Chapter 976: An Unexpected Clue

If Lu Chuan’s guess is correct—meaning the sleepwear Zhang Mengyao was wearing did in fact belong to her—then it leads to the following inference.

The crime scene was very likely this very apartment.

Because there’s no way Zhang Mengyao would have taken a set of sleepwear with her to work, then put it on at the moment she was killed.

So logically speaking, this sleepwear should have always been in Zhang Mengyao’s wardrobe. The fact that she was wearing it at the time of death indicates she must have been killed here.

But this inference conflicts with the circumstances established by the investigation back when Zhang Mengyao disappeared. At that time, she definitely did not return home—that much is certain. The residential compound already had surveillance cameras back then.

The case file from that year clearly recorded the relevant query results: when Zhang Mengyao went missing, she never appeared on the compound’s surveillance footage.

Of course, her not appearing on camera doesn’t necessarily mean she definitely did not return home.

The complex where Zhang Mengyao bought her apartment had an underground garage. If she came in by car, she wouldn’t have been captured by the cameras.

But Zhang Mengyao herself hadn’t bought a car, so she couldn’t possibly have driven in.

And according to the investigation at the time, Zhang Mengyao usually took the bus home from school, so taking a taxi would have been unlikely. Or even if she had taken a taxi, the vehicle would have stopped at the compound gate rather than entering the underground garage.

So we’re faced with a contradiction.

From the logical inference based on the sleepwear, Zhang Mengyao ought to have been killed in her own bedroom while wearing it.

Yet the surveillance footage shows no evidence of her returning to her residence.

"There’s another point: if that sleepwear was indeed hers, and the logic says she was killed in this apartment, then where is the outfit she changed out of?"

Zhang Hui raised the question.

If Zhang Mengyao came home and changed out of her outfit, then after she put on the sleepwear, the set she had been giving to the child would have ended up here, with Li Ying appearing in the home.

But now, after the two of them checked thoroughly, they didn’t find that outfit anywhere.

Did the killer take it? That doesn’t seem very likely.

Because that outfit had no necessary connection to the victim herself. After killing her, why would the killer only take the outfit?

Lu Chuan stared at the garment laid out, sinking into thought.

The problem Zhang Hui raised really was hard to answer. And there was another issue: if the victim really was killed here, then how did the killer get the body out?

The only plausible way would be by vehicle.

Unfortunately, it’s been five years since Zhang Mengyao disappeared. The surveillance in the compound has long since been overwritten; it’s impossible to retrieve.

So there’s no way to check what vehicles entered the compound during that time period.

The two of them, each with their own doubts, returned to the Criminal Investigation Team.

The inquiry into Zhang Mengyao’s ex-boyfriend hadn’t produced any substantial progress. After her disappearance, the two had no further contact.

Liu Guodong and the others were still conducting trace evidence analysis on the plaster, hoping to find some biological material clues in it.

Because the trace evidence lab was located elsewhere, there was only Lu Chuan in the basement of the Crime Scene Investigation office, and on the desk in front of him lay the camisole sleepwear taken from Zhang Mengyao’s body.

A single woman who’d broken up just over a month earlier, wearing nothing but a camisole sleepwear at the time she was killed—what does that say?

And she very likely never returned to her own home, so why was she wearing this sleepwear that might well have been hers?

Lu Chuan was completely baffled.

He first made a hypothesis: what if this sleepwear did not belong to Zhang Mengyao, or it was not kept in her apartment, but somewhere else?

Where would that be?

When Zhang Mengyao disappeared back then, she was single and had no ongoing contact with her ex-boyfriend.

So how could she have ended up wearing sleepwear when she was killed?

Or was it just a coincidence?

No!

Absolutely not!

Zhang Mengyao’s death was definitely not an ordinary homicide.

An ordinary killing, such as a robbery gone wrong—

That possibility was basically nonexistent, because when Zhang Mengyao left that day it was around 4 p.m. It was broad daylight, there were many people on the streets, and if she had headed straight home, her public transit route would also have been crowded. A robbery-murder in such circumstances would almost certainly be noticed.

Besides, if it really had been a robbery-murder, once the killer robbed and killed her, that would have been the end of it. Why would they bother to change her into sleepwear, cast her in plaster, and then transport her back to the Experimental Primary School?

It makes no sense. So this kind of impulsive killing can basically be ruled out.

Could it have been a rape-murder?

Lu Chuan thought that possibility was also slim, because if the perpetrator intended rape-murder, they would first have had to abduct Zhang Mengyao—

Or commit the crime in some dark, secluded corner.

But when Zhang Mengyao left that day, it was in the afternoon. Looking at her entire route from school to home, there were no such dark places suitable for the killer to carry out the crime.

And just like in a robbery-murder, if it had been a rape-murder, there would be no need for the killer to change her clothes afterward.

Then there’s the question of how the killer could possibly have sealed her into a plaster box and sent her back to the Experimental Primary School. Would they somehow have known she was a teacher there?

Impossible.

A familiar perpetrator!

It had to be a familiar perpetrator!

The killer knew Zhang Mengyao’s identity very clearly, knew she was a teacher at the Experimental Primary School. And if the killer was able to get the statue into the school without anyone noticing, then they were very likely also someone from the Experimental Primary School.

As for why Zhang Mengyao was wearing that camisole nightdress at the time of death...

Lu Chuan made a bold assumption.

After leaving school that afternoon, Zhang Mengyao very likely did not go home—or if she did, she did not go back by herself.

So is it possible that after Zhang Mengyao left, someone at the school left at the same time?

Did something happen between the two of them after they left?

Lu Chuan suddenly stood up and dialed Zhang Hui: "Five years ago, the arrival and departure times of all teachers—no, all staff—at the Experimental Primary School, can we retrieve them?"

Zhang Hui glanced at the time. It was midnight.

"That might be difficult. I don’t think they had any punch-clock system back then. Everyone left at the regular time. Only those who left early stand out—some people from that time I still vaguely remember."

"Who left early? Do the surveillance recordings from back then still exist?"

...

Twenty minutes later.

All the surveillance videos from the day Zhang Mengyao disappeared had been copied to the conference room. Lu Chuan was reviewing them frame by frame.