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墨書 Inktalez
Some time later, we received the news that Hu Jiajia had been sentenced to life in prison.
The video footage on the USB drive helped her; Principal Zhang had been the aggressor, and Hu Jiajia had acted in response. We had reason to believe that Hu Jiajia was mentally unstable at that time, her emotions in turmoil, and that her actions were not premeditated. Therefore, considering the circumstances, Hu Jiajia was spared from the death penalty.
In truth, Gao Rui was still a gentle person at heart. Although he had once spoken harshly to Hu Jiajia, I suspected it was merely to make her give up hope. This USB drive was the last thing Gao Rui provided; he was a clever man who left Hu Jiajia one final lifeline.
Even if Principal Zhang was a significant figure, there were still many just people in this world.
This was the best answer to Gao Rui's earlier words.
This was the best news we had heard in a while.
"Such a result is not bad," I nodded heavily.
Captain Shao sighed and said, "You know, don’t think I’m unaware of how you wrote your report. You deliberately played with words to exonerate Hu Jiajia, trying to evoke sympathy for her in your readers. Do you think people will fall for that? You need to change this habit; remember your position."
I shook my head. "But the facts are as they are. Is Hu Jiajia not deserving of sympathy? Should I sympathize with Principal Zhang instead?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Guan Zengbin giving me a thumbs-up; it seemed there were still some who supported me.
"What you need is not sympathy but an honest report on the case," Captain Shao placed his teacup on the table. "I know you come from a rough background and have spent time in prison. You've seen many desperate murderers, but that cannot justify murder. Do you understand?"
I was about to retort when Captain Shao continued, "It's like the Lin Shu case; you knew very well that the money involved was ill-gotten gains, yet you chose to ignore it."
"You knew about this?" I scratched my head.
Captain Shao slammed his hand on the table. "You should focus your intelligence on serious matters."
"What about Grandma Lin Shu's future?" I asked, a bit anxious. "Is she just going to keep scavenging for a living? She lost a hand, and besides..."
Mary raised her hand, placing her right index finger on her left palm. "Hold on, Wu Meng. You really underestimate us. Captain Shao has considered far more than you think. Ill-gotten Gains are still Ill-gotten Gains; they need to be confiscated. But we can donate in our own names. After all, I'm a respectable Rich and Beautiful, okay?"
"Rich is rich; the white and beautiful part is hard to see," I replied, but inwardly, I felt a surge of happiness.
I couldn't help but admire the head of the Special Cases Unit; they truly lived up to their title. I thought I had everything under control, but it turned out they were already aware of the situation and handling it with much more finesse than I could.
However, I still held onto a clue that even Captain Shao probably didn't know about.
There was someone who had been lingering outside the case. We were so eager to solve it that we hadn't taken the time to look into this person. Yet, this individual was indeed suspicious. However, pursuing this could lead to another case—an old one—so I decided not to raise any alarms just yet. Now, it was time to start investigating this matter.
At that time, I had assigned someone to keep an eye on him, and he was still carrying out that task.
"There’s someone suspicious, but we've been busy with Zhang Mingliang's case and haven't had time to check in with everyone," I said while the people in the office were present.
"Who?" everyone asked.
I scanned the room and replied calmly, "That person is Old Zhang."
"Old Zhang?"
Guan Zengbin seemed to expect me to name some big shot but was surprised when it turned out to be someone like him.
She rolled her eyes. "An old man watching the construction site gate? What’s suspicious about that? Is it because he fed a Stray Dog? That’s not your concern. Should I call the relevant department? If dog lovers find out he dared to do that, they might just eat Old Zhang themselves."
I sighed in exasperation. "Why do you have so much to say? Of course, it's not because of that."
"What is that?" Guan Zengbin shook his head.
I cleared my throat and said seriously, "Do you remember how Old Zhang described the scene? He saw a bucket filled with blood, so he picked it up. But at that moment, a large amount of fresh blood had already sprayed into it. He thought someone was stealing his blood to vandalize, so he carelessly took a sip."
"Yeah, and then he was stunned. After thinking it over, he still called the police," Gu Chen continued my words. "Is there a problem with this?"
I looked at Guan Zengbin and said, "What's the difference between human blood and dog blood? How do you distinguish them?"
"From the outside, human and dog blood look basically the same, and it's hard to tell by smell as well. However, if it's tested, it's easy to analyze; the hormones and antibodies in human blood can be easily identified," Guan Zengbin replied.
I snapped my fingers and said, "That's the problem. Old Zhang only dipped his finger in the blood and took a sip, feeling something was off. Then he called the police..."
With my explanation, Guan Zengbin understood the gravity of the situation. Her eyes widened as she said, "So Old Zhang has tasted human blood before! And it must have been often; otherwise, how could he distinguish between human blood and dog blood by taste?"
"Correct!" I patted Guan Zengbin on the shoulder. "Even if it didn't taste like dog blood, he wouldn't immediately think it was human blood. But Old Zhang told us he reacted right away; it was just too late when he called the police. Am I right?"
"Then shouldn't we bring him in for questioning?" Mary spoke up.
I shook my head. "I've already had someone keep an eye on him; at least he won't be able to run away."
"You had someone watching him from early on?" Captain Shao asked. "Why didn't I know about this?"
I shook my head again. "Not police personnel; it's a thief."
I called the thief and asked him to bring what he had recently found to the police station while also sending Liu to take over his shift.
After a while...
"A message for Wu Meng," a police officer said as he entered after knocking on the door. "That person was acting suspiciously, and as soon as he delivered the message, he ran off. Should we arrest him?"
It seemed that this thief was indeed wary of this place. However, it was also thanks to my long experience in prison, sending away one batch of criminals and welcoming another, that I could find connections to these people in various cities.
"No need," I waved my hand.
Inside the file folder was a few documents and an identification card. The name on the ID was Zhang Xueyou, and the photo showed a middle-aged man. However, from his facial features, it was clear that this was Old Zhang. I didn't expect that the thief had actually managed to obtain Old Zhang's identification.
"Zhang Xueyou," I shook my head. "What a good name."
The remaining documents contained more information.
Old Zhang was not a local; he had come from another place. Moreover, he had only been in the area for a few months.
According to the information, Zhang Xueyou had spent the past year in Qingcheng. This was quite a coincidence since we had recently cracked a drug case in Qingcheng—the one involving Lin Shu. I couldn't believe that Old Zhang had also come from Qingcheng.
The documents indicated that Old Zhang had no children or family; his hometown was a place called Bagu Town in the south. That was far away from both Qingcheng and Dongxing City, and I wondered how this old man had made his way here.
While in Qingcheng, Old Zhang operated a recycling station. Due to his lower purchasing prices compared to other recycling shops, very few customers visited his establishment. However, Old Zhang never seemed to worry about this; it appeared that whether he had customers or not didn't matter to him at all.
He had been running the station for a year without going out of business, and judging by the quality of cigarettes he smoked, they were quite good—one could only wonder where he got them from. However, two months ago, Old Zhang's recycling station suddenly closed down; everyone assumed it was because he couldn't balance his income and expenses.
Then Old Zhang came to this city and found this job at a construction site over a month ago. The pay wasn't much, but there wasn't much work either.
The documents also included photographs that looked quite detailed.
There were a few lines at the end: This is with Sister Mao's help.
It seems I owe Sister Mao another favor, but I also understand her intentions. She is merely trying to curry favor with me so that I can tell the Warden to treat Huang Erge a little better, especially since Huang Erge is still stuck in prison.
I distributed the information for everyone to review, and Captain Shao asked me, "What do you think?"
"This Old Zhang is not simple. He has been running a scrap collection station at a loss for a year, and he has lowered the prices, clearly not wanting anyone else to come in and sell their stuff. I suspect there might be some shady dealings going on at this scrap station; we need to investigate further."
As soon as I finished speaking, my phone rang. To my surprise, it was Liu calling.
"Hey, Wu Meng," Liu's voice came through. "I haven't seen a single person. Your informant is unreliable."
"No one?" I asked, puzzled.
"That's right," Liu confirmed. "Not a soul around; not even a dog."
Seeing my furrowed brow and fluctuating expression, Mary asked, "Wu Meng, what's wrong? Is it that time of the month?"
I wasn't in the mood to banter with Mary, so I quickly addressed everyone. "It looks like this Old Zhang really isn't an ordinary person. In that brief moment when he slipped away and Liu went to the scene—during that time when there were no cameras monitoring him—this old man vanished. It seems Old Zhang has been under surveillance for some time; I overlooked this."
"Chase him," Captain Shao said decisively. "If he ran away, there must be something wrong."
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