Chapter 259: Chapter 259

The real killer who caused Shi Haoran and his daughter’s death, although he hadn’t seen him either, instinctively felt it was not the robust, simple-minded man on the web page. Although the man had a long criminal record, most of his offenses were simple direct crimes like assault, completely unrelated to meticulous thinking, making it impossible for him to be the real killer.

The true criminal is highly likely still at large, possibly looking at the news web page right now, smiling smugly.

Afterward, he joined the police academy with a heart as dead as ashes, undergoing months of hellish training. After graduating from the police academy, the first private event he attended was Xiang Yuan’s wedding.

Remembering the bond from childhood and because his mother felt sorry for his transformation during that time, she hoped to take him to lively events to lift his spirits, saying otherwise he would soon turn into a cold iron pillar, unable to smile.

Not wanting to worry his mother, he went along to the wedding. Not seeing the bride and groom in the hall, he intentionally went upstairs to find Xiang Yuan’s lounge, hoping to surprise him, only to find Xiang Yuan not in his lounge.

He laughed and walked straight into the adjacent suite.

No doubt, the room next door must be the bride’s lounge. The reason the groom wasn’t in his lounge had to be because he ran to the bride’s lounge.

He was cheeky, made no sound while walking, only to find the bride’s lounge empty. He surveyed the surroundings, walked to the entrance of the walk-in closet... the sound from inside left him frozen instantly.

The voice was one he was all too familiar with!

He had never seen her face, but he could never forget her voice!

There are voices similar in this world, but the sound wave of a voice is a unique physiological imprint. If you listen carefully, you can discern slight differences even among similarities. What’s more, during that period, he could only hear her voice, as if her voice represented his whole world, occupying all his imagination, so how could he not recognize it?

He thought she was dead, but it turned out she was still alive; she only "died" in China but traveled across the ocean to M Country.

But he finally met her again at the wedding of her with his childhood friend Xiang Yuan; moreover, she was being intimate with Xiang Yuan!

—At that moment, he fled, never having done so before.

He couldn’t accept that fate punished him ; was it because of his many years of recklessness and capriciousness? If he had known it would be this punishment, he would rather have fate take his life than let him survive to face such cruel reality.

So the four years after, he deliberately avoided, decisively stayed away. Whenever family talked about the Xiang Family, he would proactively block out any mention, avoiding it like a snake or scorpion.

There were a few unavoidable encounters; he watched her from afar, seeing her shyly standing beside Xiang Yuan, like a newly bloomed jasmine flower. Her gaze upon Xiang Yuan was full of sincere love, she was wholeheartedly in love with Xiang Yuan.

His heart shattered...

He walked cautiously past her or brushed by her, even once reaching out to steady her, preventing her from tripping over her high heels, in a hurry saying, "Be careful." She only gave him a completely estranged glance, polite but without the slightest remembrance.

He then hopelessly realized that their worlds had diverged from then on, like two lines growing further apart after crossing paths.

She "died" in China because she wanted to completely erase that unpleasant experience, right?

Then he really shouldn’t disturb her anymore but quietly disappear from her life and never appear again, shouldn’t he?

Tang Yanqing turned over.

Even though these were matters from years ago, now long past bitterness, whenever he recalled the mindset back then, he still couldn’t help but press his face hard against the pillow.

Heavens, never again. Get full chapters from novel·fire.net

Guan Liang was still nervously cross-referencing, Jia Tianzi sat aside also staring at the screen.

Although the result of the cross-referencing was easily obtained through police technology, Guan Liang couldn’t help but snort: "Damn, each of these people is more cautious than the last. Look, they’ve turned off the automatic location function in the mobile APP, even turned off phone location. APP location functions are preset to on, most users wouldn’t notice it, let alone specially turn it off."

Jia Tianzi curled his lips: "This isn’t surprising. How could someone who can draw a clown face lack this degree of caution?"

Tang Yan Yi walked in: "But because of this detail, those people’s suspicions should be ruled out instead."

"Since someone with the wit to draw a clown’s smiling face would understand, just closing APP and phone location functions can’t make one completely invisible; there are still ways to locate through non-civilian means."

Guan Liang turned back, giving Tang Yan Yi a thumbs-up.

Tang Yan Yi sat down and pulled up the clown’s photo to examine it closely.

"The case of Rosa being taken happened over ten years ago. The clown symbol hasn’t appeared around Rosa for all these years, so how could it suddenly appear now? This shows that the person who drew the clown must either be the abductor or someone who knows the inside story of this case."

Jia Tianzi nodded: "I’ve spoken with the officers from Xiaocheng Police Station who handled the case back then. They said there’s something strange about the case, which has never been solved. Initially, it was thought to be a home invasion by someone disguised as a clown, who took Rosa when she resisted. But in fact, nothing was missing from Rosa’s house, and there were no valuable fingerprints or footprints left at the scene."

Tang Yan Yi squinted: "So, does that mean the person came prepared, not for money, just for Rosa?"

Guan Liang shook his head: "But Rosa’s Mom clearly said they had plans that night to see a clown stage play, and it was a last-minute change of mind that kept Rosa at home. So it couldn’t have been premeditated by a clown."

Tang Yan Yi gently closed her eyes: "The sudden appearance of the clown’s smiling face, I think it might be : if we can find the suspect in Rosa’s car accident, we can solve the mystery of her kidnapping back then. The police were powerless back then, and the same challenge is now before us again today. Maybe someone wants to see if, after more than a decade, we’ve made any progress? Whether we can solve the case from back then."

Guan Liang was startled: "Xiao Yi, you mean the reappearance of the clown’s smiling face is to challenge the police?"

Jia Tianzi squinted: "But what was the reason Rosa was stolen back then?"

Tang Yan Yi stared at the two of them without speaking.

In her heart, a strange thought arose: she thought of Huangfu Huazhang.

Perhaps it was Guan Liang’s words "challenge the police" that reminded her of Huangfu Huazhang’s disdainful look when she wore her police uniform.

But—why would Huangfu Huazhang want to scare Rosa? What possible relationship could there be between Rosa and him?

Tang Yan Yi nudged Guan Liang: "Do me a favor, check what Huangfu Huazhang was doing the year Rosa was stolen."

Recently, due to the waning attention on the Kangchuan University serial murder case, ’Deep Throat’s’ attention has declined; in contrast, ’Black Curtain’ has thrived due to Xiong Jie’s report on Rosa’s car accident case.

Although Xiong Jie couldn’t obtain the crucial police clue of the clown’s smiling face, her sensationalized writing of a love triangle appealed to many female readers’ curiosity, leading to a continuous increase in sales.

The male lead is a cunning top lawyer, the female lead is a rising journalist, and the supporting female is a financial powerhouse... sigh, a four-year tangle of love and hate, including clichéd plots like the support female’s power play, scumbag’s return, three-way fights, and the female lead’s awakening, all wrapped in a criminal investigation, left readers stereoscopic and full of snark.

Summer Zuo was naturally aware of the media frenzy, but he didn’t expect even the gentleman had a copy of ’Black Curtain’ on his desk this morning, with Xiong Jie’s article on the front page.

Summer Zuo was quite surprised. Since when did the always aloof gentleman take an interest in such melodramatic reports?

Huangfu Huazhang looked at his fingertips, then cast a glance at Summer Zuo: "Is it really that strange?"

Summer Zuo carefully chose his words and said solemnly: "Moderately strange."

"Oh," Huangfu Huazhang couldn’t help but chuckle lightly: "I just want to understand why women like to read such articles."

Summer Zuo frowned: "But sir... her feelings upon reading it wouldn’t be the same as those of other female readers."

He raised his eyebrows at Summer Zuo, then looked away, furrowing his brow.

"Yes, how could I forget that she doesn’t have the detached pleasure of reading. First, she’s portrayed as the female lead; second, she’s a business rival. She wouldn’t feel light-hearted after reading it, only heavy-hearted."

Summer Zuo frowned again, almost able to predict what the gentleman would do next.

As expected, Huangfu Huazhang picked up that issue of ’Black Curtain,’ set it alight, and threw the ashes in the trash can.

Then he turned his chair away and said lightly, "Tell them not to do such pieces in the future. Unless they want me never to read ’Black Curtain’ again."

Thanks to the following folks:

Breezy’s red envelope, 15243629656’s flowers