Chapter Eight: The Interests Behind

  After Wang Si-ting returned to the bureau, the autopsy of Wang Ruo-lan's body concluded that Wang Ruo-lan had not engaged in sexual activity before her death. The old laceration was a result of being bound, and the bruises on her body were caused by being tied up beforehand. The fatal injury was a bruise on her neck, which was caused by strangulation with a rope or similar object.

  The paper ash obtained from Wang Ruo Lan's nasal cavity was experimented and compared, and it was found to be the same substance as the paper ash in Liu Xi Lei's nasal cavity, which is the paper ash after burning yellow paper.

  It can be seen that Wu Hui's inference is correct, and these two cases were committed by the same perpetrator.

  "Alright, let's discuss this case and see if we can find any other clues." Guo Yining posted the leads she had found over the past few days and the victim's photos on the bulletin board.

  "Director Guo, I still think the principal of that school is suspicious. When we mentioned the prostitution ring at their school, he got overly excited. I think he's trying to cover something up. And yesterday when Wang Rulan's body was found, the principal wasn't even in school." Yesterday after Wang Rulan's body was discovered, Yang Rong rushed to the office of the president of Lincheng University and found that the president was not inside.

  "Where did he go?" The body was found and the principal left school, which is indeed suspicious.

  "The security guard said that at around 2 pm, the principal drove away from school and never came back." After Yang Rong found out that the principal was not in his office, she went out to find the security guard, who was most familiar with the personnel entering and leaving the school.

  "Let's investigate and see where he was this afternoon, as well as when Liu Ruoxi went missing. Does he have an alibi?" Guo Yining drew a question mark next to the principal's photo on her notebook.

  "The principal is indeed suspicious, but I still think we should also investigate the surrounding universities to see if there are any prostitution cases. If so, I think this is a huge prostitution organization." Fang You thinks that if Lincheng University has prostitution cases, then the surrounding universities and colleges may also be involved.

  "Alright, you go investigate this matter. Wu Hui, what are your thoughts?" Guo Yining saw that Wu Hui remained silent with his head lowered.

  "In these aspects, investigation can also be carried out. Another point is the survey of 2046. I suspect that there is a hidden place behind 2046, which may be the lair of the prostitution organization. Of course, this is just my speculation." Wu Hui pushed his glasses and continued: "After Liu Xile entered 2046, men over 40 years old appeared one after another, and they still need to be investigated."

  "Do you suspect the murderer will appear beside Liu Xier?"

  Wu Hui flipped through Liu Xilei's investigation report and found some places worth noting. "That's right, Liu Xilei's life seems to be very chaotic, going everywhere, but after careful analysis, we find that she often appears in some places. First of all, it is 2046, a place where fish and dragons are mixed together, even if he follows Liu Xilei, he will not be discovered. Another one is Lincheng University, but most people in the university are students, a man over forty years old appearing in school will definitely attract attention, he should not appear in school."

  "Not bad!" Guo Yining nodded in agreement.

  "There's another point, in the people who were caught selling/prostituting themselves in recent years, take a look and see if there are any university students engaging in prostitution. If there are, it's possible to investigate again and maybe find a way into the prostitution organization."

  "Are you saying that one of the people we caught before might be from this organization?" Fang You hadn't thought of this possibility.

  Wu Hui stood up and drew a question mark on the notebook between Liu Xilei and Wang Ruolan, "Well, this matter always needs a thread, and this person must have a relationship with this organization. So Liu Xilei and Wang Ruolan must have entered this circle through someone. Let's investigate to see if we can find anything."

  "Team leader Guo, I have a bold guess. Could it be that the principal introduces students from our school to 2046 and then 2046 gives them dividends based on the people he introduced?" After Wu Hui's reasoning, Yang Rong had a bold idea.

  "This idea is also not impossible, there are ideas to investigate." When Wu Hui mentioned the 2046 thing, Guo Yining suspected that there might be some interest relationship between the school and 2046.

  "Yes, Captain!" Yang Rong saw that Guo Yining agreed with her idea and raised an eyebrow, showing off a bit.

  Fang pretended not to see Yang Rong's smug expression and continued discussing the case.

  "By the way, how's the case from thirty years ago going? Are there any suspicious individuals?" Wu Hui remembered the case he had asked Guo Yining and others to investigate earlier. If they found something, they could quickly narrow down the search range.

  "Oh, I've already looked into it. Because the time is too long, what I can find is also limited. There are only 145 surviving cases of suicide from 40 years ago, with 96 cases due to extramarital affairs and 35 cases involving families with children." Fang had previously investigated some suicide cases from 40 years ago, but the time was really too long, and many case files have disappeared or are incomplete.

  "Starting from 35, investigate what occupations the children in these 35 cases have taken up after growing up, and screen out those who are engaged in high-paying professions or higher education." Wu Hui wanted to screen out suspicious individuals for further investigation.

  "There are 4 households with higher education that have gone abroad and not returned, which can be excluded. There are still 31 left. After removing the 20 with low income, there are 11 left." Fang quickly tapped on the keyboard, excluding those who did not meet the conditions one by one.

  "Cross-check with the teachers around Lincheng University to see if there's anyone who meets this condition." The case is mostly centered around Lincheng University, and Wu Hui suspects it has something to do with the school.

  "The teacher of Licheng University will be fine soon." Fang quickly filtered, "Out came one, indeed a professor of archaeology at Licheng University, Liu Chong."

  "Alright, bring out Liu Chong's information and let's take a look." Guo Yining didn't think they would actually find someone who fit the description.

  Fang You sent Liu Chong's information to the multimedia large screen, and everyone in the group could see it.

  Liu Chong, 45 years old, was born in 1970. He is currently a professor of archaeology at Lincheng University. In 1977, his mother hanged herself to death due to an extramarital affair. At the time of her death, she was fully clothed. Liu Chong was the first person to discover her body.

  In 2000, when Liu Chong was 30 years old, his beloved younger sister Liu Hui, who was then 25 years old and studying for her master's degree, had an affair with a teacher. After becoming pregnant, she went to a private hospital alone for an abortion because the man refused to take responsibility. She died from massive bleeding during the surgery.

  "No way, life is so miserable." Yang Rong looked at Liu Chong's resume, this person's life was also too tortuous.

  Wu Hui looked at Liu Chong's resume and found something that could be investigated, "Investigate the whereabouts of the man who got Liu Hui pregnant."

  "Okay, right away. Here's the information. When Liu Hui was a graduate student, she had an affair with her teacher Fan Ze, who was 11 years older than her. Later, because of Liu Hui's relationship, he was expelled and his family reported him missing. He is still listed as a missing person to this day and has not been found." According to Wu Hui, Fang You found the information about Fan Ze.

  "It's all over, I reckon Fan Ze was killed by Liu Chong. Wu Hui had said before that Liu Chong wasn't a first-time offender, looks like he was right, and the first victim should be Fan Ze."

  "It's very likely that Fang You and Yang Rong, you two go check on Fan Ze's family, see if there are any useful clues." Guo Yining arranged the work for the two of them and looked at Wu Hui, "We're going to meet this Liu Chong?"

  "En." Wu Hui didn't say much, just nodded his head.

  Fan Ze is a rural teacher from this city, the pride of the village. Fang You and Yang Rong drove to Fan Ze's old home first to ask about the situation. According to Fang You's investigation, Fan Ze's family was still in the village and had not moved away.

  The village was very small, with only a few dozen households. The roads in the village were narrow and difficult to walk on, so cars couldn't get in. They had no choice but to park their car at the entrance of the village and enter on foot with Yang Rong.

  Due to the rain in the past few days, the dirt road in the village was muddy and unbearable. Before long, the shoes of the two people were covered with mud.

  Yang Rong stopped again, one hand holding onto a withered small tree, and she tried to shake off the mud on her feet, but it was too sticky, no matter how hard she shook, she couldn't shake it off.

  "I'm so annoyed! This road is so difficult to walk on, look at my shoes, they're so heavy!" Yang Rong was getting frustrated because she couldn't get the mud off her shoes.

  Fang You might think it's nothing, this weight doesn't matter to him, but Yang Rong is different, she's used to city life and definitely won't be used to it.

  Watching Yang Rong shaking a long leg, trying hard to shake off the mud, feeling a bit funny.

  Yang Rong was already in a bad mood, and when she heard Fang You's laughter, she became even more indignant. "Fang You, what are you laughing at? Is it that funny?"

  Perhaps because of using too much force, Yang Rong looked at her shoes and they flew out in a straight line, "Ah, my shoes."

  The soles were already covered in mud, but now the entire shoes were wrapped in mud, Yang Rong was about to go crazy.

  Fang Youjian saw Yang Rong was really angry, walked over and picked up Yang Rong's shoes, "Alright, don't be angry anymore, how can you possibly clean your shoes like this?" As he spoke, he picked up a stone from the side of the road and scraped off the mud on the soles bit by bit.

  Then she squatted down and put shoes on Yang Rong, "Okay, lift this foot up."

  Yang Rong still felt a bit unnatural letting a boy help her put on shoes, but she had to pretend to be nonchalant. "This is about right."

  Yang Rong lifted up another leg, Fang You squatted on the ground, one hand supporting Yang Rong's leg, placing her leg on his own thigh, propping up Yang Rong like this, afraid she would fall.

  Yang Rong saw that the mud on her shoes had gotten onto Fang You's pants and felt a bit embarrassed, so she took a step back.

  He felt Yang Rong constantly pulling her feet back, worried that she would fall, so he used a bit of strength to pull her feet back onto his legs again, "Don't move, be careful not to fall."

  Fang Yu suddenly burst forth with masculine charm, Yang Rong's heart involuntarily sped up its beating, and her face also flushed a layer of red.