Chapter 597 - 497: Release

Chapter 597: Chapter 497: Release

On the way to the next location, Zhang Yaxin explained Hu Bin’s situation.

He claimed he was just watching livestreams online when he noticed Li Siyu. He saw that the girl was pretty and that her IP address was local to Nanjiang, so he sent her a few more gifts.

He’s single, so it’s normal for him to have certain needs.

He’s also well-off, so spending a few tens of thousands of yuan was no big deal to him.

Regarding the call logs, he claimed that Li Siyu was the one who first private-messaged him her phone number, and they only contacted each other twice.

The two had never met in person.

He also said that Li Siyu might have been interested in "that sort of thing," but he didn’t think it was necessary.

At first, he thought since they were both in Nanjiang, they could hook up.

But then he reconsidered, afraid that things would get messy after they slept together.

So he limited their interactions to occasionally sending gifts. As for the fact that he’d cumulatively spent over sixty thousand, he claimed he hadn’t even noticed.

With Celestial Skill also ruling him out, Hu Bin was basically cleared of suspicion.

The second person was named Wan Rui.

This person was already on the original list, one of the four.

He was also in Xinbei District, working at an animation production company.

He was from another province and had only graduated from college three years ago.

They used the same method: a handshake to confirm.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t him either.

He claimed he just liked watching pretty girls livestream and was shocked that the police had come to his door.

Zhang Yaxin didn’t reveal that Li Siyu was dead.

During the questioning, they learned that Li Siyu had also proactively contacted Wan Rui, and the two had even video-chatted.

The girl was pretty and had a pleasant voice, which for a time gave Wan Rui the false impression that she liked him.

He only realized later that it was just like picking up a girl at a nightclub.

The illusion gradually faded. He only sent gifts occasionally and didn’t contact her much.

Most importantly, he claimed Li Siyu was rather greedy and often urged him to send gifts.

As for his alibi, that was also confirmed.

As a poor schmuck working in the animation industry, he had been busy with a company project the night before last, working overtime until almost eleven o’clock at night before getting off work.

His colleagues from the same project team could verify this.

And from his company to Orange Apartment, it would take almost an hour by car.

He might not have had enough time.

After work, he rode a shared bike back to his rented apartment in a nearby residential complex.

They made a trip to the complex and confirmed his alibi through the surveillance footage.

So this person’s suspicion was also basically ruled out.

On the list of four, the last one was a middle-aged man named Li Zhongming.

A Nanjiang local, his home was in Lishan District.

He was the owner of a hardware store.

The night before last, he was at home.

He had a wife and child and was utterly shocked by the police’s visit.

His wife was also shocked, only just learning that Li Zhongming had silently spent over eight thousand yuan on a female livestreamer.

Zhang Yaxin said that as he was leaving, before the door was even fully closed, he heard the slap of Li Zhongming’s wife hitting him on the head.

Celestial Skill took a sniff. Still not him.

So those four "top fans" had been basically ruled out.

They made a trip to Tingyang.

As expected, there were no issues with Luo Xiaoguang.

At the time of the crime, he had just gotten off work. Then he spent the evening drinking and bragging with his housemate, who was from the same hometown, until almost one in the morning before going to bed.

He had no time to commit the crime.

When Li Siyu was mentioned, he started cursing, saying Li Siyu was a con artist who had scammed him.

He said that things were great when they first started chatting.

But as soon as he stopped sending gifts, she would ignore him completely.

He even pestered Zhang Yaxin, asking if he could get back the money he had spent on Li Siyu.

Of course, Celestial Skill confirmed once again that it wasn’t him.

That left the three people from the expanded list.

They had planned their route intentionally, arriving at the last stop shortly before four in the afternoon.

It was on Taiyun Road in the New District, seven or eight kilometers from Orange Apartment.

"This is a confidential facility, isn’t it?"

Shen Xin leaned against the police car and asked Zhang Yaxin, who was also waiting beside him.

Before them was a department with tightly shut gates and guards on duty at the entrance. It bore a state-level sign.

The Electronics Group’s Institute 57.

Having grown up here, Shen Xin had heard of this Institute 57.

But he didn’t really know what they researched specifically.

In any case, Nanjiang had several national-level research institutes with strong scientific research capabilities.

Zhang Yaxin nodded. "That’s right. It’s a confidential facility. They work on chips and integrated circuits."

Just as he was about to elaborate, someone came out.

But it wasn’t their target; it was the head of the institute’s security department.

Zhang Yaxin followed the man inside.

The last person on the list was named Zhang Zhanhui, from Lu Province.

The records showed he worked at Institute 57.

His situation was similar to Wan Rui’s. He had graduated eight years ago, was a top student, and was unmarried.

The information from the household registration records wasn’t very detailed, so they didn’t know much.

His Kuaishou platform account was registered in ’17, and he’d been spending a fair amount back then, sending all sorts of gifts.

His taste was similar to Wan Rui’s; he especially liked livestreamers with hot bodies.

The first time he sent a gift to Li Siyu was in February of this year. By the end of April, over a period of two months, he had spent over two thousand yuan.

After April, he never sent her another gift.

Of course, he continued to send gifts to other female livestreamers.

He had probably moved on to someone else.

He spent too little to catch Li Siyu’s eye, so they had never been in contact.

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Yaxin came out in a great hurry, clutching his hand. He rushed to the car for Tian Kui to sniff.

Tian Kui barked twice.

Still not him.

Zhang Yaxin let out a long sigh, his face full of helplessness.

Seven people, and none of them was the one.

They had already lowered the standard so much—two thousand yuan. If they went any lower, killing someone over that little money seemed too incredible to believe.

Shen Xin was also frustrated, but on the way back, he still asked about Zhang Zhanhui’s situation.

Zhang Yaxin said, "He does have a car, a Nissan Sylphy. I wrote down the license plate number; we can run it later."

"He’s the institute’s network administrator. His work hours are very regular. On the 17th, he got off work at five in the afternoon."

"After work, he went to the supermarket and got home a little after six."

"He lives in the nearby Yuanqiao Village. I even asked him, ’Why are you living in an old village?’"

Yuanqiao Village was an old village that hadn’t been demolished yet.

"He said he doesn’t like living in residential complexes. He prefers to live alone, have a yard. He likes to grow flowers and plants, and there’s no space for that in an apartment complex."

"I know Yuanqiao Village. There aren’t many surveillance cameras, so when he says he didn’t go out again after getting home, that alibi isn’t solid enough."

"But it’s not a big problem, since Celestial Skill has already cleared him."

The person who stole the video recorder was the suspect, so Celestial Skill’s confirmation was crucial.

Shen Xin nodded and didn’t ask any more questions, silently mulling over the case.

’Two leads have been ruled out. It can’t really be a burglary that escalated to murder, can it?’

They returned to the station.

Seeing this result, Zhang Hancheng and Liu Baoqing didn’t look happy either.

The last thing they wanted, it seemed, was for this to be a burglary-turned-murder.

"Alright, you’ve been busy for two days and a night. Go find a place to get some sleep," Zhang Hancheng said, waving a hand to dismiss Shen Xin.

His rented apartment wasn’t far, and the Captain was at home.

He didn’t get along with anyone, so most of the time, Shen Xin had to take care of him himself.

So he simply went home to catch up on some sleep.

His mind was full of the case, and he thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but the moment his head hit the pillow, drowsiness washed over him, and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke again, it was because he’d been woken by a noise.

He opened his eyes and saw Ding Yuwei. He didn’t know when she’d arrived, but she was helping him tidy up his room.

"Was I being too loud?" Ding Yuwei said, annoyed with herself. She told Shen Xin to sleep a little longer.

Shen Xin grabbed his phone and checked the time. It was just past eleven at night.

’So I slept for six hours.’

"It’s enough." Shen Xin got out of bed and asked Ding Yuwei when she had arrived and if there were any new developments at the station.

As he asked, he picked up his phone to check the task force’s group chat on Lanxin.

The more he read, the heavier his heart became.

In message after message, the most common phrase was "no issues."

Shen Xin grew too restless to sit still. He took a quick shower in the bathroom and then headed for the station.

It had already been two days, 48 hours.

As the saying went, three days is a hurdle, and seven days is the Ghost Gate.

The task force this time was quite large, and they had mobilized so many people. Yet after two days of investigating so many leads, they had come up with nothing.

After 48 hours, everyone’s energy and stamina were being pushed to their limits.

A lack of progress was not a good sign.

When he arrived at the station and found Zhang Hancheng, he was near the interrogation rooms.

His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep as he stared intently at the room next door.

Cui Xuesong was still interrogating Wang Liang.

The two were locked in a battle of wills. The lights inside were bright, and they were staring each other down in a test of endurance.

It had been 48 hours. Wang Liang looked completely drained.

After being brought in for questioning, his interrogation had already exceeded 24 hours.

Wang Liang had an alibi, so by rights, he should have been released.

However, due to the issue with the time of death, he was still a suspect, so his interrogation time was extended.

But now, another 24-hour period had almost passed.

If they kept holding him any longer, they would have to apply for criminal detention.

But even in that case, they couldn’t hold him for more than seven days at most.

Besides, with the current evidence, the prosecutor’s office would probably reject an application for criminal detention.

It really wasn’t enough.

The fire started a little after 1:00 AM, but he had already left at 10:47 PM. There was a two-hour gap in between.

Liu Baoqing was also there. He said, "Zhang Zhi, how about we switch? Let me take over."

Zhang Hancheng shook his head slightly.

Cui Xuesong had been interrogating him for so long that he’d already established a certain rapport. Switching interrogators now would mean starting all over.

Folding his arms, Zhang Hancheng mulled it over for a long moment before saying, "This guy is definitely hiding something."

He lied. Based on that alone, he must be hiding something.

"I feel like interrogating him this way, without any more solid evidence, is going to make it very difficult to break him."

"Why don’t we try a different approach? Let him go."

"Whatever he’s hiding, we’ll only have a chance of finding out once he’s out."

Behind him, Shen Xin was taken aback for a moment. ’Are they going to use technical surveillance?’

Just as he was thinking this, Zhang Hancheng suddenly turned his head and glanced at him.

He quickly looked away, seemingly having made up his mind. "We’ll do as I say. Release him at five."

At five in the morning, it would be exactly 48 hours.