Volume 8 – Chapter 34: Pretender

In the surveillance video, the man named ‘Qian Guoliang’ suddenly appeared in front of the camera.

At that time, he was already fatally injured and could only walk up the stairs on the upper deck, holding the wall for support.

“Strange, is this the only video available?” Officer Ma frowned when he mentioned this.

Mu Enli commanded calmly, “Look for it again.”

The employee in charge of the monitoring station quickly turned on all the screens and replayed each one over the same time period. In the end, the employee said with resignation, “Captain, we can’t find any other video. We only have this one.”

Ma Houde paced back and forth in the room, “It’s impossible to have only this one…If you can’t find it, there are only two possibilities.”

“Officer Ma, what are the two possibilities?” asked Mu Enli.

Officer Ma paused and said, “One is that someone has secretly edited these videos… but this should be impossible. We all came here immediately after the accident. There is no way the murderer would arrive here earlier than us.”

“Anyone besides us come here before?” The old captain suddenly asked the person in the surveillance room at this time.

Everyone was seen shaking their heads.

Ma Houde said, “Then, there is one possibility… The deceased Qian Guoliang has the ability to avoid those surveillance lenses.”

“This…is impossible? These surveillance cameras were installed on the ship two years ago, There should not be any areas that the surveillance camera overlooked,” said the employee in reflex.

Officer Ma nodded and said, “Yes, the coverage of these shots are wide enough. It is impossible to hide from these cameras no matter how you hide, especially since this guy is dying, he would not be in the mood to avoid these shots. Instead, he should let himself be discovered… Look at him walking towards the deck, it is clear that he possessed the will to live.”

“That’s weird… can this guy be a ghost?” said the employee absentmindedly.

“You must believe in science!” Ma Houde solemnly said. “Prosperity, democracy… remember the sixteen words of truth!”

Despite saying so, how did the deceased suddenly appear in the hallway…Officer Ma could not help but watch this video repeatedly.

“Captain, I found the registered information of Qian Guoliang and the room where he stayed.” A crew member hurried into the room at this time.

“Give me the information.” Ma Houde reached out and took it straight away. Then without further ado, he said, “Now, show me this man’s room.”

When everyone left the central control room, Ma Houde made a call when he was on the way to Qian Guoliang’s room, “Lin Feng? Is the helicopter ready yet…? I need you to help me check on something. Remember. The deceased is Qian Guoliang. He is an engineer. His ID card number is……”

“Got it, Officer Ma! I am on it now!”

…

Walking along the stairs which lead up to the deck, bloody hand prints were seen on the wall… clear and ghastly.

Ren Ziling looked down all the way without fear. She was thinking about something else while walking. Li Zi followed her from behind, eating a lollipop.

“Come to think of it, Li Zi, you can still eat snacks at a moment like this…? Are you not afraid?” Ren Ziling turned back in curiosity.

“This is because you are here, Sister Ren. So, there is nothing to be afraid of,” Li Zi blinked. “Also, eating sweets can calm your emotions.”

“Oh, flattery won’t work on me.” Ren Ziling shrugged. “However, why would this guy think of walking towards the deck?”

“Probably looking for someone to help?” Li Zi thought.

Ren Ziling shook her head, “If it’s you being fatally injured, would you still struggle to climb the stairs? Won’t it be quicker to call for help through a cell phone?”

“Didn’t Officer Ma just check that there was nothing on the deceased?”

Ren Ziling nodded, “That is the problem. You suggest that the murderer wanted to kill someone to take away something from the person. The question is, why didn’t the murderer wait for the person to die then steal his belongings?”

“Probably he escaped or something?”

“You have taken away someone else’s belongings and you stabbed him in the chest. Would you still let him get away? So, how many times did they fight?”

Li Zi stuck out her tongue.

At this time, a crew member suddenly appeared and shouted, “You guys, what are you doing here! This is temporarily closed. Please leave! This is no longer a place for sightseeing.”

Subeditor Ren turned around with her arms on her hips and glared at him, “You, don’t you know who I am?”

The crew member shook his head honestly… How the hell do I know who you are, lady? Although your body is in good shape…

Subeditor Ren suddenly switched to her shrewish mode, pointing at the crew, “Idiot! Didn’t you see that I was with Officer Ma! Now that Officer Ma went to the central control room to investigate. Of course, we have to stay here and investigate the scene! Are you here to prevent us from doing our job!”

The crew member was shocked and stood up straight. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! My vision is not good! Please, please! Please tell me if you need anything!”

So, Subeditor Ren looked at the crew member and said, “Go and tell your colleagues to stay nearby to guard the area. Do not let idlers simply enter this area!”

“I know, I know! I am going now!”

Seeing the crew walk away, Ren Ziling turned around and made a victory gesture towards Li Zi.

As long as you’re happy then fine… Li Zi was still eating her lollipop in silence.

“Strange, the traces just stop here?”

Ren Ziling and Li Zi came to the corner of the corridor. They saw that the seal appeared from here out of thin air… There were some blood stains on the ground, but there was nothing else left for them to discover.

Li Zi knocked on the surrounding walls, and also tried to push the surrounding rooms. She shook her head and said, “The wall is solid, and the door is locked… There is no blood on the door handle, it is impossible…”

Li Zi subconsciously looked towards the top of her head. Ren Ziling looked at the ceiling of the corridor above the blood stain almost at the same time, and directly said, “Li Zi, squat down!”

“Why?”

“How can I climb up without stepping on you?”

“…Sister Ren, how heavy are you?”

“Just squat down!!!” Ren Ziling patted on Li Zi’s head hard.

…

“This is the room.” The crew led the crowd to the door of Qian Guoliang’s room.

Ma Houde said immediately, “Do you have a spare key? Open the door.”

The crew nodded quickly, took out the spare key, and opened the lock of the room. When he was about to push the door and enter into the room, Ma Houde pulled him, “You both, stand at the side.”

After he said that, Office Ma also stood on the side of the door. First, he gently pushed open the door slightly. After a while, he opened the door vigorously.

“There’s someone in the room!”

Everyone saw that a man about twenty seven or twenty eight years old tied to a chair in the room at this moment. He appeared to be in a coma with his head down.

Ma Houde glanced at the room, and then ordered, “Wake this guy up and then look for anything special in the room, clues and anything as such.”

So, a crew member volunteered to approach the bounded man, shaking the guy vigorously, “Wake up! Sir, wake up! Wake up… Officer Ma, looks like I can’t wake him up?”

Ma Houde glanced blankly, “With your way of waking him up, it will be a miracle for him to wake up…Let me do it.”

Office Ma took a cup, filled it with water and walked in front of the man. Everyone stared at the police officer… Ma Houde suddenly said, “All of you turned around. Nothing to see here.”

The people instinctively looked at the old captain, but the old captain shook his head and turned around consciously. Everyone followed.

Officer Ma only took a sip of cold water at this moment, then stretched his fist, knocked on the man’s stomach hard. He then shot…the water out of his mouth hard.

He let out a shot towards this man’s face!

The comatose man’s eyelids jumped a few times, and slowly opened his eyes… Fei Ying opened his eyes. At first, he showed a puzzled expression and then he suddenly raised his brows.

Why are these people here… And, why does my stomach feel like it was stomped by a hippopotamus?

And why is my face so wet…It’s so uncomfortable!!

“You… who are you?” Fei Ying looked at the people in front of him with horror. “You… What do you do to me? Why did you tie me up?!”

Ma Houde had frequently seen this look. When he was about to ask a question, the phone rang – It was a call from Lin Feng.

“Officer Ma, I found the person that you asked me to look for. Qian Guoliang, his identity, occupation and company all matched with what you described. But… this Qian Guoliang is now in Australia. I just contacted him. He is still alive.”

“What? Alive?” Ma Houde froze, frowned, and subconsciously looked at the man who was still tied up.

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