Forbidden Land – CH 003

At the police station, the policeman told Zhang Chao to wait in the office while he took Teacher Liu to another room for a twenty-minute statement. Then he let Zhang Chao go in.

Inside, two policemen, one fat and one thin, were sitting there. The fat one asked questions while the thin one took the statement. They asked about the situation at the time and whether Li Weihao had shown any unusual behavior recently.

After answering their questions, Zhang Chao thought for a moment and then said, “Officer, I think Weihao’s death is unusual. He definitely didn’t ‘commit suicide.'”

“Oh?” The fat policeman shook his head dismissively and said, “Whether it was ‘commit suicide’ or something else, we’ll find out after we investigate. We can’t jump to conclusions now.”

At this moment, another policeman walked in and said, “Old Qi, we got the surveillance footage.”

The chubby policeman nodded and said to Zhang Chao, “Alright, we’ve basically finished questioning you here. If we need your cooperation in the investigation, we’ll contact you again.”

Zhang Chao asked, “Can I go now?”

The chubby policeman said, “We’ll send someone to take you and your teacher home later.”

Zhang Chao walked out of the interrogation room. As soon as Teacher Liu saw him, he came up to him and asked with concern, “Zhang Chao, are you alright?”

Zhang Chao said, “I’m fine. Teacher, what exactly happened to Weihao?”

Teacher Liu shook her head and said, “The police will investigate. Let’s have the police take us home first.”

Zhang Chao nodded. After waiting for more than ten minutes, a policeman came out to take them away, but the chubby policeman inside rushed out: “Student, teacher, wait a moment; please come and take a look at this.” Zhang Chao and Teacher Liu exchanged curious glances and followed him into the office.

On the computer screen was surveillance footage. A young police officer was frozen on a frame; the image was dark and somewhat blurry, but upon closer inspection, it could be discerned to be a corridor on the sixth floor of the Teaching Building.

The portly policeman stared intently at Zhang Chao and asked, “Besides you and the deceased, was there anyone else in the Teaching Building at the time?”

Zhang Chao carefully recalled the scene. The classrooms in the School of Medicine’s Teaching Building weren’t used for self-study; they were closed every evening. Several hours earlier, it was already 11 PM, and the two of them were among the last to leave the library. After they left, the security guards closed the library. The underground bicycle parking area was at least 300 meters from the library, above which was the Teaching Building. Apart from Li Weihao saying he heard someone singing, there was no one else there. Zhang Chao himself hadn’t heard anyone singing at all.

He thought for a moment and replied, “As I mentioned in the statement, Weihao said several times that he heard someone singing and wanted to run up to check. I didn’t hear any singing from beginning to end.” The chubby policeman’s gaze narrowed slightly as he pointed to the computer: “Play it.”

The screen appeared frozen for several seconds, then Li Weihao appeared at the end of the corridor. His back was to the camera, so his face wasn’t visible. He slowly walked to the window in the middle of the corridor, stood there for half a minute, then suddenly climbed up and jumped out.

Zhang Chao and Teacher Liu witnessed Li Weihao jump, and both gasped in shock. Teacher Liu asked, “Officer, why did you ask if there were any other people?”

The chubby policeman took a breath and said, “Keep watching.”

The footage remained still for three or four minutes after that point. Suddenly, something changed at the far end of the corridor. The portly officer froze the shot there.

The far end of the corridor was a blind spot for the security cameras, only capturing a portion. In the dark image, a pair of feet appeared blurry, almost invisible without close inspection. Only the ankles were visible; black shoes were faintly discernible, and it appeared the person was wearing a white dress. However, the lighting was too dim to make out anything.

The officer continued the shot. The feet stood still for three to five seconds, then turned and walked away.

The officer turned to Zhang Chao and asked, “Think carefully. Did anyone wearing white pants or a white dress appear?”

Zhang Chao thought for a long time, then shook his head. “Right, officer. There are cameras on the lower floors. We can check them.”

The portly officer nodded. “We’ve already contacted the security department and gotten them. Alright, student, Teacher Liu, based on the video footage, it’s almost certain that Li Weihao committed suicide. We still need to investigate why he did it. We’ll send someone to take you home first. If we need your help in a few days, we’ll contact you again. By the way, you must keep the contents of the surveillance footage confidential; it’s required for our work.”

Teacher Liu repeatedly replied, “Understood, understood, we’ll definitely keep it confidential.”

The portly officer glanced at Zhang Chao again and said, “Thank you for your help today. Xiao Liu, drive the teacher and student home.”

Teacher Liu and Zhang Chao repeatedly said, “You’re too kind,” and the officer named Xiao Liu drove them back to school.