A police car arrived at the school. The police exchanged a few words with Teacher Liu and took him away. Seated in a classroom near the window, a boy bit his pen and severely reproached himself.

Teacher Liu, the school worker and Teacher Lin’s father were questioned separately. The police asked them every detail about the time they had seen Lin Xiaoxiao on October 1st. All three said that Lin Xiaoxiao was no different from usual.

The police showed them pictures of Ling Shuang and Lin Xiaoxiao again. Ling Shuang was not a criminal who was in hiding. She was a scholar and she lived in seclusion. Only Chen Shi and Gu You knew that Ling Shuang was their "old friend."

The three of them didn’t recognize Ling Shuang from the photos, but were able to recognize Lin Xiaoxiao's photos successfully.

During the entire process of the questioning, Chen Shi and Gu You both watched from outside. Gu You said, "Their consciousness is now normal, and they only have the tampered memories in their heads. They have also rationalized them to themselves."

"Guessed as much!" Chen Shi said disappointedly. "Let’s not talk about the active members of ‘Black Honey’. Even if us ‘interns’ planned a simulated crime, leaving no traces behind is a basic skill."

"You’re not an ‘intern’. If you are a criminal, you won’t rank below Zhou Tiannan. Causing damage is easy, but protecting is difficult. That’s why there’s the saying that the devil is ten feet tall and virtue is one foot high[1], and you shouldn’t be too discouraged."

"Is it appropriate to say these things at the public security bureau so openly?" Chen Shi confirmed that there was nobody else behind them. "By the way, forgive me for being curious, but are you dating Old Peng? Why doesn't it feel like it?"

"The relationship between the two of us, if we have to define it, is just that of congenial bedmates. We both hate the entanglement of relationships. I think this is quite suitable. You could also try this kind of rational love."

"For me, forget it! I’ll be beaten to death!" Chen Shi waved his hand.

After being silent for a moment, Gu Yu lowered her voice, "If Zhou Tiannan cannot be dealt with by normal means, have you ever thought about using what you learned?"

"I considered it before, but I can't do it!"

"If Zhou Tiannan died unnaturally one day, would you solve the case?"

Chen Shi looked at Gu You for a long time and said, "I hope that this day won’t come. Zhou Tiannan must be arrested. He must undergo trial and pay for his sins!"

After the questioning ended, Lin Qiupu asked everyone to go to the conference room, and Peng Sijue said, "Everything has been investigated, and no traces of outsiders have been found."

Lin Qiupu said, "There is no progress on the witnesses’ side. I don't think that the case can go on."

Everyone was discouraged for a while. Before Chen Shi appeared, announcing the "suspension of the investigation" in the face of unsustainable cases had also happened before. This kind of thing had actually happened again, which was really disheartening.

Lin Dongxue stood up and asked, "Why not go directly to Ling Shuang and ask for her alibi?"

Lin Qiupu spread out his hands. "We have no right to ask her. The entire case has no connection with her from the chain of evidence. At least it’s like that on the surface. The basis of her participation is only a hypothesis. The police cannot investigate others based on a hypothesis. It’s like someone getting killed by a flying knife on the streets and us going to look for a magician who throws knives, suspecting that it was done by him. That’s ridiculous. Do you understand?”

What Lin Qiupu said was the truth. Lin Dongxue sat back down very helplessly.

Looking around, Lin Qiupu hoped that someone could come up with some ideas, but even Chen Shi looked as if he was at his wits’ end. Lin Qiupu announced powerlessly, "I’ll give everyone one last day, and by this time tomorrow, if there are still no new clues, then this investigation needs to be discontinued!"

In the evening after school, Wei Zengmali had to stay back on duty. Tao Yueyue walked out of the school campus alone. The student crowd gradually dispersed into the streets around the school. She walked alone on a busy street and was going to take a bus further up.

There was the sound of footsteps behind her. She turned her head slightly and saw the boy who had been following her again. She quickened her pace.

Unexpectedly, the other party also sped up. At a corner, the boy suddenly said, "Tao Yueyue, I have something to say!"

Tao Yueyue stood still, looking at the strange boy. She slowly moved under the security camera of a supermarket, and her fear of strangers overwhelmed her. She said, "Don't come over. Just stand there and talk!"

"I don't want to do anything to you. I really have something to say!" The boy looked wronged.

"Say it!"

The boy pulled out his phone and read a number out. "This is my WeChat. You can add it. I can't say it on the street."

Tao Yueyue skeptically added the number. The boy stood ten meters away and sent a message, "Isn’t your father a criminal police officer?", "I saw them take Teacher Liu away in the afternoon. They caught the wrong person. I know who the real murderer is!", "But I'm afraid. I dare not say it!"

Tao Yueyue replied, "Photograph your ID card."

The boy found it funny. Why was this girl so afraid of strangers as if she was a cat? He could only do as he was asked.

Tao Yueyue passed on his identity in an email and wrote a few words, "This boy named Cao Rui said that he has important clues to share with me. I’m with him right now. If I go missing, please investigate him!" After thinking about it, she added another sentence, "Uncle Chen, I love you!"

She set the email to be automatically sent out to Chen Shi three hours later.

Tao Yueyue pointed at the fast food restaurant across the street, "Go over there. Let the surveillance camera capture your face, and then sit by the window and wait for me."

"I'm really not a bad person." Cao Rui looked embarrassed.

"Hurry up and go!"

Five minutes later, Cao Rui sat beside the window of the fast food restaurant and waved at her. Tao Yueyue then went in. Two drinks that Cao Rui had ordered were on the table. Cao Rui said, "Don’t be so nervous. I have never seen anyone as cowardly as you. Look, I’m wearing a school uniform. How could I be a bad person... I don’t know whether you like to drink Fanta or Coke. You pick first.”

Tao Yueyue pushed both drinks away and took out her own water bottle. "You should just say it!"

"The murderer is Teacher Yan!" He lowered his voice. "I've clearly already called the police. How could the police be so stupid? Why did they take Teacher Liu away?"

"Teacher Yan who teaches Chinese?"

"It's him. I heard him quarreling with Teacher Lin that day. Then there was a bang, and suddenly there were no more sounds. I was terrified... Then I saw him carrying a big bag downstairs with blood on it!" After making these remarks, Cao Rui made up his mind. He furrowed his brows. "Do you know how scared I was during Chinese classes these past two days? I dared not even look Teacher Yan in the eye. He told me to recite some text and I kept thinking that he seemed to know something... But I dared not say so. What if I get retaliated against? I’m so scared. So scared, but I wanted to help you guys as well, so I called the police anonymously. Why aren’t the police investigating it?!”

"The police have no evidence."

"If you have no evidence, you won’t arrest the bad guys?"

Seeing the other party being so frank, Tao Yueyue became frank as well. "Did you know? The police know who the murderer who killed my mother is, but because there’s no evidence, he can’t be arrested. Even if he is arrested and sent to court, he will also be acquitted."

"Really? Your mother actually..."

"It's all in the past."

"Sorry."

"It's nothing."

Cao Rui looked at the window and said in annoyance, "How good would it be if Long’an had a Batman?!"

Tao Yueyue took the cup of Coke and took a sip. She smiled, "I like Batman as well."

1. It takes constant vigilance to stave off evil.