Chapter 21: Investigating the Case, Silly Person Confronts Wu Yong

The next day, Lin Mansion.

Knock knock knock!

Outside a sealed room on the second floor, Zhang Wei knocked on the door.

"What do you want~ Sleeping in on the weekend, aren't you?" From inside the room, came Zhao Xiaoxiao's extremely dissatisfied voice.

"Today I have to go out and run errands, so I won't be coming back. I've made you two simple dishes for lunch, remember to heat them up yourself and eat!"

Zhang Wei, like an old father, reminded from outside the door.

"Oh, so annoying!"

"Alright, alright, continue sleeping then. I'm leaving now... Wait, I forgot to ask you, did you swipe that microwave from next door?"

"Stop bothering me, I want to sleep!"

Hearing the particularly impatient voice from inside, Zhang Wei shook his head repeatedly.

Why is there such a big gap between young people like Zhao Xiaoxiao and himself?

Aren't young people supposed to be full of vigor and rise early?

How come she lazes in bed until 12 o'clock every day, missing out on two mornings during the weekend?

But Zhang Wei didn't want to interfere too much, after all, he was not her real dad, her real dad was living right next door.

He quickly left Lin Mansion and, after calculating the time, headed straight to his destination.

...

Central Ring, Honghua Road.

Honghua Road's location in Central Ring was quite decent, with many school districts nearby.

And here was the workplace of the deceased, Lu Mei.

Honghua Road Private High School.

At the entrance of the high school, Zhang Wei stood waiting.

Soon after, Xia Qianyue arrived and waved at Zhang Wei from a distance.

Today, she was not wearing the Martial Association field staff uniform, but instead a set of white sports shorts, revealing her tender and long white legs, and a white tight sports top that perfectly outlined her exquisite upper body curve, a pity that her chest was flat, which was a big regret.

"Indeed, young people should be full of vigor!"

Seeing Xia Qianyue's youthful attire, Zhang Wei couldn't help but sigh.

"Zhang Wei, you haven't been waiting long, have you?"

"No, I just got here, and I know you don't like to be late!"

"That's good!" Xia Qianyue nodded, pointing to the entrance of the high school, "Let's go in now, not sure if there is anyone inside this weekend."

"There should be some people, many students are boarders, so there should be on-duty teachers. It's just hard to say whether we will meet someone who was familiar with the deceased."

As he spoke, Zhang Wei led Xia Qianyue to the gatekeeper's room at the school entrance; the gatekeeper had already noticed the two of them.

"Old man, we are from the Martial Association, here to investigate something..." Xia Qianyue took out her Martial Association ID, and imitating Zhang Wei's action, flashed it in front of the old man.

"Oh, didn't you come over last night?" The gatekeeper seemed to remember the events of the previous day, asking with surprise.

Xia Qianyue was clearly stunned by the question.

But Zhang Wei immediately reacted, smiling and chiming in, "Old man, there were too few people last night, we couldn't get to the bottom of it, so we came again today, didn't we?"

"Oh, that's true, yesterday was Saturday, everyone had just got off for the weekend. Today they need to prepare for Monday's classes, there might be more people in the offices, you guys should go and ask there."

Upon hearing this, the gatekeeper thought it made sense and opened the school gate to let them in.

Zhang Wei didn't act immediately but continued to press the gatekeeper: "Old man, do you know who was close to Teacher Lu Mei? We need to investigate, but could you provide us with some leads?"

"Ah, what a pity about Teacher Lu Mei, such a nice girl, how did such a thing happen..."

First, the gatekeeper lamented, then after thinking: "You should go ask the people in the office on the second floor. Teacher Lu worked there; colleagues in the same office should know more."

"Okay, thank you, old man!"

Zhang Wei quickly thanked him and then led Xia Qianyue straight to the second-floor office.

Teaching building, second-floor office.

Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue quickly found Lu Mei's workstation, and they were in luck - someone was just at the workstation next door.

"From the Martial Association, right? My colleague said you asked around yesterday, why have you come again today?"

A round-faced female teacher with glasses looked at Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue with a somewhat curious expression.

"Weren't you here yesterday?"

Zhang Wei glanced at the woman's work badge; the teacher's surname was Feng.

"Teacher Feng, here's the thing," he began, "it was too late yesterday, and we felt we wouldn't get much information, so we had to come again early this morning. We hope you can cooperate, and we'll just ask a few simple questions."

As he spoke, he spread his hands, showing a look of helplessness.

"Oh…"

Teacher Feng didn't suspect anything and nodded, "Then go ahead and ask. Lu Mei and I will be sitting next door, so if you need to know anything, just ask me."

Just as Zhang Wei was about to organize his language to ask questions, Xia Qianyue couldn't hold back: "Among Lu Mei's friends, is there any left-handed person?"

"Left-handed?" Teacher Feng shook her head. "I don't think so..."

"Oh, none, huh..."

Xia Qianyue tried to hide her disappointment.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei was about to ask another question.

"So among the teachers at the school, are there any left-handed ones?" Xia Qianyue interrupted again.

Zhang Wei: "???"

Although Teacher Feng didn't understand why the two in front of her were focusing on left-handed people, she thought for a moment and replied, "Teacher Xie, who teaches physical education, seems to be left-handed. I once saw him playing basketball, and his shooting motion was reversed."

"Really? Where is he?" Xia Qianyue grew excited, her eyes sparkling.

"He took leave three days ago to go back to his hometown. I have his friend circle, look..."

Teacher Feng said, opening the WeChat app on her phone, and then showed them a friend circle post.

[Haha, friends, I'm home! (Cheers) 'Location: Southwest Region of Dragon Country...']

In the friend circle, there was a photo of Teacher Xie, but what was more important was the time and location the post was made – the update was from two days ago, and the place was more than 500 kilometers away from Dongfang.

Clearly, he wasn't the murderer!

"This..." At the sight of the friend circle post, the light in Xia Qianyue's eyes faded.

"Silly, don't interrupt, let me do this!"

Zhang Wei quickly pulled her behind him, taking over to ask the questions.

"Teacher Feng, has Teacher Lu behaved in any way you'd consider abnormal lately?"

"Abnormal? I'm not quite sure..."

"Like, what kind of personality did she have before, and has there been any change recently, or something that seems out of place? Also, does she have a boyfriend, or any close friends outside school?"

"She seems to have a boyfriend. We talked about gossip before, but this boyfriend has never come to school, and I've never seen him. As for abnormal behavior, I just remembered that Lu Mei had been quite glum before, as if she had something on her mind, but in the last week, she seemed completely rejuvenated. I always thought it was because she had a new boyfriend, but it doesn't quite seem that way."

"Rejuvenated, probably because of some happy event, right?"

"Who knows... Now that something like that has happened to Lu Mei, I really feel sorry for her. Her parents haven't cared about her at all since her younger brother was born."

"Then, do you know where Teacher Lu's tattoo was done?"

"Tattoo?"

Teacher Feng looked puzzled, staring at Zhang Wei: "Our school clearly stipulates upon employment that staff members are not allowed to have any tattoos. Does Lu Mei have a tattoo?"

Seeing the genuine expression on Teacher Feng's face, Zhang Wei understood:

Since the school rules forbid tattoos, Lu Mei's tattoo must have been done recently.

"Teacher Feng, how is Teacher Lu's social interaction at the school, does she have any other friends besides you?"

"No, she's quite introverted. Other than being somewhat familiar with those in our office, she doesn't talk much with people from other offices. At every staff meeting, she's always the one who doesn't speak."

"It seems that Lu Mei is quite introverted... Thanks anyway for your cooperation, Teacher Feng."

Zhang Wei finished his questioning and then, taking Xia Qianyue with him, checked Lu Mei's workstation and opened the drawers, only to find, apart from a bunch of work-related sticky notes, not a single photo of a boyfriend.

"Hey, this note seems out of place with the others!"

Among the various sticky notes, Zhang Wei spotted one with content different from the rest.

The other notes were about meetings and homework, and some about teaching tasks, but this one note had just the number 666 written on it – now this was something worth noting.

He took out a small plastic bag, removed the sticky note with "666" written on it, and placed it inside.

After triple-checking to make sure nothing was missed, Zhang Wei took Xia Qianyue and left the office building of the teaching facility.

And just as they had barely left, the door to the office was pushed open by two more people.

"Captain Wu, was there really a need to come again? Didn't we finish questioning everybody yesterday?"

"Old Xing, I'm telling you, you've been an investigator for so long yet you still don't understand these principles. Everyone was eager to leave work yesterday at such a late hour, who would happily cooperate with your investigation?"

"So you dragged me out early in the morning just to make another trip to the school?"

"Of course, since we rarely get to handle a homicide case, our Team 7 must make a good show of it, make this case stand out, and let the higher-ups know that Team 7 isn't just there to assist Team 1 and Team 2!"

"Oh, give it a rest, Captain Wu, you always say that, but don't you still end up assisting Team 1 and Team 2 the next day?"

"Old Xing, if it weren't for the crowd here, your butt would already be gone!"

Wu Yong suppressed the urge to kick his partner and made his way over to Teacher Feng.

"Excuse me, is this Lu Mei's workstation? We are from the Martial Association Serious Crime Team, investigating this murder case and would like to ask you some questions!"

"Haven't your people just been here?" Teacher Feng was astonished. Zhang Wei had just left, and here you come again?

"What people?!" Wu Yong was also shocked. Someone else is snatching cases from our Serious Crime Team?

Could it be Team 1 or Team 2 trying to snatch the credit?

"How long ago did they leave?"

"Not long, about 30 seconds before you arrived!"

"Chase!"

Without further ado, Wu Yong dashed out.

Investigations are important, but someone beating them to the punch clearly didn't follow the rules.

He wanted to see who had the audacity to snatch a case from their Team 7.

Elsewhere.

Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue were reviewing their recent investigation.

Of course, with the brain of a simple-minded person, Xia Qianyue could only listen to Zhang Wei's narration and occasionally ask questions.

"Based on the clues we found at Lu Mei's workstation, she doesn't seem to have many friends and isn't sociable. Besides, her finances seem tight; many of her possessions are worn out, like the chipped thermos on her desk she couldn't bring herself to replace."

When Xia Qianyue heard this, she was skeptical, "That doesn't make sense. If she can't afford much, why would she rent an apartment in Southeast Walking Street? That's a pricey area, isn't it?"

Zhang Wei nodded, but then said, "The apartment was recently rented. Didn't you hear Teacher Feng say the victim had changed in the past week? She must have come into some money."

"The real question now is, why would a teacher, unloved by her parents and introverted by nature, take the risk of losing her job to suddenly get a tattoo? Could it be that she recently came into money and felt she could forgo her job, completely letting herself go?"

"Uh, not sure?"

Xia Qianyue naturally couldn't offer any insight, and as the two talked and walked, they quickly reached the school gate.

"You two, stop right there!"

Just as they were about to step onto the main street, a stern voice came from behind them.

In an instant, a formidable pressure approached, prompting Xia Qianyue to instinctively prepare for battle.

They turned around to see a large hand reaching for Zhang Wei.

"Touch Zhang Wei, see if grandma here doesn't mind!"

Xia Qianyue saw the person's movement and immediately let out a sharp cry, swinging her hand in a knife motion.

"You dare to fight back?"

The newcomer hadn't expected the young pair to counterattack and quickly sped up the grab.

In a flash, his arm collided with Xia Qianyue's hand, and both felt a great force come through.

"Strong power, tricky angle!"

Wu Yong felt a throbbing pain in his arm and his pupils shrank slightly.

"Pick a fight with Zhang Wei, you're asking for it!" Xia Qianyue, now seeing red, didn't wait to reason and attacked again.

Wu Yong was caught off guard and could only defend himself.

He flailed his arms in defense but was steadily driven back, retreating several steps.

"Damn it, Captain, what's happened to you? Being suppressed by a little girl!"

Old Xing arrived, but after witnessing the fight, he couldn't stop exclaiming.

"Captain?"

Zhang Wei finally realized something, recognizing the familiar figure.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was none other than Captain Wu Yong of the Serious Crime Team 7 they had seen at the crime scene yesterday.

"Old Xing, come and help out!"

Sensing Xia Qianyue's martial abilities, Wu Yong quickly called for backup.

"Come on, Captain, who are you kidding? You know what I'm like. If you're being pushed back already, wouldn't I be just delivering myself?"

Yet Old Xing just waved his hand, not intending to offer any help at all.

No way around it, they were team 7 of the heavy case squad, and he was the only one who couldn't fight.

Although Tamu and Ah Ni had high combat abilities, they didn't show up. Who would have thought that Wu Yong had brought him along today?

But then again, even though Wu Yong wasn't well-received in the heavy case squad, his combat ability was still no joke. To be overpowered by a girl who clearly was just a youngster, that was really something.

"Silly, stop it, stop fighting!" Zhang Wei stood to the side and quickly spoke up to stop them.

Unfortunately, Silly was seeing red and couldn't hear the plea.

Wu Yong was beaten back step by step and even began to doubt himself. Had he not fought someone for so long that he'd gotten rusty and now couldn't even beat a young girl?

"Silly, he's from the heavy case squad!" Finally, Zhang Wei yelled.

A pink fist stopped 2 inches from Wu Yong's face, the wind from the punch even made his cheek sting, and his muscles involuntarily tensed up.

The words "heavy case squad" finally snapped Xia Qianyue back to reality.

"Ah, it's Captain Wu Yong!" Upon seeing the person before her, she realized she'd caused trouble.

"Captain Wu Yong, what a coincidence, how come you're here?" Zhang Wei quickly put on a fawning smile and tried to cozy up to the person before him.

Wu Yong's face was scarily dark at this moment, but when he looked at Xia Qianyue, his eyes showed a bit of admiration and appreciation.

This girl looked young, but her combat abilities were truly frightening. Had someone not called a halt, his lifetime of reputation would have been destroyed today.

The captain of the heavy case squad getting knocked down by a girl barely in her teens would become a joke throughout the Martial Association.

"You are..." Wu Yong looked at Zhang Wei, pretending as if nothing had happened, and asked coldly.

Even though he'd nearly lost face just now, he was still a man of status. He had to maintain his authority.

"Captain Wu, let me introduce myself, I'm the intern lawyer Zhang Wei, and this is the intern field staff Xia Qianyue. We happened to pass by today and thought we'd take a look," Zhang Wei said.

"Passing by, taking a look?" Wu Yong expressed his doubt over Zhang Wei's words.

"Captain, I remember now, they are the witnesses. We even took their statements yesterday!" Suddenly, Old Xing next to him spoke up, pointing at Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue.

He clearly remembered the statements they took yesterday.

"You are witnesses?" Wu Yong's expression became even stranger.

"Yes, we were on patrol and happened to witness the victim falling from the building..." Zhang Wei quickly explained.

"Ding dong!" Suddenly, Wu Yong's device at his waist rang.

"Ah Ni, what's the situation!" He took out the device and quickly inquired.

"Captain, big news, there's been a second murder in our district. The victim also died from knife wounds, and it's likely the same killer as yesterday's case. Where are you? Hurry over, the address is..."

"What, a second murder!"

Wu Yong also realized the seriousness of the situation and made eye contact with Old Xing to hurry along, no longer bothering with Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue, and rushed to his vehicle.

Wu Yong had come by car. Taking Old Xing with him, they got into the car and he started the vehicle.

The car took off, with Wu Yong driving straight to the target location.

"Captain Wu, there's another victim? Looks like it's a serial killing case?" Zhang Wei asked urgently from the back seat of the vehicle.

"We're not sure, let's talk about it when we get to the scene!" Wu Yong replied subconsciously.

But then he suddenly came to his senses, and his grip on the steering wheel shook.

"How did you two get in the car?!"

"We are witnesses. Now that there's been a second murder, we naturally have to follow along. Maybe we'll remember some clues?" Zhang Wei quickly made up an excuse in response.

"Yeah, yeah, we have to go along!" Xia Qianyue chimed in, her face full of anticipation, almost starry-eyed.

"Captain, this is not according to regulations. They are civilians, and if they encounter danger..." Old Xing from the passenger seat hesitated.

Bringing unrelated individuals to a crime scene was not going to go unnoticed by the higher-ups, and they'd be in for a scolding.

Encounter danger?

Wu Yong glanced at Xia Qianyue, thinking Old Xing was worrying too much. With such high combat abilities, this girl was more likely to pose danger to others.

"What civilians, we're all on the same side here. I'm from the law school and she's actually interning with your Martial Association field staff," Zhang Wei quickly corrected.

Xia Qianyue even took out her internship ID and showed it to Old Xing.

"Intern field staff, doesn't that mean you know nothing?"

Old Xing was speechless, but seeing their insistence, Wu Yong also had no other option.

"You two, once we get to the scene, remember not to wander around!"

"Understood!"

Zhang Wei and Xia Qianyue exchanged a smile, it seemed they'd gotten their way.