SFTD -Chapter 124 Campus Gunfire (Part 5)

While Zhou Hai was performing the autopsy, Chu Menghan led a team to the apartment rented by Lin Jiajia and Sun Jingya.

The apartment was located on the east side of the main gate of Southeast University. The residential complex was quite upscale, consisting entirely of hotel-style apartment buildings, with concierge service and surveillance cameras on the ground floor. Chu Menghan motioned to a nearby officer.

“Pull the surveillance footage. Check the times they entered and exited the building.”

One officer stayed behind to handle that, while the rest went upstairs directly to Room 2305. The corridor was spotless and brightly lit. A cleaning sign hung on the door.

Chu Menghan raised an eyebrow. This is too luxurious—they even have housekeeping cleaning the rooms?

But this also meant it would be extremely difficult to leave any traces. She exhaled and used the access card to open the door.

As expected, the room was extremely clean. Wang Man, carrying an inspection lamp borrowed from Xu Biao, carefully scanned the room but found nothing. Even the mop marks on the floor were still clearly visible.

Everyone put on shoe covers and gloves before entering.

It was a two-bedroom, one-living-room, one-bathroom apartment. Unlike a standard layout, there was no kitchen. The two girls had decorated the place very warmly.

One wall of the living room was covered with photos—memories of their university life. Lin Jiajia didn’t have many clothes in her bedroom, since it was winter break. They had only stayed behind for a performance rehearsal; otherwise, they would have already gone home—and this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

The search continued carefully.

Chu Menghan walked out of the bedroom and stood in the living room, looking at the closed door. Suddenly, she felt a flicker of unease. She raised her phone and took several photos.

Wang Man walked over.

“We didn’t find much. The long hairs we collected are most likely from either the victim or the other girl. What are you doing?”

Chu Menghan pointed at the entrance door.

“Compared to normal apartments, these hotel-style units have two differences: no kitchen, and the door structure. This is a wooden door with a gap underneath. And look—how many extra locks does it have?”

Wang Man looked closely and realized there were four security mechanisms: a chain lock, a latch, and others. Normally, no one would install this many locks.

“What were they afraid of? Were they being followed or threatened?”

Chu Menghan nodded.

“It looks like it. Pack all the bedsheets from both rooms and send them to the center. There are many things we can’t see with the naked eye—it’s safer to have Zhou Hai run a full forensic check.”

“Nothing more here. Let’s go to the school.”

Before leaving, she glanced again at the photo wall and took pictures of every photo in order. Perhaps the killer was among them.

At Southeast University, College of Science and Technology, third-year faculty office.

Chu Menghan and Wang Man sat in the office. After repeated confirmation from several teachers and students, they slowly accepted the fact that the two girls had been involved in a serious incident. After all, they had been rehearsing a drama performance together that morning—and by afternoon, police were delivering the news.

Wang Man recorded information about the girls’ school life while interviewing others.

Chu Menghan, however, was scrolling through maps on her phone.

They had entered through the main gate earlier, but the campus was large and the initial route hadn’t revealed anything unusual. However, after checking Baidu Maps, she discovered that the College of Science and Technology was at the northernmost part of Southeast University.

Behind it was a north gate—a small vehicle exit rather than a grand entrance. Outside it was Zhique Road, and about 1.5 kilometers south was the crime scene.

Chu Menghan stood up immediately.

“You stay here and continue the investigation. I’m going to the north gate.”

Before Wang Man could respond, she had already left with a team, driving toward the north gate.

It was a holiday period, and apart from students preparing for performances, the campus was nearly empty. Even the crows in the woods sounded eerie.

Not long after, they reached a grassy area outside the forest. Sculptures stood scattered around, along with a musical fountain.

But two objects on the grass stood out sharply.

Before the car even stopped, Chu Menghan rushed out. On closer inspection, they were two down jackets—one white and one blue—both heavily stained with blood.

She signaled behind her.

“Photograph them with directional markers, then bag them as evidence and send them to Zhou Hai.”

She followed the blood trail through the grass. Not far away was a small parking lot, mostly empty. The blood pooled in one parking space. A small hill blocked visibility from the teaching buildings.

She immediately called Zhou Hai, unable to hide her excitement.

“Dr. Zhou, I’m at Southeast University. Guess what I found?”

Zhou Hai rubbed his sore neck and thought for a moment.

“Coats? The primary crime scene?”

Chu Menghan’s smile froze.

“Can’t you let me feel a bit of accomplishment? That’s really discouraging.”

“How did you know?”

“The amount of blood on the body doesn’t match. With such severe gunshot wounds, they couldn’t have run far. So the primary scene must be close to the secondary impact site. Has Xiao Hu finished analyzing the surveillance footage?”

Chu Menghan’s expression darkened further. Zhou Hai had hit every point accurately.

“Fine. I’ll send the coats over. Start searching for bullet casings. Let’s see how lucky we are.”

“Wait. Search for casings starting from where the coats were found, in the opposite direction of their escape route—within 100 meters and a 30-degree cone. They couldn’t have run far; they likely paused there. Otherwise, all the blood wouldn’t be on the coats.”

Chu Menghan muttered “mm” and hung up.

“You cold-hearted rock… so annoying.”

Behind her, an officer couldn’t help laughing.

“Dr. Zhou really is amazing… but he talks way too harshly—worse than the captain!”

Chu Menghan narrowed her eyes.

“My fists are pretty amazing too. Want to try them?”

The officer immediately bolted away.

Everyone spread out, crouching and combing through the grass. After more than an hour, the sky grew dark and snow seemed likely to fall. Chu Menghan grew increasingly anxious.

Suddenly, someone shouted:

“Found it!”

“Captain! I found the shell casing!”

He ran over holding an evidence bag. Chu Menghan took it and immediately smiled.

“Well done. Notify Wang Man—we’re heading back to the center for an emergency meeting. Have him continue the investigation and come over quickly. Also, start a full campus search for the Type-92 service pistol. Trash bins, lawns, drainage ditches, roadside bushes—leave no place unchecked.”