S.C.I. (Volume I) - Case 1: Chapter 15

The Digital Killer 15: 1.3.5

After coming out of the graduate dormitory building, the two decided to head back to the scene for another look, so they walked toward the psychology department building.

"Little Zhan!"

Hearing someone call from behind, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around at the same time.

They saw a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a white lab coat and glasses, running a few steps to catch up with them.

"Doctor Xu?" Zhan Zhao recognized him as University C's campus doctor, Xu Ting.

Xu Ting ran up to them. After sizing up Bai Yutang next to Zhan Zhao for a moment, he said with a grin, "So it's him, huh?"

Zhan Zhao smiled somewhat awkwardly. He knew that this Doctor Xu loved to spread gossip more than anything, but right now, he was truly in no mood to split hairs over trivial matters.

Xu Ting failed to notice anything unusual in Zhan Zhao's expression and continued with a laugh, "Just now, Doctor Zhang helped old man Xu up to the infirmary. That old guy was so furious—he was gasping for air and shaking all over! A few of us doctors actually thought he wasn't going to make it."

"Is Professor Xu okay?!" Zhan Zhao asked anxiously.

"He's fine! He pulled through. But he broke out in such a heavy cold sweat. I've worked here for twenty years, and I've never seen the old gentleman throw such a massive tantrum!"

Hearing this, Bai Yutang grinned and winked at Zhan Zhao, as if to say, "So the old man didn't die. Talk about a lucky break!"

Zhan Zhao gave him a fierce glare.

Xu Ting still wanted to ramble on endlessly, but his two listeners had already lost their patience. Making the excuse that they had business to attend to, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang turned around and left in a hurry.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived beneath the psychology department building.

Zhan Zhao looked up at the roof, but under the glare of the bright light, the outer guardrail was barely visible.

"White Junior, aren't you being a bit too ridiculous? You could actually see it clearly like this?"

Bai Yutang said smugly, "What does this count as? This young master's dynamic visual acuity ranks first in the entire air combat wing. Let alone a guardrail, I can see artillery shells clearly even if they're flying right at us!"

Zhan Zhao glanced at him, noting that this White Mouse was so proud his tail was practically sticking straight up in the air.

Borrowing a pair of binoculars from an officer standing nearby, Zhan Zhao peered upward carefully.

After a good long while, he lowered the binoculars, his brow tightly furrowed. "Something isn't right!"

"What is it? What did you find?" Bai Yutang took the binoculars and began to look as well.

"Did you notice that the direction of that guardrail is a bit off?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

Bai Yutang pulled the binoculars away and looked at Zhan Zhao. "Now that you mention it, indeed! If Li Feifan had slipped and fallen because he leaned against a guardrail that was already broken, then the guardrail should be bent outward. Even if Li Feifan had grabbed onto it before falling, it still should have bent outward before snapping down! But here..."

"Exactly!" Zhan Zhao chimed in. "The guardrail here is hanging almost vertically downward, and there isn't the slightest indication of it bending outward!"

"Cat, I have a theory!" Bai Yutang said suddenly.

Zhan Zhao replied, "What a coincidence. I have a theory too!"

The two smiled at each other in mutual understanding, then walked straight into the building.

This time, they didn't go to the rooftop. Instead, they went to the floor right below it, which was the top floor of the psychology department building—the 13th floor.

Because University C's psychology department building had only recently been completed and put into use, not all of the floors were fully finished. The top two floors, the 12th and 13th, had remained vacant, used only to store some raw construction materials, and they didn't even have doors installed yet.

The two walked forward along the corridor, checking the rooms one by one. In front of the fifth room, they saw the section of the guardrail hanging upside down outside the window.

Zhan Zhao pulled back Bai Yutang, who was about to head straight inside, and pointed to the room number plate above the doorframe—13-5.

Bai Yutang said in surprise, "135?"

Zhan Zhao nodded! It looked like they hadn't found the wrong place!

The two stepped cautiously into the room along the edge of the wall. They saw that the floor was a complete mess, covered in a thick layer of dust that looked as though it had been deliberately scuffed and scraped. Although there were no clear footprints, it was obvious that someone had been here.

They walked to the window and saw that the hanging section of the guardrail was less than a meter away from the windowsill. Bai Yutang took off his trench coat and handed it to Zhan Zhao, then turned around to head outside. Zhan Zhao grabbed him and said, "What are you doing? This is the 13th floor, it's no joke!"

Bai Yutang smiled and playfully tapped Zhan Zhao's nose. "Silly Cat! How could I possibly be afraid of heights!"

Zhan Zhao was a bit hesitant. "Should we call a few more people over to set up some safety measures..."

Bai Yutang had already smiled and unbuttoned his collar and cuffs. He tapped Zhan Zhao's chin with his finger. "No need to worry!" With that, he quickly strode out the door and ran toward the rooftop. Zhan Zhao only had time to shout, "Be careful!", but the man was already gone, leaving him to wait anxiously by the window holding the clothes.

In just a few moments, Bai Yutang could be seen climbing down the guardrail, arriving right in front of the window. Zhan Zhao's heart leaped into his throat. Just as he was about to reach out and pull him in, he heard Bai Yutang call out, "Cat, step aside a bit."

Zhan Zhao instinctively took a few steps back. Bai Yutang swung his body a couple of times in mid-air, nimbly leaped inside from the windowsill, and landed steadily on the floor, dusting off his hands.

Zhan Zhao was absolutely exasperated. "Can you stop always trying to show off??"

Bai Yutang shrugged. "I am naturally handsome!"

"You..." Flustered and left speechless, Zhan Zhao could only puff out his cheeks and glare over. But deep down, he understood: Bai Yutang used such a dangerous maneuver precisely because he was afraid of destroying any clues that might have been left on the windowsill. Even though I know he always plays fast and loose with his life when handling cases, seeing it with my own eyes still made my heart nearly leap out of my chest.

After dusting himself off, Bai Yutang said, "This way, the fact that the rooftop door was deadbolted from the outside makes sense. But there are still a few things I can't quite figure out."

He put his trench coat back on, flipping up his collar as he spoke, "If the killer pushed Li Feifan off first and then climbed down along the guardrail themselves, the timeframe would be far too tight. It would be impossible for there to be no eyewitnesses!"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Indeed. We rushed out of the building at the very first moment, and we didn't see anyone! Furthermore, doing it in broad daylight under everyone's noses is simply too risky. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao, puzzled.

Zhan Zhao looked at the guardrail outside the window. "Unless Li Feifan didn't fall from the rooftop."

Bai Yutang froze for a moment, then suddenly came to a realization. "Right! We were all misled by the guardrail! He was thrown out from right here! The killer probably rigged the guardrail like that as early as last night, specifically to create the illusion that Li Feifan had deadbolted the door himself!"

Zhan Zhao nodded. "Ordinary people wouldn't look up! And even if they did, they wouldn't be able to see it clearly!"

Bai Yutang scanned the surroundings. "In other words, this is the primary crime scene! But that killer is truly audacious. After throwing Li Feifan down the building, walking out from here means they ran a very high risk of being spotted or raising suspicion... Besides, why go to such elaborate lengths?"

Zhan Zhao fell into contemplation, a troubled look appearing on his face.

"Cat, did you think of something?" The moment Bai Yutang saw this expression, he knew Zhan Zhao must have made a discovery.

"...If we look at it from a criminal psychology perspective, he must have had a purpose for doing this. However, it turned out to be a case of trying to hide something only to make it more conspicuous!"

"How so?" Bai Yutang listened with great interest to Zhan Zhao's professional analysis.

"The killer went to such elaborate lengths for the sole purpose of concealing the actual crime scene! And the purpose of staging a crime scene is, without exception, to create an alibi for oneself!"

"Correct!" Bai Yutang nodded.

"A so-called alibi is actually a way to eliminate the possibility of being present at the crime scene during the time of the crime!" Zhan Zhao continued. "If we follow the killer's logic and break down the timeline of the incident, the entire event can be divided into four segments. Namely: 'Li Feifan enters the building, is killed by the culprit, falls from the building and is discovered, and the culprit leaves!'"

"Exactly!" Bai Yutang rubbed his chin, listening intently.

"The order of the first two segments—entering the building and being killed—is impossible to alter," Zhan Zhao explained patiently. "However, the latter two segments—the fall from the building and the culprit's departure—can be manipulated!"

Zhan Zhao paused here to let Bai Yutang digest the words. With his exceptional comprehension skills, Bai Yutang instantly caught Zhan Zhao's drift. "I get it! In other words, the killer left the scene first, and Li Feifan fell afterward. An ordinary person would assume that the murder and the fall happened simultaneously, but in reality, they might not have occurred at the same time! As long as the killer left this place before Li Feifan fell, made sure he was seen by others somewhere else, and then caused Li Feifan to fall, he would have a perfect alibi and eliminate all suspicion!!"

Zhan Zhao nodded with satisfaction. Bai Yutang was indeed brilliant; he didn't just understand the train of thought, but had even carried the logic a step further.

"And that's why the number 135 became the critical key!" Zhan Zhao added. "This set of numbers directly pointed out the crime scene, completely exposing the killer's intent! Which means this set of numbers was indeed written by Li Feifan himself!"

Bai Yutang pondered for a long moment. "To put it another way, after the killer left, Li Feifan wasn't dead yet. But he was already beyond saving, and the only thing he could do was leave behind this message!"

Zhan Zhao looked at the windowsill and the guardrail outside, then suddenly said, "When you leaped inside just now, a realization suddenly struck me."

Bai Yutang followed Zhan Zhao's gaze outward. "Are you saying... a person could be propped up exactly between the windowsill and the guardrail?"

Zhan Zhao said with a trace of bitterness, "Perhaps... at that time, Li Feifan had only lost consciousness briefly, and he was propped up right there."

Bai Yutang patted Zhan Zhao's shoulder comfortingly and let out a sigh. "The moment he woke up and moved his body even slightly, he was bound to fall. And at the exact instant of his fall, he left us this message."

"It's too cruel. He was just a kid. Who would want to harm him like this?"

Seeing the anguish on Zhan Zhao's face, Bai Yutang pulled him close, letting him lean against his shoulder, and spoke softly, "Cat, a single person couldn't pull off this job!"

Zhan Zhao's body shuddered slightly. "Two people?"

Bai Yutang gently stroked his hair. "You've already thought of it, haven't you? After Li Feifan entered the building and before he fell, the two people who walked out of the building at the exact same time..."

"Professor Xu and Doctor Zhang..." Zhan Zhao said, his thoughts a bit chaotic. "Theoretically, it is indeed... it's just..."

"Cat!" Bai Yutang cupped Zhan Zhao's face, staring intently into his eyes as he spoke with absolute gravity, "Do you still remember what that Doctor Xu said just now?"

Zhan Zhao's eyes widened in astonishment, and he said helplessly, "He said... Professor Xu broke out in a heavy cold sweat..."

Bai Yutang nodded. "A heart attack doesn't cause that kind of heavy cold sweat... That amount of physical exertion is indeed over the limit for an elderly man! That's why he couldn't stop gasping for air and shaking all over... As for staging the scene, that should have been Doctor Zhang's doing. The two of them killed Li Feifan!”