Seeing that Long Qi looked at her after finishing his call, Ruan Qing'an seemed a little nervous, biting her lower lip and carefully asking, "Wh-what's wrong, Captain Long? What did Mr. Jiang say?"
"……nothing."
Long Qi pressed his temples before saying, "Zhang Da's disappearance case did not originally meet the time standard for filing a case, but now, because of the serial murder case, the murderer has not been found yet, the capital is under martial law, and the disappearance case is being taken very seriously."
“Zhang Da’s identity is now in doubt, and we cannot rule out the possibility that he broke into the house to commit the crime and then fled after failing to do so. But whatever the case, we still need your cooperation, Miss Ruan.”
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qingan nodded earnestly: "Okay, I understand. Captain Long, feel free to ask me any questions."
After asking Zhang Wu a few more questions, Long Qi left, leaving Ruan Qing'an and a policewoman to watch over her. It wasn't exactly guarding her, just helping to keep an eye on her.
...
With the direction Jiang Shihe had provided, Long Qi's investigation efficiency quickly improved significantly.
Around midnight.
Ruan Qingan was curled up in a chair, wrapped in a blanket, and fast asleep, while the policewoman sat beside him yawning.
Because of Zhang Da's disappearance, Ruan Qing'an said she dared not go home. Since she was a person involved, she simply stayed at the police station. Following Jiang Shihe's instructions, Long Qi took good care of her, even paying out of his own pocket to prepare blankets and hot coffee for her at night.
Just as the policewoman was starting to doze off, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Long Qi, seemingly having run over, was panting and leaning against the doorframe: "Damn it, finally a clue!"
"Captain Long, keep your voice down—"
The policewoman immediately sat up, quickly patted the sleeping girl next to her, glared at Long Qi, and said in a low voice.
Long Qi nodded quickly and pulled the policewoman out.
The policewoman went out the door, then carefully closed it again before saying, "Let's keep our voices down. She just fell asleep. She's probably very uneasy because of what happened. Mr. Jiang isn't here either."
"I know, I know."
Long Qi hurriedly spoke, glancing at Ruan Qing'an, who was wrapped in a blanket in the room, and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. This little girl was indeed likable.
It wasn't until the policewoman reminded him that Long Qi remembered the important matter. He explained to her, "Do you remember the hint Mr. Jiang gave us before? We finally have results. Today I also asked Miss Ruan about Zhang Wu's situation, and sure enough, Mr. Jiang and I guessed correctly!"
"What do you mean, Team Dragon?"
Long Qi then said, "After we dug into Zhang Wu's personal history, we should say that his entire experience was quite ordinary, with nothing major happening, which is different from what we expected."
“Until recently, we discovered something strange: he transferred schools during his senior year of high school, a crucial period. His records originally gave a reason: his parents found a better school and wanted Zhang Wu to study there.”
The policewoman nodded: "That's true. Senior year of high school is a crucial time, and some schools have higher college entrance rates, which is very eye-catching."
"That's what I originally thought too, but something doesn't feel right."
Long Qi shook his head and explained, "Do you remember? Zhang Wu was an art student who studied painting, but he was originally in a regular high school and focused on academic performance. In the end, he took the art exam instead?"
“Zhang Wu’s parents did not go through normal transfer procedures, but rather withdrew from school. However, the problem is that the school they wanted to transfer to did not allow Zhang Wu to enroll at all. It seems that they are still discussing it, and in the end, Zhang Wu still failed the entrance test.”
"In other words, Zhang Wu stopped going to school at that time. He later applied to be an art student, wasted another year, and finally entered university after taking the college entrance examination."
Hearing this, the policewoman was taken aback: "Shouldn't we have communicated with the school you're transferring to beforehand about something like this?"
Long Qi nodded slightly: "My guess is that Zhang Wu's parents had actually planned to send him to a better school when he was in his senior year of high school, for his final push, but Zhang Wu got into trouble while they were still communicating with the school."
“In a very urgent situation, even if the school had not yet handled the matter properly, Zhang Wu’s parents had to take him away. Therefore, they withdrew him from school and moved to another city with him.”
Long Qi paused, then said, "That's how things went."
"Have you found out what happened, Captain Long?"
"...We didn't think of anything at first, but we only found out when Lao Chen went out to answer a call from his daughter's homeroom teacher, who seriously criticized him for dating too early."
As Long Qi spoke, he opened his phone, which displayed a news article from several years ago: "A female high school student in her second year at Chengxi Middle School, due to being pregnant for too long, was unable to have an abortion and gave birth to the child, but died on the operating table due to complications during childbirth. As for the child..."
He sighed: "Not long after, he died too."
For a moment, the atmosphere fell silent. The policewoman pursed her lips and cursed, "Getting someone pregnant and then not taking responsibility, what a scumbag!"
"Nobody knows anything about them, especially since Zhang Wu ran away afterward. His parents are quite wealthy. Although he couldn't get into that top high school, they put in some effort and spent a lot of money to clean things up. Almost nobody knows about this."
Long Qi continued, "This is the only one we didn't find before. After that, Old Chen followed this lead and connected it to other victims. Guess what?"
"Similar things happen in all of them."
Long Qi's voice suddenly turned somber, as if he were somewhat deflated: "They come in all sorts of forms, but the only thing they have in common is that they all abandoned their families, leading to the breakdown of those families."
"Captain Long, could the murderer have also experienced something like this, or perhaps he was the injured child in the incident, which is why he chose these victims...?"
Long Qi nodded: "That's why I came to find you."
The policewoman thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I understand, Captain Long. I will investigate in this direction next."
"Oh, right..."
Long Qi paused, then lowered his voice: "Start the investigation with her first. Don't tell Mr. Jiang, although... he may have already guessed it, but... don't say anything yet."
The policewoman followed the direction he was pointing and saw the closed door, while Ruan Qing'an was still sleeping inside...
She nodded cautiously: "Understood, Captain Long."
After saying that, Long Qi patted the policewoman on the shoulder and she quickly left. He stood there, looked at Ruan Qing'an sleeping inside wrapped in a blanket, and sighed again.
She's not a strong suspect, but...
He had to investigate. If it really was her, would Jiang Shihe really not do anything? Long Qi dared not gamble on that possibility.
And only after the footsteps disappeared did the room—
Ruan Qing'an, who should have been sleeping with her eyes closed, silently opened them. Invisible threads moved slightly at her fingertips, connecting to the little ghost in the distance, namely Jiang Shihe.
"He's even faster than you guys..."
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