Chapter 18 Zheng Chengha

"Zheng Chengha."

Donghai City Public Security Bureau, Criminal Investigation Section One office.

Officer Liu placed a stack of documents in front of Lin Xian and sat down across from him:

"The name of that taxi driver."

"I know."

Lin Xian replied calmly, not even opening the documents in front of him.

"You know him?"

Officer Liu was somewhat surprised.

"I've seen him a few times at the hospital."

Lin Xian paused and continued, "Actually, it's not just a fleeting acquaintance. We're somewhat familiar. I even celebrated his sister's birthday and gave her a gift."

"I see, no wonder."

Officer Liu suddenly understood:

"No wonder the taxi braked and swerved so violently at the end. It turns out he recognized you..."

Officer Liu clicked his tongue, unscrewed his thermos, took a sip of tea, and pursed his lips to get rid of the soggy wolfberries:

"This Zheng Chengha is also a pitiful person... I just had colleagues from a neighboring province retrieve some files. About a dozen years ago... around 2010, in Zheng Chengha's village, his parents were beaten to death by the village bully because of a land dispute... His mother died in front of his eyes. In that era, in that kind of backward village, there was nothing that could be done."

"Zheng Chengha was very young when his parents died, only a teenager, barely an adult. His sister was even younger, just a baby. The two of them suffered all kinds of bullying in the village. To be honest, that village bully was too much, not even letting the two children go, often setting dogs on them. Later, Zheng Chengha was bitten by a dog while protecting his sister. The injury was very serious, and he almost died from the infection, but fortunately, he survived."

"After that, the siblings left the village and came to Donghai. It wasn't until a few years ago that those village bullies finally got their just deserts and all died."

"Died?"

Lin Xian looked up:

"How did they die? Did Zheng Chengha kill them?"

He seemed to remember seeing similar news... a son avenging his murdered mother after many years, or something like that.

"No, no, no, it's not what you think."

Officer Liu waved his hands hastily:

"Zheng Chengha is a law-abiding citizen, with no prior convictions or any illegal records. He's dedicated to his work, honest and reliable... At the time, it wasn't clear what drove it, but in any case, the murder case from more than ten years ago was reopened."

"After the case was reopened, the false confession from back then was revealed, and the people involved in the murder were retried. Basically, all the men in the village bully's family who were involved were sentenced to death."

Hearing this, Lin Xian was a little surprised.

It seemed...

Something was wrong.

First of all, Zheng Chengha certainly didn't have the ability to have a case that had been closed more than ten years ago reopened. There must be a very powerful, influential person pushing things behind the scenes.

Secondly, all the men in the village bully's family were sentenced to death... it was a case from more than ten years ago. Lin Xian didn't quite understand it. It wasn't that he sympathized with these beasts, but he felt that from a legal point of view, it shouldn't have been judged so harshly.

Therefore, it was still that feeling...

Someone must be pushing this behind the scenes.

So, thinking comprehensively, it was self-evident that the person who best fit the characteristics of this series of events was—

Ji Xinshui, a person of high position and power.

"Officer Liu."

Lin Xian voiced his inner question:

"I have a question I'd like to ask. It's not that I think the village bully and those thugs didn't deserve the death penalty. I'm just asking from a legal and judicial point of view... Based on your experience, if a heinous crime like this from more than ten years ago is retried now, would all the men involved really be sentenced to death according to the standards of the law?"

"That's hard to say, Lin Xian."

Officer Liu took a sip of tea, clicking his tongue:

"We can only see the final judgment. We can't figure out exactly how the case was judged back then without looking at the detailed records now. Although, in theory, it shouldn't be all death penalties, but... it's hard to say. What if the village bullies had other criminal acts over the years?"

"With multiple crimes being punished together, it's not impossible to be sentenced to death. You also know that the country has been cracking down on organized crime in recent years. I don't think this is a strange thing. For people who are used to doing bad things, would they be honest and well-behaved during these ten years? It's probably impossible."

...

Listening to Officer Liu's explanation, Lin Xian closed his eyes and thought, not saying anything more.

Presumption of innocence.

This was the biggest problem he was facing now.

Under the Dragon Kingdom's law, if it is insufficient to prove the defendant guilty, and it cannot be proved that the defendant is innocent, he should be presumed innocent.

This was such a situation.

He knew clearly that the murderers were Ji Lin, Ji Xinshui, and Zhou Duan Yun, the masterminds behind the scenes.

However, there was not enough evidence to prove them guilty.

Including this Zheng Chengha incident.

He knew very well that Ji Xinshui helped Zheng Chengha behind the scenes, and that Ji Xinshui probably paid for Zheng Xiangyue's medical expenses, so there must be a relationship of exploitation between these two people. Zheng Chengha was obviously a death warrior raised by Ji Xinshui.

This was something Lin Xian knew very well.

However, there was not enough evidence.

So, there was no way to convict and no way to judge.

"Lin Xian, we're in trouble."

At this moment, Chu Shanhe walked in from outside the door. He greeted Officer Liu after seeing him. It was clear that they were very close and familiar with each other.

Then, Chu Shanhe looked at Lin Xian:

"It's been 10 hours since we forcibly arrested Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui last night. But the problem is... neither of them is saying anything. They not only don't admit to any crimes, but they don't even cooperate with our questioning."

"This is difficult to handle. Just like I told you before, if we don't have enough evidence to prove that they are related to the murder case, we can only detain them for 24 hours at most, and then we have to let them go."

"Plus... Ji Xinshui has a very strong background and powerful influence. Now, a lot of pressure is being put on the Donghai police. I'm afraid that in the next 14 hours, if we can't find evidence, or if they still don't admit to their crimes, we'll have to let them go."

Lin Xian nodded after hearing this.

This was what he was worried about just now...

Actually.

In the performance at 00:42, ten hours ago, there were still many plot points that didn't go according to Lin Xian's plan.

He painstakingly placed the bomb under the manhole cover in order to save himself at the final critical moment, and then use that to prove the taxi driver's "intent to commit intentional murder."

However, this was where the problem arose.

Probably Ji Lin's shout made Zheng Chengha recognize him, so he immediately braked and made a sharp turn... leaving very obvious black tire marks on the ground.

In legal terms, braking and avoidance traces are crucial evidence for determining whether a traffic accident was intentional or unintentional.

And now, because of Zheng Chengha's temporary emergency braking and steering, it was impossible to determine that he intentionally murdered him... because the tire marks showed that he intentionally avoided him at the end. Moreover, the person was now dead, so there was no way to verify.

This was the first problem.

There was also a second one.

The second one... was that Ji Lin did something that Lin Xian didn't expect.

He never expected that Ji Lin would temporarily withdraw his hand when he was about to push him into the road to die.

This unexpected situation caused all of Lin Xian's plans to almost fail.

If Ji Lin hadn't withdrawn his hand, and directly pushed him onto the road, then he would not be able to clear himself of the act of intentional murder no matter what.

But the problem was that Ji Lin withdrew his hand and didn't push him out.

So, based on the existing evidence, Ji Lin was also innocent, not guilty.

Even if he questioned his motives and behavior, under the presumption of innocence, the law could not punish him.

Could it be that...

After finally catching Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui, he was going to let them go without anything to show for it?

Lin Xian was unwilling to see this happen no matter what.

Once he let them go, his safety would be in danger sooner or later.

Like those who have suffered once, they would not be so stupid to suffer a second time.

Especially now that their secrets have been completely seen through, it was either you die or I die between the two sides; as long as he dared to let them out, it was very likely that before tomorrow came, his own doom would arrive and he would die tragically somewhere in Donghai.

Since they had reached the point of desperation, Ji Xinshui would probably give up the method of killing people by crashing into them with a car at 00:42, and instead use other methods to quickly resolve him.

Therefore...

He must not let them out.

Not only that...

It would be best to make them disappear forever, leaving no future problems.

So...

What should he do?

How could he get them sentenced to death?

Lin Xian picked up the pen on the table and started to spin it quickly between his fingers.

Without a doubt.

What Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui actually did was already enough for a death sentence several times over.

Killing Xu Yun, killing Tang Xin, killing the academician Lyon... especially Xu Yun and academician Lyon, they were world-renowned great scientists, the nature of which was very bad. It would not be an exaggeration to be sentenced to death in any country.

But the problem was that there was no evidence now, and they didn't admit their guilt.

If they were willing to confess... then it would be much easier.

In the Dragon Kingdom's law, a confession alone cannot be used as direct evidence to convict someone.

However, there was a special situation—if the criminal himself admits to the crime, then his confession can be regarded as direct evidence, as part of the chain of evidence.

Therefore...

The most effective method right now was to get Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui to confess with their own mouths!

"Is there any good way?"

Lin Xian spun the pen in his fingertips faster and faster, thinking quickly in his mind, various clues emerged, scattered, gathered, and overlapped—

On a rainy night, Huang Que crossed his legs on the sofa:

"This invitation is fake."

In the van, Big Face Cat was biting his cigarette butt:

"I have no other way. I can only try... it's the only way I might get an invitation to the Genius Club."

Outside the villa, Ji Lin leaned against the door:

"Lin Xian, have you heard of... the Genius Club?"

Lin Xian frowned.

Almost...

Think again.

Think again!

Ji Lin said that there might be two groups of people killing at 00:42.

Group A, the Genius Club, and Group B, Ji Lin, Ji Xinshui and them.

And Group B was a clumsy imitation of Group A. In Ji Lin's words, they wanted to prove something to the Genius Club.

What did Ji Xinshui and the others want to prove?

Why did they want to prove these things?

What was their ultimate goal?

Ji Xinshui already belonged to that small group of people at the top of the world's pyramid... He was already at the peak above everyone else.

What else was he not satisfied with?

What else could he pursue?

Everything secular, everything real, was within Ji Xinshui's reach, and he could even easily override the law and rules.

Such a powerful person...

If there was something he desperately pursued, desperately wanted to obtain...

Then it was definitely not as simple as power, money, or status!

It should be more powerful, more mysterious, and more capable of controlling the fate of mankind!

*Whoosh!*

Lin Xian suddenly opened his eyes!

Maybe...

Whether it was Ji Lin or Ji Xinshui, their purpose was the same—

To join the Genius Club!

"Worth a gamble."

Lin Xian stopped spinning the pen and clenched his fingers.

At least...

Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui must know of the existence of the Genius Club.

And for this extremely mysterious organization, the information he knew might not be less than theirs.

Right now, there were only 14 hours left before the Public Security Bureau released them. If he didn't get them to admit to their crimes now, then it would really be all for naught.

So... he had to gamble!

"I'm going out."

Lin Xian stood up and walked towards the door, looking back at Officer Liu:

"Please continue to watch Ji Xinshui and Ji Lin. Don't let the two of them have any contact... Wait for me to come back."