Chapter 617: She... Isn't Dead?

Zhu Nianhong hadn't yet noticed the shift in Chen Xiao's mood.

She just thought that what Chen Xiao said made a lot of sense.

"Yeah, I definitely don't believe Nianying sold her body to get all that money! It might have just been given by someone!"

From her tone to facial expressions, even the content of her words,

everything expressed her love and protection for her sister.

Chen Xiao once again didn't reply to her, continuing to analyze in his mind.

[Yes, I've encountered cases where things were planned for years to cover up certain events!]

[Like in the Marquis Jinguang's Tomb case, the killer kept throwing out real and fake clues to disrupt my thoughts and direction!]

[And to cover up the truth of the Marquis Jinguang's Tomb case, the killer plotted for many years!]

[So, the disappearance of Zhu Nianying, the starting point might not be when she disappeared, but when something happened to her, that incident leading to her disappearance!]

[Because this case now clearly shows it's not a random event!]

[No one knows about that incident now, but to cover it all up, who can say the killer hadn't been planning everything for years before?]

[Remember, the account that sent money to Zhu Nianbing was Master Liu's son's account!]

[Those remittances, no one can confirm whether they really passed through Zhu Nianying's hands!]

Understanding all this, Chen Xiao felt Zhu Nianhong's arrival had indeed brought him an unprecedented surprise.

However, Chen Xiao also knew such surprises often happened in an instant.

One cannot force them.

Seeing Zhu Nianhong still staring at him, Chen Xiao said:

"Second sister, let's go find them to meet up first. Later, I'll have Old Gui drive you to the hotel to rest."

Zhu Nianhong nodded: "When will the results be out?"

"At most two days, at least 24 hours. Don't worry, Zhu Nianying's case has drawn high attention and will be expedited."

"That's good, thank you, Advisor Chen!"

Chen Xiao smiled and shook his head.

Then he led Zhu Nianhong out of the forensics department and had Old Gui take them to the hotel.

As for Zhu Nianhong's father, Chen Xiao didn't have even a word of exchange with him.

He certainly didn't want his mood ruined because of her father.

After Old Gui left, Chen Xiao went to Qin Fei's office.

Originally, Qin Fei shouldn't have any further contact with Chen Xiao.

After all, he had conspired with the Qi Family before, although everyone knew it was a choice he made to better assist Chen Xiao.

But for the city bureau, some procedures had to be followed.

Fortunately, with a series of foresighted arrangements by Chen Xiao and Qin Fei, Qin Fei wasn't harassed by the investigation team, rather he quickly clarified the issues and could continue assisting Chen Xiao with Zhu Nianying's case.

However, Qin Fei wasn't in the office.

Chen Xiao didn't ask where he was, staying alone in the office, contemplating the news to come.

The first piece of news, naturally, would be the identification results of the female corpse and Father Zhu.

Then, information from Xiaoji and Black Cat who had gone to Hai City about President Zhuang and Master Liu.

This was the information Chen Xiao most eagerly awaited.

But at this moment, he wondered what kind of results Xiaoji and Black Cat might discover.

Was Huang Zhao deceiving Chen Xiao, was that Master Liu fake? Was the so-called lover relationship between President Zhuang and Zhu Nianying fake too?

Or was it that Master Liu was truly Master Liu, President Zhuang was truly President Zhuang, and there was indeed some unspeakable relationship between Zhu Nianying and President Zhuang?

But beyond these possibilities, were there other possibilities?

For instance,

President Zhuang was indeed President Zhuang, after all, he was deceased.

A deceased person could easily be slandered.

And Master Liu was still Master Liu, since once investigated in Hai City, if Master Liu's identity was fake, it couldn't be real; if real, it couldn't be fake.

Therefore, in Chen Xiao's heart, he believed this Master Liu should be real.

So, another possibility is simply that the relationship between Zhu Nianying and President Zhuang wasn't special, just doctor and patient.

All of this was concocted by Master Liu and Huang Zhao!

Multiple possibilities appeared on Chen Xiao's list.

As for which was more likely, Chen Xiao actually had an idea.

What he needed to do next was how to proceed from the suspected possibility, taking one step and planning three ahead!

[Now it seems, I'm inclined to believe President Zhuang is real, Master Liu is real, the only probably fake is the supposed lover relationship.]

[The pregnancy issue extending from the lover relationship also naturally has the possibility of being fake.]

[If the female corpse isn't Zhu Nianying, coupled with current suspect reasoning, the case will indeed be intriguing.]

[The relationship is fake, naturally the pregnancy is fake as well. Since the pregnancy is fake, then the female corpse naturally wouldn't be Zhu Nianying.]

[But now, the discovered female corpse isn't Zhu Nianying, yet completely matches the label attached to Zhu Nianying.]

[So, what is the purpose of the deliberately exposed female corpse?]

[The killer holds absolute initiative, while I am entirely passive. If the intention was to discard the corpse, why not directly discard Zhu Nianying's corpse? Why make such a fuss about this other corpse?]

[Is it fear that Zhu Nianying's remains, once detected as having been discarded twice, would expose the first crime scene of Zhu Nianying's murder?]

[Or is it that Zhu Nianying's body can't be discarded, because she... isn't dead!]

As these thoughts were sorted out, Chen Xiao suddenly raised his head.

Just then, Qin Fei, who had been busy outside, walked into the office.

Seeing Chen Xiao suddenly raise his head, his eyes brightly lit, the greeting switched to inquiry:

"Looking at your expression, have you thought of something?"

Chen Xiao turned to Qin Fei, saying frankly:

"I'm wondering, could it be that she isn't dead?"

"Who?" Qin Fei instinctively asked, then his face changed in shock:

"You're talking about Zhu Nianying?"

Chen Xiao nodded: "Yes, if Zhu Nianying had been harmed, wouldn't it be better for her corpse to appear directly?" Chen Xiao retorted.

Qin Fei furrowed his brows tightly: "No, don't you find your thought process has a very obvious subjective bias? The female corpse was discovered because Jin Peng was a witness, Jin Peng and the Qi Family cooperated, but neither are the killer!"

"If I were the killer, no matter how far the police investigation progressed, as long as they haven't found the body, I would never discard the body myself. After all, in the investigation process, the difficulty varies significantly with or without a body."

"You're not wrong, the body was found simply due to Jin Peng and the Qi Family's design. In short, this has little connection to our investigation of the Zhu Nianying case, but..."

Chen Xiao changed his tone: "Don't forget, in the year 2000, when Jin Peng became the witness, the killer toyed with him! Jin Peng clearly saw Zhu Nianying being taken away, but later, the discarded body might have turned out to be another person!"

"Think carefully, if you were the killer, apart from the intent to toy with and create difficulty, could there be other motives? For instance, to give people a false impression that Zhu Nianying was murdered?"

"But in reality, the killer never intended to kill Zhu Nianying! In fact, Zhu Nianying's disappearance happened from sheer desperation!"