The three of them were together, and if someone had to get beaten up, it would definitely be Du Qiang, that oaf.

When it comes to IQ, he hardly uses his brain, almost good as new. In terms of looks, he’s pretty average, and without his police uniform today, how could he possibly pull off high-level beauty spells?

Every organization has its support staff, and clearly, Du Qiang is the head of logistics among the three, in charge of paying bills. It’s just uncertain if the organization can reimburse this kind of expense.

They stayed at the school until eleven-thirty in the morning; the students had already been released from class. Blending in among them, they were hardly noticeable. Afraid of being recognized, Du Qiang specifically wore a mask today, increasingly acting like a public figure.

Luckily, now that the weather was cooling down, the outside temperature had dropped to around zero, so wearing a mask didn’t seem out of place.

Once noon arrived, some students rushed to the cafeteria, others returned to their dorms, while others walked out the school gates, either to go shopping or to eat. And if you saw a group of guys walking out with their arms around each other’s shoulders, there was a good chance they were heading to a net cafe.

Li Zijun and Du Qiang, as professional detectives, found tailing some students a piece of cake. They began wandering and staking out near the net cafe by the school’s back gate, observing potential targets for conversation.

Meanwhile, Su Qing found a restaurant with a decent environment near the school’s back gate, ordered a few dishes, and sat down to wait for someone.

"Hey~~ Sorry for being late!"

Zhang Dandan, one of the deceased’s dorm roommates, arrived as Su Qing invited.

When the three of them left that day, Lin Chengcai insisted on getting the WeChat contacts of the three girls, which surprisingly came in handy today.

Because at that time, he realized through his voiceover that the three girls present had their own little schemes and concerns, naturally holding back some words. He and Lin Chengcai noticed some of it but chose not to reveal or force questions. If a meal could solve the issue, why make it ugly?

Thus, today, when he asked Li Zijun to chat up the male students of the school, he thought about these three girls.

Among them, Zhang Dandan and Li Menghua were more or less the same, having a relatively good relationship with the deceased, except Wang Yue, who didn’t get along well. She even contributed to the rumors circulating in the school.

The behaviors of superficially friendly yet internally discordant relationships among girls were something he had only heard of before but never seen. First, he was a guy and didn’t know many girls; second, even if he had female friends, they wouldn’t usually talk to him about such matters. Thirdly, even if he heard about it from another girl, he hadn’t observed it this deeply before. It truly felt like three individuals with eight hundred hidden thoughts.

With Zhang Dandan, he merely sent a WeChat message saying he wanted to chat about her roommate’s matters over a meal.

Zhang Dandan accepted his invitation without hesitation, even seeming pleasantly surprised.

Su Qing, being somewhat of a social media influencer now, admittedly had good looks. At least she hadn’t seen many more handsome than him in school; paired with fame and money, he stood out as an officer.

Thus, even when she came today, the other two girls in the dorm didn’t know, as Su Qing specified he wanted to talk with her alone.

"I just got here too, come, sit down!" Su Qing stood up, wearing a highly professional fake smile.

Even though he secretly despised Lin Chengcai’s handsome man trick, he had to admit, it was quite effective.

"I’ve ordered two dishes; see if you’d like anything else." He handed over the menu, to which Zhang Dandan waved her hand repeatedly, "I’m okay with anything, I can eat whatever."

It wasn’t the typical "anything" from a girlfriend; she was genuinely fine with anything. Seeing she really didn’t order, he added two more dishes, making it three dishes and one soup, just enough for two.

Then he started by making small talk without directly asking questions, soon eliciting Zhang Dandan’s crisp laughter from the seat.

It was apparent she had dressed up for this meeting, which he knew quite well. However, he was only interested in the information in her mind, not her body. Having tasted rare delicacies, ordinary food didn’t tempt him much.

After they almost finished eating, Su Qing began, "Oh, almost forgot the main reason I came today. I have some things I want to ask you, don’t worry, it’s just us two. Although I’m a police consultant, I’m not exactly a policeman. I’ve been curious about the school rumors; as roommates, you should know some inside information, right?"

As he asked, Zhang Dandan visibly relaxed, assisted by his voiceover hints that helped him find topics that could break into her trust. Soon, she provided some juicy details.

"Caiwen is actually quite nice, just too naive. We knew she was involved with our school’s Professor Jiang; we even advised her before, but she didn’t listen. And I feel that Professor Jiang isn’t a good person; the way he looks at girls from our class has a sort of pervy vibe.

They’ve been together for over a year. It was okay before, but for some reason, shortly after school started this year, rumors spread about her being involved with Professor Jiang, putting her under a lot of pressure. Later on, I noticed it seemed related to the graduate recommendation quota, and Ke Yao from class three seemed to have her eye on that quota. Eighty percent of the rumors were her doing.

We advised Caiwen recently, but she said she’d deal with it after the graduate recommendation quota was secured. She didn’t think realistically — even if she succeeded, she’d still have ambiguous ties with Professor Jiang for three more years, what’s in it for her?"

With nobody else around, aided by his voiceover, Zhang Dandan gradually opened up, speaking freely. She even revealed that the affair between Wei Caiwen and Professor Jiang was likely leaked by Wang Yue.

Evidently, despite sharing the same dorm, each girl had their own exclusive circles, maintaining mere surface relations.

Meanwhile, Li Zijun and Du Qiang finally confirmed the net cafe location and identified targets. Du Qiang set up the computers, bought drinks, and sat next to a group of guys.

"Hey, handsome, are you guys students from Jiangcheng University?"

"Uh... Yeah, what’s up?"

"What a coincidence, I’m also from Jiangcheng University, graduated a year ago."

"Oh, so you’re a senior!"

"Are you guys playing LOL? Which server? Let’s play together?"

"Sure!"

Quickly, Li Zijun blended in with the guys through her outstanding looks, while Du Qiang sat aside, nearly grinding his molars.

Soon, she inquired about the recent suicide incident at Jiangcheng University. Compared to Zhang Dandan’s detailed, subtle approach, the rumors the guys knew were much more sensational.

Allegedly, Professor Jiang got a girl pregnant and didn’t want to take responsibility, driving her to suicide. Others claimed he fancied another girl and wanted to give the graduate quota to someone else, while still others said the pressure from rumors overwhelmed Wei Caiwen, leading her to suicide.

Various speculations all pointed to two key figures, Professor Jiang and the graduate quota competitor, Ke Yao.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Zijun even managed to get Ke Yao’s class and student number — the rumors spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, representatives from Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau, Zhao Minghui, Lin Chengcai, and others contacted the fire department leadership and met the man in the photo among Wei Caiwen’s belongings.

"Hello, I’m Zhao Minghui, forensic team leader from Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau, and this is deputy team leader Lin Chengcai. Are you Professor Jiang Maoxue?"

Inside an academic office, Zhao Minghui faced the fifty-something man with greying hair and asked.

The man was indeed Jiang Maoxue, appearing cultured. Despite his age, he had an erudite demeanor.

However, his face at the moment displayed rare traces of panic, unease, and even fear.

Since learning yesterday about Caiwen’s suicide, a chill ran through his heart, fervently hoping their relationship wouldn’t be exposed. But the call from police today sank his heart.

"I am, may I know the reason for your visit..."

"We’d like to discuss Wei Caiwen’s circumstances with you, hoping for your cooperation."

"Officer, I didn’t kill anyone. The night before yesterday, I was home sleeping and my wife can confirm, we have surveillance at home, I..."

Before he could finish, Lin Chengcai raised his hand, cutting him off: "We haven’t implicated you in the girl’s death; we just want to understand what your relationship with the deceased was."

"Nothing, we were just ordinary teacher-student, rarely met outside classes."

But the next moment, a stack of intimate photos of the two was laid on the table.

"Professor Jiang, this case is serious, and we hope for your honesty. Regarding your private life, we won’t interfere, but please cooperate with our investigation. We need to understand what happened to the deceased recently. Also, if you still deny, it’s fine, we also have your WeChat chat records. If necessary, it’s entirely possible to look into it and conduct an investigation, don’t you think?" Lin Chengcai spoke coldly, leaving no room for face.

Seeing the photos, the greying Jiang Maoxue sank onto the sofa, speaking after a long pause:

"This... please don’t tell my wife!"

...