Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 86 The Case of Burning the Corpse 4
The blogger behind "Mystery Case Chase" was invited to the police station at 2 PM.

Outside the interrogation room, Zheng Yan stared at him intently, while Tan Ming reported the personal information he had found.

"His name is Zhang Wenwu, he is thirty-two years old, a local, and his registered address is in the South District, which is a city away from Guilingpo."

"He is a full-time blogger, mainly doing case explanations and mystery story explanations, with more than one million fans. However, there are many explanation bloggers now, and his account is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, so last year he started to focus on a niche area, mainly local new and strange cases, accompanied by some niche and eerie background music, and the video views are quite good."

"It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with Ghost Ridge Slope, nor does it seem like they have any deep-seated hatred for anyone," Zheng Yan said slowly, still staring at Zhang Wenwu, who was sitting restlessly inside.

"But it cannot be ruled out that he might commit murder himself to gain traffic, or deliberately disguise himself as the murderer to create buzz."

Tan Jia asked in surprise, "I only know that some film crews in the entertainment industry use murder cases to create buzz and boost box office sales. Would an interest blogger do that too?"

“It might not be just a hobby, but he’s a full-time blogger who has experienced the fast food of the internet. Watching his traffic disappear is something that can easily cause paranoia. You can see him as a loser in the workplace. Last year we handled several workplace murder cases. The motives for the murders were all for career advancement, wages, or rebellion.”

At this point, Zheng Yan sighed: "Most murderers actually act in a moment of madness. The breath they can't exhale blinds them to their fear of the law, and in a few minutes they do what they only dare to think about but not dare to do. The rest of the time is spent covering up their crimes."

Even many murderers who smile freely in the interrogation room were afraid, panicked, and confused when they committed the crime. The difference is that some people can adjust immediately and make it impossible for others to see through their act, while others are always trembling and unable to get over that mental hurdle.

Tan Jia understood and asked, "Then do you think he really knew about the burning of the body, or was he tricked by the murderer and innocently dragged into this matter?"

"We'll only know after interrogation. What if he's the murderer but is just acting like an innocent person?"

After saying that, Zheng Yan and Tan Ming went into the interrogation room together.

People who have been explaining cases for a long time are more familiar with the police's case-handling procedures than others, so they don't beat around the bush and get straight to the point.

"Zhang Wenwu, do you know why we invited you here?"

“I know a little bit about the Ghost Ridge Slope arson case,” Zhang Wenwu had edited many interrogation videos, but this was his first time being interrogated, and his palms were sweating profusely. “But it has nothing to do with me! I just received a submission from a fan and thought it was a true story that had already started an investigation, so I posted it. It’s all my fault for not verifying it…”

A fan submission? Tan Ming noted down this important clue.

Zheng Yan scoffed: "You think you were wrong for not verifying? Even if a case had already been opened for investigation at the time, the case information was classified. How dare you release it?"

"I... I was thinking at the time that it might not be real..."

"Don't make excuses for yourself. At the time, you didn't even care whether there was a problem with the situation. The first thing you thought of when you saw the submission was that if you posted the first-hand news, you would definitely get traffic, right? Traffic is money, and money inflated your ego. You didn't even use your brain to think about whether the person who was burned was actually dead, since the incident happened so quickly. The deceased was not dead at the time, but someone sent you the whole story. Who do you think that person was?"

Zhang Wenwu's forehead was also sweating: "That was a complete stranger, I never thought there would be a problem. I'll give you the fan's account, you can check it, it really has nothing to do with me!"

“We will investigate the fans,” Zheng Yan looked at him intently, “but the problem may not necessarily be with the fans.”

What do you mean? Zhang Wenwu took a few seconds to react, then explained with even greater emotion.

"It really has nothing to do with me! Murder requires a motive and time, but I don't even know who the victim is, let alone have any grudge against them. Besides, I stayed at home all night editing videos and watching mystery movies. I didn't go out, and I didn't even pass by Ghost Ridge Slope. If you don't believe me, go check it out!"

He doesn't seem to be lying.

Tan Ming glanced at Zheng Yan, then went out to have the technical team check the private messages on the "Mystery Case Investigation" account. Zheng Yan stayed behind and asked Zhang Wenwu to retell the details of the case submitted by the fan.

"Remember to make it clear which parts are true and which parts you have embellished artistically."

When it comes to artistic embellishment, Zhang Wenwu seemed a little hesitant.

After sorting out what he told us, we showed it to everyone. Wow, quite a few parts of it had been edited.

“He described the driver’s psychology and behavior as if he himself had hit someone, and he liked to create a gloomy atmosphere by using the environment. His wording also leaned towards the style of ghost stories. The words ‘inexplicable’ and ‘nobody expected it’ appeared no less than five times in three minutes.”

"The fan's post said that 'the driver ran away after being hit, and then ran back to pour gasoline and set the body on fire.' It didn't say that other cars blinded the driver and caused the accident, nor did it say that the deceased rolled down the hillside at first, nor did it say that the driver got out of the car to check. The fire was justified and there is evidence. Where does this inexplicable thing come from?"

Zhang Wenwu described a simple case of hit-and-run and arson as a bizarre case that shocked the world.

“We don’t have many major cases here in a year, so it’s not easy to find material for him to only talk about local cases. I just didn’t expect him to directly revise the script himself.” After reading it, Xiao Chen was amazed by Zhang Wenwu’s ability to spread rumors.

Tan Jia was still sculpting the clay figure of the dead engulfed in flames, and hesitated to take the next step after hearing all this.

She frowned and asked, "Is it really just an accidental hit-and-run, and the body was burned to avoid responsibility?"

Xiao Chen reviewed the on-site investigation results: "There are indeed fresh scratch marks on the roadside guardrail."

"But in my dream, the murderer stood by the roadside for a while. It seemed like he knew the deceased and had a conflict with him. Besides, if the murderer was the hit-and-run driver, why would he send the details of the case to Zhang Wenwu and make it public?" She was still puzzled.

This is the first time that her dream and the investigation results do not match.

Zheng Yan pondered for a moment and said, "The murderer's perspective is problematic, so let's think about it from the victim's perspective. Why would a middle-aged man in his fifties be alone on Ghost Ridge Slope in the early morning?"

Tan Jia's brain raced, keeping up with his thought waves: "Could there be more than one murderer?"

She thought about it more deeply: "Perhaps another person was at the scene and had already injured the deceased, which is why the deceased couldn't avoid the car in time. That person watched the deceased being hit and burned, and then spread the news so that everyone would think that the tragedy was entirely caused by the driver who caused the accident, so that he could get away with it."

Yes, she had analyzed her dreams before. There are countless murder cases in the world, so why does she only dream about a portion of them?

What's special about those dreams? After analysis, a common thread was found—the emotions of both the murderer and the deceased were very intense, which is why she dreamed about them.

In particular, when the killer's emotions are fluctuating greatly—sadness, pleasure, or resentment—it is easier to draw her into the killer's perspective.

So, there's nothing wrong with her dreams, but she can only dream about the most intense emotional moments.

In this case, the mysterious killer's pleasure in revenge and the victim's pain and resentment when burned were the most intense, so she only saw that scene and prejudicially believed that the killer was only that person.

With the addition of another person, the parts of the case that seemed inexplicable suddenly made sense.

(End of this chapter)