Mrs. Lang’s younger brother runs a company that sells teaching materials, so he invited Mr. Lang and Mrs. Lang to join the company soon after the move.”
Li Yan took a breath, then said, “At that time, the company was in its infancy and was badly in need of manpower, so Mr. Lang invited several suitable students from our school to come work there as well. Since we all knew that Mr. Lang treats people well, we thought that since this place was close to home and the job was well-paid, it was a great opportunity. So, we went with him!”
Li Yan recalled that time as she smiled and said, “Although I left after working less than half a month, Mr. Lang still paid me a full month’s pay. He was really a good man! However…”
“What happened then?” Cui Lizhu interrupted her with an eager question. She felt that this usage of the word “however” could be very important.
Li Yan replied, “Well… That year, just after the Spring Festival, we received the bad news that Mr. Lang had died after suffering from a serious illness!”
While she was speaking of this, Li Yan became very emotional and her voice sounded strangled. Upon hearing what she had just said, Zhao Yu and the others were shocked. This was because Mr. Lang’s death coincided with the end of the Devil Case!
“How did he die?” Cui Lizhu asked, then immediately followed with another question, “Was it from SARS?”
Li Yan shook her head, then said, “No. At first, we thought it was SARS, but when Mr. Lang got sick, the SARS outbreak had already been contained and eradicated. It was only when we went to his funeral that we learned that Mr. Lang had acute encephalitis, which caused him to die suddenly. It really surprised everyone.”
Seeing Zhao Yu wink at her, Cui Lizhu quickly asked, “Oh… Then, how was he before he got so sick?”
“Um… He was in really good health!” Li Yan said. “In school, he never asked his students to help him carry heavy equipment, as he did all of the heavy lifting himself! Later, when he went back to Beiqian, he was still quite energetic. At that time, he was around 50. If he was not in good health, he wouldn’t have wanted to continue doing business!”
Cui Lizhu thought for a moment, then asked, “When he was in Beiqian, did he work a lot of hours?”
“Of course! Although the company was a start-up, it was doing really well! Sometimes, when we were short of staff, Mr. Lang would even deliver the goods himself, going from door to door. He even helped with machinery repairs sometimes,” she replied.
Cui Lizhu then asked, “Oh… Well… What was the relationship between Mr. Lang and Han Kuan like?”
Li Yan thought for a moment, then said, “Not bad. After all, Mr. Lang only chose those people that he thought very highly to come and work with him. Also, if they had disliked each other, Han Kuan wouldn’t have agreed to go and work with him, right? Although Han Kuan was not a big talker, he was very clever, so he learned things fast, much faster than the rest of us!”
After that, Cui Lizhu asked some other standard questions before she ended her phone call with Li Yan. Zhao Yu then asked her to report this information to Miao Ying so that Miao Ying’s team could investigate these matters further.
After Cui Lizhu called Miao Ying and gave her report, the ward fell into complete silence. After a long time, Officer Wang broke the silence and reported to Zhao Yu, “Officer Zhao, the local police stations have confirmed that there were no similar cases to the Devil Case reported in the vicinity where the three boys lived. This means that Han Kuan’s classmates have basically been ruled out as suspects!”
“So…” Cui Lizhu could not help but point to Lang Xiangyang’s name on the whiteboard as she said, “That means that this man is our biggest suspect now! Unfortunately… This man is dead! Could he possibly have been the murderer from the Devil Case?”
Zhao Yu took a deep breath. His instincts told him that Lang Xiangyang was not the real murderer. However, various clues did point to Lang Xiangyang, as his location, the timeframe of his movements, and his possible motive all seemed that they could coincide with the murderer’s from the Devil Case.
When he was in Yaoming, maybe he couldn’t bear to see Laogua bullying Han Kuan, so he killed Laogua! Later, out of sympathy for Han Kuan, he possibly took him back to Beiqian to make some money! Then, killing Laogua might have caused him to become addicted to committing crimes, so when he returned to Beiqian, he lost control and committed the Devil Case murders! Then, a sudden illness took his life, so the Devil Case ended!
Could this be the truth? Zhao Yu wondered. Devil Case… It’s no wonder that you are one of China’s most notorious unsolved cases!
As he thought of this, Zhao Yu couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh. Even though they had obtained so much information, they still didn’t know the whole truth.
Because he had a full breakfast that morning, at noon, Zhao Yu skipped lunch in order to focus on analyzing the case in front of the whiteboard. Last night, Cui Lizhu was busy working all night, so she was exhausted now and fell asleep on the bed beside Zhao Yu’s. At the same time, Officer Wang was snoring on the sofa, fast asleep as well!
As Zhao Yu carefully analyzed the case, he found that there were a shocking amount of people involved in the case. Moreover, there were also many other cases that coincided with it, such as Zhang Jingru’s death, Jiang Ke’s case, and so on. This Devil Case was truly complicated!
However, when he carefully analyzed the clues, he found that there were many things that could be removed from his whiteboard! At this critical moment, he knew that he must eliminate the small details and focus on the most important parts.
But… What are the most important parts? Thinking about this, Zhao Yu tried to simplify the information that he had in front of him, then circled key points, highlighted all of the clues that were related to the Devil Case, and looked for insight and inspiration.
However, every time he simplified a clue, it would only lead to more new information and leads! For example, in Zhang Jingru’s case, what they found proved that Zhang Jingru had nothing to do with the Devil Case. But, this only made Zhao Yu wonder about many more things… Where did she get that devil picture? Why did she search for information about the Devil Case online?
Could my guess be right? Was Zhang Jingru killed by Han Kuan because she found Han Kuan’s relation with the Devil Case? But, if Han Kuan was not the real murderer of the Devil Case, why would he kill Zhang Jingru?
Up until now, no one had ever discovered the Devil Case murderer’s method. This was because neither the crime scenes nor the victims’ bodies had revealed any pieces of valuable evidence or clues. So, in the end, the police couldn’t confirm whether the victims were killed by others or if they had killed themselves.
If the Devil Case involved all murders instead of suicides, what method did the murderer use for the killings? As he was thinking hard about this, Zhao Yu suddenly realized that it was five o’clock in the afternoon.
As he looked at his watch, he realized that he had another problem. His side adventure today was set to happen at six o’clock in the evening, so it was right around the corner. And, the location for the side adventure was far away from where he was now. If he didn’t leave soon, he would be late!
If it had been in the past, he could have made up an excuse and drove to the location by himself. Today, however, his right foot was in a plaster cast and he had to use either a wheelchair or crutches in order to move an inch. Without the help of others, there was no way that he could get to the side adventure.
But, if Officer Wang and Cui Lizhu drove him over, he didn’t know how he could explain it to them. Even if he wanted to tell them about the side adventure, they wouldn’t believe him.
What should I do? Zhao Yu wondered.
With the clock ticking, Zhao Yu became anxious. At this time, the side adventure was particularly important. Even if it couldn’t provide him with new case clues, he still mustn’t miss it!
Zhao Yu carefully checked the location of the side adventure and sighed. It seemed that he could only use his leader’s privileges in order to get things done this time!
