Chapter 167 Facing the Parties Involved

Xining.

Central Hospital.

Two business vans were parked in the hospital parking lot.

Chen Mo and the other four sat inside, discussing the information they had gathered so far.

"The situation on my end is roughly like this: according to Ge Xin, shortly before Xiaoya's death, her financial situation suddenly improved significantly."

"This sudden improvement in finances didn't come from her own family. When the police were investigating, they wouldn't have missed such an important detail."

"However, I haven't found any similar investigation details or results in the case files."

"I think if the victim, Xiaoya, really was killed by Xiao Nuannuan because of money or something similar, there must be a specific reason involved."

"We aren't far from identifying the killer."

Chen Mo recounted everything that had happened at the prison in one breath.

In summary, Ge Xin likely truly wasn't the murderer of Xiaoya.

There was a high probability that he had been framed.

As for whether that person was Xiao Nuannuan, that required further investigation.

While suspicion was currently high, there was no hard evidence yet.

"Well, I have some information on my end as well."

As soon as Long Hao finished speaking, he took out a document.

His eyes fell on the paper, and he began to read.

"According to our investigation of Xiao Nuannuan, her daily movements are actually quite consistent. She doesn't have many hobbies and prefers to stay home alone, enjoying some quiet time."

"Following that, we tracked her general movements over the past month."

"Work, leave work, buy groceries, go home."

"It's basically a simple three-point routine."

"But when we investigated her movements last night, we found a strange point."

"According to our findings, Xiao Nuannuan should have been working at the hospital yesterday afternoon."

"And during the evening, she should have been at home."

Long Hao's brow furrowed slightly as he spoke.

Judging by her past patterns, Xiao Nuannuan's movements were essentially fixed.

However, considering the purpose of investigating her was specifically to understand her movements last night...

...they naturally couldn't continue to rely on her habits to determine her whereabouts yesterday.

"But when we were learning about Xiao Nuannuan's situation from the tenant living below her..."

"The other party mentioned offhandedly that Xiao Nuannuan might not have been home last night."

At these words, a look of curiosity appeared on Chen Mo's face.

How did the downstairs neighbor know whether the upstairs resident was home?

Actually, there were many ways.

For example, footsteps, or the sound of moving a chair.

These could all indicate if an upstairs resident was home.

"After that, I followed up with the downstairs tenant."

"The person said that usually, after Xiao Nuannuan finishes dinner in the evening, she does some light exercise."

"They used to frequently hear sounds like a Grip strengthener dropping on the floor, or even dumbbells and so on..."

"But last night, there wasn't a single sound."

Long Hao rubbed his chin as he spoke.

He actually didn't place much hope in this piece of information.

Because with fitness equipment, it's quite normal for it to occasionally drop on the floor.

To say it dropped frequently was basically impossible.

"Did the downstairs tenant explain further?"

Chen Mo looked puzzled.

Any normal person wouldn't exercise every single day and accidentally drop equipment on the floor every time.

Either the downstairs neighbor was talking nonsense...

...or the situation hadn't been clarified.

"The other party's answer to this question was also quite vague."

"The general gist was that exercising always makes some noise, like high-knee movements; the soundproofing isn't great, so they can basically hear it faintly."

"But last night, they didn't hear anything at all."

Long Hao added this detail.

In short, there was a clue.

At least to some extent, it fit the suspicion surrounding Xiao Nuannuan.

There was corroborating evidence to suggest Xiao Nuannuan wasn't home last night.

"If Xiao Nuannuan wasn't home at night, it means there's a high probability she went to the hotel to drive Yan Lili to suicide."

"To confirm whether she actually went out at night, the focus of the next investigation should be on yesterday afternoon!"

"To be precise, Xiao Nuannuan's movements yesterday afternoon."

Chen Mo's flat and calm voice spoke out.

Currently, they could only trust the downstairs neighbor's words about fifty percent.

And they could find almost no evidence to prove they were telling the truth.

Because fitness making noise is itself a matter of low probability.

What if Xiao Nuannuan felt very tired after work last night and didn't exercise?

Resulting in the downstairs neighbor hearing nothing?

In short, determining whether she was home at night was difficult.

There was no way to be certain.

"You mean using Xiao Nuannuan's movements in the afternoon to verify her movements at night?"

Long Hao immediately understood the meaning behind Chen Mo's words.

He followed up: "That is indeed a good method."

The logic was actually very simple.

As long as they could confirm that Xiao Nuannuan wasn't at her post during afternoon working hours...

...while many circumstances suggested she was, then there would be a major problem.

Similarly, it could corroborate the fact that she wasn't home at night.

"But how should we confirm this?"

"To be honest, I already investigated her movements yesterday afternoon, but everything seemed fine."

"Her colleagues also confirmed she was at the hospital yesterday afternoon."

"Remember Zhou Ming's statement? Xiao Nuannuan went to his ward in the afternoon to help refill his water."

Hearing the difficulties Long Hao listed...

Chen Mo nodded silently. Investigating yesterday afternoon's movements to indirectly verify Xiao Nuannuan's movements last night was perfectly sound.

But how to start and how to investigate was a troublesome issue.

If it were a later era where surveillance was everywhere, confirming this wouldn't be complicated at all.

But in 2002, before surveillance had become widespread...

...trying to track someone's movements was quite a hassle.

It mostly relied on inquiries through acquaintances and the like.

But the current situation was that Xiao Nuannuan's colleagues, when cooperating with the investigation earlier...

...all said she was at the hospital the whole time and hadn't left.

She only left after work, which was documented in the attendance records.

"Let's just go find Xiao Nuannuan directly."

Chen Mo considered for a moment and then gave the next plan.

"I can use my knowledge of Micro-expressions to judge whether she's lying. If she is indeed lying, then continuing the investigation will naturally be the right path."

"If she's not lying, then we don't need to stress over this anymore."

Regarding his micro-expression ability, it had recently improved by many levels in one go.

A situation like the one with Song Jia wouldn't happen again in the short term.

Therefore, the priority of using this ability could be placed near the top.

"OK!"

Long Hao and the others were very confident in Chen Mo's abilities.

Because this ability of his had helped the police break through suspects' lies countless times before.

After finalizing the plan.

Several people got out of the van.

They headed straight for the department where Xiao Nuannuan was currently located.

She was a nurse in surgery. Since it was currently working hours, they found her quickly.

"Xiao Nuannuan."

Long Hao's voice rang out from behind her.

She, who was currently giving a patient an injection, turned around.

"Oh, Officer Long."

"Please wait a moment."

As she spoke, she refocused her attention on the patient's arm.

After inserting the needle and confirming everything was fine, she straightened up.

"Is there something you need from me?"

The two had met not long ago, so she put on an expression of not understanding Long Hao's purpose for coming this time.

Furthermore, regarding the matter of Zhou Ming, she had already said everything she could.

"Let's talk outside; it's not convenient here."

As Long Hao finished speaking, he walked out of the room.

Seeing this, Xiao Nuannuan had no choice but to follow closely behind with quick, small steps.

"Regarding the matter between me and Zhou Ming, I've already said all I know..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed Chen Mo and the others walking over from a distance.

"What is the meaning of this?"

A hint of confusion appropriately appeared on Xiao Nuannuan's face.

Having worked in a hospital for a long time, it was easy to distinguish who were patients and who were patients' family members.

Although there were a few fresh faces she hadn't seen before, combined with Officer Long's identity, she naturally guessed who they were.

"There are some questions I want to ask you. Come with me to the conference room."

As Long Hao spoke, he made a gesture of invitation.

"Is it that serious?"

She smoothed the hair by her ear and then followed.

A moment later.

She was sitting on a chair in the conference room.

"Captain Long, can you say it now?"

"You also know that nursing is the busiest position in the hospital. If I leave my post without reporting it, the leadership will scold me."

As she spoke, a look of helplessness mixed with urgency appeared on her face.

"We've brought you here today because there are a few questions we want to ask."

"Officer Chen beside me will be responsible for questioning you. You must cooperate fully with his work."

Xiao Nuannuan swallowed and nodded.

"Where did you go and what did you do all day yesterday?"

Chen Mo's voice rang out.

He didn't immediately single out her movements from yesterday afternoon.

Instead, he kept the question vague.

This was also a very common interrogation technique.

In practical application, it was very effective.

For example, a fight breaks out somewhere.

There's no surveillance at the crime scene, and the victim can't remember the number of opponents.

But the police managed to find one of the individuals.

At this time, if they want to use this one person to get them to name more people...

...they can't just start by saying they already know the situation of so-and-so and that these people are all their accomplices.

The correct approach should be to keep the questions vague.

Ask the other party to talk about who else was there that day to see if they are being honest.

Questioning in this way is clearly much more effective than directly revealing one's hand.

Sometimes, doing this can even yield unexpected surprises.

The most common result is naming people the police don't have information on yet.

"Yesterday?"

"Yesterday morning I came in to work and helped patients with rehabilitation guidance. In the afternoon, I collected some patient health histories. After work, I went home and lay down."

"Oh, right. In the afternoon, I also helped refill the water bottles for a few patients who had difficulty moving."

Xiao Nuannuan recounted the situation while looking thoughtful.

"Can you be more precise?"

Chen Mo leaned back in his chair.

At the same time, he maintained a relaxed posture.

"More specific?"

"Officer, you still haven't said exactly why you're looking for me."

Her tone suddenly became serious.

She looked completely as if she wouldn't answer anything unless the police said what this was about.

Seeing this, a faint smile appeared on Chen Mo's face.

Before she had entered the conference room...

...he had already organized the talking points—what could be told to the other party and what could not.

And this particular point could be said.

"We currently suspect you are related to a murder case!"