The monk felt pleased at having made a show of himself in front of Ping An, thanks to Shi Han’s actions, and looked proudly at Boss Wan.
"Monk, your style is still the same, and your subordinates are indeed efficient. I can't compare to that," Boss Wan said. He then turned to Ping An and continued, "After Su Tang got into trouble, I also wanted to help. Yesterday, I found an opportunity and cornered that woman, Diana, in a hotel. I managed to get some information out of her."
So, this guy was also prepared. Ping An gave Boss Wan a grateful look and pricked up his ears to listen.
"As you all know, there was something going on between Diana and Ma Delu. When I cornered Diana, before I even said a word, the woman was terrified. Trembling, she said she didn't want Ping Dan anymore – that's Su Tang – and just wanted to run away." Boss Wan explained, "After I scared her for a while, I found out that the big boss behind Ma Delu was Ou Er Jian. However, that's not important; you could probably find that out yourself. The crucial piece of information is that Ma Delu received a threatening letter the day before he died!"
It turned out that the day before Ma Delu died, he had gone to see Diana about something. The girl who had died in the sewer was indeed a "seedling" that Ma Delu had passed to Diana. Now that the girl was dead, Ma Delu suspected Diana had done it and went to confront her about it. But as they were talking, Ma Delu suddenly received a phone call. The caller’s voice was quite loud, and Diana could hear it. The gist of the call was that they believed Ma Delu had killed the girl in the sewer, claimed to have evidence, and threatened Ma Delu to surrender within three hours or they would "act on behalf of heaven."
"Diana, being a woman, though she had seen her fair share of storms, was also terrified by this call. She didn't bother discussing things further and returned to her hotel alone. She packed her belongings that night, preparing to slip away and lie low for a while," Boss Wan said. "After I caught her, she had already bought a plane ticket. After some threats, she finally revealed some useful information."
It had to be said that Boss Wan's intelligence was very useful. After listening, Ping An quickly replayed the events in his mind, gradually forming a general concept of the circumstances surrounding Ma Delu's murder.
"This Diana? I feel like I've heard her name somewhere before," Ping An mused, biting his habit.
"She's one of Ou Er Jian's people," Boss Wan said in a low voice, narrowing his eyes.
"Where is she now?" Ping An asked.
"After questioning her, I let her go – we can't just go around breaking the law these days!" Boss Wan said. "My men are also following her. I think Ma Delu's death is likely related to that poor girl in the sewer. If that's the case, Diana can't escape either. Perhaps someone might try to silence her."
They were all old hands at this game, thinking three steps ahead. If they were truly helping, sometimes they were more effective than the police. Ping An understood that both Boss Wan and the monk were using this matter to curry favor with him. They had all received his help before, and this was a chance to repay a favor. For people in their line of work, their word was generally reliable.
"Boss Wan, Monk, I won't say too much more. These past two years, I've withdrawn from things. I just wanted to live a quiet life. But now that Su Tang is in trouble, I can't stand by." Ping An reached into his large coat pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, offered two to Boss Wan and the Monk, and then lit them himself before saying, "In short, thank you all for your trouble!"
Ping An's humble demeanor made Boss Wan and the Monk a little uncomfortable. They quickly patted their chests, exuding a heroic air of willingness to "face death."
The matter was discussed, and the people dispersed. The braised pork on the table had gone cold. Ping An picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, chewed it vigorously, and swallowed.
"Bang!" Ping An slammed his chopsticks onto the table and said fiercely, "Bastards! Scheming against my disciple, bullying me right to my doorstep!"
Seeing Ping An's anger, Da Shu and the others dared not try to dissuade him. But they all knew this man had been provoked. Due to the case's complexity, Zhang Si's autopsy report came out in just eight hours, along with his call records.
"Get to the point! Speak plainly!" In the city bureau's conference room early in the morning, a case analysis meeting was underway, presided over by Qiao Yidan.
"The victim who was beaten to death showed almost no signs of struggle. From a pain perspective, this is almost impossible, unless... his nerves or mental state were compromised," the forensic doctor explained simply. "The time of death has also been determined to be Friday evening this week."
"Friday evening?" Qiao Yidan's eyes widened. "It can't be?"
"Confirmed, it was the same night Ma Delu was bludgeoned to death," Mai Mang said. "The mobile phone recovered from the deceased was damaged, but after recovery, it was found that it had stopped working around 9 PM that evening. At that time, according to our previous deductions, Zhang Si should have been in Ma Delu's office building!"
"How can this be!" Qiao Yidan rubbed his eyes and picked up the report, reading it carefully.
Ma Delu's office building and the building where Zhang Si died were on opposite sides of the city, separated by over ten kilometers. If Zhang Si committed murder, he couldn't have possibly gotten there even if he could fly! Moreover, the video clearly recorded Zhang Si "blending in with the crowd" and leaving the building.
"Were there any fingerprints on the second murder weapon that Ping An found in the restroom? Were Zhang Si's fingerprints collected from the guardhouse?" Qiao Yidan asked.
"No fingerprints on the murder weapon. Quite a few fingerprints were collected from the guardhouse, and after comparison, they were indeed Zhang Si's," Lai Xiang said, sounding somewhat incredulous. "We were worried the other party might have used a sleight of hand, so we stayed up all night checking the wine bottles used by Ma Delu's bodyguards – the wine the bodyguards drank that night was delivered by Zhang Si. Upon inspection, it was found to be from the same person. The bodyguards also confirmed that it was Zhang Si who delivered the wine that night."
"Currently, only the phone was smashed, and the timeline needs further refinement. Although the two locations are over ten kilometers apart, it would have taken Zhang Si at least an hour, possibly even forty minutes, to get to the construction site," Qiao Yidan said. "Further investigate and analyze the footage of Zhang Si leaving Ma Delu's office building. Damn it, it doesn't make sense! Is it really a ghost?"
"Report, we've obtained the latest surveillance video footage. At 8:50 PM on Friday, a small supermarket's surveillance camera recorded Zhang Si passing by alone. And Zhang Si was heading towards the construction site." At this moment, a duty officer suddenly reported new information.
"8:50 PM! Wasn't Zhang Si supposed to be delivering wine to the bodyguards? He..." Qiao Yidan, incredulous, slammed the materials in his hand onto the table.
Killing someone in two places at once? What a joke! At noon, Ping An brought food to Su Tang. The moment he entered the city bureau, he heard this absurd claim.
"This is the current situation. We have ample evidence to prove that while Zhang Si was in Ma Delu's office building, he also appeared at the construction site," Lai Xiang said. "Because Zhang Si was killed at the construction company, legally speaking, this fact directly refutes the deduction that Zhang Si was in the office building. Without that deduction as a basis, it becomes even more impossible to deduce that Zhang Si murdered Ma Delu."
"You mean to say, Su Tang is still the primary suspect?" Ping An understood Lai Xiang's meaning.
"At the very least, the existing evidence is highly unfavorable to her!" Lai Xiang said helplessly.
"If I can find the killer of Zhang Si," Ping An said cautiously, "will that still change the fact that Zhang Si was at the construction site? Will Su Tang still be the primary suspect?"
Lai Xiang thought for a moment and nodded seriously.
This was almost a paradox.
If Zhang Si was Ma Delu's killer, he could not have transcended space and time to become the victim at the construction site. Even if the police had a screenshot of Zhang Si leaving the office building in a security guard uniform, according to the principle of "facts above all else" and the "unique attribute of behavior in the same space and time," Zhang Si's death at the construction site was the more factual event. Therefore, in the same space and time, he could not have been in the office building, making Su Tang's situation precarious!
"You're an experienced police officer. Wouldn't this Zhang Si have a twin brother?" Ping An asked, holding onto a sliver of hope.
"We've considered such a simple possibility," Lai Xiang said with a sigh. "Zhang Si was an only child, with no siblings!"
"Then there's only one last option. If Su Tang is innocent—" Ping An lowered his head and said, "—then the person in the office building that night wasn't Zhang Si at all!"
Tap, tap, tap! The sound of footsteps suddenly approached.
"You're right!" Qiao Yidan walked up to Ping An with a stack of documents. "This is the last breakthrough. We are currently trying to process the surveillance footage from that night and are also re-interviewing the two bodyguards who saw Zhang Si."
"Thank you..." Ping An suddenly asked curiously, "But why are you telling me this? I should be keeping my distance. Lai Xiang and the others—aren't your words a bit too revealing?"
"No. Since this Zhang Si is not that Zhang Si, the office building case and the construction site case can be treated as two completely unrelated cases—" Qiao Yidan suddenly smiled. "If that's the case, my great detective, would you be interested in a guest appearance as a consultant to help us investigate the construction site case?"
Qiao Yidan's words were like a basin of cold water, abruptly waking Ping An up.
That's right. The current situation was unfavorable to Su Tang, but it also gave him a legitimate reason to follow up on this case!