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Wang Xiaobao indeed did not go to his classmate's house, so the question remains: where did he go? According to Zhang's Boy, Wang Xiaobao should have been at the internet café with them by now. However, this alone does not confirm that Wang Xiaobao is the killer.
After all, at this age, it is normal for a young person to have some secrets, things they cannot share with their parents. The police officers at the station were still investigating whether there were any other suspicious individuals. Wang Xiaobao could only be considered one of the suspects, and deep down, we hoped he was not the killer.
The impact of an adult criminal is far less shocking than that of a juvenile offender.
Wang Fugui's Wife kept talking incessantly, insisting that even if her child did not go to Time Surpass's house, he would never commit murder. Wang Fugui sat silently beside her, quietly absorbing her words. Through her rambling, we understood one thing.
Although Wang Fugui and his wife were farmers, they had become relatively well-off after contracting greenhouses. Whenever Wang Xiaobao wanted something, they would buy it for him. The couple spoiled Wang Xiaobao greatly, indulging him in everything. So when he said he was going to meet a classmate, they believed him without question.
At first, when facing us, Wang Fugui's Wife seemed nervous and even struggled to speak. But once she began discussing Wang Xiaobao, she would not allow anyone to speak ill of him. Her earlier restraint vanished as she spoke passionately until our ears felt like they might develop calluses from her incessant chatter. Just then, I received a phone call from the Police Department.
It was the same young girl from before. She said, "Captain Shao, someone has confessed in the Zheng Yunyun case!"
"What?" I could hardly believe my ears and quickly asked again, "What do you mean? Someone has confessed in the Zheng Yunyun case? What’s their name? How old are they? Are they from Zhengjia Village?"
The girl replied, "Yes, someone has confessed. His name is Wang Xiaobao; he's a minor, thirteen and a half years old, from Zhengjia Village. You all need to come back quickly!"
After she finished speaking, there was a loud crash followed by the sound of someone falling. I turned around to see that Wang Fugui's Wife had collapsed to the ground. Juan Juan rushed over to check her pulse; she slowly regained consciousness but immediately began crying uncontrollably and fainted several times.
It turned out that after I answered the call and had a brief conversation, everyone realized that we had found the killer in the Zheng Yunyun murder case. They held their breath and listened intently to what was being said on the other end of the line. Everyone was waiting for the name of this killer to confirm that it wasn’t someone from their village who committed the crime.
However, no one expected that the person confessing was indeed Wang Xiaobao. Although many people shared his name, there was only one thirteen-and-a-half-year-old boy from Zhengjia Village—Wang Fugui's son, Wang Xiaobao. His wife could not bear this shock and was beside herself with grief while Wang Fugui looked pale and incredulous.
The room erupted into chaos as villagers outside could not hear what was happening inside and began to murmur among themselves. I stood up and opened the door to address everyone: "Villagers! Villagers! Someone has confessed! We need to go back and see what happened; please disperse!"
As I closed the door behind me, I spoke softly yet firmly: "Village Chief, you heard that there can’t be many Wang Xiaobaos from Zhengjia Village. But we need to investigate further before we understand what really happened. If it turns out to be true, we will inform you. At that time, you will need to bring Wang Fugui and his wife along because since Wang Xiaobao is under fourteen years old, his guardians will bear responsibility for his actions. Do you understand?"
The Village Chief never expected that it would indeed be this underage boy who lacked criminal responsibility committing such an act. He stared blankly at us for a moment, unsure whether to shake his head or nod in agreement.
I continued: "For now, keep an eye on Wang Fugui and his wife—especially her." I pointed at Wang Fugui's Wife: "Be careful she doesn’t faint again; we must return now. Do you understand?"
The Village Chief nodded in acknowledgment that he understood.
We immediately drove back to the Police Department.
No one expected this turn of events. Our previous assumption was that the Killer had escaped, but it turned out that the Killer had turned himself in. If Wang Xiaobao was indeed the murderer, then his "guts" were quite remarkable. I genuinely feared the emergence of another cold-blooded minor like Demon Boy Guo Guoqing; having one such individual was already a headache.
Mary said, "Something feels off about this. Think about it: when someone wants to turn themselves in, they usually take one of two approaches. The first is to call the police and inform them over the phone that they've committed murder, prompting the police to dispatch a car to arrest them. The second is to go to a nearby police station after committing the crime and report it. But Wang Xiaobao went directly to the Police Department to confess?"
Mary made a valid point. A minor probably wouldn't even understand the jurisdictional differences between a public security bureau and a police station. So why would he go straight to the City Public Security Bureau? Was it unintentional or deliberate? Did he have some ulterior motive? Given that Zheng Yunyun's time of death had already passed three hours ago, what had Wang Xiaobao been doing during those three hours? Was he conflicted about whether to confess, or had he been engaged in something else?
The crucial question was whether all of this was connected to Guo Guoqing, which worried me the most. Educating someone takes effort and contribution, but leading someone astray is alarmingly easy. After all, that's human nature. If this was all part of Guo Guoqing's premeditated plan, it would be terrifying.
Wang Xiaobao hadn't yet turned fourteen; he would surely be released. If he developed the mindset that "even if I kill someone, nothing will happen," it could haunt him for life. Of course, these were just my speculations. Based on current circumstances, the likelihood of him imitating someone else's murder seemed higher, and it was more probable that Wang Xiaobao didn't know Guo Guoqing.
I pressed my fingers against my temples and said, "Considering our current situation, it takes us an hour and a half to drive from the Police Department to the village. A fourteen-year-old child obviously can't drive, and motorcycles aren't allowed in the city. Given this context, Zheng Yunyun's stolen bicycle becomes relevant."
"Are you suggesting?" Juan Juan interjected. "That Wang Xiaobao used Zheng Yunyun's bicycle as his means of transportation? He didn't steal it to destroy evidence but rather rode it to the Police Department to confess?"
I snapped my fingers and replied, "Exactly! That's the most reasonable explanation so far. However, we'll only get answers once we meet Wang Xiaobao."
Before long, we returned to the Police Department.
Wang Xiaobao was already in the interrogation room. Through the One-Way Glass, I could see him sitting in a chair, looking around curiously with no hint of guilt or fear on his face. What terrified me most was that he might view committing murder as casually as stepping on a caterpillar.
Before questioning Wang Xiaobao, I approached the young girl who had called me and asked, "What exactly happened when Wang Xiaobao turned himself in?"
The girl replied, "It's quite strange. About an hour and a half ago, a boy riding a bicycle suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Police Department. He looked around thirteen years old. He placed his bike at our entrance and shouted, 'I killed someone! I killed someone!'"
"At first, it didn't alarm anyone at the Police Department; only passersby noticed him. But those people didn't take a thirteen-year-old seriously; they thought he was just being mischievous by shouting outside the police station." The girl continued, "So initially, no one believed him. However, after shouting for quite some time without leaving, people started feeling something was off."
"Eventually, someone brought him inside for questioning, and we were all taken aback." The girl continued, "We thought he was just fooling around and asked where he lived so he could go home."
"But Wang Xiaobao insisted he was from Zhengjia Village and claimed that earlier today on the road in Zhengjia Village, he killed an older sister named Zheng Yunyun. After killing her, he rode her bicycle here to confess."
"We found his story so coherent that we quickly called you!" she concluded.
I nodded. Considering the time, it would indeed take more than three hours to reach the Police Department by bicycle. I asked, "Where is the bicycle now?"
"It's right behind!" the girl replied.
We immediately went outside to look at the bicycle, and sure enough, we found a women's bike in the yard. It was the same model as the one that Zheng Yunyun had been riding during our investigation, so it must belong to her. This meant that while we were busy searching for the Killer, the Killer was actually riding a bicycle to find us!
I wondered if this could be considered ironic.
I said to Juan Juan, "Go investigate whether the semen found in Zheng Yunyun's body matches Wang Xiaobao's DNA. Once we have the results, we can question Wang Xiaobao."
Juan Juan immediately went to take care of it, but by the time I said that, I had already pretty much concluded that Wang Xiaobao was the Killer. I still held onto a glimmer of hope that this minor, Wang Xiaobao, wasn't responsible and that it was just a prank. However, when the results came back after forty minutes, we were ultimately disappointed.
Juan Juan told us, "The test results are in. The DNA completely matches Wang Xiaobao's. The Killer is Wang Xiaobao!"
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