Chapter 572: Chapter 572: Qinzhou City Vocational and Technical College

Qin Hui remembered the details of the case from back then very vividly, as if counting his own family treasures.

It turns out that three years ago, on the day of the incident, a classmate in the dormitory was having a birthday. Six female classmates went out for dinner that night and had some beer.

"But even if the six girls drank alcohol, it’s impossible that when facing an assault, they would have no reaction, not even scream."

"After the perpetrator entered the dormitory, he used ether to knock out the six girls one by one, and then proceeded with his violent acts."

"In the end, five victims died of mechanical asphyxia, only one victim survived because after the perpetrator smothered her with a pillow, she merely fainted from lack of oxygen rather than dying completely."

"Captain Qin, was the issue with the broken surveillance on the school wall investigated back then?"

Qin Hui nodded, indicating that this critical clue was a major direction of their investigation at the time.

"The dormitory where the incident happened was adjacent to the wall. Normally, if the surveillance wasn’t broken, anyone trying to climb over that wall to enter the girls’ dormitory would be recorded."

"The surveillance camera was deliberately damaged about a week before the incident. A thief tried to steal it, but after breaking it off, he was discovered by the security guard and ran away without taking the camera."

"Later, the school didn’t repair the surveillance, and unexpectedly, something happened afterwards."

"Was that thief caught back then?"

"He was caught the day after the incident."

"But he had an alibi; on the night of the incident, this guy was disposing of stolen goods." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

In order to clear his name, the thief was eager to turn over all the stolen goods he had in his life.

He actively led the police to his black market connections to prove that he indeed had no time to commit the crime.

Normally, thieves rarely reveal their black market locations.

After all, getting caught for petty theft usually just means serving a short sentence. Once they’re out, they can continue doing what they were doing.

If they reveal their black market contacts, although it might reduce their sentence, it doesn’t cut much time, and it tarnishes their reputation. Once they are out again, no one dares to take their stolen goods anymore.

"The difficulty of solving the case back then was mainly in evidence collection."

"Our crime scene investigation, along with experts from the provincial department, discovered the perpetrator’s path into the dormitory building, but didn’t find any information that could confirm their identity."

This was the most important reason the case was not solved back then.

Knock, knock, knock.

As the two were talking, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Someone came in carrying a large box, standing at the doorway. Lu Chuan looked and recognized a familiar face, Wang Ruiqing from the Qinzhou Criminal Investigation Team.

"Captain Qin, we’ve prepared the items."

Seeing Lu Chuan, Wang Ruiqing’s face lit up with a smile: "Lu Chuan, an honored guest, long time no see."

"Hello, Brother Wang, long time no see."

Since they were all old acquaintances, communication became much easier.

All criminal police are like a family; you never know when you might need someone else’s help, so everyone is courteous, supportive, and helpful when working on cases.

Moreover, Lu Chuan came this time to help them. If the 116 case gets cracked...

Wang Ruiqing expressed gratitude on behalf of the five students who died back then, thanking Lu Chuan!

Lu Chuan had already reviewed the case files multiple times and was quite familiar with them. This time, he mainly focused on examining some of the collected evidence.

This included some clothing, bed linens, and even the mop used for cleaning back then.

"No fingerprints collected from the mop?"

Wang Ruiqing, who had been involved in the crime scene investigation back then, remembered the case with exceptional clarity.

"Only three fingerprints were collected from the handle of the mop, the rest had been wiped away."

"According to the comparisons, all were from the female students in the dormitory."

"Brother Wang, I saw in the case files that it was mentioned the perpetrator entered through the window. It was November at the time, and the weather was quite cold. Weren’t the dormitory windows closed?"

Wang Ruiqing smiled bitterly: "The boilers at the Vocational and Technical College were always run very high, so students generally left the windows slightly open before going to sleep."

"We checked other dormitories at the time, and most dormitories had their windows open, so the perpetrator likely took advantage of this oversight."

"Three suspects... why are you so sure it was three people?"

Indeed, there were three suspects in the crime back then, not just one.

But, with no traces left at the scene, how could they ascertain that three people committed the crime?

"The information was provided by the sole survivor after the incident."

"Although the survivor also inhaled ether, perhaps the dosage was too low, and she woke up in the middle of the attack."

"At that time, she saw two shadows on the opposite bed, combined with the one attacking her, confirming that there were three suspects during the crime."

The number of perpetrators...

Matched the number of killers in the extermination case.

It seemed highly likely that it was the same group of people.

After asking some more questions, Lu Chuan decided to visit the Vocational and Technical College.

At eight o’clock in the evening.

The third floor of the girl’s dormitory building at Qinzhou City Vocational and Technical College was brightly lit, yet the entire third floor was in complete darkness.

Accompanied by the school security staff, they entered the dormitory building.

"After the case happened back then, not only was the dormitory sealed, but no one dared to live on the third floor since then."

Lu Chuan had already noticed from the outside that the entire dormitory building was equipped with burglar-proof windows from the first to the sixth floor.

There were not only burglar-proof nets on the walls, but also surveillance, and shards of glass pointing upwards.

The entire third floor of the dormitory was unoccupied. As Lu Chuan and the others entered, it felt like stepping into a haunted house.

Once the light was switched on, the hallway brightened up significantly.

However, whether it was due to psychological factors, it always felt like this floor was chilled by a gust of wind.

"This is the dormitory."

From the spider webs hanging by the door, it was evident that no one had been there for a long time.

As Lu Chuan climbed upstairs, he noticed that the entire third floor was sealed off, with the emergency exit from the stairs to the third-floor hallway locked.

So, over these three years, only a few people had entered the third floor.

Creak.

With a teeth-gritting noise, Lu Chuan entered the crime scene of the 116 case from three years ago.

A strong moldy odor hit his nose; flicking on the wall switch, the whitish light from the paper lamp on the ceiling emitted a pale halo amid a faint buzzing.

Six beds, with a restroom on the right.

The bedding from back then had long been taken away as evidence, leaving only bare wooden bunks before him.

Qin Hui and Wang Ruiqing, who accompanied Lu Chuan, had somber expressions.

Although three years had passed, after the incident, the scenes seemed to have happened just yesterday, deeply etched in their minds.

"Which bed was the survivor on?"

"The middle bed on the right-hand side."

Wang Ruiqing gestured.

The six-person dormitory had three beds on each side, with a bed on top and study desks below, with everyone sleeping on the upper bunks.