S.C.I. (Volume II) - Case 6: Chapter 15
The Innocent Killer 15 - Girlfriend
Zhang Long and Dynasty brought that "white lab coat" from forensics back to SI, and roughly recounted what had just happened to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.
Bai Yutang nodded, gestured toward the interrogation room, and signaled for them to bring the person inside. Afterward, he instructed Bai Chi and Luo to check the identity of the murdered police officer, while the others assisted Jiang Ping in reviewing all the surveillance footage, and Gongsun went home to catch up on sleep. Following that, Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked together into the interrogation room.
"What's your name?" Seeing that the forensics worker's fingers were trembling incessantly with nervousness, Bai Yutang exchanged a glance with Zhan Zhao—Cat, this one's a novice!
Zhan Zhao nodded—Go ahead and scare him; I reckon he'll confess before you even need two sentences.
Bai Yutang understood. He pulled over a chair to sit right in front of the person and asked in a cold voice.
"Zhang Yankai." The other party answered honestly.
"Zhang Yankai?" Bai Yutang nodded. "How long have you been in the forensics department?"
"I... I just started my internship," Zhang Yankai answered in a soft, trembling voice. "Cap... Captain Bai, it has nothing to do with me. I didn't mean to do it."
Bai Yutang sneered. "Didn't mean to? Sending a bomb to SI, and having a police officer end up dead on the rooftop... You call that not meaning to?!"
"No... I didn't know it would turn out like this..." Zhang Yankai argued eagerly, his face flushing bright red.
"Calm down," Zhan Zhao said. "Getting agitated won't help either. Tell us the whole sequence of events. Do you know the person who delivered the bomb?"
"I... I'm not sure if she's the one who brought the bomb inside." Zhang Yankai steadied his emotions slightly and said in a low voice, "But... I lent her my white lab coat so she could disguise herself as a forensics worker and enter the police station."
"Who is she?" Bai Yutang asked.
"My girlfriend," Zhang Yankai said. "I met her at Dr. Zhan's fan meetup... We've been dating for half a year."
"A fan meetup?" Zhan Zhao asked, puzzled. "Mine?"
"Mhm." Zhang Yankai looked somewhat embarrassed. "You probably don't know this yourself, but there are so many people obsessed with your books... Over half of the young people in the police department take you and Captain Bai as their idols... We bought your books, built a forum online, established your fan club, and then frequently arranged gatherings to organize activities, through which we met a lot of friends with shared interests."
Zhan Zhao nodded. "What is the name of this girlfriend of yours?"
"Her name is An Lingli," Zhang Yankai answered.
"What?!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, widened their eyes, and asked again, "An Lingli?"
"That's right," Zhang Yankai nodded. "Her father is also a police officer and holds a pretty senior status in the force... But Lingli told me her dad strongly opposes her dating a police officer, so he told me not to breathe a word about it."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang exchanged glances, instantly realizing this kid might have been scammed.
Bai Yutang stood up and hurried out, returning shortly after with a photo of An Lingli, which he asked, "Is this the person?"
Zhang Yankai leaned in to take a look, furrowed his brows slightly, and shook his head. "No."
Zhan Zhao stared at Zhang Yankai's actions and asked in confusion, "Your movements were a bit hesitant. Normally, shouldn't someone be able to tell at a single glance whether it's their own girlfriend or not?!"
Zhang Yankai raised his face and said, "No... Lingli is usually very fashionable and often wears heavy makeup... This person isn't wearing makeup. I wanted to look closely and see if this could be what Lingli looks like without makeup... After all, a lot of women look like completely different people before and after makeup."
"Then are you certain it's not her?" Bai Yutang asked.
"Mhm!" Zhang Yankai nodded. "It's not."
"Did she have a reason for wanting to enter the police station?" Bai Yutang continued asking.
"...It... it's all my fault for showing off too much usually," Zhang Yankai said helplessly. "In our fan club, not a single person had ever seen what Dr. Zhan looks like, and the Doctor doesn't appear on camera very often, so everyone was very curious about your appearance. Because I knew quite early on that I would be able to intern at the police station and would definitely get to see Dr. Zhan, I promised to take photos and show everyone."
"And then?" Bai Yutang asked. "Did you take them?"
Zhang Yankai smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying, "To be honest, we all initially thought someone with such academic achievements must be an old man, or at least a middle-aged uncle. Isn't it said that a person's scholarship is inversely proportional to their looks? But... when I first saw Dr. Zhan, I was practically dumbfounded..." As Zhang Yankai spoke, he blushed a little. "I was so stunned I forgot to take pictures. I wanted to take them afterward, but opportunities were scarce, and whenever there was a chance, Captain Bai was generally right beside him... I was a bit scared, so I never succeeded."
Zhan Zhao glanced sideways at Bai Yutang beside him, only to see him glaring over with an unkind expression—Dead cat, just how far do you plan on going with attracting bees and butterflies?!
Zhan Zhao cast an unsatisfied glance back at him—What does it have to do with me? You jealous vinegar jar!
The more Bai Yutang thought about it, the angrier he got. He lifted his foot and fiercely kicked over a chair beside him, glaring—Zhan Zhao glared back. The commotion of their mutual glaring, however, frightened Zhang Yankai, who was sitting opposite them in the defendant's seat. Trembling, he said, "The two police officers, I really didn't mean to do it. It was because I went back and bragged about it a whole bunch that I ended up provoking Lingli into insisting on coming to the police station to catch a glimpse of you... You know outsiders aren't allowed inside the police station, so I lent her this white lab coat, telling her to take a quick look and leave right away... not to stir up trouble. I never expected... why did it turn into this?"
"Why?" Bai Yutang shook his head. "I want to know that too. Do you have her contact information?"
"I do!" Zhang Yankai nodded. "I have her phone number, and also the address of the place she rents outside."
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao questioned him for a while longer, and discovering there were no further breakthroughs, ordered someone to take Zhang Yankai down to produce a composite sketch of "An Lingli."
The two walked out of the interrogation room and returned to SI with furrowed brows. The office was dead quiet; the rest of the members were seated in front of their computers, intently reviewing the video footage Jiang Ping had gathered. Although the duration wasn't long, the police station was huge, and locating a single suspect was truly not an easy task.
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao walked into the room and headed straight to Jiang Ping's side.
"Jiang Ping, help me look up the Cat's fan club forum," Bai Yutang said to Jiang Ping.
"Oh..." Jiang Ping ran a search and was dumbfounded. "Wow... Dr. Zhan... there is so much information about you!"
"Really?" Zhan Zhao crowded over in astonishment.
"It's all fan clubs and stuff. It looks like there really are quite a few people who like reading your books!" Jiang Ping quickly browsed through the web pages.
"Uh..." He, who had been chatting and laughing just moments earlier, suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?" Bai Yutang asked. "Did you find something?"
"This name..." Jiang Ping stared at a screen name that appeared frequently... "Executing Justice on Behalf of the Heavens."
"Executing Justice on Behalf of the Heavens?!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were jolted in shock simultaneously. This phrase had appeared on the note wedged into their car window right after the banquet ended not too long ago.
"Do you guys remember the forum belonging to Liang Liang that we checked last time when we were searching for the Ripper case suspect?" Jiang Ping asked as he pulled up Liang Liang's forum. "Look! This 'Executing Justice on Behalf of the Heavens' also posts frequently, and he's one of the few people who mock Liang Liang, often getting swarmed and attacked."
"Can you trace his IP address?" Bai Yutang asked. "Even if this person isn't the killer, he's at least someone in the know. Find a way to dig him out!"
"Got it, I'll do my best!" Jiang Ping got busy.
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao stood up just as a childish voice rang out from the doorway: "Daddy... I saw the news... Are you guys all okay?!" Following those crisp words, Yangyang rushed in like a flying gust of wind with his school bag on his back, sweating profusely from anxiety.
"Yangyang..." Zhao Hu was sitting right by the door, and seeing Yangyang enter, he pulled him into a tight hug and planted a fierce kiss on his cheek. "Let Uncle heal you; it was terrifying today!"
Ma Han walked over and kicked out at him. "What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" As he spoke, he reached out to pat Yangyang's head. "Don't worry, everyone's fine, all thanks to your dad!"
"Really?" Yangyang let out a breath of relief, and turning his head to see Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang standing there—with everyone else around seeming busy and the entire SI office in a complete mess—he asked, "Are you guys all busy? Have you eaten yet? I'll go buy some for you."
The tense atmosphere of SI instantly eased with Yangyang's arrival. In truth, what Zhao Hu said was entirely correct: Yangyang was now the mascot of SI. The moment they saw his smiling face and heard his laughter, they could temporarily forget the complicated cases and the cruel criminals... It was truly very healing!
Zhan Zhao sidled over to take the opportunity to pinch Yangyang's cheeks, only to notice that the little fellow didn't seem to be in very high spirits, so he asked, "What's wrong? Did someone bully you?"
"No..." Luoyang shook his head, sat down on the sofa, and said in a soft voice, "Fang Xing transferred schools."
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao were startled.
"His father has already been proven innocent," Luoyang said. "I thought he would come back to school, but ever since he left that time, he never came back. Today the teacher told me his dad handled his transfer procedures yesterday, and he has already transferred away."
"Where did he transfer to?" Zhan Zhao asked out of curiosity.
"He went abroad," Yangyang said desolately. "And it's so far away too. He went to Italy... Maybe we won't ever get to see each other again."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were taken aback. Thinking of that black Bentley and then thinking of Italy, they felt a series of throbbing pains in their temples. Better not think about these things for now.
"Also, Jingjing's illness still hasn't gotten any better." Luoyang crossed his legs, leaned back against the sofa, and began plucking at the hem of his clothes. "She's always like that, arranging whatever she sees into 'I LOVE YOU'."
"Have you been going to visit Zhao Jing all along?" Zhan Zhao asked curiously. "Has she ever spoken to you?"
"Mhm." Luoyang nodded and said smugly, "I'm good friends with her. She doesn't talk to adults, only to me."
"What did she say to you?" Bai Yutang sat down beside him and asked. "Did she mention anything about her parents?"
"She did." Luoyang nodded, his expression turning even gloomier. "Jingjing's parents said they were going on a long trip, so they temporarily placed her at her uncle's house. Only, after her mom and dad left, they only left a single note for her and never showed up again."
"That's right!" Zhang Long chimed in from the side. "We've been investigating for a long time, but we still haven't been able to find her parents."
"What note did Jingjing's mom and dad leave behind?" Zhan Zhao asked.
"Just the phrase 'I LOVE YOU'!" Yangyang answered. "Otherwise Jingjing wouldn't be arranging everything she sees into 'I LOVE YOU'."
"What?!" Every single person present dropped what they were doing in their hands, raising their eyes to stare in shock at Luoyang.
"Wha... what?" Luoyang looked somewhat puzzled as he gazed at the crowd. "Is something wrong?"
"Yangyang!" Bai Yutang squatted down and said earnestly to Luoyang, "Tell us every single word Zhao Jing has ever said to you, completely and accurately. Also, help us go and ask Zhao Jing properly about her parents' situation."
"...Oh." Luoyang nodded doubtfully. Right at that moment—
"Captain! Big Brother!" Luo and Bai Chi, who had gone out to investigate the identity of the murdered police officer, came running back, looking as though they had stumbled upon some incredible discovery!
"What is it?" Seeing the expressions on the two of them, Bai Yutang knew there was a situation.
"A strange thing!" Luo picked up Luoyang, who had rushed over to pounce on his leg, and said to Bai Yutang, "That police officer's name is Wang Liyong, and he just started working as a cop recently."
"Mhm." Bai Yutang nodded. "Is there a problem with him?"
"He doesn't have a problem," Bai Chi continued. "But I heard from his best friend... that he recently started dating a girlfriend."
Upon hearing the word "girlfriend," Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao both froze.
"Could it be..." Bai Yutang asked with a smile, "His girlfriend's name is An Lingli?"
This time it was Bai Chi and Luoyang's turn to be dumbfounded. Wearing identical expressions of shock, they spoke in unison: "How did you know?"
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao sighed, exchanged glances, and found themselves speechless.