Free Web NovelChapter 614: Chapter 584 Mutual Destruction_1
Zhou Ning looked at the map marked with the tracking route, enlarged it, and saw that seven or eight kilometers south off the highway, then a right turn for another two or three kilometers would lead to Quanshan. He narrowed his eyes at this point. freewebnσvel.cøm
"Maybe it’s not a disappearance but that she took an unmonitored road, so you couldn’t track her. Besides, just two or three kilometers to the east is Quanshan, where tracking is even less feasible."
Mr. Qu slapped his forehead in realization:
"How could I forget that? But I’m puzzled—take Zhang Fangfang’s car, for instance. Let’s say hypothetically, Zhong Xiaoyan drove Zhang Fangfang’s car to do all this. Setting aside the issue in Qifeng City, she drives the car out in the early morning, but when does she return it, and Zhang Fangfang doesn’t know a thing?
How does she get it and return it without arousing any suspicion? It doesn’t make sense. Even if I were going back to my hometown, and my car was parked in the residential area, I would peer out of my window at the sound of any alarm that was similar."
Zhou Ning laughed.
"I know you don’t understand, and it can’t be explained in a moment, but I have a guess that I need you to help me verify. Have Peng Shinian analyze the soil found in the crevices of Zhang Fangfang’s car wheels and compare it with samples from the accident scene, the graveyard, and around the Blue Sea Hotel in Qifeng City.
Mr. Qu, I need you to look up the sales records for the BMW 5 Series right now and see how many have been sold in the Qindao Area after the sale of Zhang Fangfang’s car—I want all the information."
Peng Shinian didn’t overthink it and joyfully went downstairs to find Mr. Zhao, while Mr. Qu, still bewildered, thought for a moment before he realized and looked at Zhou Ning.
"I understand now. I’ll start searching."
...
September 10, 2013
Early in the morning, Zhou Ning arrived at the technical department. As soon as he entered the lab, he saw a crowd surrounding Mr. Qu. Hearing the door open, everyone turned around and greeted Zhou Ning with smiles, but Peng Shinian was not among them.
Seeing the state of the people, Zhou Ning knew without asking that there had been progress on Mr. Qu’s side, especially since Yufei was sitting beside him.
"Mrs. Fei, you came over so early. Have the interrogations started yet?"
Yufei shook her head and pointed to a laptop in front of Mr. Qu with her chin.
"Director Xu said not to touch Zhong Xiaoyan for now, so the officer told her that since there are so many people for the interrogation, she should just eat and drink as usual, and though facilities are limited, she must stay in the detention center. She hasn’t said a word and just went to a single room with a smile. I had Mr. Qu pull up last night’s surveillance to check."
Zhou Ning understood. Although the case was woven together relying on the tragedy of Teacher Shi’s family, proving that Zhong Xiaoyan was Shi Mingchen’s daughter Shi Yun would make her a suspect, even without evidence.
"Did you find anything?"
Yufei shook her head.
"It’s precisely because there was no reaction at all. After dinner, Zhong Xiaoyan seemed to be completely at peace with the situation, sitting against the wall, standing on her head—all manner of yoga poses. By less than ten o’clock, she was already lying down to sleep. She’s too confident." freeweɓnovel.cøm
Zhou Ning glanced at the laptop next to him, which displayed the surveillance footage of another person, also in a single room, but this person was curled up at the foot of the bed, hugging her legs, not knowing whether she was crying or in fear.
"Is that Zhang Fangfang?"
Mr. Qu murmured a yes.
"Both of them are at opposite ends of the corridor. The contrast in their reactions is too stark. Zhang Fangfang has been cowering in the corner since she came in, muttering incomprehensibly. When someone brought food, she even threw it out, extremely agitated and constantly shouting at the bars. Now, she has quieted down."
"Did someone talk to her?"
Yufei sighed.
"Initially, Zhang Fangfang refused to leave, always asking why. Mr. Bai, who can’t keep his mouth shut, told her that all evidence pointed towards her, making her the prime suspect, so she couldn’t leave freely. Zhang Fangfang became emotionally unstable, and no explanation would do. She kept saying how she could possibly do this.
Then, she started rambling about her ex-husband, and the guard realized the enormity of the information here and quickly requested to move her to a single room. Now that her information has been sorted, we’re looking at Zhong Xiaoyan’s."
It was only then that Zhou Ning noticed a stack of notes in front of Yufei; apparently, they were the mutterings of Zhang Fangfang. However, the things left behind by Zhong Xiaoyan were very comprehensive pieces of evidence; a comparison would reveal if they were fabrications.
"Did you compare everything with the evidence found in Zhong Xiaoyan’s villa?"
Mr. Qu nodded.
"Zhang Ping, collaborating with the economic investigation team, took our technology division to Huining just last night. These details just got compiled, and Mrs. Fei instructed us to send them to the team, bringing even finer detail to the case.
Just now, Mrs. Fei also mentioned that even if Zhang Fangfang is not implicated in this case, just the extortion of over forty million yuan from her ex-husband, knowing his financial difficulties, causing the company’s capital chain to break and go bankrupt, thereby inducing or even inducing her ex-husband’s suicide, would already be the upper limit of the crime of extortion. This directly led to the cause, a foreseeable outcome, especially since the evidence includes her ex-husband saying that if the company went bankrupt, he would have to die due to indebtedness, after which Zhang Fangfang told him to go ahead and die, which absolutely falls under the category of intentional homicide."
Zhou Ning nodded. Going over the case again the previous night, he realized they had undersold the extortion case. At best, Zhang Fangfang was facing life imprisonment.
"Did you also find what I asked you to look for yesterday?"
Mr. Qu handed a stack of papers to Zhou Ning, who glanced at them without looking closely. The content was quite extensive, and Mr. Qu understood what this meant, hurriedly saying:
"We found a car registered under the name of an elderly person in Quanshan. Using the BMW rescue positioning system, Liu Da located the vehicle last night. It was parked in the parking lot of the Fu Xin Building. Mr. Hen conducted an inspection, and the poet collected samples."
Zhou Ning pondered for a moment, then pointed at the laptop and said:
"Take the laptop and show it directly to Director Xu. I’ll go to Mrs. Cui’s place. Is there supposed to be an interrogation of Zhong Xiaoyan later?"
Liu Yufei nodded.
"Let’s go to the front building first, to give Director Xu a look and discuss the details of the hearing. Once the report is out, please Director Zhou send it over."
Zhou Ning didn’t waste words and went straight to the forensic science department. He was about to press the doorbell when the door opened from the inside, and Peng Shinian stood there, smiling at Mrs. Cui’s side.
Zhou Ning was surprised; Peng Shinian was proud and would shut himself in the lab all day, never going to the forensic science department, even buying many small pieces of equipment separately. Zhou Ning knew very well the reason for this.
But today, he was standing with Mrs. Cui, without his usual haughtiness. Could it be related to his analysis from last night?
"What, you’re looking for Mrs. Cui to be your reinforcement? Sister, give him a good scolding. This guy has been abroad for too long and doesn’t understand what subtlety means. Just scold him directly, don’t hold back."
Peng Shinian laughed, Cui Lili gave Zhou Ning a look and waved him in with a gesture.
"Stop acting in front of me. He is your teacher’s assistant, and I know how you treat him; I’m not a fool. I told him yesterday that he can communicate with me about any problem at any time, and he can use the equipment in the lab, just keep good records. These are the subsequent reports; have a look for yourself."
Zhou Ning smiled at Cui Lili, knowing she must have stayed up all night. At her age, following along like this every day was too much, even for a constitution of iron.
"Sister, you should get some sleep. At least there’ll be nothing this morning, and if you don’t want to go to the rest room, you can use my office. No one will disturb you there."
Cui Lili laughed.
"I thank you. As long as you’re sent away, I’ll be thankful to heaven and earth. You two hurry off, I’m going to sleep."
Zhou Ning, holding the report, quickly left with Peng Shinian. Once outside, Peng Shinian started chattering nonstop like a sparrow. Zhou Ning tried to interrupt several times but couldn’t get a word in.
"Boss, I didn’t know before, but our lab has so many advanced pieces of equipment, and Mrs. Cui is too good a person, even better to me than the teacher. She spotted a flaw in my experimental process with just a glance, her ability is incredible."
Zhou Ning raised his hand, stopping Peng Shinian’s excitement.
"Mr. Qu mentioned that a BMW was found last night. Mrs. Fei has already brought the car, Mr. Hen and you both went to inspect it and collected samples. Have you analyzed this? What are the results?"
Startled, Peng Shinian felt a change in Zhou Ning’s tone and while he didn’t know the reason, he was aware Zhou Ning wasn’t in a good mood. He hurriedly patted his notebook.
"That’s exactly why I was in Mrs. Cui’s lab performing the analysis. I have organized everything and the comparison reports are all ready. Boss, do you want to see them? I can print them out right now."
Zhou Ning waved him off and glanced toward the Criminal Police Brigade.
"I’ll wait downstairs; go print the report. Then you and Mr. Qu grab Mr. Zhao and follow me to the front building."
Peng Shinian quickly left. Zhou Ning stood there, emitting a chill, completely unlike his usual demeanor. Although he could be stern and even lose his temper during cases, he had never been like this.
Entering room 302, Peng Shinian printed all the reports. Someone patted his shoulder, and seeing Zhao Xinli, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"You scared me to death. How come you walk without making a sound?"
"Tell me, kid, what dirty deeds have you been doing? I just give you a pat, and you jump a mile high. You’re acting strange. By the way, I heard you all worked overtime last night?"
Peng Shinian nodded, hesitating to speak, and Zhao Xinli grew serious.
"What’s the matter?"
"Nothing. I just told the boss about the comparison we did here, and I wanted to tell him the results, but he didn’t listen. He asked me to print the report and later we will deliver it to Director Xu together. I always feel that the boss is not himself today or, I should say these past couple of days, I feel a chill whenever I’m near him."
Mr. Zhao sighed.
"You don’t know some things about Zhou Xiaozhou because you joined us late. His parents were also killed by someone, and the murderer has yet to be found... so, the murder of the Shi Mingchen couple has hit close to home for him. The investigation of Zhong Xiaoyan, that is, Shi Yun, is causing him constant agony."
"Agony?"
"Yes, agony. Let me ask you, if you were Shi Yun, would you seek revenge?"
Without hesitation, Peng Shinian replied:
"I would, I’d choose the most violent way, bang, bang, bang, sparing no one. If there’s no escape, then let’s die together."
