The room was slightly messy, some of it presumably disturbed by the police. There was still a chemical odor lingering in the air; Shi Nian smelled manganese dioxide and graphite powder mixed together, knowing that they were used by the police forensic department to extract traces.
As soon as Shi Nian entered the room, she broke into tears, bowing her head and weeping. She walked around the room, using the veil of tears to meticulously search for any clues the police might have missed.
Sean accompanied her into the room, sighing and comforting her to take heart.
At the spot on the floor marked for the body, Shi Nian knelt down, crying sorrowfully and squinting to look under the bed. But the obvious places had likely been searched by the police, and she couldn’t spot any useful clues. Suddenly, a tiny glimmer of light in the floorboards caught her attention.
She discreetly blocked Sean’s view with her body, removed a hairpin, straightened it, and inserted it into the crack in the floor...
Sean, mindful of the police restrictions, didn’t dare let Shi Nian linger in the room for long.
The two of them exited the room, and Sean gently patted Shi Nian’s back: "Stop crying now, look, your eyes are all swollen. Ah, it hurts me to see you ."
Shi Nian looked up gratefully: "Sir, how long have you been working at this apartment? How long have you known Zhou? Could you please tell me about him when he was alive? What was his favorite class, who was his best friend at Kangchuan University, what kind of friends did he usually have..."
As expected, Sean glossed over most other matters, but he described Zhou Guanghan’s popularity with the opposite sex in relatively more detail, saying he often brought home different girls with Eastern faces. A few times, he even violated the apartment’s visitor overnight stay rules, which resulted in warnings from Sean and other campus police. Sean said these records could be found in the campus police work files.
Shi Nian couldn’t help but glance at Sean, feeling a growing sense of suspicion.
Shi Nian walked out of the student apartment, signaling to Tang Yanqing with a glance, but she didn’t approach Tang Yanqing.
The two walked out of the dormitory area one after the other, and Shi Nian carefully looked back to ensure no one suspicious was following before returning to the car to wait for Tang Yanqing.
Five minutes later, Tang Yanqing also got back in the car.
"Why so cautious, you didn’t even speak to me downstairs?" Tang Yanqing turned her head to look over.
Shi Nian asked, "The last time you and Jia Tianzi came to the scene of Zhou Guanghan’s death, was the officer who received you named Sean?" Shi Nian then described Sean’s physical characteristics.
Tang Yanqing nodded: "When you mentioned Sean, you couldn’t help but frown. What’s wrong, did he leave a very bad impression on you? Even made you suspicious of him?"
Tang Yanqing’s keen perception made Shi Nian admire her anew; she nodded: "That Sean has a very perceptive nature. I unconsciously walked through that corridor with my eyes closed, the corridor is about 40 meters long, yet he noticed I had my eyes closed from 40 meters away. He has very sharp observation skills and insight."
Tang Yanqing shrugged: "That means he has the qualities of being a good cop."
"But he’s overly concerned about Zhou Guanghan’s private life. In my conversation with him, 80% was about Zhou Guanghan’s personal relationships, discussing what kind of girls he brought back to the dormitory."
Shi Nian spread her hands: "Do you understand? He reminded me of our dorm supervisor back in college. Our lady supervisor was simply vigilant about female dorms, very displeased if a boy stayed downstairs too long; always showing disdainful expressions towards girls who were popular with boys. The sisters in our dorm jokingly said she must be menopausal or just jealous."
In Chinese universities, it seems there was always such a dorm supervisor lady under every girls’ dormitory building... Tang Yanqing listened and smiled knowingly.
Shi Nian, however, couldn’t smile: "That’s perfectly normal in China, but here in M Country, it seems abnormal. Here, university students have normal interactions with the opposite sex, and even overnight stays during holidays aren’t excessive, so Sean’s reaction of dissatisfaction with Zhou Guanghan’s personal life seems off."
Shi Nian turned to look at Tang Yanqing: "I even feel his attitude has gone beyond what a campus police officer should have. It’s not just disapproval; it could almost be described as — hatred." The rightful source is novel·fiɾe·net
Tang Yanqing snapped her fingers.
"You know? I also had that feeling at the time and couldn’t help but mock him, saying identifying suspects wasn’t his responsibility."