"Find the Murderer?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. Then, they stared at Zhang Hua in bewilderment. "What game is that?"
Zhang Hua was silent for a moment before he said, "We... played it in a club."
"Club?" Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang said with a frown, "be more specific!"
Zhang Hua smoked a cigarette and said, "at that time, there were many things we didn't have, and things like computers were not yet advanced. All we do outside of school is listening to CDs and so on."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, nodded and continued to listen. Ma Han and the others were very interested, as they smoked at the door while listening. Right after Ma Xin left, a small opening was left at the door. This was done on purpose by Bai Yutang. That way, people outside could hear what was said in the room. Most importantly, the people outside could observe Zhang Jianqi's expression and see if there were any special changes.
"There were six of us in the dormitory. Me, Hao Mo, Wang Liang, Xu Feng, Liu Ming, and Chen Zinan..." Zhang Hua took a hard puff of his cigarette and said, "Actually... Wang Liang and the other three were not as bad as everyone said. We spread those rumours after the incident so that they would be responsible for what happened."
"What?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were surprised, while everyone outside the door frowned.
"They sometimes fight or joke around and skip class, but a lot of college boys have done something like that. The four of them just looks fierce on the outside. They don't really hang out with their classmates. As they had wanted to form a band, they would hang out by themselves. They also didn't like to socialize with the nerds in the class."
"So, you're saying the four of them didn't do anything to Ye Ling?!" Zhan Zhao asked.
Zhang Hua shook his head. "It's just that they died, and Ye Ling became crazy, so we just..."
"It was your father's idea, wasn't it?" Bai Yutang asked, "otherwise, how can the teachers and students say the same thing?"
Zhang Hua hesitated before nodding. When the policemen at the door looked at Zhang Jianqi, he flushed and lowered his head miserably. He didn't seem to be lying.
"Tell me about the club." Bai Yutang said, "what on earth happened?"
"Mmmm." Zhang Hua nodded and slowly began to tell Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang.
"Back then, we had a lot of spare time on our hands. Ye Ling was the number one beauty of our school. She began to associate with Hao Mo." Zhang Hua said with a wry smile, "Hao Mo is from the countryside. He studies hard and is very pure... A girl like Ye Ling is not suitable for him. This is what we felt."
"Is there something wrong with Ye Ling?" Zhan Zhao asked.
"Ye Ling is a rich daughter and is very sophisticated. She had many boyfriends! She was with Hao Mo because he's handsome. She had contacts with many boys. This was well known at school." Zhang Hua said, "the five of us was unable to stop Hao Mo, so we started to give Ye Ling a hard time, hoping that she would back down. That way, Hao Mo won't be hurt in the future... She took us to a place to improve our relationship."
"The club?" Zhan Zhao asked.
Zhang Hua nodded and said, "that club is called Night City Club. It's an underground music club with a DJ. A lot of music from Europe and America are play there. Even heavy metal songs..."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt a bit of a headache.
"The people there were crazy, but at that time we thought it was very cool. Wang Liang and the others really like music, so they were ecstatic when they went." Zhang Hua shook his head again and again and said, "We had a good time at the club, and our relationship with Ye Ling had also improved. Later, we met a lot of friends who were older than us, some of whom went to our school..."
"Students?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were stunned. Zhan Zhao took out a couple of sheets with information and showed them to Zhang Hua. "Was it any of these people?"
Zhang Hua took a look at the information, pointed to Xu Zhong, Wu Qianliang, Wang Youyi and Zhang Han, and said in a trembling voice, "at that time... we played that game together."
"Really?!" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were delighted as they found the connection.
"Back then, we got to know them and several other people."
"Who? Do you remember their names?" Zhan Zhao asked.
Zhang Hua shook his head and pointed to the photos of Wu Qianliang and the others. "We didn't use real names. When I see the photos, I might remember them. As for their names, I don't know."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other. They showed the photos of Liu Fang and Qiao Weiming to Zhang Hua and asked, "take a closer look, are these two people from that club?"
Zhang Hua looked at the two photos for a long time, then put Liu Fang's picture down and said, "this man is definitely not!"
"What about this person?" Zhan Zhao asked, pointing to the picture of Qiao Weiming.
"Hmm..." Zhang Hua seemed unsure.
Right then, Gong Sun walked in. He had been listening outside the door. With a marker in his hand, he grabbed the photo of Qiao Weiming, drew a beard under his nose and chin, and then coloured the gold-rimmed glasses and made it into a black-rimmed glasses. Gong Sun asked Zhang Hua, "What about now?"
"Yes! It's him!" Zhang Hua suddenly got excited. "His nickname is Eleven!"
"Eleven?" Zhan Zhao asked Zhang Hua, "that's his name?"
"It's the code name we use when we play games!" Zhang Hua said, "there were 14 of us, so we call each other by our code names."
Zhan Zhao thought for a moment and asked, "there's the six of you in the dormitory, Wu Qianliang and the other three, Qiao Weiming and Ye Ling... This makes 12. Who are the other two?"
"One of them is our classmate Wang Mingli." As soon as Zhang Hua spoke, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other... When they were at the principal's office, she had said that Wang Liang and the others were worthless. This was clearly a lie.
"Who's the other one?" Asked Bai Yutang.
"I don't know, but that person had the code name One." Zhang Hua replied. "Our numbers were all determined by drawing lots. The game was initiated by Eleven."
Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao frowned, as they thought to themselves, "It was Qiao Weiming's idea? He's definitely the most suspicious!"
"How do you play the game?" Zhan Zhao then asked.
"The thing is, at that time, we were obsessed with western music, and the lyrics were all quite violent, such as things about arson, abuse and slaughter. We thought it was great back then and were obsessed. The music was bought by Eleven from overseas. He let us listen to them. Later, we became good friends. The boy seemed to be very capable and was rich enough to get these things."
Gong Sun raised his eyebrows and said, "Qiao Weiming not only worked as a forensic doctor, but was also a teacher, so his income should be high. As a forensic doctor, he would have had a lot of opportunities to go abroad."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded. Qiao Weiming was probably luring them in. People who liked this kind of music would definitely be willing to play this game with him.
"The game goes like this." Zhang Hua said, "14 of us drew lots, and one of them is 'the devil'. That person will do everything possible to kill us, but if we find out he's the killer, then the game ends!"
"Kill you?" Bai Yutang was speechless.
"The game is played by simulating real life. We would live our life as usual, while the killer had to find a way to kill us. Also, we had to meet often, or hang out together to give the devil a chance. This way, we would have the chance to find out who the killer was as well. The sign of being killed is to draw a line on the neck with a red marker." Zhang Hua scratched his neck, "as if the person's throat had been cut with a knife."
"And then what?" Zhan Zhao asked, "who was the murderer?"
Zhang Hua was silent for a long time. He shook his head and smiled. "I don't know."
"Huh?" Bai Yutang was puzzled.
"At that time, the first person to be killed was Hao Mo." Zhang Hua said, "there was a line around his neck, but he couldn't tell us who the killer was, and we weren't allowed to talk to him because he was dead. Wang Liang was the second person to die... Afterwards was Xu Feng, Liu Ming and Chen Zinan. Everyone except me had a red line on their necks. Later, when it was my turn, I caught 'the devil' before he could kill me. He was One."
"The mystery man?" Zhan Zhao was surprised.
"That's right." Zhang Hua nodded. "The game ended because the murderer was caught. The game was very exciting, so we all had a good time. That night, we went out to celebrate and drink. We had planned to play some more exciting games in the future."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other and shook their heads. These students had too much time on their hands.
"When we celebrated that night, Hao Mo and the four others didn't come." Zhang Hua said, "I went straight to the bar after class, Hao Mo went to pick up Ye Ling, and the other four boys skipped class. They said they would be back by the time we had to go to the club, but none of them showed up... Later, Ye Ling came by herself. She said she couldn't find Hao Mo and thought he had come with me."
Everyone frowned. That day was probably the night of the fire.
"We were there to drink and celebrate..." Zhang Hua shrugged. "I drank a little too much. Ye Ling sent me back."
"The lights were off at that time, but the mute uncle was not there. Ye Ling said she wanted to go up and see why Hao Mo didn't go to the club, so she secretly went into the room with me." There was a frightened look on Zhang Hua's face and as he continued, "When we arrived at the dormitory, we found the door unlocked. We also smelled something strange as soon as we entered."
"Strange smell?" Zhan Zhao looked at Bai Yutang, who raised his eyebrows and thought to himself, "That's very strange!"
"I found them all lying on the bed. I wanted to wake them up, so I pushed Wang Liang, who was closest to me. But I noticed that he was cold and stiff. I pushed him a few times, but he didn't wake up. I reached out and patted his face as well. When I did, I felt something sticky. When I pulled back my hand, I saw that it was blood!" Zhang Hua shook his head. "Ye Ling also tried to wake Hao Mo up... There was blood all over his neck. We were scared at that time, so I used a lighter to get a closer look, and saw Wang Liang staring at me with his eyes open... I couldn't believe that he was dead... The place where the line was drawn on the neck was covered with blood, and his throat was really cut. We were both freaked out, and a second later... Somehow, the body caught on fire, and the fire went down to the bed and set all the beds on fire!"
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang realised that the strange smell was probably a flammable agent.
Zhang Hua spoke faster and faster, as the people listening became more and more intrigued. "I... I was frightened. Right at that moment, Hao Mo, whose whole body was on fire, suddenly sat up. He was alive!" Zhang Hua stood up and said, "I didn't know he was alive. Ye Ling and I were extremely frightened. Ye Ling wanted to scream, but I covered her mouth with my hand... I was the one who started the fire after all. I was the one who killed him. As for Hao Mo, he started to walk towards the door. Then we..."
"Then, you ran away with Ye Long, and closed the door on your way out?" Bai Yutang said coldly, "Ye Ling went crazy because of this incident?"
Zhang Hua nodded. "That night, the mute uncle was not in the reception room, so Ye Ling and I ran back. I went home. Ye Ling became crazy instantly... Then the next day... Things went out of hand. Dad thought I was weird, so he asked me what happened. I told him everything..."
"He made up a lie to cover it up for you?" Bai Yutang asked.
Zhang Hua nodded dejectedly, "I... really don't know why it happened. I wanted to go to the bar and ask the others, but I couldn't... I didn't dare to."
At that moment, Zhang Jianqi walked in to comfort Zhang Hua. He said to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, "Officers, no matter what mistakes were made, it was all my fault."
Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other as they shook their heads.
Outside the door, Ma Han put out the cigarette in his hand. He saw Bai Chi rubbing his arms vigorously, and asked, "What's wrong?"
On the side, Zhao Hu scolded, "Damn! It's giving me goosebumps!"