Chapter 65: Initial Spread of Suspicion
Su Yun followed Lin Ming to the bureau, Qi Xiuzi's face was stern, wanting to follow up, just took a step forward, was pulled back by Ge Lu, this time with a dark face, gritted his teeth and stood still. Lin Ming led Su Yun into a room that looked like an interrogation room, with only one table and a few chairs. The room was pitch black, with only the desk lamp illuminating the surroundings, but it could only illuminate a small area around the edge of the table. Su Yun's eyes were dizzy, her heart very tense. That Lin Ming had brought her here for more than half an hour, then turned around and went somewhere else.
She vaguely felt it was half an hour, because she had been in a closed space for so long that her senses were starting to dull. She looked around restlessly, her face pale. Finally, the door creaked open and Lin Ming came in with a file folder, closing the door while apologizing: "Sorry sorry! I didn't know where I put the materials for a while, it took me half a day to find them."
As he spoke, Lin Ming turned around and sat down across from her, his sunglasses reflecting her tense face. Su Yin sat stiffly, shaking her head, asking: "Uh, Mr. Lin, what do you want with me? I haven't broken any laws!"
Lin Ming burst out laughing, but he didn't know what he was laughing at, which made Su Yin very puzzled. After he finished laughing, he asked: "Do you know the great artist Guo Jian?"
Su Yun looked puzzled and shook her head, "I don't know!" Lin Ming stared at her intently, observing her reaction. Seeing her shake her head in denial, he couldn't help but smile, and asked again: "Then can you tell me where you were seven days ago, that is, last Thursday night at 1 o'clock?" Su Yun thought for a moment before answering truthfully: "I was sleeping in my dormitory."
"Who can be a witness?" Su Yun quickly replied: "Everyone in the dormitory can be a witness! Mr. Lin, what did I do after all?" Lin Ming saw that she didn't seem to be lying, got up and poured her a glass of water, calming her emotions. After she calmed down a bit, he opened the file bag, pulled out a few papers, a stack of photos, and several video tapes.
Lin Ming placed the photos in front of Su Yin, saying: "Guo Jian, a famous painter, studied at A University for a year and then went to France to further his studies. He returned to China this June and settled down, but thirteen days ago, he was found dead by his neighbor in his own sealed room." Su Yin followed Lin Ming's hand and looked at the photos in front of her. The scene depicted a dimly lit basement with white chalk outlines of human figures, blood splatters on the wall, and bodies lying on the ground or on stretchers in various death poses. The faces in the photos were twisted in terror and madness, their eyes wide open. One close-up shot showed a mouth agape as if the jaw had been dislocated, filled with grayish mud-like substance. Su Yin closed her eyes tightly after just one glance, not daring to look again.
Lin Ming didn't care, and continued to speak, inserting the tape and fiddling with it: "The case was originally ruled as a suicide, until the police found this tape." Su Yin's eyes snapped open, and she saw Lin Ming quickly fast-forwarding through the tape, the images changing rapidly before suddenly freezing. Lin Ming turned his head and stared at her, asking: "Is this you?" But she was already stunned into silence, unable to respond.
On the screen, it is the entrance of a high-end residential area. A person wearing a blue loose nightgown has long hair and a lowered face that cannot be seen clearly. In the security room, there are two security guards, one lying on the table and the other sitting. Suddenly, the seated guard bends down, as if picking up something from the ground. Just for a few seconds, the person quickly walks past the gate without being detected by the security guard. The person's footsteps are very fast, and their body is almost floating and swaying past.
Su's voice trembled with a sudden shock, and then her heart was filled with panic, hastily saying: "This can't be me, people have similarities, you can't just determine it's me based on this! I have no reason to come here, I don't even know any famous artists!"
Lin Ming stared at her, seeing her flustered and anxious, with another reel of tape inserted, adjusting the speed with his hands. She stared intently at his movements, sweating palms, suddenly not wanting to see what might appear next. But Lin Ming continued to move, pressing the pause button, turning his head to look at her. "So this is you!" His mouth curved into a smile, looking somewhat mischievous.
Su Yun raised her eyes, exerted a force, grasped the hem of her clothes tightly, and stared at the screen with dead eyes. She pursed her lips and didn't make a sound. It was the entrance of a detached house, and the scene seen by the monitor was not very clear. However, the person who was looking around in front of the wine-red door, unintentionally raised his head to look in this direction, with a confused pale face, wearing very large and rustic gray-red glasses, it was indeed her!
Lin Ming zoomed in on the camera, freezing it until her face filled the entire screen, pale and dazed, looking very nervous. Su Yin bit her lower lip, sweat seeping from her forehead, Lin Ming sat across from her, elbows propped on the table, chin resting on his hands, staring at her reaction, as if savoring or enjoying it, a faint smile playing on his lips, extremely annoying.
Su Yun suppressed her anxiety and annoyance, staring intently at the photo on the table. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, unable to make sense of anything. Just then, Lin Ming asked, "You said you don't know Guo Jian and have never been here, so who is this person? Could it be that you have an unknown twin sister?" Su Yun furrowed her brow, disliking the tone of his voice, which was frivolous yet seemed to hint at something more. "You're overthinking things, there's no such thing!" Lin Ming raised an eyebrow: "Oh? So that means only one possibility remains - this person is you! And do you have somnambulism?"
"No!" Su's voice rose, the other party's drawling tone making her surge with anger, but at the moment of exit, she froze, then shook her head, "No, I don't know!" Lin Ming slammed his hand onto the stainless steel desk, a loud bang, his expression also instantly freezing, almost with some ferocity saying: "Don't know what? Don't know you have somnambulism? Don't know why you went to Guo Jian's private residence? Don't know what kind of unknown relationship you have with the great artist? Miss Ji, you'd better tell the truth! Even if you don't say anything, this trespassing is enough to detain you! We have plenty of time to slowly grill you!"
Su Yun jumped in fright, her fingers tightly grasping the edge of the table, her fingertips pale. Her head hung low for a long time before slowly shaking back and forth, her voice weak but firm: "No! I don't know if I have sleepwalking syndrome or not, but I really don't recognize Mr. Guo Jian, nor do I remember going to Mr. Guo Jian's home!"
The room fell silent, she lowered her head, Lin Ming stared at her, his large hand grasping her chin and stroking it, without asking any questions or taking further action. Su Yin was too shocked and frightened, her mind a bit dull, but now slowly calming down, gradually sorting out some clues. For example, the scene in the photo on the table was very familiar, especially the deceased's mouth open wide.
"Mr. Guo Jian is dead, how did he die?" Su Yin stared at the photo and asked, Lin Ming didn't know why, but he smiled, looking quite pleased, and his explanation was also unusually enthusiastic: "According to the scene and forensic report, the deceased Guo Jian first used a sharp object to cut his neck, causing massive bleeding. However, the wound did not damage the carotid artery, so it wasn't a fatal injury. Then, the deceased forcibly poured cement into his abdomen until the cement blocked his throat, suffocating him to death! Isn't that strange? It's actually possible for someone to choke themselves to death with cement, unless they're crazy! What do you think, don't you feel the same way?"
Lin Ming asked repeatedly, still excitedly leaning in to point at the photo. Su Yun gave him a strange glance - this person was too weird! Wearing sunglasses in a dark room, and changing his face like flipping through a book. She composed herself and thought about the matter at hand, nodding as if she had an idea. This was indeed something that normal people couldn't do, but the question was why he wanted to do it this way? Did he really want to die? Lin Ming raised one corner of his lip, staring at her as if he knew what she was thinking, and said slowly: "Based on my experience, this is indeed a suicide, not a homicide! However, I don't rule out the possibility that the deceased had received extreme mental stimulation before death, leading to abnormal mental state and suicide! What exactly happened? What would make the deceased choose such a strange way to die? Miss Ji, what do you think?"
