Hu Jia examined everyone's statements, trying to find any clues related to the three women. Gradually, he noticed a peculiar detail: over eighty percent of people reported turning back to the camp after hearing about a wild man in the forest.
That there was a wild man in the forest was an established fact, but there was only one. Yet, very few people in such a vast forest had actually seen the wild man.
How had the news spread so quickly?
Unless someone was deliberately spreading it.
With this thought, Hu Jia immediately plotted all relevant information onto a grid map.
He finally discovered a strange phenomenon: the first person to hear about the wild man was Cao Yang, before noon. A female recruit from a new recruit squad told him when she passed by, at grid point 3.3. He then met Lu Qingqing and others and told them in a joking manner.
For the next two hours, no one heard any news of the wild man.
Then, from around 2:30 PM, reports of the wild man began to trickle in.
The first to hear the news were at grid points 5.1, 6.1, and 5.2.
Before 3:00 PM, grid points 4.3, 4.2, and 4.1 also received the news.
Subsequently, it spread horizontally across the 3.x grid points...
From this timeline, the information about the wild man originated from grid point 5.1, which was the crime scene.
However, it was worth investigating that people at horizontal grid points 5 and 4 all claimed they heard the news from a female police officer.
This was indeed strange. Normally, if someone at grid point 5.1 saw a wild man and was attacked, they would return to the camp in a straight line.
The normal route sequence should be 5.1, 4.1, 3.1...
Instead of the current 5.1, 6.2, 5.2, 4.3...
This sequence suggested she was deliberately curving her route, with the aim of clearing out everyone in this area.
What was her motive for doing this?
It was to prevent everyone from discovering the body, wasn't it?
Therefore, the woman who spread the news was likely the killer.
With this realization, Hu Jia immediately found Cao Yang, as he still had a doubt to confirm.
Afterward, he rushed to the pond where Yang Luo had died, re-examined the scene marks, and then conducted another examination of Yang Luo's body.
Finally, Hu Jia lit a cigarette with a flourish. The case was solved!
...
Lu Qingqing slept until noon. As soon as she stepped out of the tent, she saw Hu Jia leisurely gnawing on a steamed bun.
Was that cold thing so delicious?
"Qingqing, come here!" Zhan Ruoxuan and the others waved enthusiastically.
"Hungry? We saved a steamed twisted roll especially for you." Zhan Ruoxuan produced two cold twisted rolls. Lu Qingqing took them. This kid was alright; twisted rolls at least had some flavor, better than plain buns.
Just as she was about to take a bite, a browned steamed bun was offered to her.
It was Hu Jia. "Eat this, it's hot."
"Wow..." The crowd, always eager for drama, started cheering.
Lu Qingqing took the roasted bun. "Why does it taste salty? And there's chili sauce!"
Admittedly, a warm steamed bun tasted much better.
"I brought it," Hu Jia said, also pulling out some pickled mustard. "I was afraid you wouldn't like the cold bun."
"Wow..." More teasing ensued.
Zhan Ruoxuan quietly put away his twisted rolls. Indeed, he was too young.
"Captain Hu, this isn't good. The training regulations forbid bringing in personal items," Zhou Fengjiu said with a smile. "Unless you share some of that pickled mustard with us, I'll report you."
Hu Jia glanced at Zhou Fengjiu, then shouted at someone, "Hey, you! Someone here is making a formal accusation. Take her down and question her thoroughly for about seventy to eighty minutes."
Hahaha...
Seeing the instructor's assistant running over, Zhou Fengjiu obediently withdrew her hand. She couldn't afford to offend them.
Lu Qingqing glanced at Hu Jia, then grabbed the pickled mustard from his hand. "Here, come and eat, everyone gets a share."
The crowd scrambled, having had enough of this arduous and hunger-inducing training.
After eating their fill, everyone's spirits were restored.
"Do you have any leads on the killer?" Lu Qingqing asked.
"Yes!" Hu Jia replied nonchalantly.
"Really? Then we can go back tonight." Lu Qingqing was delighted.
"Maybe we can go back this afternoon!" Hu Jia smiled mysteriously. "Alright, let's prepare to catch the killer!"
One moment they were chatting casually, the next they were shouting about catching the killer, leaving everyone almost choking on their dry, coarse buns.
Meanwhile, Li Hongjiang and others had also gathered in the center of the camp at some point.
"Many unexpected things have happened during this outing. You all encountered wild men and then a murder. As the training institute, we feel deeply regretful. We failed to fulfill our responsibilities and did not implement adequate protective measures. However, through this incident, our students have fully demonstrated their fearless spirit of mutual assistance and bravery in the face of adversity, which deserves applause!"
Li Hongjiang delivered a long speech from the platform, leaving the audience bewildered.
Except for him and Tonghua's solitary applause, everyone else stared at him as if he were an idiot. Was this the time for such speeches?
Li Hongjiang coughed twice and instinctively took two steps back.
Heh heh.
Awkward!
Seeing Li Hongjiang retreat dejectedly, Hu Jia decided against such elaborate formalities and got straight to the point.
"Let's talk about the wild man. Please raise your hand if you terminated the second stage of the competition early because of the wild man."
Swish, almost everyone!
"Put your hand down if you only heard about it but didn't see it!"
Swish, almost everyone again!
After these two sentences, only 17 people remained on the field!
Lu Qingqing looked around. Besides her group, only those rescued from the cave remained. Oh, wait, there were two more: Wang Xue and Yu Xiaohui.
She vaguely felt she was guessing something.
Indeed.
Hu Jia directly signaled Wang Xue and Yu Xiaohui to come forward. "Tell us when and at which grid point you two encountered the wild man, and what you did afterward. Tell us everything."
"After our group entered the mountain, we split up. Wang Xue and I were together. Around 11:30 AM, we encountered a wild man at grid point 4.4. We were then scattered by the wild man, and at grid point 3.3, we were almost ambushed by a senior student, but we escaped."
"Seeing a senior student hiding and camouflaged in the woods, I began to suspect that the wild man might also have been a senior student in disguise. So, I returned to the forest. On my way through grid point 3.4, I met Yang Luo. He tried to snatch my armband but failed."
"After that, I stayed in the forest. I met several other people along the way. Later, the news about the wild man spread widely, and only then did I realize there really was a wild man. That's when I withdrew from the forest."
Tan Zi'an spoke first, clearly and logically. She not only laid out her timeline but also explained why she hadn't relayed the wild man's information back to the camp.
Also, she encountered Cao Yang at 11:30 AM at grid point 3.3, but returned to grid point 3.4 at 1:30 PM, which was not logical. But with her explanation, everything became clear.
Hu Jia made no comment and turned to Wang Xue. "Your turn."
Wang Xue was also calm, even composed. She said that after parting ways with Tan Zi'an, she ran around randomly, eventually hiding and escaping until she returned to the camp with some senior students to report the news.
Hu Jia watched Wang Xue with a smile, his gaze making Wang Xue wonder if she had become a little more well-behaved today.
It wasn't until Wang Xue finished speaking for half a minute that Hu Jia retracted his gaze.
"It seems this man not only looks like a flower but is even more flirtatious in his heart," Zhou Fengjiu pouted. "Qingqing, look at that gaze. He's practically glued to Wang Xue. You should get rid of a man like this sooner rather than later."
"Exactly! Not only is his gaze lewd, but his taste is also bad. Wang Xue is only a little fairer than you, and in all other aspects, she can't compare to you!" Cai Xiaojuan chimed in.
Lu Qingqing covered her face. Two idiots!