In fact, she got teary-eyed but had quickly suppressed it. However, her eyes still got red, inevitably.
After a brief silence, Xu Xu frowned then turned her head away to escape from Ji Bai’s eyes, “ I haven’t cried in a long time.”
Seeing her distressed look, Ji Bai smiled. He was just about to get up when his eyes unintentionally glanced down.
Even the skin on her neck was fragile and pale, the blue veins faintly visible. Perhaps due to embarrassment, she was red from her neck to her ears. He had never seen anyone with skin that was so fragile as if it would break if touched.
Because Ji Bai was still crouching, Xu Xu quickly noticed and turned her head, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Ji Bai glanced at her, calm and composed, he said, “What do you think?” He then stood up and walked away.
Xu Xu thought he probably wanted to observe her. So, she also got up and followed him back to the office.
As he entered the room, Ji Bai immediately felt the unusual atmosphere. Zhao Han signalled him with his eyes, and several other officers were frowning. He turned his head and immediately encountered Yao Meng sitting in her spot, staring at the computer screen, typing, but her eyes were red.
Ji Bai didn’t care and walked into his office. After a moment, he heard Xu Xu’s gentle voice: “Yao Meng, do you have time, we…”
Ye Zi Xiao was sent home by a police car. Ye Zi Xiao’s mansion was covered in bright sunlight, and the surroundings were very peaceful. He was just lying down for a while in the room when the door was opened.
The person who walked in was his father Ye Lan. Seeing his youngest son’s frowning face, he sat down at the bedside, and smiled: “Why aren’t you at the company and instead, hiding here?”
Ye Zi Xiao sat up: “Dad, Zi Xi’s dead.”
Ye Lan’s expression froze in place for many seconds.
Ye Zi Xiao took a deep breath: “She was murdered. The killer might be accomplices from the blade case…” Having said to this point, his voice was choked.
Ye Lan was sixty-five this year but still looked to be in his early fifties. At this time, perhaps due to suppressing his expression, every wrinkle on his face seemed to tremble.
He did not say anything to Ye Zi Xiao, and also did not ask anything. He stood up, slowly, step by step walked out of the room. From Zi Xiao’s angle, his back was trembling, sluggish and he looked older than every moment in the past.
The police soon called the Ye family, informing them of Ye Zi Xi, moreover, requesting to speak with them. Ye Lan directly answered the phone.
That night, Ye Lan did not come down for dinner.
When Ye Zi Xiao went down to the dining room, everyone else had already gathered.
Even after taking a shower and changing clothes, his face still looked awful. The third sister, Ye Qiao, glanced at him once and asked: “Where is Zi Xi? Why didn’t she come back with you?”
Ye Zi Xiao did not immediately answer, but he went to sit at his place. Everyone was used to his temper, so they didn’t care. Suddenly, everyone heard him say: “Zi Xi’s dead.”
The dining room became frighteningly quiet. Only Ye Zi Xiao picked up the chopsticks and began to eat.
The first one to speak was the eldest brother, Ye Zi Qiang: “Fourth brother, what kind of joke is that?”
Ye Zi Xiao slammed the chopsticks on the table: “I’m joking? You must be happy now. You always suspected Zi Xi will come back to steal the family fortune. Shit, she’s dead, you can be at ease now.
Ye Zi Qiang turned red in seconds: “You… you…
“Zi Xiao!” The person who yelled at him was Ye Qiao: “What are you talking about? What happened to Zi Xi?”
Ye Zi Xiao coldly looked at her: “Third sister, how many times did you sabotage Zi Xi in the company these few years? Don’t you also think like the eldest brother? Now that she’s dead, do you even feel guilty?”
Ye Qiao’s expression turned sour, and she became silent.
The room turned silent, the atmosphere was tenser than before.
Ye Zi Xiao took a deep breath to calm himself down: “Zi Xi was murdered last night.”
He did not want to mention the message and did not want to mention Ye Zi Xi’s tragic death even more, only saying: “I was called by the police for questioning, the murderer is probably related to the previous blade case. The police are investigating.”
Everyone pondered in silence, no one said a word.
It took a while before third sister’s husband, Zhang Shi Yong Chen Sheng, asked: “Did they catch the killer?” His voice turned several times colder: “What is the police doing?”
Ye Zi Xiao had a lot of respect for this brother-in-law, and he shook his head: “Not yet, it isn’t the suspect from last time, he has been caught. This might have been done by his accomplices, exactly like animals!
Everyone was silent, and there was a heavy atmosphere. After a while, the second sister Ye Jin, who had been silent, put down the chopsticks: “I’m full.” Her husband saw that she didn’t touch any food, and hugged her shoulders: “You eat too little.” Ye Jin shook her head, stood up and walked to Ye Zi Xiao’s side. She placed her hand on Zi Xiao’s shoulder, her eyes were teary.
The second sister had an introverted and gentle personality. Other than Zi Xi, Zi Xiao had the best relationship with her. He grabbed her hand: “Second sister..”
While everyone was immersed in the heavy atmosphere, the news of Zi Xi’s death had gradually spread to the public. Everyone in the force suspended all leave, throwing themselves into the investigation, regardless of day or night. Xu Xu sent a message to Xu Jun, saying that she was very busy, and not to contact her if there wasn’t anything important. Xu Jun was accustomed to his sister’s state, only replying with one word “Alright”, and not bothering her any longer after that.
After a day of investigating, the team had a brief meeting to report the results.
The first one who reported was Officer Wu, He, Yao Meng, and another officer who was responsible for the investigation of Ye Zi Xi’s everyday relationships.
“ We asked relatives, friends, and co-workers of the victim in Lin City. The victim had great relationships with people and never had a major conflict with anyone. Everyone says she’s single, and nobody heard that she recently had a boyfriend.”
This result disappointed everyone.
Yao Meng added: “We have applied for authorization for an in-depth investigation of the victim’s personal data, including email records, phone records, purchase records… If there is really a secret lover, there must be some kind of trace of it.”
Ji Bai nodded, and Xu Xu quickly wrote down the details of the meeting.
Because Ye Zi Xi was an entrepreneur, Ogo, along with Zhao Han, investigated about her wealth.
Officer Ogo solemnly reported: “The victim is responsible for the Group’s overseas investments. There are some losses and some gains in investments. Overall, there isn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
Ji Bai interrupted him: “What kind of investment losses?”
Ogo answered: “There are real estates, also export trades. Last night, the largest investment loss resulted in USD 100 million damage. The partner is a Chinese-European. He is wanted after fleeing with the money. However, this is just a small grain of sand in the desert to the L Corporation.”
Xu Xu attentively listened. At this point, there weren’t any unusual details.
At this time, Zhao Han stood up and said: “ I found one of the earliest documents of Longxi group.” He distributed it to everybody. Xu Xu scanned it over quickly, and quickly found clues.
L Corporation’s earliest chairman was not Ye Lan, but a person called Ye Lan Chi. Xu Xu was about to speak when Ji Bai already spoke: “Ye Lan Chi is Ye Zi Xi’s father?”
Zhao Han nodded, explaining:” Ye Lan Chi passed away when Ye Zi Xi was three years old. Her uncle, Ye Lan, became the Chairman. At that time, the company had no stock. After it was later listed for stocks, the adult Zi Xi got 3%.
Hearing this, everyone predicted that perhaps Zi Xi’s death was caused by the disputes over the family’s fortune?
Ji Bai was silent for a few seconds, then turned to Officer Wu: “Within the time frame of the murder, is there anyone in the Ye family who doesn’t have an alibi?”
Officer Wu flipped through the notebook in his hands and replied: “The time of death is from 21:00 until 5 in the morning the next day. It is quite a large time frame, and most of them said they were sleeping. We need to conduct further investigation on this.”
Ngo said: “The text message was sent at 22:17. According to the forensic report, after a serious chest injury, the victim won’t be able to survive for more than an hour. Can we infer that the time of death was between 22 to 23:30? Shouldn’t we focus on verifying the alibis during this time frame?”
Zhao Han retorted: “What if the killer sent the message in order to confuse the time of death?
“Unlikely.”
“Possible.”
Two voices voiced at the same time, it was Xu Xu and Ji Bai.
Everyone hesitated. Everyone knew that Ji Bai was the best in the team, and they were all clear of Xu Xu’s promising talent since her arrival, it was “*The later storm superseding the earlier storm”. They did not expect them, the teacher and student, to have contradicting ideas.
*The newer person becoming better than the more experienced person, and has the chance of replacing them.
Ji Bai looked at Xu Xu with a spark of interest in his eyes. Xu Xu didn’t look at him but solemnly thought.
At this time, Yao Meng raised her hand: “I also think that it’s “unlikely”, the message was probably sent by the victim.” She then showed eyes of encouragement to Xu Xu. Xu Xu understood Yao Meng and nodded in response.
Two forensic psychologist professionals went against the idea of the vice-captain, this aroused everyone’s interest. Ji Bai satisfied everyone’s curiosity, and called: “Xu Xu, you speak first.”
Xu Xu said: “The message reveals the relationship between the victim and the murderer. The murderer has high IQ, and would carefully conduct his actions. He deliberately arranged the crime scene to look like the blade case, thus he wouldn’t leave such an obvious clue.”
Yao Meng also said: “I have a similar view to that. If the murderer sent the message, he could have sent a vague message to achieve the purpose of confusing the time of death.”
After listening to the words of both of them, there were many people who nodded. Then, everyone turned to Ji Bai.
Ji Bai smiled, slightly raising his long black brows, and then his eyes fell upon XuXu: “Your conclusion comes from an ideal situation, but we aren’t clear of the process of how the murder occurred. We can’t eliminate any kind of surprise factor that would the murderer to send the message. Moreover, don’t forget that there’s a chance of a second killer.
Everyone nodded, and Ji Bai changed the topic: “But I agree that we should focus on investigating the alibi of the Ye family members from 22 to 23:30. Look at the log of calls from Ye Xi’s phone.”
Xu Xu flipped open the information on hand, the message sent from 22:17 was in the record, and also showing the IP address, there was nothing unusual about it.
Ji Bai went on to say: “IP belongs to the area of Lin Mountain, it is confirmed that the message was sent from the villa, and the phone’s signal disappeared at 23:30. We did not find the cellphone at the scene.
Xu Xu suddenly felt that everything was clear. Between that time frame, at least one of the killers was still at the villa, otherwise, where was the phone?
But….. Ji Bai knew the area instantly after looking at the IP address, could it be that he had the IP addressed in the Lin City memorized?
It seemed that she didn’t try hard enough.
The focus directions seemed to have been determined. One was to continue to find the secret love, the other was to verify the alibis of the Ye family members. Ji Bai was about to announce the adjournment of the meeting when the phone rang. He said a few words, then hung up the phone and turned to everyone: “It’s Ye Zi Xiao, he said that he had suddenly thought of a man.”
Ye Zi Xiao wasn’t stupid. After 2 days, his mood was slowly recovering, and he also started to think about certain problems: “Why is Ye Zi Xi living alone in a villa in the Lin mountain area? Why did Ji Bai speak about the male-female relationships of Ye Zi Xi when he was taking my statement?”
Could it be that Ye Zi Xi really had a lover?
He suddenly remembered one thing. It was probably two years ago when he broke up with his girlfriend. The reason was what Xu Xu predicted, the woman was also an arrogant woman, and couldn’t stand his machismo. At that time, it was quite upsetting, so he went to find Ye Zi Xi to go for a drink.
Half-drunk, he vaguely remembered Ye Zi Xi wearing a long dress and leaning on the railing. She was looking up to see the stars with a self-deprecating look in her eyes.
Ye Zi Xi also said: “Zi Xiao, you haven’t met that person. Your sadness is nothing. The real sadness is uncomfortable to the point that you want to die.”
Ye Zi Xiao rushed to the police station, and Ji Bai and Xu Xu talked to him. While repeating those words, he unknowingly looked at Xu Xu. Xu Xu had been attentively observing Ye Zi Xiao when she suddenly met with his eyes. Understanding a little, she naturally lowered her head.
Then Ji Bai’s deep and powerful voice sounded: “Mr.Ye, do you have any other clues? What you just said is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
Ye Zi Xiao said, that he wasn’t clear who it was, but that it must a man that Ye Zi Xi met when she studied at the graduate school in Beijing. This was because she didn’t have any other boyfriend after returning to Lin City.
After Ye Zi Xiao left, Ji Bai called Zhao Han to tell him: “ I’m going on a trip to Beijing, book me a flight for today and tomorrow for the return flight.” He had made up his mind to use all his connections to investigate, surely he would find clues that way.
Zhao Han nodded: “Who are you going with?” Previously, Ji Bai would always bring a young officer along every time he went on a trip.
At the airport in the afternoon, Ji Bai was waiting for a moment, and saw that Xu Xu was carrying a bag in one hand and her other thin hand was carrying a heavy laptop case, she was on the phone while walking:”You don’t need to ask your friend to pick me up. I’m at the airport. Xu Jun, I’m very busy, good bye.”
Xu Xu’s hands were suddenly empty while Ji Bai was carrying the 3 bags of the two of them. However, he could still carry them easily, and his tall and handsome appearance stood out in the crowd.
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