“Strange?”
Wan Yunting turned to look at her and said, “After I went to prison and then got out, I hadn’t seen him for over seven years. He has changed a lot now, but I still don’t quite believe he’s the killer.”
“Tch.”
Niu Qiuling knew he would say that. “Then you should go to his house and see for yourself. You’ll find him strange.”
“Why do you say that?”
Wan Yunting looked at Niu Qiuling, Zhou Dong, and Wu Lei with great curiosity.
After all, he had never suspected that Guan Hongyu would be involved in this case!
Yes, after seeing Guan Hongyu again after so many years, Wan Yunting did sense a trace of strangeness about him. However, he still found it hard to believe that Guan Hongyu was connected to these cases.
“Last night, we kept watch downstairs in his residential complex, and then we inexplicably fainted. We only woke up this morning when the sanitation worker found us,” Wu Lei said.
As of now, he, Niu Qiuling, and Huang Yongxin still couldn’t figure out why they had suddenly fainted last night, nor could they recall anything.
“Fainted suddenly?”
Wan Yunting looked at the three of them and said, “Let me feel your pulses.”
“Give…”
As Niu Qiuling reached out, Wan Yunting took her wrist and felt her pulse. After a moment, he said, “Your body is normal.”
“My…”
Wu Lei also extended his arm. Wan Yunting felt his pulse as well as Huang Yongxin’s, saying, “Your bodies are all normal, nothing special.”
“It must be Guan Hongyu’s doing!”
Niu Qiuling’s almond-shaped eyes widened, and she adamantly asserted it was Guan Hongyu.
Wan Yunting glanced at her sideways, but Zhou Dong said, “Yunting, find an opportunity to visit Guan Hongyu’s house. His place is indeed a bit strange!”
“Strange?”
Wan Yunting was puzzled.
So, Zhou Dong recounted his previous visit to Guan Hongyu’s house in detail, making Wan Yunting listen with increasing bewilderment.
After all, Guan Hongyu had returned to Huadu City a while ago, and Wan Yunting hadn’t visited his home yet. Now that Zhou Dong said his place was a bit odd, Wan Yunting became very curious. “Alright, I’ll go see him later.”
Zhou Dong said, “Regardless of whether this case or the cases of Zhao Fuyang and Fei Xiang are related to him, but for Tian Guofu’s case, he is currently our only suspect!”
Wan Yunting nodded. He hadn’t expected Guan Hongyu’s parents to have had a connection with Tian Guofu. If that was the case, then Zhou Dong and the others’ suspicion of Guan Hongyu was understandable.
“This case is becoming more and more baffling!”
Zhou Dong turned to look at the two bodies on the ground. Qin Bo had already arranged for the bodies to be bagged and prepared for transport for further autopsy and investigation.
“If Tian Guofu’s case is truly related to Guan Hongyu, then he is also related to this case,” Niu Qiuling said.
This made Wan Yunting frown even more, his expression turning grave.
It made him recall how Fang Yanxi had mentioned Guan Hongyu’s strange behavior more than once before.
Could it be that he really had a problem?
“Has the scene investigation been completed?”
Zhou Dong asked the forensic investigators at the scene, “Are there any suspicious clues?”
“Captain Zhou, two different footprints were found at the scene!”
At this moment, in the grass by the lake, on a patch of bare soil, two footprints with different sole patterns were discovered.
Zhou Dong, Wan Yunting, Niu Qiuling, and Wu Lei all crowded around. The forensic investigator pointed to one footprint, which was deeper and longer than the other, and said, “Based on this footprint, it’s an adult male’s footprint, weighing around 150 pounds. The shoes worn are similar to our military shoe soles, meaning the current fashionable work-style mid-calf boots.”
“Work-style, isn’t that Guan Hongyu’s biker style?” Niu Qiuling exclaimed.
“It must be him!”
Wu Lei and Huang Yongxin nodded in agreement.
Wan Yunting, squatting nearby, frowned and pointed to the other footprint, asking, “What about this one?”
The forensic investigator analyzed, “This is a woman’s footprint, weighing about 100 pounds. The sole pattern is a bit peculiar, not like the common women’s shoe sole patterns on the market. Instead, it resembles the patterns of old-fashioned long boots.”
“Be more specific,” Zhou Dong said.
As he spoke, the forensic investigator took out his phone and found several pictures. “Similar to the ethnic felt shoes worn by Tibetan women, and the sole patterns are basically similar!”
Zhou Dong held the pictures from the phone and carefully compared them with the sole pattern of the footprint on the ground. They were indeed very similar.
“Didn’t Guan Hongyu come back from Tibet?” Niu Qiuling said, glaring.
But Wan Yunting said, “However, we haven’t heard that he brought back a Tibetan woman.”
“What if he didn’t tell you?” Niu Qiuling snorted.
Now Wan Yunting frowned. After the analysis of these two footprints, the arrow seemed to be pointing more and more towards Guan Hongyu, leaving him unable to refute it.
“Captain Zhou, I suggest applying for a search warrant to search Guan Hongyu’s house. Perhaps someone is hiding there!” Niu Qiuling said.
Wu Lei and Huang Yongxin agreed. However, Zhou Dong looked at the frowning, grave expression of Wan Yunting beside him and said, “Let’s leave it like this for now. We’ll go and question the supervisor who worked at Guan Hongyu’s parents’ factory back then. Yunting, you go to Guan Hongyu’s house first and see if there’s anything suspicious there on our behalf!”
“Captain Zhou, we…”
Niu Qiuling wanted to say something, but Zhou Dong stopped her. “We currently have no conclusive evidence pointing to Guan Hongyu’s involvement in Tian Guofu’s case. And right now, we cannot conclude that it is Guan Hongyu based solely on these two footprints. So, let Yunting investigate first. It’s more appropriate than us directly searching their house!”
“Captain Zhou is right.”
Wu Lei and Huang Yongxin nodded in agreement. Niu Qiuling could only nod upon hearing this and then said to Wan Yunting, “Hey, don’t think Guan Hongyu is your classmate and help him out.”
This comment made Wan Yunting get up, giving her a speechless glance, but his mood was a bit heavy at the moment.
“You guys continue the investigation and see if there are any other clues.”
Zhou Dong instructed the forensic investigators and then, along with Wan Yunting and Niu Qiuling, they returned to the small path. The two bodies had already been carried out.
“Yunting, all the clues are pointing to Guan Hongyu now, so I hope you can go and see for us.” As they walked out of the park, Zhou Dong said seriously to Wan Yunting beside him.
“I understand.”
Wan Yunting’s expression was grave as he nodded and said, “If it really is Guan Hongyu, I will help you apprehend him according to the law.”
Zhou Dong nodded and smiled, “Don’t be so pessimistic, perhaps he’s not involved.”
Wan Yunting nodded and said, “Then Captain Zhou, I’ll head back first and go directly to Guan Hongyu’s house to have a look.”
Zhou Dong nodded, then said, “Alright, you take Qiuling with you. We’ll split up. If there’s anything, report to us promptly.”
Wan Yunting turned to look at Niu Qiuling who was following beside him. She gave the man a sly glance with her almond-shaped eyes, certainly not objecting.
“Okay.”
Wan Yunting nodded, understanding that Zhou Dong didn’t fully trust him!
So, he took Niu Qiuling and walked out of the park. Zhou Dong stayed at the scene to make arrangements, and then, along with Wu Lei and Huang Yongxin, they went directly to find the supervisor who had worked at Guan Hongyu’s parents’ factory back then to inquire about the situation.
They needed to find out what kind of conflict existed between Tian Guofu and Guan Hongyu’s parents back then, which led everyone to suspect that Tian Guofu had set the factory on fire, causing the deaths of Guan Hongyu’s parents…