I heard the hidden meaning in Captain Zhao’s words, it meant that he also suspected Hao Ren. The timing of Hao Ren’s disappearance and appearance was too suspicious. Even if he did go to work at Dong Xing City, Hao Ren should at least call home, but he had disappeared fully for 2 months. It was like he was purposely waiting for things to reach this state. His appearance had perfectly added fuel to the burning fire. A man’s family who was ruined because of a good deed, the story basically wrote itself.
At that moment, the internet touted Hao Ren as the Incarnation of Justice.
After hanging up, I sat in the car to think. I looked at Guan Zhenglin and Gu Chen before I said, “Hao Ren is about the same height and size as Zhang Bin.”
Gu Chen nodded. “Yes. Even though Hao Ren is already 40, he is more muscular than Zhang Bin. The callus on his arms is so thick that I don’t think fire can hurt him.”
“Is it possible that.” A thought that was already buried in my mind, “It was Hao Ren who burned down his house, rented the house in the countryside, raped Zhao Xiaoli, supplied the pictures for the press conference and rented the 50 cent army online?” I personally thought that was highly probable. “All our witnesses said the suspect’s left arm was injured and most of them, it was the suspect who offered that info to our suspect. Why would he do that unless he was not Zhang Bin?”
The two frowned. I continued, “Think about it, why would Zhang Bin be so dumb to tell everyone his left arm is injured. The only possibility is that the real culprit knew that the police would ask about the basic appearance of the suspect and the fact that his left arm was injured is something easily remembered. That way, we will have the preconception that the culprit is Zhang Bin.” I concluded confidently, “It would explain why Hao Ren has been missing for 2 months. He was busy masquerading as Zhang Bin.”
Gu Chen shook his head. He moved one hand away from the steering wheel to shake it. “They might have similar builds, but there is a 30 year difference between them.”
I was suddenly reminded of a detail that had been bothering me. I slapped my thigh. “The culprit has to be Hao Ren. He wore a mask and cap, showing all the witnesses only his eyes. Based on their eyes, it was hard to identify a person.” I asked, “Do you remember the house that was used to imprison Zhao Xiaoli?”
“I do.” Guan Zhenglin answered, “What about it?”
I nodded. “We’ve been to 3 places where supposedly Zhang Bin’s group has resided in. The first is the cheap container house, the second is the house used to imprison Zhang Xiaoli and the third is Shun Chang Daily Rental. One is different from the rest. What is it?”
The two thought for a while before Guan Zhenglin said, “The overall cleanliness!”
I snapped my finger. “Bingo. In the first and third place, the living situation was like a pigsty. As their leader, if Zhang Bin was a person who valued cleanliness, the others wouldn’t leave the rubbish inside the house. However, both the container house and the daily rental were veritable garbage dumps.” I thought about it and added, “But the second house is extremely clean. However, strangely enough, Zhang Bin’s fingerprint was curiously left behind. When we were at Zhang Bin’s living space, we had to find a clean spot to stand; but when we were at that house, we had to work so hard to find the dirt.”
“So that proves that Zhang Bin didn’t rent that house?” Gu Chen asked.
I nodded. Then I extended my second finger. “But that is only the first point. The second reason the house is so clean is because Zhao Xiaoli was living there. I remember when Guan Zhenglin conducted the rape check on Zhao Xiaoli, she didn’t find anything. Now I believe Zhao Xiaoli wasn’t raped or imprisoned, that was her home.”
Guan Zhenglin was incredulous. “But why would she do that? If Zhao Xiaoli was not raped, why would she lie to the police? This is not something to be proud of. So many girls didn’t dare to say that they were raped because it would ruin their name. But you’re telling me Zhao Xiaoli admitted to being raped even though she wasn’t?”
I was silent as the chain of evidence linked up in my mind. Eventually I vocalized my thoughts on the case. “I think I’ve already found the truth. Now we only need to verify it to know if Zhang Bin is really the culprit or not.”
“Verify what?” Guan Zhenglin asked.
I answered, “The voice. Even though the appearance can be changed, Hao Ren and Zhang Bin’s voices cannot be more different. As long as we find the housing agent and the old man from the winter swim, we’ll know whether the speaker was Zhang Bin or Hao Ren.”
“Even if it was Hao Ren.” Gu Chen said worriedly, “We couldn’t confirm he is the killer. Even though they are his adopted children, he has raised them for 20 years, would Hao Ren really kill his own son? Plus he has no motive.”
I shook my head and told Gu Chen. “I didn’t say Hao Ren is the killer. Hao Ren said one thing correctly during the press conference. Physical torment is not the only way to destroy a person.”
Gu Chen shook his head. “You’re making less and less sense.”
“Come, let’s go to the housing agency.” I said. In the next few hours, we managed to find the housing agent and the senior from the winter swim team. When we played both Hao Ren and Zhang Bin’s voice before them, and asked them to identify the suspect, they both unanimously picked the voice that belonged to Hao Ren. In other words, the things that we assumed were done by Zhang Bin were actually Hao Ren’s doing. So Zhang Bin really didn’t do those things. If Zhang Bin was not lying, then what had Hao Ren done to make it look like he had?
Based on the timeline, the event transpired like this, Hao Ren sent Zhang Bin’s group to detention, Zhang Bin was released and caused Hao Ren to lose his job. Zhang Bin was injured by Wang An. Hao Ren dropped Wang An at Teacher Zhao’s, Du Zigui was made into a drug addict and he raped Fang Xiao Qi.
After that, Hao Ren started his own revenge.
Hao Ren burned down his own home because Zhang Bin had made that threat. Hao Ren and his daughter set up the whole kidnapping charade so that Zhao Xiaoli could be a material witness. And then Hao Ren and his son, Du Zigui came up with the murder video, to spread the ‘truth’ among the citizens of Elm Town. We had no idea whether the words Zhang Bin said during dinner was a joke or a reflection of his sick heart, I didn’t think we would ever know the truth.
I only knew that no matter whether Zhang Bin meant it or not, he wouldn’t be sentenced to a long jail sentence according to our law. This was because the onus of responsibility fell on Du Zigui, since he was an adult. It was undeniable that Du Zigui had raped his sister, Fang Xiao Qi for drugs and Fang Xiao Qi had killed herself for it.
From Hao Ren’s perspective, I could understand his feelings. His son and daughter were ruined. He must have wished to tear Zhang Bin into pieces. He didn’t choose the method employed by his son, Wang An but chose a different method to destroy Zhang Bin’s life. As a citizen, this was clearly a crime, but as a father, this was the best revenge he could give to his children.
At that moment, Mary called me. “I’ve found the person behind the posts and videos on the internet. I found the social account of the person who uploaded the internet, the account was bound to a phone number. After I checked it out, the number belonged to Du Zigui.”
“In other words, it was Du Zigui who was behind all these?” I asked.
Mary confirmed. “Yes, in another social account registered to this phone, I discovered the whole details of the plan. Du Zigui sent it to another person, teaching him what to do step by step. That person was labeled as Father in Du Zigui’s phone and the IP address of that person was in Dong Xing City.
“His online Id is called the Martial Artist.” Mary continued, “As I dug deeper, I confirmed that this Martial Artist is Hao Ren.”
All the questions had been answered and that solved the last problem that I had. Hao Ren was not technologically savvy. Even though he was a guard at an internet café, he wouldn’t know much about internet culture. He might know how to make a call or send a message, but to come up with a detailed step using the internet to direct the zeitgeist, that was beyond his capability.
I was reminded of the grooves found in the ice above Du Zigui’s body. They ensured that the body wouldn’t float away. If Gu Chen didn’t accidentally squeezed the stink out from the body, we wouldn’t have found the grooves and we might never know the truth.
“Come on.” I turned to Guan Zhenglin, “Have you recorded our conversations with the two witnesses?”
“I have,” She nodded.
“Let’s return to the station.” I said, “Inform the station chief, it’s time to call Hao Ren in for interrogation.”
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