Case Files Chapter 42: Campus Suspicions (4)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

Guan Jin finally got a good night’s sleep. As to why he could sleep so soundly even when Lu YunYang was next to him, Guan Jin attributed it to him being too exhausted. Mn, that must be it.

Lu YunYang, who had woken up very early to prepare breakfast and set it on the table before leaving to teach his classes, was in a very good mood. In the morning, when he opened his eyes, Guan Jin had already rolled next to him. His serene and fair face as he slept had been right next to his pillow, and his thin and long eyelashes were like small brushes, practically touching his arm. Lu YunYang had looked at him like this for a while, and he had suddenly felt that this type of morning was really pleasurable. However, Lu YunYang wouldn’t tell Guan Jin these things, since good things must be enjoyed exclusively.

“This building is a very long arc, and it’s split up into six areas, A-C are the boys, and D-F are the girls. The corridors of every area are connected, but for management purposes, the doors between areas are always locked, so each area is like its own building,” said the female residential dormitory supervisor as she led Wen JingHan and Chen QiaoYu up the stairs. “This is Area D. The girls that major in art, foreign languages, and biology live here.”

When they walked to the end of the seventh floor and went up another flight of stairs, there was a door with a large lock on it, and on the other side was the rooftop.

“Besides the people who clean and refurbish the rooftop, no one ever opens this door. And, it’s locked and also has a padlock on it,” said the dormitory supervisor as she unlocked the locks.

“When was the last time this was opened?” asked Wen JingHan.

“It was a month ago, remember that typhoon? We were worried that the rain would leak through, so we did maintenance on it.”

Wen JingHan and Chen QiaoYu exchanged looks. It had been last opened a month ago, yet there was no dust on the locks at all.

After the dormitory supervisor left, Wen JingHan and Chen QiaoYu walked around the rooftop, but they didn’t find any clues. Chen QiaoYu leaned against the railing and looked down, searching for where Dong Ping had landed. “It was over here.”

Wen JingHan also leaned over and looked down. “Mn, Area D is the girls dormitories, so boys are prohibited from entering. There are corridors facing the spot where he landed, and at the time, many people were walking in them, but no one saw Dong Ping, which means he must’ve fallen from the rooftop. It’s just, how did he get to the rooftop? After the incident, all of the doors leading to the rooftop were checked, and they were all locked. In other words, after Dong Ping fell, someone locked a certain door that had been opened.”

“The question is, did that person go onto the rooftop with Dong Ping and had something to do with his fall, or did they accidentally discover that the door was opened and locked it offhandedly?” mused Chen QiaoYu.

“That’s what we’re going to investigate, so far, we still don’t know who locked the door.” Wen JingHan thought for a moment and dialed a number. “Supervisor Wang, who has the keys to the doors in the building?”

“The dormitory supervisors have one set of all the keys for all the doors in the building, which is in my safekeeping. Each supervisor has the keys to their own area’s doors, including the ones in the corridors and the one that leads to the rooftop.”

“Then who can access or use these keys?”

“We all have a strict rule of no borrowing. If someone wants to use them, then they must ask the supervisor to open the door for them. …Right I almost forgot, we have a resident supervisor assistant, and he can come to me or the other supervisors to borrow the keys when he needs them.”

“What’s his name?”

“Chen Jing. He’s in the foreign languages department, in Class Two of English. He lives in Area A, room 302.”

Wen JingHan hung up and headed directly to Area A with Chen QiaoYu.

They waited in the supervisor’s office, and soon afterwards, a tall and thin boy opened the door and walked in. When the boy saw them, he froze. “Is Mrs. Li not here?”

“You must be Chen Jing, we were looking for you.”

“And you are…”

“We’re from the police, and we’re investigating the incident involving Dong Ping, so we have a few questions for you.”

Chen Jing nodded silently and sat down. “I wasn’t very close with Dong Ping, so I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.”

“Are you the resident supervisor assistant?” asked Chen QiaoYu.

Chen Jing nodded and looked a little confused.

“On the day of Dong Ping’s accident, do you remember what he was like?”

“Mn, that day was a weekend, so there weren’t any classes. In the morning, when I was at the entrance to the dorms, about to go to the library, I saw him buying breakfast and waved to him.” Chen Jing sighed. “Who knew, when I returned from the library, I heard that he——, I still can’t believe what happened.”

“Did you stay in the library that entire day?” asked Wen JingHan.

Chen Jing nodded again. “At noon, I came out and went to the cafeteria for lunch, and I went back to the library and stayed until around six in the evening. Officer, d-do you suspect me? Didn’t Dong Ping commit suicide? That day, I really was at the library, and I ate lunch with Little Pang ¹. I——”

“Don’t be nervous, we didn’t say anything like that, this is just some routine questioning. Is it true that you’re able to use the key to the dormitory building’s rooftop? Have you borrowed it recently?”

“No, it’s only been two weeks since school started, so I didn’t receive any tasks in which I would have to go to the rooftop.”

“What does your usual job entail?”

“I help the supervisors patrol the dormitories at night and make sure that all the doors are closed, and I also write announcements on the bulletin board.”

“On the day of Dong Ping’s accident, did you notice if any doors to the rooftop were open?”

Chen Jing widened his eyes. “Did Dong Ping jump from the rooftop? But how could he have gone to the rooftop? I didn’t notice anything, at least when I checked at night, they were all locked.”

“Where do you usually put the keys after you’re done using them?”

“I give them back to the dormitory supervisor.”

“Do you return them immediately?”

“Well, not necessarily. If I forget, I might only remember the next day to return them.” Chen Jing seemed to realize that he might have made a big mistake.

“Okay, that’s all. We just wanted to get a general understanding of the situation, thank you.” Wen JingHan ended the conversation.

After Chen QiaoYu watched Chen Jing leave, she said, “Chen Jing has access to the keys, and he also has enough time to make copies of them.”

“But you also saw that the keys are just hanging on the wall. Just like right now, once the dormitory supervisor leaves, anyone can come in and take them. And, Chen Jing might take the keys back to the dormitories, so even Dong Ping could have been the person to steal the keys.”

As they walked out of the supervisor room, Chen QiaoYu was a little gloomy. “It would be great if we could do a large-scale inquiry. Schools are so troublesome, there’s so many things to be careful about.”

“That’s why we have people deep behind enemy lines.” Wen JingHan smiled.

At this time, a group of boys exited the building in a flurry of footsteps, chattering with each other as they walked out. Guan Jin was walking behind them with a sullen expression. When he saw Wen JingHan and Chen QiaoYu outside, he was a little surprised.

After he passed them, Wen JingHan called him. “Is there someone called Little Pang with you in that group?”

“Mn.”

“Think of a way to verify with him whether or not he was with Chen Jing on the day of the incident with Dong Ping, and whether or not Chen Jing stayed in the library all the way until six.”

Chen Jing? Guan Jin raised an eyebrow. “Is he a suspect?”

“We’re in the process of investigating it right now. Be cautious so as not to arouse any suspicion.”

“What are you so nervous for, they’re just a bunch of little brats.” Guan Jin rudely hung up.

Guan Jin didn’t like to eat and drink with large groups of people, but he also didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb and wanted to get information, so he was forced to follow them.

“Hi, Lisa!” Little Pang was the first to rush towards a group of foreigners with colorful hair in the square.

A redhead grinned and waved to him as she said in broken Mandarin, “Hi, Little Pang.”

Guan Jin stood far away; he had seen plenty of foreigners, and he himself was also technically one.

“No, no, no, beauty, you’re wrong. You’re not fat, you’re full-figured and sexy!” a voice with a Texan accent was unusually loud amid the noisiness.

A girl giggled. “You’re so good at talking.”

Caw, caw, caw… A crow flew by overhead… 

Guan Jin slowly turned towards the source of the voice with a Texan accent and spotted the head covered in golden hair that was slightly curly among the other colorful hair. He took a deep breath, darted into the crowd, and stood in front of ‘Golden Retriever.’

“Fellow students, don’t mind me, I have some questions for this person, so we’ll be leaving now.” Guan Jin gritted his teeth and grabbed the neck of Golden Retriever, who was a lot taller than him, and kindly dragged him into a copse near the square.

“You idiot! Why are you here?!”

Tony rubbed his bruised neck and looked at the fuming, black-haired ‘boy’ in front of him. “Classmate, although everyone likes me, I regretfully tell you that I only like girls. I don’t want to break your heart, but——”

Guan Jin suppressed the urge to murder someone right then and there. “You damned Golden Retriever, if you don’t explain yourself, then you don’t need to sweep Ethan’s grave in the future anymore, I’ll bury you with him.”

Tony immediately stopped chattering, and his eyes widened as he looked Guan Jin up and down. After a while, he exclaimed, “Gosh, when did Ethan hook up with a lover like you? He told me before that he doesn’t like westerners, he likes people who have black hair like him. You’re definitely to his taste!”

Guan Jin rubbed his temples. This was his partner that he had trusted with his life before, and now, Guan Jin was sure that he must’ve been out of his mind.

Tony saw that he had already lost his patience. “Aha, I really didn’t expect to see you so soon. I thought, since I came out to lay low, I wanted to go to Ethan’s hometown to take a look and also see you on the way. I happened to borrow a spot here as an international student. You know, university, what a beautiful place, so much youthfulness and vitality…”

“Shut up, dammit! I’m warning you, you better watch yourself here and stay far away from me. Only contact me by phone!” Guan Jin was a little unprepared for Tony’s sudden appearance, and he felt angry as well as a little delighted and confused.

“Why?” Tony looked hurt.

“Because I’m a police officer.”

Tony immediately wiped off his mischievous smile and looked at Guan Jin grimly.

This is my partner. For the first time, Guan Jin had a feeling that he had gone back to his previous life.

“Oh my goodness! Ethan had such an unique taste~”

 

What was I expecting just now? Guan Jin felt like crying.