Chapter 158

Li Meijia stammered, "I... I don't know where he is. I've never been to his home."

"Ms. Li, if you continue to cover for him, we have reasonable grounds to suspect you as his accomplice in murder," Fang Rui said. "So it's best if you cooperate with our investigation."

After some internal struggle, Li Meijia quickly made what she thought was the best choice.

She loved Ding Zhuangzhuang, but she loved her money more. She was about to inherit a large fortune, and with money, she could have any man she wanted. There was no need to protect a man who might not love her forever, all in the name of so-called love.

"He's a mechanic at an auto repair shop," Li Meijia said. "I met him when I was getting my car fixed there. I can take you to him!"

Zhang whispered, "Boss, Ding Zhuangzhuang is a mechanic, and there was engine oil on that wrench. Could he be the killer?"

Li Meijia led Fang Rui and his team to an auto repair shop in the old district, but after searching the premises thoroughly, they couldn't find any trace of Ding Zhuangzhuang.

The shop owner said, "Ding Zhuangzhuang hasn't shown up for work in several days. He doesn't respond to messages either. I don't know where he's gone. Yesterday was payday, and when I asked if he wanted his wages, he didn't reply to that either."

"When did he stop coming to work?" Fang Rui asked.

"The 24th. He'd never skipped work before, but that day he didn't even call in sick. He just didn't show up, and his phone was unreachable."

"Do you know where he lives?"

"Somewhere around here, I think. I don't know his exact address. That area behind us is full of migrant workers; he probably rents a place there. The rent is cheap in that area."

Fang Rui looked at Li Meijia.

Li Meijia quickly shook her head, "I don't know where he lives either. He never let me drive him home or take me to his place. He said his place was too messy and not suitable for visitors."

Zhang couldn't help but ask, "Ms. Li, what did you see in him?"

"His looks! He resembles a male celebrity I like. Plus, he has a great physique."

Fang Rui and Zhang went around showing Ding Zhuangzhuang's photo to nearby shop owners.

A breakfast shop owner recognized him, "That young man lives in the leftmost room on the third floor of the building behind us. Has he done something wrong? Well, he's always been light-fingered. He stole my electric bike's battery half a month ago."

"Why didn't you report it to the police?"

"I had no proof."

"...How can you be sure it was him without evidence?"

"He looks like a troublemaker! With that bleached yellow hair, no proper job, never greeting anyone, and being from out of town. Last time when census workers came around, they knocked on his door for ages, but he wouldn't open it even though he was inside - I saw him smoking through the window. People like that must have a criminal record, why else wouldn't he have an ID card?"

"How do you know he doesn't have an ID?"

"The room he rents belongs to my aunt. When she asked for a copy of his ID card, he claimed he'd lost it. Then when she asked for his ID number, he just made up a string of numbers. We checked, and it was fake."

"And you still rented to him?"

"It's 450 yuan a month. Better than leaving it empty. We have more rooms than tenants around here, so we can't be too picky."

"..."

Fang Rui and Zhang found the building and went to the leftmost room on the third floor, but after knocking for a while, there was no response. Instead, his neighbor opened their door angrily.

"What's with all the knocking? Don't you know you're disturbing everyone in broad daylight?"

Fang Rui showed him Ding Zhuangzhuang's photo and asked, "Does Ding Zhuangzhuang live here?"

"Oh, so that's his name! Yes, the person in the photo lives in that room." The neighbor lightly kicked the door, and it swung open. "Go ahead and check if he's in there. Just stop knocking - you're interrupting my game."

With a bang, the neighbor shut his door.

Before Fang Rui and Zhang even entered the room, they could smell a pungent odor.

The curtains were drawn, and the room was pitch black. Fang Rui turned on the light to find the floor in complete disarray.

The floor was covered with various items - cardboard boxes, clothes, socks, and several liquor bottles, including one that appeared to be Maotai.

Under the bed, there seemed to be more items stuffed away, and from what was visible, there was a luxury handbag.

In the middle of all the garbage and clutter lay a man - it was Ding Zhuangzhuang, whom they had been searching for.

"Boss, is Ding Zhuangzhuang dead?"

Fang Rui approached him and checked for breathing, finding that he was still alive.

"He's just drunk."

"Boss, look at his hands!" Zhang pointed at Ding Zhuangzhuang's hand, exclaiming, "There are scratch marks on the back of his hand!"

They quickly discovered a stash of luxury goods under the bed, including an expensive watch. Fang Rui also found two latest-model iPhones on the table.

Fang Rui called Wang and the others to come process the crime scene.

Li managed to crack the phones' lock codes, and the contact lists showed they belonged to Wang Yonghua and Sun Xiaoning.

"Is he too arrogant or just completely clueless about avoiding detection?" Li couldn't help but comment. "Even common phone thieves know to flash their stolen phones, but he just removed the SIM cards without doing anything else to the phones. It's like he's leaving evidence for us to catch him."

Everyone shared the same confusion.

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If Ding Zhuangzhuang was really the killer, he seemed incredibly stupid, not even bothering to hide the stolen goods, just leaving them scattered around. Sёarᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

After quite a while, when night had fallen, Ding Zhuangzhuang finally sobered up. His head felt like it was exploding with pain, and he struggled to open his eyes.

During the time they had waited for him to sober up, Fang Rui's team had sent Ding Zhuangzhuang's hair for DNA testing, and the results showed that the DNA from the crime scene matched his.

The luxury items in his room were also confirmed to be those purchased by Wang Yonghua and Sun Xiaoning that night.

Zhang gently patted his face, saying, "Hey, wake up. We need you to explain some things."

Ding Zhuangzhuang looked at Zhang with a vacant expression.

"Is he still drunk?" Zhang waved his hand in front of his eyes, but Ding Zhuangzhuang didn't respond.

Fang Rui picked up the Maotai bottle from the floor and discovered that it was labeled "Maotai" with slightly different characters. The packaging was identical to genuine Maotai, and the difference was nearly impossible to spot without careful inspection.

There was still a bit of liquor in the bottle. Fang Rui smelled it and detected the scent of poor-quality alcohol.

"He might have drunk fake liquor - quick, call 120 and get him to the hospital!"