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墨書 Inktalez
Zhang Zijun's actions last night were quite strange; it was as if he was deliberately trying to get caught by us. I watched as Zhang Zijun slowly opened his mouth, and a sudden feeling of concern washed over me. Perhaps his desire to come in was not what I had imagined.
First, we currently have no evidence to prove that Zhang Zijun is the true Murderer, so there are two possibilities for his entrance. One possibility is that Zhang Zijun wants to confess, but to do so, he must have some sort of leverage; otherwise, we would never believe him, which is why he remains silent.
However, there is another possibility: after we left, Zhang Zijun realized that we were suspicious of him. His deliberate entrance might not be an admission of guilt but rather an attempt to completely clear his name. If Zhang Zijun is still in custody while murders continue outside, it would prove that he is definitely not the Murderer.
At that point, we would have no choice but to release Zhang Zijun, and he would be completely exonerated. He wouldn’t need to do anything further; he would never commit another crime and could escape the law's punishment forever. He could then live out his life as a normal person.
We can monitor Zhang Zijun, but we cannot know if he has communicated with anyone while at home or if he hinted at anything to Ha Li Min. If Ha Li Min committed murder and then took her own life, Zhang Zijun could walk free.
But as Gu Chen pointed out, is it possible that Zhang Zijun is not the Murderer?
My intuition told me that the Zhang Zijun sitting in front of me was not as simple as we thought. The plan didn’t seem particularly surprising at first glance, but afterward, a woman like Ha Li Min managed to clean up the scene so thoroughly without leaving any traces. Was Ha Li Min someone with a criminal gift?
Or perhaps behind Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min, there was someone else secretly assisting them?
At that moment, Zhang Zijun finally spoke up: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I frowned.
Zhang Zijun smiled and said, “I’m just a man living alone. I divorced my wife and didn’t even know my child had died. To be honest, since the birth of Zhang Zuocheng, we’ve probably only met for three or four years in total. If he’s dead, then he’s dead; our feelings weren’t deep.”
None of us expected such words from him. The others stared at Zhang Zijun in shock; as a father, such statements were truly heartbreaking. The interrogation room fell silent; no one knew what to say.
I looked at Zhang Zijun as he suddenly burst into laughter, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He laughed heartily, seemingly releasing all the emotions bottled up inside him until tears nearly streamed down his face.
I gazed at Zhang Zijun and said seriously, “So your choice is to be a coward here, committing such acts and leaving your wife—Zhang Zuocheng’s mother—to bear the burden alone. You two are accomplices; you committed this crime together. But now you want your wife to take on all the responsibility.”
“Once it’s done, it’s done; don’t be so cowardly!” I shouted.
Zhang Zijun stopped laughing and shook his head as he replied, “Is this cowardice? Why should I take responsibility for something I didn’t do? If I did it, I would naturally admit it. If you have evidence, what do you need from me? You can just arrest me; but if there’s no evidence, then everything is nonsense.”
“Shameless,” Gu Chen muttered through clenched teeth.
Zhang Zijun was no longer anything.
As we emerged from the interrogation room, the three of us exchanged glances. I believed that Zhang Zijun truly loved his wife; otherwise, he wouldn't have kept a copy of their wedding photo. But if Zhang Zijun deeply loved his wife, how could he possibly allow her to face death alone?
However, given the current situation, it seemed that Zhang Zijun was indeed prepared to abandon his wife, Ha Li Min.
We still had not located Ha Li Min, and all we knew was that Hu Ningning and Guo Li had likely been transferred into Ha Li Min's hands. If Ha Li Min wanted to prove that her husband was not the murderer, then Guo Li was in grave danger.
As long as they still had control over Hu Ningning, everything would be fine.
"This Zhang Zijun is shameless and refuses to speak. What should we do?" Gu Chen looked at me.
I shook my head and said, "Zhang Zijun seems to be a dead pig afraid of boiling water. I suspect that soon Ha Li Min will dispose of the body. Moreover, perhaps this time she will directly confess that she is the murderer. That way, Zhang Zijun can be exonerated."
"Is there really no way to prove that this Zhang Zijun is the true murderer?" Gu Chen asked.
I furrowed my brow and pondered for a moment before replying, "So far, there isn't. Even if Zhang Zijun planned everything and made the call, it was Ha Li Min who took action and disposed of the body. Zhang Zijun's deliberate entrance might just be an attempt to clear himself."
"Now, we need to protect Yang Ting; she is the last target," I stated.
Gu Chen replied, "Alright, I'll have Chen Bo arrange for those who were monitoring Zhang Zijun to protect Yang Ting. However, I really don't want to do this."
"Huh?" Mary asked. "Why not?"
Gu Chen sighed and said, "Since they are all part of this gang, Yang Ting is certainly not a good person either. The others have done such terrible things; do you think Yang Ting would be any better? She must have also abused others; do we really need to protect her?"
I sighed and said, "We must protect her, and it has to be undercover protection. If other parents find out about this chaos, it will surely cause panic. We need to be cautious at this time. Yang Ting may have abused others, but she hasn't killed anyone."
Gu Chen shook his head and replied, "Perhaps this is just self-comfort and suggestion."
I said, "The police are all asleep now. Let’s make arrangements for tomorrow; we should get some rest too. Zhang Zijun won't do anything right now. We don’t know when Ha Li Min will act; let’s sleep and recharge our energy."
It had been a long and tiring time, and everyone was feeling quite exhausted. The night passed in silence as we awaited the next move.
While I was still lost in sleep, I suddenly felt someone shaking me. Groggily, I opened my eyes to see it was Gu Chen. His face was filled with urgency, indicating something serious must have happened; otherwise, he wouldn't be so frantic.
I asked, "What's wrong?"
As he hurriedly got dressed, Gu Chen replied, "Someone just knocked on the door. It's urgent; we need to go out and check."
I nodded and said, "Alright."
By the time Gu Chen and I rushed outside, we found a considerable number of police officers already gathered.
"What’s going on?" I inquired.
Chen Bo, his eyes bloodshot, said, "We just uncovered an important lead. Ha Li Min has been spotted at several Gold Shops. She indeed bought a lot of fishhooks and fishing lines. Just as we returned, we received a call."
Looking at Chen Bo's expression, I guessed who the caller was.
"Was it Ha Li Min?" I asked.
"Exactly," Chen Bo confirmed. "Ha Li Min called the School Leader, who relayed the message to us. Ha Li Min—Guo Li's body is in that old house you saw earlier, the one where Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min used to live."
Ha Li Min had moved the body to that location. The rusty lock could be easily opened with force, but it might attract attention. However, those elderly women often gathered to dance in the square, giving the murderer ample time to carry out this act without being noticed.
"What time is it now?" I glanced out the window; it was already bright outside.
"It's almost seven," someone answered.
Chen Bo said, "Let's go; we need to take a team to check it out."
I nodded seriously and replied, "Leave some people at the station. We need to see what useful evidence that scene might hold for us. Let's go; arrange for someone to handle the rest."
"Alright." Chen Bo nodded and said, "I'll go with you, and bring Wang Fa-Yi along."
We drove towards Zhang Zuocheng's former house, the siren blaring as Gu Chen accelerated quickly.
When we stood in front of the iron gate, it was clear that the rusty lock had indeed been forcibly cut with pliers. The gate was wide open, and from the alley, we could see that the weeds growing through the cracks in the red bricks had been crushed. The weeds in the middle were merely bent, while those on either side were flattened.
It was evident that a vehicle had passed through here, and judging by the distance between the tire tracks, it matched perfectly with the van Gu Chen had previously speculated about.
I spoke up, "A car has been here before; the door is open. The body should be inside. Let's go take a look."
Everyone nodded and followed me inside.
The door to the main room was closed at this moment. Gu Chen slowly approached and gently opened it.
As the door swung open, something came into view.
It was a Red Rope, and beneath it was a knot made of many other ropes. Below the knot lay a naked girl, bound tightly with ropes.
This time it wasn't Fishhook, but it was far more brutal.
"This... this is just too twisted," Wang Fa-Yi couldn't help but exclaim.
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