Chapter 20 I Didn't Kill Anyone
A stifling silence permeated the interrogation room. Yu Hao and Lu Chao exchanged glances, each one's pupils reflecting deep shock. "How is that possible?" Lu Chao slammed the table, his chair legs scraping against the floor with a sharp, piercing sound that echoed throughout the confined space. Liu Feng's body trembled violently, his handcuffs clicking against the iron chair armrests. Beads of sweat shone on his pale face, a sickly sheen under the pale light. "Why is that impossible?" His voice suddenly rose, a touch of hysteria. "I just want the money! Why would I kill someone?" His eyes, bloodshot, stared intently at Lu Chao. "What good would killing him do me? I just wanted to save my mother's life!" "Then why did he die?" Yu Hao interjected calmly, his voice cutting through the escalating confrontation like an ice knife. "And the time of his death coincided with the time you stole the money." He spoke deliberately slowly, each word delivered with bullet-like precision. Liu Feng's breathing quickened, his chest heaving violently. He swallowed hard, as if trying to swallow back some unspeakable emotion. "I want to know why this happened, too!" he suddenly roared, his voice etched with genuine pain and confusion, exploding through the interrogation room. "I want to know more than you do!" His fingers gripped the edge of the chair, blood seeping from between his nails. "If it weren't for this murder, I could have stolen the money without a trace! That coward Wang Shun wouldn't even dare report it. If he'd told anyone, Wang Kun would have been the first to kill him!" Yu Hao's eyes never left Liu Feng's face. He slowly pulled a photo from a folder and pushed it towards Liu Feng. The photo showed the dagger lodged in Wang Shun's chest. The fingerprint extraction points were clearly marked on the handle, like striking red bull's eyes. "Explain this," Yu Hao said softly. "What do you mean?" Liu Feng asked, puzzled. Lu Chao pulled another report from the folder. "The fingerprint comparison results are here. Take a look." He pushed another document over, clearly marked with a 99.8% fingerprint match. That number, like a sharp knife, pointed directly at Liu Feng's heart. Liu Feng froze. His lips trembled slightly, and his face turned pale at a visible speed, as if all the blood had been drained from his body. "This... This is impossible..." His voice suddenly became extremely weak, and each word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "I never touched that knife... I swear..." He...
A suffocating silence filled the interrogation room. Yu Hao and Lu Chao exchanged glances, each with a look of deep shock.
"How is that possible?"
Lu Chao slammed the table and stood up. The chair legs scraped against the ground, making a harsh sound that echoed in the enclosed space.
Liu Feng's body began to tremble violently, and the handcuffs made a metallic "clicking" sound on the armrests of the iron chair. Fine beads of sweat oozed from his pale face, which had a sickly luster under the pale light.
"Why not?" His voice suddenly rose, a bit hysterical. "I just want money! Why would I kill someone?" His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Lu Chao. "What good would killing him do me? I just want to save my mother's life!"
"Then why did he die?" Yu Hao interjected calmly, his voice cutting through the escalating confrontation like an ice knife. "And the time of his death coincided with the time you stole the money." He spoke deliberately slowly, each word delivered with bullet-like precision.
Liu Feng's breathing became rapid, and his chest rose and fell violently. He swallowed hard, as if trying to swallow down some unspeakable emotion. "I want to know why this happened, too!"
He suddenly yelled, his voice filled with genuine pain and confusion that exploded across the interrogation room, "I want to know more fucking than you do!"
His fingers gripped the edge of the chair tightly, blood seeping from between his nails. "If it weren't for this murder, I could have stolen the money quietly! That coward Wang Shun didn't even dare to report the crime. If he dared to tell anyone, Wang Kun would be the first to beat him to death!"
Yu Hao's eyes never left Liu Feng's face. He slowly took out a photo from the folder and pushed it in front of Liu Feng.
The photo shows the dagger stuck in Wang Shun's chest. Several fingerprint extraction locations are clearly marked on the handle, like several eye-catching red bull's eyes.
"Explain this." Yu Hao's voice was very soft.
"What do you mean?" Liu Feng asked in confusion.
Lu Chao pulled out another report from the folder and said, "The fingerprint matching results are here, take a look for yourself." He pushed over another document, which clearly stated that the fingerprint matching rate was 99.8%. That number was like a sharp knife, pointing directly at Liu Feng's heart.
Liu Feng suddenly froze, his lips trembled slightly, and his face turned pale at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if all the blood in his body had been drained.
"This... this is impossible..." His voice suddenly became extremely weak, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "I have never touched that knife... I swear..."
He stared at the report, his eyes gradually blurring, as if he had seen something unbelievable. "How is this possible..." he muttered to himself, his voice filled with disbelief, as if he were talking in his sleep. "I didn't even touch the murder weapon... I only took the money... This is impossible..."
Suddenly, he raised his head sharply, as if he remembered something, and the fear in his eyes instantly turned into anger, like a ball of fire that suddenly erupted.
"It's you!" He yelled hysterically, his voice hoarse and the veins on his neck bulging. "You must have framed me to solve the case as soon as possible!"
His body struggled violently, the handcuffs making a harsh metallic friction sound on the iron chair, and the shackles left several white marks on the ground. "You beasts in uniform! You'll do anything to solve more crimes!"
Yu Hao stood up and looked down at the out-of-control Liu Feng, his police badge glowing coldly under the light.
His voice was steady and powerful, like a rock: "I assure you on my dignity and this police uniform that this is absolutely evidence found at the scene, without any human intervention."
Liu Feng stared at Yu Hao, his struggles slowly coming to a halt. He raised his head, the anger in his eyes gradually giving way to confusion. "Then...then why did this happen...I really didn't kill him...I only took the money..." His shoulders slumped.
The interrogation room fell into a deathly silence. Yu Hao could hear Lu Chao's slightly rapid breathing and the slight sobs in Liu Feng's throat.
Yu Hao sat down again and crossed his hands on the table. "Liu Feng," his voice softened, "if you really didn't kill anyone, then help us find out the truth. Carefully recall every detail of that night." His eyes were focused and firm, giving Liu Feng an inexplicable sense of security.
Liu Feng's breathing gradually steadied, but the confusion in his eyes remained undimmed. He lowered his head, staring at his trembling hands, as if trying to confirm whether they were truly stained with blood. His hands were clean, his nails neatly manicured, the hands of a scholar.
"I... When I climbed in through the window, Wang Shun was already drunk and unconscious..." His voice was very soft, as if he was talking to himself, or as if he was confessing, "I found the money in the drawer of the coffee table and was about to leave... Then..." His brows suddenly frowned, as if he remembered something.
"And then what?" Lu Chao pressed eagerly, his pen tip hovering above his notebook. He leaned forward slightly, as if afraid to miss any detail.
Liu Feng's eyes suddenly became vague, and his gaze passed through the wall of the interrogation room and looked at a distant place: "Then I seemed to... hear some sound... like... the sound of a mouse, right in the closet." His voice became lower and lower, and the last few words were almost inaudible.
"Can you tell me something useful?" Lu Chao put down his pen and rubbed his temples, his tone filled with obvious impatience. He looked at the terrified Liu Feng and felt that he had become somewhat incoherent.
Liu Feng raised his head suddenly, a clear look in his eyes: "I really wanted to kill him, but I really didn't. It really wasn't me."
"Go on." Lu Chao looked at Liu Feng, his heart in turmoil.
Liu Feng's hair was stuck to his forehead by sweat, and a strand of black hair hung down, covering one of his eyes: "I was too nervous at that time, and I jumped out of the window after getting the money..." His voice became softer and softer, and finally almost became a whisper.
"That's it?" Lu Chao raised his eyebrows.
"That's it." Liu Feng raised his head.
Yu Hao frowned slightly, his brain rapidly running through various possibilities, and guessing the possibility that Liu Feng was lying.
"Wait," Liu Feng suddenly sat up straight, a gleam in his eyes, "That knife... I've seen that knife!" His voice trembled slightly with excitement.
Yu Hao and Lu Chao looked up at the same time, as if two searchlights were focused on Liu Feng at the same time.
"Where? When?" Yu Hao's voice unconsciously rose a few degrees.
Liu Feng swallowed his saliva: "It's...it's on Wang Shun's coffee table..." His speech speed became faster and faster, as if he was afraid that he would forget this important detail, "When I went in, the knife was placed next to the fruit plate..." His voice gradually lowered.
"Are you sure it's this one?" Yu Hao picked up the evidence bag. The dagger inside was still stained with dried blood, appearing dark red under the light. He pushed the evidence bag towards Liu Feng, and the metal table made a slight clinking sound.
Liu Feng stared for a moment, staring at the dagger without blinking, "Yes, this is it, but..." His voice suddenly became hesitant, and his brows frowned again.
"Just what?" Yu Hao keenly caught the hesitation and immediately asked.
"It's just that the handle seems to be a little different." Liu Feng tried hard to recall, his fingers gesturing in the air, trying to depict the shape in his memory.
"What do you mean?" Lu Chao asked in confusion, and the pen in his hand stopped.
"That's it..." Liu Feng's speech slowed down, and each word seemed to be carefully considered. "I remember that the blade on the coffee table looked like this, but the handle seemed to be square, not round like this." His fingers drew a square in the air, and then a circle, his movements a little clumsy.
"Are you sure?" Yu Hao's voice became serious, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle.
"I..." Liu Feng obviously couldn't remember clearly, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead. "How could I possibly pay attention to such details? I only vaguely remember it." At this point, he was obviously a little anxious, his voice rose an octave, and his fingers unconsciously twisted together. "I didn't expect things to develop to this point."
Yu Hao couldn't come to a conclusion for a moment, but a slight sense of relief crept into his heart. It was possible that the murderer was someone else. This thought, like a seed, quietly took root in his heart.
The interrogation room fell silent again. Yu Hao stood up, walked to the water dispenser in the corner of the interrogation room, took a glass of water and handed it to Liu Feng.
Liu Feng's hands were still shaking, the cup of water was shaking in his hands, splashing a few drops of water, "Thank you." He whispered.
"Liu Feng," Yu Hao sat down again, his voice steady and powerful, "If it is true as you said, then after you left, another person entered the scene and killed Wang Shun with that knife?" He looked straight into Liu Feng's eyes, not missing any fluctuations.
Liu Feng raised his head suddenly, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, as if he had seen some horrible scene: "I... I don't know."
Lu Chao suddenly interrupted, breaking the brief silence: "Could it be that woman? The woman with the wig? Could it be that Wang Shun was already dead when you went in?"
Liu Feng's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he was frightened by this possibility: "No...impossible..." His voice trembled violently, his fingers tightly clenched the water cup, and the plastic cup made a "crunching" sound under the weight.
"How can you be sure?"
Liu Feng suddenly looked up, and the fear in his eyes was replaced by a strange firmness: "I saw Wang Shun in the bedroom. When I left through the window, he was still snoring! I swear! I really didn't kill him. He was still alive after I left. You have to believe what I said." His voice became more and more urgent, as if he was afraid of not being believed, and every word was full of pleading.
Just then, there was a gentle knock on the interrogation room door. Three quick knocks broke the tense atmosphere. A police officer poked his head in, his face anxious. "Captain Yu, this is an emergency."
Yu Hao stood up and walked to the door. The police officer lowered his voice and said a few words. Yu Hao's expression suddenly became solemn, and his brows were furrowed into the shape of the Chinese character "川".
He walked quickly back to the table and winked at Lu Chao. The message contained in that look made Lu Chao put down his pen immediately.
"Liu Feng," Yu Hao's voice returned to calm, but if you listened carefully, you could detect a hint of tension, "The interrogation ends here for now. We will verify the information you provided." His gaze stayed on Liu Feng's face for a second, then turned to the police officer at the door.
Liu Feng raised his head, the fear in his eyes still lingering, like a trapped beast: "You...you have to believe me...I really didn't kill anyone..." His voice was choked with the last hope.
Yu Hao didn't answer, but simply signaled the officers to take Liu Feng out of the interrogation room. As Liu Feng was being carried to the door by two officers, he suddenly turned around and said, "Captain Yu... Zhang Li... Zhang Li doesn't know anything... Please don't..." Tears welled up in his eyes, glistening under the light.
Yu Hao nodded, his eyes complicated: "I know."
After the door closed, Lu Chao immediately put down his pen and leaned forward: "What's going on?"
Yu Hao's expression was extremely serious. "In Nan'an Village, someone was killed again." His voice was very soft, but it was like a huge rock hitting Lu Chao's heart.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
