Animal Detective

Chapter 217 Navy
The entrance to the office building.

Shen Xin leaned against the wall, eating melon seeds with Zhao Tianxing and the others.

"Captain Sun is a bit overwhelmed; he's getting all red in the face from all the questions," Zhao Tianxing chuckled.

Shen Xin nodded in agreement.

"But these days, do reporters still care about murder cases?" Shen Xin asked curiously.

There were four reporters in total: one from Nanjiang TV, one from Nanjiang Daily, and one from Nanjiang Metropolitan Daily.

Finally, a slightly more significant one, from the Ningjiang Daily.

The TV reporter was followed by someone carrying a camera.

The key issue is that these days hardly anyone reads newspapers anymore; just look around the streets, and you'll find hardly any newsstands left.

If it weren't for the government agencies supporting them, these traditional media outlets would have gone out of business long ago.

Just like now, everyone is asking so earnestly, with an air of wanting to get to the bottom of things, as if reporting it out would attract attention.

It's not as good as short video platforms, where a single video can be seen by millions of people.

Sun Zhao finally managed to deal with a few reporters and send them to the publicity department. When he turned around, he found a few people watching the drama unfold.

"What are you all looking at? You all have nothing better to do, don't you? Do you want me to find you something to do?" Sun Zhao shouted sternly.

The crowd scattered in terror.

Sun Zhao is usually approachable, but he is still a leader.

"Everyone come back!"

Sun Zhao shouted again.

Zhao Tianxing winked at Shen Xin, giving him a look that said he was about to get a beating.

Sun Zhao snorted coldly and walked past the crowd: "Meeting."

Inside the office, the door was closed.

Apart from a few people investigating other cases, nearly thirty people went out early in the morning and were all present.

Sun Zhao, with a cold face and arms crossed, said in a deep voice, "These are all colleagues of many years. It's not that I'm being unreasonable, but discipline is discipline."

"Whoever leaked the case details, step forward now and admit it. I might consider pleading with Director Lü for leniency. But if I wait until I find out, there will be no room for leniency. It will be dealt with as it comes."

Shen Xin felt a chill run down his spine, and his gaze carefully swept over everyone present.

It's obvious that someone leaked the details of the case.

Otherwise, how would that video online know so much?

"Captain Sun, it shouldn't be us, right? This area has strict discipline; no one would walk into the line of fire," Zhou Zhongyi said, trying to smooth things over.

Everyone nodded.

Leaking case details can have serious consequences, ranging from minor to major.

If you're too young and get caught, you'll just get a demerit or a warning.

However, if the case is serious and under investigation, leaking information could lead to the escape of a suspect or cause other unforeseen consequences, which could result in criminal liability.

This is the red line.

On Shen Xin's first day at the company, Li Dongsheng specifically mentioned this matter.

"Captain Sun, could it be that someone in the crowd leaked it, or maybe it was just a baseless guess that turned out to be correct?" his colleague Li Haifeng said.

"Yes, that's possible."

"It's like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse."

"We were all so busy yesterday, who had time for this? And Captain Sun, don't you think these reporters reacted too quickly?"

Everyone was talking about it.

Finally, colleague Qian Zhihai muttered something under his breath.

Shen Xin thought so too.

The case only occurred yesterday, and reporters are already at the door for interviews today. The response time is incredibly fast.

These days, when something happens, shouldn't the first reaction be to take out your phone and record a video? Who has nothing better to do than call a reporter?

Sun Zhao's eyes, sharp as an eagle's, swept over everyone present.

A seasoned veteran like him can tell who's guilty just by looking at them.

not found.

At this moment, Chen Chao pushed the door open and entered, then pulled Sun Zhao aside and said with a serious expression, "The reporter from the Metropolitan Daily is a bit green. If I scare him, he'll back down."

"Someone contacted them, told them that a murder had occurred at Shuiyuelushan, and offered them 2,000 yuan for publication, asking them to come and report on it today."

"I guess the other newspapers are probably in a similar situation. That kid said that when he came over this morning, he ran into people from other newspapers, and he was quite surprised."

He said that normally they don't report this kind of news, so he didn't expect other newspapers to come.

These days, there are far fewer murder cases, but precisely because there are fewer, fewer people pay attention to them.

Unlike before, when people relied solely on newspapers to find out who had been killed, which became a topic of conversation and the talk of the town.

Who cares about that these days?

At this point, Chen Chao kept everyone in suspense: "Old Sun, there's another thing you'll never expect."

"explain."

Sun Zhao was already annoyed, and said irritably.

Chen Chao said, "The reporter had something to do yesterday morning and only called back this person in the afternoon to discuss the interview today."

"However, this person called the front desk of the city newspaper around 10 a.m., saying that there was news and asking the front desk which reporter could help report it."

"Old Sun, it was 10 a.m., when Bai Jifei had just come to the branch office to report the case. People already knew about his dismemberment, but we didn't."

Sun Zhao's eyebrows furrowed instantly, and he crossed his arms and remained silent.

The case was just reported, and it wasn't even confirmed whether Jiang Qi was missing or murdered, when someone called the newspaper to leak information. This is a big problem.

How did he find out that Bai Jifei had murdered and dismembered the body?

Furthermore, why did he take the initiative to expose Bai Jifei's misdeeds by posting videos online? What was his motive?
Who are Bai Jifei's enemies?

Or perhaps it's to stand up for Jiang Qi?

"Find this person," Sun Zhao said in a deep voice.

Chen Chao nodded.

With phone calls and bank transfers, it should be easy to check.

Sun Zhao added, "We also need to contact the platforms to block the videos online."

The case is still under investigation, and this is causing such a stir; it's not good.

He then instructed Chen Chao to continue the investigation according to the plan decided at yesterday's case analysis meeting, and that he would continue to interrogate Bai Jifei.

After saying that, he quickly left the office.

The news brought by Chen Chao brought a sigh of relief to everyone present, but it also raised a number of questions.

"Shen Xin, how did this person know that Bai Jifei killed Jiang Qi?" Ding Yuwei asked in a low voice.

Shen Xin shook his head.

Logically speaking, Bai Jifei is meticulous, and he handled the crime scene so cleanly. How could he be so careless as to let others know the entire process of the crime? "There's something wrong with this case."

Shen Xin frowned.

I felt something was off yesterday, like everything was going too smoothly.

Looking back now, it seems my feelings at the time were correct.

As a result, the case suddenly became much more complicated.

You never know when you'll need to use your talent.

Today, Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei's task remains the same: to continue visiting hardware stores and investigating the source of the murder weapon.

After Chen Chao explained the new situation, everyone set off on their own.

Just as they were about to leave, they bumped into Bai Jifei's parents who had just arrived at the branch office.

Bai Jifei's father was slightly overweight and looked very much like Bai Jifei, as did his demeanor; he resembled a scholar.

Yesterday, Zhou Zhongyi introduced himself as a senior engineer.

Accompanying me was a lawyer in a suit and tie, who was very polite upon meeting me.

Chen Chao didn't really pay him any attention.

It's a criminal case, still under investigation. Do you really think it's like in the movies, where the lawyer comes and says something like, "My client won't say a word"?

That's simply not true; it's not easy for him to even see Bai Jifei.

And even if you see it, it won't do you any good.

As for the subsequent transfer, the lawyer becomes even less useful.

What, can you overturn the chain of evidence?

Shen Xin glanced at it a few times and then left.

Apart from the boning knife, which was part of Bai Jifei's kitchen knife set, the remaining hacksaw, hammer, and axe were all common brands, sold in almost every hardware store in Nanjiang.

This undoubtedly increases the difficulty of the search.

Bai Jifei should be a meticulous person. Wouldn't he have thought that after the incident, the police would investigate the source of the murder weapon?

He may have driven a long distance, even to a nearby city, to buy the murder weapon in order to evade investigation.

So such an investigation is really like finding a needle in a haystack.

But you can't just not fish it out, because it's the most crucial weapon.

We started from the vicinity of Shuiyue Lushan and searched for hardware stores one by one according to the map.

The worst part is that there is a Wuzhou International Industrial Expo City about five kilometers away from his home.

Goodness, there are hundreds of hardware stores alone.

That is to say, many shops were not open during the Chinese New Year period.

So we went from house to house asking until our throats were dry.

At noon, the two found a fast food restaurant nearby for lunch.

Shen Xin was scrolling through his phone.

The most popular video has already been taken down.

But this issue is spreading.

Shen Xin discovered related comments in some trending videos.

They even started conspiracy theories, standing in Jiang Qi's shoes, pleading for her innocence, and slandering Bai Jifei's family for being rich, claiming they were spending money to take down the videos.

Jiang Qi's situation is so tragic, I hope everyone will share this.

Then many, many accounts posted related videos.

The main point is that there are indeed videos.

The video of the villa surrounded by police cars and cordoned off with police tape is being posted by different accounts with varying versions of the story.

Then they must have spent money to boost traffic, which is why some videos get a lot of likes and shares.

This level of popularity is definitely not normal.

Shen Xin felt that there were professional online trolls helping to operate behind the scenes.

As she was looking at it, Ding Yuwei suddenly held out her phone: "Shen Xin, look, it's on Weibo too."

Shen Xin glanced at it.

On Weibo's trending list, the title "[Million financial elites, inhuman beasts, murdered and dismembered his wife]" still appears, and it has already climbed to number 41 on the trending list.

Judging from the current momentum, it will definitely rise further.

Shen Xin took the phone and carefully browsed through the content under the relevant topics.

There is video to prove it.

And now it's not just the original video.

At the time, there were probably onlookers at Shuiyue Lushan who filmed the scene and posted it online.

In addition, some residents in the neighborhood have come forward to testify, and based on this information alone, the story seems highly credible.

Therefore, the prevailing sentiment in the comments section was to defend Jiang Qi and angrily denounce Bai Jifei as a beast, not human.

And then more and more people kept leaking information.

They said Jiang Qi has ALS, which is very pitiful.

They even said things like "when disaster strikes, everyone flies away," speculating that Bai Jifei had mistreated Jiang Qi.

Some people even started doxxing Bai Jifei.

Shen Xin saw his ID photo, and there were a bunch of comments saying that you can't judge a book by its cover, that he was a cold-blooded killer, and so on.

Jiang Qi's photos were also unearthed.

The two of them share a Weibo account, where they usually share photos from their travels around the world.

Now it's been completely overshadowed by the comments from netizens, who are all expressing their regret for Jiang Qi.

Shen Xin frowned.

This level of hype is highly unusual; someone must be fueling it.

But the question is, who is it, and what is their purpose?

Most importantly, how did he know that Bai Jifei had murdered and dismembered the body?

"Shen Xin, what are you thinking?" Ding Yuwei asked.

Shen Xinxin said, "I'd like to hear what you think."

"Could it be someone who likes Jiang Qi, but can't get in touch with her, or that Jiang Qi revealed something to him before, such as suspecting that Bai Jifei wanted to kill him?"

"Then, after he really couldn't contact Jiang Qi, he started frantically leaking information, trying to ruin Bai Jifei's reputation?"

Shen Xin put down his chopsticks and said.

Judging from the current situation, this speculation is quite logical.

(End of this chapter)