Chapter 2416: Chapter 2417: Colossal Discovery Chapter 2416: Chapter 2417: Colossal Discovery “Huu~~~”
Lin Yi let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll call Wang Jiasu. Leave Fang Daye and Ma Haiqiang to you.”

“No problem.”

Lin Yi took his cell phone to a secluded spot and dialed Sun Yuxiang’s number.

“Director Lin.”

“Sister-in-law, I want to ask you about something.” Lin Yi didn’t beat around the bush, and asked directly:
“From the time you met until now, has Director Wang ever gone back to Jindou Village?”

Clearly, Sun Yuxiang did not expect Lin Yi to ask such a question.

“Return to Jindou Village… It seems he has not.”

“Don’t say ‘it seems.’ Give me a definite answer.”

“No!”

Sun Yuxiang said:
“We have a very good relationship. We call each other almost every day, so I’m generally clear about where he goes. Sometimes I even suggest that he, now having money, could go back and donate some, do some charity, but he says there’s no need, seemingly indifferent to Jindou Village.”

Lin Yi’s heartbeat inexplicably quickened.

“If I remember correctly, Old Sir Wang should have passed away, right?”

“He passed away three years ago, advanced lung cancer. In the end, he went to America for treatment, but it was not cured.”

“Normally, according to the custom of the village, when an elder passes away, people return to the village to pay respects to their ancestors, right?”

“That really didn’t happen. He had moved the old man here a long time ago, and he has lived in Zhong Hai for so many years. He has adopted the city’s habits. After his father’s death, he bought a public cemetery plot here and laid the old man to rest in Zhong Hai.”

“So, you mean that, in your memory, after leaving, Director Wang never returned to Jindou Village, and even harbored some aversion towards it, right?”

Sun Yuxiang was silent for a few seconds.

“Pretty much.”

“Let’s leave it at that then. I don’t have anything else. I’ll call you when the case has results.”

“Alright, alright, thank you for your hard work, Director Lin.”

“You’re welcome; it’s all part of my job.”

After hanging up the phone with Sun Yuxiang, Lin Yi called Tian Yan.

“Director Lin.”

“Check for me which charity projects Haoyu Storage has done over the years, and see if there is a place called Jindou Village among the beneficiaries.”

“Okay, I’ll check now.” Tian Yan didn’t dare to delay and promised crisply.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Yi returned to the interrogation room where Zhang Hui was still on the phone, finishing a few minutes later.

“How are things on your end?”

“Pretty much as I expected. He never went back after leaving Jindou Village. According to what his wife says, it seems he has a significant adverse feeling towards Jindou Village. His situation is somewhat similar to Song Lin’s.”

“That matches up. Neither Zhang Daye nor Ma Haiqiang ever went back, but I didn’t hear about any aversion from their families.”

“It doesn’t matter about that. The common point is, after leaving the village, they have never gone back.” Lin Yi’s expression was serious:
“I guess these individuals didn’t just leave Jindou Village to make a living; there might be other hidden reasons compelling them to leave the village!”

“There’s another point that also speaks volumes.” Zhang Hui said:
“Fang Dashu, Ma Haiqiang, Wang Jiasu; they’re about the same age and left the village in their early twenties. But back then, Song Lin was only about sixteen or seventeen, and going out to work, especially to Yanjing, was somewhat premature. Like you said, it could be that something forced them to leave Jindou Village and made them unwilling to return.”

“Now, things are clearer. All of the issues may lie with Jindou Village,” said Lin Yi.

“Besides that, there should be one more person who will become a target of the murderer; it’s just not clear who the last person is. If anything untoward does happen, it can only be said that he was unlucky.”

“All we can do now is deal with what’s in front of us, and as for the future, let’s leave it to God.”

While the two were talking, Zhang Peng walked in from outside.

“Brother Hui, Lin Bro, we’ve retrieved the surveillance footage.”

Zhang Hui nodded and stood up:
“Let’s go, back to the office.”

In the office, Zhang Peng inserted the USB drive into the computer.

The surveillance footage showed that before the incident, a delivery man appeared at Song Lin’s front door. After the door was opened, he forcibly pushed her into the house and didn’t leave until over an hour later.

What was puzzling, however, was that after the murderer left, it took more than an hour for the house to catch fire, which differed from what others had imagined.

“I remember the case file mentioned that the fire was caused by an oil pan catching fire in the kitchen.” Zhang Peng said:
“According to previous deductions, Song Lin was already dead by the time the killer left, so it was impossible for her to start cooking. Even if the killer turned on the gas stove on his way out, it wouldn’t have taken more than an hour for the fire to start.”

“Therefore, it’s very likely that the cooking appliance used was not a gas stove, but an induction cooker,” Lin Yi said:
“By connecting a smart switch to an outlet strip used for the induction cooker, remote control can be achieved.”

Zhang Zixin’s eyes lit up.

“I get what you mean. After the killer left, he controlled the smart switch via an app, powering it on, and the induction cooker automatically ignited the oil pan, leading to the fire.”

“Logically speaking, there’s no issue. Make a call to confirm.”

“Okay.”

Zhang Zixin called the Jingquan Branch, and they quickly provided a response.

The details were much like Lin Yi’s guess: it was an induction cooker and not a gas stove that had been used, perfectly fitting Lin Yi’s speculation!

“Huu~~~”
Lin Yi leaned back in his chair, “The details of Song Lin’s case have been reconstructed, now all that’s left is to find the killer.”

“Have you noticed something? The cases of Fang Daye and Ma Haiqiang have a slight difference from those of Wang Jiasu and Song Lin.”

Zhang Zixin did not quite grasp what Zhang Hui meant.

“What’s the difference?”

“When he killed Fang Daye and Ma Haiqiang, one was put in a coffin, the other buried in the ground, and he made sure we would find them. It was a clear provocation, a declaration of war on us.”

“But the way he killed Wang Jiasu and Song Lin, apart from being somewhat brutal, didn’t seem to have any provocative intent. One can only describe it as a logically meticulous homicide with a completely different modus operandi.”

They all fell silent; indeed, this was a notable difference.

“Because this incident was beyond the killer’s expectations,” Lin Yi said.

“Beyond expectations?”

Lin Yi furrowed his brows in thought, then after a few seconds, slowly spoke.

“I inadvertently learned about Fang Jia Shu’s situation. My attendance at the mourning was due to personal reasons. It was by chance that I heard he was from Jindou Village, which led to all these developments.” Lin Yi paused before adding:
“Think about it, if I hadn’t gotten involved, how would the cases involving Wang Jiasu and Song Lin have been handled?”