Chapter 211 Excessive Evidence Effect

Just when the atmosphere was tense, two uniformed criminal police officers walked quickly into the crowd.

The leading police officer was holding an evidence bag with a neatly folded piece of letter paper inside.

"Captain Li," the officer lowered his voice, "We found this under Zhou Yingxing's pillow. It's a suicide note written by Zhou Yingxing."

Li Qihan took the evidence bag and unfolded the letter through the transparent plastic bag with his slender fingers.

The handwriting on the suicide note was crooked, but it clearly stated that Zhou Yingxing, unable to bear the pain of illness, decided to commit suicide by staging an accident at the construction site.

Du Weifeng came over and saw the suicide note. His face changed. "This is Lao Zhou's handwriting. Lao Zhou's writing habits are very good. Because his left hand was injured, he always draws the left stroke very short and the right stroke very long when writing."

“I didn’t write this!”

Zhou Yingxing rushed forward but was stopped by the police.

His bloodshot eyes widened. "I've never written anything like this before!"

Li Qihan calmly put the suicide note back into the evidence bag: "The Notes Identification Department will give you the answer."

He turned to the two police officers and said, "First, take Zhou Yingxing, Zhang Ying, and the construction site manager Du Weifeng back to the police station for separate interrogation."

After the police officers took the three away, Xia Lili quickly approached Li Qihan and said in a low voice, "Captain Li, there's something fishy going on here."

Li Qihan raised his eyebrows slightly, his black windbreaker highlighting his sharp jawline. "Speak."

Xia Lili whispered, "There's the transfer records and the suicide note. These pieces of evidence are too obvious. It's almost as if they're afraid we won't be able to trace Zhou Yingxing..."

"Your analysis is correct." Li Qihan nodded slightly, his deep voice carrying professional calmness: "In criminal psychology, this is called the 'over-evidenced effect'."

He tapped the evidence bag lightly with his slender fingers. "When evidence appears too complete and too logical, it often means someone is deliberately constructing a crime scene."

Xia Lili's eyes lit up: "So Zhou Yingxing was probably framed?"

"It's likely."

Li Qihan's eyes swept over Zhou Yingxing who was being escorted into a police car in the distance. "Taking him back to the police station now is not so much an investigation..."

He paused meaningfully, "It's more like protection."

Xia Lili nodded in realization, then frowned again: "But we haven't even found the shadow of the mastermind behind this..."

"That's the norm in criminal investigation work."

Li Qihan's voice was filled with guidance. "It won't be like your usual superpowers that always allow you to resolve cases quickly."

He glanced at Xia Lili's slightly puffed cheeks, and the corners of his lips rose slightly, "Be patient."

Li Qihan twisted a colorfully wrapped candy between his fingertips and placed it in her palm. The warmth from his fingertips left her body as soon as it touched her.

"A good hunter knows the value of waiting, Officer Xiao Xia."

There is a rare softness in the deep and mature voice.

Before Li Qihan finished speaking, he turned and walked towards his Land Rover Range Rover. His slender figure was wrapped in a black windbreaker, the hem of which fluttered with his steps, drawing a sharp silhouette in the twilight.

Xia Lili stared blankly at the gummy candy with a bear pattern printed on it in her palm - this was the children's favorite type recently.

An incredible thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

She trotted over to catch up with Li Qihan: "Captain Li, you're not just passing by, are you?"

"I'm just passing by." The man opened the car door without looking back, his tone returning to his usual cold tone.

Xia Lili shook the candy in her hand, and the candy wrapper made a rustling sound. "How do you explain this?"

She deliberately dragged out her tone, "Captain Li, who's not very good at getting along with children, actually has candy like this in his car?"

Li Qihan's action of fastening his seat belt paused for a moment, barely perceptible.

His slender fingers pressed lightly on the metal buckle, making a soft "click" sound.

"Someone gave it to me." He looked straight ahead, his tone very calm, "It's been in the car for a long time. I don't like it." After a pause, he added, "It's better to give it to someone else."

The car window slowly rose, and the lines of his profile were particularly clear in the backlight. "Get in."

Li Qihan's voice was filled with unquestionable authority. "If you say one more word, I won't take you back to the bureau."

Xia Lili quickly opened the passenger door.

The moment Xia Lili opened the car door, the cool breeze from the air conditioner, carrying a faint scent of fir, blew in her face.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a detail on the passenger seat - a candy bag printed with cartoon patterns was swaying gently in the airflow. The creases on the bag were brand new, and there were obvious tears on the seal, which showed that it had been opened not long ago.

Looking at the cold expression on Li Qihan's face that said "get off the car if you say one more word", Xia Lili pursed her lips, swallowed the teasing that was about to come out of her mouth, and quietly put the gummy bear into her pocket.

*

Under the pale light in the interrogation room, Zhang Ying sat awkwardly on an iron chair, his fingers stained with engine oil constantly twisting the straps of his helmet.

Li Qihan's slender figure leaned against the interrogation table, his black windbreaker gleaming with metallic luster under the cool light.

"Zhang Ying," Li Qihan said in a calm voice, yet with an irresistible sense of oppression, "Are you sure no one has instructed you to frame Zhou Yingxing?"

"Officer, this is such a serious matter, I wouldn't dare to say anything even if I had the guts to do so!"

Fine beads of sweat oozed out of Zhang Ying's forehead, glistening under the light.

His eyes wandered, not daring to meet Li Qihan's gaze. "Old Zhou did give me two thousand yuan, so that today... Hey, didn't I tell you everything?"

Li Qihan suddenly leaned forward, his hands resting on the interrogation table, and the shadow he cast completely enveloped Zhang Ying: "Then tell me,"

His voice suddenly turned cold. "Are you aware of the excessive methane concentration underground?"

Zhang Ying's pupils suddenly contracted, but he quickly regained his slick demeanor: "Methane? What methane? I'm just an excavator driver, how would I know anything about this..."

The subsequent interrogation was like a punch on cotton.

No matter how Li Qihan changed his questioning style, Zhang Ying either pretended to be dumb or kept repeating the prepared words.

The air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze, with only the rustling sound of Zhang Ying wiping sweat off his face echoing.

Li Qihan suddenly curled his lips and picked up the phone on the table in the interrogation room: "Take Zhang Ying down to rest first."

Zhang Ying was led out of the interrogation room by two police officers, his handcuffs holding his arms. The handcuffs gleamed coldly under the light in the corridor.

Xia Lili was waiting for news in the corridor. Seeing Zhang Ying being carried out by the police, she looked at him curiously. Zhang Ying's cloudy eyes met hers.

In an instant, Xia Lili's vision became blurred as if it was splashed with ink, which was another omen before the scene of doom appeared.

She staggered and held onto the wall.

Images of doom flooded my mind.

In the hallucination, Zhang Ying was taken to a collective cell.