The Suspect

How did the killer manage to evade surveillance cameras while committing murder?

This remained the biggest mystery of the case, one that Han Fei still couldn't figure out.

He wasn't alone - none of the other officers could make sense of it either.

It was well known that there were surveillance cameras at the stairway entrances leading to the rooftop at all three crime scenes.

In those narrow stairwells, the cameras covered every angle without any blind spots. Anyone passing through would inevitably be captured on camera.

Without tampering with the surveillance system, there was only one way to avoid being recorded by cameras with no blind spots - invisibility!

But who the hell could become invisible? The Calabash Brothers?

Surely the killer couldn't be one of the Calabash Brothers!

Not only did Han Fei and his team refuse to believe in the existence of such mythical beings.

Even Xu Mo, who had already accepted the reality of having a system, didn't believe it!

How could Calabash Brothers possibly exist in this world?

Regarding how the killer evaded surveillance, Xu Mo had no leads at the moment.

However, he raised a fourth question.

Xu Mo looked at Han Fei and pointed to the whiteboard.

"There's a fourth question: how did the killer manage to commit multiple murders in such a short time frame? I examined the bodies - the time of death between the first and second victims was no more than an hour and a half apart."

Xu Mo had carefully examined all three victims' bodies and knew their approximate times of death.

The deaths of the first and second victims occurred very close together, separated by no more than an hour and a half.

But the distance between the two crime scenes was considerable.

Even two hours would barely be enough time to travel from one crime scene to the other.

Not to mention, there was severe traffic congestion on one section of the route between them.

Adding the traffic factor, it would take at least two and a half hours to get from one crime scene to the other.

Time-wise, it seemed impossible for a single killer to commit two murders in succession.

Han Fei nodded after hearing this. After brief consideration, he agreed it was a valid point and added another line below the three questions already written on the whiteboard.

4: How did the killer manage to commit multiple murders in such a short time?

This question seemed much easier to explain.

In fact, as soon as Han Fei finished writing this question on the whiteboard, he immediately wrote down the answer.

"Even without traffic, it takes at least two hours to drive between the crime scenes, and with traffic, it's closer to two and a half hours. Looking at it this way, if there was only one killer, they couldn't possibly have killed two people within an hour and a half. Therefore... there must be multiple killers. Considering that all three victims were killed in exactly the same way, I suspect this was the work of an organized group, with the killers being part of the same team."

But after resolving this question, the officers found themselves staring blankly at the third question again.

How did the killer manage to evade surveillance cameras that had no blind spots?

After an hour of discussion and speculation, they still couldn't find an answer to this question.

To avoid wasting more time, they temporarily set this question aside.

They continued searching for clues about the killer.

Through their discussion, they had reached several theories and conclusions:

First, the killer's motive might be hatred of the wealthy, since good financial status was the only common factor among all three victims.

Second, there was more than one killer - this was the work of an organized group.

The officers renewed their investigation based on these two points.

In their earlier investigation of the first two "suicides," they had been working under a misconception, subconsciously assuming there was only one killer.

So when searching for the killer, they had been looking for someone who held grudges against both the first and second victims.

They discovered that the social circles of the two victims had no overlap whatsoever.

There was simply no one who knew both victims and had grievances against both of them!

However, thanks to Xu Mo's question, the police realized their investigative bias.

They immediately changed their approach, no longer specifically looking for someone who knew all the victims and had grudges against them all.

After half an hour, the officers identified their first suspect.

They immediately headed to the University of Technology and brought him to the police station.

The first suspect they brought in was a freshman at the University of Technology named Gou Hao.

He was a classmate of the victim Lu Yu.

He became a suspect because police investigation revealed that he had been consistently bullied by Lu Yu at school.

It was entirely plausible that someone subjected to long-term bullying might snap one day and commit murder out of impulse - there were quite a few similar cases.

In the interrogation room.

Sitting in the interrogation chair, Gou Hao was visibly nervous. He kept his head down, avoiding looking around, and constantly fidgeted with the hem of his clothes.

Weak, timid, introverted, sensitive, and extremely insecure - these were Han Fei's first impressions of Gou Hao.

Typically, people with these characteristics are more likely to become targets of school bullying.

Because in the eyes of bullies, they're easy targets.

Moreover, Gou Hao had an unusual surname.

It was obvious that he must have endured countless nicknames because of his surname throughout his life... If he had a stronger personality, perhaps others wouldn't have dared to give him nicknames, let alone bully him.

But faced with someone like Gou Hao, others would only become more emboldened.

"You're Gou Hao, right? Did you know Lu Yu is dead?" Han Fei scrutinized him.

The latter glanced up at Han Fei briefly before lowering his head again: "Yes, I know. The news has spread among the students."

"I heard there was conflict between you and him," Han Fei probed.

Hearing this, Gou Hao seemed to recall something, showing an expression of fear, mixed with a hint of hatred so subtle it was almost imperceptible.

Looking down with a gloomy expression, he said: "There was no conflict. He just kept bullying me and giving me nasty nicknames."

While ordinary people might miss such subtle expressions, Han Fei and Xu Mo were far from ordinary.

Han Fei was a veteran criminal investigator, and Xu Mo was well-versed in psychology.

Noticing the hatred in Gou Hao's expression when mentioning Lu Yu, Han Fei and Xu Mo exchanged glances.

Harboring deep-seated hatred but keeping it well-hidden... when such deeply buried hatred finally erupts, murder becomes a natural consequence.

"When he gave you those nicknames and bullied you, didn't you ever think about getting revenge?" Han Fei asked Gou Hao.

"Of course I did," Gou Hao admitted frankly, "but I didn't dare."

Hearing this response, Han Fei frowned unexpectedly. Gou Hao's answer was completely unexpected.

Why would he admit to it?

Shouldn't he deny everything at this point?

Otherwise, wouldn't he be essentially confirming his motive for murder? Wouldn't that make him seem even more suspicious?