The killer is a recruit?
How did Hu Jia know?
Not only Li Hongjiang was puzzled, but Lü Qingqing was also very confused.
"During our interviews, one person said they saw Yang Luo chasing a recruit and taking his armband," Hu Jia said. Since Yang Luo had already obtained the recruit's armband at 1:30, why didn't he return to camp and instead went towards the further position 4.2?
That could only mean one thing: he either returned the armband to the recruit or had other unfinished business.
However, the possibility of returning the armband was almost zero, so there was only one conclusion: he changed his plan to return to the camp.
He was going to meet Li Zhenmi.
But regardless of why he was meeting Li Zhenmi, that recruit's armband should still be with him, right? Yet, when Hu Jia was tidying up his belongings today, he didn't find any armband.
Fearing his search wasn't thorough enough, he had Zhan Ruoxuan look again just now, but still no armband.
Where did that armband go?
There was only one answer: it was taken by the recruit.
This also explained why someone pulled Yang Luo out of the water to the shore after he drowned, because that person was looking for something.
"Then gather all the recruits and let everyone identify them, see who it was that Yang Luo ripped the armband off," Tong Hua immediately ordered people to do it, even bypassing Li Hongjiang.
"Everyone? Including them?" Hu Jia glanced at Lü Qingqing.
"Uh. No, these are your people, Captain Hu. I trust them completely," Tong Hua immediately explained.
Lü Qingqing looked at Tong Hua, finding him very strange, though she couldn't pinpoint why.
While waiting for the recruits to assemble, Lü Qingqing shared her confusion with Hu Jia.
Hu Jia smiled, "It's fine, he probably just wants to go back."
In fact, Hu Jia had long noticed Tong Hua's abnormality. From the very beginning, when Hu Jia intended to pursue the killer, Tong Hua had strongly objected, and now Tong Hua was extremely cooperative.
This gave the impression that he wanted to return to the city as soon as possible.
This reminded Hu Jia of what the wild man had said: the drill was meant to capture him.
Could it be that Tong Hua was here to catch the wild man? He was worried Hu Jia would delay time with the investigation, so he obstructed his pursuit. But when things could no longer be stopped, he became proactive, eager to close the case and go home.
Why go home?
There was only one explanation: to make time to catch the wild man.
However, these were all just speculations, and Tong Hua hadn't told Lü Qingqing. He wanted to investigate himself first.
As they were talking, all the recruits had gathered.
"First, a question: yesterday afternoon, an old soldier saw someone from the recruit group being chased by Yang Luo. Who was it?" Hu Jia asked directly without delay.
But his question was clever. He asked who was chased, not who had their armband ripped off.
Because the person being chased might not be the killer, but the one who didn't admit it definitely was.
And the killer didn't know that Hu Jia and the others had found out about the armband. To clear his suspicion, he might step forward and say he was chased but escaped. After all, with witnesses present, being identified would only increase suspicion.
If you ask about the armband being ripped off, the killer wouldn't step forward because he had already picked up the armband.
As expected, as soon as Hu Jia finished speaking, three people stepped out of the ranks.
One was Yu Xiaohui.
One was Wang Xue.
And one was Tan Zi'an.
Looking at these three, not only did Tong Hua's face darken, but even Lü Qingqing, Zhou Fengjiu, and Zhan Ruoxuan found it hard to maintain their composure.
As mentioned before, there weren't many female police officers in the recruit class, only 7 in total.
But all three who stepped forward were girls.
Wang Xue needs no introduction. Yu Xiaohui, everyone still remembers, the girl who liked to stick with Huang Yuan.
And Tan Zi'an was even more familiar. Didn't Tong Hua appoint an assistant instructor before? She was the one chosen.
Damn Yang Luo.
Seeing the people who stepped forward, everyone immediately understood. This Yang Luo was no good, choosing only female police officers as his targets.
"What time and where did you encounter Yang Luo?" Hu Jia was possibly the most straightforward person on the scene. He didn't care if you were male or female, focusing solely on the case.
"It was during lunch, at position 3.4."
"Also at position 3.4, around 1 o'clock."
"Is that person specifically staking out position 3.4? Because I also encountered him there."
All three women reported their location information, but this result made everyone even more frustrated.
It wasn't strange for senior soldiers to ambush recruits. Didn't Cao Yang hide in the grass back then?
But their encounters with Yang Luo were not long apart, making it difficult to identify who had their armband ripped off.
Infuriating!
"Can the witness recognize them?" Tong Hua was clearly anxious.
Lü Qingqing shook her head. They were all wearing the same uniforms, and they were strangers. The witness only glanced at them at the time and couldn't remember the man's appearance.
"Damn it. This is utterly useless," Tong Hua swore in anger. "Director Li, since the suspects are among these three, I suggest we can all withdraw. We can interrogate these three thoroughly back at the station, and something will surely come out."
"Instructor Tong, aren't you being too hasty? Now we can only say the case is making progress, but interrogation is not about forcing confessions through torture," Hu Jia became even more certain of Tong Hua's motives and naturally wanted to find a way to delay time.
He didn't know if that wild man had escaped. He hoped he had.
"But with so many people eating, drinking, and living here, and with a wild man roaming the mountains, and a murderer hidden among us, how can we proceed with the upcoming work if we don't quickly resolve the situation and take everyone back to eliminate everyone's panic and suspicion?" Tong Hua argued.
"We are all police officers. If we get scared and can't work just because we saw a dead person, how can we catch fugitives and solve bloody cases in the future?" It was Lü Qingqing who spoke. She spoke purely to support Hu Jia. Anything Hu Jia wanted to do that Tong Hua didn't, she would unconditionally stand by Hu Jia.
"A little girl with no rank or status, what right does she have to speak?" Tong Hua said unpleasantly.
"Who says she has no right to speak? In terms of age, she is indeed younger than you. But in terms of case-solving experience, she was playing with guns when you were folding paper airplanes. When she was dissecting corpses with a scalpel, you couldn't even distinguish between the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys," Hu Jia stepped forward dominantly, fiercely protecting his partner.
"Hu Jia, don't talk nonsense. We are the ones with decision-making authority discussing work matters here. Even if she has rich experience, blabbing randomly breaks the rules," Tong Hua said.
"What decision-making authority do you have? Can you order me to close the case or can you order the entire team to withdraw?" Hu Jia looked at Tong Hua with disdain and then at Li Hongjiang, "Director Li hasn't even spoken yet, and you're already making decisions for him."
Uh.
Beautiful! Lü Qingqing almost wanted to cheer for Hu Jia. He not only knew how to retort but also skillfully shifted the blame.
Indeed, when Li Hongjiang heard this, his expression also showed a hint of displeasure. "Alright, the two of you stop arguing. I will decide whether to withdraw or not."
After speaking, he looked at Hu Jia again and added, "Since you insist on finding the truth, I respect that. But the condition remains the same: we will withdraw by tonight at the latest."
...
As dawn gradually broke, everyone took turns to rest.
"After the case is solved, we still have to walk down the mountain. If you don't sleep well, what will you do when you can't walk? Unless you want me to carry you down the mountain."
"Alright."
Hu Jia certainly couldn't sleep. Lü Qingqing had originally wanted to stay with him, but he had driven her back with his stern words.
Watching Lü Qingqing's receding back, Hu Jia's gaze turned to the names of the three suspects.
Who exactly was the killer?