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墨書 Inktalez
On that day, my master and I split up to visit Wang Ruiming's family, classmates, and teachers, and we returned to the precinct after 10 PM.
Through our investigations, the image of the deceased, Wang Ruiming, began to take shape: he had been a top student since childhood, consistently ranking first in his class. However, his reclusive and arrogant personality made him a controversial figure among his peers. Beneath the facade of this seemingly proud honor student lay an unknown family struggle—his father had become disabled in an accident ten years ago and lost his ability to work, leaving his mother to support the family as a nurse. Thus, his arrogance was likely rooted in deep-seated insecurity.
In the office, Brother Old Qian was still focused on reviewing the surveillance footage from the school dormitory. When he saw us enter, he rubbed his tired eyes and gestured for us to come over.
The footage on the screen left both my master and me stunned. During the critical time frame of the incident, all surveillance cameras in the boys' dormitory had inexplicably gone offline for about half an hour. Old Qian had already called the school to confirm; the security director reported that there had been a power outage around 1 AM that lasted for about half an hour, which caused the surveillance system to fail.
"Coincidence? This is a bit too 'coincidental,' isn't it? Brother, has the school determined the cause of the power outage?"
Old Qian shook his head. "Not yet; I've scheduled for Technical Investigation to come by tomorrow morning."
"Alright," my master took a deep drag from his cigarette before extinguishing it in the ashtray. "Mu Yang, let's go see what the forensic team has discovered."
It was already close to 11 PM when we arrived at the autopsy room where Forensic Doctor Liu and his assistant were still busy. Upon seeing us, he removed his gloves and handed over a report while rubbing his sore back.
"Captain Zhou, we can pinpoint Wang Ruiming's time of death to between 1 AM and 1:30 AM."
I turned to my master; the time of death coincided precisely with when the dormitory lost power. This suggested that the outage might have been orchestrated by the murderer.
Da Liu unfolded the report and pointed to a line of text. "The cause of death has been established: Wang Ruiming died from anaphylactic shock due to an allergy to penicillin. We found injection marks on his thigh; he was injected with an overdose of penicillin. More importantly, we also detected traces of sleeping pills in his stomach, which explains why he died so quietly."
I quickly constructed a crime scene in my mind: The murderer knew that Wang Ruiming was allergic to penicillin, so they first found a way to get him to take sleeping pills. Once he fell asleep, they seized the opportunity to inject him with an overdose of penicillin...
My master looked sharply at the autopsy table. "This wasn't a crime of passion; it was a meticulously planned murder. We need to investigate who had access to penicillin, as it is a prescription drug."
"The School Infirmary!" I blurted out. "They must have those medications in stock!"
My master patted my shoulder with approval. "Let's go back to the office. With Dr. Liu's report in hand, it's time to sort through all our leads."
The next morning, my master and I first arrived at the School Infirmary, which was filled with a faint smell of disinfectant. Morning light streamed through the corridor windows, casting long shadows on the floor.
The middle-aged school doctor, wearing thick glasses, was organizing medications. After showing my badge, I inquired about their stock of penicillin. The doctor confirmed that there was indeed penicillin stored in their medicine cabinet and that he shared custody of the key with the principal.
However, their medication records were extremely irregular—the last update dated back three months... making it impossible to determine if any penicillin had gone missing.
Disappointed, we left the infirmary; it seemed that this lead had temporarily run dry.
Next, we met Li Zichen again in the interrogation room. Compared to yesterday, he appeared much calmer.
I gestured for him to sit down. "Li Zichen, I remember you said yesterday that your relationship with Wang Ruiming was okay. But how come we heard that Wang Ruiming is blackmailing you?"
Just moments ago, Li Zichen had been calm, but his face instantly turned pale. He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
"Li Zichen!" Master suddenly raised his voice. "The only way out for you is to tell the truth!"
Li Zichen let out a long breath, as if he had made a certain decision. "Yes, Wang Ruiming is indeed blackmailing me. He... he previously took 10,000 from me to help me cheat on the exam. Unless I give him another 50,000, he will tell the school about my cheating."
I looked directly into Li Zichen's eyes. "So, if Wang Ruiming were dead, your secret about cheating would remain forever hidden?"
"No!" Li Zichen suddenly raised his head and said loudly with red-rimmed eyes, "I didn't kill him! I admit I was blackmailed by him, but I really didn't kill him! My dad is in business; 50,000 isn't much for our family! I wouldn't risk killing someone over that amount!"
"Then why didn't you just give him the money? Why beg him for more time?"
Li Zichen smiled bitterly. "It's not that I didn't want to give it; I had to find a suitable opportunity and excuse to ask my dad for money. If my dad found out I cheated, he would definitely kick me out..."
At this moment, Master Zhou Weiguo tapped the table with his hand. "Li Zichen, think carefully. Has Wang Ruiming had any recent conflicts with anyone else?"
Li Zichen was silent for a moment before suddenly raising his head. "I remember! Zhang Tianyu! Just a few days ago, I saw Wang Ruiming and Zhang Tianyu arguing on the playground from a distance; it looked like they were about to fight!"
"Zhang Tianyu? Is he also your classmate? Do you know why they were arguing?"
"Zhang Tianyu isn't in our class; he's the principal's nephew and quite arrogant. That day I was too far away to hear clearly; I don't know what they were arguing about..."
After sending Li Zichen away, I rested my chin on one hand while tapping his name with a pen in the other. This Li Zichen's motive for murder hadn't diminished because of his earlier words; the core issue wasn't just about the 50,000. Wang Ruiming was an outstanding student at school; even if the school found out he helped someone cheat on the exam, he would only face some punishment. But Li Zichen was different; he could potentially face disciplinary action or even expulsion. With the college entrance examination coming up next year, that would ruin his future—his father wouldn't just give him a few kicks for that.
At that moment, Master Zhou Weiguo tapped my head to interrupt my thoughts. "Mu Yang, call the dean and have Zhang Tianyu come over; let's have a word with this principal's nephew."
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