Huai Cheng Branch, conference room.
The moment the video began playing, everyone fell into complete silence.
The footage was somewhat shaky, likely recorded on a mobile phone. Yet it did not prevent everyone from clearly seeing Zhou Rongfeng, He Qi, Xie Maomao, and Zhang Wei appearing in the frame.
The setting was familiar—it was Zhou Rongfeng’s office, which the detectives had visited earlier that day. However, in the video, it was nighttime, with only dim lighting and the sound of intense, rhythmic music. The four of them were seated around a sofa, with several bottles of red wine, baijiu, and foreign liquor on the table...
Zhou Rongfeng wore a T-shirt with suit pants and held a wine glass, but he looked entirely different from the refined businessman he had appeared to be during the day. He drank with an arrogant expression, chatting and occasionally bursting into loud laughter, giving off an extremely wild vibe.
He Qi, who had seemed cautious and sharp during the day, now wore a white shirt but only had underwear on his lower body, revealing his pale legs. His face was flushed, likely from excessive drinking.
Xie Maomao was perhaps the one who contrasted most starkly with his daytime self. He was dressed in a suit jacket but wore nothing below the waist. He, too, laughed loudly, continuously drinking baijiu, his expression both wild and gloomy, his eyes seemingly concealing boundless desire.
After a while, Xie Maomao roughly pulled up a girl from beside him—it turned out there was someone else sitting there.
She was completely naked.
The eyes of all the detectives burned with shame and fury. The girl had a pretty face and a slender figure, but she staggered unsteadily, her face unnaturally flushed and dazed. Who else could it be but the second victim, Liu Yisha?
What followed was a scene of unspeakable debauchery.
The girl’s head was lifted, and she was forced to drink large amounts of alcohol. Her body moved mechanically, as if she had already lost consciousness, her eyes slightly closed.
Then, someone began throwing money—handfuls of red banknotes scattered through the air, falling onto the girl’s body.
The people around laughed: "Haha! She’s still grabbing the money! Even in this state, she knows to grab money!"
"So despicable!"
...
Zhang Wei stood nearby, holding a wine glass and laughing. She picked up a stack of banknotes and slapped the girl’s disoriented face with it. To the shock of everyone watching the video, the girl clutched the crumpled bills tightly, and the corners of her pursed lips lifted slightly, as if she were actually smiling.
...
The accident happened when no one was paying attention.
Xie Maomao lifted the girl’s lifeless body, intending to torment her further. For some reason, Liu Yisha suddenly began to struggle. Enraged, Xie Maomao slapped her. Liu Yisha scrambled to her feet, trying to run, but Zhou Rongfeng, with a cold expression, pushed her hard. The girl slipped on something underfoot, and her head slammed heavily into the nearby coffee table, producing a dull, cracking sound.
...
He Qi grabbed the girl by her long hair and saw her lifeless, wide-open eyes, along with the blood gushing from her head. He checked her breathing. Suddenly, he threw Liu Yisha aside, collapsing to the floor, and trembling, said, "She’s dead... How did she die? Just from hitting her head like that?"
At that moment, the video shook violently and then cut off.
The chief of Huai Cheng Branch shouted sternly, "Arrest everyone in this video immediately!"
A voice interjected, "And Chen Zhaoci."Everyone looked at Yin Feng as he said, "The person who filmed the video must be someone they trusted deeply and should have also participated in the process of luring the girls into the crime. I think it's him."
—
Originally, You Mingxu's team's "undercover sting operation" hadn't been officially sanctioned, but with ironclad evidence now in hand, there was no longer any reason for hesitation. Soon, the four individuals in the video, including Zhou Rongfeng, who was already recovering without major issues in the hospital, were brought to the police station. However, when the police arrived at Chen Zhaoci's residence, they found he wasn't there and were still searching for him.
As soon as the police presented the video, the expressions of those individuals changed completely. Once composed and respectable suspects, they now looked like wilted eggplants after a frost, unable to put up any further resistance.
Zhou Rongfeng, visibly agitated, repeatedly insisted, "It was an accident! Really, we just wanted to have some fun with her. She agreed to it herself—she wanted her debts forgiven and actively offered to sleep with us. She was the one who suggested playing rough, yes, she proposed it! We were just a few grown men, momentarily tempted by a female college student!"
Xu Mengshan, who was interrogating him, sneered coldly, "Bullshit! Keep making up stories. Gang rape, intentional homicide, and desecration of a corpse—do you think you can escape this?"
Zhou Rongfeng reacted swiftly, "No, no, no! It wasn't intentional homicide—it was negligence! Truly negligence! How were we supposed to know she'd die from a little alcohol and a bump? She must have had pre-existing health issues—heart problems or some old injury... That has to be it! And it wasn't gang rape—she was willing!"
Xu Mengshan retorted, "Are you even human?"
Even He Qi, who had been the calmest, lost his composure. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and his lips trembled. Like Zhou Rongfeng, he stubbornly insisted that the girl's death was an accident and had nothing to do with them.
But when questioned about the first victim, Zhao Feier, He Qi showed a confused and surprised expression. Not only did he not remember the girl, but he also flatly denied any involvement in her death.
"This was the only time!" He Qi said, his face pale. "We really only did this once. Liu Yisha just died somehow! All the others we played with before were consensual, and nothing ever happened. This... Zhao Feier, with her looks, I really have no impression of her at all. We definitely never played with her."
"What about the body?" You Mingxu asked. "How did you dispose of Liu Yisha's body?"
He Qi replied, "It was Chen Zhaoci! Chen Zhaoci did it! He said he'd handle it, and none of us got involved! I didn't know anything! Really, I had no idea!"
You Mingxu was taken aback.
Chen Zhaoci. It was actually Chen Zhaoci.
The only member of the group still at large.
Xie Tangmao had the most exaggerated reaction. In the interrogation room, he directly knelt before the police, resorting to his usual tactics as he tearfully expressed his remorse, blind obedience, and ignorance of everything: "They said the girl was willing! I was just persuaded by them, momentarily tempted to go along and have some fun..."
You Mingxu, recalling his demeanor in the video, felt utterly disgusted and shouted, "Get the hell up! Tell the truth! The evidence is undeniable—who do you think you're fooling?"
Xie Tangmao continued to sob, his face a mask of remorse, his expression flawlessly crafted.You Mingxu said, "Your only chance now is to confess honestly: where exactly is Fan Lingling? If anything happens to her, your crimes will be compounded, and you’ll be rotting in prison for life!"
Xie Tangmao froze for a moment, then declared resolutely, "I really don’t know! If I did, I’d report it to you immediately! The company is only so big, and I’ve been wondering too—how could she just disappear?"
No matter how You Mingxu probed or hinted, Xie Tangmao remained utterly clueless about Fan Jia’s whereabouts, looking as if he were on the verge of tears.
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