Chapter 59: Lin Dongxue’s Investigation

Teacher Li wailed desperately for mercy, even raising his hands high to prevent the police from putting handcuffs on him. His cornered and defiant demeanor amused the officers.

With a sorrowful face, Teacher Li pleaded, “After all, I am a role model for others. Can you give me some face? I can go to the station, but can we skip the handcuffs?”

“Fine!” Lin Qiupu said, “But if you try anything funny, don’t blame me for not giving you face.”

“Definitely! Definitely!”

Lin Qiupu looked around the room and said, “Bring those discs along, and later have the anti-pornography and anti-illegal publication department appraise them.”

Teacher Li asked, “Comrade officer, is it illegal to collect these?”

“It’s hard to say, let’s wait for the professionals to appraise them.”

As Teacher Li was led out of the school, cheers came from the window of a classroom: “The big lecher has been caught!”

Lin Qiupu glanced at the window crowded with children’s gloating faces and said, “Your class?”

“Yes, don’t listen to their nonsense. These kids love to give nicknames to their teachers.”

“I hope it’s just a nickname,” Lin Qiupu said meaningfully.

It turned out that Teacher Li had a shocking past. In the afternoon, Lin Qiupu excitedly gathered everyone, saying that he had a record of indecent assault on children. Once, he forcibly kissed two girls in an elevator. After the video was posted online, he was quickly identified by netizens and became the target of public outrage. He was not only fired from his public school but also had his teaching qualification revoked.

Later, through connections, he entered this private middle school, and it seems his “personal hobby” has been preserved.

A body was thrown under his dormitory building, and the missing person happened to be a student from his class. The deceased had also hinted at harassment from him. Moreover, an important point is that Li couldn’t provide an alibi for the time of the crime.

Lin Qiupu deemed this person very suspicious and asked the team to focus on him.

With a suspect emerging, everyone was in high spirits, investigating Li’s situation like they were pumped with adrenaline, except for Lin Dongxue, who remembered Chen Shi’s words, never to be misled by Lin Qiupu.

At 4 pm, Lin Dongxue left the bureau, and Xu Xiaodong followed, grinning and saying, “Going to investigate? Let me join you!”

“Is it my brother who sent you to follow me again?”

“No…” Xu Xiaodong obviously showed a look of concealment, “Where are you going? I’ll drive you.”

Unable to resist Xu Xiaodong’s enthusiasm, Lin Dongxue still got into his car. After getting in, Xu Xiaodong asked, “Why isn’t Chen involved this time? Did he leave any brilliant strategies?”

“Used to call him Brother Chen, now it’s changed to ‘Chen the Great’?” Lin Dongxue teased.

“Oh, I’ve never admired anyone in my life, except for him. He’s really amazing! What exactly did he say?”

Lin Dongxue crossed her arms, looking at him warily, “Hey, you’re not a spy sent by my brother, are you?”

“No, no!” Xu Xiaodong denied vehemently, “Lin team asked me to protect you, but didn’t tell me to spy on you. I just want to know.”

“You see, you slipped up!”

Xu Xiaodong made a slapping motion in frustration and asked, “Are you confident about this case?”

Lin Dongxue didn’t speak.

“Last time, getting a third-class merit was great. I knew following you and Chen the Great would be rewarding. Count me in this time too! I’ll treat you both to dinner after it’s over.”

“I’m not confident at all, don’t get your hopes up.”

“It’s okay, I’m happy just to partner with you on the investigation.”

Lin Dongxue gave him a disdainful look, but Xu Xiaodong still had a carefree, silly smile.

The two arrived at the school, and surprisingly, the private middle school dismissed early. At just half past four, they saw a large number of students pouring out. Lin Dongxue said, “Oh no, we’re late! Hurry up and look for students from Class 4 of the eighth grade.”

“Everyone is wearing uniforms, how would I know?”

A group of children surrounded them, and a chubby boy with a runny nose tugged at Lin Dongxue’s sleeve and asked, “Sister, sister, was our Teacher Li arrested?”

“Did he kill Du Lei?”

“Is Teacher Li never coming back? That’s great, no more Chinese homework.”

The barrage of questions made Lin Dongxue’s head spin. She asked, “Are you all from Class 4?”

“Yes!”

“Do you know where Du Lei’s home is?”

Everyone shook their heads. The chubby boy just said, “Wang Jinsong must know. They always leave school together.”

“Where is Wang Jinsong now?”

“In the small alley ahead, there’s an internet cafe. He often goes there.”

Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong immediately went to this dark internet cafe. The smoky cafe was filled with children in the school uniform playing games, as well as many young people from society. It’s hard to imagine how the parents would feel if they knew their children were playing here.

While Lin Dongxue was looking around, Xu Xiaodong stood behind a child and started giving advice, “Why buy Doran? Buy shoes!”

“Hey, what are you doing here!” Lin Dongxue glared at him.

“I was infected without realizing it.” Xu Xiaodong chuckled.

“How old are you, still playing games?”

“Haven’t you heard that saying? Men never grow up, they just get more expensive toys.”

“I hate childish men.”

Xu Xiaodong immediately changed his attitude, straightening his collar and saying, “Actually, I’m childish on the outside, but quite mature on the inside… I took a little test, and my mental age is over forty!”

“Come on!”

Lin Dongxue was dizzy and nauseous from the smoke here and was about to retreat when she heard a very fierce scolding.

“Mid lane, mid lane! Garen, did you shit in your brain? Stealing the blue buff! Nunu, don’t cast your ultimate, what the hell are you fighting for, come back and prepare for the team fight!”

The child, wearing headphones, was verbally communicating with his teammates in the game, slapping the keyboard loudly, even the net manager looked over with a pained expression.

“This kid will be a great talent in the future,” Xu Xiaodong commented.

Lin Dongxue noticed the child’s profile was somewhat familiar. She came over and saw that it was Wang Jinsong. She poked him with her finger. Wang Jinsong turned around and glared at her, then continued to immerse himself in the game. After a while, he finally came to his senses, turned his head, and because he was wearing headphones, he spoke loudly, “I’ll finish this round!”

“We’ll wait for you outside,” Lin Dongxue gestured.

“Okay, okay… C, don’t take my creeps, I swear!”

The two stood at the door waiting, Lin Dongxue occasionally peeked inside. Xu Xiaodong said, “Thirsty? Let me buy you a bottle of water.”

“No, no.”

Lin Dongxue looked back again and found the person was gone. She hurriedly went in to ask the owner, who said that the child had just settled the bill and left.

“Where did he go? Isn’t there only one door?”

“There’s also a safety passage next to the toilet.”

Lin Dongxue ran there and saw a small figure running on the road, the backpack bouncing up and down. She was so angry she wanted to curse, and said, “Chase!”