Chapter 387: Two Name-Lists

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

At four in the afternoon, the day’s work was over. There was no urgent case that needed to be handled by their team. Everyone was impatient to go home. The two colleagues in front of the window were chatting away. Xu Xiaodong, who normally loved being assigned small tasks, was frowning at the computer instead. He looked as though he was studying the world’s complex problems.

Lin Dongxue wanted to report on her progress to Lin Qiupu. When she passed by Xu Xiaodong's desk, she found out that the young fellow was actually comparing several brands of imported cat foods.

When she went to Lin Qiupu's office, Lin Qiupu, who had been winking at himself in front of a mirror, hurriedly put the mirror away. Lin Dongxue saluted and said, "Captain Lin, there is some progress on this case and I wanted to report it to you."

After listening, Lin Qiupu said, "That was very fast! You're getting better and better. I’m very glad."

"It's all thanks to Old Chen!"

"Don't be so modest. Your growth this year is obvious to everyone... Hahahaha!"

"You laugh so sarcastically!"

"I'm sincere, okay!"

"Are you going to accompany some leaders to dinner again? Are you secretly practicing how to laugh?"

"Ahem, be more serious!" Lin Qiupu crossed his arms. "While you were investigating, I also helped you to check some things."

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"What? You investigated something as well?"

Lin Qiupu brought the file and patted it, "Here are the names of the police who worked on that case back then. I got some information from them. A police officer named Wang Zheng was later transferred to the SWAT team. He knew something... Ah, speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao has arrived."

An old policeman came in with a briefcase. When he smiled, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes were squeezed together. Lin Qiupu stood up to greet him, "Officer Wang, sorry for troubling you in coming over."

"It's alright. This case has been left unsolved for ten years, and it has always been a sore point in my heart. I didn't expect Captain Lin to investigate again."

Lin Qiupu introduced, "This is my sister..."

Lin Dongxue interrupted him, saluted and said, "I'm Lin Dongxue of the second team’s criminal police task force.”

After everyone was seated, Lin Dongxue told them what she had found. Officer Wang said in surprise, "You actually found out the identity of the illegitimate child? Amazing! Did he confess to it while in prison?"

"Something like that..." Lin Dongxue didn't know how to explain everything.

"At that time, the case was stuck because of this illegitimate child. We checked the people connected to the victim and learned from a housekeeper that she had adopted a child named Du Xu a few months before her death. He was said to be her illegitimate son with Zhang Bin. At first, the victim was very good to Du Xu, as if he was her own, but when Zhang Bin died, her attitude immediately changed 180 degrees. She often yelled and beat the child. One time, the victim locked up the child in a room, and left him there all night. The housekeeper heard the child crying and the victim scolding him. It seemed like she was forcing him to sign some contract... We didn’t know what kind of contract it was."

Lin Dongxue asked, "Did you suspect this 'Du Xu'?"

"I can’t say that we suspected him per say. He was only ten years old and didn’t have the ability to commit the crime, but the problem was that we were never able to find out his true identity... Now I understand that he was only a tool for the woman to get an inheritance before being ruthlessly abandoned."

"Du Xu is the serial killer Wang Sunxu who was arrested not long ago. He has a deep connection with Zhou Xiao, another suspect at large. We suspect that they became acquainted at that time and that it may be Zhou Xiao who killed the deceased and set the fire."

"Oh?!" Officer Wang looked at Lin Qiupu in surprise and then again at Lin Dongxue.

Lin Qiupu said, "Were there any men in their 20s connected to the victim at the time?"

Officer Wang smiled and shook his head. "The range is too large. I can't remember everything right now, but I can provide a name-list... I used to have a habit of recording everyone that I visited. Let me go back and look for it."

"Thank you so much!"

At five-thirty in the afternoon, the four people in the agency had all finally arrived. Chen Shi put the name-list that he had on the table and said, "This is a list of all the people who have worked at Shida."

kk exclaimed, "There’s so many!"

Gu You asked, "Are we checking them one by one?"

"Of course not." Chen Shi looked at Sun Zhen, "Are you sure that you know the true identity of Zhou Xiao?"

"I am, but I can't recall anything."

"That’s why I have an idea. We’ll use the ‘patch’ that he implanted in you to our advantage. We’ll get you to read these names one by one, and whichever name that you can’t say, is the one that you aren’t allowed to remember."

Sun Zhen looked surprised and asked Gu You, "Will my brain fry from that?"

"Relax, it won't."

Chen Shi made a copy of the name-list. Sun Zhen took it and started to read through it. He was very slow. Chen Shi crossed a name off every time he read one out. There was a person named "Zhou Tiannan" on the list. Chen Shi was worried that he might not be able to read it.

Sure enough, when they got to this name, Sun Zhen got stuck. "This... This... This..."

"It’s time for the torture!" kk clapped cheerfully, causing Gu You to glare at him.

Sun Zhen dropped the list, covering up his sweating head. Chen Shi whispered to Gu You, "Isn’t his reaction a bit too much?"

Gu You went over and pressed the back of his hand saying, "Little Worm, take a deep breath... I'll cross the name off and you can continue to read the rest."

Sun Zhen looked up. Encouraged by Gu You's gaze, he picked up the list once again.

However, there were still a few people with the surname Zhou at the back. The list was arranged in alphabetical order. When falling into the restricted area of the surname "Zhou", Sun Zhen's tongue completely failed him. He shook his head. “I can’t say it! I can’t go on anymore!”

"What if I cross out their surnames?" Chen Shi asked.

"Please spare me! Whenever I think of the person who I shouldn't be thinking about, I have a splitting headache."

Gu You glanced at the list. "There are only five people surnamed Zhou remaining. Could Zhou Xiao be surnamed Zhou to begin with? Zhou xx and Li Xiaochuan? This name is a combination of two different people!"

"Who is Li Xiaochuan?" Chen Shi asked.

Gu You sighed, "My boyfriend in university was one of the founders of 'Black Honey'."

"He was killed by Zhou Xiao, so you want to get revenge?"

Gu You nodded sadly, "It's about time to tell you guys. ‘Black Honey’ began as the pranks of two students from the Department of Psychology. They were Li Xiaochuan and I. I can’t say whether our initial motives were for venting our dissatisfactions in reality or for studying criminal psychology. He and I snuck into other people’s houses late at night to engage in various pranks for fun. Maybe it’s the suspension bridge effect, but that’s not important. During the intense and exciting pranks, the two of us had developed feelings for each other. We shared this secret with each other.

"Later, Li Xiaochuan created the forum and expanded the scale. At first, I opposed it. I felt that letting in random people who didn’t have good psychological self-cultivation would result in crossing the line. But Li Xiaochuan disregarded my opinions. We acquired more and more members. Everyone enthusiastically discussed and exchanged criminal techniques, developed difficult missions for one another and skirted the edges of the law. This continued until a person with the net alias of 'g57' joined. The collapse of the group officially began. He was that devil - Zhou Xiao!"