Chapter 1233: Chapter 74: Black Ze Ming
——Wouldn’t you say you betrayed Mr. Blank?
The next second, Zhao Le’s expression changed slightly.
Although he didn’t know why Chen Mingming could appear in this place, he knew that every step that followed was crucial. One wrong step would mean total defeat… Zhao Le withdrew his gaze from behind Chen Mingming, seeing only the officer in charge of guarding the holding room standing a few steps away.
He wasn’t sure if there was anyone else outside the door.
Perhaps… the police knew Chen Mingming was his classmate, so they let him e over.
Zhao Le exhaled lightly and sat sideways on the single bed attached to the wall, saying softly, “Betrayal? If you say so… I won’t say anything. It would only be more detrimental to myself. Even if I maintain silence, the case won’t e to a halt. The longer the delay, the greater the torment for me. You should know, I still need to take care of my sister… I can’t let this drag on in the dark. If the case is not solved, the police might apply to extend the detention period, right? I… have no choice.”
Chen Mingming kept observing Zhao Le’s subtle expressions and movements. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, “Wang Liang, was he really killed by Mr. Blank?”
Zhao Le said, “I suppose so.”
“Suppose?” Chen Mingming frowned.
Zhao Le said, “By the time I got there, Wang Liang was indeed already dead.”
Chen Mingming said calmly, “But you’ve also said that you’ve never seen Mr. Blank. So, even if you went to the scene, you still missed each other… which means, whether it’s Mr. Blank or you yourself, both have the suspicion of killing Wang Liang.”
Zhao Le frowned, “You should have read the content of my munications with Mr. Blank.”
Chen Mingming said calmly, “But in fact, only the munication before and after the incident is available… there is no munication between during the incident. So, from when you went to Wang Liang’s apartment to when you started discussing follow-up plans online, there’s a genuine blank.”
Zhao Le said in a low voice, “The fact is, I’ve said all there is to say.”
Chen Mingming looked deeply at Zhao Le, “If I can think of this, so can the police… If you can’t produce real evidence to prove you were merely an acplice, it would be even more unfavorable for you.”
Zhao Le lowered his head in silence, and after a long pause, he slowly said, “Mingming… if the police let you e, then forget it. I have nothing more to say. Wang Liang was indeed dead before I arrived… but I truly don’t know how he died. I can only guess, that Wang Liang was most likely killed by Mr. Blank. I’ve said all that needs to be said… The conversation between me and Mr. Blank on the forum is also absolutely true. How to judge, I can only leave it to fate.”
Chen Mingming suddenly asked, “Do you think Mr. Blank would know that you would stand up and testify against him?”
Zhao Le’s gaze suddenly became plicated, and he said in a low voice, “It probably could be guessed, right? So if the police want to catch it, they’d better do it quickly.”
Chen Mingming understood that asking further at this moment wouldn’t yield much useful information unless he directly exposed himself here as Mr. Blank—but would Zhao Le believe that?
He was quite certain that the shop’s owner had tampered with him, causing him to forget part of this memory… He himself had forgotten, naturally, he could not prove it in front of Zhao Le.
“Take good care of yourself.” Chen Mingming’s face became somber, and he turned and left.
“Thank you for ing to see me, you’re leaving the country tomorrow… perhaps this is our last meeting…”
Chen Mingming didn’t pause, and when passing the guarding officer, he just slightly nodded.
…
It’s like facing the final big argument question of an exam paper, with only three minutes left for himself.
Inside the break room, Chen Mingming was holding a spoon, slowly stirring the coffee in the cup; it had been a while.
“Mingming, what are you doing here?” A voice came from Zhou Yusheng, who walked in and, seeing Chen Mingming’s absent-minded look, couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What are you thinking about?”
“The case.” Chen Mingming forced a smile.
“What do you think the doubts are?” Zhou Yusheng placed both hands on the table, looking at Chen Mingming and asked.
Chen Mingming frowned, “Based solely on Zhao Le’s confession and the content of the conversation, we still don’t know what happened before and after Wang Liang’s death, who the murderer is… still uncertain for now.”
Zhou Yusheng said, “Do you feel Zhao Le is more suspicious?”
Chen Mingming responded pragmatically, “The eyewitness only saw Zhao Le… unless someone else saw Mr. Blank. Otherwise, Mr. Blank exists merely as a pile of data on the internet. For now, Mr. Blank’s existence can only be considered virtual.”
Zhou Yusheng frowned, “This Mr. Blank shouldn’t be fictional; after all, besides the incident’s conversation, we can trace its munication with Zhao Le back over a year. But you’re right, in the hours before and after the incident, very little was mentioned in the munication, so it’s a blind spot of information. There is actually another doubt…”
Chen Mingming said, “You mean, the missing part of Wang Liang’s body?”
Zhou Yusheng nodded, “I just discussed it with Old Ma, and we both feel this act is very bizarre.”
“What do you think?” Chen Mingming asked directly.
Zhou Yusheng said, “We feel that if, according to Zhao Le, Mr. Blank really wanted to challenge the police, it has already done so, with no need to take away part of the body… From the remains, we can almost deduce the cause of death. But actually, to this extent, given the site’s treatment level, even knowing the cause of death, the help might not be much.”
“So the cause of death, perhaps it exposes something?” Chen Mingming pondered.
Zhou Yusheng nodded, “We all think the murderer wanted to cover something… However, this case probably requires a long-term battle. Unless Mr. Blank is also caught, otherwise how to proceed next, we are still clueless. During this time, about all we can do is repeatedly question Zhao Le.”
A long-term battle… perhaps it’s so for the police, but for Chen Mingming himself, the assessment period is only 24 hours.
Once the 24 hours pass, whether everything reverts to the state it was days ago, or something else happens, he doesn’t know… What he can think of now is that once the 24 hours pass, he probably can’t overtly appear as an officer, and his identity as Mr. Blank is likely to be exposed soon.
But once that happens, will he instantly regain his memories as Mr. Blank… and the truth will reveal itself.
Chen Mingming even thought of another possibility, that after the assessment period, his memory would only go up to before the assessment, and these few days of memory would also be erased… Then he would take the flight abroad tomorrow.
If thinking along this line, once he successfully goes abroad, even if his identity as Mr. Blank is confirmed, it would significantly increase the difficulty for the police to hunt him down.
Wait… if it weren’t for this power outage causing the body’s exposure, the discovery of the body might have been delayed even further, by which time whether this witness or that repair department owner, they would probably have pletely forgotten about it… all traces would truly disappear, and Zhao Le naturally would not surrender himself.
In some sense, this crime could already be considered a success.
“Get off work now, two nights not going back, your mother will scold me to death.”
Zhou Yusheng’s words interrupted Chen Mingming’s thoughts. In a moment of brief stupor, Chen Mingming nodded… Perhaps after tonight, there will be no this home anymore?
“Let’s make a trip to West Street.” Chen Mingming suddenly said while walking out the door.
“West Street? Why?” Zhou Yusheng asked in confusion.
Chen Mingming smiled, “Mom likes the clay pot congee at the night market there, did you forget?”
“Oh right…” Zhou Yusheng nodded, “You’re still the considerate one, if I don’t coax her tonight, my head won’t be quiet all night.”
The car slowly drove out of the parking lot, as Chen Mingming watched this place gradually recede, he suddenly felt that the past few days were both very long and very quick.
…
When the evening grew deeper, Nan Xiao Nan greeted Xiaobao and left the office carrying her belongings.
However, she didn’t leave the bureau immediately; instead, she quietly went to the front of the detention room.
The identity of a forensic doctor didn’t allow her to directly contact the suspect, so she tried another method… but she needed to be more cautious.
Zhao Le had actually been detained, and the case might soon be resolved… but Nan Xiao Nan wasn’t the kind of person who leaves things half done.
Zhao Le’s confession wasn’t entirely trustworthy… then have him spill the real truth.
She knew in her heart that without her cheating this time, the case wouldn’t have progressed so quickly… but since it had already reached this point, speeding it up a bit didn’t matter.
Her fingers traced a magic technique in the air… aside from being a Star Creation Saint Guide, she was also a master of Arcane Arts.
She flicked her fingers gently at the imprint in the air, and the cursed imprint began to disappear instantly… Nan Xiao Nan smiled slightly.
But suddenly something terrifying made her smile freeze… the imprint that had dissipated halfway was now regrouping bit by bit in front of her.
Nan Xiao Nan suddenly felt her hair stand on end, as if encountering a natural enemy, her whole body tensed instantly… she turned around immediately, as that eerie sensation came from behind her.
“Mr. Luo!”
“Miss Nan, are you leaving work? Not going yet?”
Nan Xiao Nan was startled for a moment… her mind instinctively went into accelerated mode. However, as soon as this state had begun, a dizziness suddenly made her footsteps unsteady, and she leaned against the wall.
She sighed inwardly; these past two days, the number of times she accelerated mentally was too many, and her body was already overwhelmed.
But just then, a warm current suddenly flowed into her body from her limbs, alleviating that extreme fatigue… She was restored to the state from about ten seconds ago.
Nan Xiao Nan blinked and asked some hesitantly, “Mr. Luo, does this case have anything to do with you?”
“It does have a little connection.” Luo Qiu nodded without specifically hiding anything.
Nan Xiao Nan was somewhat perplexed… she couldn’t understand how such a super powerful person could be involved in a murder case among ordinary people.
Suddenly, Nan Xiao Nan was startled—her magic technique had been stopped, and her technique was meant to make Zhao Le confess the truth, which meant Luo Qiu was on Zhao Le’s side?
Then her using Star Creation Creature to have Zhao Le caught back, wasn’t it…
“I… I don’t know.” Nan Xiao Nan’s anxiety grew stronger.
“It’s okay, this way it seems the oute is better.” Luo Qiu casually smiled.
She was puzzled by what the so-called effect referred to, but she had already decided not to ask further. Moreover, from the fact that her technique had been stopped, it seemed the other party didn’t intend for her to get more involved.
“I’ll take another day off tomorrow,” Nan Xiao Nan said earnestly.
Luo Qiu said nonchalantly, “Miss Nan, do you have any other places to go?”
“No,” Nan Xiao Nan shook her head, “Tonight, I’m still planning to continue writing what you need.”
Luo Qiu nodded, making a gesture of invitation with his hand, “Then let’s go together, I’m going back now too.”
Nan Xiao Nan hesitated for a moment, and finally bit her lip, gathered her courage, and walked closer to Luo Qiu… As she stepped near him, everything around her flew past rapidly and was replaced with a new environment.
They had already arrived at the door of Luo Qiu’s house.
…
…
Due to circling around West Street before returning, by the time they arrived home, it was already close to midnight.
The living room lights were off; only a desk lamp was turned on before the sofa.
When Zhou Yusheng gently pushed the door open and entered, he saw his wife leaning against the side of the sofa, wearing glasses, and looking at a photo album in her hands.
“You’re back.” His wife hurriedly put down the album and took off the blanket covering her, “I made some soup; I’ll heat it for you all.”
Due to not wanting his mother to worry, when it was time to return, Chen Mingming asked Zhou Yusheng not to mention his hospitalization.
Zhou Yusheng, thinking low blood sugar wasn’t too serious, thought for a while and agreed.
“e, have something to eat.” Zhou Yusheng lifted the box he held in his hand.
It was the food his wife liked.
“What are you looking at?”
Chen Mingming had his mother sit down and sat beside her. Zhou Yusheng sat with them, and the three squeezed together on a two-seat sofa.
“Looking at pictures of you when you were young.”
During kindergarten performances, elementary school recitations.
During sports days, traveling.
During birthdays, during the New Year.
Page by page, the album was flipped, and gradually his wife fell asleep, leaning on Zhou Yusheng’s shoulder, as he too was tired and fell asleep, embracing her.
Chen Mingming eased his movements to put a blanket over the two, after staring for a moment, he turned off the lamp and then stepped out.
Half an hour later, Chen Mingming returned to his other home… This was originally a place his mother bought after his parents divorced.
In a few days’ time, many places in the house gathered dust… Chen Mingming said nothing, returned to his room, and turned on the puter.
“If this is really about me, there must be something left behind…” Chen Mingming took a deep breath, clicking folder after folder on his puter, “Information, I need more information.”
He suddenly felt as if he were a castaway on a cliff, clutching a sapling, while a venomous snake coiled around the sapling.
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