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墨書 Inktalez
Cold water splashed onto Chen Guoping's face, jolting him awake as he coughed violently. When he finally opened his eyes, the harsh overhead lights made him squint. He tried to move, only to find himself tightly bound to a metal chair, completely immobilized.
Looking around, he realized he was in a deserted garage, dust swirling in the bright light, and a camera in the corner flickered with a red light.
"Where... where is this?" Chen Guoping's voice trembled with fear as he glanced at me standing before him.
The moment he recognized me, disbelief flashed in his eyes. "Zhang... Zhang Yaqin? Are you insane?" His voice quickly shifted from trembling to anger. "Do you know what you're doing? This is kidnapping! This is a crime! You're a judge; how can you break the law like this? Let me go!"
I remained silent, allowing him to rant and threaten while I calmly observed him. Gradually, panic set in for Chen Guoping. He began to shout for help, his voice hoarse as he cried out for "Help!"
But soon he realized that apart from his own cries, there was no other sound. No one could hear his pleas; it was all in vain.
"Zhang Yaqin, what... what do you want?" Chen Guoping gasped, "Money? You want money, right? I can give you money—whatever amount you want. We can negotiate."
I coldly interrupted his rambling. "Chen Guoping, do you remember the Lin Xiaoyu Case from twenty years ago?"
Those words struck him like a heavy blow, shattering the facade of calm he had maintained. His pupils dilated, and his breathing quickened. Yet within seconds, he regained his composure, even managing a smile as he locked eyes with me, a fierce glint flashing in his gaze as if I were the one bound here instead of him.
"Lin Xiaoyu Case? Teacher Zhang, are you referring to the sensational Lin Xiaoyu campus murder case from twenty years ago?" Upon my nod, Li Mingcheng looked at me in astonishment. "Of course I remember; it was the first murder case I participated in after joining the police force. But wasn't that case already resolved?"
I took a deep breath, my gaze piercing through the rain falling outside as I seemed to see that summer from twenty years ago.
Twenty years ago, I was forty-five years old and had just been promoted to a second-level judge, full of ambition. At that time, I held deep faith and pride in my career; I firmly believed that under the rule of law, justice would serve as a strong shield protecting the people.
However, that year marked the occurrence of the Lin Xiaoyu Case that shocked Port City. Lin Xiaoyu was a sophomore at Gangcheng University Affiliated High School; she was only seventeen when her body was discovered in the school's sports equipment room, having been brutally strangled to death. The murder of an underage girl on campus stirred immense public outcry.
Public opinion ran rampant, and police pressure mounted. After several days of intensive investigation, they quickly identified a suspect—nineteen-year-old Wu Zheng, a repeat senior student. Wu Zheng was the first person to discover the scene; at that time, he was dating Lin Xiaoyu and had just had an argument with her over some emotional issues. More critically, blood from the victim was found on Wu Zheng's clothes, and skin tissue matching his was discovered under Lin Xiaoyu's nails.
The police swiftly arrested Wu Zheng. Despite his desperate attempts to defend himself—acknowledging that he had been in a relationship with Lin Xiaoyu and had argued with her—he insisted he did not kill her and would never harm her. He claimed the blood on him came from panicking while trying to help when discovering her body and that the skin found under her nails must have been left during their earlier altercation. However, evidence including motive, scene traces, and biological tests pointed towards him; aside from himself and his parents, no one believed Wu Zheng was innocent.
The prosecutor responsible for this case at that time was my old classmate Wang Delin. After handing over the case to me, we discussed some points of doubt regarding it: Why did Lin Xiaoyu go alone to the sports equipment room that day? Multiple classmates confirmed she wore a beautiful pink hairpin that day, but it went missing after the incident and was never found—where did that pink hairpin go?
Although there were some minor doubts remaining, Wu Zheng ultimately confessed to his crime. With both suspect testimony and a fairly complete chain of evidence pointing towards him, it could be reasonably concluded that Wu Zheng was indeed the murderer. Considering that Wu Zheng acted without premeditation—a crime of passion—and showed good attitude during confession while his parents provided compensation to Lin Xiaoyu's family as much as possible, he was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in court with hopes for rehabilitation.
However, unexpectedly, one month after the trial concluded, Wu Zheng committed suicide in prison without leaving a word behind.
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