Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 4 The Hanged Man

The next day, before dawn, Ai Liang opened her eyes.

Today is Friday, and he'll be off this afternoon. He plans to get up early and go to the glasses shop to find some light reading material to pass the next two days; he's almost finished reading his last novel.

If you really don't have a book, you can look at the math formulas you usually write down with your glasses.

Although Ai Liang had arranged to teach Yang Xingyue at the bookstore, it wasn't a 24/7, word-by-word instruction. There was still plenty of free time when she was doing practice tests.

After having breakfast at the same old spot every day, Ai Liang took the bus to school.

Just like yesterday, Ai Liang bought a pancake at the school gate and went to Glasses' dilapidated house. The house was unlocked, and Ai Liang pushed the door open and entered. It was as if what happened yesterday was being repeated today. Campus life is mostly like this.

Surprisingly, the glasses weren't in the dilapidated house today.

Logically speaking, people should be hunched over their desks at this time, writing and drawing in their notebooks.

He probably went out to scavenge yesterday and hasn't come back yet; this kind of thing happens quite often.

Ai Liang didn't pay any attention, put the pancake on the table, and went to the pile of old books to look for old books that were no longer being printed.

"Not today either?" After fiddling around for a while, Ai Liang was a little disappointed. The pile of books consisted of novels and magazines that could be bought on the market, most of which Ai Liang had already read.

However, he found a black leather notebook at the bottom.

The notebook was tied together with a bundle of old magazines, seemingly to be sold as waste paper. Ai Liang didn't untie the knot to pull the notebook out from the side.

The notebook had the name of the glasses and the seal of Kyoto University written on it, so it seemed to have been issued by the school.

This must have been the notebook he used when he was still in college, because he never leaves his name on anything these days.

Opening the notebook, the unrestrained handwriting came into view. The strokes between the lines revealed the spiritedness of the person wearing glasses at the time. The first few pages even showed an attempt to prove some unsolved mathematical conjectures.

Turning the page further down reveals nearly half a book of proof formulas, showing that Glasses is genuinely dedicated to proving those unsolved mysteries.

However, as you continue reading, the style of the entire notebook changes.

The formulas became illegible and irregular, written horizontally, diagonally, and vertically. The book became messy and disorganized. Sometimes there were two or three huge formulas on a single page, and sometimes there was a whole bunch of tiny formulas, crammed together in one line.

It was probably around this time that he received the devastating news of his loved one's death.

Ai Liang closed the notebook and chose to take it with her. Putting aside the scribbling at the end, the conjectures and proofs in the first half of the notebook were quite interesting, and it would be a pity to just throw it away.

Anyway, Glasses told him that anything in the dilapidated house, except for him, could be taken if he wanted it.

Leaving the dilapidated house, Ai Liang stepped onto the road leading to the teaching building. The campus was quiet and still in the early morning. Dewdrops clung to the grass by the roadside, and there was trash in the flower bed that no one knew who had thrown it.

A gentle breeze blew down leaves that drifted slowly in the air. Ai Liang looked up and watched the leaves fall slowly, but his gaze was drawn to a strange figure inside the teaching building. The dark figure hung silently at the door of the classroom next to his own.

Ai Liang's pupils contracted slightly. At this moment, the stairs of the teaching building seemed like a bottomless abyss, wanting to devour the souls of those who came.

He climbed the stairs.

The crows in the big tree in the front yard were cawing unusually loudly, and the motion-sensor lights in the corridor were not on. I could only see the dark shadow hanging in front of me and the chair overturned on the ground by the dim light of the morning.

Yesterday was an uneventful day, except for the confession, just like the day before. I thought today would be the same.
"Ai Liang, you're here so early today!!!!" The scream of a girl from the same class broke the tranquility of the campus.

A gentle breeze blew by, and Gao Jiajia, hanging in mid-air, slowly turned towards this side, revealing her ashen and ferocious face.

Half an hour later, school teachers, accompanied by police, cordoned off the floor, but students still gathered at the stairwell and downstairs looking in.

"Someone has hanged themselves."

"No way, everything was fine yesterday, how come someone suddenly hanged themselves today?"

"I heard from a passing teacher that the one who died was Gao Jiajia."

"Huh? She went to confess to Ai Liang last night. Do you think it might be because she was rejected?"

"How could that be! Gao Jiajia would commit suicide over something like this? Don't be ridiculous."

Yang Xingyue, Yue Qihua, and the others were stopped outside the cordon and could only watch anxiously as Ai Liang and another girl were questioned by two police officers.

"Waaah... Jiajia, Jiajia!" A middle-aged man sobbed uncontrollably beside Gao Jiajia's body. The homeroom teacher from the next class was patting him on the shoulder to comfort him. This was Gao Jiajia's father, Gao Fuye, a local real estate tycoon.

Gao Fuye's wife passed away early in his life, leaving behind only his daughter, Gao Jiajia. He cherishes Gao Jiajia dearly and, considering her feelings, has not remarried. This is truly commendable for a successful middle-aged man.

Considering the feelings of the family, the two police officers did not ask Gao Fuye about Gao Jiajia's situation last night, but instead asked Ai Liang, the first eyewitness.

"This student said you were the first person to discover the body, is that right?" The police officer asked, taking out his notebook to take a statement.

"Yes."

"Did you meet the deceased last night?"

Ai Liang glanced at the corpse covered by a white sheet and nodded.

"According to the information, were you the one who saw the deceased for the last time last night?"

"Yes."

"Could you tell me what you talked about last night? Was there any difference in her expression or tone of voice compared to usual?"

“I haven’t met Gao Jiajia many times and we’re not very familiar with each other. Last night she contacted me to confess her feelings and ask me to be her boyfriend. She didn’t mention anything else.”

"The conversation took place between 8:50 and 9:00. After I finished talking, I left the school and took a taxi home. This can be proven by the surveillance cameras at the school gate and the surveillance cameras near my home. Gao Jiajia chose to return to the teaching building alone at that time. I don't know what she was going to do."

Ai Liang recounted everything in one breath, while also clearing herself of any suspicion.

"That's all I know. Other classmates are also well aware that Gao Jiajia and I don't usually interact."

This statement drew strange looks from the girl next to him.

Gao Jiajia confessed to Ai Liang just yesterday, but today, after she died, Ai Liang immediately distanced himself from her.

It's not fair to say that Ai Liang did something wrong, but her explanation was too formulaic and lacked any sense of regret or sadness, making it sound rather heartless.

Upon hearing that Ai Liang had seen Gao Jiajia the previous night, Gao Fuye, who was lying on the ground, immediately turned his head and glared at Ai Liang with his bloodshot eyes: "Tell me! What did you do yesterday!"

Gao Fuye, who hadn't heard the whole thing, not only glared at her, but also lunged forward to try and restrain Ai Liang, but was stopped by the police officers nearby.

"Sir! Calm down!"

"Calm down! How can you expect me to calm down! She's my only daughter! My only family! How can you expect me to calm down!"

Gao Fuye struggled like a mad bull, and the teacher next to him came over to help pull him back. With the combined efforts of the three of them, they finally managed to restrain the irrational Gao Fuye.

After several people helped Gao Fuye into the empty classroom, the police officers reassured Ai Liang: "Don't be nervous. The deceased's family is just overly grieving and not thinking rationally. They have no malicious intent."

"Yes, I know." Ai Liang looked through the window at Gao Fuye, who was banging his head against the table in the classroom, and then at Gao Jiajia lying on the floor. A hint of envy flashed in his eyes, but his gaze quickly returned to its coldness.

Looking at the handsome young man, the police officer couldn't help but admire his strong mental fortitude, and at the same time added Ai Liang to the list of suspects.

What student would remain so calm after discovering a gruesome corpse on campus? The girl next to her, who still doesn't dare to glance at the ground, is the one behaving normally.

At this moment, Gao Jiajia's homeroom teacher came out and said to the police officer, "It's possible that Gao Jiajia's father is usually busy with social engagements and doesn't have time to spend with her. The students have been under a lot of pressure lately, so she couldn't think straight for a moment."

The police officer neither agreed nor denied it; everything would have to wait until the autopsy report was released.

"Gao Jiajia was murdered, not committed suicide."

Ai Liang's sudden words drew everyone's attention to him.

Gao Jiajia's homeroom teacher frowned and was about to reprimand her, but her expression softened when she saw that it was Ai Liang speaking.

Most teachers would give a little face to someone like him who has exceptional academic performance and can also teach ordinary top students to become members of the key class in the experimental middle school.

Who wouldn't love a good student who doesn't cause trouble, doesn't make a fuss, and can even help teachers cultivate top students?

This is also the main reason why the teachers ignored the rumors about Ai Liang and Yang Xingyue; some teachers even wanted Ai Liang to mentor more students.

Teaching one person is teaching, and teaching a group is also teaching.

As for puppy love? That's utter nonsense!
They are clearly working hard to learn and make progress together.

"Why do you say that?" The police officer squinted at Ai Liang. Just now he had said that he was not familiar with the deceased, but after hearing the suicide theory, he immediately refuted it.

His fickle attitude and calm tone strongly suggest he is highly suspicious.

The officers seemed to sense a major case was brewing.

Ai Liang knelt down in front of Gao Jiajia's body and slowly lifted the white cloth with two fingers. The girl next to her immediately turned her head away, and even the teacher wanted to stop Ai Liang's behavior.

The police officer raised his hand to stop the teacher. He had a body camera hanging around his neck. If Ai Liang was the murderer and wanted to take the opportunity to destroy some evidence, it could be said that he had taken a very bad tactic.

After lifting the white sheet, Ai Liang stood up and kept a half-meter distance from the corpse.

He then pointed to Gao Jiajia's neck and said, "I examined the body before it was put down, and I also have some medical knowledge. The body has a broken hyoid bone, a dislocated cervical spine, a unilateral dislocated mandible, and bruises on the neck. These are indeed consistent with the conclusion of hanging suicide."

"Well, keep talking."

The police officer appeared calm on the surface, but he was starting to panic inside. After graduating from the police academy, he had mediated civil disputes for more than ten years, mostly trivial matters such as noise pollution from square dancing or quarrels between young couples.

Police officers rarely encounter cases involving death. When they do, they usually hand the case over to a forensic doctor for an autopsy. They have long forgotten this knowledge. Only criminal investigators focus on learning these things.

“Since it meets the criteria for suicide by hanging…” Gao Jiajia’s homeroom teacher was interrupted by Ai Liang before she could finish speaking.

"The next part is crucial. The marks left by strangulation and hanging are completely different. A strangled person will have a mark on the back of their neck, while a hanged person will only have a semi-circular mark on their chin and neck."

Ai Liang pointed to Gao Jiajia's neck, and as he said, there were indeed ligature marks on the back of her neck.

"When I put the body down, I examined the surface of the door frame. The jump rope that Gao Jiajia used to hang herself was very worn out, and some of the metal wires were sticking out."

Even in suicide by hanging, the human survival instinct would drive a person to struggle, but there were no signs of a jump rope or wire on the door frame, indicating that Gao Jiajia was strangled and then hung at the classroom door.

His simple and easy-to-understand analysis left everyone present speechless.

Especially Gao Jiajia's homeroom teacher, whose gaze towards Ai Liang was tinged with fear.

Would a normal fourteen or fifteen-year-old student stare at a gruesome corpse without batting an eye? And be able to analyze so much about human anatomy? He's probably a potential psychopath.

Ai Liang's usual composure and good habit of reading and not talking became strange in his eyes. Most of the psychopathic killers in movies wear this kind of guise.

That wasn't all; Ai Liang continued her analysis.

"Gao Jiajia's corneas were cloudy, her lips were shrunken, and the lividity on her legs had merged to form a large area of ​​lividity. Based on the movement when she was taken off the body, it is inferred that rigor mortis had spread throughout her body. Therefore, it is inferred that the time of death was at least more than six hours ago, estimated to be between nine and ten o'clock yesterday."

"Of course, what I've said are just external observations and some inferences. Internal examinations and histological examinations still require autopsies to make a determination."

After speaking, Ai Liang looked at the police officer, as if seeking confirmation of whether what she said was correct.

Why are you looking at me? Who knows what you're talking about!
The officer was seething inside, but outwardly nodded in agreement, since what he said seemed to make a lot of sense.

More than ten minutes later, the body was finally taken away, and the police officers breathed a sigh of relief, no longer having to worry about the student's question. It felt just like the police academy entrance exam back in the day.

"This student, could you please come with us? After all, we know you were the last person to see the deceased, and you were the first to discover the body. It doesn't mean you are the murderer; this is just a formality."

The police officer spoke politely, but with an air of unquestionable authority, because before the investigation was completed, Ai Liang was highly suspicious.

"Yeah, no problem."

Ai Liang didn't say anything pointless like she was innocent; she just stood quietly behind the police officer.

She even had the leisure to ask Gao Jiajia's homeroom teacher to help her get a leave of absence.

In times of crisis, a person's actions reveal their character, and Ai Liang's strong mental fortitude left even the policeman speechless.

(End of this chapter)