Free Web NovelChapter 267: Chapter 264: Been in Bed_1
Xu Dayuan cleared his throat, and Zhang Sannian realized he had gotten a bit carried away. He quickly smiled and gestured with his hand.
"Just some reflections, just reflections, let’s talk business. After the incident, we checked the surveillance around the victim’s home. On the night of May 11, at about 21:00, Zhang Wei drove out in his own van, circled the area a few times, and also called the victim’s sister, Xia Lihua.
Perhaps not wanting to worry Xia Lihua, he did not mention that Xia Lirnin hadn’t come home yet. He just casually asked a few questions and then hung up. Later, at around 23:00, he went out again, but this time he didn’t stay out long. If needed, we have retained this surveillance footage and can provide it."
Xu Dayuan shook his head; this surveillance was not significant.
"Did you check Zhang Wei’s mobile phone?"
Zhang Sannian nodded.
"Upon discovering the victim, we immediately considered Zhang Wei a suspect and investigated him. However, Zhang Wei’s reaction was always one of immense grief, and his emotions were very unstable. He consistently denied that the corpse was Xia Lirnin, until Xia Lihua did a DNA comparison with Xia Lirnin, at which point he finally accepted the result."
Xu Dayuan twirled the pen in his hand and drew a circle around Zhang Wei’s name. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Indeed, in typical cases like this, the spouse is always the first suspect, and in fact, it is usually the case. According to United Nations statistics from 2011, in female homicide cases, 58% of the perpetrators are family members, 34% of which are husbands or boyfriends (including exes and currents).
Perhaps reality is cruel, but this is reality—the ones closest to you may be your greatest threat to life.
"Do you have Zhang Wei’s information here? His work and life details before and after marriage, and his behavior after the incident occurred. Was there any investigation on these aspects?"
Zhang Sannian’s face seemed somewhat embarrassed as he hurriedly flipped open his notebook and said.
"The files didn’t have this added information, but some can be found in the household registration. We had already conducted related investigations before, but after ruling out the possibilities, the content was excluded.
Zhang Wei, born February 12, 1980, currently 32 years old, was married once before marrying Xia Lirnin, with two children from that marriage, aged five and three, who are in the custody of his ex-wife.
He gave the house and savings to his ex-wife during the divorce, which was finalized on September 29, 2010. He registered his marriage with the victim, Xia Lirnin, on December 3, 2010, without having a wedding ceremony.
Xia Lihua did not object to this; given her sister’s personality, she thought it was better not to have a wedding—easier to handle in case of a separation later on.
Regarding his work, Zhang Wei previously worked in a law firm but lost his job and had his attorney’s license revoked due to guaranteeing a colleague, Li Xin, and allegedly disrupting the normal conduct of legal and arbitration proceedings, which led to him incurring a large debt.
However, he still owned commercial property and started an internet cafe, which is still operating, though not particularly profitably. Xia Lihua mentioned that Zhang Wei treated Xia Lirnin very well, buying her whatever she wanted, including the best mobile phones, cosmetics, and clothes."
Seeing that Zhang Sannian had stopped, Xu Dayuan understood that their investigation was limited to Zhang Wei’s entire history before Xia Lirnin’s death, but according to this report, it seemed that Zhang Wei treated Xia Lirnin very well.
"Zhang Wei doesn’t know about Chang Yuzhang’s existence, does he?"
There was a moment of silence; after all, the investigation on Chang Yuzhang was something Tao Zhenshan had been tasked with just that morning, and Zhang Sannian’s team had not paid much attention to Chang Yuzhang. Xu Dayuan gestured.
"Alright, let’s conclude this initial task force meeting here. Mr. Zhang, I want you to investigate all of Zhang Wei’s information, useful or not. I need to know everything about him, including whether he knows Chang Yuzhang and if he’s aware of the relationship between Xia Lirnin and Chang Yuzhang."
Zhang Sannian stood up, his face bearing an embarrassed expression, yet his gaze was firm. It seemed that Xu Dayuan’s words had given him a direction, unlike before, where he was aimlessly bumping around like a headless fly.
"Director Xu, I will go investigate right now and report back as soon as I have any news."
After Zhang Sannian and his team left, Xu Dayuan motioned for Mr. Zeng and Liu Yufei to follow them. Without any fuss, they set off; after all, they were here to solve the case. Furthermore, there was another case that had yet to be discussed, one that even Xu Dayuan had not let them touch the file of.
Xu Dayuan gestured towards Mr. Bai with a nod of his chin.
"Make a call to Mr. Tao, has he not brought the person back yet after all this time?"
Bai Ruixin quickly made a call to Tao Zhenshan and turned on the speaker phone. As soon as the other party answered, before Mr. Bai could speak, Tao Zhenshan interrupted:
"Tell the boss not to rush us; we’re already at the gate. You guys come down to the interrogation room. I brought the person from the insurance company, who was in the middle of signing contracts. I kindly waited for him three minutes."
Liu Yongxin bowed his head slightly, covering his nose to suppress a laugh, as Xu Dayuan had been pushing them hard. Answering the phone, they knew it was Xu Dayuan’s instructions. Now it was quite direct: don’t bother asking, I’ll report directly, alright!
Xu Dayuan stood up, with Liu Yongxin nudging Zhou Ning’s arm.
Zhou Ning sighed. Was there a need to ask what this meant?
Clutching his notebook, Xu Dayuan quickly walked over to Zhou Ning and clapped him on the shoulder, then glanced at Mr. Qu.
"Don’t dally; we’re all part of the task force. Director Zhou, come with me to observe the interrogation. Mr. Qu, install a temporary surveillance in the interrogation room - use that new ’Phase Four’ feature we’ve been testing."
Zhou Ning hesitated for a moment. When did Phase Four come out, and how was he not aware?
Seeing Zhou Ning’s expression, Xu Dayuan’s mood lightened immediately.
"Oh, Zhou Xiaozhou, you really don’t pay enough attention to Doctor Lu. Phase Four was your idea, and now it’s already been implemented. How can you not know that they’ve started collecting data and conducting trials?"
Zhou Ning scratched his head.
"Boss, I don’t think you need me to stand by in the observation room. This isn’t the city bureau after all; it might not even have an observation room."
Xu Dayuan raised a hand to stop the rest of Zhou Ning’s words.
"Rest assured, there has to be!" freewebnovёl.ƈom
The group didn’t say much more and quickly headed downstairs. The accompanying detectives hurriedly swiped their cards, and everyone followed into the room next to the interrogation room. Indeed, there was an observation room, and the conditions were no worse than those at the city bureau headquarters, Xu Dayuan clicked his tongue in approval.
"You can tell this place has just been remodeled. The walls are soft, and there are cameras in all four corners. Is everything set up, Mr. Qu?"
Mr. Qu was tapping away at the computer. When Xu Dayuan asked, he stopped with his final action—an observation camera was pointed directly at the interrogation chair, positioned next to the one-way mirror.
Mr. Zhao leaned in for a closer look but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
"This thing, it can integrate with the Phase 4 application, but I don’t see how it’s any different from a regular surveillance camera?"
Mr. Qu waved his hand in disdain.
"What do you know? There’s no one sitting there at the moment, and besides, for this data collection, you need benchmark data. Zhou Ning, when you go in later, you’ll need to ask some questions such as name, age, place of employment, residence address, and so on—facts that can be verified at a glance. Mix in truths and lies.
I’ll start with data collection and analysis. Then, as you pose questions, whether he tells the truth or has something to hide, the software will analyze it for you. The laptop on the table inside is a cue device; you’ll be able to see the hints I give you, including which statement is a lie."
Xu Dayuan got excited, rolled up his sleeves, and gestured to Mr. Bai.
"Let’s go, come with me for the interrogation. By the way, what does the prompt look like?"
Mr. Qu flipped to a picture on his phone and held it up for Xu Dayuan and Zhou Ning to see. It showed a red box with a sentence inside, and any problematic part was underlined with a green wavy line.
The color scheme nearly choked Zhou Ning with its boldness, but indeed, the contrast of red and green was striking. Xu Dayuan nodded in satisfaction and quickly moved to the next room.
Tao Zhenshan had already brought the person in. Chang Yuzhang was handcuffed to the chair, losing the calmness he had shown before. Although he had been to the police station in the past, it was only for a statement, but now locked in this confined room, with blue soft-padded walls, a chair connected to handcuffs, and the intimidating gazes of three police officers, his eyes darted nervously.
Clearly, the young man was panicking.
Xu Dayuan tapped the desk with a pen, and Chang Yuzhang hurriedly focused his eyes on him.
"Do you know where you are?"
"The... the Public Security Bureau."
Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"Not accurate, this place is the Rudong City Criminal Investigation Brigade, and we are the police from Qindao City Criminal Police Brigade. Since we brought you here, I think you know what this is about. You’re also somewhat familiar with the procedures. Come on, introduce yourself, starting from your name, gender, age, all the way to your home address and place of employment. One by one."
Chang Yuzhang nodded and swallowed nervously, trying to steady himself before he slowly said:
"My name is Chang Yuzhang, male, 25 years old in virtual age, from Rudong City. My home is at No.12 Yuehu North Road, Changle Garden, Building 12, Unit 3, Room 302. My employer is Guotai Insurance Company Rudong Branch."
Xu Dayuan raised an eyebrow.
"Do you know Xia Lirnin?"
"I know her."
There was a loud snap. Startled by the sudden noise, Chang Yuzhang shuddered involuntarily and tried to raise his hands, but the handcuffs prevented him.
"Let me make this clear, I have a bad temper and little patience. We are clearing backlogged cases and are very busy. Whatever you know, just say it. Don’t just nod or answer simply with a yes or no. Understand?
Like when I ask if you know Xia Lirnin, reply directly and speak for yourself about how you know her, what your relationship was—be proactive with your answers. Got it?"
Chang Yuzhang nodded vigorously, realized maybe the gesture wasn’t enough for Xu Dayuan, so he quickly waved his hands and said:
"Yes, we know each other, we were high school classmates, I’m younger by virtual age, and I started school a year later... We... we used to be boyfriend and girlfriend, that’s it."
As these words left his mouth, a red dialogue box popped up on Mr. Qu and Xu Dayuan’s computer screens, underlining the last part of the statement with a green wavy line, flashing incessantly.
With the brightness of the alert, it was like a strobe light in a nightclub. Xu Dayuan’s eyelids twitched, and he pressed the screen down.
Mr. Zhao couldn’t help but laugh, punching Mr. Qu on the shoulder as he struggled to stand from laughing so hard.
"Mr. Qu, don’t tell me you designed this alert. It’s blinding my 24K eyes. A simple prompt would have been enough. Why go for this nightclub-style chase light, huh? Hahaha!"
Mr. Qu gave him a look but did not argue. Indeed, he also felt it was a bit ostentatious and hastily looked towards Chang Yuzhang’s screen.
He stood up and walked to Chang Yuzhang’s side.
"Former boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Chang Yuzhang nodded.
"Hmm, did you ever sleep together?"
