Free Web NovelChapter 568: Chapter 538: Eyewitness [Thanks to the Overlord’s Generous Reward of the Irresponsible Big Boss]_1
Zhou Ning looked towards Fang Mu.
"Mr. Dui, let Zhang Qiangmin and his team investigate here. I’m going upstairs with Mr. Zhao. Over an hour ago, we had a traffic accident involving this vehicle, handled by these two traffic officers."
Fang Mu suddenly realized why those two traffic officers had come up and said, "How come it’s you again."
"The driver died, so we still need to investigate thoroughly. I’ll arrange for someone to take you up. I’ve got people maintaining order upstairs and downstairs. We still need to check the identity information of the guests who are delayed. I’ll check the vehicle and find the contact persons. The relatives need to be present."
Mr. Zhao lifted his mobile phone, found a WeChat contact and a phone number, and directly forwarded them to Fang Mu.
"Just now, during the traffic accident, the deceased Li Li’s husband added me on WeChat. I’ve sent you his phone number as well."
"Okay, I’ll get in touch. The tow truck will be here soon, so they should send the car and the body to the technical department first, right?"
Zhou Ning nodded and walked towards Zhu Xingxing and the others, addressing Xia Momo: ƒгeewebnovёl.com
"We’re going to take a look at the parking lot. Do you want to go home, or will you come up with us?"
Xia Momo and Zhu Xingxing looked at each other. After thinking for a moment, Xia Momo said:
"Let’s go up together. Even though that female driver wasn’t very skilled, it doesn’t seem likely that she would crash into the wall at such a high speed and fall from such a height. Xiaoyan and I will go check the surveillance footage."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Then let’s go up together. Mr. Zhao, grab the case; we’ll take the police car."
Mr. Zhao went to fetch the case while Zhou Ning opened the car door, put on his police jacket, and they quickly got into Fang Mu’s car. With the police lights flashing, they drove directly towards the parking lot location. By now, more and more onlookers were gathering, many of them taking photos.
Zhou Ning averted his gaze and shortly passed through the spiral passage to the fourth-floor parking lot. A security guard seeing the police car quickly raised the barrier. They approached the damaged wall, and the car stopped.
As they got out of the car, they saw about a dozen people in the parking lot, all standing in front of their cars or on top of them, but no one was approaching the damaged wall.
Zhu Xingxing and Xia Momo didn’t leave the car, while Mr. Zhao called the manager to join them. They drove towards the elevator location to check the surveillance, while Zhou Ning surveyed the area and then donned shoe covers and gloves.
Mr. Zhao approached, holding up a camera.
"I’ll take a look first. Didn’t Mr. Dui say he’d send someone to gather information? Why don’t I see anyone?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. At that moment, a wail of sirens came from behind as Zhang Ping and his team drove up, greeted Zhou Ning, and headed directly to the crowded area.
Mr. Zhao’s examination was quick. Seeing him collect samples and take photos, Zhou Ning finally approached the edge of the wall. There were clear warning signs on the wall and directional indicators for the exit. About a meter from the wall on the ground, there was a black and yellow U-shaped metal barricade, about eight centimeters from the ground. With enough speed, a Mazda 6 could completely roll over it.
As for the force of colliding with the wall, that was hard to estimate without seeing the surveillance footage. But what had the victim experienced?
Could it be similar to what happened down in the parking lot? Did the person put the car in the wrong gear, or mistake the gas pedal for the brake, pushing harder on the accelerator in an attempt to stop, leading to the car going out of control, hitting the wall, and ultimately falling?
As he thought this, Mr. Zhao had somehow come up beside Zhou Ning, patting his shoulder urgently and saying:
"On the remaining edges of the wall, I found red paint scrapings consistent with the victim’s car. From the entrance to this parking spot, there were no signs of braking. We’ll be able to make comparisons once Mr. Xia and the others copy the surveillance footage."
As they spoke, thunderous noises came from below. Mr. Zhao looked down through the broken wall to see the tow truck and professionals in place. The car was wedged into the ground, and next to it, the gurney had a bulging body bag, evidently containing the retrieved body. They were ready to lift the wrecked vehicle.
Zhou Ning also looked down but before he could look away, he heard the sound of high heels approaching. Turning around, he saw Xia Momo had returned. Zhou Ning quickly walked over, and the drivers and others temporarily detained nearby all looked over.
A woman, peeking towards Zhou Ning and the others, then whispered:
"Wow, are all cops this handsome?"
Her voice was not soft, but the parking lot was extremely quiet. Mr. Zhao turned back to glare at the woman. Upon seeing his face, she quickly shut up. Zhang Ping and his team approached, starting to check IDs and match identity information, which stopped the woman from speaking further.
Xia Momo came to Zhou Ning’s side, not wasting any words, and opened her notebook which already had surveillance footage captured.
"Mr. Qu remotely captured the surveillance. These are the images from the parking lot at the time of the incident, from four angles. The first one is facing the southern passage. Take a look," she said.
Mr. Zhao also leaned in as the video played. The red Mazda 6 wasn’t moving fast and appeared to nearly stop about fifty meters away from the horizontal parking spaces. Its headlights and right-turn signal were on. Mr. Zhao almost pressed his face against the screen, rewound the video a bit, and after a close observation, he stood up.
"She seemed to be on the phone?"
Zhu Xingxing nodded.
"Mr. Xia and I think so too, that she slowed down because she was on the phone. So, her car accident—could it be related to her making a call?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. The phone call might have caused the victim to lose emotional control, but to say that the accident occurred because of the call seemed a bit far-fetched.
He gestured for Mr. Zhao to continue playing the video. It began again, and the car stopped for over thirty seconds before starting up once more. However, this time the ignition was noticeably quicker than before. The car engaged its turn signal, seemingly getting ready to head towards the exit on the right, but near the exit, it continued to turn right, making a detour to the north.
Zhu Xingxing leaned closer and opened the second and third surveillance feeds, playing them concurrently. You could see a continuous sequence: the red Mazda 6 traveled to the north side, circled the elevator entrance, and then sped back to its original stopping point.
After accelerating around the loop, even at a reduced playback speed, the car’s velocity was obviously rapid, and it showed no sign of slowing, heading straight for the parking space on the south side. Only the U-shaped barrier slowed it momentarily; the car rebounded in a flash, hitting the wall, shaking up and down, then plunging headfirst.
Many people behind heard the commotion, and a woman ran out, witnessing the car dropping down at that moment, which frightened her so much that she fell to the ground. Scrambling back to her own car, it was clear how terrifying that instant had been.
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"It looks like it really was an issue with her own handling. Even if she had received a phone call that could have caused emotional distress, her maneuvering after the first loop was fine. It was only when she came back to this spot, 50 meters in, that she headed straight for the southern wall."
From this camera angle, nothing unusual could be seen. However, the position where the car hit the wall only captured the lower third, with most of it being out of the range of surveillance.
"Is there any other camera that can view this angle of the wall?"
Xia Momo shook her head.
"This is the only one that captures the south wall. The rest are mainly pointed towards the entrances and exits, and the passageways. After all, who could have anticipated someone would crash into a wall like that?"
Zhou Ning looked up and saw Zhang Ping talking to a woman who was covering her mouth as if she was about to retch. With just one glance, Zhou Ning recognized her as the person in the video who had seen the car crash into the wall. She must have been terrified; her current symptoms of nausea and retching were due to fear.
He turned instinctively and walked towards the woman. Mr. Zhao looked at Zhu Xingxing and Xia Momo. Xia Momo said softly,
"Let’s go and see, she must be an eyewitness. She saw the car hitting the wall and falling. Such a fright is unbearable for most people, even for us, it would be terrifying."
Mr. Zhao nodded, picked up his things quickly, and followed Zhou Ning with Xia Momo and the others. As they got closer, the woman seemed to hear them and turned abruptly, stepping back a few paces and clutching her chest, her face paling as she trembled and hid behind Zhang Ping.
The woman was very delicate looking, quite slim, and clearly scholarly, with a height of around 160 cm.
Zhang Ping quickly soothed her,
"Don’t be afraid, these are our colleagues, too. They’re from the technical department and need to check the accident scene. Here’s your ID back, just keep explaining."
The woman glanced at Zhou Ning and the others, visibly relieved, but her hand holding her phone was still shaking.
"I just came to the mall to look around. It’s almost the beginning of autumn, so I wanted to see if there were new autumn clothes in stock. Also, I was out of groceries, so I came to buy some and have lunch as well."
Zhang Ping nodded, glanced at the information on the police device. He had just scanned her ID card, and a lot of details had come up. Zhou Ning took a quick look. The woman’s name was Zhong Xiaoyan, a 28-year-old unmarried woman, with her family information left blank, which made Zhou Ning take another glance. Her place of employment was also blank.
"Where do you work? We need a contact number so we can reach you if needed later."
Zhong Xiaoyan took a deep breath, trying hard to control her nerves, before she said,
"I own a bookstore and a stationery shop on Baiyang West Road in Gulou District. I don’t have any other jobs."
Mr. Zhao raised an eyebrow, surprised, Zhu Xingxing wore the same expression.
"You own PAGE ONE Bookstore? We passed by when we came here; it’s a very distinctive bookstore."
Zhong Xiaoyan tried to smile, but only managed a twitch of her lips, and before she could actually smile, tears fell. Zhu Xingxing quickly handed her a tissue.
"Wipe it off, don’t be scared anymore, it’s over. You should rest well the next couple of days, or maybe see a psychologist to talk."
Zhong Xiaoyan nodded.
"Thank you all. I just never expected to see something like this. I’ve called my staff to come over, but I don’t know why they haven’t come up yet. I can’t drive like this; my legs are too shaky."
