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墨書 Inktalez
Zhang Tianyu swaggered into the inquiry room, wearing a pair of expensive sneakers, his loose school uniform jacket draped over his shoulder, and a faint smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
If it weren't for the task at hand, I would have rolled my eyes at him. "Zhang Tianyu, we are police officers investigating the death of Wang Ruiming. We hope you can cooperate and answer a few questions."
Zhang Tianyu scoffed, "Didn't you already know?"
I frowned. "Know what?"
With a mocking tone, he replied, "That I hate Wang Ruiming. That hypocrite pretends to be all virtuous on the outside while doing plenty of dirty deeds behind the scenes. He acts all righteous and presents himself as a good student, but secretly takes money to help others cheat! Hmph, that's not all—he even targets those from well-off families to extort them! I've heard about this for a long time, which is why I've never liked him. What's wrong with that?"
"Some people said they saw you two in a heated argument because of this?"
"Pretty much." Zhang Tianyu sneered. "He actually dared to extort my good friend Zhao Zhe. Of course I had to stand up for my brother; I warned him not to bother Zhao Zhe again."
I quickly noted down his words. "What happened next?"
"What happened next? He never dared to trouble Zhao Zhe again. That was the end of it." As he spoke, Zhang Tianyu rocked back and forth on his chair, making it creak.
My mentor, Zhou Weiguo, raised a finger to signal Zhang Tianyu to sit still. "Where were you on the night of the incident?"
"Hah, you’re not suspecting me, are you? That day... let me think... I was at my uncle's house—Principal Zheng Botao. We watched a movie together until after one in the morning before going to sleep."
After Zhang Tianyu left, we immediately sought out Principal Zheng Botao. He looked tired but confirmed Zhang Tianyu's account. Zheng Botao's wife had taken their child abroad for a competition, and on the night of the incident, he had brought his nephew Zhang Tianyu home; they indeed watched a movie until late.
I rubbed my aching temples; this case was becoming increasingly complicated. Almost every lead had hit a dead end by now. What should we do next?
As night fell, the office of the criminal investigation team remained brightly lit.
I stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a marker as I began to sort through the clues we had gathered so far. The board was already filled with names, times, and various connecting arrows, resembling an intricate web.
"Let’s go over this again," I murmured to myself as I wrote down the names of two key suspects on the board.
The first was Li Zichen. He certainly had ample motive—not only had Wang Ruiming extorted 50,000 yuan from him, but more importantly, he could potentially ruin his future because of it. The key issue lay with the sources of penicillin and sleeping pills; we had yet to determine how Li Zichen could obtain such prescription drugs. This lead seemed to have come to a halt.
My pen moved to the second name: Zhang Tianyu. From him, we learned that Li Zichen wasn’t the only student being extorted by Wang Ruiming; there was also Zhao Zhe. Zhang Tianyu wanted to protect his friend Zhao Zhe and harbored some animosity towards Wang Ruiming. Moreover, as the principal's nephew, he indeed had easier access to places like the infirmary and dormitory areas. However, he had a solid alibi—his uncle, Principal Zheng Botao, could confirm that Zhang Tianyu had been with him at home on the night of the incident.
Unless...
Wait a minute!
"Could it be that Zheng Botao's testimony is problematic?"
I turned abruptly, "Master, we haven't verified Zheng Botao's statement yet..."
Before I could finish, I saw my master quietly sitting in the chair behind me, his piercing gaze fixed on me, a gentle smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"That's right, Mu Yang." He stood up. "You've noticed this crucial point as well."
My master immediately arranged to retrieve the main surveillance footage from Zheng Botao's neighborhood and the surrounding area. Together, we carefully examined every time segment from the night of the incident.
"This... there really is a problem?" I stared in shock at the screen.
The traffic camera across from Zheng Botao's neighborhood showed that at 10:17 PM on the night of the incident, Zheng Botao left home alone in his car. Tracking through the roadside cameras, we discovered he went to a hotel in the city center and stayed there until 5:23 AM the next day before driving straight back home. However, there was indeed no footage of Zhang Tianyu leaving Zheng Botao's house.
"They're lying," Master Zhou Weiguo said quietly.
I nodded, "Yes, both Zheng Botao and Zhang Tianyu are lying. It seems that it's not Zheng Botao providing an alibi for Zhang Tianyu; rather, it looks like Zhang Tianyu is covering for his uncle. Who was Zheng Botao meeting at the hotel?"
Master brushed off the dust from his clothes. "Regarding these questions, I think it's time to have Principal Zheng explain things properly."
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