Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1231: Chapter 72: Statement in the Interrogation Room

“Team Leader Zhou, we’ve brought him back.”

“How did he behave?”

Zhou Yusheng quickly looked towards his colleague, inquiring about the situation of bringing Zhao Le back.

The colleague said, “Zhao Le was extremely calm and quite cooperative, didn’t ask anything along the way.”

“Didn’t ask anything?” Zhou Yusheng opened his mouth in surprise.

The colleague nodded, “Yes, didn’t say a word more.”

Touching his chin, Zhou Yusheng said, “Being overly calm like this is actually not reasonable.”

The colleague had a different opinion, “However, if he were to ask something along the way, we might suspect something… This way, whether asking or not, being calm or afraid, it’s hard to do well. Team Leader Zhou, are we being a bit too prejudiced?”

Zhou Yusheng remained silent.

The subordinates had spent considerable time investigating Zhao Le, from the initial Lin Feng, to later changes with three batches… multiple people gave positive evaluations of this young man.

But isn’t this also a kind of preconceived notion?

“Let’s have that old man who collects scrap identify him first.” Zhou Yusheng shook his head, casually checked the time, and frowned. It’s almost two hours since he communicated with Chen Mingming, even if returning from the suburbs, they should have arrived.

Feeling discontent, he sent another message and walked into the arranged room.

The identification method was simple; in a room with one-way glass, a witness would identify among several prepared suspects.

Actually, there were no definitive suspects in this case; several were hastily called from the detention center, along with two petty thieves recently captured.

Inside the room, the old man didn’t hesitate, carefully identifying each one. In a short time, he pointed at a nervous young man with glasses, “It’s him.”

…

Zhao Le wasn’t someone completely ignorant; due to his profession and schooling, he had more insight than ordinary people.

In fact, even ordinary people, arriving at this place, seeing the one-way mirror in front and the uniformed police guarding both inside and outside, would guess what had happened.

He couldn’t help but show a trace of nervousness… Zhao Le silently counted the time, and finally the tightly closed door suddenly opened, and a police officer led people out one by one from the room.

“You, come with us.”

Finally, a police officer approached Zhao Le, with a cold expression, gripping Zhao Le’s shoulder forcefully.

Zhao Le slowly exhaled, the officer behind him gently nudged him, prompting Zhao Le to take steps again, being led to another room.

It was also a room with one-way glass, but with chairs and stools, including one chair with handcuffs… Zhao Le knew this was the interrogation room.

…

Before approaching the interrogation room, Zhou Yusheng repeatedly confirmed whether Zhao Le and the old man had any vested interests… There were many procedures and verification processes involved; it wasn’t as simple as on television, where a person randomly pinpoints someone and it’s over.

“The two do not know each other, have no vested interests… Could it really be Zhao Le?”

Preparing to personally interrogate, Zhou Yusheng kept looking at Zhao Le’s profile upon entering. There was another peculiar aspect of this case; it was originally from Zhao Le’s clues that police started investigating Wu Rong’s line, but they found Wu Rong murdered in a rental house in City X.

Currently, although it wasn’t conclusively proven that Wang Liang murdered Wu Rong, evidence strongly suggested it… If Zhao Le was the murderer of Wang Liang, how much did he know about Wu Rong’s death?

Almost no evidence was found at both crime scenes, both locations appeared to have been deliberately cleaned… If not for the major blackout that day, these two murders might have remained undiscovered for a long time… Those familiar with Wang Liang and Wu Rong might still think the two are alive, just missing.

Zhou Yusheng suddenly felt that unless the real murderer steps forward and reveals the truth, given current conditions, the truth may never be found…

…

Pushing the door open, Zhou Yusheng and his accompanying interrogator simultaneously looked at Zhao Le on the chair. They both noticed some subtle movements from Zhao Le.

For instance, adjusting his glasses impulsively, using his palm to block their view, shifting his foot slightly, and casually curling his fingers after putting his hand down.

Both had keen eyes, able to discern Zhao Le’s emotional changes from these minor movements… Zhou Yusheng glanced at his colleague, then nodded.

Skipping formal procedures, the colleague asked gravely, “Zhao Le, let me ask you, where were you on the night of December 1st last year?”

Zhao Le remained silent.

The colleague frowned and repeated the question, but Zhao Le still maintained silence.

Only then did Zhou Yusheng speak suddenly, “Zhao Le, your field is related to our work, so you should understand that even with zero confession, if the evidence is sufficient, a sentence can still be passed. Although our workload increases, it would be more disadvantageous for you… Silence is not a good thing.”

After the initial tension, Zhao Le then seriously responded, “Officers, what evidence do you have… Actually, bringing me here and not telling me anything, isn’t compliant with procedures, right?”

Zhou Yusheng leaned forward slightly, his gaze becoming sharp, “A witness claims that on the night of December 1st, they saw you leaving Wang Liang’s rental house. According to the forensic doctor’s assessment, Wang Liang’s time of death was between December 1st and 2nd. We have reason to believe that you might be the last person to have seen Wang Liang.”

Zhao Le’s expression slightly changed… A witness?

This isn’t revealing himself on the night he secretly went to the rental house… But who is the witness?

Is there really a witness?

If there really is a witness, why did they only surface now… No, we can’t be certain if there really is a witness; this might just be an interrogation technique.

But what if they do exist?

Utter silence and no confession indeed puts me at the greatest disadvantage. When the case is finally handed over to the prosecutors, it will be the most troubling situation.

If there really is this witness, then from the very beginning, his claim of never having any contact with Wang Liang is enough to be overturned, plus the crime of withholding information… If Chen Mingming also comes forward to testify about me secretly going to the scene the night before.

Indeed… The more cautious one is, the more prone to flaws they are.

As Zhao Le remained silent, Zhou Yusheng and his colleagues said nothing, merely watching him… Watching Zhao Le’s flickering gaze, observing the beads of sweat gradually forming on his forehead… They knew that Zhao Le was under enormous psychological pressure at that moment.

After all, still very young… To have come this far is already quite surprising.

“Wang Liang… I didn’t kill him.” After a long silence, Zhao Le finally opened his mouth to speak.

Zhou Yusheng and his colleagues exchanged glances, and the people on the other side of the one-way mirror instantly perked up… They knew Zhao Le intended to speak.

“Do you admit to having gone to the scene on the night of December 1st?” Zhou Yusheng asked calmly.

Zhao Le nodded.

Zhou Yusheng’s gaze sharpened. “Explain in detail!”

Zhao Le took a deep breath and said, “I went only to handle the corpse and the scene.”

“So you do know who the murderer is!”

But Zhao Le shook his head, “I know, yet I can also say I don’t.”

“Kid, are you playing games with us!”

Zhao Le licked his lips and said, “I don’t see the need for that. The situation is very unfavorable to me now, so I can only cooperate with you to strive for a meritorious performance, which is the only way to mitigate the prosecution’s judgment… So, I will cooperate fully.”

Zhou Yusheng nodded, “We won’t overlook your cooperation and performance, but only if you’re not being deceitful.”

Zhao Le steadied himself and, after a moment of silence, slowly said, “I do know there’s a murderer, but at the same time, I can’t know his true identity; whether he’s male or female, I don’t know either. My contact with him was only online.”

“Be more specific!” Zhou Yusheng demanded immediately.

Zhao Le took a deep breath and said, “I only know he goes by ‘Mr. Blank.’ We met on a forum over a year ago and got along well. I don’t know much about him, only that he’s a crime enthusiast. That night, he suddenly asked me if I wanted to fulfill my revenge against Wang Liang.”

“At the time, I was feeling very bad. My sister was lying in the hospital, while Wang Liang was unaffected. I almost agreed without thinking… Initially, I thought ‘Mr. Blank’ just wanted to secretly teach Wang Liang a lesson with me. But little did I expect that when I arrived at Wang Liang’s rental apartment, he was already dead.”

Zhao Le’s expression suddenly turned pale and fearful.

Not only Zhou Yusheng and his colleagues, but the people on the other side of the mirror were also listening to Zhao Le’s account in astonishment.

“Dead? You saw him dead personally?”

“I didn’t see it; I only saw the corpse.” Zhao Le continued to breathe deeply, saying, “I didn’t see ‘Mr. Blank,’ because by then, he had already left. I was very scared, and I considered reporting it immediately. Shortly after, ‘Mr. Blank’ contacted me again, asking if I wanted to partake in a perfect crime, and could also complete the real revenge against Wang Liang… If I didn’t agree, then my presence at the scene would be exposed immediately. He forced me to do it.”

“You agreed?”

“I agreed.” Zhao Le said candidly, “Because compared to the crime, I hated Wang Liang more… When I watched my sister being taken into the operating room, seeing the red light go on, I realized I truly had the desire to kill Wang Liang. But I was always restraining myself. Yet I didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly.”

“Tell us about your plan.”

Zhao Le nodded, “Through my conversations with ‘Mr. Blank,’ I found out a lot. ‘Mr. Blank’ checked Wang Liang’s phone before me and discovered something very important, namely that before Wang Liang returned, he had already personally killed Wu Rong. After killing Wu Rong, Wang Liang hid her corpse, while faking her continued existence… So we designed a plan, that was to carry out Wang Liang’s original plan!”

There was an exchange of looks among the people.

“In ‘Mr. Blank’s’ plan, I was responsible for buying a freezer while he handled the corpse… I hid the freezer at Wang Liang’s home, waiting for the delivery person to leave before moving it inside. Though he handled the corpse, it was me who put it in the freezer. Then I cleaned Wang Liang’s rental apartment once, later ‘Mr. Blank’ returned alone and cleaned it again.”

“Next, ‘Mr. Blank’ went to City X and found Wu Rong’s rental apartment, also handling the scene there. Then, according to Wang Liang’s original plan, he began faking Wu Rong’s continued existence. Only he didn’t just fake Wu Rong’s presence, but also Wang Liang’s continued existence.”

“I never left this city, so it’s impossible for me to be the one faking these existences… Even if the police finally trace it back to me, the evidence would still be insufficient. And indeed… I participated in this matter, forming a mutual relationship with him; betraying him is akin to betraying myself. Ultimately… I truly hated Wang Liang.”

The interrogation room was extraordinarily quiet, everyone listening to Zhao Le’s words, feeling a sense of disbelief… But after years of handling cases, strange and bizarre ones aren’t unheard of. So after the initial shock, everyone tried finding a flaw in Zhao Le’s account.

“You should know, if it weren’t for the power outage, the corpse might not have been exposed then.” Zhou Yusheng asked sternly, “You… You had plenty of time, why didn’t you truly destroy all evidence, instead of leaving Wang Liang and Wu Rong’s corpses behind?”

Zhao Le adjusted his glasses and replied, “I couldn’t handle Wu Rong’s corpse because I couldn’t leave this city, but ‘Mr. Blank’ never truly intended to utterly destroy Wu Rong’s corpse because he needed it to exist so that once it’s exposed, it would be the only link leading the police to investigate — even if you can trace it back, ultimately, it only points to Wang Liang. However, Wang Liang is already dead; only by finding more evidence can you confirm the murderer. No, even confirming it would be very challenging; it all could only be considered as conjecture.”

“Meanwhile, ‘Mr. Blank’ knew I wouldn’t dare return to the crime scene for further actions on Wang Liang’s corpse… I did consider secretly returning to remove parts of the freezer’d corpse to truly obliterate any trace. But I was genuinely scared, and couldn’t possibly remove all evidence in one go; that would only leave more traces. Thus, I could only go along with ‘Mr. Blank’s’ method, assisting him in this so-called perfect crime.”

Without restraining himself, Zhou Yusheng sneered, “Perfect crime… What a joke, you still left behind Wu Rong and Wang Liang’s corpses!”

Breathing deeply, Zhao Le said, “That, was left intentionally by ‘Mr. Blank’ for you”

“Left intentionally for us?” Zhou Yusheng was taken aback.

“Yes, because without leaving them, who would know they were already dead… If ‘Mr. Blank’ utterly destroyed the corpses and continued faking their existence, with time passing by and the matter eventually fading into obscurity, you… What could you still find?” Zhao Le replied, “Don’t you understand… This is his challenge to all of you.”

“You were still seen.” Zhou Yusheng sneered.

Sighing, Zhao Le closed his eyes and murmured, “Indeed… The Sky Net is vast and spare none.”