Chapter 1364 - 676: Mysterious Text Message? Dark Sprout

But although Luo Fei said he would just let things take their course,

his expression was clearly not that simple.

And it was also obvious that by now he had already made up his mind.

He had to get to the bottom of this case.

"Mr. Luo, there are some things I want to tell you, about Lin Shuyao. I just don’t know if it’s convenient for you to meet."

After a while,

Luo Fei received a text message.

And after reading the contents,

Luo Fei gave no clear reaction.

"Alright, in a bit come to the café across the street from the Major Crimes Unit."

Originally, Luo Fei thought

that the person who was going to give him information

would be some classmate.

But when he arrived at the café,

he was surprised to find that the person waiting there wasn’t a student at all,

but a strange man, who just happened to look a bit like Lin Shufen.

The sight made Luo Fei involuntarily raise an eyebrow.

"Sir, were you the one who just texted me?"

Hearing Luo Fei ask,

the man neither confirmed nor denied in any elaborate way.

"Yes, officer. Actually, I hesitated for a long time about coming to you this time. But in the end I decided I had to tell the police everything I know."

Seeing that the man was somewhat hesitant,

and that even now he seemed nervous, grave,

Luo Fei couldn’t help being puzzled.

"Sir, what exactly is it you’re trying to say?"

Noticing Luo Fei’s confusion, even suspicion,

the man patiently explained:

"Officer, here’s the situation. I’m Lin Shufen’s cousin. When her daughter was about eleven or twelve, she was sent to stay at my place for a while, because the tutoring center she went to back then was closer to my home. So Lin Shufen asked me to help look after her for a period of time."

"And just in the last couple of days, I saw the latest news reports. That was when I felt this matter wasn’t simple. So I wanted to share with the police what we experienced back then."

As he spoke, Lin Shufen’s cousin, Lin Wenqiang, pulled his pant leg up, revealing one of his legs—and it turned out to be a prosthesis.

Luo Fei was taken aback.

"Sir, what happened to your leg? Are you saying this has something to do with Lin Shuyao?"

Luo Fei asked, a bit shocked.

Lin Wenqiang didn’t dodge the point.

"Officer, that’s exactly right. I’m not trying to slander anyone, I’m only stating the facts. Especially with this niece of mine—she really makes people uneasy."

Seeing Lin Wenqiang struggling to put things into words,

Luo Fei grew even more curious.

"Mr. Lin, what on earth happened?"

"Officer, actually when our niece first came to stay with us, she was very disobedient. On the surface she put on a sweet, well-behaved act, but in reality she wasn’t good at all and wouldn’t listen."

Once Lin Wenqiang had explained,

Luo Fei finally understood.

It turned out that earlier, when he’d tried to talk to his niece, a conflict had broken out.

And he usually didn’t take his car to a shop; he always worked on it himself at home.

Then one night, the niece was supposed to be out, at a get-together with her classmates.

But that very night, while Lin Wenqiang was alone in the garage, the car jack that had been fine suddenly had its screws come loose.

That was how he lost his right leg.

Hearing this,

Li Yu, who was sitting off to the side, hesitated.

"Mr. Lin, are you serious? After all, the girl back then was only about eleven or twelve. Would she really do something that extreme?"

Li Yu was deeply surprised, even shocked.

But her hesitation already said a lot.

And Lin Wenqiang went on:

"Ms. Li, if it were just that one incident, I might still think it was a coincidence. But I check the jack every day, and that afternoon it was perfectly fine. How could it suddenly break that night?"

"And that’s not all—back then several things happened that could actually be linked together."

As he spoke, Lin Wenqiang again seemed torn about how much to say.

Which only made Li Yu more astonished.

"Mr. Lin, what else happened then?"

"Officer, back at that time, there was a little girl in her training class whose dancing skills were better than hers. But right before the competition, that girl suddenly broke her leg. And in the end, the medal ended up going to her instead."

"Also, we had a cat at home back then. It was a stray, but my wife and I were very fond of it. We even took it in for shots and registered it."

"But unexpectedly, not long after, it had an ’accident’."

As he spoke, Lin Wenqiang took out a photo of the cat and a picture of a grave no bigger than a palm.

And when they saw that the cat had died by falling into water,

Li Yu became even more certain.

"Mr. Lin, this seems enough to make the point, doesn’t it?"

Li Yu knew very well that cats are smart; they wouldn’t stupidly fall into water on their own.

Unless someone deliberately lured them.

And right now,

Lin Wenqiang didn’t argue the implication.

"Officer, that’s exactly what I mean. I never imagined that at such a young age she would do such horrifying things. Back then I only suspected it. But you must have heard about what’s happened recently."

Lin Wenqiang’s account

left Li Yu at a loss for words.

"Mr. Lin, we understand what you’re saying. Don’t worry, the police will do everything we can to find out the truth as soon as possible."

Luo Fei added,

"Yes. But if possible, I’d still like you to provide more leads. For example, that girl who broke her leg—does she know anything? If we can locate her personally, that might be very helpful to our follow-up investigation of this case."