Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Murderous Joy (11)

"…What’s his reaction? Has he been possessed suddenly?" Sui Xing said, after watching the video of Hai Shu questioning Guang Jun. She was so confused she almost swore. "He was just defending himself frantically, why did he suddenly become so calm?"

Hai Shu was also confused. After Guang Jun changed his tone, his whole demeanor shifted to a peaceful one, patiently explaining that the only connection he had with Yuan Zhong was that they both worked at the glass factory. He had heard people talk about the eccentric electrician, but he wasn’t aware of Yuan Zhong’s chronic tardiness and absenteeism. He also thought Yuan Zhong’s situation must have been due to some higher-up relationship, but he could guarantee that the Guang family had absolutely no connection with Yuan Zhong.

When Hai Shu left the housing department, Guang Jun even chatted with her casually, talking about how the wedding had been disrupted, how difficult it was to be torn between his family and Yin Canxi, and how the two of them had been cold to each other for a few days. He hoped Hai Shu, as a good friend, could convey his feelings to Yin Canxi: "I love you to the end."

Hai Shu walked for a while, thinking about the way Guang Jun had said those words, and she suddenly felt nauseous.

The past few days, Hai Shu had been so focused on the case that she hadn’t paid attention to Yin Canxi. Now, after Guang Jun’s sudden change in behavior, she decided to take some time and visit Yin Canxi again to ask more about the details related to Guang Jun.

However, Guang Jun’s case needed to be put on hold for now. The electrician who had been called over by Yuan Zhong in the cafeteria had finally gotten over his nervous “short-circuit” and straightened out the conversation with Yuan Zhong.

He recalled that when he walked past the hallway, Yuan Zhong was facing away from him, so he must have seen Yuan Zhong first. The electricians all knew Yuan Zhong’s personality very well—he hadn’t planned on talking to Yuan Zhong, but just as he reached Yuan Zhong’s table, Yuan Zhong had called out to him.

"To be honest, I was stunned when I heard his voice. How could he call me out? He never speaks, and his voice is very unfamiliar. But when I looked at him, it was definitely him!"

Hai Shu had already noticed something strange when she saw the video. Yuan Zhong didn’t turn around; he raised his head to call the electrician while his colleague was still behind him. Under normal circumstances, the colleague would have passed by first, and only then would Yuan Zhong have seen him and spoken.

The electrician’s statement confirmed Hai Shu’s suspicion. Yuan Zhong must have seen his colleague the moment he entered, sitting in a spot on the way out of the cafeteria. Although he hadn’t turned around, he was keeping an eye on his colleague’s movements.

The electrician went on, saying that after he realized what was happening, he was a little freaked out. But since Yuan Zhong had called him, he couldn’t just ignore him, so he stopped and started chatting. He saw Yuan Zhong eating a roasted pork, so he casually said, "They’re still serving roasted pork at this hour? Our cafeteria’s roasted pork is good!"

Yuan Zhong said, "You’re eating roasted pork too?"

The electrician replied, "I had it yesterday, today I’m having braised pork."

This electrician was known for his good temper and chattiness among all the electricians. After chatting, he didn’t leave immediately but continued to chat, saying, "Why are you eating so late? Working overtime?"

Yuan Zhong said, "Hmm, I did some extra work this morning, and I have something to do in the afternoon."

"Ah, you’re leaving early..." The electrician remembered Yuan Zhong’s laid-back nature, feeling a bit embarrassed, "Well, I’ll head out first."

But then Yuan Zhong suddenly said, "It’s not early leave, I’m going to help Yu Zi."

In Zhou Ping town, when people mentioned "Yu Zi," everyone knew it was Wan Ze Yu. The electrician found it odd, "Yu Zi? What does he need fixed?"

Yuan Zhong said, "I don’t know, he just asked me to go check on something."

Hearing this, Hai Shu’s pupils slightly constricted. After the electrician finished speaking, Hai Shu asked, "Are you sure Yuan Zhong mentioned Wan Ze Yu, and he mentioned him first?"

"Yes! Yu Zi is Wan Ze Yu, it couldn’t be anyone else." The electrician explained, "Wan Ze Yu came to the factory almost every day to deliver goods, and he gave out a lot of welfare to the workers. There was a time when the Huimin shop had something that needed fixing, and the electricians did help out."

Yuan Zhong was lying. After leaving the glass factory, his tracks were clear, and he didn’t go to any of Wan Ze Yu’s Huimin shops.

But just to be sure, Hai Shu and Sui Xing went to verify with the Huimin shops and also checked Wan Ze Yu’s whereabouts on the afternoon of the 4th. Wan Ze Yu went to the glass factory in the morning to deliver goods, visited a Huimin shop in the afternoon, then went to the Guang family to help with the wedding preparations, showing no interaction with Yuan Zhong. At 7 PM, Wan Ze Yu left the Guang family, and his whereabouts after that couldn’t be determined.

Hai Shu slipped in a question with the senior police officer at the police station, asking about the worker who was burned to death in the old workshop of the glass factory.

Police officer: "Impossible! I was already working here at the time, and I never heard of anything like that!"

Hai Shu asked, "Then what was said about the relocation of the workshop back then?"

The officer said that, as far as he knew, the glass factory said the workshop was built in the northwest outside the town because it was inconvenient for the workers to live, and the cost of laying pipes was too high. When they rebuilt in the east, the original townspeople didn’t have much objection, because the glass factory had provided a lot of job opportunities.

Hai Shu could only go to Guang Yong Guo for further inquiries.

Although the glass factory wasn’t very large, the office of the deputy factory director, who had real power, was quite grand, with solid wood furniture, an entire glass bookshelf, and calligraphy hanging on the walls from some unknown master.

Hai Shu mentioned the news she had heard from Director Xu, and Guang Yong Guo fell silent. When Hai Shu thought he was going to deny it, he stood up, clasped his hands behind his back, and sighed, "There is indeed such a thing. The decision was made by my former leader, who was also the former factory director. He has been dead for many years now."

At that time, Guang Yong Guo was one of the key nurtured middle management in the glass factory, working under the old factory director, Li Yun. The old workshop was built under Li Yun’s supervision. In order to get production up and running quickly, Guang Yong Guo worked tirelessly, eating and sleeping in the workshop. When there weren’t enough workers, he recruited them from everywhere. Li Yun trusted him greatly, and the money for the project was approved quickly.

But just as they were about to get everything on track, the furnace malfunctioned. A worker discovered bones in the remnants, and it was clear they weren’t animal bones. Besides, no animal could have gotten inside.

The only possibility was that a worker had accidentally fallen into it during operation.

Few people had seen the bones, and Guang Yong Guo acted swiftly, using money to silence the workers. At that time, workers were honest, and middle management’s orders couldn’t be ignored.

With lives at stake, Guang Yong Guo reported to Li Yun, who praised his quick thinking, telling him that if the police got involved, it would be troublesome. They would surely find flaws and cause delays in production.

Li Yun gestured for Guang Yong Guo to investigate who the deceased was and offer compensation to their family. But even after another person fell into the furnace, Guang Yong Guo still hadn’t identified the dead worker.

Coincidentally, this second deceased person also could not be identified.

Later, workers discovered two more bones, still with no known identity.

Now even Li Yun became worried. Though the rumors about the vengeful ghost of Cai Mei had died down, they still reached Li Yun’s ears. Guang Yong Guo believed it was just a production accident, and the lack of identification was due to the large number of temporary workers. However, Li Yun believed there was something wrong with the location; if deaths continued, they wouldn't be able to hide it.

"I don’t believe in those things, but after the relocation, there truly haven’t been any more incidents," Guang Yong Guo said calmly. "I admit, not reporting to the police was our fault, but that was the old factory director’s decision, and it really was just a production accident."

With time passing, the person responsible was long gone, so naturally, Guang Yong Guo could paint the situation however he liked. The current evidence couldn’t link him or any members of the Guang family to being detained.

Meanwhile, Cheng Wei and Wen Xu, after a series of complex investigations, found two sets of footprints on the stairs of the old workshop. One set was likely Yuan Zhong’s, with the shoeprints matching the shoes Yuan Zhong wore in the surveillance footage, and the other set matched those found in Wan Ze Yu’s car and store.

"At the time, Wan Ze Yu was with Yuan Zhong on the top floor," Cheng Wei said.

The footprints on the top floor had been washed away, but the two sets of footprints on the stairs indicated that the last person Yuan Zhong encountered before his death was Wan Ze Yu.

The meeting room fell into a moment of silence. Sui Xing took a deep breath. "It seems that all our previous assumptions need to be thrown out."

When the bodies of Wan Ze Yu and the unidentified limbs were first discovered, the police believed that the two victims had been slaughtered by the same killer or criminal group, with a strong and brutal ritualistic sense pointing to a deep vendetta. It seemed very likely to be a revenge case.

After the odd disappearance of Yuan Zhong was investigated, along with the disappearance of his cleaver, the theory became clearer—that Yuan Zhong might have been the killer of Wan Ze Yu and Victim X.

However, DNA and fingerprints provided a different answer: Yuan Zhong was actually Victim X, and he had been murdered before Wan Ze Yu.

The real killer had yet to be revealed, and the police's reasoning returned to square one.

The new evidence forced the police to reconsider their earlier assumptions. The killer of Yuan Zhong was Wan Ze Yu.

"I have an idea, please listen first." Hai Shu stood up. "Earlier, our judgment wasn’t completely wrong. Yuan Zhong and Wan Ze Yu did have some connection, and Wan Ze Yu had a lot of influence. Yuan Zhong managed to keep his job as an electrician probably because Wan Ze Yu was backing him. But for some reason, Wan Ze Yu had to get rid of Yuan Zhong. It’s possible it was to silence him."

"And Yuan Zhong knew exactly what Wan Ze Yu was planning to do. He went to the old workshop on the 4th, prepared to die. He could die, but Wan Ze Yu wouldn’t get away unscathed. That’s why he deliberately told his colleague Wan Ze Yu was looking for him and made sure to appear multiple times in the surveillance footage."

Sui Xing interrupted, "Wait a minute, this doesn’t make sense. If Yuan Zhong knew he might die, why did he go? He could have avoided it."

Hai Shu said, "That’s how a normal person would think, but Yuan Zhong wasn’t normal. Don’t forget what he did to himself at home. He seemed fascinated with his own blood and pain. He wasn’t afraid of death."

"I’ll continue. On the top floor of the old workshop, Yuan Zhong and Wan Ze Yu fought, and in the end, Wan Ze Yu won. Yuan Zhong was not only injured and lost a lot of blood, but he also fell from the building. But did Yuan Zhong really think he was the loser? Not necessarily."

"Then there's Guang Jun. I suddenly found an explanation for his change." Hai Shu’s eyes became sharper. "He had something to hide with Wan Ze Yu, but not with Yuan Zhong. When he found out that Wan Ze Yu was the one who died, he was so scared because he thought it was something he and Wan Ze Yu had done together that had been exposed. Now it was Wan Ze Yu, and soon it would be him. But when I told him that the other victim was Yuan Zhong, after his brief panic, he realized that Wan Ze Yu’s death had nothing to do with him. He wasn’t part of that web."

Sui Xing mumbled, "So because it doesn’t involve him, he suddenly became calm?"

Hai Shu nodded, "If this hypothesis is close to the truth, then the case we’re investigating isn’t just one case. It’s most likely two separate cases."

Wen Xu chimed in, "If they are separate, why would the killer of Wan Ze Yu bring the two bodies together?"

Hai Shu exhaled deeply. "To mislead, and there were two misdirections in the way the deaths were presented."