Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Chen Zhenhua took the phone and opened the text messages to read them seriously. There were over 50 messages in total, of which about 40 were sent to ordinary people, with content that was just casual greetings and general chat, all with names attached. Only a dozen or so messages belonged to the same number, and as Huang Aiguo said, this number had no name.

  "Do you think this information is valuable for solving the murder case?" Huang Aiguo asked with a smile, his words clearly seeking advice. Compared to his usual tone, Huang Aiguo was acknowledging Chen Zhenhua's ability, because he could also see whether the information was valuable or not.

  "I think there is," said Chen Zhenhua, "at least we know that Zhangyuan did not kill Ranyoulan out of revenge for being rejected by her, as Xiongrenbing said. Zhangyuan was already married, and even if he liked Ranyoulan, he wouldn't have killed her out of hatred just because she rejected him, unless he was a twisted and cold-blooded person. But the fact that he had feelings for someone shows that he wasn't so heartless, and from what his family members said, Zhangyuan treated his wife well, even though he rarely went home, and he was also a filial son. Generally speaking, being rejected wouldn't have led him to kill the person he pursued. Moreover, we only know that Zhangyuan liked Ranyoulan because Xiongrenbing told us. I think there may be other reasons behind Zhangyuan's brutal killing of Ranyoulan, and it seems to me that there might be someone else behind the scenes manipulating him, or maybe Zhangyuan was under some kind of threat, so his death could have been a case of murder to silence him."

  "You're absolutely right!" Huang Aiguo nodded in agreement, and the two fell into a brief silence. Chen Zhenhua continued, "Brother Huang, take a look at these text messages. From what I can see, Zhang Yuan must have been instructed by this person to kill Ruan Jiaolü. So what's the relationship between Zhang Yuan and this person? Why did Zhang Yuan listen to this person's orders and go kill Ruan Jiaolü? On the surface, Zhang Yuan seems like a refined and cultured university student, not at all like a killer. I just can't figure it out. And what was the point of killing Ruan Jiaolü anyway? The method was so brutal, like they had some kind of deep-seated vendetta."

  Huang Aiguo thought for a moment and said, "It's not obvious, but judging from the content of the short message, Zhang Yuan must have been forced to do so. For example, take a look at that text message sent on July 15th."

  "Kill him and then quickly find a place to hide, don't let the police find you, it's best if you do it cleanly and neatly. If the police investigate and find out it was you, you're dead for sure."

  After reading the message, Chen Zhenhua furrowed his brow and fell into deep thought again. He was very worried, as he had not found any clues in the past few days. He wanted to help Ruan Jiaoluo find the real culprit as soon as possible so that Ruan Jiaoluo's vengeful spirit could report to the King of Hell, otherwise, Ruan Jiaoluo's soul would wander outside for too long and eventually dissipate into nothingness. If that happened, Chen Zhenhua would not be able to fulfill his promise to Ruan Jiaoluo.

  However, it is certain that the murderer was indeed Zhang Yuan, which everyone knows. But now it seems that Zhang Yuan was instructed by someone else, and there is another mastermind behind the scenes. In other words, the one who wanted to kill Ruan Jiaoluo was not Zhang Yuan, he was just the executor. So, who exactly is this person?

  A string of questions made Chen Zhenhua somewhat haggard, but he didn't want to rest. In order to find out the suspicious person as much as possible, he searched through the events and people he had seen in his mind over the past few days.

  He started searching from the crime scene, and the first thing that came to his mind was the old man who said he heard a quarrel at Ruan Jiaoluo's home, then the onlookers. He screened each of them in his mind, but finally felt that no one was suspicious. So, he thought of Ruan Jiaoluo's husband again. For Xiong Lengbing, Chen Zhenhua had some trust, but someone proved that he had an alibi, and someone could prove that he loved his wife dearly, and the couple even made a date to celebrate their three-year anniversary, showing that their relationship was as the old man said - respectful and loving. Therefore, it is unlikely that Xiong Lengbing was the murderer behind the scenes, or at least so far there is no evidence pointing to him having a motive for murder.

  So many people are not, so who will be left? Should have asked about Ran Jiaolü's interpersonal relationship at the beginning. Now only Ran Jiaolü is left to find him and say something.

  Ran Jiaoluo Mingming had already said that the murderer might be Zhang Yuan, or it could also be her husband... and who else? At the time, Ran Jiaoluo Mingming mentioned three people, but now only two are remembered. Who is this third person?

  Suddenly, Chen Zhenhua couldn't recall the third person Ruan Jiaolü had mentioned. He was overcome with regret, feeling that he had made a mistake by not remembering the name of this third person. If this third person turned out to be the murderer and he hadn't paid attention to listen carefully at the time, then he would have let Ruan Jiaolü down. As the saying goes, "to receive someone's trust is to be loyal to their affairs", why couldn't he remember it at this critical moment?

  He had always been very confident in his memory, and before, no matter how long the book was, he could remember it after reading it once. When he went to school, he could still tell his classmates about it like a story. After reading "Sherlock Holmes Detective Collection", he could remember every detail of Sherlock's case-solving process, so he made being a police detective his lifelong dream. However, now he had to admit to himself that he had forgotten what Ruan Jiaoluo said, and he really didn't want to acknowledge this damn forgetfulness. In fact, he really had forgotten.

  He tried his best to replicate in his mind all the images of Ruan Jiaoluo appearing and speaking at that time, and tried to present the scene at that time. In order not to miss a bit, he even deliberately remembered when he met Hei Bai Wuchang in the alley. Even the brightness of the streetlights in the city at that time was replicated again in his mind.

  After a long time, he finally recalled what Ruan Jiaoluo had said completely and clearly. When he remembered it all, he slapped his thigh and said: "How could I forget? She hadn't even finished speaking at that time, just when she was about to say something, I interrupted her."

  "What are you talking about?" Huang Aiguo saw him suddenly slap his thigh, and smiled to say: "You're muttering to yourself, what are you thinking about?"

  Chen Zhenhua smiled at him and said, "I... I... what did I say?" He stammered and made excuses to answer Huang Aiguo's question. He didn't want Huang Aiguo to know that Chen Zhenhua in the police car was actually dead. He didn't want Huang Aiguo to know that except for his thoughts, this body was borrowed from someone else.

  "If the murderer Zhang Yuan who killed Ruan Jiaolong was instructed by someone, would the mastermind behind the murder be Ruan Jiaolong's husband Xiong Lengbing? " Chen Zhenhua quickly shifted the topic back to the case.

  "Anyone related to Ran Jiaoluo is suspicious, this is the usual thinking in handling cases," said Huang Aiguo. "Although people in Mei Gui Xiao Qu confirmed that Xiong Lengbing and his wife had a good relationship, that's just what people saw with their eyes. What about what can't be seen? At that time, the old man had already said that he clearly heard the quarrel in Xiong Lengbing's home, but whether it was Xiong Lengbing and Ran Jiaoluo or someone else and Ran Jiaoluo who were quarreling, we couldn't find any evidence to prove this point."

  "It's not a solution to discuss it like this," Chen Zhenhua sighed, "Now we'll go back and do a few things. First, we'll go back to the scene to investigate again, see if there are any inconspicuous clues that were missed that day. Second, we'll check the footage from the surveillance cameras in the residential area that day. Third, we'll ask Xiong Lunbing again."

  "You're right." Huang Aiguo nodded. He was also worried like Chen Zhenhua, although his purpose of solving the case as soon as possible was different from Chen's. The image of their Haiwei City Police Bureau had been ineffective for a long time, causing the public to lose trust. He wanted to save the police's noble image in people's hearts with his own efforts, but this case was getting more and more complicated, it wasn't easy to solve after all.

  The police car sped along the highway, but when they arrived in Haizhen City it was already dusk. The two of them went into town and hastily ate a meal before rushing to Rose Garden, where the surveillance video from Xingfu Community was also very important.

  On the road, Chen Zhenhua met Huo Jucai, who was driving a city administration vehicle on the street. Whenever he saw a small vendor selling things on the street, he would grab the loudspeaker in the car and shout: "Quickly move away! Quickly move away!" He did this every day, driving the two white pickup trucks from morning to night, although it wasn't so tiring, but also somewhat dull.

  The two met at the Happy District, and since they parted ways in the ruins last time, everyone has been busy, and they haven't gathered together until now. This time they met, Huo Jucai said that no matter how busy he was, he had to pull Chen Zhenhua out for a drink.

  Chen Zhenhua was also very happy, but before going to drink, he still had to do things. Huo Jucai followed him into the community in order for Chen Zhenhua to finish work as soon as possible. In fact, he was also interested in this murder case.

  Three people entered the residential area, Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo went to the scene, while Huo Jucui went to the security room.

  After meeting with the security guard, Huo Jucai explained the situation to him. The captain of the security team agreed to play back the video recording from the exit of Xingfu Community that day.

  Soon, Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo also arrived at the security room. He Jucai saw that they had no joy on their faces and understood that they had returned empty-handed again. So all three of them pinned their hopes on the video footage.

  In the video room, three people and the security guard who played the video looked at the video seriously. The screen of the video was passing by one second at a time, from early morning to now, as long as there were people entering or leaving the building, Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo had to watch it carefully.

  After watching for a long time, several people did not find any suspicious person entering the community, nor was there any sign of Xiong Lunbing. Only the residents who lived in this building came and went, and no suspicious person was found. Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo's hearts were getting more and more tense. Although watching the video wasn't the only way, so far they really couldn't think of any other way to find clues.

  At last, the video playback was about to end at 7:00 pm. After waiting for so long, it was finally almost over. The three of them were sweating profusely, occasionally Hou Jucui came out to smoke a cigarette, standing on the third-floor corridor of the Rose Garden Property Management Company, his eyes gazing out at the hazy night outside the glass, the moonlight casting a faint glow on the purple sky, the purple sky seeping into the city lit up by lanterns, in the city, where paper and gold were intoxicating.

  "Damn it!"

  Huo Jucai was admiring the city's scenery when he suddenly heard Chen Zhenhua yelling loudly in the playback room. He rushed into the playback room, puzzled, and saw Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo staring intently at the LCD screen, but there was no image on it.

  "What's going on?" Huo Jucai asked as soon as he entered the house and saw the scene, pulling Chen Zhenhua over.

  Chen Zhenhua's face was filled with rage, he kicked the wall with one foot and cursed loudly: "Damn it, how could such a mistake be made?!"

  "What's wrong?" asked Huo Jucai again, "Why is the screen gone?"

  "The security guard said that the head of our criminal police brigade came to watch the video the day before yesterday morning, and he accidentally deleted the video from that night," Chen Zhenhua said, his face turning red with anger, the veins on his forehead bulging one by one.

  Huo Jucai saw him so angry and comforted him on the side.

  "The truth will eventually come out, why rush?" he said.

  "You don't know, do you?" Chen Zhenhua pulled Huo Jucai to the corridor and saw that there was no one around. He sighed and then carefully told Huo Jucai about the matter that Ruan Jiaolü had entrusted him with.

  When Chen Zhenhua mentioned Ruan Jiaolü's case, Huo Jucai also fell into a predicament. He took a deep breath and prepared to help Chen Zhenhua crack the case as soon as possible.

  After saying thank you, Chen Zhenhua sighed again and came to the corridor, standing in front of the glass window looking at the noisy city in the night sky. Standing there for a long time.