Hegel's Confession Volume 1 Chapter 21

When Chu Haoran asked Lin Hao if Ji Fengjun could make wax figures toward the end, he shook his head after a little hesitation. Lin Hao said that he had not seen her do wax figures before, so he was not sure about it.

When Chu Haoran walked out of the company where Lin Hao worked, he looked up at the building and studied it for a long moment.

I couldn't help but frown when I saw his reaction. "Do you think Lin Hao has a problem?"

Chu Haoran took out his mobile phone and asked his colleague to stay at Lin Hao's company and monitor his actions. Then he got in the car and waved for me to hop in. On the way, he stared straight ahead with a serious expression and lowered his voice. "How much do you think Ji Fengjun loves Lin Hao?"

After hearing his question, I thought for a few seconds before answering. "It should be the kind of unforgettable love they shared. After all, she did not hesitate to accompany Lin Hao to this big, strange city, and fought from the bottom without any complaint. Judging from the houses they rented in the suburbs, they had poor living conditions at the time, so it must be absolutely true love."

"Do you actually understand this?" Chu Haoran glanced at me almost inadvertently, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

I turned my gaze away from his pointed look. "Can you be serious when we are talking about something important?"

"Fine! You are right. So, according to the situation now, do you think it's possible for Ji Fengjun not to contact Lin Hao after breaking up? Based on this, I think he is lying." Chu Haoran finally came to the point, leaving off with the mocking.

A revelation came to me suddenly after hearing his words. I was busy listening to the story, but obviously missing the point.

Ji Fengjun loves Lin Hao deeply and she might be reluctant to make it an entire close off after breaking up. In addition, in this city, she has no relatives and no one she could rely on; how could she have no contact with Lin Hao?

"But why did Lin Hao lie to us? According to his current conditions, he does not want to have anything to do with Ji Fengjun. Is it all because of this?" I groaned and felt that I had already spoken the answer aloud while asking.  

Unexpectedly, Chu Haoran slowly shook his head. "Maybe he just wants to protect Ji Fengjun."

He was driving the car fast on the road, and people were coming and going on the streets. I looked at everyone and everything out of the window, and gradually recalled some details about Lin Hao.

If Chu Haoran had not reminded me, I might not have noticed the change. When we first mentioned Ji Fengjun, Lin Hao seemed to be very calm, but somehow he grew impatient after a while. Then, he mentioned twice that he had no contact with her after breaking up. Is this the truth, or did he deliberately emphasize it?

If Lin Hao really lied to us, is it because he is not willing to get himself in trouble, or as Chu Haoran said, is he protecting Ji Fengjun?

The thoughts in my mind were still emerging rapidly when Xiao Teng suddenly called. He gave us the address of a restaurant and let us go to get to it quickly. He said that some person had provided evidence that the missing people had meals in this restaurant before, and they even had meals with Ji Fengjun.

This was actually a big breakthrough. Chu Haoran speeded up driving while I looked at the map. However, it was not long before I found out that the restaurant was in the range circle.

We had drawn the range circle based on the workplace of the four missing people, and the restaurant was in the middle of that circle. It could be said that the distance was just right, which was very convenient for going to anywhere from the restaurant, even without taking a taxi.

We had visited and even searched within this range circle before, too, but unfortunately, no one could ever provide any clue to us.

A moment later, we arrived at the destination. It was a French-style restaurant with the name The Other Sh.o.r.e. When Chu Haoran and I had just entered the restaurant, I saw Xiao Teng at the door. "I was just waiting for you guys. Hurry!"

It turned out that the owner of the restaurant had provided clues. He had hit it off with Xiaohui. Xiaohui's wife had inquired of him before, but he didn't know about the whole thing; he did, however, know that Xiaohui was missing.

It was a coincidence that someone had lost something in the restaurant in the last two days, so he asked to check the surveillance video. The manager said that there was no such thing at the restaurant, and the customer who lost the item called the police. After the police intervened, the restaurant owner could only show up to deal with the problem.

After checking the surveillance video, they did not find any abnormalities, but the owner saw Xiaohui in the video, who had been missing for a few days by then. And also, just the day Xiaohui had gone missing, he had actually come to the restaurant to have a meal. This led to the owner calling the police in time and hoping to provide some clues.

Since the surveillance video in the restaurant could be kept for two months, Xiao Teng said that he would like to view the video within six months. Chu Haoran did not understand that it was only over a month after Wu Jun's disappearance, who was the first missing person. Why did Xiao Teng want to check the surveillance video long before that?

According to the surveillance video, the four missing people all had meals with Ji Fengjun at The Other Sh.o.r.e restaurant before their disappearance. They ate happily, talked cheerfully and shared humor. They got along very well during their meals, just like couples in love.

It could be said that the case had become much clearer, and Ji Fengjun had been identified as the murderer from the suspect. The only thing we were anxious about was that we were not yet sure about her residence. We had asked the waiters in the restaurant about it, but they all shook their heads and said they had no idea.

Back in the car, Xiao Teng suddenly got wide-eyes about something that occurred to him. "I got it! Why don't we investigate her residence according to the surveillance video on the street? As long as she has pa.s.sed nearby, we will be able to find traces of her travel."

Although there were no surveillance videos on all of the streets, it could be counted as a solution. Chu Haoran asked Xiao Teng to do this seriously at once, leading his colleagues into two teams to search from the restaurant. I thought it would be a large amount of work and proposed to help. And, I could also try my luck around.

As he was just getting out of the car, Xiao Teng suddenly muttered: "It is afternoon; the case must be solved by the third day, so we have to hurry up our search."

I knew his worries. Since the big pressure on solving this case, the deadline of this case was limited to five days. While thinking, an idea suddenly came to my mind. "Xiao Teng, you have calculated the missing time of the four people before and each of them was missing eight days apart, right?"

Xiao Teng slowly nodded, looking at me. "Yes! Some people said it was a coincidence! What about it?"

For eight days, Xiaohui had been missing for three days when we got the case and six days had pa.s.sed since today. If there was no accident, it was very likely that Ji Fengjun would take action sometime the day after tomorrow.

After I stepped up my thoughts, Xiao Teng shook his head thoughtfully. "Do you think Ji Fengjun is stupid? With us investigating like this, she will certainly be vigilant, and she must also know that we have found Zhao Yu's body in the wax museum. Therefore, she must be hiding in some corner right now. When she getts the chance, she will escape from the city."

Xiao Teng's word made sense. After all, we had pushed hard these days and almost solved the case. If she committed another crime, she would definitely be exposed. But I still felt that something was wrong.

"Forget it, we'd better just work harder! It's a lot of work." Xiao Teng looked at the cameras on the streets and suddenly felt powerless.

This place was in the city center, surrounded by high-rise buildings, which was very busy. Most of the buildings around the restaurant were office buildings, shopping malls, and companies. This made the flow of people in the vicinity particularly large and busy, which was also the main reason that we did not find the entry point of the case after the previous investigation.

Watching the surveillance video was a very tedious job. It might be better at first, but their eyes would be glazed over after watching for a long time. If there was no progress, the work would really take a lot of patience.