SFTD -Chapter 13 The Faceless Female Corpse (Part 5)

Soon, the group arrived at the Zhong residence.

The Zhong family lived in a luxury duplex apartment in an upscale residential complex. Combined, the two floors covered nearly three hundred square meters.

For a couple working in government agencies, the price of such a home had clearly exceeded what their salaries alone could reasonably support.

Xu Biao and the investigators conducted a thorough search of Zhong Yishan’s room on the second floor.

They only found Zhong Yishan’s laptop. Her cellphone and schoolbag were nowhere to be seen.

Captain Wang was talking with Zhong’s parents about something. Zhou Hai told Xu Biao to take all of Zhong Yishan’s diaries as well, to be used later for comparison and investigation purposes. Then he went downstairs and stopped beside Captain Wang.

Removing his gloves, Zhou Hai gave Mr. and Mrs. Zhong a slight nod.

“We need to take Zhong Yishan’s laptop and some of her diaries for investigative and identification purposes. Don’t worry, everything will be returned untouched afterward.”

Mrs. Zhong stood up and glanced at her husband. Seeing that he had no objection, she nodded.

“I’ve already prepared Shanshan’s clothes. Please help dress her in them. Thank you.”

After everyone left, Zhou Hai sat silently in the car while Captain Wang kept sighing.

“Ah…Such a young girl, right in the prime of her life, and now she’s gone just like that. Xiao Peng and the others just checked the neighborhood surveillance footage. Zhong Yishan left in a taxi at two in the afternoon on June 22nd. The license plate wasn’t captured clearly, but the surveillance video has already been sent to the tech team for enhancement analysis. Oh! It’s already this late. Let’s head back for a briefing meeting, and tomorrow we’ll go to the school together.”

Xu Biao glanced at Zhou Hai. In situations like this, he usually respected Zhou Hai’s opinion, since Zhou Hai was currently acting leader of Group Two.

Zhou Hai paused briefly before nodding.

“Alright. I’d like to take a look there as well. Those close friends of hers are key people to investigate. Also, Captain Wang, could you check the financial income of Zhong’s parents? Two government employees living in a mansion like that seems somewhat unreasonable.”

Xu Biao leaned forward from the side.

“Yeah, and that Zhang Yang too. When the two of them came to the center, they arrived in a Cayenne. According to Mrs. Zhong, the five families are all very close. So is there some kind of conflict of interest between them?”

Captain Wang smiled.

“I noticed that too just now. I already sent a message to the investigators asking them to look into it. We should get some results tonight.”

8:00 AM, June 24, 2014

As promised, Zhou Hai drove Xu Biao to No. 1 High School.

Captain Wang was standing across the street making a phone call. Seeing them arrive, he waved his cellphone at the two men.

The call was from the investigator. He had already compiled detailed information on Zhong Yishan’s parents and sent it over. After taking a quick look, Captain Wang immediately handed the phone to Zhou Hai.

Zhou Hai took the phone.

It read:

Zhong Zhiqiang, male, 45 years old.

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Dongnan City Land Bureau. He had previously filed property declarations, and according to the records, the primary source of funds for their home purchase came from compensation received from the demolition of old houses owned by both sets of parents.

His wife, Liu Xiaoyan, female, 43 years old.

Director of the Urban and Rural Planning Department of Dongnan City. Though the position seemed unremarkable, every construction project required approval and regulation from their department.

After reading this nearly flawless profile, Zhou Hai frowned instead.

Just from the information alone, it was obvious that although the two worked in different departments, their jobs were closely connected.

Returning the phone to Captain Wang, Zhou Hai said:

“This information came from their workplace records. It would be more accurate to investigate through unofficial channels as well.”

Captain Wang rubbed his buzz cut helplessly.

“We’re short on manpower! Another team is already investigating the murder weapon. I only sent one investigator to verify things at their workplaces. Do you think the June 23rd case is somehow related to the parents’ occupations?”

Zhou Hai shook his head.

“Forget it for now. Let’s head to the school first. I just have a lingering suspicion, but I haven’t figured it out yet.”

The group walked to the school gate.

Captain Wang made several calls before they were finally allowed inside.

Nowadays every family only had one child, so the school was extremely cautious. Naturally, they didn’t want more students being affected.

This was a prestigious high school, famous even throughout Ludong Province. Any parent in Dongnan City with the slightest bit of means desperately tried to get their child admitted here. Almost every student came from an influential family.

Besides, final exams were approaching, and student performance was directly tied to teacher bonuses, so the teachers didn’t want their classes disrupted either.

But the case still had to be investigated.

Principal Zhang reluctantly agreed.

However, he made one condition: minimize the impact on the students as much as possible.

Any questioning had to be completed within the day, and a school teacher had to be present during all interviews.

Captain Wang readily agreed and quietly led the group into the campus.

Only Captain Wang and a few others wore police uniforms; most were dressed in plain clothes.

Following the dean of student affairs upstairs to the second floor, they temporarily requisitioned the guidance office and the three neighboring offices.

After waiting for a while, the homeroom teacher came hurrying over with a stack of textbooks tucked under her arm.

She was a slightly plump middle-aged woman. Brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she said to Captain Wang:

“My apologies! I was just in class discussing the school’s exam arrangements and didn’t answer your call in time.”

Captain Wang smiled and waved dismissively.

“Teacher Jin, there’s no need to be so polite. We’re the ones interrupting your classes. But because time is tight, could you first help us call over Chen Qiushi from Grade 11 Class 7 and Wang Yu from Class 9? We need to ask them a few questions. And afterward, we’d also like you to stay. We have several questions for you as well.”

Teacher Jin nodded and checked her watch.

“Alright. The dean and I will notify them separately. That’ll be faster.”

As she spoke, the two made their calls.

Less than five minutes later, there came a knock at the door, and a boy and a girl entered.

They had already met Ma Keke and Zhang Yang earlier—both exceptionally attractive teenagers—but unexpectedly, Chen Qiushi and Wang Yu were just as striking.

Chen Qiushi was already over 180 centimeters tall. He wore the trendy long bangs popular among boys his age, completely covering his eyebrows. His narrow eyes drooped slightly downward.

His hairstyle resembled Zhou Hai’s somewhat, causing Xu Biao to take a few extra glances at him.

After entering, Wang Yu greeted the teacher politely, but Chen Qiushi said nothing. He simply shoved both hands into his pockets.

Wang Yu was a sweet-looking girl.

Her large eyes carried a trace of fear, and ever since entering the room, she kept glancing nervously at the police officers.

Her hands were clasped behind her back, and her toes continuously rubbed against each other after she entered.

Several flower decorations on her white leather shoes swayed constantly with the movement.

She was nervous.

But this kind of nervousness wasn’t unusual.

Most ordinary people became nervous when facing the police. The uniform itself carried a powerful sense of pressure.

Captain Wang divided the questioning assignments.

The instructor and a teacher would speak with Wang Yu.

He himself chose to speak with the homeroom teacher, while Deputy Captain Bao would interview Chen Qiushi.

Zhou Hai stepped forward.

“I’ll go with Deputy Captain Bao and listen in. Xu Biao, stay behind and learn from the instructor.”

Hearing Zhou Hai’s words, Captain Wang turned back and gave him a grateful smile.

The three groups split up and began their interviews.

Zhou Hai and Deputy Captain Bao entered a small office barely over ten square meters in size.

A teacher from the student affairs office sat quietly in one corner of the room.

After everyone sat down, the air-conditioning felt pleasantly cool, a sharp contrast to the scorching heat outside.

Deputy Captain Bao tried to make his expression appear less stern and patted Chen Qiushi on the shoulder.

“Come, Student Chen, have a seat. We just want to understand the situation.”

But Chen Qiushi still remained silent.

He sat down in a chair staring at the table while Zhou Hai and Deputy Captain Bao sat opposite him.

Deputy Captain Bao opened the interview record and began questioning.

“Do you know Zhong Yishan?”