I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 139: Chapter 137: A Direct Confession

Zeng Shuang was taken to the municipal bureau and led directly into an interrogation room.

Zhuang Yanzheng was about to head over when someone from the tech department approached. "Captain Zhuang, we found something on Wen Zouyu’s and Guan Yang’s phones."

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "Have them run a drug test on Zeng Shuang."

"Okay."

Zhuang Yanzheng went with the tech department staff.

Su Miaoyi and Yan Cheng followed.

"Captain Zhuang, we’ve recovered some of Wen Zouyu’s and Guan Yang’s chat logs. Please take a look."

Zhuang Yanzheng and the others fell silent as they looked at the recovered chat history.

First were five photos shared by Wen Zouyu.

They were photos of Zeng Shuang.

Judging by the bed, it looked like they were in a hotel.

Five photos in total.

Three were of her face. The other two...

Clothes were scattered on the floor.

Zeng Shuang looked like she was unconscious.

Beneath the photos was their chat log. The messages dated back almost a year.

Guan Yang had asked: [She won’t report this to the police, will she?]

Wen Zouyu: [No way. To her, saving face is more important than anything. She wouldn’t dare let anyone find out. She’ll just swallow it quietly. We were together for almost two years, I know her.]

Guan Yang: [Good.]

Wen Zouyu: [Tell me that wasn’t a thrill.]

The rest of the conversation was utterly vile.

Zhuang Yanzheng closed the chat log.

Su Miaoyi took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and seethed through gritted teeth, "They should be physically castrated and reincarnated as eunuchs in their next lives!"

"We also recovered some of the chat history with Lu Qiaoqiao." The tech staff member opened the log with Lu Qiaoqiao.

Yesterday, after the tech department accessed Wen Zouyu’s phone, Zhuang Yanzheng had asked about the chat history with Lu Qiaoqiao.

But they hadn’t found Lu Qiaoqiao’s WeChat on Wen Zouyu’s phone.

They only found a phone number.

The most recent outgoing call was from half a month ago, but Lu Qiaoqiao didn’t answer.

The group looked at the chat log.

"They broke up over a month ago," Su Miaoyi said.

Lu Qiaoqiao had only sent one message, "Let’s break up," without giving any reason.

The chat history right before those three words showed them discussing where to go hang out the day before.

Then the next day, she suddenly sent, "Let’s break up."

Afterward, Wen Zouyu kept asking why, questioning the sudden breakup.

None of the messages went through.

He’d been deleted.

Later... for nearly half a month, Wen Zouyu sent a flood of messages on WeChat.

Besides asking why she broke up with him, he was trying to win her back, refusing to accept the breakup.

But none of them were delivered.

In the last two weeks, however, he hadn’t sent anything.

"During the period he was messaging frequently, he also called her a lot, but his number was blocked," the tech staffer said. "However, the calls from two weeks ago went through. He was unblocked, but Lu Qiaoqiao still didn’t answer."

"Those two unanswered calls... that was the day Lu Qiaoqiao took leave to go home," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Before Lu Qiaoqiao took leave to go home, she unblocked Wen Zouyu. What happened?" Su Miaoyi said. "Could they have met?"

"Possibly," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Captain Zhuang, there are also these transactions," the tech staffer said. "Made at different times, all to the same account. Wen Zouyu intentionally deleted these payment records."

Zhuang Yanzheng took a look.

"We’re looking into this account now," the tech staffer said.

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded.

They left the tech department.

Just then, they ran into Qi Feng, who had just returned.

"Captain Zhuang, we found Zeng Shuang on the surveillance footage near the dormitory," Qi Feng said, showing Zhuang Yanzheng a clipped segment of the video.

The time stamp on the footage was consistent with the victim’s time of death.

But she was only on camera for a few seconds before disappearing. There was no telling where she went.

The direction she disappeared in didn’t seem to be toward the dormitory’s side entrance.

"I scanned forward a bit but didn’t see her again," Qi Feng said. "I copied all the surveillance footage."

There was too much footage to review; it would take time.

"Mm," Zhuang Yanzheng grunted, then asked, "What did Lu Qiaoqiao have to say?"

"She said she and Wen Zouyu broke up over a month ago and that she doesn’t know anything," Qi Feng replied, handing him the transcript.

Su Miaoyi glanced at it too.

"Lu Qiaoqiao said she went home to handle her father’s funeral arrangements. After seven days, she took a taxi back to Jinghai and stayed with a friend. We’ve already confirmed this with her friend," Qi Feng reported. "She said she was in a bad mood and didn’t want to talk to anyone, so she kept her phone off."

"When I asked her about Wen Zouyu, she seemed to have a strong aversion to him. I felt like she was about to gag just talking about him," Qi Feng said. "But all she said was that he was quite popular, had a lot of friends, and was a good student. She didn’t say much else, and what she did say was all complimentary."

"About to gag, but still praising him," Yan Cheng remarked.

Zhuang Yanzheng handed the transcript back to Qi Feng and bellowed, "Chu Xingrou!"

Su Miaoyi, Yan Cheng, and Qi Feng all jumped in surprise.

Su Miaoyi rubbed her ears.

Chu Xingrou trotted over. "Captain Zhuang."

"You’re coming to the interrogation room with me," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

He thought it would be better to have a woman present.

Although Su Miaoyi was now a special consultant, it still wasn’t appropriate for her to be in the interrogation room.

"Sir!" Chu Xingrou snapped to attention and shouted, then bit her lip after she was done.

Su Miaoyi shook her head and touched her ear again.

’She’s definitely one of Zhuang Yanzheng’s trainees.’

「...」

「Interrogation Room.」

After they went through the basic information, Zhuang Yanzheng asked, "Do you know Wen Zouyu?"

"I know him." Zeng Shuang fiddled with her fingers. "We were university classmates. He’s also my ex-boyfriend. It’s been almost three years since we broke up. I’m the one who dumped him."

Zhuang Yanzheng listened to her calm voice. Just as he was about to ask another question, Zeng Shuang suddenly said, "You can just ask me if I killed him."

Chu Xingrou glanced at her.

Zhuang Yanzheng watched her without speaking.

Zeng Shuang met his gaze, a bitter smile on her face. "I killed him."

Chu Xingrou looked back at Zhuang Yanzheng.

’This was the first time since she’d joined the municipal bureau that a suspect had confessed before they even really started questioning them.’

"I thought killing them would set me free, but I still have insomnia. I can’t sleep." Zeng Shuang’s eyes were lifeless. "What I did goes against everything I was taught my whole life. I can’t eat or rest. I staged the scene to try and escape, but even if my body could escape, my heart couldn’t."

"Since you came for me, you must have evidence. There’s no point in me trying to argue or hide it," Zeng Shuang said. "The sooner I confess, the sooner I’ll be free."

"Why did you kill them?" Chu Xingrou asked.

She hadn’t seen the recovered chat logs.

"Wen Zouyu and his roommate, Guan Yang, raped me." A flicker of hatred crossed Zeng Shuang’s otherwise placid expression. "So I killed them."

Chu Xingrou was shocked, her eyes trembling slightly.

Zhuang Yanzheng asked, "Why didn’t you report it to the police at the time?"

"You found out?" Zeng Shuang asked.

"Yes."

Zeng Shuang was silent for a moment, then she slowly let out a breath. "I was worried about my reputation, and I was scared. I had a boyfriend at the time, and I was afraid he’d leave me if he found out. I didn’t dare call the police. I didn’t dare make a scene. I didn’t dare go to the hospital to get checked and preserve the evidence. I didn’t dare do anything."

Chu Xingrou frowned. "If your boyfriend would break up with you over something like this, it just means he wasn’t someone worth entrusting yourself to in the first place. Leaving a man like that is a good thing."

「...」

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