Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 14 Confession
Shi Feng went with Wang Zi's mother to wake him up in order to observe his first reaction upon seeing him.

When Wang Zi heard that the police had arrived, her legs trembled involuntarily. Putting that aside, it could have been just a seizure.

His immediate averting of gaze upon seeing strangers is a sign of low self-esteem. Combined with his mother's account, Shi Feng initially judged Wang Zi to be an introverted person and an impulsive criminal.

When a person is in a low mood or has a negative attitude, their pupils will constrict.

When going down the stairs, Shi Feng deliberately walked ahead and exposed his service weapon in order to observe Wang Zi's eyes. Generally, teenagers who have not committed any crimes will show great interest when they see firearms. Only criminals will be terrified of police officers' service weapons because they know that the gun may be pointed at them, and they will subconsciously feel fear.

At this moment, Wang Zi, sitting in the car, kept her head down and tried her best not to look around and give herself away. After all, a student is just a student, and not everyone is as calm and collected as Ai Liang, who knows how to control his facial expressions.

Although Wang Zi thought he was expressionless, Shi Feng had already seen through his inner panic. His raised eyebrows, shallow wrinkles on his forehead, slightly pursed and pulled back lips, trembling jaw muscles, tense leg muscles, and white fingertips were all signs of fear, making him appear full of flaws.

According to Shi Feng's observation of his chat history with Gao Jiajia yesterday, Wang Zi is not so introverted that he becomes fearful when encountering strangers. Otherwise, he would not have actively driven away the scavengers who were harassing Gao Jiajia. His current fear clearly indicates that he has something to hide.

On the way Shi Feng and others were escorting Wang Zi, Xia Qinian also came to Shi Feng's office.

"Brother Nian, you'd better hurry up, Captain Shi might be back anytime soon." Wang Xun stood at the door of Shi Feng's office with a folder in his hand, pretending to have something to report and waiting for Shi Feng to return.

Xia Qinian said softly, "I know, don't rush me."

The office layout was very simple: a desk, a long sofa, two chairs, a bookshelf, and a filing cabinet. That was all; there wasn't even a water dispenser.

Xia Qinian's uncle was, after all, the former captain of the criminal investigation team. He had been here a lot when he was a child, and he still remembered the arrangement of the files. He quickly found the case file from ten years ago, but the contents were unexpected.

Wang Xun, who was keeping watch at the door, was about to knock on the door to remind Shi Feng when he saw Shi Feng's car return. He then saw Xia Qinian come out of the office with a gloomy face and return to the interrogation room without saying a word.

Wang Xun didn't have time to pay attention to those details and hurried upstairs to the technical department. If Shi Feng saw him standing guard at the office door, he would definitely be able to guess what he was doing.

In the interrogation room.

Wang Zi was taken to the interrogation room and sat down with his hands handcuffed to the chair. This was hardly an interrogation about Gao Jiajia; it was clearly an interrogation as if he were a criminal.

Shi Feng and Gao Bin, one carrying an evidence box and the other carrying a notebook and a voice recorder, sat down opposite him. Every movement they made and every sound they made stimulated Wang Zi's sensitive nerves.

Shi Feng remained silent, so Gao Bin spoke up for him: "Do you know why we brought you to the criminal investigation team?"

Wang Zi remained silent.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Gao Bin asked the next question: "What do you want to say about Gao Jiajia's death?"

Wang Zi remained silent.

He had rehearsed this scenario countless times in his mind. His silence was not because he didn't want to speak, but because he was so nervous and fearful that he couldn't utter a word.

In fact, rehearsing in your mind countless times is useless; imagination and reality are completely different. It's like imagining encountering a tiger and sliding in, but in reality, if you actually encounter a tiger, you'd be so scared you wouldn't dare to move, your legs would be too weak to walk.

The somber atmosphere of the interrogation room, the sharp eyes and stern tone of the detective opposite him, and that "you'd better confess already" expression—all of this was tugging at Wang Zi's heartstrings. His heart was beating faster and faster, and his throat was trembling from the intense heartbeat.

Wang Zi managed to utter a single sentence: "I don't know."

All his rehearsals and prepared answers vanished. His mind was completely blank, as if it had turned into mush, and he couldn't concentrate at all. No matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn't remember the answers he had prepared.

Wang Zi used to laugh at criminal suspects on TV who would stammer and not know what to say when they entered the interrogation room. But now that it was her turn, she understood the immense psychological pressure they were under. Those who remained calm and composed during interrogations and lie detector tests were either mentally unstable or geniuses.

Gao Bin didn't care. There were plenty of people here who would say "I don't know," and he was used to it. The key to dealing with these kinds of people was to break down their psychological defenses; they'd spill everything.

However, he usually doesn't do this kind of work.

Shi Feng put down his pen and pushed the notebook in front of him. Although Gao Bin still looked very serious, he was wailing in his heart.

"Where were you between nine and ten o'clock after school on Thursday? The community's surveillance footage shows that you didn't get home until after ten o'clock." Shi Feng crossed his arms and stared intently into Wang Zi's eyes.

Wang Zi's prepared answer was that she was going to get a late-night snack: "I'm going to get some."

Before he could finish speaking, Shi Feng interrupted him: "I didn't see you in the surveillance footage near the school or the snack shops. And the snack carts nearby usually close up shop around 9:30. Which snack cart did you buy your late-night snack from? Are there any classmates nearby who can vouch for you?"

Shi Feng's interruption of Wang Zi was a way of disrupting his train of thought, denying him time to formulate a reasoning. Many criminal suspects prepare their statements before interrogation, and the interrogator's job is to ask unexpected questions to disrupt their plans; the answers given in haste will inevitably reveal flaws.

I, Wang Zi, had no idea whether the police had actually checked the surveillance footage or not, and for a moment I didn't know what to say.

"Next question, was the red string you're wearing a gift from Gao Jiajia?"

Unlike the previous questions that required judging the organization of language, this question only requires a yes or no answer.

"Yes." Wang Zi answered quickly this time. He hadn't been able to answer the previous questions clearly, and the two men's suspicions about him were definitely growing. He was trying to regain some credibility.

After answering, Gao Bin's gaze towards Wang Zi changed, as if he had already sentenced him to death.

Because his answer meant that Shi Feng had completely grasped Wang Zi's psychological state.

As expected, kids are still too naive. How can you, with your stupidity, compete with Team Leader Shi?
Gao Bin shook his head and continued writing furiously.

"What were you doing between midnight last night and early this morning?" Shi Feng delivered the fatal blow.

Wang Zi believed that it was impossible for the police to directly identify him as the murderer, let alone be watching him in the middle of the night, since Gao Jiajia had only been dead for a day. According to Wang Zi's guess, it would take the police at least two or three days to suspect him and send someone to monitor him, during which time it would be perfectly reasonable for them to dispose of the murder weapon.

His mind went blank again.

Did they suspect me from the start and monitor me? That's impossible!

The guy with the glasses is a suspect! He's clearly more suspicious than me! Why! How did they know I went out in the early morning? It's only been a few hours since I threw away the gloves, even checking the security footage wouldn't be enough time! And I didn't even use the main entrance! They must be bluffing me!
"I'm sleeping," Wang Zi replied softly, desperately trying to suppress his breathing so as not to show his nervousness. His mind was in complete chaos, his spirits were under immense pressure.

Shi Feng realized the time was right, and he took out evidence directly from the evidence box: "The forensic doctor who performed the autopsy extracted two kinds of fibers from Gao Jiajia's fingernails, one white and the other red. Please take off the red string on your hand, we need to compare them."

Wang Zi stared intently at the barely visible red fuzz in the evidence bag, his expression completely frozen.

"Also, this morning we found a pair of white cotton gloves in a black garbage bag at a recycling station. The scratches on the gloves match Gao Jiajia's fingernails, and fingerprints were found on the garbage bag. Please leave your fingerprint on this test strip; we need to compare them."

This was a ruse on Wang Zi. He had just gotten the garbage bag from Ai Liang this morning; he had no time to compare scratches. But fear had completely taken over his mind, and the two sentences, "We need to make comparisons," completely shattered Wang Zi's psychological defenses.

Now that the police have the evidence, what's the point of him continuing to resist?

Wang Zi was overcome with grief and burst into tears: "I killed him. Jiajia, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, sob sob sob."

Looking at Wang Zigaobin, who was sobbing uncontrollably on the table, Gao Bin felt no sympathy whatsoever; in fact, he almost laughed.

When you committed the murder, did you never think that things would turn out this way?
Now that he had admitted to killing the person, Wang Zi had no intention of continuing to conceal his motive and the details of the crime.

From how he was enraged by Gao Jiajia's impending confession to someone else, to how he cut off the power to the surveillance system, how he framed the school's scavenger Glasses, and the details of cleaning up the scene and tidying up the victim's clothes, everything was explained clearly, leaving Gao Bin utterly shocked.

It can be said that if Wang Zi hadn't been cowardly enough to skip cleaning the victim's fingernails and destroying gloves and clothes, and hadn't harbored the wishful thinking that the police wouldn't notice these details, even if he had openly admitted to being the murderer, the police wouldn't have been able to do anything to him.

"Who taught you these?"

Shi Feng's eyes sharpened instantly. Based on Wang Zi's performance just now, Shi Feng could tell that this was definitely not a method he could have come up with. There must be a planner behind it, and this planner was very dangerous.

“I read it in a novel.” Wang Zi lowered his head. This was the most relaxed moment he had had in two days. After admitting his guilt and having a good cry, his heart had calmed down.

Shi Feng pressed further, "What's the novel's name? What's the author's pen name? What's it about?"

Wang Zi recounted the story in general terms, mentioning that the original manuscript of this novel likely only contained the title.

"That's why I..."

Wang Zi now regretted picking up that novel. If it weren't for the strange allure of the words and the fact that the protagonist was so similar to his life, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

Shi Feng's character is not much better than Wang Zi's. If what he said is true, then the author of the novel must have been secretly observing Wang Zi's life and luring him down the path of murder. Such a person is clearly an antisocial personality and is extremely dangerous.

"The name of the novel?"

Narcissus.

When did you find this novel?

"Two years ago, when I was in the first year of junior high school," Wang Zi answered honestly.

"what?"

Now it was Shi Feng's turn to be shocked. So, this was just a coincidence?
Is Wang Zi simply imitating a story from a novel? After all, no matter how brilliant an author is, they can't predict the future.

"What about the original manuscript? Did you throw it away?" Gao Bin asked on Shi Feng's behalf while he was silent.

"It burned yesterday."

The methods of committing crimes are listed above, so Wang Zi certainly wouldn't stay.

"Burned? Why didn't you know your gloves were burned and instead went to the recycling center to throw them away?" Gao Bin clearly didn't believe Wang Zi's nonsense.

"The water supply was cut off halfway through boiling water, and the toilet won't flush."

Gao Bin covered his face with his hands, completely speechless. So if the water hadn't been cut off yesterday, they would have lost this crucial piece of evidence if they hadn't been a day late. Was this guy unlucky or were they lucky?

This is the first time in all his years of handling cases that Shi Feng has encountered such a simpleton. He's given you the script for the perfect crime, but you can't even copy it properly.

After finishing up the work, the two took Wang Zi to the detention center and informed his parents and the victim's family about his confession.

(End of this chapter)