I already had a vague guess in my mind at this point, but it still needed verification in many aspects. I also felt that perhaps the things I needed to verify could be answered by the two suspects who were still waiting in the interrogation room.
I have been to the Binhe Police Station many times, and I know what each room is used for. I soon arrived at the interrogation room. As soon as I entered, I saw that there were two chairs in the room, with one person sitting on each chair.
The man sitting on the left was about my age, with a colorful hair that looked almost pixelated, and he was another Shamatte. When he saw us coming in, he instantly tensed up, and his body was very stiff as he sat on the chair, and he seemed to be very afraid of us. I guess this man must be the friend of the second deceased who appeared in the neighborhood yesterday.
The person sitting on the right is a middle-aged man in his late forties, but he looks a little scary because there seem to be a lot of scars on his face, and it is impossible to tell what he looks like. Those scars have not healed completely yet, and many places are wrapped in thick bandages. He looks like a mummy, and the wounds that are slightly better exposed make him look more like a European or American zombie.
When I saw the middle-aged man on the right, I knew he must be the person who reported the crime to Officer Yang, so I turned to Officer Yang and asked, "What's wrong with this man?"
Before Officer Yang could speak, the middle-aged man spoke in a hoarse voice: "I am a local and work in a petrochemical factory in Yinchuan. Two months ago, I was struck by high voltage electricity while repairing the substation cable. I became like this. I have been recovering at home now."
After hearing the middle-aged man's answer, I turned to Officer Yang and gave him a questioning look. Officer Yang nodded and said, "Yes, I have sent people to the petrochemical factory where he works to inquire. He is indeed an electrician. He was indeed hit by high voltage electricity two months ago and suffered severe burns all over his body."
I stared at the middle-aged man in front of me in confusion and whispered in Officer Yang's ear, "Is the date this person was injured the same as the date of the fire two months ago?"
Officer Yang quietly said, "I've checked this too. They didn't happen on the same day, but the two incidents were less than two days apart. The fire happened earlier."
After getting Officer Yang's answer, I nodded slightly, then turned to ask the middle-aged man, "Tell me about your situation. Why did you report the case at that time?"
The middle-aged man said in a hoarse voice: "Is it wrong to report a crime? Is this how you treat the reporter? If this is the case, who would dare to report a crime to you police officers if something happens in the future? Isn't this courting death?"
I smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. We just want to understand the situation. After all, you also hope that we can solve the case as soon as possible, right? Besides, if you can provide us with clues, we may give you part of the reward."
After I said this, the middle-aged man's tone improved a little and he told us what had happened.
This middle-aged man is a skilled electrician who also works in a petrochemical enterprise. He has a good salary, but because he has been working in a factory far away from the city for a long time and has a solitary personality, he has not married or had children until now.
On the day of the accident, the middle-aged man went to inspect the substation cables as usual, and found that the high-voltage cable had a leakage. He called someone to shut down the substation and stop the power supply so that he could carry out maintenance. But after a while, he thought the substation should have been closed, so he did not test the voltage, and directly took out the high-voltage cable. But who knew that as soon as he touched the high-voltage cable, he was knocked out by the huge current and lost consciousness on the spot. When he woke up, he looked like this.
The petrochemical factory was naturally responsible for the accident. It paid compensation and provided funds to help the middle-aged man with treatment. The middle-aged man then had some free time, and he stayed at home to recuperate every day. When he was bored, he would watch the live broadcast on his mobile phone to pass the time. That day, he was watching the live broadcast of a female anchor in Zhongwei City, who was the first victim in this case, and he saw the strange scene. At first, he thought the female anchor was joking with everyone, but the more he thought about it afterwards, the more he felt something was wrong. Moreover, after nearly a day, he had not heard of the case, so after much thought, he decided to tell the police about it. No matter whether the female anchor was joking or serious, he had to at least pass the test of his conscience.
What happened afterwards had nothing to do with him. Later, he heard that the case had spread in Zhongwei City and knew that he had done the right thing by calling the police. But who could have thought that the person who called the police would be arrested and brought here.
The middle-aged man became angrier and angrier as he spoke. Although we couldn't tell the emotion from his hoarse voice, we could still feel it from his tone and speed. Officer Yang seemed to sympathize with the middle-aged man and asked his men to help him sit on the sofa. After all, his injuries had not yet healed.
After listening to the middle-aged man's self-narration, I roughly understood some things in my mind. I lit a cigarette with Officer Yang and continued to question the young man sitting on the left who was almost scared to death.
"What's wrong with you? Why did you appear in the deceased's neighborhood during that time last night?"
When the young man heard us asking him, he was so scared that his voice trembled and he began to explain his story to us incoherently.
This young man has said before that he is also a live streamer, but his level is far inferior to that of the first deceased, or even the second deceased. However, he is unwilling to find a job and lives on the salary he earns from live streaming that is not even enough to cover his living expenses.
Although the young man's live broadcast results were not satisfactory, he was a member of this circle after all. He soon joined the anchor group in Zhongwei City and made some friends. With the help of these friends, his live broadcast results finally improved a little.
Just yesterday, this young man suddenly heard the news that a big figure in their live broadcast group, the female anchor who was the first deceased, had passed away, so he went to find his friend, the second deceased, to ask what happened.
He knew that the second deceased slept during the day, got up in the afternoon to eat, and then did live broadcasts at night. So he calculated the time and came to the second deceased's community at night, went upstairs to find him, but who knew that as soon as he arrived at the door of the second deceased's house, he smelled a pungent burnt smell, and could also see a lot of smoke coming out from the crack in the door.
Seeing this scene, the young man was stunned! Although he didn't know the specific details of the first victim's death, he knew that the first victim was burned to death. Seeing the smoke in front of him, he probably understood that his friend might have suffered the same thing. Although he didn't know what was going on, he knew in his heart that if he didn't leave, he would most likely take the blame for the murderer.
Thinking of this, the young man turned around and prepared to escape, but when he just got downstairs, he saw the police who had rushed over. Feeling a little guilty, he did not dare to leave so openly, so he found a place to hide quietly, intending to leave after the police left. However, his cleverness backfired and he was soon found by the police and arrested.
When the young man said this, he was already crying bitterly, saying with tears and snot that he was really not the murderer, but just happened to find the second victim.
After listening to the confessions of the two suspects, Officer Yang was already confused. He turned to me and whispered, "What should we do now? It seems that these two people are not the real murderers."
I said calmly, "It's okay, I know what's going on."
Then I asked the young man, "Are you close to the two deceased in this case? Are there many people who usually hang out with the deceased?"
The young man wiped his tears and said, "I do have a very good relationship with them. We often play together. When we play together, there are two other friends as well. In short, the five of us have the best relationship in the anchor circle."
I nodded and continued, "Then did you know about the fire that happened in a neighborhood in Zhongwei two months ago? What were you doing at the time?"
The young man was a little stunned by my question, but then he nodded quickly and said, "Of course I know. Everyone in Zhongwei City knows about this news. I remember that night very clearly. I had a headache because I drank too much the night before, so I stayed at home."
"What about the two deceased persons in this case? Where were they at the time?"
The young man thought for a moment and said, "They must have gone out to drink. They wanted to ask me to go with them, but I drank too much and had a headache that never went away."
"Then do you remember where the bar was where they went to drink? How many people were there in total?"
"It's a KTV called 'Fable' that we often go to. I think the other four friends have been there except me."
The young man answered very affirmatively, and I finally solved the last mystery in my mind. All the information was connected together, and the shadow of the real murderer gradually appeared in my mind.
Seeing that I didn't say anything for a long time, Officer Yang asked, "Is there anything else you need to ask? If not, let's release them for now. This case seems to be more complicated than we thought."
I smiled and said, "No, this case is not complicated at all. Besides, I already know who the murderer is!"