Chapter 214 Police Officer's Suspect

According to Lin Zhi, he clearly heard the voices of a man and a woman next door that day, and the female voice could be confirmed to be the older sister next door.

The victim died on the same night when Lin Zhi heard the noise, and the time was very close. This building was within the murderer's activity range. Qiu Huo remembered that the older sister worked at the fish products factory.

The serial killer with the inverted triangle mark appeared at the place where the floating corpse was found, and kept observing Lin Zhi. From his position, he could see Room 603 next door.

Putting all these things together gave Qiu Huo a vague guess in his mind. This kind of thing was too coincidental and the probability was very small, but it was not impossible.

But in the absence of actual evidence, Qiu may not conclude that there is a connection, but making bold assumptions and carefully verifying them is what they have to do. Sometimes the truth is far more tortuous, bizarre and absurd than the story itself.

After Qiu hung up the phone, he turned around and looked at the sleeping Lin Zhi quietly.

The lights in the living room were on, shining in from behind Qiu Huo, spreading his shadow forward and falling diagonally on the bed like a silent embrace.

The young man was sleeping soundly, his brows relaxed as he fell into a carefree dream.

Qiu would stay on the balcony for a while, looking out the window, which was either bright or silent.

After listing several possible areas in his mind, Qiu Huo left Lin Zhi's house. He intentionally or unintentionally dropped some very small pieces of paper at the door.

Qiu Huo pressed the elevator button and the elevator was going up.

When the elevator door opened, a thin middle-aged man in a gray suit and square glasses walked out.

When he saw Qiu Huo, he was stunned for a moment, but did not say hello.

"You're so busy that you come back so late?"

Qiu Huo greeted him casually, even though he had never met him before, but he looked like the male owner of Room 603.

The last person who came next door to question people was Zhu Changdong, and Qiu Huo was not worried that they would recognize his identity.

The man didn't expect Qiu Huo to talk to him. He nodded silently and walked towards 603.

Qiu Huo entered the elevator, looked at the time, and it was almost one o'clock.

Those who come back at this time may be office workers who are forced to work overtime, or people who need to work until this time, but not a junior high school teacher.

Qiu Huo didn't smell any special smell on him, which meant that he had not just returned from a dinner or drinking party, but he was still wearing a formal suit, his back was straight, and his hair was neatly combed, revealing a sense of rigidity and restraint rarely seen in this era.

Qiu Huo drove away, circled twice and stopped in an inconspicuous parking space, looking at the apartment not far away.

It was not until his colleague came to take over the shift that Qiu Huo drove home and went into the bathroom to take a nice bath. He did not leave quickly, thinking about the beauty in the bathtub. He stayed in the bathtub for nearly half an hour before coming out wiping his hands.

The next day was another sunny day. After washing up, Lin Zhi opened the bedroom curtains. The sunlight was a little dazzling, so he covered his eyes with his hands and looked outside as if he was looking at the scenery.

The apartment he lives in is a single-family apartment. Opposite the building is another residential complex. The buildings are quite far apart. Judging from the layout, there is a bedroom and a kitchen, but no balcony.

At first glance, they all felt the same. Lin Zhi didn't feel like he was being spied on, nor did he see any clues.

After eating something casually, he practiced the piano for a while, read a book for a while, and left the house at around noon.

Although Qiu Huo said it was safer to stay at home, Lin Zhi had no intention of being a porcelain doll at home, an object that could be peeped at by anyone.

He doesn't like to sit and wait for death. Since the murderer likes to watch him, then he will watch. When the other party's whereabouts are exposed, he can always get clues.

Before he knew it, Lin Zhi had arrived at a nearby middle school.

It is class time now, and there are few people at the stationery stores and restaurants outside the school gate. At the door of a store, a fat orange cat is lying, basking in the sun comfortably.

Lin Zhi thought of the orange and white kitten that he and Qi He had raised together. The cat was very clingy and would rub against his fingers when he stroked it and would make purring sounds when in his arms.

Living things are more vivid than dead things, their fur is soft, and their calls are soft and gentle.

Qi He asked him to name the cat, but he felt that a cat that symbolized the soul should have its own name, so he did not give it a meaningful name. He just adopted Qi He's surname and called the cat "Qiqi".

Maybe because he stood there for too long, or maybe because he looked very kind, the shop owner took the initiative to talk to him.

"Are you here to pick up the kids? This time is a bit early. They usually finish school at 11:45. The teacher may delay for a few minutes. It's only 11:10 now, so there's still half an hour."

Lin Zhi smiled: "I'm here to find the teacher."

The shop owner showed sympathy and said, "Did the child get into trouble?"

Lin Zhi showed a slightly helpless look and walked towards the school.

He didn't come here to look for anyone, but to get some information.

He had a hunch that a murder might have really happened next door that day, and that the floating corpse was related to them.

This was not an unfounded guess. Although he did not know the exact time of death of the deceased, he felt a kind of guidance from his vague observations, which came from the guidance given to him by the murderers of the other two cases.

Yesterday was the 21st, and it had been a week since the murder on the 14th. The murderer had been observing him very secretly, except for yesterday, when he almost told him his location.

Lin Zhi did as he wished and came to see the situation.

Through the school's forum, Lin Zhi has learned the identity of the man next door.

He had a name that sounded very literary, like that of an ancient scholar, and it was hard to forget. His name was Zhang Liansheng. Combined with the fact that he always wore a suit all year round, he was a well-known weirdo in school.

He is currently the head teacher of Class 1, Grade 2, teaching Chinese, and is the head of the Grade 2 Chinese group.

His classmates nicknamed him "Old-Fashioned" because he always did things in a methodical manner, but he was a good teacher and his teaching was not as boring as his appearance made people think. Some classmates even said that he was more interesting in class than outside of class.

He was like bland, lukewarm boiled water, with only a few ripples during class. Even if he heard students cursing him behind his back or playing pranks on him, or even if he caught students skipping school, he would not get angry.

Zhang Liansheng has taught in this school for many years. When forums were just emerging, many students loved to post and would talk about everything big and small online, including his students.

Through searching, Lin Zhi found incidents in which students mentioned that he was angry.

Some people distorted the meaning of the text and told obscene jokes, and he denounced them.

The nice guy who usually gets angry can be very intimidating. Those students whispered privately that it would not be a big deal if they were caught swearing.

Lin Zhi could tell from their words what made Zhang Liansheng angry. What he cared about was not that the students used foul language, but that they had tarnished literature.

Apart from that, there wasn't much known about him, and Lin Zhi wanted to know what he had done on the night of the 20th.

It is not time to go home from school yet. The school gate is closed and the security guard is sitting in the window reading a newspaper.

He asked after seeing the visitor.

"Hello, uncle. I am a graduate of the school. I came back specially to visit my alma mater. I am now working as a humble reporter for a local newspaper. I have an appointment with the director to meet and talk about the changes in the school over the years."

Lin Zhi spoke politely, making his intentions clear.

He has a gentle and handsome appearance, and has a natural harmlessness and friendliness that makes it impossible for people to have any suspicion of him.

The security guard immediately became more polite and said cheerfully, "Okay, then you can register your name and phone number and I'll open the door for you. It seems that you have graduated for quite a while. It's great to be a reporter."

Lin Zhi left a false name and phone number without changing her expression. After the old man opened the door, she whispered thanks and walked into the avenue.

Before coming, Lin Zhi already knew the distribution of the school's teaching buildings.

After all, students don’t deliberately hide it, nor do they think it’s a secret.

The teaching building for the second grade of junior high school is called Dexing Building, and the Chinese language group’s office is on the second floor.

The office door was open. Lin Zhi looked inside from outside and quickly found the person he was questioning.

There was a female teacher sitting in the office. Lin Zhi walked up to the female teacher and greeted her softly.

"Hello, is this Teacher Chen?"

The female teacher shook her head and said, "You must have found the wrong person. My last name is not Chen."

"I'm sorry, my sister asked me to come and ask the teacher about the situation. She said that Teacher Chen should be here at this time. She is a beautiful and elegant female teacher. I thought so when I saw you."

Lin Zhi apologized sincerely, giving people a feeling of confusion and regret that he had made a mistake, and it didn't make people feel that he was deliberately giving a hypocritical compliment.

The female teacher's lips unconsciously rose, she cleared her throat and said in a softer tone: "It's okay, we do have a teacher named Chen, but he's a male teacher. Did you find the wrong grade?"

Logically speaking, no, even if there is no sign "Grade 8 Chinese Language Group Office" on the office door, there is Class 8 (x) written on the doors of those classrooms.

"I remember it was the second grade Chinese language group. Could there be something wrong..." Lin Zhi frowned in confusion, looked at the female teacher with a hint of help, and said, "Can you help me? It will only take a few minutes to ask a question."

The female teacher nodded, and Lin Zhi whispered to ask the school teachers about the price of private tutoring.

"My sister wants Teacher Chen to tutor my nephew, but Teacher Chen is very hesitant. I also know that the current situation is not very supportive, but he is good in other subjects, but Chinese is too bad. I heard that Teacher Chen's Chinese teaching is very good and he is very patient with students. We want to give more, but we don't know how much is appropriate. If it is inconvenient, you can also not tell me."

The female teacher thought about it and softly gave a rough number.

She smiled and said, "If you hadn't said that Teacher Chen was a girl, I would have thought you were talking about our Teacher Zhang. He is famous for his patience with students and his literary literacy."

"I know Teacher Zhang. My sister wanted to invite him to dinner on the 20th, but he turned it down. We knew he wouldn't agree, so we had to find Teacher Chen."

Lin Zhi showed a regretful expression at the right time and observed the female teacher's expression.

"The 20th... I remember it was our director's birthday, and he invited all of us teachers to a dinner party. Teacher Zhang also went. What's rare is that he also went to the karaoke party afterwards. He usually doesn't participate in such activities. We even urged him to sing."

The female teacher smiled, as if she was thinking of Teacher Zhang's embarrassment that day.

"It should have been quite late. I remember he replied to our message very late."

The female teacher thought for a moment and said, "Yes, some teachers were drunk and it seemed like they didn't leave until almost eleven o'clock."

There was nothing unusual on Lin Zhi's face. He asked the teacher's last name in a low voice.

"If Mr. Chen doesn't agree, I hope you can consider it when I come to your house."

The female teacher smiled and neither nodded nor shook her head.

"I hope I don't run into Teacher Zhang later. It would be embarrassing if I were to poach people from his Chinese language group without even inviting him."

Lin Zhi's comment was obviously a joke, but it also revealed some information.

The female teacher was amused, but her words also revealed that she wanted to keep it a secret.

Lin Zhi walked out of the teaching building slowly and smiled at the security guard who greeted him when he left the school.

Zhang Liansheng did not return home until after eleven o'clock that night, and he heard the fighting at around ten twenty.

He knocked on the door at 10:27 and waited for a minute or two before his eldest sister's voice came from inside.

She said her husband knocked over the water dispenser and she was mopping the floor.

She was lying, the man inside was not Zhang Liansheng.

If it was really a murder scene, it would have been dark at 11 o'clock, but there were still people on the road. It was impossible for the eldest sister to go out and abandon the body at that time.

Their relationship is not good. Will Zhang Liansheng help cover it up?

The serial killer witnessed all this and reminded him for some reason?

After all, when the man next door was killing someone and dumping the body, he was sleeping very soundly due to the effects of the drugs.

Lin Zhi sighed. This time the intelligence gathering went smoothly, but he knew too few clues and couldn't piece them together well.

Lin Zhi estimated the time and quickened his pace. The elevator had just closed when he pressed the button to open it again.

His eldest sister looked a little surprised to see him, she played with her hair and tucked the curls behind her ears, revealing the gold earrings in her ears.

This was a subconscious action to attract attention. Lin Zhi set his eyes on her earrings and praised them for being beautiful.

"I think it's beautiful, too. I've been thinking about it for a long time. I also saw a pair of gold bracelets. The store is measuring them. I can go get them this afternoon. Diamonds and other fancy things are not as solid as gold."

"You're right," Lin Zhi agreed, smiling, "Golden Buddha and Golden Guanyin are also good for children. I remember some stores have such activities, where you can get a small golden Buddha for free when you buy gold."

The eldest sister and Zhang Liansheng are both in their thirties or forties. According to their ages, they should have a child in high school. If the child is born early, it is possible that the child will go to college. However, Lin Zhi has never heard any noise of children in their house, and there are no children's shoes on the shoe cabinet.

"I don't have any children," the eldest sister sneered, her slightly fat and yellow face twisted slightly, and she said with some sarcasm, "My husband is a coward."

Her resentment and anger almost overflowed, making it seem like she was talking about more than just the child.

The elevator door opened, and the eldest sister seemed to have forgotten her gaffe, smiling and waved to Lin Zhi.

"Sister, which store do you usually go to to get your shoes repaired? I also have a pair of torn shoes."

"Haha, you young people are still so thrifty. If it's torn, just throw it away. It's not good to wear it even if you mend it. Used out things are the most annoying."

The eldest sister waved her hand and closed the door.

Lin Zhi stared at their door for a few seconds, then turned around and unlocked his own door.

When Qiu Huo came at noon, he looked at the ground for a while, and then looked at the soles of Lin Zhi's shoes.

Qiu Huo asked while washing vegetables: "Did you go out today?"

Lin Zhi smiled and said, "Didn't a police officer follow me and didn't report my whereabouts?"

"There's nothing special to report. After all, you're not a prisoner. We're just protecting your safety."

The enemy may think that he is unhappy and explain.

Most people would have become frightened birds if they knew they were being watched by the murderer, but Lin Zhi was different.

Qiu may have previously been concerned about his character, fearing that he might be in collusion with the murderer, but now he is concerned about Lin Zhi's safety. Compared to the police, the young man himself seems to care less.

"I know that if I'm used as bait, the officer won't need close protection, which will only scare him away."

Lin Zhi leaned on Qiu Huo's back, her fingers deftly slipped under the hem of Qiu Huo's clothes, admiring the officer's good figure.

When Qiu Huo's eyes darkened, Lin Zhi smiled and asked, "I have a good discovery today, do you want to hear it?"

Rather than going straight to bed, Lin Zhi wanted to see when and to what extent Qiu Huo would be unable to control himself, and it would also be very interesting to see Qiu Huo's reaction.

Lin Zhi is used to calculating people's hearts, but when it comes to people like Qiu Huo who are quick and decisive in action, he often fails to guess right, which makes it very novel and interesting.

Just like now, he thought Qiu Huo would endure and choose to listen, but Qiu Huo just turned off the water and said, "Listen, if you like to say that, then reach your hand down a little more."

He pulled the chain, held Lin Zhi's wrist, turned his head and looked down at Lin Zhi.

"Go ahead. I'm listening."