I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 141: Chapter 139: Surrender

Yan Cheng went to the autopsy room to confirm his theory.

Wen Zouyu had six stab wounds on his abdomen, while Guan Yang had five.

Aside from the extra stab wound on Wen Zouyu’s abdomen,

the locations of the other wounds on both bodies were nearly identical, and each stab was clean and decisive.

The three stab wounds on Wen Zouyu’s back were also clean, decisive, and precise.

These were the work of one person.

But the extra stab wound on Wen Zouyu’s abdomen seemed to have been made by an amateur.

Although the stab was also fairly decisive, the technique was amateurish.

After hearing Yan Cheng’s explanation, Su Miaoyi’s first thought was, ’He can tell that just by looking?’

’Looks like I still need more practice.’

”Could the difference in the wounds be because the killer was nervous?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”I considered that possibility at first, but now I’m certain they were inflicted by two different people,” Yan Cheng said.

”I did see Zeng Shuang make a move in the vision,” Su Miaoyi said. ”I only saw one stab. Before Zeng Shuang struck, the deceased already had wounds on his body.”

Yan Cheng said, ”That was likely the extra stab wound. And I’m still leaning toward the other person being a medical student, or at least someone very familiar with the locations of human organs who handles a blade regularly.”

Su Miaoyi and Zhuang Yanzheng exchanged a glance.

”Let’s go to Jinghai University,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

The two immediately headed out.

They arrived at Jinghai University and went to the medical school, but Lu Qiaoqiao was nowhere to be found.

They asked her roommate, who said she had gone out in the morning and hadn’t come back. No one else had seen her either.

They quickly called Lu Qiaoqiao.

The phone rang until it was about to automatically disconnect before she finally answered.

”Who is this?” Lu Qiaoqiao asked. ”Are you from the City Bureau?”

”Yes, Jinghai City Bureau. We have a few more questions we’d like to ask you,” Su Miaoyi said.

”I’m at the entrance of the City Bureau,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

Su Miaoyi looked at Zhuang Yanzheng.

”I’m here to turn myself in. I killed them. I killed them all,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

...

Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi copied the surveillance footage from near the athletic field and took it back with them.

On the drive back to the City Bureau, Su Miaoyi watched the surveillance footage from the night Zeng Shuang said she left.

Since she knew the timeframe, she played it at fast-forward speed, and it didn’t take too long.

Zhuang Yanzheng was on the phone with the City Bureau.

When he hung up, Su Miaoyi said, ”I found Zeng Shuang on the surveillance footage. Judging by the time she left the school, it’s consistent with two people committing the crime. If she were alone, she couldn’t have killed them and staged the scene in such a short amount of time.”

”She also changed her clothes,” she said. ”The clothes are different from what she was wearing in the footage Qi Feng pulled from near the men’s dormitory.”

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”They just called. They’ve traced the source of the fruit knife. They checked the supermarket’s surveillance, and Lu Qiaoqiao was the one who bought it.”

”When Qi Feng and the others went to see her, Lu Qiaoqiao had no intention of confessing. In fact, she seemed to have completely distanced herself from the case,” Su Miaoyi said. ”Why the sudden...”

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”Given the timing, does this mean as we were leaving the City Bureau, she was just leaving Jinghai University?”

”Her roommate said she left in the morning and never went back. Is it possible that after Qi Feng left, she went somewhere, met someone, and then changed her mind?”

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded.

Su Miaoyi said no more, looking down at the personal information on her tablet.

Two young women.

Other than both having been Wen Zouyu’s girlfriends, the two seemed to have no other connection.

Wen Zouyu and Zeng Shuang were university classmates, both from the School of Economics at Jinghai University.

Later, Wen Zouyu went to graduate school, and Zeng Shuang found a job.

Lu Qiaoqiao did her undergraduate studies in Jiangcheng and came to Jinghai for graduate school.

She was a few years older than them.

...

When Zhuang Yanzheng returned to the City Bureau, Lu Qiaoqiao’s toxicology report came back.

It was negative.

Zeng Shuang’s test was also negative.

Moreover, Lu Qiaoqiao had confessed to everything.

”I barely asked any questions, and she told me everything,” Qi Feng said, showing them the interrogation recording. ”She even specifically emphasized that she did it all by herself.”

Zhuang Yanzheng and Su Miaoyi watched the video and audio recording of the interrogation.

Lu Qiaoqiao said that after she discovered Wen Zouyu had illegally purchased Triazolam, she broke up with him.

After breaking up, she deleted him from her contacts and blocked his number.

Wen Zouyu kept pestering her. He refused to accept the breakup, wanted to get back together, and was always seeking her out.

A little over half a month ago, Wen Zouyu approached her again.

When he saw she still wouldn’t get back together with him, he started threatening her.

Wen Zouyu showed her a lot of photos of herself.

They were intimate photos that Wen Zouyu had secretly taken when they were together.

He said if she didn’t get back together with him, he would post the photos on the school’s online forum.

Lu Qiaoqiao was furious when she saw them.

She hit Wen Zouyu.

Her original plan was to snatch the photos and report him to the police.

But she couldn’t get them, so she told him that if he dared to post them, she would report him and have him arrested.

After all, she wasn’t the one in the wrong, nor was she the one who had secretly taken the photos.

She wasn’t afraid of anything.

But while she was consulting a lawyer about the matter, Wen Zouyu, angry that she had hit him, sent the photos to her parents.

In a fit of rage, Lu Qiaoqiao’s father suddenly collapsed. They couldn’t revive him, and he passed away.

Lu Qiaoqiao went home to handle her father’s funeral arrangements.

She returned after seven days.

Then she bought a fruit knife from a supermarket far from the school, slipped into the men’s dormitory through a side entrance, and killed Wen Zouyu and Guan Yang.

In the recording, Qi Feng asked, ”Triazolam was found in both Wen Zouyu and Guan Yang’s systems. Where did you get it?”

”When I found out Wen Zouyu was illegally buying Triazolam, I secretly took one pill,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

”That’s illegal, you know that?” Qi Feng said.

”I... I just wanted to study it at the time,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

”You’re majoring in surgery. Why would you be studying pharmaceuticals?” Qi Feng asked.

”Curiosity,” Lu Qiaoqiao said.

”Curiosity? There are legal channels you could have used, but you chose to go the illegal route!” Qi Feng said.

Lu Qiaoqiao lowered her head and didn’t speak.

Qi Feng asked again, ”And how did you know Wen Zouyu would be in his dorm?”

”I didn’t,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”It was late, so I figured I could disguise myself, sneak into the dorm, and no one would notice. If he was there, I’d kill him. If not, I’d just leave.”

”You’re lying,” Qi Feng said.

”I’m not. Everything I’ve said is the truth,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”I inflicted all the wounds on Wen Zouyu and Guan Yang. Two stabs hit the liver, and the three on Wen Zouyu’s back struck his heart precisely. The other stabs in different places were just to hide how skilled my technique was.”

”If I weren’t the killer, how would I know these details so clearly?” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”The university has already blocked any news from getting out.”

Qi Feng was silent for a moment. ”Then why did you kill Guan Yang?”

”Wen Zouyu was rarely in the dorm. He was there that night, so it was a perfect opportunity I couldn’t miss,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”I put the drug in their drinks, and they both passed out. I originally thought about letting Guan Yang go, but then I realized he had seen me. He would definitely identify me later, so I killed him too.”

”The autopsy report shows that the wounds on the deceased were caused by two people,” Qi Feng said. ”Who was the other person?”

”There was no one else, it was just me,” Lu Qiaoqiao said. ”When a person is nervous, their hand can be unsteady. That can make the wounds look like they were made by two different people.”

”I did everything myself. Wen Zouyu caused my father’s death. Killing him a thousand times, ten thousand times, wouldn’t be enough! I have more than enough professional knowledge. I was perfectly capable of doing it by myself! It was only me!”