At 10 p.m., Zeng Ke, Ran Tao, and Wu Xiumin went to the interrogation room to question Han Kuan. Although there was no definitive evidence, the three of them agreed with Zeng Ke’s astonishing deduction. They all believed that Han Kuan had hidden important information from them.
As Zhao Yu sighed in his heart, he could not help but think of the Invisible Lie Detector, which might be able to solve his problem immediately. For some reason, however, he had not seen this device for a long time. It was even not on the device bar, which made him wonder…
Did the system decide that this device is a bug? Will it ever appear again?
As soon as she saw the other team members leaving, Miao Ying turned to Zhao Yu and said, “Hey, babe! Why don’t you go with them to interrogate Han Kuan? After all, you are quite good at that kind of work.”
“I’m flattered.” Zhao Yu smiled, but shook his head and said, “If we have guessed wrong, then that means that Han Kuan is innocent and we won’t be able to get any new information from him.”
He took a breath, then said, “But, if we have guessed right, Han Kuan will most likely be fully prepared for this kind of thing, so he won’t say anything! Either way, the results will be the same, so why should I go? Besides, Wu Xiumin is a great psychologist, so she should be the one to decide if Han Kuan is lying or not. Hence, there’s really no reason for me to join them!”
“Okay!” Miao Ying exclaimed, then said with some surprise, “Being a Special Investigation Group leader surely has caused quite a difference in you. You are much calmer than before.”
“Stop joking! If I am a calmer person now, explain my hitting your dad!” Zhao Yu then turned to look at the white boards and said, “But, let’s talk about the case now. I prefer the first theory, as if I was Han Kuan and was involved in the serial murder case, then I would never be so foolish as to want the central Special Investigation Group to get involved! So… I feel that Han Kuan still cares more about his own case!”
“That makes sense! In fact, maybe neither of the cases have anything to do with him!” Miao Ying said. “But, if we can find the serial murderer, then we can at least know half of the truth!”
Zhao Yu nodded. “Yes! We’ll definitely be able to find him, as long as we have enough information!”
After saying that, Zhao Yu once again faced the white boards and thought carefully about every detail of the case thus far. Then, he turned to Miao Ying and said, “I noticed that, from the third case onward the murderer appears to have acted alone!”
Miao Ying nodded, then pointed to the suspect column one of the white boards and said, “Yes, as if he had an accomplice, he would not have had to fight so fiercely with a semi-comatose victim!”
She then added, “Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that the forensics team extracted DNA from under the nails of the victim, and they are testing it now. But… Their equipment seems to be having problems, so they will have to send the evidence away to be processed elsewhere. In short, we will have to wait for any DNA results, as well as for identification of any fingerprints.”
Zhao Yu nodded. “I also received confirmation from Wu Xiumin that this murder confirms to the characteristics of each of the other individual murders. And… If this person really committed the crimes alone, he must be very strong!”
Zhao Yu then said, “Moreover, if the murderer didn’t want to attract any attention, he wouldn’t take the victim to the scene and then kill the victim there. This means that the murderer must have rendered the victim unconscious first, then taken the victim to the crime scene!”
Miao Ying nodded her head in agreement, then said, “Han Kuan’s book also says that the killer used a van! So, even if it’s not a van, the murderer has to at least have some suitable means of transportation.”
Zhao Yu then added excitedly, “Also, these cases all happened late at night, which means that he wanted to avoid attracting attention. So… The murderer would not have chosen a vehicle with any distinctive features. I have noticed that there are three kinds of vehicles that are the least noticeable in the Golden City. These are taxis, express delivery cars, and passenger electric tricycles!”
Miao Ying then pointed to a photograph of the crime scene from the second case and said, “We went to Hao Lilii’s crime scene today. There are piles of debris everywhere in that neighborhood. The road is really messed up, which meant that the taxi couldn’t get there at all! So… The murderer obviously couldn’t have parked his car right outside the door and carried the unconscious Hao Lilii there from inside the building! The building’s main entrance is way too far from the scene of the crime!”
“Then… If we’re narrowing it down from express delivery cars and electric tricycles…” Zhao Yu thought quickly. “Isn’t it unreasonable for express delivery cars to go to abandoned buildings? Wouldn’t this leave passenger tricycles as the only remaining possible option?”
Miao Ying nodded, then said, “Okay! I’ll write this down and send it to someone at the bureau to check first thing tomorrow!”
Zhao Yu then pointed to the white boards and asked, “Has there been any progress on Han Kuan’s lost box of manuscripts?”
“Yes!” Miao Ying said. “I asked Ran Tao to ask Han Kuan’s parents about it today. They said that if the box was really stolen, then it must have happened when they sold all of their old stuff. Thus, an antique collector must have taken it!”
“The collector took it?” Zhao Yu repeated her words, while mulling this over in his head.
“Yes!” Miao Ying confirmed. “His parents are right. As Han Kuan is not really famous, only those types of people would be interested in the manuscripts. I’ve already arranged for someone to investigate all of the antiques collectors near their house…”
Zhao Yu thought again, “Um… Maybe there is another possibility! If Han Kuan’s wife took it…”
Miao Ying was surprised by this hypothesis. “No way! Do you suspect that the serial case has anything to do with Zhang Jingru?”
“Well… I haven’t figured it all out yet!” Zhao Yu said frankly. “But… As long as we can catch the murderer, we can definitely make it all clear!”
“Well…” Miao Ying pointed to the white boards and continued, “Let’s look at the fourth victim. The body was found in an abandoned factory building! The victim, Pei Zhi, was a 45-year-old truck driver, and he was also an alcoholic. According to 11 Kills, the murderer…”
As Zhao Yu and Miao Ying continued to analyze the case together, it felt as if they had gone back to the time when they were working together at the Rongyang Branch in Qinshan. During their discussion, their thoughts became more and more clear. It was not until late that night that they decided to go back to the hotel and rest.
On the way back, Zhao Yu’s Gen Kan hexagram finally came to an end. He got a 140% completion score and received two good devices. However, although these results were good, Zhao Yu still felt uneasy.
After all, he still didn’t know what the purpose of today’s side adventure was. This made him wonder… Why did the system lead me to the crime scene of the second victim? Was there any special clue that I should have found about Hao Liii’s death? Also, today’s Kan hexagram was not very clear either…
Just as they arrived at the hotel, Miao Ying suddenly remembered something and asked Zhao Yu, “Why haven’t I seen that girl this evening? Where did she go?”
“You mean Cui Lizhu?” Zhao Yu asked for confirmation, then answered, “I sent her to dig around the city for the latest gossip!”
Miao Ying shook her head as she said, “No way! Are you confident that she won’t take the opportunity to try to escape?”
“She wouldn’t do that.” Zhao Yu smiled as he gently opened the door for Miao Ying.
But, before Miao Ying went inside, Zhao Yu’s mobile phone rang. It happened to be Cui Lizhu calling!
“Boss! I have some super good news!” Cui Lizhu’s excited voice came from the other end of the phone line. “Although I didn’t find out anything about you asked me to investigate, I mistakenly stumbled upon a very critical piece of information! If I am guessing right, I know who the serial killer is!”
Zhao Yu was speechless.
