The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 216 Ji Peng
“These people are from all over the country. We have already sent letters of assistance to various places, asking them to go door-to-door to investigate these online writers.” Wu Shanqiu handed a list with a long list of names to Qi Fei. “Fortunately, most of the people who had conflicts with Hao Weiwei online are online writers who, like him, have published works on online platforms.”

To publish your work, you must complete real-name authentication in the backend; that's why we were able to obtain this list.

The second column of the list, filled with all sorts of bizarre online names, consists of ordinary names from all corners of the country.

“There are a few people here who are from Nancheng,” Qi Fei said, looking at the list.

"Yes, we need to talk to these people."

“However, if the murderer is among them, Hao Weiwei must have been in Nancheng before and after her murder. We need to take this list and compare it with the check-in records of various hotels in Nancheng.”

“Hehe, I’m already working on it, and we should have results soon! We can go and talk to this person first.” Wu Shanqiu said, pointing to a name on the list, “Ji Peng,” whose pen name was “Phoenix,” and said, “This person and Hao Weiwei have been exchanging insults for over a month, accusing each other of plagiarism, and it’s gotten really heated. Online, Ji Peng, using the pseudonym ‘Phoenix,’ threatened to find Hao Weiwei and kill him. But after making that threat, he suddenly stopped the insults. Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”

"Hehe, let's go see if he's put his tough words into action," Qi Fei said, tapping the list in his hand with his finger.
-
When you're near Yingjiang, the wind is always much stronger than when you're in the city.

There are many tall residential buildings on the south bank of the river, which were developed in Nancheng twenty years ago.

In recent years, due to the economic downturn, no new high-rise buildings have been built. These once luxurious river-view apartments have deteriorated faster than ordinary buildings under the constant erosion of the river wind. Their once gleaming facades have become dull and covered with dust and rain stains.

The elevator creaked and groaned as it took Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu to the 33rd floor. After passing through the narrow elevator lobby, they found Ji Peng's apartment.

There was a knock on the reddish-brown apartment door. Qi Fei knocked several times before he heard the door lock open. Soon, a young man who looked to be in his early twenties came to open the door.

"Hello, we are from the Nancheng Criminal Investigation Brigade. Is Ji Peng here?" Qi Fei asked.

"Uh, I'm Ji Peng." The young man wore glasses and a cultural T-shirt, and looked more naive than his age. "What do you want with me?" Unlike many police officers he had met, he didn't seem surprised, and his tone was numb, which increased Qi Fei's suspicion.

Qi Fei got straight to the point: "We've come to you to find out about Hao Weiwei's situation."

Ji Peng seemed to have been prepared, and didn't rush to answer: "Oh, then come in." He was quite polite, and said as he fully opened the door, "No need to take off your shoes, the house is a bit messy, sorry."

Ji Peng was right. He lived in a small studio apartment of about 50 square meters. The room was cluttered with books and clothes, so messy that there was hardly any room to step.

Ji Peng walked ahead, gathering the clothes scattered everywhere as he went, haphazardly stuffing them into the bedroom closet. Somewhat bewildered, he asked Qi Fei and the others to sit on a small sofa in the living room: "The Hao Weiwei you're talking about is the Supreme, right?"

“Yes, his online pen name is Supreme True One, which you must be very familiar with.” Qi Fei emphasized the word “familiar”.

Upon hearing this, Ji Peng gave a faint, bitter smile: "Heh, how could we not be familiar? Thanks to him, I still have haters leaving me messages calling me a plagiarist."

“I saw your online feud,” Wu Shanqiu said. “He was the one who first accused your novel of plagiarism by using your name, and then you two started arguing. You must hate him to death, right?” “Wait a minute.” Ji Peng looked dazed, but his reaction was actually quite quick. He looked at the two policemen in front of him and gave a helpless smile. “You don’t suspect me of killing him, do you?”

"Hmm? We never said Hao Weiwei was dead." A hint of wariness flashed in Qi Fei's eyes.

Ji Peng immediately retorted, "No, didn't the two most recently updated chapters of his novel say that he was killed in offline revenge?"

"Are you so sure?" Qi Fei immediately retorted, "The official documents never explicitly state that Hao Weiwei was killed."

"Ha, is Hao Weisuo the same person as Hao Weiwei? We in our circle have known for a while now. They say he's in trouble. Hao Weiwei is actually the real name of the Supreme One, which someone just dug up these past few days. Before, I only knew his pen name. See, it seems what everyone on the internet is saying is true?" Ji Peng asked tentatively.

“That’s right, Hao Weiwei was murdered. We are investigating this case. At the end of last year, you claimed online that you would find him and kill him. Is that true?” Qi Fei asked with a cold expression.

Ji Peng waved his hands like a flower hand gesture: "I was just talking nonsense when I was angry. I didn't do anything. You wouldn't be so hasty as to think I killed him just because of such words, would you?"
Then you'll have a lot of people to arrest.

To be honest, if it weren't for people online digging into the Supreme One's situation, I wouldn't have known he was also in Nancheng.

"Where were you between 8 PM and midnight on April 14th?" Qi Fei asked.

"Ah, this is the time he was killed?" Ji Peng couldn't hide his curiosity.

"Answer the question first!"

"Oh...you suddenly asked me, I need to think about it..." Ji Peng glanced at the calendar on the coffee table. "I haven't done anything, just stayed at home writing. I usually don't go out, besides writing, I just eat and sleep."

"one person?"

"Yes, I live alone."

"So, no one can provide you with an alibi?" Qi Fei asked in rapid succession.

"Ah, I told you I didn't kill that guy." Ji Peng panicked upon hearing this, scratching his head and racking his brains for a way to prove it. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him, and he clapped his hands. "Oh! I can prove I was home!"

I usually write in Word documents, saving each chapter as a separate document.

"You can see the file save time from that day, right? I can't possibly kill someone while typing." Ji Peng said smugly, clearly believing he had found a very clever solution.

"It's also possible that someone else edited your document. How can you prove that the record was left by you?" Unfortunately, Qi Fei clearly didn't believe him. "We saw your verbal battle with Hao Weiwei. After you said you wanted to kill him, you stopped responding to him. Why?"