SS Chapter 18

Shao Hui, with Sha Rou, found Wang Ling’s school. The school was shocked to learn about Wang Ling’s situation and cooperated by asking some of Wang Ling’s classmates from the same major to explain her circumstances.

Wang Ling’s classmates all said that Wang Ling had skipped grades and was younger than her classmates. Because she looked like the celebrity Luo Pingping, she received a lot of care. She was very smart and had strong professional skills. She was a bit introverted but had good relationships with others. They hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her in their daily interactions.

Unable to get any information from the teachers and classmates, Shao Hui requested to see Wang Ling’s dormitory.

The school arranged for a supervisor to take Shao Hui and Sha Rou to Wang Ling’s dormitory.

The graduate student dormitories at Chongda University required an application. Wang Ling had applied for a single room. The supervisor wasn’t aware of what had happened to Wang Ling, but with school officials present, they opened Wang Ling’s dormitory for them.

The dormitory contained a bed, a large wardrobe, a bookshelf, and a desk with a computer on it.

As soon as they entered, Shao Hui and Sha Rou sensed something was off. It didn’t look like a dormitory for one person. Many items came in pairs. For example, there were two pairs of slippers at the door, one pair of ordinary cloth slippers and one pair of very delicate slippers.

Sha Rou checked and immediately named a brand. Shao Hui didn’t hear clearly.

Sha Rou repeated herself, but Shao Hui still didn’t understand. Sha Rou was too lazy to explain and simply said it was an Italian homeware brand.

Shao Hui understood: “So it’s a name brand!”

Sha Rou nodded—explaining it to this kind of rough, crude man was pointless.

Sha Rou turned to ask the supervisor if anyone else lived with Wang Ling.

Sha Rou carefully examined the room and found traces of use on the ordinary daily necessities, but the branded items were very new, almost unused. Shao Hui also noticed this.

The two put on gloves and began to examine Wang Ling’s belongings.

Wang Ling’s bookshelf had many professional books, but there were two dedicated shelves for Luo Pingping’s posters, news clippings, photos, and photo albums. There was also a photo of Luo Pingping and Wang Ling standing together. Wang Ling must have deliberately dressed up, and she looked very similar to Luo Pingping, almost indistinguishable, like twins.

Shao Hui had seen the crime scene where Luo Pingping was murdered. Now that Wang Ling was also dead, seeing the photo of Luo Pingping and Wang Ling outside the frame gave him goosebumps.

Sha Rou opened Wang Ling’s computer. The screensaver was a photo of either Luo Pingping or Wang Ling. The girl in the photo had clear, bright eyes. Sha Rou sighed softly.

Browsing the desktop files and programs, an application caught Sha Rou’s attention. Sha Rou clicked to view it and turned to call Shao Hui, “Vice-Captain, this computer hacked into Cai Xi’s navigation system.”

Shao Hui, leaning against the bookshelf and checking Wang Ling’s books, casually asked, “What plan?”

Shao Hui put the book in his hand back on the bookshelf and walked over. He watched Sha Rou pull out the files one by one. Each one contained detailed itineraries and plans, from how to arrange for someone to mail items to Long Xinyu, to how to let Long Xinyu see her, to hacking into Long Xinyu’s navigation system in the parking lot, and how to kill Liang Qin, and how to escape. The plans, execution, and murder methods, including wrist-cutting, were as clear as a lab report. Every step was crystal clear.

Shao Hui was dumbfounded: “This is a scholar’s murder plan.”

Sha Rou helplessly said, “This girl looks like a genius. Why did she use her skills and mind on murder!”

Shao Hui saw the plan to kill Liang Qin and pointed to the section, “That day, when I went home with Long Xinyu, I saw a woman wearing sunglasses coming out of the elevator. That woman was Wang Ling. We brushed past her at the time. There’s also a method for cracking the fingerprint lock on Long Xinyu’s house. This girl is a criminal genius. Every step is arranged very carefully.”

Sha Rou didn’t speak. She searched on the computer for a while and then said, “There’s no plan to kill Zhang Li here.”

“That shouldn’t be. Let me look again.” A criminal with Wang Ling’s high IQ would generally take the plan to the extreme and wouldn’t likely miss anything.

Sha Rou searched again for a long time and shook her head. There really wasn’t one.

“So, Zhang Li’s death was an accident?” Shao Hui asked doubtfully.

Looking again at the room that didn’t look like it was inhabited by one person,

Sha Rou frowned, “Does this Wang Ling have a delusion? Is she imagining that the already dead Luo Pingping is appearing in her life?” She pointed to the necklaces in two photos of scantily clad girls and said, “Is this Wang Ling? At that time, the necklace was already here with her?”

Shao Hui said, “Is it the same necklace or a replica?”

Sha Rou shook her head, “Not sure, but Wang Ling’s is definitely genuine now. This is a custom-made piece of jewelry provided by the merchant, with a serial number. It’s a high-end luxury item. I checked, and the serial number on Wang Ling’s necklace is the one that was lost on the night Luo Pingping was murdered.”

Shao Hui was puzzled, “Luo Pingping was murdered in the summer. Looking at the time on these photos and Wang Ling’s clothes, it should be autumn. Luo Pingping should already be dead at this time. So how did Wang Ling get this custom-made necklace?”

Sha Rou thought for a moment and said, “Not just the necklace, this jewelry is a set. There are also rings and earrings.”

The two searched the room, but they didn’t find the other two pieces of jewelry. They could only take the photos as evidence.

The two searched Wang Ling’s dormitory again. Sha Rou found two bottles in the drawer with labels written in an unknown language. One bottle was full, and the other was mostly empty.

Sha Rou scrutinized the writing on the bottle and muttered, “What kind of medicine is this? Could Wang Ling be sick?”

Shao Hui took out an evidence bag and told Sha Rou to put the medicine in it to have its composition tested when they returned.

Long Xinyu pitifully hugged a pillow and huddled on the sofa in Rao Xian’s house.

Rao Xian didn’t know how to comfort him.

Long Xinyu pouted.

Rao Xian looked at him sideways and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Long Xinyu said somewhat aggrievedly, “I just wanted to catch the murderer. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”

“Like Li Xu?” Rao Xian asked in surprise.

Long Xinyu nodded, “It’s the way she speaks, the way she thinks. There’s a strange feeling, and she said that I gave her a necklace. Shao Hui and the others have already confirmed that it’s the one that was lost when Luo Pingping was murdered. Everyone thought Xu Ming had taken it, but it inexplicably appeared on Wang Ling’s body. She even said that I gave it to her, and kept talking to the air, like she was mentally ill!”

He didn’t know what the students nowadays were thinking. They were incited into action as soon as someone said something, without thinking carefully at all.

“Another mental patient?” Long Xinyu sighed. Thinking of the things Li Xu did after saying she was sick, he bitterly asked Rao Xian, “Am I particularly attractive to mental patients? And this kind of tech-savvy mental patient.”

“Long Xinyu,” Rao Xian said somewhat seriously, “psychological illnesses aren’t mental illnesses. Also, not all criminals have psychological illnesses. Sometimes, people with severe psychological disorders commit crimes, but the vast majority of people don’t commit crimes because of psychological disorders. In fact, many criminals suffer from psychological disorders because of drug abuse, but psychological disorders aren’t the same as mental illness. Li Xu and Wang Ling may just be simple criminals. It’s hard to say.”

Long Xinyu glanced at Rao Xian’s expression, “I was just saying. Why are you suddenly so serious?”

Rao Xian said with a bad expression, “I feel like something’s wrong!”

“I feel like something’s wrong too?” Long Xinyu asked.

“The other things are hard to say, but someone must have given her the necklace,” Long Xinyu affirmed, “and this person doesn’t have good intentions towards me!”

Rao Xian felt that this was also a psychological state, and it wasn’t impossible, so he didn’t immediately answer him.

Long Xinyu narrowed his eyes when he heard this and deliberately said, “No, I asked Shao Hui for help because I was afraid of losing face in front of you if my guess was wrong, Officer Rao. Don’t be angry!”

Rao Xian didn’t speak. He could roughly guess Long Xinyu’s thoughts. One was that he was afraid that he would feel used, and the other was that he was afraid of implicating him. But he would rather contact Shao Hui, and Shao Hui didn’t even reveal this to him, only thinking of telling him after Wang Ling had an accident. This matter was very thought-provoking—it seemed he had to urge the transfer procedures. Since he was leaving, he couldn’t drag his feet, lest Shao Hui become suspicious.

Rao Xian chuckled, “I’m not good at comforting people. How about I ask my brother or my friend for help?”

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