Chapter 149: Engine Oil
Tu Lanxun stared at Teacher Liu and asked, "Do you know who it is?"
Teacher Liu thought for a moment, his face hesitant, before finally saying, "Quite a lot. Some teachers have had their performance restricted by the principal. He's the type of person who treats you well when you don't make mistakes, but if you make a mistake and it delays his advancement plans, then you'll see."
Teacher Liu reported a total of five or six names. These five or six teachers taught all grades and subjects. Some of them were punished because their students were injured in class, some because they did not perform well in their open classes, and some even brought shame to the school by participating in provincial school sports competitions. The principal would "supervise" them specifically because of these things, which was a seemingly kind way of making things difficult for them.
"Is that all?" Li Ao immediately asked someone to check these names. Tu Lanxun also walked around the office with a monocle in his hand. Strangely, apart from two soul fingerprints on the door handle of the principal's office, the blood-red mark was not found anywhere else.
Li Ao quickly received a reply and frowned. "None of that is correct. Three of the six teachers didn't have classes this morning. They were home the entire time. This can be verified by their families and roommates, and cross-corroborated by the community security and surveillance cameras. We've also sent people to check the surveillance footage of the other three teachers. Most of them were eating breakfast at a nearby shop at the time of the incident."
Tu Lanxun looked up at the surveillance camera in the corridor. When the principal's crime occurred, the camera was blocked for more than ten minutes. It returned to normal only when Teacher Xiao Liu and Sun Zhongyi came up.
This is an old trick of the Kingdom of Heaven Group.
"Okay. So, besides the teachers, is there anyone else who hates the principal? Even if they are not from your school, it's fine." Li Ao asked.
Teacher Liu looked embarrassed. "That's a lot. Even our regular teachers have been harassed like this, not to mention the other staff inside and outside the school. There's the owner of the dirty little stall at the school gate who was shut down by his connections with the Municipal Supervision Bureau, and the owner of the milk tea shop who has been banned from students and parents. Oh, and then there's our school security team, the janitors, the cleaners, and so on. Because Principal Wei is a very hard-working person, if he finds a problem at school, whether it's five in the morning or ten at night, he will call the migrant workers who live nearby to fix it. We all say privately that this is like living the same working life as a big company while getting the lowest salary in the system."
Unexpectedly, this Principal Wei was so easily hated. Tu Lanxun was silent for a moment. Li Ao nodded and said, "Okay, I'll send three people to expand the investigation."
Tu Lanxun had already taken two soul fingerprints from the doorknob and was about to go back and compare them when he turned to ask Teacher Liu, "By the way, Teacher Liu, you said you came here this morning with Sun Zhongyi, the janitor?"
Teacher Liu replied, "Yes, it's not just Sun Zhongyi. Our school's janitors and cleaners often come here, and it's not uncommon for them to get up early. The principal is very strict."
"Did he tell you why he was inspecting the sewer? This floor is usually occupied by the principal and two accountants. There's no need for them to be so busy."
Teacher Liu thought for a moment and said, "Oh, it seems there's some mildew on the ceiling of the bathroom downstairs, so he came up to see if there's a leak in the pipes on this floor. Otherwise..." Teacher Liu shuddered, "When the principal is asked to go and fix the leak, it won't be such an easy situation."
Tu Lanxun ran downstairs and saw that there were indeed some black spots scattered on the edge of the ceiling. She got goosebumps and turned back to the top floor. She saw Li Ao asking Teacher Liu to sign the transcript.
"Wait." Tu Lanxun looked distractedly at the bathroom that had just been haunted. It was truly clean inside, with clear pipes, a spacious floor, and a neatly-cleaned sink. It was obvious that the janitor and cleaners had done a great job. "Look, isn't this place too clean?"
Teacher Liu was puzzled: "It has to be this clean, otherwise the principal will be angry."
Li Ao met Tu Lanxun's gaze, his eyes suddenly darkened, and he said, "The tool kit that should have been in the bathroom is gone!"
Teacher Liu was still dazed: "What tool kit?"
Tu Lanxun continued, "Sun Zhongyi's tool kit. Isn't he here to inspect the sewer? How can he do it with nothing?"
Teacher Liu blinked blankly. "That's right... Come to think of it, when I ran into him this morning, he had nothing in his hands..."
This only means one thing: Sun Zhongyi is lying.
He just used the excuse of leaks and mildew as an excuse, but he actually had another purpose for coming to the top floor.
Two things happened on the top floor this morning. The first was that Principal Wei was murdered; the second was that the public restroom was haunted, and school worker Sun Zhongyi, police officer Wang Dahui, and security officer Tian Feng were trapped inside.
That old ghost insisted on wearing Sun Zhongyi's body to pretend to be Wang Dahui. Wang Dahui himself was also present and was unconscious. Why didn't he just use Wang Dahui's body?
Tu Lanxun sorted out the timeline in his mind.
At 5:55, Teacher Liu, who received the message from Principal Wei, came to the principal's office. Sun Zhongyi was with her and went into the bathroom on the same floor.
At 6:05, Teacher Liu called the police in panic.
At 6:10, Wang Dahui arrived. At this time, Teacher Liu did not dare to stay on the top floor and had already gone down to other floors. Upon hearing the news, Tian Feng from the Security Department went upstairs to check the situation and protect the scene.
At 6:18, Li Ao and Tu Lanxun arrived at school, just as a commotion had broken out in the bathroom. In other words, in the previous eight minutes, Tian Feng and Wang Dahui could have been in the bathroom simultaneously, or one after the other.
Tu Lanxun whispered to Li Ao, "Then I have two questions. First, did Principal Wei die before or after sending the message to Teacher Liu?"
If it was after that, he should have been killed after sending the message, just like a bolt of lightning from the sky that killed this slightly harsh principal.
If it was before, then who sent the message to Teacher Liu? Who summoned her to the principal's office? Was it just to find someone to witness the principal's death?
"We have to wait for the autopsy results. Hey, hey, consultant, what are you looking for?" Li Ao watched Tu Lanxun turn his head and look around, as if his attention was suddenly diverted, but there was nothing outside.
Tu Lanxun sighed, "I'm looking for Principal Wei's soul. Within half an hour to two days after death, there's a chance that a ghost will 'refresh' near a corpse. If we can ask him directly, with that brain that pushes everyone, he'll definitely be able to explain everything clearly."
But what she didn't say was that now that the Fourth Treaty had rebounded, if Principal Wei's soul was randomly born on the main road or in the classroom, and was caught a glimpse of the dense flow of people in the elementary school and the surrounding area, it would probably be reduced to ashes before it could be questioned.
Li Ao nodded and continued to ask, "What's the second point?"
"The second point is Sun Zhongyi's lies and the old ghost's behavior. This is a commonplace... But what I'm more concerned about now is how those three living people were trapped in the bathroom? Did they encounter a ghost while using the toilet side by side?" Tu Lanxun's eyelids twitched, and he suddenly had an inspiration:
"That's not right. Why didn't Sun Zhongyi leave the top floor until Tian Feng and Wang Dahui arrived? Wasn't he afraid of Principal Wei's body? Or was he completely unaware of it?"
Tu Lanxun and Li Ao turned to Teacher Liu, who immediately replied, "Schoolkeeper Sun, you know, after I saw Principal Wei's body, I was so terrified I couldn't speak. My legs went weak as I ran out. I saw Schoolkeeper Sun washing her hands in the bathroom when I passed by, and I said a few words to her."
"What did you say?"
"Something must have happened to the principal, and they told him to leave to avoid any strange things. I don't remember exactly; my mind was a mess at the time."
"Did Sun Zhongyi listen to you?"
"I don't know. I don't seem to have heard it. I can't remember it for sure. Anyway, I continued to run down. I don't know if he followed me." Teacher Liu said apologetically.
Tu Lanxun and Li Ao thanked Teacher Xiao Liu and wanted to ask her to go home and rest, but after thinking about it, they decided to let the police officer who was returning to the police station to deliver the evidence take her with him. This was an extraordinary period and Teacher Xiao Liu, who had just finished testifying, could not be left alone.
"There is definitely something wrong with Sun Zhongyi," said Tu Lanxun.
Li Ao's face was stern. "I also think that he can't be unrelated to the old ghost and the little ghost. Maybe he is the murderer who killed Principal Wei. He is crying thief here."
In addition to ghosts, the Heavenly Kingdom Group can also control people.
And the old ghost came out in his skin, maybe he wanted to take the opportunity to let Sun Zhongyi escape.
Was Sun Zhongyi really in a coma at that time?
"Xiao Zhang, Xiao Zhang, this is Li Ao. How is Sun Zhongyi?" Li Ao picked up the intercom and asked.
Xiao Zhang's voice came back from the other side: "Captain Li, Sun Zhongyi just woke up and is still undergoing a physical examination. He's in a bad mood and keeps saying he has a headache no matter what I ask. I feel like he really is in pain."
"You're mistaken," Li Ao said mercilessly. "Have the hospital examine him quickly. Afterwards, take him back to the police station. Bring two more people with you, preferably someone from the Tourism Administration. We already have one there."
"Okay, okay, okay, got it." Xiao Zhang didn't ask too many questions and hung up the intercom.
Now there is only the last part left, and the remaining physical evidence and traces at the scene still have huge value for exploitation.
"First, the rope." Li Ao said to Tu Lanxun seriously. Tu Lanxun knew that he had entered teaching mode and nodded seriously, "Yes, the rope."
The rope that strangled Principal Wei was a long parachute rope that could only be bought in a very professional sports store. It was two meters long and had signs of being cut at the end.
"The cut ones are just enough to strangle a person, and they are convenient to carry around," said Li Ao.
He held up the rope with gloves on and observed it against the light. "Skin fragments were found at the two sections where Principal Wei's ankles and neck were in contact. However, there were no skin fragments at other locations, especially the sections where the murderer could easily have grabbed and gained leverage. The murderer may have been wearing gloves, so indoor fingerprint collection may be fruitless."
"Sun Zhongyi is a school worker. He wears gloves every day. He was also wearing gloves when he was rescued from the bathroom just now."
"very good."
Tu Lanxun was listening with great interest, and Li Ao did not keep him in suspense. He directly unfolded the two sections of rope next to the neck. Under the magnifying glass, there were faint black marks in the rope fibers, very few, and if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't find them at all.
"Engine oil. Or lubricating oil." Li Ao pointed at the door. "It can be used to repair or replace door hinges. Look at the grip. There are traces of engine oil left by the friction between the gloves and the rope."
The answer is already obvious.
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