Translator:
MrJ_
Editor:
Zayn_
If I told you the murderer was not a single person but tens of people or even hundreds of people, you tell me. Would you still arrest them and make it public?
Su Bai puckered his lips. This action was hidden behind the mask and Chu Jianguo couldn’t see it. Su Bai slowly digested what Chu Jianguo said. In the end, Su Bai only uttered one word.
Interesting.
Indeed, it was very interesting. Under normal circumstances, in a murder case where there was only a single victim, there was basically only a single murderer or at most an additional accomplice. If there were more murderers, they actually did not need to commit murder and it would be a different nature.
There were many conjectures about this case on the internet, and they even locked on to the so-called suspect. They even fabricated many possibilities; one of the most acknowledged possibilities was that the suspect’s family was extraordinary. That’s why that person was protected by the higher ups. The police officer who at first said the case was about to be solved had suddenly clammed up and did not make public any findings.
The public never had the brightest eyes and were the easiest people to bewitch. It was their instinct to believe in what they chose to believe, and majority of them were too lazy to discover the truth. They already started berating when they saw the headlines but were too lazy to read the contents. This was the classic definition of online marketing planning in the future when the internet media flourished.
Su Bai was actually not too surprised with what Chu Jianguo said and instead found it very interesting. But behind this interesting matter was an even bigger problem. If the murderer was not a single person but a whole group of people like Chu Jianguo mentioned, then the definition of the item of fetter would be a broader scale. It even felt like searching for a needle in a haystack. He didn’t have the ability to have the police reopen this case for investigation on a large scale. If he needed to investigate these one hundred people, then the reality task could basically be announced as a failure. Su Bai basically had no way of completing the task with his own ability.
Chu Jianguo clicked on the mouse and then sighed. He looked at Su Bai.
Almost a hundred Hushang University student. In 1994, a university student was much more valuable than now. They had huge influence and social value. If a hundred people were arrested and classified as a murder suspect, do you know what the implications would be?
Su Bai spread out his hands, held them tight and then suddenly stretched out.
It was a simple meaning. It meant an explosion.
A hundred university students who were murderers. Even thinking about this at this day would cause one to shudder, not to mention twenty years ago. Compared to this, covering up the case was actually the most stable method.
Of course, provided that what Chu Jianguo mentioned was the truth.
I need more precise information. For example, motive?
Su Bai continued asking.
Chu Jianguo hesitated for a moment and then relaxed his body.
That is considered security regulations. I can’t mention it even if you were to kill me. I really can’t talk about it.
Pedantic.
Su Bai withdrew his feet from the table and stood up.
I really need the clues and the truth. This is very important to me.
But I really cannot speak about this. The only thing I can reveal to you is that the hundred university students at that time were participants. They were unlike the unconcerned passers-by of Little Yueyue incident[1] a few years ago. Those passers-by could be criticized on a moral perspective but they did nothing wrong from a legal perspective. But in Wang Xue’s case, those students were participants. They continuously pushed Wang Xue deep into the abyss.
In the end, I saw with my own eyes Wang Xue transforming step by step into neither human nor ghost. Even I, who have been to war, would shudder. What in the world could cause a group of students who received higher education to transform into sinful murderers?
You already secretly mentioned so much. Why not talk some more and directly tell me?
To be honest with you, I can’t be forceful towards you. I also can’t really hurt you. But if I can’t get the information and truth that I want from you, I would follow the tendrilled vine to get the melon. I could find your superiors and subordinates of that time. The treatment towards them, I myself have no idea of the things that I would do. Furthermore, even if you alerted them, they might try to track and arrest me. But you are well aware it is useless against me.
Chu Jianguo sighed. He opened his drawer and took out a worn-out notebook. He placed it on the table and said righteously.
This is top-secret information about a serious case. I definitely couldn’t tell you.
Su Bai nodded his head and walked over. He then chopped down towards Chu Jianguo’s neck and knocked Chu Jianguo out. He held the notebook in his hands and opened the study door. Chu Zhao’s mother was sitting anxiously on the sofa waiting.
Aunty, uncle has fainted. You go pour some water on him. I’ll be taking my leave.
After finish talking, Su Bai walked through the living room, opened the main door and left the house grandiosely.
He returned to the hotel he stayed in. It was already around one in the morning. Su Bai did not rush to flip through the notebook. He first took off his trench coat and mask and entered the bathroom for a bath. He then sat on the bed wrapped in a towel and held the notebook in his hand.
In the notebook, Chu Jianguo recorded his personal opinions towards the case as well as traces of clues from his step by step investigation. Su Bai could tell that to Chu Jianguo who was an old criminal investigator, seeing with his own eyes the miserable condition of the victim before her death, the case was shelved because the law cannot be enforced when everyone was an offender, he must have felt unsatisfied deep down in his heart. That is why this notebook would appear.
While reading the contents of the notebook, Su Bai was imagining the scene:
Hushang University in 1994 was a nationwide renowned educational establishment. Even after twenty years, it was considered a giant in China’s education field.
The university students that year were even more valuable than university students today. Their social standings were also even higher.
Su Bai was standing in a classroom; this was a self-revision room. He was following the descriptions of Chu Jianguo’s notebook. In his mind, he was re-enacting the truth of this murder case which had been sealed off for twenty years.
The self-revision room was large. It was almost the same as a lecture theater of future generations. At the far corner of the first row, a girl was taking notes. Su Bai walked over, the girl lifted her head and smiled at Su Bai. It was sweet, gentle and quiet.
This was Wang Xue, the Wang Xue before she was poisoned.
She was an attractive girl. Su Bai saw her picture before, even if it was placed twenty years ago, this look could be considered mid-high level for a female university student, really beautiful.
After Wang Xue glanced at Su Bai, she continued on with her own topic.
Su Bai sat next to Wang Xue.
In a short while, Wang Xue stood up; she should be preparing to head to the washroom and left the self-revision room.
Following that, Su Bai saw a shadow. A blurry shadow entered the room and placed a tiny note under Wang Xue’s book.
Su Bai constructed this blurry shadow in his mind based on Chu Jianguo’s description in the notebook. Who it was exactly, Su Bai was unclear, Chu Jianguo was also unclear. Since the murderer and participants of this case were not arrested and brought to trial, many of the details basically didn’t have any verification.
Su Bai, only based on the notebook, knew somebody had stuffed a note when Wang Xue was unaware.
This note triggered the prologue of the poisoning case which caused a nationwide sensation that year and was still widely discussed twenty years later.
After the shadow left, Wang Xue had returned. She still smiled at Su Bai and sat at her own seat. When she was flipping her book, she saw the note which was placed under her book.
Su Bai moved closer. He knew what was written on that note because it was recorded in Chu Jianguo’s notebook. After Wang Xue got poisoned and was unconscious, her condition slowly deteriorated and she finally died; there was a process in the middle of it all. Su Bai was unsure whether Chu Jianguo found out about the contents of the note from Wang Xue’s own words or by investigating other channels. Even though Chu Jianguo received pressure from the higher-ups to cover up this case in the end, he should have done a lot of investigation before that and even questioned some of the participants he met. When the victim Wang Xue was poisoned, her intellect must have rapidly deteriorated; the clues and information he got from her might not be much.
The contents of the note were:
Do you want to experience a different feeling of killing someone?
Do you want to unwittingly feel the nervousness and excitement of murdering someone?
If you do, please leave your thoughts at the back of this note and throw it into the dustbin of the self-revision room you are in.
Wang Xue furrowed her brows. She whispered,
Really nothing better to do.
However, Wang Xue did not throw away this note that looked like a prank but instead wrote on the back of the note:
Fellow student, I do not know who you are, but please do not make these types of jokes because it make others feel you have no upbringing!!!!
Wang Xue added a few extra exclamation marks. She was revising the topics for the upcoming exam and was feeling annoyed. She was pissed off when she encountered these types of jokers.
Su Bai just stood there quietly watching. These were actually based on the investigation records of Chu Jianguo’s notebook, and he was just imagining the scene at that time.
Very soon, the skies turned dark. Wang Xue packed up her notes and pen and left the self-revision room. When she was walking out of the room, she took the note and threw it into the dustbin of the self-revision room.
Su Bai did not leave; he was still standing there. After about half an hour, the lights were switched off. It should be the administrator of the teaching block who switched it off and was preparing to get off work.
At this moment, Su Bai sat at the corner of this self-revision room. He kept hearing the doors of the other self-revision rooms of this floor opening and closing. It was obvious someone was entering and leaving very quickly.
The door of the self-revision room Su Bai was in was soon pushed open. A shadow walked in. He was checking out the dustbin. He held a torchlight and flashed at the words on the note. When he read the words which Wang Xue left, his emotions were stirred up and he was infuriated. Su Bai could see that the shadow was shaking in fury. Wang Xue’s words must have touched the shadow’s reverse scale.
Within the darkness of the self-revision room, the were only two people. One was Su Bai who was sitting at the last row and the other was the shadow standing by the door and holding the note.
Su Bai couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. That girl became the target because of the words she left behind?
