Free Web NovelChapter 95: Chapter 95 Three-Hour Window of Time_1
Zhou Ning followed Xu Dayuan, running towards a building behind the office building, and arrived at a room on the third floor, the door already open.
The room was filled with various experimental apparatus, clearly a laboratory. Seeing several familiar criminal police squatting in a corner, Zhou Ning hurriedly approached, and Zhou Xiaoyu lay on the ground, already passed out, her mouth sealed with tape and her hands and feet bound with white zip ties.
Zhou Ning hurriedly crouched down, cut the zip ties, and tried Zhou Xiaoyu’s carotid artery, her heartbeat was normal. As his fingers brushed through her hair, a crescent-shaped superficial wound on the back of her head was revealed, but such a wound wouldn’t cause unconsciousness.
Zhou Ning’s heart had risen to his throat, and his eyes were somewhat sore.
Hurrying to hold her in his arms, he gently patted Zhou Xiaoyu’s cheeks, calling out to her.
"Xiaoyu, Xiaoyu, wake up!" frёewebnoѵēl.com
Zhou Xiaoyu slowly opened her eyes, and seeing her do so, Zhou Ning finally let go of the worry in his heart.
"Brother, why are you here? Why am I here?"
"Do you remember what happened?"
Zhou Xiaoyu supported her head and sat up, apparently still feeling a bit dizzy.
"I don’t know, wait... where’s Cui Guanglin? He hit me with a water cup, and while I was falling, he pounced on me and covered my mouth, then I don’t remember anything."
Zhou Ning checked the back of Zhou Xiaoyu’s neck again, pressed around the wound to make sure it wasn’t serious, and found no finger marks on her neck. Seeing her lipstick had smudged, he quickly used a cotton swab to collect the residue around Zhou Xiaoyu’s lips and nostrils, and put away the swabs before comforting her:
"It’s all over now. Try to remember, at what time and where did you encounter Cui Guanglin today?"
Zhou Xiaoyu rubbed her wrists, where the indentations were already breaking the skin, sucking in a breath from the pain.
"I just arrived at school this morning and saw Cui Guanglin waving at me in the corridor of the office building. I left my bag in the office, thinking you were right, that some things needed to be cleared up, so I left the office and saw him around the corner of the corridor.
He said, whether we continue planning to marry or call it quits, we had to clear the air. There were too many people around, and it would be quieter in the laboratory, so I followed him to the laboratory on the third floor of the science building.
But as soon as the door opened, he hit the back of my head from behind, then covered my mouth and nose, and I panicked, not knowing what Cui Guanglin was going to do. I struggled for a bit, but I had no strength, and then I knew nothing; brother, what exactly happened?"
Zhou Ning hugged the still trembling Zhou Xiaoyu, feeling a wave of fright inside him, patting her back to comfort her:
"Don’t be scared, I am here. You go with my colleague to the hospital for a check-up, and as for Cui Guanglin, we have caught him. Regarding his actions, after this investigation is over, I’ll tell you about it. Mr. Zhao, please find someone to take Xiaoyu to the hospital!"
Mr. Zhao had already come over, helping Zhou Xiaoyu to her feet.
"Don’t worry, I’ll have Mr. Feng take Xiaoyu to the hospital. You call Mr. He."
Zhou Xiaoyu grabbed Zhou Ning’s hand, her face showing some urgency.
"Don’t tell mom!"
"Relax, I won’t mention it; it would only make them worry. But you have to listen to me and get checked out."
Zhou Xiaoyu nodded and followed Mr. Zhao downstairs. Zhou Ning glanced at the spot on the ground where Zhou Xiaoyu had been sitting, noticing that under a table beside it was a cabinet with its doors all open, showing scuff and tread marks. Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes.
"Xiaoyu was stuffed into this cabinet?"
Xu Dayuan patted Zhou Ning on the shoulder, able to feel Zhou Ning’s anger. If it were him, he probably wouldn’t be able to control his emotions either.
"Not only was Xiaoyu stuffed in there, but it was also locked. This laboratory has already been searched once; we only found Xiaoyu during the second search after opening everything inside the cabinet. Fortunately, she was unharmed."
Zhou Ning nodded, that was the key point, fortunately, she was unharmed. If anything had happened to Xiaoyu, Zhou Ning didn’t know how he’d forgive himself.
"I should have told Xiaoyu to take a few days off last night. It was my negligence."
"Stop it, don’t give me that gloomy talk. There are so many teachers in the multifunction hall. I need to take care of that first. Cui Guanglin has been taken away, you take a look around here, then also head back to the station. Mr. Zhao will stay to assist. What I don’t understand is why Cui Guanglin would take control of Xiaoyu like that?"
Zhou Ning shook his head, he couldn’t understand this either. If Cui Guanglin was indeed the perpetrator of the March 10th case, it’s very likely he was also the Red Dress Serial Killer. Such a person, with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and being so meticulous, only overlooked the fisherman. But what about today?
Was it because of the Zhou Family’s reaction?
Or was it a case of ’if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it’? Thinking of this, Zhou Ning felt even more fear, taking a deep breath to control his emotions.
"You go ahead, Xu Da. I’ll have Mr. Qu check the surveillance inside the building. As for here, for a chemistry teacher, creating some chemical substances that can cause brief unconsciousness isn’t difficult."
Xu Dayuan waved his hand and led the people away, and Mr. Zhao hurried back.
"Mr. Feng took Xiaoyu to the hospital, following the ambulance. Have you called yet?"
Zhou Ning took out his phone and dialed He Shancun’s number.
"It’s me, Zhou Ning."
"Speak, I’m busy!"
"My sister Zhou Xiaoyu has been sent to your hospital by an ambulance, she should arrive shortly. She was hit on the back of her head. Please check for any fractures and concussion. Additionally, I suspect she was rendered unconscious by drugs. I collected samples from her nasal cavity and the edges of her mouth, but I don’t know if there will be any residue left. Can you help me give Xiaoyu a thorough examination?
According to what Xiaoyu said, she was knocked out before eight o’clock, and I was the one who woke her up just now. If it wasn’t an anesthetic, then what chemical could cause such a prolonged unconsciousness?"
He Shancun paused for a moment, clearly startled by Zhou Ning’s words.
"What? Your soon-to-be brother-in-law did this? I remember you mentioning last night that he teaches chemistry, right?"
"Yes, give me a direction. I’m in their school’s chemistry laboratory."
"Don’t hurry; as inhaled anesthetics, we commonly use sevoflurane, desflurane, but there are also many similar substances like isoflurane and enflurane that can be used as anesthetics.
I remember reading in some magazine that with the presence of a catalyst, hexafluoroisopropanol can react with dimethoxymethane, and by adding some strong acid or such, one can produce sevoflurane. For someone proficient in chemistry, these wouldn’t be difficult tasks.
However, such a substance is gaseous and difficult to preserve, while the fluorane is a liquid with an aromatic smell, but it’s not very stable."
Zhou Ning was somewhat confused, yet he remembered these names.
"Got it. If I find these chemicals and they have Cui Guanglin’s fingerprints, that should be enough."
"Right, roughly speaking that’s the idea. Oh, and check the trash cans. If he used any, at least he would have thrown away bottles, gauze, or such nearby. This substance would turn into hydrohalic acid upon exposure to light or heat, which can be tested."
"Thanks; Xiaoyu is in your hands."
After hanging up, Zhou Ning looked at Mr. Zhao.
"Let’s start searching. Cui Guanglin’s fingerprints have already been collected. We need to look for bottles, gauze in the trash cans here, and if we find fluorane, hexafluoroisopropanol, and dimethoxymethane."
Mr. Zhao nodded.
"Don’t worry, I heard which characters and found them. Let’s get on with it!"
As he said that, he began to search all the lab benches. Zhou Ning glanced around and headed straight for the garbage can by the door. He opened it and saw a piece of gauze and a brown glass bottle on top, which he promptly extracted.
He collected fingerprints from the brown bottle and even without comparing, Zhou Ning noticed a mark along the edge of the fingerprints, clearly left by an adhesive bandage.
"Mr. Zhao, I found it!"
Mr. Zhao came over and placed the cable ties into the evidence bag.
"It looks like this person was in a hurry and didn’t manage to dispose of these things."
Zhou Ning nodded, putting all evidence bags into the investigation box and standing up.
"First period at eight o’clock; Cui Guanglin brought Xiaoyu here and stuffed her into the cupboard while she was unconscious. We’ve already wasted too much time. Let’s go see Mr. Qu and find out if there’s any new discovery."
The two men went downstairs, drove towards the gatehouse, and now that it was lunchtime, many students looked their way—the police car was too conspicuous on school grounds.
Arriving at the guard’s security room, they walked in and saw Mr. Qu gesturing.
"This Cui Guanglin seems to be very familiar with the campus surveillance systems. He avoided cameras when going to and from class, and when he couldn’t, he blended in with the students. I’ve found some footage; look here at 8:45, he goes out the side gate, following a few students.
Then at 8:59, he enters the staff dormitory. However, there are no cameras here. The on-duty guard just said their teaching staff’s floor surveillance has been broken for a long time. I don’t know where he was from 8:59 to 11:50."
Three hours of blank space. What could Cui Guanglin do in this time?
"Let’s go to the dormitory; isn’t the master already there?"
