FBH Chapter 25

Wu Shuqi sat in her soft leather chair, elbows propped on the mahogany desk, rubbing her temples with her index and middle fingers as she pondered how to find a breakthrough in the Zhu Houshi case.

She suddenly recalled the Coca-Cola poisoning incident that shocked Tokyo, Japan, in the 1970s. It was a series of indiscriminate poisonings where the perpetrator placed Coca-Cola laced with cyanide in phone booths and along the roadside. Passersby, tempted by the free drinks, ingested them and died of poisoning. It remains an unsolved mystery to this day.

Despite this, Wu Shuqi decided to retrieve surveillance footage from the day before Zhu Houshi’s death, focusing on the route he took after closing his stall. She hoped to find new clues and follow the trail to the real killer.

Wu Shuqi suspected that Zhu Houshi may have encountered someone or something in this blind spot, and that this person or event could be related to his death.

Wu Shuqi went to the scene and, imitating Zhu Houshi’s gait and speed, walked the route within the surveillance blind spot in only 1 minute and 27 seconds. This further solidified her judgment.

Before discussing it with her colleagues, Wu Shuqi decided to search for surveillance cameras installed by businesses along that section of the road, the purpose being self-evident.

Before discussing it with her colleagues, Wu Shuqi decided to contact the traffic police team and the vehicle management office to check the vehicle information for that time period in the blind spot. Then, they would contact the vehicle owners, hoping to find dashcam footage of Zhu Houshi passing through the blind spot at that time.

Wu Zhi and Guo Jian went to the vehicle management office. After a careful search, they learned from an Audi owner that his car was equipped with a dashcam. They found the owner and learned that the owner’s recorder was a 360-degree panoramic recorder, and the video recorded when his vehicle passed through the surveillance blind spot had not yet been overwritten.

Sure enough, someone soon walked out of the store. This person was Xiong Zhiyang (Wu Shuqi and her colleagues were surprised to see Xiong Zhiyang). At the same time, Zhu Houshi walked over to meet him. As they got closer, the two began to talk.

The figures of the two men gradually blurred as the camera zoomed out, until they disappeared.

However, it was not all in vain. The video at least let the investigators know that Zhu Houshi and Xiong Zhiyang were acquainted.

The investigators couldn’t help but think: Xiong Zhiyang is a family member of one of the victims of the “7.18” poisoning case, and he is also acquainted with the victim Zhu Houshi. Both cases involved the use of cyanide to kill people. Is this a coincidence, or is there a necessary connection between the two?

Wu Shuqi asked everyone to discuss the video in relation to the Zhu Houshi murder case and the “7.18” poisoning case, freely expressing their opinions, carefully analyzing every link, and making associations, hoping to discover new clues from seemingly insignificant details, thereby finding a breakthrough in the case investigation.

Everyone looked at Lu Tianhai and burst into laughter.

Lu Tianhai’s face turned red, and he argued with Guo Jian unconvinced: “Xiong Zhiyang didn’t appear there earlier, didn’t appear there later, but appeared there precisely when Zhu Houshi was going home. Please tell me, why would he appear there?”

Guo Jian smiled dismissively again: “It’s very simple, Xiong Zhiyang is the owner of a decoration company, he appeared there maybe to choose decoration materials, maybe he is friends with the shop owner, he was chatting with his friend.”

Lu Tianhai was still unconvinced: “After our previous investigation, the suspects have all been ruled out one by one. Who the suspect is, where the crime was committed, and how the crime was committed, we have no clue! My bold guess is that Xiong Zhiyang committed the crime intentionally. It sounds a bit bizarre, but who knows what happened between him and Zhu Houshi after they disappeared from the dashcam’s lens!”

Wu Shuqi blinked her long eyelashes and asked Wu Zhi with interest: “According to your idea, what do you think is Xiong Zhiyang’s motive for attacking Zhu Houshi?”

“Maybe Zhu Houshi knew Xiong Zhiyang’s unspeakable secret, and Xiong Zhiyang was afraid that he would reveal it, so he killed him to silence him.” Wu Zhi smiled, raising his eyebrows, “This is the result I deduced using the ‘elimination method’: according to our previous investigation, Zhu Houshi’s death was not due to a love affair, revenge, money, or resentment, so there is only one possibility that he was silenced.”

Wu Shuqi nodded and asked, “What unspeakable secret do you think Xiong Zhiyang has?”

Wu Zhi said: “Haven’t we always suspected that the ‘7.18’ cyanide poisoning case was directed by Xiong Zhiyang? I suspect that Zhu Houshi accidentally knew who the murderer and the mastermind of the case were, and that the murderer happened to be acquainted with Zhu Houshi. The murderer ‘said false words after drinking’, and of course it is also possible that the murderer told Zhu Houshi lies without drinking. After Xiong Zhiyang learned that his secret of hiring a murderer was leaked, he felt scared and anxious, so he took the opportunity to poison Zhu Houshi.

“Speaking of this, I remembered one thing. A month ago, due to the investigation needs of the ‘7.18’ case, Guo Jian and I went to Zhu Houshi’s key stall to find him. I first showed my police ID and explained the reason for my visit, and then took out Xiong Zhiyang’s photo and asked him if he knew this person and if this person had ever had keys made at his stall. He glanced at the photo and looked away, seemed to hesitate for a while before saying that he didn’t know him and that this person had never had keys made at his stall.

“At the time, I suspected that he knew Xiong Zhiyang, and he hesitated, possibly wondering whether or not to tell a lie. Looking at it now, Zhu Houshi did lie. Connecting several things, comprehensively analyzing, Xiong Zhiyang’s suspicion of being the mastermind of the ‘7.18’ poisoning case and killing Zhu Houshi is very high.”

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