Criminal Investigation Notes

Wanhu City had never been so bustling and attention-grabbing. Not only were the police gathering here, but also the personnel working in schools, hospitals, and many other places, who were coming here to work overtime.

The usually empty streets were filled with traffic and people in a hurry.

Wanhu No. 1 High School, located in the eastern part of Wanhu City, was considered one of the better buildings in the city.

Qiao Ze quickly caught up with Su Hui and showed his police badge, leading him into the school.

Wanhu No. 1 High School was a well-known high school in Huadu. Although most of the residents in Wanhu City were economically disadvantaged, the students’ academic performance was excellent. It was said that knowledge changes destiny, and the next generation here seemed to mature earlier and endure hardships better than children in other schools in the city.

This year, the school’s comprehensive examination ranked third in the city, attracting families from outside Wanhu City to send their children here to study.

Running a school in such a location with poor student sources and faculty was not an easy task to achieve such results. However, now that such a tragedy had occurred, it would undoubtedly have an impact on the school’s enrollment and reputation.

As the victims were students of the school, Principal Wang, a man in his fifties with graying hair, had already been alerted. He greeted them as soon as he heard that the police had arrived and led them into the six-story office building.

Su Hui walked behind, leaning on his cane. Although he couldn’t see the details clearly, he could still see that Principal Wang’s clothes were soaked with sweat.

While climbing the stairs, Principal Wang said, “Officers, this incident is so sudden. Please make any requests you have, and we will cooperate fully. You must rescue my students!”

Qiao Ze nodded and said, “We are doing our best…”

Currently, schools were not allowed to conduct makeup classes during holidays. The teachers were supposed to be at home, preparing to relax and rest. However, due to the sudden situation, all the teachers returned to the school to work overtime.

The lights were on in every office in the teaching area, and many office doors in the corridors were left open.

In the noisy office area, some people were playing the live streaming video outside, a few teachers were hurriedly searching for students’ records, and others were answering phone calls from parents. Everyone was in a rush, chaotic and frantic.

Su Hui coughed a few times and said to Principal Wang, “Principal Wang, could you please call out the three students’ homeroom teachers? I want to ask them about the situation of those children separately.”

Previously, Qu Ming had already communicated with the teachers in the school over the phone and sent some relevant student records, but that was far from enough.

He needed to understand these victims in the shortest possible time, find their common characteristics, and the meeting point.

At this moment, the parents of the students were undoubtedly irrational, and only these teachers who had the most contact with the students, knew the most, and were the most impartial, could give him the answers he needed.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Principal Wang readily agreed and led them into a small office. “Please wait a moment; I will bring the teachers here soon.”

There was a blackboard in the office, and Su Hui pointed to it and said, “Qiao Ze, you’ll record everything on the blackboard later.”

Qiao Ze nodded and replied, “Okay!” He erased some random formulas from the blackboard and prepared to start recording.

Soon, three teachers entered the office. One was a middle-aged, slightly overweight woman, another was a young female teacher, and the third was a tall, skinny man wearing glasses.

As soon as they entered the office, the three teachers handed over a stack of forms, photos, and information.

Su Hui cleared his throat and glanced through the materials. “Who is Kong Tao’s teacher?”

Kong Tao was the first victim who was burned to death. The short and chubby middle-aged female teacher replied, “I am. I teach Chinese.”

“And who is Mo Xiu Xiu’s teacher?”

The young female teacher answered, “That would be me. I am Mo Xiu Xiu’s math teacher.”

The remaining male teacher said, “I am Tao Yingxu’s English teacher and also his homeroom teacher.”

Su Hui set aside the materials without giving them much attention. Ninety-nine percent of the information in those documents was useless. Qu Ming had been filtering through them, and Su Hui didn’t want to waste time on them now.

He needed answers, the ones closer to the truth.

Su Hui spoke up, “Time is running out, so let’s cut to the chase. I want to know what characteristics these students have, their stories, their differences… And most importantly, any possible points of intersection.”

The teachers’ expressions turned uneasy, and they looked at each other, seemingly unsure of what to say.

Under the white light, the air in the small office seemed to freeze.

Finally, the young female teacher broke the silence, “The police called before and asked the same questions. But these students are in different grades and classes… Their academic performance varies, and we just checked their records. They belong to different social practice groups, and they haven’t participated in the same clubs. We can’t recall any differences among them or any occasions where they could have met each other…”

The male teacher adjusted his glasses and said anxiously, “Exactly! The police have asked us multiple times. Even their home addresses and routes they take are completely different. We’ve also interviewed their parents, and there’s no connection between them. They have different jobs, and their families have had no interactions for three generations.”

Qiao Ze wrote the names of the three victims on the whiteboard, holding the pen and turning to face the three teachers. It was clear that these answers were not what they were hoping for.

He tried to persuade them, “This is not an inspection from the Education Bureau or a parent-teacher conference. Teachers, you don’t need to hide anything. Just tell us whatever comes to your mind. Maybe a casual remark from you could greatly help us in solving the case.”

The middle-aged female teacher was on the verge of tears. “Officer, it’s not that I don’t want to say… Kong Tao was just an ordinary student in our class. I was called here today, and my mind is still in turmoil… I saw the final footage, and it scared me to death. He was an average student, and I can’t think of any particular characteristics…”

Su Hui furrowed his brow, his face growing paler. Time was pressing, and he had to quickly teach these people the principle of profiling, enabling them to describe their students.

With a hoarse voice, Su Hui spoke, “From the perspective of criminal behavior, the perpetrator only commits the crime when encountering the victims. In other words, the perpetrator must have had contact with these children, and their lives must have intersected at some point. The locations where they interacted could be the school, internet cafes, supermarkets, and so on…”

The female teacher pondered and said, “It’s difficult. During the day, the school doesn’t allow anyone to enter, and after classes, they have contact with each other, which we can’t monitor.”

“Just do your best,” Su Hui continued, “Every perpetrator has a unique way of selecting their victims. Their choice is not indiscriminate or random. There must be something about these children that attracts the perpetrator. It could be something small and specific, like their accent, accessories they wear, or their eating habits…”

The middle-aged female teacher looked up with tears in her eyes. “But… my mind is blank. I can’t remember anything now.”

Su Hui continued to gently inspire them, “Those children are living individuals, students in your class. They have seats, desk mates, and good friends in the class. They come to school every day, sitting in your classrooms. They participate in sports events, various class activities. They laugh, they cry, they do their homework every day… Even the most ordinary students have subjects they excel in and areas where they struggle…”

The male teacher stuttered, “But those things are unrelated to the case. We don’t know why the students were kidnapped, why they got involved in these things.”

“Break the boundaries in your minds. There’s nothing that is completely unrelated to the case,” Su Hui said. “You just need to tell me all the information you know. Whether that information is useful or can help solve the case is for us to filter and consider.”

This time, the teachers were finally starting to get inspired.

They lowered their heads and contemplated.

Su Hui tried to calm them down, “Close your eyes and think back to your students. Their appearance, how they speak, their expressions, what they do every day, who they play with, any interactions or criticisms they received, whether they were called in by their parents. Have you visited their homes? What are their family situations like…? The answers might be in your minds…”

Everything has cause and effect, and perhaps only some small causes led to today’s consequences.

The middle-aged female teacher remembered something and said, “Kong Tao… He always sat at the back of the class, and I could see him from the window at the back. He liked talking to his desk mate a lot, and I often caught him doing that.”

“His grades were not very good, but he was tall and big. Oh, right, he was good at basketball. He trained with the school team for a while, and many girls liked to watch him play basketball. But then he suddenly stopped playing. I asked him, and he said he wanted to focus on studying, but his grades didn’t improve just by not playing basketball.”

“He often played pranks on the girls in the class and bought fake snakes and cockroaches. He made girls cry more than once. Sometimes the girls would come to my office to complain, and I would make him stand as a punishment…”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Ze finally started recording on the whiteboard.

Su Hui nodded and said, “These are the pieces of information we need. If you can provide more, it would be even better.”

Encouraged, the middle-aged female teacher gained some courage and continued, “Kong Tao’s mother is busy and often doesn’t have time to make him breakfast. So he often eats egg-filled pancakes in the morning and even brought them to morning self-study a few times.”

“Also, Kong Tao is quite bold. He goes wherever he’s not allowed to go. There was one time when he was skateboarding with students from another class, and the skateboard fell down the stairs, almost causing a dangerous situation in the school. He also goes out cycling with other students, riding very fast several times…”

Su Hui continued to praise, “Very good, this is the information we need.”

The middle-aged female teacher sat up straight, “By the way, there’s something strange about him. He really likes fire. He once wrote an essay about a phoenix reborn from flames. He doesn’t smoke, but he always carries a lighter in his bag. I’ve noticed it several times. Once, he started a fire behind the school, lighting a pile of leaves, saying he wanted to roast quails with his classmates. Later, the duty teacher at the school discovered it and put out the fire.”

At this point,

 the student named Kong Tao finally came to life. He was a living, breathing individual.

Su Hui quickly gathered the information about this student in his mind. He lacked paternal love and sought stimulation. He would go to great lengths to do dangerous things, perhaps trying to attract the attention of his parents, teachers, and classmates.

He liked fire, and in the end, he was burned to death. Was it a coincidence or something deliberately done by the perpetrator?

Su Hui asked the female teacher, “Did he mention basketball shoes?”

“Basketball shoes…” The female teacher lowered her head and then had a sudden realization. “He suddenly stopped playing basketball, maybe because his basketball shoes got worn out. I heard him complaining to his classmates once that professional basketball shoes were too expensive, and he couldn’t afford them even if he saved money.”

Qiao Ze recorded on the blackboard and circled the basketball shoes.

A student like him undoubtedly wanted to have a pair of basketball shoes.

Next was the young female teacher who spoke up, “Mo Xiuxiu’s grades are average. I teach mathematics, and her math scores are usually around the 20th place in the class. She’s a bit precocious, secretly altered her school uniform, and paid a lot of attention to her hair. We don’t allow girls to wear accessories, but she secretly put small hairpins in her hair and even learned makeup.”

“She often paints her nails. I’ve caught her several times and made her remove it, but she would continue to apply nail polish, sometimes even with other classmates. I’ve spoken to her parents a few times, but it didn’t help.”

“By the way… She’s quite good at dancing and can be considered talented in dance. She often participates in various performances in our class. She’s quite headstrong, tends to lie a bit, and often uses her menstrual cycle as an excuse to skip morning exercises…”

“She, she’s somewhat attractive and has a bit of popularity in school. There are students in the class who have a crush on her… She likes eating sweets and often buys snacks from the convenience store. Boys sometimes buy snacks for her too. Once, I found several novels in her drawer…”

“Recently, I saw her cry once. When I asked her, it seemed that she was replaced in the middle position of a dance routine with another student. She cried for a long time, but still went on stage to perform…”

Everything seemed to be falling into place, and Qiao Ze quickly recorded this information, filling half the blackboard.

Su Hui continued summarizing. She liked reading, enjoyed being noticed, cared about her appearance, and hoped to be in the center of the stage…

Following Kong Tao’s cause of death, Su Hui continued his train of thought, “Does Mo Xiuxiu like swimming? Or is there anything related to water?”

The female teacher responded, “She does enjoy swimming. One summer vacation, she went wild swimming with some classmates and got reported to the school by the parent of one of the students who went along. Fortunately, nothing happened then.” She paused for a moment and asked, “Has Mo Xiuxiu passed away?”

Su Hui shook his head. “She is still undergoing treatment.”

The female teacher visibly sighed in relief.

Finally, it was the male teacher’s turn to speak, “To be honest, before today, I never would have imagined that Tao Yingxu would be involved in a death livestream. This student has excellent academic performance and has always been in the top five of our class, particularly excelling in physics, where he often scores first.”

“Tao Yingxu is not very talkative but gets along well with his classmates. He’s well-liked by the students in the class and carries some authority. In the last class monitor election, he lost by just one vote.”

“His family is currently struggling financially, but it seems his mother knows some wealthy people. I’ve seen him with a high-end camera. He has nice handwriting, so he often helps teachers copy questions and create bulletin boards. He’s the publicity committee member of our class. Oh, and his voice is pleasant… He has participated in recitation competitions and won awards. He’s interested in many things and attends the school’s free extracurricular classes.”

“He enjoys watching movies. There’s a cheap cinema nearby, and he often goes there. He also has a laptop and is interested in programming.”

Upon hearing this, Su Hui raised his head. He vaguely felt that this male student was different from the other two.

Comparatively, he was clearly much more outstanding than the other two individuals.

The three teachers continued to provide more information, and Qiao Ze filled an entire blackboard with notes.

Su Hui squinted at the words on the blackboard. He couldn’t see the details clearly, but he memorized all the clues in his mind. He filtered out the useless information and extracted the useful bits.

These children shared certain personality traits. There must be something that attracted the perpetrator in their lives.

“So, in terms of extracurricular classes, Kong Tao chose basketball, Mo Xiuxiu chose dance, and Tao Yingxu chose…”

The male teacher said, “He initially attended a photography class, but later chose post-production for film and television directing.” Then he adjusted his glasses and explained, “Although we are a run-down elementary school, the teachers also hope that students can have exposure to modern things and not be disconnected from society. If students can shoot a short video, edit it, and add voiceovers, it can be considered a form of entertainment.”

Playing basketball, dancing, learning film and television directing.

They were not willing to be mediocre. These students were young, full of performance desire, craving attention, and displayed characteristics of a performer personality…

“Do they participate in any performances or activities together?” Su Hui asked based on the students’ characteristics.

The teachers began to discuss among themselves.

“Performances… Mo Xiuxiu attended the district’s performance report last year.”

“But Kong Tao didn’t go. He only plays basketball and doesn’t participate in these art-related activities.”

“Tao Yingxu won an award in last year’s recitation competition.”

The male teacher suddenly exclaimed, “I remember something. There was a director who came before, saying they wanted to shoot a documentary about Wanhucheng and encouraged the students in the school to participate. Tao Yingxu said he would assist with the filming and took on some role.”

Another female teacher added, “Yes, yes! I think I also heard Mo Xiuxiu mention this. She and I took three days off, which was a little over a month ago.”

“Yes, Kong Tao also participated in this activity.”