Green Vine City.
After leaving the woman's house, the officers headed straight to the local police station in Green Vine City to use their system to find potential suspects.
On the way.
Li Yunfei looked curiously at Xu Mo.
"How did you figure out that woman was suspicious?"
From the woman's words, Li Yunfei learned that only she knew about Xu Jing going to the neighboring city to find her boyfriend.
Thanks to Xu Mo spotting the woman's suspicious behavior, otherwise, no matter who the officers asked, they wouldn't have been able to gather the clues that narrowed down the suspect pool.
"Instinct," Xu Mo replied, unable to explain exactly why but just feeling that something was off about the woman.
Especially her evasive behavior when asked to think carefully, which clearly indicated she was hiding something but didn't say anything.
The journey was silent.
Green Vine City Police Station.
After explaining their intentions, the officers began their search with the help of the local police.
Since they didn't know whether the suspect was a freshman or a senior, they had to check all students from freshman to senior year.
Ten years ago, the suspect could have been a freshman or already a senior.
If the suspect was a senior, he would have entered the police academy in 2009. If a freshman, it would have been in 2012, the year of the incident.
Between 2009 and 2012, only fifty-three people from Green Vine City had enrolled in the police academy in the neighboring city.
Fifteen of these fifty-three were women, which could be immediately ruled out.
Among the remaining thirty-eight, those with two-character names or names without the character 'Bing' could also be ruled out.
In the end, only three people met the criteria.
Zhou Bingquan, Dong Bing, Chen Xiaobing.
"Only three left after this screening? That makes our job much easier!" an officer exclaimed upon seeing the results.
This trip to Green Vine City was indeed worthwhile.
With the clues provided by Xu Jing's friend, the suspect pool was narrowed down to just three people, significantly reducing the officers' workload. Now, they only needed to investigate these three individuals.
Chen Ke immediately ruled out one of the three suspects.
"It's unlikely to be Zhou Bingquan. Remember, Xu Jing referred to the suspect as 'our little Bing brother' in front of her friend. The character 'Bing' in Zhou Bingquan's name is in the middle, while in the other two names, 'Bing' is at the end. According to naming habits, nicknames or aliases usually use the first or last character of a name, rarely the middle one."
An officer took this a step further after hearing Chen Ke's explanation.
"If that's the case, then Chen Xiaobing's suspicion is even greater. He's simply called 'Xiaobing,' which matches the 'little Bing brother' nickname. Think about it, think carefully!"
"Makes sense. Let's start with Chen Xiaobing," Li Yunfei decided the order of their investigation.
They immediately asked the local police to retrieve Chen Xiaobing's information.
However, the results left them stunned.
The Chen Xiaobing they were investigating had joined the police force in the neighboring city after graduation and died in the line of duty during his third year of service.
"So... do we still investigate him?" an officer hesitated.
Li Yunfei pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
"Let's put him on hold for now. Let's look at Dong Bing next."
It's difficult to investigate a deceased person, as there's no one to question. To investigate Chen Xiaobing, they would have to ask his relatives or friends, which is quite troublesome. It's better to temporarily set him aside and investigate the other two easier targets first.
Moreover, Chen Xiaobing died a hero's death. According to the data, he sacrificed his life to save others from a knife-wielding criminal. He was a hero with a strong sense of justice. For such a righteous police officer, Li Yunfei was not very willing to suspect him of being a murderer.
Next, the officers checked Dong Bing's information.
According to the records, he also joined the police force after graduation, specifically within the Green Vine City public security system.
Based on the information, the officers couldn't determine whether he was the murderer. To uncover the truth, they would need to conduct an interrogation.
After finding out where Dong Bing worked, they set off again.
Qiaobei Road Police Station.
Interrogation room.
Under the watchful eyes of all the officers at Qiaobei Road Police Station, Xu Mo and Li Yunfei prepared to interrogate Dong Bing.
Outside the interrogation room, the officers who came with Xu Mo and Li Yunfei were surrounded by the local officers, creating an awkward atmosphere.
Using someone else's interrogation room to question their own officer... this was indeed quite thrilling!
It was the first time they had ever done something like this, causing their hearts to race.
Inside the interrogation room.
"Do you recognize this person?" Xu Mo presented a photo of the victim, Xu Jing.
"No, I don't."
"Are you sure you don't recognize her?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I don't."
"Alright," Xu Mo nodded. "That's all. Thank you for your cooperation."
He then turned to Li Yunfei beside him: "It's not him. We got the wrong person."
Dong Bing: "???"
Li Yunfei: "???"
All officers: "???"
Confusion tree with bewildered fruits, you and me under the bewildered tree.
This was it?
Over already?
They had come all this way, suspecting Dong Bing of being the murderer, borrowing the interrogation room here to question him, and the interrogation ended as soon as it began.
Xu Mo had only asked two questions, and they were repetitive! Just two questions and he determined that Dong Bing wasn't the murderer?
Not only did others feel puzzled, but even Dong Bing himself was baffled.
Was this guy a rookie officer?
Who interrogates like this?
Saying you don't recognize someone and you believe it? No murderer would admit to being a murderer right away!
You should at least ask a few more questions! I haven't killed anyone; I can withstand your questioning!
In Dong Bing's view, being questioned more thoroughly could completely clear his suspicions, but being asked only two questions would not clear his name and might even have the opposite effect.
Li Yunfei, too, was puzzled.
He whispered, "Isn't this... over just like that? What can you tell from just two questions?"
Unexpectedly, Xu Mo shook his head.
With time, his use of psychology had become more adept. Whether someone was lying or not, he could tell from their expressions.
"Two questions are enough. I asked twice because he's an officer with stronger psychological resilience and wouldn't flinch under interrogation. An ordinary person would only need one question... From his expression, I could tell he wasn't lying. He genuinely doesn't know Xu Jing. If he doesn't know Xu Jing, how could he be the murderer?"
"So, next one."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
