Argument

"Since we have a suspect, what are we waiting for? Arrest him first and talk later!"

Director Zheng came out to draw attention to himself again. "A dangerous person like this is a ticking time bomb if left at large. Since we already have such obvious evidence, what are we waiting for?"

"Director Zheng is right~~"

"I support that too~~"

"Exactly~~~"

Quite a few of them voiced their support. To these figures who wielded enormous influence in Zhejiang Province, someone audacious enough to wipe out an entire family made them deeply uneasy. Most of them still weren’t as illustrious as Zheng Jianguo had been back then!

Those people had actually dared to wipe out the Zheng Family. Who knew if they would come after them next? It was true that an upright person had nothing to fear from shadows, but how many among them were truly spotless?

"Quiet! Quiet~~"

Director Han rarely lost his temper. He shouted at those fence-sitters below, then turned to Lin Qinghe and Wu Mengchen above. "Has your investigation uncovered conclusive evidence?"

"Not at all! That’s why we’re only making a report."

Wu Mengchen spoke up. Pushing up her glasses, she said firmly, "Everything Inspector Lin has presented is merely based on our deductions. Even we can’t guarantee that this deduction reflects the truth.

"All we can say is that it’s the most likely hypothesis after integrating the information currently available. Since it’s a hypothesis, naturally, there’s no conclusive evidence."

"No evidence~~"

Director Qi frowned when he heard that. Regarding this incident, they had already agreed on a unified statement for the outside world and planned to resolve it under the banner of international terrorism.

Internally, however, they still had to uncover the truth. Just as many people thought, they couldn’t keep letting such a dangerous person run free. At the very least, they had to confirm his identity first.

But Gu Sheng’s methods that day had left an extremely deep impression on him. As a result, he was unwilling to alert Gu Sheng without conclusive evidence.

That was right. He had never intended to alarm Gu Sheng. Even if they confirmed Gu Sheng’s identity, he wouldn’t choose to arrest him. He had even discussed it with Director Han and planned to suppress the matter temporarily.

The reason was simple. After careful discussion, they had determined that Gu Sheng was someone they could win over. As long as they confirmed that he was controllable under their surveillance, they could try making contact.

They had made this decision because of the current situation. Based on the information Wu Mengchen had compiled and sent to the Imperial Capital, China and the international community had all confirmed the April upheaval. Under these circumstances, the information Gu Sheng possessed was especially important.

But the strength Gu Sheng had displayed that day was truly terrifying. Without certainty, no one dared to casually decide to arrest him. Thus, an order had come from the Imperial Capital: "Focus on winning him over, and act at your discretion."

Their greatest problem now was to first determine Gu Sheng’s identity in the mundane world. The initial contact would be crucial, and they had to make thorough preparations beforehand. Therefore, Gu Sheng’s identity had to be confirmed—confirmed beyond any possibility of error.

Lin Qinghe’s chain of evidence looked complete, but in his eyes, it still contained uncertainties. Wu Mengchen had also said that it was merely a relatively reasonable deduction without concrete evidence. This left him deeply uneasy.

"So, are you saying you have other hypotheses~~"

After thinking for a while, Director Han asked. He and Director Qi were facing the same dilemma, and the pressure on him was even greater. After all, supernatural incidents generally fell under the jurisdiction of the Patrol Security Bureau.

"We do~~"

Wu Mengchen nodded. "But the chains of reasoning behind the other hypotheses contain too many uncertainties and aren’t as complete as this one. After all, some of the events involved were just a little too coincidental."

"But—but~~"

At that moment, a timid female voice came from behind Director Zhang. It sounded hesitant and uncertain at first, but soon steadied itself. It was Le Erya. "Sister Chen, Sister He, if I remember correctly—

"On the afternoon of the third, around the time Hans Hu died, Chu Xin was being questioned by you, Sister He, wasn’t she? When would she have had time to—"

"That’s right!"

Lin Qinghe nodded. "Chu Xin was being questioned by me the entire time, so she had a solid alibi. There were also recordings. After Daoist Yiyouzi examined them, he confirmed that she had shown no signs of casting spells at any point. She truly had nothing to do with it. In other words, she wasn’t the murderer.

"As for Liu Daimei, one of the three, according to the information provided by the Holiday Hotel, she didn’t leave the suite until ten in the morning on the third. At noon, she began arranging the evening banquet in the lobby and didn’t leave the hotel until three in the afternoon.

"According to the hotel’s surveillance footage, the total time she spent away during the preparations was less than half an hour. The Holiday Hotel was a long way from the City Police Department. Unless she could teleport, she had no way of killing Hans Hu.

"Therefore, our primary suspect is Gu Sheng. Of the three, he was the most likely to have come into contact with Tang Lie. Although he was inside the City Police Department at the time, he was relatively free to move around and was very close to the parking lot.

"If he truly was the cloaked clown that day, then with the abilities he displayed, killing Hans Hu would have taken less than five minutes. And the time he spent out of public view was far more than five minutes."

"Sister He, that’s no longer a deduction. You’re deliberately leading us to think in that direction. Why are you doing this? Little Brother Gu hasn’t offended you, has he?"

Le Erya clearly couldn’t accept it. She was currently in a honeymoon-like period of intimacy with Gu Sheng. In the ten-odd days since they had kissed goodbye, they had gone on three dates, and Gu Sheng had taken the opportunity to take advantage of her quite a bit each time. Her heart had already turned completely toward him.

"Xiao Ya, what do you mean by that? Are you accusing me of failing to consider things carefully?"

Lin Qinghe was displeased. Her young apprentice, whom she had personally raised, was publicly accusing her of leading others to suspect someone. If that were true, it would constitute a breach of regulations.

Le Erya said unhappily, "Although Little Brother Gu was at the City Police Department that day, he was only wandering around outside. When would he have had the chance to come into contact with that Hans Hu?

"The only time he was out of Sister Chen’s and my sight was when he went to the restroom. It was only about ten minutes. I remember it was around twelve-thirty. Hans Hu should still have been alive then, right?"

"I noticed that. Hans Hu was indeed still alive at the time, inside the service hall. But Gu Sheng spending more than ten minutes in the restroom was suspicious."

Lin Qinghe replied coolly, "Afterward, I learned that he said he was tired and wanted to rest. You personally took him to the lounge, where he stayed for more than two hours. He didn’t come out until after Hans Hu had died."