Chapter Sixteen: Patient Explanation

  Ling Lan went to the bathroom to wash her face, and when she came out, she felt much more refreshed. Just now, listening to Jimmy's account of those chilling facts made her feel like she was suffocating. Everything was so unacceptable, but what was most unacceptable was that Jimmy said he had rejected Meng Yu Si's proposal to deal with Yue Tong and Feng Jia, but he didn't realize that Meng Yu Si had given up on the idea of killing them on the surface, but in secret, he had already made preparations at Director Wang's house.

  When the interrogation was over, the sky had already lit up slightly, and the police station gradually quieted down. Those idle members of the "Red Festival Alliance" also finished their confessions and dispersed. Hopefully, they can find a decent job in the future and earn money with their own abilities. What surprised Ling Lan was that there were actually a few students from the Drama Academy among them.

  Gu Hanhao told Liu Fan and Ling Lan to go home and rest, but Liu Fan refused because Gu Hanhao didn't plan on resting either. He just wanted to sleep for two hours on the sofa in the office before going to look for Meng Yusi's whereabouts.

  Liu Fan took Ling Lan to the small inquiry room, and the two of them lay down on two sofas separated by a tea table. Just as they were about to fall asleep, Yuan Jun knocked on the door and came in, holding two pillows that he had found somewhere.

  Ling Lan smiled in gratitude, this Yuan Jun was not only a meticulous and well-organized detective, but also a refined gentleman with a keen eye for detail. Moreover, his eyes sparkled like stars, and when he smiled, his teeth were white and perfectly aligned, making him quite pleasing to look at. Ling Lan couldn't help but feel a few strands of affection towards Yuan Jun.

  It was Liu Fan who didn't appreciate it, she pushed away the pillow handed over by Yuan Jun, "Send it to Captain Gu instead, he's more tired than us."

  Yuan Jun somewhat awkwardly replied: "I'll think of another way for Captain Gu's place, you use this one first."

  Just as Yuan Jun was about to leave, Ling Lan spoke up, "Officer Yuan, you've worked hard too, take some time to rest, don't bother with us."

  Yuan Jun turned his head and smiled awkwardly.

  "You wouldn't like Yuan Jun, would you?" Liu Fan asked with her eyes closed after Yuan Jun left.

  Ling Lan couldn't believe it, this workaholic-like man, Liu Fan, was actually able to ask such a question. "No, don't talk nonsense, I have a boyfriend, Peng Ze. How about you, do you like Gu Hanhao?"

  As soon as she spoke, Ling Lan regretted it, thinking that Liu Fang's personality wouldn't like others to expose her little secret.

  Liu Fan still didn't open his eyes and replied calmly: "I like him, this is an open secret."

  Ling Lan was somewhat surprised, turned around and backed away from Liu Fan, "Go to sleep, you've worked hard too."

  It was another brand new sunny morning, and Ling Lan had only slept for less than three hours when she was woken up by Gu Hanyu's voice.

  "Liu Fan, you and Yuan Jun make every effort to investigate Meng Yusi's whereabouts, send people to distribute photos in the villages around the ruins, and secretly monitor her parents' home nearby. Also, check her financial situation and credit card records."

  Liu Fan was thrilled to receive the order, she could finally not follow Ling Lan around and instead dive into the intense work. However, looking at Ling Lan's expression made her feel a bit strange, "What about Ling Lan? Don't I need to take her with me?"

  Gu Hanhao gestured to Ling Lan to stand up, "Ling Lan will stay with me, she is absolutely safe here, you can rest assured. If there's any news, notify me immediately. Go, Yuan Jun is already waiting for you downstairs."

  Ling Lan could see that Liu Fan was a bit concerned about her staying with Gu Hanyu, but on the other hand, she was excited about having an important task with 'challenge'. She glanced at Gu Hanyu beside her and suddenly felt that Liu Fan's concern was absolutely unnecessary.

  After Liu Fan left, Gu Hanhao changed his tone and said in a friendly manner: "Yuan Jun bought you toiletries, they're in my office, go to the bathroom to tidy up."

  In the bathroom, a young girl in police uniform who was washing her hands nearby smiled and greeted Linglan warmly, "Linglan, right? Hi, I'm Qu Qing. Didn't get enough rest, huh? It's like that for us in this line of work, sometimes we don't sleep for several days in a row."

  Ling Lan felt a sense of familiarity towards Qu Xing, who had a smile as bright as a flower. "Actually, I've always been envious of your profession. Female police officers are so cool and elegant. Ah, you must be the 'police flower' among them, right?"

  Qū Qíng burst out laughing, "Which one? If we're talking about a 'police flower', it should be our forensic expert Shī Róu. But she's a forensic expert, so maybe we can't call her a 'police flower' either. Oh, right! This dental equipment must have been bought by Yuán Jùn, huh?"

  "How did you know?" Ling Lan asked with a smile.

  "As I expected, he is indeed a well-known gentleman in our area, being considerate to everyone. Several of my female colleagues said that whoever marries him will be unlucky!"

  "Why is it bad luck? Shouldn't it be good luck?" Ling Lan was puzzled.

  Qing shook off the water droplets on her hand, "He's so nice to everyone, but his wife is too insecure. I heard his ex-girlfriend broke up with him because of this. He's been single for half a year now."

  Ling Lan really liked Qu Jing, and if this weren't the homicide department's office area, she would probably be chatting with Qu Jing until they were both out of breath. However, she knew that Qu Jing had to return to work immediately, and she also had to hurry back to Gu Hanhao's office for questioning. In the end, the two "girls" exchanged phone numbers as if they had met too late in life.

  As soon as he entered the door, he saw Gu Hanhao sitting at his desk with a dark face.

  "Why is it so slow?"

  Ling Lan sat across from Gu Han Hao, "I'm not a well-trained detective, so slow down."

  "Alright, let's get back on track. Tell me, what kind of 'girl' is Meng Yusi in your eyes? With your powers of observation, I believe you can see things that ordinary people can't." Gu Hanhao looked at Ling Lan with anticipation.

  Ling Lan's face turned red with shame, "Something like this happened, I really have no confidence in my observation skills anymore. The idol I worship is a murderer, and Meng Yuxin, who I thought was a gentle 'flower vase', is actually a sinister woman. My world has really been turned upside down."

  Gu Hanhao nodded understandingly, "Alright, I'll give you ten minutes. Take your time to calm down and then think back carefully."

  "Do I have ten minutes? Then can I use these ten minutes to ask you a few questions?" Seeing that Gu Hanhao didn't refuse, Ling Lan continued, "First question, why did you think of the account book created by Shao Hui for Shao Meiyan when you first saw the handwritten animal names and numbers?"

  Gu Hanhao seemed satisfied with Ling Lan's question, "I just put myself in the shoes of a loving father. When I stood in that underground projection room, I imagined that such a scene might have been staged there before. Shao Hui finally couldn't bear to see his beloved 'daughter' with those bad boys and girls, and stormed in to drive everyone away, leaving only Sha Meiyan in tears. After that, Sha Meiyan's condition worsened, locking herself in her room every day. Shao Hui must have felt very guilty, on the one hand, he hoped his 'daughter' had hobbies and friends, but on the other hand, he didn't want his 'daughter' to have such hobbies or friends."

  "It's imaginable what kind of people those vampire fanatics are, if I were a parent, I wouldn't want my kid to be with them either, before they assimilate my child, I must stop them." Ling Lan chimed in.

  "That's right, and it seems impossible to make Shao Mei Yun give up this hobby. The only way to turn the situation around is to find a new group of reliable friends for 'daughter'. So I thought of a website I had browsed before: Red Sacrifice Alliance. This website emerged just over two months ago, and Li Wen Dong had said that it was from two months ago that Shao Hui no longer needed him to drive her out at night. From the timing, it's very likely that Shao Hui started building this organization two months ago, first finding people to build a website, then renting a venue and recruiting personnel. Shao Hui is a businessman, he's the boss of an investment company, he can't let his money be spent without leaving any records, but he also doesn't want to clearly write down the accounts, so he found this covert way, using animal codes to record, so even if someone sees it, they won't understand for a while."

  "So that's it, from the perspective of a loving father, 'daughter' going out with those vampire fanatics at night still makes him uneasy, so you thought he would use cameras to monitor her?" Ling Lan continued along Gu Hanhao's train of thought.

  Gu Hanhao continued, "That's right, Shao Hui must have the initiative to control that group of people, and I said he was a businessman, he wanted this group of people to work for him, according to his requirements. He would definitely establish some kind of 'incentive' mechanism, using performance to determine the level of remuneration. However, at that time, it was also a guess. I asked Xiao Zheng to come and take the computer because I guessed that Shao Hui might be using this computer for remote monitoring.

  Later, I asked Li Wenzhong if Shao Meiyan was not at home when Shao Hui was at home. This situation would occur when Shao Meiyan went to the 'zoo' to participate in activities, and at this time, Shao Hui must be at home because he was worried and would definitely use the computer for remote monitoring. Therefore, they could not both be out of the house at the same time.

  Then, when Shao Meiyan was at home, Shao Hui would either be at home at the same time or put a potted plant on the windowsill and take a taxi to the 'zoo' to meet with the person in charge and give them a summary of their work or make some demands. When Li Wenzhong confirmed my guess, I became even more confident.

  Finally, Xiao Zheng told me over the phone about the investigation results of Shao Hui's computer, that is, the thoroughly deleted files were very large, like videos, and they were deleted one by one."

  "Because Shao Hui is the one who receives surveillance videos, he may have recorded the real-time monitoring for careful study of each person's behavior and language to see if it has a positive or negative impact on Shao Mei Yun. However, he must have thoroughly deleted them after studying. That's why there was a deletion result. So, second question, how did you know that Shao Hui used appearance characteristics and animal codes to memorize those people for accounting purposes?"

  "Up to this point, Gu Han Hao burst out laughing,"This is purely a wild guess, and I'm not even sure myself. Do you still remember Li Zhen? He's the taxi driver who told me that Shao Hui pays him 5,000 yuan every month as his allowance. And on Shao Hui's account book, the monkey's salary was the lowest, which is also 5,000. Thinking of this, I looked at Li Zhen again, he's thin and small with a pointed mouth and sunken cheeks, no matter how you look at him, he looks like a monkey."

  "So that's how it was. When Baldy Wei opened the 'door' for you, you tentatively mentioned that this month's salary for the bald eagles was to verify whether Shao Hui was taking nicknames based on physical characteristics. As a result, Baldy Wei was so shocked at the time that he couldn't speak, and you had absolute confidence." Ling Lan smiled and continued, then she realized that she actually admired Gu Hanhao a bit.

  Suddenly, Ling Lan couldn't laugh anymore, she thought of a question, Gu Han Hao had just told a lie.