Good and Evil — Chapter 108: Interrogation, Suspicions, Experimentation, and a Breakthrough

After Xu Lang and Ning Yanran exited the first interrogation room, they entered the second. Inside, Xu Lang saw the suspect, Yang Xuewen.

Yang Xuewen was different from Zhu Hongfang. Firstly, their physical appearances differed; Zhu was slightly chubby with dark skin, while Yang was fair and plump—a trait linked to his profession, as restaurant owners generally eat well. This was merely the first point of departure.

Secondly, Zhu Hongfang was a veteran worker who had spent over twenty years at a mechanical processing plant. It was his first and only job; he rarely interacted with anyone outside his factory colleagues and superiors. Consequently, he was relatively simple-minded. Yang Xuewen, however, was different. As a restaurateur, he encountered all sorts of people. To retain a customer base, he had learned to be glib, versatile in conversation, and possessed a broader worldly experience than the average person. Thus, Yang was exceptionally articulate.

However, when Yang saw Xu Lang and Ning Yanran walk in—with Xu Lang taking the interrogator’s seat and Ning sitting to the side with a pen, ready to record—he realized Xu Lang’s status was extraordinary. Having been brought to the Public Security Bureau days earlier, he already knew Ning Yanran was the captain of the Second Criminal Investigation Team. If Xu Lang could occupy the interrogator's chair, his rank was undoubtedly higher than Ning’s. Discerning this was not difficult for Yang.

After sitting down, Xu Lang did not beat around the bush. He went straight to the point, repeating the same questions he had asked Zhu Hongfang. Although Xu Lang could tell that Yang was not an easy target, he was surprised to find that Yang’s answers were almost identical to Zhu’s. He insisted that he hadn’t killed anyone and that it was Zhu who had done the deed. The tone of his insistence was just as firm as Zhu’s, which only deepened Xu Lang’s confusion.

Next, Xu Lang had Yang recount the events surrounding the time of the crime in detail. Upon hearing it, Xu Lang found that Yang was not lying—at least, not in the sense that his account was consistent with his previous statements to Ning Yanran. The only difference was that this time, Yang was persistently trying to pin the murder of Shen Jun onto Zhu Hongfang.

Xu Lang was no fool, nor was Ning Yanran. They were well aware of Yang’s petty tricks; they simply chose not to expose them yet. After listening to Yang’s account, Xu Lang asked no further questions. He gave Ning a look, and without another word, the two left the room.

Instead of returning to the first interrogation room, they went to the office area of the Second Criminal Investigation Team.

Once there, Xu Lang sat in an empty chair and lit a cigarette. Ning Yanran sat beside him with the interrogation transcripts, watching him smoke before asking, "Did you find any suspicious points?"

Xu Lang remained silent, just smoking. After the interrogations of both Zhu and Yang, he had indeed discovered several points of suspicion and confirmed a few facts.

First, Xu Lang was certain that neither the honest Zhu Hongfang nor the clever Yang Xuewen were the killers of Shen Jun. The reasons were as follows:

First, both their own accounts and police investigations confirmed that Zhu, Yang, and the deceased, Shen Jun, did not know each other before the crime. While they all lived near Rainbow Road, this was a city, not a village; it was perfectly normal for neighbors not to know one another. No one would kill a total stranger without cause. While history showed that deranged criminals sometimes killed strangers, neither Zhu nor Yang had any motive to do so.

Second, Zhu Hongfang was a veteran worker with a stable income and nearing retirement. He had accumulated savings over the years and had no reason to kill someone with a criminal record. The same applied to Yang Xuewen: he had a wife, a child, and a restaurant that provided a steady daily income. He, too, had no reason to murder Shen Jun.

Having established their lack of motive, the third point was that, according to their testimonies, there was a fourth person at the scene. Although Xu Lang had already received this indication from the forensic pathologist, Ye Xuefei, it was now confirmed by the testimonies of Zhu and Yang. While there was no hard evidence yet, Xu Lang firmly believed a fourth person had been present.

The reasons for believing in a fourth person were as follows:
First, leaving the victim aside, who gave the notes to Zhu and Yang?
Second, who drugged them? If it were Shen Jun, why would he do it? What was his motive, and why would he lock himself in the storage room afterward?
Third, if Shen Jun had done those things, who locked the storage room from the outside?

This third point was the most crucial, as it cleared Shen Jun of being the perpetrator. Having excluded Zhu and Yang as killers and Shen Jun as the one who drugged and lured them, a fourth person had to exist. But who?

Xu Lang remained troubled by several questions:
1. Who killed Shen Jun and why? Why involve Zhu and Yang? If the killer had a deep grudge against Shen, they could have killed him secretly without such an elaborate scheme.
2. According to Zhu and Yang, they were awakened by Shen Jun, who also suggested locking the door from the inside and picking up a brick for defense. This brick was the murder weapon. Yet, while Zhu and Yang touched it, Shen Jun supposedly did not—but his fingerprints were found on it. This was extremely strange.
3. Shen Jun had shouted that someone was trying to kill him, but neither Zhu nor Yang knew who that might be.
4. Zhu and Yang recalled that Shen Jun seemed to be wearing gloves, though they couldn't be sure due to the darkness. Why would Shen Jun be wearing gloves?
5. Zhu mentioned that after they fell asleep a second time, he felt someone move his body. Furthermore, they had gone to sleep with their heads toward the wall and feet toward the door, but were awakened the next day with their positions reversed—feet toward the wall and heads toward the door. Yang confirmed this.
6. Xu Lang had found nail holes on the wall to the right of the entrance, but no nails.
7. Finally, when they were rescued by Liu Maocai and Qin Yumei, they were in a stupor and were awakened by the knocking. They then unlatched the door, turning a dual-locked room into a single-locked one. This detail felt "off" to Xu Lang, though he couldn't immediately articulate why.

The investigation had reached a stalemate. Xu Lang knew Zhu and Yang weren't the killers, but he lacked the evidence to prove it, just as he lacked evidence to convict them.

"Xu Lang, Xu Lang..." Ning Yanran called out, unable to wait any longer.

Xu Lang snapped out of his thoughts. "What is it?"

"Did you find any problems?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

Xu Lang nodded. "Tell me!" she urged.

Xu Lang laid out his reasoning. When he reached the final point about the rescue, Ning Yanran frowned, feeling that something was indeed strange about the way Liu Maocai and Qin Yumei had rescued them.

Xu Lang extinguished his cigarette and asked, "If you were Liu or Qin, and you knew someone you were looking for was locked in a room, would you knock to wake them up first, or would you unlock the door first?"

Ning Yanran replied instinctively, "I’d unlock the outside lock first. If the inner door was still locked, *then* I’d knock."

"Exactly," Xu Lang said. "That’s the natural human reaction. But they knocked first, waking them up while they were sleeping, and *then* opened the door. That doesn't fit."

They decided to conduct an experiment with volunteers to test this. They recreated the storage room scenario, and without exception, every volunteer tried to unlock the door first before knocking.

With this realization, they moved to question the parties involved. Qin Yumei arrived promptly at the bureau, but the security captain, Liu Maocai, claimed he was on leave in his hometown and could only return the following day.

They began by questioning Qin Yumei. She explained that on the night before the murder, Zhu had found a note about low-priced homemade white liquor. He had wanted to buy some, and she had agreed. Zhu left without his phone or money, and the note—which could have served as evidence—had been burned by her as kindling. She had expected him back shortly. When he didn't return, she assumed he had gone to work, but when she checked the factory the next morning, she realized something was terribly wrong. She then went to the abandoned factory to look for him, leading to the discovery.