Chapter 84

Captain Zhao Chengli of the Qingshan City Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Team, as expected by He Ping, did not return home at noon. He was too busy, so busy that he only managed to take a few bites of a boxed lunch. The other detectives were also busy, and they did not return home either. They did not have a proper lunch, let alone a nap. Even a few minutes of rest with eyes closed on a chair was considered a luxury.

The major case involving the trafficking and organized theft by Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang had not yet been resolved, and another murder case occurred at this time. Moreover, the victim was an official. Zhao Chengli had to assign tasks to everyone to the fullest extent to barely manage both cases and some other minor cases.

The trafficking case was still in the evidence-gathering stage. For now, the only thing they could do was to interrogate the young men and gather as much information as possible about Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang to identify the suspects. This was a tedious task, so Zhao Chengli assigned the new, inexperienced, older, and less physically fit detectives to handle this case. He himself led a team of experienced detectives to focus on the murder case, hoping to solve it quickly and then shift their attention back to the trafficking case.

The idea was good, but the results were not satisfactory. The crime scene was chaotic. Although the police collected some fingerprints and footprints, they could only roughly outline the suspect's characteristics. The fingerprint comparison was still in its initial stages, and it would take a long time to get a match. All the bloodstains belonged to the victim. Although the suspect had a physical altercation with the victim, the difference in fighting ability was too great, and the suspect did not leave any biological evidence.

From the murder weapon, it was deduced that the suspect was likely a worker, but the investigation did not yield any results. The victim's brother ran a factory, and the police suspected that a worker might have been dissatisfied with Jiang Dezhi and wanted to take revenge. However, they did not find an opportunity, so they chose Jiang Deming as the target. However, everyone in Jiang Dezhi's factory, except for the night shift security guard, was present, and the night shift security guard did not have the time to commit the crime.

Another crucial point was that there were no signs of forced entry at the victim's home. The suspect entered the crime scene peacefully, indicating that the victim and the suspect were acquaintances. The police investigated Jiang Deming's social network but did not find any suspicious individuals. Although the victim knew many factory managers due to his work, he had little interaction with the workers and no known grudges with any factory managers.

The real culprit, the security guard Old Zhang? He was never on the police's radar because the gap between him and Jiang Deming was too large. Old Zhang was just a security guard at Dongfang Hardware, while Jiang Deming was a government official. Even if Jiang Deming had any connection with Dongfang Hardware, it would only be with the factory manager He Xiangdong and other senior management, not a low-level security guard. How could he have entered Jiang Deming's home?

The investigation reached a bottleneck. After a tiring day, Zhao Chengli and his team of experienced detectives could not make much progress. Now, they could only rely on a large-scale investigation to see if any residents in the area around the crime scene noticed any suspicious individuals or heard any commotion. This was a long and tedious process, and both cases had reached this stage, causing Zhao Chengli some frustration.

No matter how busy he was, he had to go home after work in the afternoon. Even if he had to work overtime in the evening, he would wait until after dinner. Thinking of his virtuous wife and smart, well-behaved daughter, Zhao Chengli's mind calmed down. His daughter was their pride, intelligent, and well-mannered. She had always been the top student in her class and had been the class president for three years, setting an example for the entire class. Even when Zhao Chengli attended parent-teacher meetings, he felt very proud.

However, this afternoon seemed different. Just as Zhao Chengli returned home, changed his clothes, and had not even had a sip of tea, his daughter, Zhao Yuke, who had just returned home, handed him an envelope. It was a large brown envelope, sealed and with no writing on it. She said, "This is from a classmate of mine..."

Before she could finish saying, "to give to you," Zhao Chengli jumped up and snatched the envelope. Could it be a love letter? But looking at the envelope, he was a bit puzzled. Even in his younger days, love letters were at least put in a clean white envelope. Could a love letter be in a large brown envelope? Could someone with such poor taste write a love letter?

"Dad! What are you doing? Be careful not to tear it. This is from a classmate of mine. She asked me to give it to you as soon as I saw you come home. She said it contains information about the case you are investigating."

Oh, so it's not a love letter. That's a relief, thought Zhao Chengli. But then he immediately realized something. What did Zhao Yuke say? It contains information about the case he is investigating? And it's from a classmate? What's going on?

With a skeptical attitude, Zhao Chengli opened the envelope. Inside were several sheets of paper. At first, he did not pay much attention to the messy handwriting, thinking that Zhao Yuke's classmate might be a fan of detective stories and, knowing he was a police officer, wrote a detective story. However, after reading a few lines, his eyes became sharp. The content was about the murder case in Kangning Community, with a clear and logical deduction, even pointing out the real culprit. It was as if the writer had been at the crime scene... No! As if they had witnessed the crime firsthand!

Zhao Chengli did not know that after He Ping used his ability to recreate the crime, he was indeed like an eyewitness. His deduction skills were not as good as the police, but knowing the process and outcome, he could reverse-engineer the events, making his writing clearer than the police's deductions based on the crime scene. After reading it, Zhao Chengli felt a sudden clarity. The case, which seemed difficult before, was now practically solved, leaving only the interrogation and evidence collection.

"What is the name of the classmate who gave you this envelope?" Zhao Chengli asked seriously.

"His name is He Ping," Zhao Yuke replied, adding, "He is my current desk partner. You should have met him before."

"Is it him?" A mischievous little boy came to mind. Then, he realized something. "He Ping, isn't he the son of He Xiangdong from Dongfang Hardware? This suspect is a former employee of Dongfang Hardware. Is this related to Dongfang Hardware? That shouldn't be the case. If it were, this information wouldn't have been handed to me. What's going on?"

[PS: This is the third update today!预告一下，现实世界的第一段剧情即将结束，大范围高频率的时空穿梭将要开始！]

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