Chapter 879: An Irrefutable Murder?
Translator: Azza
Wei Zengmali asked, "Why do you want to inquire about these things? Ah, I think I understand. Although it sounds a little weird, it must be that Tao Yueyue… Liang Zuoming…" The little girl’s face showed hesitation. "No, it's impossible for it to be true!"
Lin Dongxue thought for a moment that the little girl had guessed the truth, but Wei Zengmali said, "Why would Tao Yueyue fall in love with a bad guy like Liang Zuoming?"
"Huh? What did you say?" Lin Dongxue was surprised.
"Just think: If Tao Yueyue didn't like him, why would she worry about his safety that day? Therefore, after Liang Zuoming was knocked down and killed, she didn't come to school out of grief! This is a plot device that often appears in TV dramas, where two individuals are enemies but gradually fell for each other. It must have been like that!" The little girl was totally convinced of this and Lin Dongxue could only smile wryly in the face of this reasoning.
Lin Dongxue felt that there was no need to meet Yueyue’s teacher, so she bid her farewell. Little Li called the bureau to ask about the progress of the autopsy, and then shook her head at Lin Dongxue. “The autopsy may take a long time. Zhou Xiao killed a bunch of people in the villa. Captain Peng’s side is simply too busy."
"There’s no other way. We just have to wait. I’m used to Captain Peng producing the autopsy results quickly. Now that I think about it, it’s just because he’s particularly helpful towards the second team. Every time a corpse is sent over, he will set aside other tasks at hand and prioritize us."
"Yes, Captain Peng is a very good person." Little Li sighed, "By the way, Captain Peng dissected Lie Guoxiao's body this morning. I heard the task force discussing it and they mentioned that Lie Guoxiao had defensive injuries in which Zhou Xiao’s DNA was found. He might have fought with Zhou Xiao. It seems to have been quite tragic… Should I not refer to him as Lie Guoxiao all the time? After all, he is your…"
"No, it's fine. I don't regard him as a family member at all."
"It sounds extreme to say this, but the word “father” sometimes equates to a hero, and sometimes equates to an enemy!"
"Indeed."
"But whether he's a hero or an enemy, he’s been killed and as a daughter, one’s heart will still feel a little uneasy…" Little Li sighed, thinking of her father who had just been cremated.
"That's right!" Lin Dongxue could also empathize with this. She had also thought about whether she should take a look at Lie Guoxiao, but Tao Yueyue's matter was more important at the moment. Considering the shortage of manpower, they had no time for distractions.
Lin Dongxue set aside these thoughts. "Let's go and take a look at the scene!"
"Okay!" Little Li agreed readily.
On the busy road where the accident had happened, leaving aside the issue of whether there was actually any evidence, it was very dangerous in itself to try to find evidence by going onto the road. Lin Dongxue thought that they should wait and come back at night.
However, since they were already here, they couldn’t just go home empty-handed. Lin Dongxue looked around. This place was an intersection with many traffic cameras. If they wanted to see the surveillance footage, they’d have to go to the Traffic Management Bureau. However, the Traffic Management Bureau was packed with police officers who were chasing after Zhou Xiao at the moment.
She looked for private security cameras and actually found one on the outer wall of a building.
On the second floor of that building was a Japanese restaurant. At this time of the day, no customers were around. Lin Dongxue entered the restaurant and asked the boss if she could check their surveillance footage. When the police arrived, the boss was very nervous at first, but later discovered that they were investigating the matter of a child being knocked down and killed outside a few days ago.
A chef passed by and said, "I know that kid. I chop cabbage into shreds in front of the window every afternoon, and I would see this kid riding a bike without mudguards. He’s really wild, weaving in and out of the traffic and even turns people’s side mirrors with his hands. I made a bet with the boss that this little hooligan would get knocked down sooner or later. So how about it? I was right… Boss, we agreed on betting 100 yuan. Pay up!"
The boss glared at him and waved his hands frantically. "What are you saying, what are you saying? There was no such thing!"
The two argued over the 100 yuan bet. Lin Dongxue interrupted their conversation. "Were there any unusual circumstances on the day of the accident?"
"Unusual?" The chef scratched his head, then arranged cigarettes on the table. "If we’re talking about unusual things, it was that the kid who was obviously on this side of the road was hit by a bus coming from the other side. Who would suddenly turn left on the road? Unless he wanted to court death!"
The boss said, “If it weren’t for him being hit by an oncoming car, it’s impossible to have such a serious accident. There must have been a big car in front of him blocking his line of sight and then he turned left from the back without seeing the oncoming traffic, causing a collision in an instant. That’s usually the case for head-on collisions."
"No, no, there were no big cars on this side of the road at the time. I remember it very well."
"Were you chopping vegetables or staring at the road?"
The two argued over this detail, and Lin Dongxue didn't want to intervene. She watched the surveillance footage with Little Li in the restaurant.
According to the surveillance footage, Liang Zuoming rode his bike over from the east side at 5:23PM, then suddenly turned to the left side of the road about ten meters away from the intersection. He was then hit by a bus head-on, and was sent flying about half a meter away. After that, Liang Zuoming and his bicycle were caught under the bus chassis and dragged for a short distance. The rear wheels of the bus clearly ran over him, and the whole body of the bus jolted once because of this.
The driver had been braking since the collision, but only stopped completely at that point. Of course, it was already too late. Other cars in the vicinity also stopped one after another. People kept going over to check on the situation. More and more people gathered, almost forming a circle.
"How tragic!" Little Li shook her head.
"This angle isn’t very good." Lin Dongxue said. There was a bus stop between the camera and Liang Zuoming, and a huge billboard blocked the line of sight, making it impossible to see the moment when Liang Zuoming had the accident.
As she continued to play the surveillance footage, Lin Dongxue saw Tao Yueyue running over. She stopped at the periphery of the crowd, stood in place covering up her mouth, and looked shocked.
This scene caused Lin Dongxue's heart to ache momentarily. She kept thinking, Silly child, why did you want to do this kind of thing? There is never a legitimate reason to commit murder!
"Let’s watch it again!" Little Li suggested, rewinding the video.
After watching it five or six times, Little Li said, "I think it’s a bit strange. This kid didn’t have to turn left in this area. How could he have suddenly fallen onto the left side of the road? The bicycle was traveling on the road when it seemed that the wheel suddenly became stuck and it toppled forward. It should have been like this…" Little Li gestured with her hands, imitating how the bicycle turned and then toppled forward.
"But when riding a bicycle or driving, one would always be adjusting one’s direction. The bicycle fell very suddenly. This shows that there was a force that was suddenly exerted…" Although she didn't want to admit it, Lin Dongxue still had to say it. "The biggest possibility was the 'murder hook' made by Yueyue."
"Mmm, what exactly does the "murder hook" look like? There’s no detailed record in the diary."
"It must not have been too complicated, probably some simple, effective and small device." Lin Dongxue pondered.
Chen Shi called and asked about their progress. Lin Dongxue answered, "There's not much progress. We just came out of Yueyue’s school. We’re watching the surveillance footage around the scene."
"If you’re not busy, come over and look for me. I may have found some evidence!"
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