Chapter 591: Chapter 561: The Secrets We Don’t Know (Part 1)
Xu Dayuan waved his hand away.
"Don’t beat around the bush with me, just speak your mind. I came over because I wanted to hear your and Mr. Liu’s opinions. I always feel uneasy, can’t quite put my finger on it, it’s as if the killer is watching our every move."
Seeing everyone’s gaze turn towards him, Zhou Ning did not pause. He pulled out a white sheet of paper from behind Mr. Zhao, with three names written on it.
"We know too little at the moment. We only know that these three women who were involved with Xu Qingquan—Li Li, Liu Meiling, and Zhang Fangfang—were classmates. Some say they were close friends, bosom buddies for many years, but Zhang Fangfang denied this relationship.
So I say, I understand why you need us to send people to Yunan Province, to analyze the hotel room from a trace perspective, to help find all information about Liu Meiling. After all, it’s been over ten days since the 20th, and the likelihood of her having been harmed has increased.
However, I think the most important thing right now is to understand everything about these three people, from their childhood to adulthood, their primary and middle schools and classmates, any conflicts or enmities, or if anything significant happened while they were in school. I believe there’s no such thing as hate without reason."
"There must be a history between the killer and these three, and it’s something that simultaneously involved all three of them, just like the motive behind Hai’an City’s serial killings, which stemmed from childhood bullying.
Do you remember the copper hammer grass that Peng Shinian found? He said that in the Qindao Area, it’s only found in a few areas, most likely in sunny graveyards, not the current public cemeteries. I think the killer visited a graveyard before committing his crimes, a visit which was a mourning for the dead, as well as solace to them."
Xu Dayuan paused, nodding slightly.
"Now that you mention it, I also recall why it seemed familiar—just like that Hai’an case, where all the heads were brought to Cui Shangyu’s grave for a memorial. It’s a consolation to the spirits. But, when you analyze it like this, it actually connects. However, the dosage of Vitamin A poisoning isn’t something that most people would understand, right? Could it be someone with medical training?"
Zhou Ning pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"Not necessarily someone with medical training. This isn’t some arcane medical knowledge; it’s just that many people don’t realize how much quantity constitutes a lethal dose or how it needs to be administered to mask the taste, let alone at what dosage it becomes effective.
I think the killer must have conducted specific experiments. Slow poisoning over multiple doses is easily detectable, while a large single dose leads to rapid poisoning. The killer needed to find a dose that is sufficiently toxic to achieve the desired effect without causing immediate symptoms."
Xu Dayuan had already stood up and, on the paper Zhou Ning wrote, he recorded all the points Zhou Ning had mentioned before letting out a long sigh.
"This analysis is reliable; I knew you must have a direction. Especially when the investigation hits a dead end, finding a breakthrough point is crucial."
Liu Yongxin glanced over.
"Mr. Qu has Li Li’s WeChat account. Since the registration of WeChat accounts from the end of last year, many classmates who had lost touch over the years have formed various groups. Why don’t we have him look for any information there?
As for Xu Qingquan, although he’s a year older than those three, we can also check. There must be some reason he was involved, and not simply because he’s a ’Casanova’—he wouldn’t be silenced for that alone. Check their original places of residence. Mr. Zhao, go and call someone."
Xu Dayuan nodded, casually opening a bottle of mineral water, his earlier panic gone. Zhou Ning glanced at him.
For some reason, he always felt that Xu Dayuan’s previous tension and concern had an element of performance to it, and now he really seemed relaxed. Could it be that he intended to use them, master and apprentice, and also to have Mr. Qu help with the search?
If you have ideas, just speak up—could it be that this is playing out in too big a circle?
While he was thinking, Mr. Qu was dragged in by Mr. Zhao, who then thrust a laptop into Mr. Qu’s arms and gestured with his chin towards Xu Dayuan.
"The leader asks for your help since he’s too embarrassed to ask personally. He just had a word with Zhou Xiaozhou, asking if you could log into Li Li’s WeChat and look around, especially her group chats. It’d be best if they were school groups from primary or middle school, or dance school groups. If there are messages from classmates there, you could search those, too."
Without any unnecessary words, Mr. Qu hurriedly took the laptop from Mr. Zhao and after a flurry of activity, logged into Li Li’s WeChat, then proceeded to select all her groups.
There were eight groups from the dance school alone, one group for teachers and seven for grade examination applicants. Mr. Zhao looked bewildered.
"Nowadays, even learning dance requires examinations. What’s the point of that?"
Mr. Qu explained:
"I looked into it before. It seems that if you’re going to take the art student exam for college entrance in the future, having this registered certificate counts as bonus points. For professional examinations, these training sessions are apparently designed specifically for practice."
Mr. Zhao suddenly realized that he really didn’t know about these things, and Xu Dayuan didn’t dare to talk nonsense in front of Mr. Zhao either.
Shortly after, Mr. Qu found three classmates groups, one labeled "Gulou District Experimental Primary School Grade 5 Class 1," which had 44 people, one labeled "Gulou District Experimental Middle School Class of ’97," which had 312 people, and the last one was even simpler, labeled "Class 22 Reunion," with just 12 people.
"Gulou District’s Experimental Primary School, in the late 1990s, indeed implemented a five-year elementary education program for a few years, it seems that this class was part of that arrangement."
No one responded, and Mr. Qu opened the chat box in the group with the most people. In there, Li Li spared no effort in advertising, but Li Li had hardly ever spoken in the primary school group, probably because she disdained the smaller number of people.
As for the "Class 22 Reunion," Li Li was quite reserved, not mentioning the dance school at all, mostly talking about which classmates from which class and year were doing what now. You could feel that the 12 people in this small circle were quite close to each other.
But a class, especially a middle school in Qindao during that era, would likely have had sixty or seventy students. It appears to be a small circle of close acquaintances indeed, Xu Dayuan nudged Mr. Qu.
"Mr. Qu, check if among these 12 people are Liu Meiling and Zhang Fangfang. Their mobile numbers are here, though the names are a mess, the phone numbers should still match, right?"
Mr. Qu tried and quickly found two WeChat accounts, one called "Linglong Chess Heart" appending Liu Meiling’s name, and the other called "Together" with a note under it for Zhang Fangfang.
As he operated, Mr. Qu didn’t need to be told what to do, as he directly logged into the WeChat accounts of Liu Meiling and Zhang Fangfang, without even trying to crack the passwords, and the software on the side was still running, continuously popping up some mobile numbers and identity information, Xu Dayuan rubbed his nose.
"Did Fang Mu and his team look for you?"
Mr. Qu grinned sheepishly.
"Mm, don’t worry, I’m using an emulator. There won’t be any computer login prompts on the phone once logged in. I can see what’s actually in her WeChat, even the deleted content. There’s nothing special in the two WeChat accounts, very little amorous interaction with Xu Qingquan.
In this group, aside from Li Li, Liu Meiling, and Zhang Fangfang, I personally feel the remaining nine are male. I’ve checked their registered mobile numbers. I found them. One among the eight is not registered with real name, but the mobile number is an old one, we could call one of these eight people to inquire."
Mr. Zhao waved his phone at Xu Dayuan, who nodded slightly, and Mr. Zhao dialed one of the numbers, calling the person by name, with a thick Qindao accent, and even gave the person a lecture.
Of course, in the end, he also asked whose mobile number it actually was, since he had forgotten to save it after calling it before and over time had forgotten to make a note of it. His parting words was to suggest they have a drink together next time.
Liu Yongxin couldn’t help laughing on the side. After hanging up, Mr. Qu had already finished his search and let out a long sigh, saying:
"This guy is also 28 years old, indeed, his former household registration was close to Gulou District Experimental Middle School. There’s a lot of chat content, but I searched and didn’t find any sensitive words, it’s all just reminiscences."
Xu Dayuan stayed silent, Liu Yongxin spoke up first:
"Based on the information provided by the teachers at the dance school, I think it’s quite accurate. The ones close to Li Li are just Liu Meiling and Zhang Fangfang. As for Zhang Fangfang’s disdain for Li Li, I think it’s related to Xu Qingquan. Let’s get these few people over for questioning."
Xu Dayuan kept nodding, signaling Mr. Qu to send him the entire list of people and their numbers.
"I don’t have many people available right now, so instead of making it so complicated, let’s just bring them all over, one person to talk to each. I think this is our home turf, anything can be blurted out here. However, in Yunan Province, hurry up and send someone. I still insist on sending people there; we won’t delay either task."
Zhou Ning thought for a moment, Mr. Zhao had already raised his hand, but Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Over there, it’s not about going to inspect the scene, what we need now is searching, finding traces, analyzing the area where Liu Meiling might have left. It’s also possible that it’s the route the killer took to move the body. Let Zhu Xingxing lead the team, with Mr. Yang, Sun Gaotie, Mr. Wang, Zou Jialong, and Pang Tianhang following."
Xu Dayuan naturally had no objections, indicating that the arrangement was fine. Mr. Zhao sighed, took out his phone quickly, and called Zhu Xingxing to make arrangements.
By this time, the task of contacting the male classmates in Class 22 had been assigned, and Xu Dayuan sent Mr. Qu a location, signaling him to open the map and waved towards Liu Yongxin and Zhou Ning to say:
"Since we have to wait a while for people to come anyway, don’t just sit around. Hurry up and help me see if this location has any of those satellite images, you know, the ones that look like they’ve been taken from a high altitude. Fang Mu talked to me about the surroundings, but I have no concept of it."
Zhou Ning also became interested, patted Mr. Qu, and motioned towards the large screen.
"Mr. Qu, project it on the big screen. I want to know too, the situation around this hotel. Can we confirm if Liu Meiling went to Yunan Province on the 18th, where did she stay? Directly by car, so has the vehicle been found? If the car hasn’t been taken away, is there no discovery from the surveillance on her leaving the hotel?"
