SFTD -Chapter 305 Bride Who Fell from the Building (Final)

Xiao Liang looked completely confused. Seeing Zhou Hai’s smile, he suddenly felt a bit uneasy and asked timidly:

“Call who?”

Zhou Hai slapped Xiao Liang on the shoulder.

“You idiot. Call Xu Jun out. We already know how he got out of Room 527!”

After Xiao Liang finished explaining everything to Xu Jun, Xu Jun still looked somewhat puzzled. Zhou Hai grew anxious watching him—after all, Xu Jun was part of Huang Zhongsheng’s team, so he could only help a bit more.

With that thought, he carried the items into the interrogation room.

Behind him, Xu Jun wore a smug smile. Xiao Liang shook his fist at him, but Xu Jun didn’t care at all and casually followed them back. Bags of various sizes were brought in.

Hearing the noise, Li Hongyi opened his eyes. When he saw the bags of documents, his eyelids twitched, and he quickly looked away—but this time, he no longer pretended to be unconscious.

Zhou Hai held up an evidence bag containing several large-flower lily-of-the-valley blossoms and shook it in front of him.

“This is lily-of-the-valley, right? Quite expensive stuff.”

“I checked your purchase records—two lily-of-the-valley corsages cost over four thousand. You really spared no expense for the woman you liked.”

“Oh, and don’t think we can’t trace you just because you used Du Haipeng’s name and an unregistered phone number.”

Zhou Hai spoke calmly, but Li Hongyi became visibly unsettled and adjusted his posture, glancing at him.

“Who are you?”

Zhou Hai leaned against the table.

“I’m a police officer.”

“Do you want me to say the name of the woman you wanted to marry?”

“That shouldn’t be a secret, should it?”

“But your corsage seems incomplete—did she not notice?”

With every sentence Zhou Hai spoke, Li Hongyi’s breathing grew heavier. By the end, his respiration was clearly audible.

Zhou Hai didn’t give him time to recover and continued: “These two lilies were found under the driver’s seat. Documents were hidden in the spare tire compartment, and there was also a USB drive.”

“I think the city economic investigation unit is going to be busy. After the murder case is closed, they’ll take over the loan fraud issues.”

“Now I just want to ask you—why did you kill Zhang Huihui? The child in her womb was yours.”

Li Hongyi looked at Zhou Hai. The man barely blinked, staring straight at him the entire time. The pressure was suffocating—fear rising from the depths of his soul—but he refused to admit it.

Zhou Hai smiled slightly and gestured behind him.

Da Mao handed him a photo.

“I almost forgot. We found a pair of shoes in your trunk—Berluti, 2015 model. Clean, no stains, nothing unusual.”

“But look at this.”

Zhou Hai placed a footprint photo in front of him.

“You might think it’s just a shoeprint and not important evidence.”

“But everyone walks differently. Even in identical shoes, the prints are different. We can compare and confirm whether this is yours.”

“I can also send your shoes for testing—the dust in the sole seams matches residue left from the recent typhoon. If it matches the dust composition from the balcony of Room 529, it becomes valid evidence.”

“Now tell me—why did you kill Zhang Huihui?”

Zhou Hai wasn’t lying. Everything he said was scientifically and legally feasible, and such evidence was admissible in court.

Although Li Hongyi wasn’t a professional, he understood that these explanations were real. His carefully constructed cover suddenly felt like childish tricks—easily exposed.

The interrogation room fell into silence, filled only with breathing.

Zhou Hai didn’t press further, but the tension made Li Hongyi feel oxygen-deprived. Sweat appeared on his forehead.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Hai’s phone buzzed twice.

He looked down—it was Sister Zeng sending a forensic report.

They had won the gamble.

DNA from Li Hongyi had been extracted from the lily-of-the-valley stems.

Zhou Hai handed the phone to Xu Jun and Da Mao. Both let out a long breath.

Li Hongyi understood immediately: this was new evidence.

He gave a faint smile.

“There’s no need to hide anything anymore.”

He straightened his posture.

“If I confess now, does it count as voluntary surrender?”

Da Mao picked up a pen and looked at him.

“That depends on what you confess.”

“And whether it counts as a major meritorious performance.”

Li Hongyi nodded and began speaking.

“I didn’t plan to kill Zhang Huihui. It was forced.”

“She canceled her wedding and wanted to find someone else to marry. How could I agree?”

“She told me she was pregnant—my child.”

“But you should know… she had slept with at least ten or twenty men. I would never marry a woman like that.”

“I only wanted to scare her. She knew my fiancée, and she threatened to send our intimate photos to her, and expose my business dealings. So I lost control.”

“On the evening of the 19th, I went to Room 529 of the Lijing Hotel.”

“A friend of mine worked there and gave me a key card.”

“The next day we were going to hold a small engagement banquet there, so I had all my things sent over and even tried on my suit.”

“Around 11 p.m., after seeing her missed calls again and again, I decided to go see her. But when I left, I ran into a group of seven or eight people on the fifth floor, so I went to Room 527 instead.”

“She was surprised to see me and pulled me in. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time… so we ended up sleeping together.”

“Afterward she asked if I had come to marry her. I denied it, and we argued.”

“She said she had evidence in her laptop and would expose the loan fraud if I refused.”

“I was scared. Really scared.”

“If she told my fiancée, everything would be over—because my fiancée is the daughter of our bank manager.”

“She told me to rest while she cleaned up and said we might as well get engaged on the 20th, before my actual engagement.”

“She took my suit, hung it up, and started getting ready. I thought she was mentally unstable, but I was too tired and fell asleep.”

“I woke up when the doorbell rang. She gave me a towel and pushed me into the bathroom.”

“Through the glass, I saw her take the lily-of-the-valley boxes from my suit and pin one corsage onto my jacket while holding the other.”

“At that moment, I decided I had to kill her, or I was finished.”

“After I came out and got dressed, she wanted me to pin the corsage on her.”

“I said I needed to contact a friend first and suggested we take photos to celebrate.”

“She loved taking selfies. I knew she couldn’t resist.”

“The crystal chandelier in the hotel atrium was a signature feature, and she wouldn’t refuse that.”

“I pulled out a chair.”

“She wasn’t wearing shoes and tried to run. I told her not to dirty her feet.”

“I used my phone wrapped in a towel, carried her up, and placed her on the chair near the railing.”

“Before she could steady herself, I pushed her down.”

“I didn’t even dare look.”

“I dragged the chair back, returned to the room, threw the towel into the bathtub, smashed the laptop, and soaked it in water until the screen smoked.”

“Then I took the two lily-of-the-valley boxes, put on gloves, climbed out through the balcony, crossed over Room 528, and returned to Room 529.”

“I changed into casual clothes, put on a hat and sunglasses, pulled my suitcase, and left.”

Xu Jun exhaled deeply.

“So Zhang Huihui was involved in your loan fraud? Or she helped you bring in clients?”

Li Hongyi looked at him, seemingly surprised that the police had figured that out so quickly. Since he had already admitted to murder, nothing else mattered anymore, so he nodded.

“Yes. She worked with me. Her family’s business accounts were also an important channel for our money laundering.”

Zhou Hai stood up and tossed the evidence bag to Xu Jun.

“You handle the rest. Give me the report tomorrow.”

Without waiting for a response, he left the interrogation room.

Every time he heard a suspect’s confession, Zhou Hai didn’t feel relieved—only heavier, as if something in his understanding of human nature had shifted again.

He needed a break.

He knocked on the next door and walked outside.