Chapter 1037: The Case Back Then

Gao Tian had dashed to the university after receiving the news. In order not to aggravate the criminal, he changed into plain clothes and rushed over in the police chief’s private car. Only three police officers followed him.

The Immortal Arts Mobile Squadron had already been deployed, and was hiding nearby around the school. For the time being, they wouldn’t reveal themselves, but as long as Gao Tian gave the order, they would burst in and rescue the students.

But in the end, storming the auditorium would be a poor strategy – this serial killer had already murdered several people, and wouldn’t scruple to kill a few more.

“What’s the situation?” Gao Tian asked his assistant when they were on the road.

“The teachers are currently maintaining order at the scene. By the way, Chief Gao, the suspect mentioned a person called Zheng Jingxuan. Our colleagues in the intelligence department dug up information on him. Have a look.” The assistance passed his phone to Gao Tian.

The information on Zheng Jingxuan was detailed: he was part of Magic Treasure Development University’s graduating batch number 4393 three years ago. His grades were excellent, and he even represented the university at a magic treasure design competition.

Gao Tian read the relevant information which the intelligence department had gathered from the Internet. “Because of suspected plagiarism in this international competition, he was permanently banned from participating ever again, which tarnished the reputation of his alma mater Magic Treasure Development University. After discussion among the university higher-ups, Zheng Jingxuan was ordered to issue a public apology to the entire university and to the magic treasure design circle. If not, he had to withdraw from school or accept punishment. Zheng Jingxuan refused to apologize, and after several talks came to nothing, the school issued a notice of disciplinary action. When the courier delivered it to Zheng Jingxuan’s rental, Zheng Jingxuan had already committed suicide by exploding his golden core.”

Reading this, Gao Tian rubbed his chin. “So it’s this matter…” This incident had actually caused quite a stir back then. Gao Tian vaguely remembered how Zheng Jingxuan was universally condemned in the news, with people itching to press his head down and force him to apologize.

This matter didn’t settle down after Zheng Jingxuan’s death. WeMedia articles were published online which expressed the universal view that Zheng Jingxuan had felt ashamed and committed suicide because he couldn’t take the pressure.

But after that, online users started to change their tune: these people, who had made a fuss before about wanting Zheng Jingxuan to be brought to justice, and who had itched to crucify and flay him on the pillar of disgrace, started to sympathize with him, and wondered if there was some inside story to this matter.

But just a week later, all the voices online subsided and vanished…

No matter how hot a topic was, it wouldn’t last more than seven days – this was Gao Tian’s understanding of the modern Internet.

“I remember this case; I also knew about it three years ago, but I didn’t have the authority to get involved. The ultimate findings of the police investigation was that Zheng Jingxuan had indeed committed suicide; a suicide note was found at his place, and after it was examined, it was indeed Zheng Jingxuan’s writing.” Gao Tian sighed ruefully – he never expected to run into this case again several years later.

Could it be that there really was an inside story behind this incident back then?

Gao Tian speculated in his heart.

But this was only conjecture, and he had no evidence. He would have to find more proof to put together as much of the truth as possible of what happened back then.

But even if Gao Tian wanted to carry out an investigation, it wouldn’t be easy. It had already been three years since it happened, and a lot of the lines of evidence had been cut. Even the rental where Zheng Jingxuan had committed suicide had been converted by the landlord into a games room, since no one wanted to live in a place where someone had died.

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After going through the information, Gao Tian gave the phone back to the assistant next to him and listened as the latter said, “In short, this is a student who tarnished Magic Treasure Development University’s reputation. Our initial speculation is that it might be Zheng Jingxuan’s parents behind the serial murders and this hostage situation, doing this for revenge.

“A preliminary investigation shows that Zheng Jingxuan’s parents divorced before his death because they couldn’t take the online abuse. We’ve already contacted his mother, who is in a relationship with a new boyfriend in another part of the country. We’ve already entrusted some of our local colleagues to drop by and confirm this, but it should be the case. Currently, we’re still investigating Zheng Jingxuan’s father, and we can’t exclude him from the list of suspects yet.”

“Mm, be sure to find his father.”

Gao Tian nodded. Zheng Jingxuan’s parents had the biggest motive in this case. Of course, Gao Tian didn’t completely agree with his assistant’s view.

Zheng Jingxuan was undoubtedly a disgrace now in the magic treasure design circle, but who actually knew the truth of what happened back then?

“When we arrive at the scene, don’t provoke the criminal by insulting Student Zheng. Is that understood?” Gao Tian gave the instruction.

“Yes, sir.” The officers accompanying him all nodded.

“What demands has the criminal made so far?”

“First, he wants three million in ransom.”

“He abducted so many hostages, but he wants just three million?” Gao Tian felt that there was something wrong with this criminal’s brain. But it suddenly struck him – the first prize for that magic treasure design competition which Zheng Jingxuan took part in that year was three million.

Was the criminal was giving them a hint?

Gao Tian felt that things were becoming more interesting. If this criminal was really here because of that competition back then, he might be trying to uphold justice himself by revealing some inside story.

But in Gao Tian’s opinion, this was very foolish behavior.

Regardless of whether there was some secret behind the competition that year, even if there really was some inside story, this wasn’t a reason to kill so many people. The cultivation world was now ruled by law, and such a nation would naturally uphold law and justice. Blowing the cover off an inside story was absolutely within the bounds of the law, and not a case of using public office to avenge private wrongs.

Gao Tian would do whatever it took to clearly investigate what happened that year, but he would also catch this heinous criminal who had killed several people, and have him brought to justice.

“His second demand is for the principal of Magic Treasure Development University, Zhou Dongye, to publicly release the unedited video recording of the entire magic treasure design competition that year. Since it was a while ago, Principal Zhou said that he couldn’t fulfill this demand at the moment as he has to first contact the organizing committee for their approval before he can bring the video over… However, the criminal didn’t accept Principal Zhou Dongye’s objection, and has demanded that Principal Zhou make the video public in half an hour, otherwise he would start killing one hostage every half an hour after that.”

“Anything else?” Gao Tian’s face darkened.

“His third and final demand is that, except for university personnel, all cultivators above the Golden Core stage within a ten-kilometer radius has to leave. If they’re not gone in an hour, he’ll blow up the auditorium…”