I Asked You To Simulate A Crime, And You Pulled Off The Perfect Crime? - Chapter 55

“Captain Wang, Haoran, how are you planning to start the investigation?”

“From the traces at the scene, there are no signs of a second person. Unless… the killer can fly?”

Inside the police car, Qin Min was the first to break the silence.

“We’ll soon find out who went under the bridge,” Captain Wang said, taking a sip of tea while reclining in the front passenger seat. “Liang Wei died at the East Street Overpass, and the bridge has surveillance cameras. So all we need to do is check the footage from early this morning, and we’ll see the killer’s face.”

Su Haoran nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how the killer erased the traces at the scene, but he definitely couldn’t erase the surveillance footage.”

“What if the killer was wearing a mask?” Qin Min asked.

Su Haoran rolled his eyes. “Qin, the surveillance system in East Street is very advanced. Even if the killer wore a mask, as long as we find his trail, we can track him down. This won’t be like last time in the West Suburb, where we had no cameras and ran into trouble.”

Soon, they arrived at the traffic control bureau.

Inside the surveillance room, Su Haoran pulled up the footage from East Street Overpass and set the time to after 1 AM. The screen showed cars constantly passing by, making it hard to spot anything. But instead of slowing down the footage, Su Haoran sped it up. This was his specialty.

“Oh, here we go, Zeng Zhiwei is about to appear on camera. He’s short and chubby, even with a mask, you can recognize him.”

“In the end, he couldn’t escape. With cameras in place, he had nowhere to hide.”

“East Street isn’t like the West Suburb. Last time, Chen Shu took advantage of the lack of surveillance there to pull off his deception. But this time, Zeng Zhiwei doesn’t have that luxury.”

The footage continued playing.

At 2:20 AM.

“The killer hasn’t shown up at the bridgehead?” Captain Wang frowned.

The only way to get into the underpass and kill Liang Wei was by climbing down from the bridgehead. But right now, the killer still hasn’t arrived!

Qin Min said, “Captain Wang, don’t rush. Based on our estimated time of death, Liang Wei was killed after 3 AM. So the killer should have entered the underpass around 2:50 AM.”

Captain Wang nodded. “Haoran, speed it up.”

“Got it.”

Su Haoran increased the playback speed again. Suddenly! At exactly 2:50 AM.

“Huh?”

The three of them stared at the screen in shock. No one entered the underpass! Instead, Liang Wei crawled out from it and stood at the bridgehead.

“What is he doing?”

“Look, he hailed a taxi and left the East Street Overpass. Where is he going?” Qin Min was completely puzzled.

“Haoran, pull up citywide surveillance and track the taxi. Let’s see where Liang Wei went,” Captain Wang ordered.

Su Haoran quickly got to work. The screen split into dozens of smaller sections, showing all the surveillance footage from the entire city last night.

“Found it!”

“3 AM, Liang Wei took a taxi out of East Street.”

“3:30 AM, he got off at the entrance to the West Suburb.”

Su Haoran’s pupils widened as he hit pause.

The three of them spoke in unison: “West Suburb!”

“I knew it! There’s no way someone would kill Liang Wei for no reason. This confirms it, it’s related to Chen Shu and his sister,” Captain Wang said. “Besides, who else but Chen Shu could erase the traces at the scene and create the illusion that no second person was present?”

“Yeah, that guy is a master of fabricating alibis,” Qin Min agreed, but then hesitated. “Captain Wang, something doesn’t add up. Chen Shu and his sister had no motive to kill Liang Wei. Even if they feared retaliation, Liang Wei was already a fugitive and would be arrested soon. They had no reason to rush and kill him. That would only bring trouble upon themselves.”

Captain Wang nodded. It made sense. Chen Shu and his sister had no reason to kill Liang Wei.

“Haoran, keep watching.”

Su Haoran resumed the footage. In the video, Liang Wei never entered the West Suburb. He just paced back and forth at the entrance, as if he was hesitating.

“There are no cameras inside the West Suburb. Liang Wei didn’t dare go in, maybe he was afraid of being ambushed,” Captain Wang analyzed.

Qin Min thought for a moment and speculated, “That means his trip here must be related to Chen Shu and his sister. Otherwise, why would he be so cautious?”

“Captain Wang, Qin Min, look at this,” Su Haoran pointed at the screen. “He wandered around for a while, then found a suitcase near a garbage pile and took it with him.”

Captain Wang and Qin Min leaned in. Sure enough, in the footage, Liang Wei dragged a heavy suitcase out from the pile of trash. It looked like something was inside. Then he hailed another taxi and returned to the underpass of East Street Overpass.

“What was inside that suitcase? It was important enough for Liang Wei to risk exposure and go all the way to the West Suburb just to retrieve it,” Qin Min wondered.

Captain Wang and Su Haoran fell silent.

After a moment, they exchanged glances and said in unison, “Liu Liang’s corpse!”

“A corpse?” Qin Min was stunned. “Are you saying Chen Shu put the body in the suitcase and asked Liang Wei to pick it up? But that still doesn’t explain how Liang Wei was killed.”

“You’re half right,” Su Haoran said with a smirk.

Qin Min urged, “Don’t be cryptic! Tell me what you figured out.”

Su Haoran explained, “Here’s what I think happened: Chen Shu told Liang Wei to come pick up his son’s body. Desperate, Liang Wei risked exposure and rushed to the West Suburb.”

“But he was wary of a trap. He didn’t want to step inside, so he told Chen Shu to leave the body at the entrance.”

“But in reality…”

“The suitcase didn’t contain his son’s body.”

“It contained Chen Shu!”

Captain Wang added, “Exactly. Qin, when you examined the body, you mentioned that the stab wound went from below, piercing through Liang Wei’s jaw. That means when Liang Wei brought the suitcase back to the underpass and opened it.”

“Chen Shu, hidden inside, suddenly stabbed upwards with a knife!”

“The angle was perfect for a surprise attack.”

“After killing Liang Wei, Chen Shu climbed out of the suitcase. That’s why there was only one set of footprints at the scene. And since he was never caught on surveillance, he successfully created an airtight alibi while carrying out the murder!”

Qin Min asked, “But how did Chen Shu escape afterward?”

Captain Wang replied, “He jumped into the river and swam along the bank, from East Street all the way back to the West Suburb, avoiding all cameras along the way.”