242: Chapter 242 Returning to the Crime Scene
After several consecutive all-nighters, the entire Special Task Force was exhausted.
This morning, Gu Qingcheng walked in carrying a large bag of freshly steamed buns, waking everyone up as they slept in various awkward positions in the conference room.
Zhu Xiaojun stood up from his chair and stretched lazily.
“Mistress, you went to buy buns this early?”
Gu Qingcheng smiled and said, “If I didn't get up early, would you guys be able to eat buns this fresh?”
Zhu Xiaojun couldn't wait to grab a bun and took a direct bite, immediately yelping from the heat.
But he still couldn't help praising, “Fragrant, these buns are really fragrant.”
The others probably caught the scent of the buns as well, as they all began to open their eyes one after another.
Only Lei Zhen was still sleeping soundly, lying flat on his back on the sofa alone, snoring away!
In order to share the hardships with everyone, Gu Qingcheng had stubbornly refused to go home to sleep, so Lei Zhen could only give her the only sofa in the office.
Just now, when Gu Qingcheng got up to buy the buns, she had woken Lei Zhen from where he was sleeping face-down on the table and told him to go lie on the sofa for a while.
Zhu Xiaojun originally wanted to wake Lei Zhen up, but Gu Qingcheng reached out and stopped him.
While Zhu Xiaojun was wondering what Gu Qingcheng meant, he saw her sneakily pull a tissue from the table and twist it into a long strip.
Then Gu Qingcheng walked to Lei Zhen's side, squatted down, and used the tip of the tissue to poke at Lei Zhen's ear canal.
“—Slap!—”
Lei Zhen dizzily slapped his own cheek, while Gu Qingcheng beside him giggled uncontrollably.
Gu Qingcheng paused for a few seconds and then repeated her old trick.
“—Slap!— ”
Another slap. After Lei Zhen finished slapping, he even picked at his ear with his finger, and Gu Qingcheng couldn't help but burst out laughing.
With her laughter, everyone else followed suit and started laughing too.
Only then did Lei Zhen wake up with a start. He turned his head and saw Gu Qingcheng holding the tissue, up to no good.
“Qingcheng, I really didn't expect you to be this mischievous?” Lei Zhen rubbed his ear and sat up straight. “Watch out, or I’ll spank you.”
“Get up and eat some buns.” Gu Qingcheng crumpled the tissue into a ball and threw it accurately into a wastebasket several meters away.
Lei Zhen checked the time; it was already 6:30 AM.
After everyone finished breakfast and did some simple washing up, they continued the meeting.
Gu Qingcheng spoke first: “Is it possible our direction is wrong? Could there be another person behind Li Hongyan and He Mingwei? Someone who is the real killer?”
Lei Zhen thought for a moment: “That possibility exists, but I don't think it's likely.”
“Why?” Zhu Xiaojun asked.
“Think about it, murder is no small matter. Who would dare to just find someone to help? And who would actually dare to help you? He Mingwei and Li Hongyan don't have much money; what would they use to pay someone for help?”
“That's true,” Gu Qingcheng said. “After all, the more people who know about this, the more dangerous it is. But if no one helped, how did Li Hongyan and He Mingwei do it on their own?”
“Yeah,” Liao Anqian added. “My friend said sixteen minutes is simply not enough. Forget about Jiang City; there are probably very few people in the entire country who could pull that off.”
“If it's impossible, then why was He Mingwei practicing his driving in the middle of the night?” Tan Lin interjected.
“What if that person wasn't He Mingwei at all? Or maybe after He Mingwei tested it, he also found the time was insufficient and gave up?” Another Auxiliary Police Officer, Li Shangjun, proposed a hypothesis.
“How about this,” Lei Zhen said. “All of your opinions are very important. We need to first determine if this person exists. Qingcheng and I will go to Fengming Village again. You guys split into two groups. One group will check if He Mingwei actually bought parts to repair that motorcycle. I remember there's a motorcycle parts market over by Flower Stream; He Mingwei would likely go there to buy parts.
Additionally, Brother Hong Lin, help me check the financial transactions between He Mingwei and Li Hongyan, as well as their phone records. See if they’ve had any financial dealings with anyone recently or if they've been in frequent contact with anyone.
Tan Lin and Li Wenjie, go together to find the released Sister Pang and her son. Have them recall carefully and provide a list of everyone who has been to their house in the past half-month. Oh, and also the owner of the 'One Dragon' funeral service and his workers. As long as they are people who went to the Ou Family home during the half-month the crime occurred, I need their names and information.”
After assigning the tasks, everyone began to take action.
Lei Zhen continued to drive the Xiaomi, taking the police beauty back to the village to re-examine the scene.
Previously, Lei Zhen had viewed this case too simply, even neglecting to use his Code Tracing Technique. From the looks of it now, he would have to use every ability he had available.
The Ou Family home had been cordoned off by police tape. Even Auntie Gong, who lived across from them, could only return to her own home through a narrow passage, for which she had quite a few complaints.
The entire scene basically remained as it was on the day of the funeral. Chairs were still arranged in the courtyard, though the forensics department had removed all the food.
To maintain the scene, Lei Zhen had specifically instructed the village chief to use the loudspeaker to warn the villagers that no one was allowed to enter within the police line.
In fact, Lei Zhen did this on purpose. If someone still braved the taboo to enter the scene after such a reminder, that person would definitely be a major suspect.
Furthermore, once any new footprints entered, Lei Zhen would be able to spot them instantly through his Code Tracing Technique.
Thus, Lei Zhen directly activated [Super Memory] and [Code Tracing Technique] and began to investigate the scene step by step.
To avoid contaminating the scene, even Gu Qingcheng could only wait outside.
As soon as the Code Tracing Technique was activated, a large number of human silhouettes appeared before Lei Zhen's eyes, as if 3D projections were installed within those footprints, projecting the owners of the prints directly upwards.
It had to be said that this supernatural ability was simply too useful for investigating cases.
He could vaguely see the other party's height, build, and gender. Of course, no matter how powerful the Code Tracing Technique was, he couldn't see faces.
Lei Zhen then used his Super Memory to record all the owners of these footprints. However, to his disappointment, there were no fresh footprints, meaning no one else had entered here after the crime occurred.
Next, Lei Zhen entered the interior of the house and found a large number of footprints in every room.
But this was normal. Sister Pang had quite a few relatives, and plus the neighbors with good relationships, over a hundred people had visited their home that day!
He specifically went to see the room where Ou Mingquan had passed away and found many footprints inside as well, but he didn't find any footprints belonging to He Mingwei.
But thinking about it, it was normal. If Ou Mingquan had been strangled by He Mingwei, Li Hongyan would have cleaned the crime scene after returning from the hospital, wiping away He Mingwei's footprints and even fingerprints.
Activating two supernatural abilities simultaneously was very draining on his energy. After finishing his inspection, Lei Zhen quickly deactivated them, but his head was still spinning.
Finally, he walked out of the small building, crossed the front courtyard, and came before Gu Qingcheng.
“Let's go, we'll go back to the car and rest for a while first.”
Gu Qingcheng and Lei Zhen returned to the car, where Lei Zhen rubbed his temples forcefully.
“Did you discover anything?” Gu Qingcheng asked.
Lei Zhen shook his head: “I'll cross-check slowly when we get back to see if any suspicious people appeared at the scene.”
Just then, Lei Zhen saw a car driving toward the village entrance.
Looking closely at the license plate: Jiang A, Z888.
Gu Qingcheng recognized it too: “Isn't this He Mingwei's car?”