Chapter 496
A few days ago, during their class reunion dinner, the five boys got together again after ten years and reminisced about the past, each with a different reaction. To the poster, the events of that year were like a thorn wedged in his heart. However, one of them went so far as to denigrate Mr. Xu as a worthless teacher who didn’t deserve to live.
Another man stood up and slapped him, "Do you look down on teachers?!"
The atmosphere at the reunion dinner turned heavy with tension and the dinner ended in tears. After that, the poster was busy with work and didn’t contact them until he came across the death of one of his classmates on Weibo. A search online revealed the previous cases as well. Hence, the poster was certain that the dead teacher had climbed out of the grave for revenge.
Students of Mr. Xu would never forget his melodious voice as he recited ancient poems. He was always brimming with emotion, as if he had walked a mile in the poet’s shoes.
At the end of the microblog, the poster wrote: I’m sorry Mr. Xu! Please forgive me!
Upon reading the lengthy post, I sat in silence, digesting the story.
"This microblog has been forwarded over 100,000 times,” sighed Xiaotao. “Some are cursing at him while others sympathize and comfort him."
"Looks like the murderer is one of these five people. Is he going to kill himself then?" I wondered out loud.
There were two women and five men’s Hanfu missing, which suggested he had included himself.
"Anyway, since this important clue has surfaced, we’ll take a two-pronged approach. Look for the private school and the poster."
"If we find him, problem solved!"
Xiaotao planned to act with Wang Yuanchao while Bingxin, Song Xingchen and I worked together.
Bingxin cleared her throat and pushed me towards Xiaotao, "You should go with Xiaotao-jiejie."
Xiaotao and I exchanged a look of amusement. "Alright then, Song Yang and I will head to the private schools, while you guys contact the poster."
"Get Lao Yao to assist you!" I added.
After the three left, Xiaotao and I began searching for private schools in Jiangling City. There were dozens of them, and when asked, all of them denied the occurrence of such an incident. They must have concealed all information about the matter.
It was unrealistic to visit each school, so I suggested, "Check the enrollment rate!"
Upon further investigation, there were three private schools with impressive enrollment rates. Thus, we immediately drove to the nearest one.
On the way there, Xiaotao chuckled, "Bingxin kept me up all night talking."
"What did you talk about?" I asked curiously.
"This little lady was feeling lost, happy for you, yet a little jealous. I tried to enlighten her! I told her that even if we get married in the future, you can still be friends and hang out together. After all, we can talk about anything, even our feelings. I can’t believe I comforted my love rival," remarked Xiaotao.
In this regard, I too had nothing to say. Instead, I praised her, "Xiaotao, you’re really broad-minded."
"Well, I believe you!" Xiaotao smiled.
We visited two schools and spoke to the principal, the director of the teaching department, and other staff. During this period, I played a human lie detector using Cave Vision. Neither of these schools seemed to be the right one, leaving only Yingjie High School.
Yingjie High School was pretty far from where we were. Just as we were ready to head over, I received a text message from Lao Yao. It was still rare of him to voluntarily send me one. There was a screenshot of the chat records between two accounts, ’I am a monkey’ and ’Qingqing Zijin’—
Qingqing Zijin: Monkey, I read your post. Did the dead teacher really come back for revenge?
I am a monkey: Yes, you, me, Da Zhuang, Xiao Fei and Wei-ge are all doomed!
Qingqing Zijin: Don’t be so pessimistic. By the way, are you free now? I’d like to meet you and talk it over.
I am a monkey: There’s nothing to talk about. What should come will come eventually.
Qingqing Zijin: Actually, I have a friend who’s a policeman. He wants to know details of what happened back then. He hopes to speak to you.
I am a monkey: What? You went to the police?
Qingqing Zijin: The police say the murders were caused by a man, not the revenge of a dead teacher. Don’t worry! Can you come to the teahouse on 23 Jiankang Road? I’m here with my friend. Hurry up!
I am a monkey: I’ll be right there.
After reading the conversation, I exclaimed, "Oh no! The murderer read the microblog and sought out the poster. He’s definitely planning to kill him!"
I immediately phoned Lao Yao, "Where did you find this chat record?"
With the urgent situation at hand, Lao Yao reined in his usual jokes and went straight to the point. "Well, Lao Wang asked me to check this account so I hacked into the forum’s database. This is an old account and there was no real-name authentication when the user registered so I can’t determine his identity. I accidentally stumbled upon this chat record half an hour ago. By the way, Lao Wang is rushing over there."
"Thanks a lot!" I said.
"I’ll check the IP address. Well, I’ll leave you to it!" replied Lao Yao.
Upon hanging up, Xiaotao and I headed to this address at once. Xiaotao made a sharp turn on the road, violated four traffic laws in one breath, and drove straight for Jiankang Road.
Along the way, we were like cats on hot bricks. If we were late by even a second, another life would be lost.
We arrived right as Wang Yuanchao and his party pulled up to the front of the teahouse. When asked if two men had previously entered, the waiter said no, but he reported witnessing a man being dragged into a van which immediately sped off. He was just hesitating whether or not to call the police when we showed up.
After asking for directions, we quickly climbed into the car and chased after the van. At the same time, we contacted the traffic police to search for the van via traffic cameras. This vehicle most likely belonged to Ke Wenyuan.
The traffic police found the suspect’s vehicle without much effort since the van recklessly overtook other vehicles along the way and was captured by traffic cams several times. At an intersection came the sound of numerous collisions. Fortunately, Xiaotao skillfully made a sharp turn on the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding the serial collision in front of us.
"What happened? How did these cars crash into each other?" Bingxin asked on the phone.
"That’s not important right now. First, find the suspect and let Captain Tang deal with this!"
Traffic cameras showed that the van finally disappeared at an intersection on Liancheng North Road. We parked nearby and spread out searching while keeping in touch via cell phones.
We combed the area for about fifteen minutes when Bingxin yelled through the phone, "I’ve found something! I’m in a machinery factory called East Energy."
"Don’t move, we’ll be right there!"
Bingxin sighed, "I’m already at the scene, but the murderer has committed suicide!"
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