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墨書 Inktalez
Wang Chao turned to look at Jiang He, then leaned over the railing to observe the busy detectives below. From the twelfth floor, the people on the ground appeared as mere black dots under the streetlights.
He rested against the railing. "It's quite obvious, isn't it? It's easy to guess."
"I don't understand," Jiang He admitted honestly.
Wang Chao pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and offered another to Jiang He.
Jiang He waved his hand. "The probability of smokers developing lung cancer is twenty-three times higher than that of non-smokers. Ninety percent of lung cancer patients are smokers. So statistically speaking, smoking is detrimental to health and can impair our logical thinking, leading to confusion. The same goes for drugs and alcohol, which is why I never smoke or drink."
Hearing Jiang He's words, Wang Chao chuckled. As he took a drag from his cigarette, he said, "The longest-living people in China have smoked their whole lives and are still doing well. Some people who never smoke can fall and never get back up again."
Wang Chao blew a smoke ring into the air. "Life's dimensions and spans are too long. Can you calculate a clear probability of how long you'll live?"
"No," Jiang He replied firmly. "There are just too many interfering factors."
The glowing tip of Wang Chao's cigarette flickered in the darkness as he continued smoking. "So life itself is uncertain. Don't you find it exhausting to live so tightly wound? Smoking is indeed harmful to health, but it allows us to numb ourselves. We ordinary people can only rely on cigarettes for that."
Jiang He still didn't understand. "Numb yourself? What do you mean?"
Wang Chao didn't answer that question. "Regarding Li Weiyi, it's clear why he committed suicide—he had lost everything. His wife is dead, and he’s buried in debt. What’s the point of living alone?"
"Is losing everything a reason to commit suicide?" Jiang He truly didn't understand.
Wang Chao glanced again at the traces left on the floor before extinguishing his cigarette on the railing. "After leaving the police station, Li Weiyi walked straight along Jinlun Road to here. He might have looked for many apartment buildings, but none were open until he arrived here and went up to the twelfth floor before jumping."
Subsequent surveillance footage confirmed this; Li Weiyi had indeed come here alone.
Inside the police station, Jiang He and Wang Chao reviewed the surveillance footage five times, including recordings from nearby cameras. The footage clearly showed that after leaving the police station, Li Weiyi had not interacted with anyone; he made his way to that area and then jumped.
However, during his journey, Li Weiyi had received a phone call that lasted forty-two seconds.
"Where's the phone card?" Jiang He glanced at Wang Chao.
"I just called back. That number is from out of town, belonging to a woman in her forties or fifties. During that time, she didn't make any calls to anyone," a technician pointed to the phone on the table. "Through our investigation, we found that the signal came from Dragon City, which could indicate signal interference."
"However, there was one number that called multiple times during this period—hundreds of calls, in fact. After our investigation, we discovered it was a call from his company. We've already informed the company about Li Weiyi's basic situation," the Technical Staff continued.
Jiang He nodded and asked, "A forty-two-second call duration means that for an average person speaking at a moderate pace, each sentence would take about four to five seconds. That would be around eight to ten sentences exchanged between two people. If there was a signal issue or a crossed line, would the person dialing have needed to say eight to ten sentences?"
"Can we find out what was said during the call?" Jiang He inquired.
The technician shook his head. "Even the most skilled person in the world couldn't do that unless there was prior eavesdropping or monitoring. Otherwise..."
The technician waved his hand dismissively.
"Is this important?" Wang Chao looked at Jiang He, confused about what he was trying to achieve.
Jiang He waved his hand. "Not important, but I want to understand."
"The autopsy results are in."
A voice came from outside.
Xu Yiman arrived at the police station and saw everyone gathered there. "The deceased had no injuries other than those from a high fall. The injuries on Li Weiyi were all caused at once, so we can confirm that the cause of death was falling from a height, with the specific cause being organ failure. The time of death was around nine-thirty. However, whether he jumped or someone pushed him, I can't say for sure."
"Suicide," Wang Chao closed the file. "There are no doubts left now, right Jiang He?"
But no one answered.
"Jiang He?" Wang Chao raised his voice. "Where's Jiang He?"
But there was no trace of Jiang He in the hall anymore.
“Where did Jiang He go?” Wang Chao asked the police officers present.
No one knew.
“Not a single pair of eyes saw Jiang He leave?”
Wang Chao questioned the crowd, but no one answered.
People's attention is often weighted. When Xu Yiman walked in, Jiang He had already stood up. While everyone was focused on Xu Yiman and the Autopsy Report, Jiang He had slipped out of the room. At that moment, Jiang He had just exited through the main door of the police station, walking straight down a dark path without looking back.
As he walked, he inserted a SIM card into his phone.
After rebooting, the card was now operational.
Jiang He dialed a number.
“The SIM card is missing!”
As Wang Chao ordered everyone to continue their work, a member of the Forensic Science Division suddenly shouted.
“What is it?” Wang Chao asked.
The technician replied, “It’s Li Weiyi’s SIM card.”
“Damn it, Jiang He.”
Wang Chao couldn't help but curse.
He began dialing Jiang He's number, but there was no answer.
Similarly, Jiang He’s outgoing calls went unanswered. The voice on the line informed him that the phone was turned off, and Jiang He realized that this situation was more complicated than it seemed.
A few seconds later, a phone call came in. Jiang He looked at the name on the contact list; it was Li Weiyi's supervisor calling.
"Hello?" Jiang He answered.
"Hello, this is Manager Zhang from the Marketing Department of Shihai Rubber Factory," came the voice on the other end. "Are you a police officer?"
Jiang He did not hesitate. "That's right. What can I do for you?"
Manager Zhang continued, "Li Weiyi is under my supervision. After our consideration, we have decided to allocate thirty thousand yuan to Li Weiyi's family. We understand his situation; he just recently received his salary from the company, and his family might not have much savings left. This is our way of compensating for Li Weiyi's hard work. However, we tried calling his wife, but she did not answer."
Jiang He extracted a key piece of information from the lengthy explanation.
He asked, "Wait a moment, I have a question for you. You mentioned that Li Weiyi still owed money to the company; what exactly does that refer to?"
Manager Zhang replied, "About three months ago, due to an error in Li Weiyi's work, the company suffered a loss of one hundred thirty thousand yuan. According to regulations, Li Weiyi was responsible for repaying that amount. After some time, he did repay the money. We know he has a mortgage and an elderly person at home. But work is work; there's nothing we can do about that."
However, Jiang He had heard Li Weiyi's testimony, and Li Weiyi had not mentioned that he had already repaid that one hundred thirty thousand yuan.
As he walked forward, Jiang He pressed on, "Wait a minute, are you sure it was Li Weiyi who repaid it?"
"Yes," Manager Zhang confirmed.
"Are you certain?" Jiang He asked again.
"Absolutely," Manager Zhang replied.
"Really certain?" Jiang He pressed once more.
There was a brief silence on Manager Zhang's end before he spoke again. "Oh right, it was Li Weiyi's wife, He Hui Juan, who brought in the money. But since it was her who delivered it, it must have been Li Weiyi's intention as well. By the way, if you can get in touch with He Hui Juan, please have her come pick up the money. We are also very saddened by Li Weiyi's death. If it's not too much trouble, could you share how exactly Li Weiyi died?"
This was why Jiang He was reluctant to trust eyewitness accounts; often people could not be held accountable for their words.
But Jiang He finally understood why He Hui Juan withdrew all the money others had transferred to her, as well as her own savings. Jiang He finally understood why the police did not find the one hundred thirty thousand yuan in her home; it was because this money was used by He Hui Juan to repay the losses caused to Li Weiyi.
However, what Jiang He could not understand was why, if He Hui Juan had indeed repaid the money owed to Li Weiyi, she did not tell him. After a moment of thought, Jiang He had a sixty percent chance of believing that He Hui Juan chose not to inform Li Weiyi about this because she did not want to expose her affair.
Li Weiyi had owed one hundred thirty thousand yuan nearly three months ago, and He Hui Juan's class reunion took place two and a half months ago. Her affair with Feng Bin began two months ago. During this period of infidelity, two sums of money were deposited into He Hui Juan's account: one of fifty thousand and another of thirty thousand, which, combined with her own savings, amounted exactly to one hundred thirty thousand.
Jiang He's mind conveyed a message: if all of this were merely coincidence, the probability would be around ten percent. While improbable events can occur, Jiang He needed to understand whether the occurrence of these probabilities was genuine coincidence or if someone had deliberately orchestrated this outcome.
"Hello? Hello? What happened? Officer, are you still there? Hello? Hello?"
Manager Zhang, noticing the silence on the other end, couldn't help but call out.
During Jiang He's contemplation, he had been hearing a voice interrupting his thoughts. He glanced at his phone and quickly spoke into it: "No need; that family is already dead."
With that, Jiang He hung up the phone.
Manager Zhang listened as the busy tone echoed from the other end. He stood in a daze for a long time. He had never encountered such a straightforward police officer nor heard such cold words before.
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