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墨書 Inktalez
The morning sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting shadows on the floor of the principal's office. My master, Zhou Weiguo, and I sat across from Zheng Botao, the steam still rising from the tea on the coffee table.
I took out my phone and opened the crucial surveillance video. The footage played silently on the screen as I carefully observed Zheng Botao's changing expressions: first confusion, then his pupils suddenly constricted, his fingers unconsciously gripping the armrest of the sofa, and finally, the color drained from his face.
I reached out and turned off the video. "Principal Zheng, can you explain this?"
"I... I..." Zheng Botao stammered, unable to articulate a complete sentence.
My master, Zhou Weiguo, spoke in a deep voice. "Principal Zheng, it would be in your best interest to tell the truth now."
Zheng Botao's shoulders slumped instantly. He wiped his face with his hand, his voice heavy with fatigue. "Alright, I admit it; I lied before."
"But," he suddenly raised his head, eager to explain, "I really have nothing to do with this murder case. That night, I... I was meeting a woman."
Upon hearing this expected answer, I raised an eyebrow. "What about Zhang Tianyu? Where was he at that time?"
Zheng Botao wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, "When I left, Tianyu was still at my house. The next morning, I went home to have breakfast with him before we came to school together." His voice grew quieter. "As for whether he went out that night... I really don’t know."
After leaving the principal's office, we immediately had someone call Zhang Tianyu to the interrogation room. The moment he walked in through the door, his expression told me he had sensed something was off.
"Zhang Tianyu," I said as I locked eyes with him, speaking each word clearly, "we're asking you again: on the night Wang Ruiming was murdered, were you really at home watching movies with Principal Zheng?"
Zhang Tianyu looked down, his fingers twisting together nervously. After a long silence, he finally spoke up. "I admit it; I lied before. My uncle wasn't home that night; he left around 10 PM..."
"And what about you?" I pressed on quickly. "Did you leave Principal Zheng's house that night?"
"No!" Zhang Tianyu shot his head up and nearly shouted. "I swear, I really stayed at my uncle's house all night!"
I instinctively glanced at my master; he nodded slightly, indicating for me to continue.
"Zhang Tianyu," I said slowly, "you need to understand that if you lie, we will find out for sure. If there's anything you want to say, now is your best chance."
"I’m not lying! Really! I didn’t leave my uncle’s house that day!"
I looked deeply at him, knowing that I couldn't extract more information for now.
As we stepped out of the interrogation room, I couldn't help but ask my master, "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
Master Zhou Weiguo shook his head. "Let's not rush to conclusions. First, let's check out the community where Zheng Botao lives to see if there are any other exits we don't know about. This afternoon we can talk to Zhang Tianyu's brother Zhao Zhe; he was also extorted by Wang Ruiming."
Just as my master and I were driving away from the school gate, heading towards Zheng Botao's residential area, his phone suddenly rang with an urgent tone.
"Hello, Captain Zhou!" The voice on the other end was clearly panicked. "There's been an incident! Another student is dead! In the sports equipment room..."
Before the caller could finish, my master hung up. We exchanged a glance—another death at Port City No. 1 High School!
"Let's go!" my master said briefly, and I immediately turned the car around, racing back to Port City No. 1.
As we arrived at the entrance of the sports equipment room, we encountered the head of the teaching department rushing out. Her face was pale, and her voice trembled as she spoke, "It's Zhao Zhe... the one who died is Zhao Zhe..." Before she could finish her sentence, she leaned against the wall and began to retch.
Zhao Zhe? I looked at my master in shock. We hadn't even had a chance to ask him anything, and he was already... dead?
In just a few days, two students connected to the cheating and extortion case had been murdered—this could not be a coincidence!
Several boys from the basketball team were standing at the entrance, their faces equally pale with fear. One of them stepped forward as we approached and said, "Officer, we just came to get basketballs and mats when we saw..."
I nodded reassuringly, signaling for them to wait outside while I took notes later. Pushing open the door to the sports equipment room, I immediately spotted Zhao Zhe's body lying face up in the middle of the room, a clear and horrifying mark around his neck. His body was already stiff; he had clearly been dead for some time.
My master was already on the phone calling for backup. I fought against the nausea rising in my stomach, popped a mint into my mouth, and began to focus on observing the scene. It wasn't long before the forensic team and Technical Investigation personnel arrived.
The yellow police tape separated death from the bustling campus outside.
Seeing that the forensic doctor had completed an initial examination, I couldn't wait any longer and asked, "Forensic Doctor Liu, what have you found?"
Da Liu removed his gloves. "Preliminary judgment indicates that the time of death was between 9 PM and 10 PM last night. The cause of death is strangulation; the murder weapon is likely this jump rope." He pointed to a regular practice jump rope that had already been placed into an evidence bag.
I crouched down to examine the jump rope closely. Zhao Zhe appeared to be quite robust; it wouldn't have been easy to subdue him without considerable strength. Therefore, the murderer must also be someone physically strong...
"Master," I whispered quietly to Zhou Weiguo beside me, "two murders on campus within three days—this is bound to attract attention from the provincial department..."
"I know, but now is not the time to think about that." My master patted my shoulder. "Zhang Tianyu has conflicts with Wang Ruiming; he has no solid alibi either. But suddenly Zhao Zhe is dead—Zhao Zhe was a good friend that Zhang Tianyu wanted to protect... Could it be that Zhang Tianyu isn't the murderer? Are these two murders really committed by the same person? I have a feeling there’s something much bigger behind this case..."
At that moment, a colleague from Technical Investigation hurried over with an evidence bag in hand. "Captain Zhou! We found this in a pocket inside the deceased's clothing."
I took the evidence bag from him; inside was a small black USB drive.
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