In a dark room, a few people were gathered around a projector, focusing intently on the person in the images without making a sound. They held their breath as they watched the film, lasting over an hour, from start to finish, and the image always stayed on one person. His mouth moved, and his calm voice echoed in the dim room.
The monotony of the footage didn't affect the people sitting there; they listened attentively and ticulously. So even took notes on the details ntioned by the person in the images. Spread out on the table were a few sheets of paper and a file folder, a lamp, two ashtrays, a thermos, and several cups, with steam rising from the water inside them.
The video ended with the back of the last person, and a girl appeared on the screen. Among the people present, so recognized her while others found her unfamiliar. She was speaking with an extrely awkward expression, perhaps due to shyness in front of the cara, occasionally lowering her head and mumbling.
"Huh?" Suddenly, one of them voiced a question, and the screen froze on the girl pouting, while the lamp on the table was turned on.
"Director Xu, did you notice sothing?" The question ca from Xiao Lin, the only one standing with arms crossed against the wall. He had seen such scenes countless tis, but this ti, watching it again in the dormitory of the police station, it felt different.
"Hmm, there's sothing strange." Xu Ming glanced at his notes. "There's a significant discrepancy in the testimonies of these two, and another point is that the Director Zhao they ntioned has never been found."
"That's not the key point." Xiao Lin shook his head. "Can anyone see the blind spot in the testimonies of these two?"
"Boss, you're asking us to watch this—is it because one of these two is lying?" Shi Shuai rubbed his sore neck, still puzzled as to why.
"Neither of them is lying; it's just that what they saw and heard was different." Initially, Xiao Lin also had this misconception, but thinking it through carefully, this possibility wasn't likely.
"The girl in the footage witnessed Yao Zheng killing Xiao i, but Li Zhenghan didn't ntion this; instead, he revealed that the person Yao Zheng fancied was not Xiao i. Here's the portrait I brought; take a look at who it is?" Xiao Lin placed the portrait of the woman described by Li Zhenghan on the table.
"Ye Zi?" Shi Shuai was the first to grab it, mouth agape in surprise. "Wasn't she always with Li Zhenghan? What's going on with her being Yao Zheng's woman?"
"The deceased Xiao i was just a scapegoat for Ye Zi. The real person behind the operations was this woman nad Ye Zi. What we saw and heard was rely an illusion. The relationship between Ah San and Xiao i that Director Zhao ntioned earlier was a fact, and what Guo Guo saw was also true. This was a play staged by Yao Zheng to divert attention. Of course, there was an elent of genuine acting involved."
"Why did Yao Zheng kill Xiao i?"
"Because of Ye Zi!"
"I don't think that's the case." Hua Qingyi, who had been silent, tilted his head. "If Xiao i's death was because of Ye Zi, there's no need for Yao Zheng to do it multiple tis, and we still haven't clarified Xiao i's role in all this."
Hua Qingyi rewound the footage. "What Guo Guo said gives evidence that Xiao i indeed had so connection with Yao Zheng. She said she didn't do anything and asked him to believe her, the kind of words a woman says in defense of her man. If she had nothing to do with Yao Zheng, she would normally ask, 'What do you want to do? I don't know anything,' etc."
"Guo Guo's testimony targeted Xiao i's death relating to Yao Zheng, while Li Zhenghan's testimony implied that Xiao i was not directly related. In fact, there was indeed a connection between Xiao i and Ah San, and she possessed a chip, which was the last thing Yao Zheng wanted to get his hands on."
"Boss, can we interpret it this way? Xiao i and Ye Zi were both working at a certain club, and we have confird that the person in Xiao i's room was Ye Zi. Could they be friends? Suppose both were involved in selling illegal drugs, and Xiao i, to be on the safe side, made so extra moves. This might explain things better, and it's not that only one woman could do these things." Shi Shuai suddenly interjected, prompting several people to nod simultaneously.
"Xiao i made corresponding records during every transaction, so she held evidence against Yao Zheng but wasn't aware of Ye Zi's relationship with Yao Zheng, which ultimately led to her demise."
The light above Xiao Lin's head cast the image aside, and he then wrote down a few doubts in his mind on the board. "According to Li Zhenghan, Yao Zheng's actual participation in selling prohibited drugs should date back to the early days of his tenure, or even earlier." Speaking here, Xiao Lin jotted down a few key terms next to this point: 'Han Fei, abandoned brick kiln factory.'
"Boss, what is the abandoned brick kiln factory? Who is Han Fei?" Shi Shuai expressed skepticism about the keywords Xiao Lin added later.
"This was an underground manufacturing plant that Qing Yi and I cracked before you all joined the North District." Xiao Lin briefly introduced. "The abandoned brick kiln factory was established three years ago. The original developer immigrated abroad for so reason. In fact, this person eventually ended up in a deep ditch in Beigong. We have already identified the person from the excavated body, and he was one among them. In life, he was a businessman and was processing immigration."
"Why did Yao Zheng kill this person?"
"The businessman wasn't killed by Yao Zheng, but by Han Fei." Xiao Lin paused. "The person who took over the transfer procedures at the ti was the forr head of the North District Planning Departnt. During the handling of the issues, this businessman discovered that the brick kiln factory he had set up had been tampered with, and upon uncovering the secret, he wanted to blackmail, which led to his outco."
"Wasn't it his own factory?"
"I'll explain this later." Xiao Lin continued to write down the second point on the board: "The Hengfei Group was established in the North District slum; keywords: Yan Juanjuan, land planning, money."
"Let explain this matter." Hua Qingyi addressed the content on Xiao Lin's board and distributed the information he held to the others. "What we now see as the Hengfei Group was originally a slum in the North District, with approximately over a hundred households. The drawings you have in hand are an initial city planning map of Beigong, marked by . Behind this map is a redevelopnt project and a renovation plan issued by the municipal governnt at that ti." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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