Worried that Tang Ci might be in danger alone, Liu Qiao simply followed Tang Ci to the underground parking garage.
Tang Ci sped along, and in less than half an hour, they arrived safely at the university town. To avoid plainclothes police staking out Liu Qiao, the "murder and escape" suspect, Liu Qiao disguised himself as a little red riding hoodie and followed behind Tang Ci.
In winter, a girl appeared on campus wearing a red cape-like coat, which didn't arouse much suspicion.
The two entered the Music Conservatory, and after taking only a few steps, they saw a familiar face— Ye Qi, wrapped in a down jacket that looked like a big bear, carrying a guitar, and walking towards the music room with his head down.
Tang Ci stepped forward and stopped him: "Excuse me, where is the girls' dormitory for the vocal music department?"
Ye Qi looked up at Tang Ci and enthusiastically pointed the way: "Turn left at the end of the road, then turn right. That's the blue building."
Tang Ci: "Thank you."
Ye Qi smiled and said, "You're welcome."
Then, under Tang Ci's gaze, he turned and left on his own.
Tang Ci watched his retreating figure, lost in thought. Liu Qiao whispered, "He's not the Ye Qi we know, and he's probably not Hunter either. Professor Xiao and I have already confirmed that he has no memory of Card World."
Tang Ci stopped hesitating and turned to walk quickly toward the girls' dormitory area.
When the two arrived at the dormitory building, it was dinnertime, and there were many students coming and going. Tang Ci, being a man, felt it inconvenient to enter the girls' dormitory, so Liu Qiao took the initiative to approach the dormitory supervisor and ask, "Hello, Auntie, I'm looking for Chen Mengmeng from the Vocal Music Department. Could you tell me which dormitory she lives in?"
The auntie asked, "Which college are you from? Visitors need to register their student ID."
Liu Qiao obviously didn't have a Music Conservatory student ID, so she could only say, "I forgot to bring it. My student ID number is 04380067..." She made up a number on the spot, which happened to be connected to Ye Qi's student ID number.
But this woman wasn't easily fooled. Perhaps because of the murder at the Music Conservatory, the school had been checking very strictly these past few days. She frowned and said, "This won't do. Without a student ID, you can't enter the dormitory. Don't you know the school just issued a regulation?"
Liu Qiao knew she wouldn't be able to sneak in so easily, so she chatted with the dormitory supervisor to buy Tang Ci some time.
At this moment, Tang Ci had already slipped into the girls' dormitory through the side door using the Invisibility Cloak while the aunt was not paying attention. Of course, he had already found out which dormitory room Chen Mengmeng lived in; it was room 318 in building 7.
Tang Ci quickly arrived at the door of dormitory 318, just as two girls returned from getting food and opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, the girl screamed in terror, "Aaaaaah—where did this spider come from?!"
She found a black spider the size of her palm crawling at her feet and almost fainted from fright. Xu Mingyue, who was with her, was also terrified and turned pale. She hurriedly went behind the door to find a broom. The two of them picked up mops and brooms and struggled with the simulated spider that Tang Ci had put down. The spider was very agile and scurried around the dormitory. The two girls were on the verge of a breakdown and chased after it to beat it.
Tang Ci seized the opportunity to slip into the dormitory and immediately spotted Chen Mengmeng eating there.
Hearing her roommate's shout, Chen Mengmeng's expression changed. Ignoring the spider on the ground, she rushed out the door. As soon as she stepped out, she bumped into a girl wearing a red coat. The girl's attire resembled that of a " little red riding hood " from a fairy tale. She was calmly looking at her with clear yet cold eyes.
It's Liu Qiao!
The moment Chen Mengmeng realized what was happening, Liu Qiao had already activated Elsa's ultimate ability.
—Snow and ice are falling!
In an instant, the entire interior of the girls' dormitory building was frozen solid, and everyone who was moving was turned into an ice sculpture, including Chen Mengmeng, who was caught off guard by the sudden freezing. Even as an ice sculpture, she didn't have time to adjust the horrified expression on her face.
Tang Ci's deep voice rang in Liu Qiao's ears: "Got the stuff, let's get out!"
After he finished speaking, he enveloped Chen Mengmeng entirely in the Invisibility Cloak.
Tang Ci was slender, and the large Invisibility Cloak could comfortably fit an extra person without being too crowded. Liu Qiao could easily switch places with Little Red Riding Hood, and the two quietly slipped out of the girls' dormitory.
The ice and snow melted without a trace.
The girls who had woken up looked at each other in confusion: "I think I just saw snow falling in the dorm?" "Me too, was it just my imagination?" "Strange... I think I saw the whole building frozen in snow?"
Even the dormitory supervisor thought she was seeing things. How could she be witnessing such a surreal scene of the entire building frozen solid? Everything in front of her seemed exactly the same as usual.
She shook her head vigorously, only managing to catch a glimpse of the red-clad girl's retreating figure in the distance.
Inside the cloak, Chen Mengmeng, who had just been thawed from the ice, was knocked unconscious by Tang Ci with a single chop to the neck.
The two took Chen Mengmeng to the parking lot, put her in the trunk, and Tang Ci used the eight claws of the mechanical spider to firmly control her. Then, he took off the Invisibility Cloak and took out something he found in the dormitory.
— Chen Mengmeng's mobile phone, card holder, and laptop.
Tang Ci quickly obtained these items while the other two girls were "fighting spiders".
Liu Qiao exclaimed, "Mr. Tang, your Invisibility Cloak is practically a magic cloak, hiding so many things inside."
Tang Ci, who doesn't like to joke, said calmly, "Let's see if we can find any evidence on her phone and computer first."
Liu Qiao said: "Chat logs, emails, etc."
"Yes, she should have deleted them all, right?"
Tang Ci's gaze remained calm: "As long as it's not a factory reset or a complete format, I can recover the data."
Liu Qiao: "..."
By the way, with Tang Ci around, simply deleting photos and chat logs won't be enough. Unless you reinstall the system and format the hard drive on a computer, or restore the phone to factory settings, Tang Ci can always find some clues!
Chen Mengmeng, however, was clearly not as professional and cautious.
In no time, Tang Ci recovered a large amount of data that Chen Mengmeng had deleted, including photos and call records on the phone, as well as email records on the computer.
Around 8 p.m. last night, she sent Ning Xue a WeChat message: "Xiao Xue, your ex-boyfriend is looking for you again. He said if you don't come back tonight to meet him, he will post all your indecent photos on the forum. Come back quickly, let's discuss what to do. I'll be waiting for you by the tree at Liuguang Lake around 8:30 p.m."
Tang Ci and Liu Qiao exchanged a glance—sure enough, Chen Mengmeng had used an excuse that Ning Xue couldn't doubt to lure her back to school. Her ex-boyfriend had a history of harassing Ning Xue; he had reportedly waited for her downstairs for a month, scaring her so much that she hadn't returned to her dorm.
Therefore, Ning Xue's first reaction upon receiving the message was undoubtedly panic. Watching fireworks with her current boyfriend to ring in the New Year? She was in no mood for that. Naturally, she needed to find an excuse to come back first and deal with her ex-boyfriend's threats.
Little did she know that what awaited her was a butcher's knife from her roommate, sending her to hell.
Liu Qiao said, "Our deduction is basically correct. Chen Mengmeng is the murderer who killed Ning Xue."
Tang Ci flipped through the records and said, "There was also a message from an unknown number that said, ' Xiao Lou and Liu Qiao have decided to go to the Music Conservatory tonight. They must be looking for Ye Qi. Tonight, we'll implement Plan A.'"
Liu Qiao analyzed, "This should be the person who tipped her off from the Medical School. It's very likely that he's Professor Xiao's teaching assistant... that master's student named Wang Yishen. This teaching assistant knows very well about my and Professor Xiao's movements and sent messages to his companions to prepare in advance."
"Yes, Chen Mengmeng killed Ning Xue at the Music Conservatory, took Ning Xue's phone, and deleted all chat history. She monitored you and Xiao Lou from behind the scenes and told Wang Yishen the exact time you left. Wang Yishen then used Xiao Lou's phone to call Ning Xue's phone at the exact time, and the two of them created 5 minutes of 'call evidence'."
Tang Ci paused, then continued, "After the party ended, Chen Mengmeng threw Ning Xue's phone into Central Square to guide the police to find it. But she overlooked the fact that Central Square was under one-way traffic control that night. It was easy to get from the school to the square, but it was impossible to get back to the school from the square in 10 minutes."
The details of the case were becoming clearer, and Liu Qiao said, "Let's go find Assistant Instructor Wang quickly."
Tang Ci drove to the Medical School.
The Medical School and the Music Conservatory were right next door, and they arrived quickly. He had just driven to the ground floor of the laboratory building when he noticed a familiar police car parked downstairs. Tang Ci gestured for Liu Qiao to hide inside the car while he opened the door and got out.
He arrived at the entrance of the laboratory building and bumped into Yu Hanjiang, who was walking out of the building.
Their eyes met, and before Tang Ci could speak, Yu Hanjiang whispered, "Are you here to see Wang Yishen? He's not at school; he's taking a flight abroad tonight."
Tang Ci was taken aback: "... Captain Yu also found out the truth?"
"I never believed Xiao Lou would kill anyone, but the evidence is too obvious, so I have to take him back for routine questioning." Yu Hanjiang's words didn't sound like a lie; his tone was very certain.
"Wang Yishen already bought his plane ticket?" Tang Ci asked.
"Yes, he also bought Xiao Lou a plane ticket to create the illusion that Xiao Lou wanted to kill someone and escape. In reality, it was him who really wanted to escape. I have already contacted the airport police to intercept him at the security checkpoint. He definitely won't be able to escape Jiangzhou," Yu Hanjiang said calmly.
"Now that Professor Xiao has been cleared of suspicion, Captain Yu, could you release my friend first after you go back?"
"Once I catch the real culprit and complete the formalities, I will of course release Xiao Lou."
"Oh no!" Tang Ci suddenly realized something, " Is Xiao Lou still in the cell?"
"He told me to catch the murderer myself. I sent three colleagues to keep a close watch on cell number 1 and not let anyone get close."
Tang Ci's expression changed, and he ignored Yu Hanjiang, turning around and driving quickly towards the Criminal Police Detachment.
In the back seat, Liu Qiao looked at Tang Ci's pale face and asked worriedly, "Mr. Tang? Did Wang Yishen escape? Are you driving so fast to chase after the murderer?"
" Xiao Lou is in danger." Tang Ci's voice was low. "Have you considered that if there are three of us in this locked room, why are there only two Hunters?"
"... Hunter is also a group of three?!"
"Yes, there's another one, maybe it's at the Criminal Police Detachment." Tang Ci swerved at the intersection, floored the gas pedal, and overtook three cars in a row. Liu Qiao almost hit the car door and hurriedly grabbed the handrail inside the car.
Tang Ci said with a stern face, "Why were the police able to arrive at the scene so quickly last night when the incident occurred? And it just so happened that it was Yu Hanjiang himself?"
"Could it be Xiao Wu?!" Liu Qiao realized that the intern Criminal Police Officer who followed Yu Hanjiang could not only guide Yu Hanjiang to the crime scene, but also closely monitor all the investigation progress of the Police Station...
If Xiao Wu is an inside man at Police Station, the Hunter trio will be even more adept at framing Xiao Lou.
"In other words, when they decided to implement Plan A yesterday afternoon, Xiao Wu had already taken Captain Yu to the vicinity of the university town. This way, once the partner completed the murder, he could receive..."
If I call the police, he and Captain Yu will arrive at the scene immediately and finish their act. Liu Qiao had mixed feelings about how she had impersonated Xiao Wu.
" Xiao Lou deliberately sent Yu Hanjiang away, clearly thinking of this as well. He wants to use himself as bait to lure out the last Hunter." Tang Ci took a deep breath. "Hopefully, Xiao Lou will still be alive when we arrive."
"…Ahem, Mr. Tang, there's no need to worry too much. Professor Xiao isn't an impulsive person. Since he dared to do this, he must be able to ensure his own safety." Liu Qiao breathed a sigh of relief and said, "At least for now, he still has two lives."
"Two lives?" Tang Ci turned around in confusion.
"Yes, I gave him the witch card. He also had a life-saving antidote in his hand."
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