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墨書 Inktalez
In the car, the members of the Special Investigation Team were somewhat silent. Mary began to compare the timeline of Zhuang Peng and Zhao Kaifang's relationship with Zhao Kaifang's abortion records. From this, Mary could roughly deduce that Zhuang Peng had at least been a father four times. This meant that during nearly half a year, the two had done almost nothing but engage in intimate activities. Only in this way could the timeline align.
As for Zhang Zhiyuan, he simply dated Zhao Kaifang and presumably did not sleep with her. However, whether it was Zhang Zhiyuan or Zhuang Peng, neither had an alibi for the time of the crime. It remained uncertain whether the next person, the school heartthrob, had any time to commit a crime or if he had ever come close to becoming a father.
Zhao Ke'er also described this school heartthrob. According to her, he was very handsome but academically poor, ranking among the bottom in his class. Moreover, from Zhao Ke'er's tone, it was evident that she held a negative impression of Xiao Jingguang and strongly opposed Zhao Kaifang being with him.
But Zhao Kaifang did not heed Zhao Ke'er's warnings.
Zhao Kaifang had been with Xiao Jingguang for a long time, nearly a year and a half, making him the person who had dated Zhao Kaifang the longest among them. According to Zhao Kaifang's abortion records, two of the abortions occurred during her relationship with Xiao Jingguang. However, whether these were indeed Xiao Jingguang's children remained inconclusive.
At this moment, Mary pulled out a photo—it was of Xiao Jingguang. We looked at it; indeed, Xiao Jingguang was very handsome. It was a full-body shot; he stood about six feet tall with sharp facial features, resembling a young movie star. Mary remarked, "It's strange; I logged into Zhao Kaifang's QQ space and found that her album contains only one photo—of Xiao Jingguang. I wonder if this has any significance; by the way, it's encrypted."
"Only one photo?" I asked.
"That's right," Mary replied. "I almost searched through all of Zhao Kaifang's social media accounts; she never posted any photos except for this one. It was saved two years ago when she was still dating Xiao Jingguang. Yet after their breakup, Zhao Kaifang did not delete it."
I nodded as Dezi drove us to Jin Sheng Community. This was a property under Xiao Jingguang's name. We weren't sure if he lived there, but given the current situation, it was our only lead. Arriving at Building Five, we found that Xiao Jingguang lived in Apartment 301 on the third floor.
We reached 301 and rang the doorbell, but no one answered; it seemed that Xiao Jingguang wasn't home. After waiting five minutes and preparing to search for other clues about Xiao Jingguang, the door to Apartment 302 opened. A head peeked out—a man who appeared to be around seventy years old.
He looked at us cautiously and asked, "Who are you?"
"Hello sir," I said with a smile. "We are friends of Xiao Jingguang; we're here to see him."
"Oh!" The old man smiled back. "So you're friends of young Xiao! He's not home right now; every afternoon and evening he goes to feed stray cats and dogs in the garden behind. You should be able to find him there; I'll head back inside now." With that, the old man waved goodbye and closed the door.
"Feeding stray cats and dogs," Mary tilted her head and said. "From this alone, he seems like a caring person—a real warm-hearted guy."
Dezi shook his head and replied, "When I first became a police officer, my mentor told me that liking small animals and feeding strays doesn't necessarily mean someone is kind-hearted. Cats and dogs won't bring him any benefits; but if it were people involved, that's another story."
I nodded and said as we walked down, "Dezi is right. During my year as an archivist, I encountered many such killers. Some of them pretended to be very kind on the surface—often engaging in charitable activities and helping neighbors—considered by many as good people."
"But behind their backs, if you revealed what these people were doing, it would absolutely shock everyone." I continued: "Isn't our Zhao Kaifang just like that?"
When we arrived at the garden behind the community, although there were no people in sight, we could hear the distant sounds of cats and dogs. The garden felt quite desolate at this moment; it was noon, and every household had gone home to prepare lunch. We walked along the path deeper into the garden, encountering hardly anyone.
Gradually, a vague figure appeared before us, and the sounds of the animals became clearer. As we got closer, we did not approach any further. Xiao Jingguang did not notice us; I planned to observe him from a distance. No matter how well someone disguises themselves, when they are alone, their true self often slips out unintentionally. Many professional spies have been exposed this way.
At that moment, Xiao Jingguang was sitting on a bench beside the path. There was a plastic bag on the bench containing some meat snacks like ham and beef jerky. Stray cats and dogs surrounded him, sometimes fighting for food, sometimes barking, and sometimes chasing each other.
Xiao Jingguang watched these stray animals, patting one and stroking another, his face beaming with a smile. The strays seemed completely unafraid of him; it appeared that he had spent a long time with them. Stray cats and dogs are usually very wary of strangers, as they generally do not trust humans.
Xiao Jingguang shared the meat snacks with the strays while pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lighting one up. During this process, he folded a tissue and placed it on the bench to catch the ash, showing a clear concern for the environment.
Mary whispered, "How could someone like this possibly kill? He's too charming."
For twenty-something Mary, this was exactly her type. Smiling, I replied to her, "Hey, charm comes in different forms. Look at our Dezi; that's rugged masculinity—capable and athletic. But Xiao Jingguang belongs to that delicate type of man. As for me, I exude the charm of a mature man inside and out. Can you feel it?"
Juan Juan and Mary rolled their eyes at me simultaneously.
At this point, I had formed a rough outline in my mind. Zhao Ke'er’s description was somewhat inaccurate; however, several years had passed since high school. A habit can be formed in three months; years are enough for someone to undergo a complete transformation into another person. Of course, some develop good habits while others cultivate bad ones.
I stepped forward first. Gradually, Xiao Jingguang noticed the four of us and smiled at us. The stray cats and dogs scattered as soon as they saw us approaching, each carrying something in their mouths as they ran away without leaving a trace behind; they looked genuinely afraid of humans.
"These strays are quite scared of people," I remarked.
Xiao Jingguang smiled and nodded, "Yes, most of these strays have been bullied by humans; when they see people, their first instinct is to run away to protect themselves."
"But it seems like you are quite familiar with them; they aren't afraid of you," I continued.
Seeing that I was engaging in conversation, Xiao Jingguang extinguished his cigarette butt on the tissue paper and gently set it aside as if he planned to finish smoking later. He said, "At first, they were very afraid of me; even when I had food, they wouldn’t dare come close. I had to place it on the ground and leave before they would approach to eat."
"Then gradually, I started leaving the food on the ground without stepping away myself. These little guys began to come over to eat but remained cautious." Xiao Jingguang's tone was gentle and slow: "As long as I made any movement, they would run away but then slowly come back closer. Step by step like this, they eventually dared to eat from my hand; you could even pet them until finally, they completely trusted you."
I nodded thoughtfully and pointed at the cigarette butt on the tissue saying, "Feeding stray cats and dogs shows care for the environment."
"Actually, it's all because of my upbringing; my family taught me this from a young age," Xiao Jingguang said with a smile. "My parents were like this too. Back in Junior High School, I found it hard to adapt to doing this. I thought it was troublesome and would invite ridicule from my peers. But eventually, I got used to it; by high school, many habits had formed—if you ask me to change now... haha! I can't do that anymore."
Through actual experience, Xiao Jingguang indeed gives off a warm feeling. This sensation is perceived from the subtlety of his gaze and actions. Such a temperament is difficult to form in a short time without long-term cultivation. From this perspective, Xiao Jingguang is truly a well-mannered young man.
If it weren't for the records, I would genuinely think that Zhao Ke'er had mixed up Zhuang Peng and Xiao Jingguang. Zhuang Peng is not as gentle and considerate as Zhao Ke'er described, and Xiao Jingguang is not merely relying on his looks as Zhao Ke'er suggested.
I said to Xiao Jingguang, "To be honest, we are police officers here to investigate something."
Xiao Jingguang furrowed his brows and asked with some confusion, "Are you looking for me to understand the situation? What happened?"
I replied, "You remember Zhao Kaifang, right?"
Xiao Jingguang nodded and then said, "I know Zhao Kaifang; she was my girlfriend in sophomore year. What happened? Is she in trouble?"
"That's right." I didn't hide anything and said, "Zhao Kaifang has been murdered, and the killer is still under investigation. We brought you here to ask about Zhao Kaifang, such as whether she had any enemies, and we hope you can cooperate with our investigation."
Xiao Jingguang nodded, grabbed a tissue with one hand and picked up a trash bag with the other. He said to us, "Let me throw this away first. Follow me; we'll talk inside the house."
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