Chapter 277 - 165: Unraveling the Truth (Part 2)

"But he didn’t even seem to notice. He even treated his own marriage with complete indifference."

"A person like that, Captain Li, do you think he would suddenly fall in love with a woman? Or a man?"

Hearing this, Li Jianye frowned as well.

Of course, he didn’t. He’d already considered this.

Qin Zhong was an emotionally detached person. Logically, he shouldn’t have suddenly, without any warning, shown signs of being in love with someone else.

It was a complete departure from the stone-hearted persona he’d maintained his entire life.

"But the facts are right in front of us. All speculation and theories have to yield to the facts."

After a moment, Xu Huo continued,

"So, in Qin Zhong’s case, it boils down to two possibilities."

"One, his previously stoic demeanor was just an act."

"Two, this change was sudden."

"Our earlier reasoning reduces the likelihood of the second option, which means the first one is more probable."

"In other words... for his entire adult life, his inner world might not have matched his outward appearance,"

Xu Huo said slowly.

But if they didn’t match...

...then things get complicated again.

Faking a personality requires a motive. If that motive is related to the case, then tracing back to when the act began could lead us to this so-called ’third party.’

But... everyone we’ve talked to insists that Qin Zhong has been like this ever since he started school!

Unless...

"So this ’third party’ has been around since he was in elementary school?"

Li Jianye voiced the thought, then paused, stunned by his own words.

"Impossible."

"If that were true, there’s no way no one would have noticed, from his childhood all the way to now. Even if this person was completely off the grid, they couldn’t have gone undiscovered!"

Zhao Shui immediately refuted it.

"But that’s where the clues are pointing."

Xu Huo smiled, leaving Zhao Shui at a loss for words.

Indeed, the clues were undeniable.

’So... our line of thinking must be wrong!’

"Then who is this person?" Li Jianye frowned. "We’ve already gone through all the likely suspects."

"Or are you saying someone can really hide for decades, never appearing in public, and never be found by the police?"

’Is that even possible?’

’People like that might exist, but not in a modern city.’

’Even a beggar, a homeless person with no identification, would have been picked up by the police by now!’

’Unless... this person exists in some kind of special form.’

"Let’s go to the lingerie store first."

Xu Huo said after a moment’s thought.

Li Jianye froze. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

He glanced at Zhao Shui, considered for a moment, then headed for the police car.

「A moment later.」

The police car slowly drove off toward their destination.

...

...

A women’s lingerie store.

It was a perfectly normal place, though a man coming in alone would likely be seen as a bit strange.

And because it’s strange, he would be easy to remember.

And if he was remembered... the case would be that much easier to solve.

"Pull up all the records of when Qin Zhong made purchases here."

Xu Huo stood at the counter of a women’s lingerie store on a commercial street less than two kilometers from Chaoyang Community. He looked at the computer and spoke slowly.

The terrified clerk at the counter pulled up the records.

This was one of the stores Qin Zhong frequented, and the only one with security cameras.

Normally, regulations require surveillance footage to be deleted every two months, but most businesses delete it monthly, or even every two weeks.

This lingerie store was on a monthly deletion cycle.

But when the case broke, the police ordered them to preserve the last month of footage. So, they could still view all the records of Qin Zhong’s visits in August.

Soon, the surveillance footage appeared on the screen.

Qin Zhong had only visited the store three times in August.

’Hmm, that’s still quite frequent. It’s a clothing store, after all. That’s like buying three outfits.’

’Then again...’

’...he was buying lingerie...’

"Wait. Stop the video on this entry."

Suddenly, Xu Huo spoke up, singling out one of the video files.

"August seventh. He left the store at 5:30 PM."

"Then, he didn’t appear at Chaoyang Community until 6:10 PM."

After having Zhao Shui contact personnel back at the station and confirm the surveillance times from both locations, Xu Huo looked at Li Jianye.

"There’s a forty-minute time gap."

"It’s less than two kilometers from here to Chaoyang Community. It took him forty minutes?"

Li Jianye paused, his brow furrowed.

"We haven’t looked into that yet."

He shook his head.

After Liu Li filed the report, he hadn’t investigated much before being reassigned to the ’Real-world Jesus’ case.

He really didn’t know about this.

’Team Two might know something, but they didn’t put it in the case file, which most likely means they didn’t find any leads either.’

"Forty minutes... that’s too big of a time gap."

Xu Huo was lost in thought.

’In a case related to a crime of passion, a time gap like this... places to investigate...’

"Investigate the inns and hotels along this route."

"And do a thorough check on rooms rented by the hour!"

"Rooms by the hour?" Li Jianye’s brow furrowed.

"You suspect he went to a hotel with the third party?"

"No, that doesn’t make sense. If this third party actually existed and could meet him at a hotel, there’s no reason for him to bring the lingerie home."

"Logically, she should have just worn it and left with it!"

Just like the high-heeled shoe left at his home.

If there really was a third party in his life, it wouldn’t make sense for him to bring these things home.

An affair is an affair. It’s supposed to be clandestine, not out in the open!

Who has an affair out in the open?

Well, some do. Generally, they fall into two categories.

"One, the spouse is a doormat. Liu Li’s initial submissiveness had a hint of that."

"Two, the spouse is a cuckold."

"Excluding the first, which we already have, that only leaves the second. But the second scenario wouldn’t lead to a crime like this."