Chapter 1178 - 602: The Dangerous Fourth Person (Part 2)

Hearing this, Chen Guan turned to look at the two people beside him and smiled awkwardly.

"It seems the habit of charging for stamps in our Guangling countryside hasn’t been completely eradicated yet."

Then he took out his police ID and said, "Hello, we are from the Guangling City Public Security Bureau, here to investigate a case."

"Are you the village head?"

Upon hearing it was the Public Security Bureau, the elderly man quickly nodded, looking tense, and raised his hand, saying, "I am the village head, sorry, officer, I thought..."

Before he could finish, Deputy Director Chen Guan said: "No need to explain, we’re not here to deal with your stamp fees today."

"However, I must remind you that charging for stamps is absolutely not allowed. You are on the national payroll and should be doing real work for the people."

"Nowadays, rural areas are mostly left with elderly people and children with little money, and yet you charge for stamps here."

"This will not happen again, I dare not anymore." The elderly man quickly nodded, "From now on, our stamps will be used unconditionally."

He then asked in confusion, "Three officers, what are you here to do?"

"We want to know more about three young people from your village."

"Oh, which three?"

"We’re looking for Zhang Fei, Li Junjun, Chen Bing. Do you know them?"

"I have an impression of these three kids."

"An impression?"

The elderly man nodded, "Yes, and another young man, Wang Shuai. The four of them were the most mischievous in the village as kids, often taken out by the village committee for a talk."

Hearing this, the three of them suddenly turned to look at each other.

Chen Guan then asked, "How did they behave in the village?"

"Oh, these four young people, they’re about the same age and often got into trouble in the village."

"Many parents came to us for explanations, and our village committee mediated, but they got better as they grew up."

After a brief pause, he said, "However, these kids weren’t good at studies. They dropped out before graduating junior high."

"Now they’re all working out of town. Wang Shuai came back once last year, but I haven’t seen the other three."

Hearing this, Chen Guan’s pupils suddenly constricted.

"When was the last time you saw the four of them come back?"

The elderly man waved his hand, "There are so few people in the countryside now."

"I saw Wang Shuai come back last year, but haven’t seen the others in many years."

Hearing this, Jiang An guessed that the village head might not know that the other three had been killed.

Jiang An said, "Did they commit any illegal acts here as kids?"

The elderly man listened, lowered his eyelids, hesitated for a moment, then answered, "They made some small mistakes as kids, but definitely nothing illegal."

However, from the expression just now, Jiang An extracted some information.

His eyes were evasive and hesitant when answering, clearly lying.

Then Jiang An stepped forward and asked, "What’s your last name?"

"I’m Zhang."

"Mr Zhang, when we police handle cases, we emphasize being truthful. I hope you can provide help during our investigation."

"Don’t worry, I definitely will!"

"Earlier, I asked if the three of them committed any illegal acts. You were lying."

"No, absolutely not."

The village head waved, "They’re just kids from our village who did some improper things, but definitely nothing illegal, I can vouch for that."

"You can vouch for that? Let me ask you, did they ever tease girls or touch women here in the village?"

Upon hearing this, the village head looked back and forth at the three officers and asked, "Did you... hear something?"

"I’m the one asking you, not you asking me."

"You just need to answer me, was there or was there not such a situation?"

The village head thought for a moment and shrugged, "Being young, sometimes they might have been careless in their words, but it’s understandable."

"But they never violated any girls, I can absolutely guarantee that."

"I remember one time they surrounded a girl at the middle school entrance, the local police even responded."

"It’s just that their words weren’t appropriate; they didn’t physically touch anyone, I remember this clearly."

After hearing this, Chen Guan continued to ask, "Did they offend anyone in the village? Like holding grudges against others?"

"Grudges? I don’t think so, these were young people, and things between them weren’t big deals to worry about."

"Please think carefully."

Chen Guan asked again.

"No. I’ve never heard anything like that about these young people during their time in the village."

At this time, Jiang An was integrating all the information in his mind.

If these three lived in the village without forming any grudges.

What the village head could mention most was—they had surrounded a female student once at school.

Is there a connection between surrounding a female student and violating a girl?

Thinking of this, Jiang An suddenly had a breakthrough.

If they did something improper back then, even violated that girl, under what circumstance did it happen?

The girl’s living village isn’t here.

This is Jiahe Gou; the girl lived in Dongpo Village, almost ten kilometers away.

Could such distance be related?

Suddenly, Jiang An’s mind flashed to where the girl was found hanging, at the bottom of the hill.

In his memory, the continuous hills separated the two villages.

He then asked the village head, "Is there a mountain between your village and Dongpo Village?"

The village head nodded, "Yes! From our village to theirs is about ten kilometers if traveling via the village entrance."

"But we usually take shortcuts, going over the mountain."

Then Mr Zhang said, "In the past, our village was culturally inactive, we’d often go to Dongpo Village to watch opera, they had lots of entertainment events."

"I often went there at night to see performances; it was great..."

The village head was speaking enthusiastically until Chen Guan interrupted: "No need for those old stories, we don’t have time for that now!"

He then asked, "Are you certain those four young people never did anything heinous in the village?"

The village head quickly nodded, "I’ve lived here for many years, really never heard of anything!"

At this moment, Jiang An suddenly asked, "You mentioned those entertainment events; did the four of them often go?"

"Of course! I remember over ten years ago, everyone often went!"

Hearing this, Jiang An’s mind worked quickly, suddenly considering a possibility...

He then urgently asked, "When going to Dongpo Village, do you pass by a big pine tree?"

"A big pine tree?"

Upon hearing this, Mr Zhang pondered, answering, "Sometimes we pass by it; on sunny days, you can take shelter under it."

Upon hearing this, Jiang An began brainstorming...

The location of the hanging was at the pine tree; the perpetrator buried the body near the pine tree, a connecting traffic junction between the two villages...

Is there really a connection?

Two minutes later, he doubted his own speculation.

Though he hadn’t found direct proof, he sensed some connections.

Thinking of this, he analyzed further: if these three victims shared a common reason for their fate, their village life experiences could be a vital factor for their murders.

Suddenly, Jiang An’s pupils constricted.

But, there were four originally.

If, for some reason, three are linked together, leading to their deaths.

Is Wang Shuai, the other one, still alive now?

If all three are dead, assuming they were involved in a past wrongdoing...

Suddenly, Jiang An realized, if Wang Shuai is still alive, he must be in danger, right?