Are You Crazy? He's only an Intern Lawyer?-Chapter 41 - On-site investigation, got caught

Even with traffic congestion, one hour should be enough!”

“Moreover, Tang Chunfeng is a local of Dongfang Capital, he must be familiar with all road conditions near Central City, knowing which routes won’t be congested at what time, he must have a clear mind about it!”

Seeing the results of his calculation, Zhang Wei’s brows began to furrow.

This meant Tang Chunfeng had enough time to leave the clinic at 10 pm, drive to West Wind Community, and kill the victim, Chen Mou.

Since time was not sufficient to prove his innocence, the only remaining step was to take a look at the crime scene.

After determining the next morning’s schedule, Zhang Wei started to take notes.

The biggest challenge of this case seemed to be the first eyewitness, the son of Chen Mou.

Although Zhang Wei had no idea why the little boy had pointed to Tang Chunfeng, it was quite possible that in his panic he had mistaken the person.

After all, seeing one’s own father die in front of you, nobody could remain calm, and panic might lead to a malfunction in one’s senses.

But Zhang Wei still prepared for the worst-case scenario.

If the little boy hadn’t mistaken and could identify Tang Chunfeng, then how should he refute this testimony to overturn it?

“This is getting difficult; although I have many ways to challenge a witness, acting against an 8-year-old child, that’s just too unethical!”

Zhang Wei shook his head and made a note of these thoughts.

Then he closed his eyes to rest and ponder another question.

If he were the prosecutor, and he was to charge Tang Chunfeng, what problems would he encounter?

The prosecution for murder is all about evidence; now that the evidence was conclusive, prosecution was a certainty.

But what else does a charge of murder need?

Motive!

Zhang Wei’s eyes snapped open, a glint of light flashing across his pupil.

Lack of motive!

Tang Chunfeng was a dentist from a well-off family, lacking nothing financially, with a stable income; he absolutely had no need to rob Chen Mou’s home.

And why would Tang Chunfeng travel half-around Central City’s ring road to a community he had never stepped foot into, to rob a tenant there?

Tang Chunfeng and the victim, Chen Mou, were two completely unrelated individuals.

Zhang Wei had conversed with Tang Chunfeng; the man didn’t seem like the sort of violent criminal capable of a random killing.

That’s the precise question the prosecutor needed to address; they had to prove why Tang Chunfeng would go to West Wind Community to kill someone.

“Why, indeed?

I can’t figure it out either.”

This question also stumped Zhang Wei.

“Forget it, let’s check out the scene tomorrow!”

Considering the time, he brought all these questions with him into his dreams, to see if Duke Zhou could provide some hints.

Unfortunately, Duke Zhou could not guide Zhang Wei, as he slept soundly until morning.

In the kitchen.

After preparing breakfast for himself and Zhao Xiaoxiao, Zhang Wei held a plate in one hand while his mind drifted into thought.

It was rare to see Zhang Wei so lost in thought, and Zhao Xiaoxiao, sitting across from him in her cartoon onesie, couldn’t help but lift her head and look over.

But Zhang Wei was deep in thought, naturally unaware of the gaze of the person beside him.

“Tang Chunfeng is definitely not the murderer, so there’s only one possibility: the real culprit resembles Tang Chunfeng or has some disguise technique, and must have had access to Tang Chunfeng’s DNA, that’s why there was DNA residue at the crime scene!”

This was the only conclusion he had come to after a night of thought.

But this guess was somewhat unrealistic.

Zhang Wei quickly finished his breakfast, ignoring Zhao Xiaoxiao’s astonished gaze, and directly threw his dishes into the kitchen sink before striding out of Lin Mansion.

He headed straight to the murder scene, which was the West Wind Community.

…

Located to the west of Central City, West Wind Community had it all: old, broken down, and small apartments.

The houses here were 30 years old; many of the building walls had cracked and were leaking water.

On the lower floors, ivy climbed the walls, and some of the original landscape trees had grown to the height of two or three stories, their leaves blocking the light and their trunks covered with clothes hung out to dry by residents, creating a heavy dampness that made the entire community feel gloomy and oppressive.

Such an old community would surely become a dangerous building after another seven or eight years.

It was said that the City Construction Bureau was planning to demolish part of the old community to free up land for development and renovation.

It was unknown whether West Wind Community would become one of the first targets for demolition.

But that wasn’t his focus; he went straight to the home of a tenant named Chen Mou.

The scene was in room 601 of building 134 in West Wind Community, which was also the top floor of the building.

In such an old community, if a building had six floors, it meant there was no elevator installed.

After climbing five flights of stairs, Zhang Wei was slightly out of breath.

When he arrived at the sixth-floor scene, he saw someone standing guard at the door.

“Sister Wang?”

It just so happened that the person on duty was an acquaintance.

“Oh, isn’t this little Zhang?

What brings you here today?”

Sister Wang had also seen Zhang Wei and greeted him with a smile.

“I am a defense lawyer, representing Dr.

Tang Chunfeng, so I came to see the scene.”

Zhang Wei explained directly and then glanced towards the sealed room.

“Xia Xia isn’t here.

I was temporarily called over by the Serious Crime Team 3.

That girl is still on patrol!”

Sister Wang obviously saw who Zhang Wei was looking for and promptly explained.

But then she looked at Zhang Wei and said slowly, “Tell me, Zhang, why would you represent that murderer?”

“Sister Wang, I am a public defender.

I didn’t have a choice…”

Zhang Wei spread his hands and continued, “Besides, other lawyers all wanted their clients to plead guilty.

I was the only one who chose to defend him as not guilty.

He didn’t have a choice either.”

“Alright, but you better be careful.

The case is being investigated by Team 3, and their attitude towards you is not particularly friendly!”

Sister Wang warned him before stepping aside to let him pass.

Zhang Wei thanked her and was able to enter the scene to observe.

Room 601 was a two-bedroom apartment.

The entrance led to a living room facing north and south, with a semi-enclosed balcony.

On the left was the kitchen, next to which was the bathroom, with two bedrooms situated on either side of the bathroom.

The layout of the house was simple, with minimal decoration and not much furniture.

However, Zhang Wei noticed that the place had been violently searched, with debris scattered all over the floor.

“The Martial Association wouldn’t have tampered with the scene, so these signs of searching must have been left by the murderer?”

After the murder, the killer must have searched the room.

As for what he was looking for, Zhang Wei wasn’t sure.

All he knew was that the intruder had rummaged through everything, damaging all the furniture in sight.

The master bedroom’s wardrobe was damaged, the cabinets for storage in the kitchen were destroyed, and the living room’s tables and chairs were all smashed.

“With all the commotion the murderer caused, he probably didn’t stay long, or the neighbors would have noticed something.

So, he must have fled immediately after killing and searching for whatever he wanted, which is why Chen Mou’s son was able to survive!”

Zhang Wei made this judgement in his mind and then walked into the master bedroom.

Besides some simple furniture in the master bedroom, there were scattered electronic components and some repair tools on the floor.

“I remember that the deceased, Chen Mou, seemed to be unemployed.

Could this be his hobby, or did he have a job that wasn’t quite aboveboard?”

Zhang Wei bent down and looked at the soldering iron, circuit board, and some electronic components on the floor, guessing that Chen Mou might have been engaged in some kind of electronic device repair work.

However, his ability to investigate was limited on his own.

To learn what Chen Mou’s job had actually been, he would need the support of a huge intelligence network.

Being an ordinary person, he couldn’t possibly track down such a massive amount of work.

“There might be information about Chen Mou’s job in the Martial Association’s public intelligence.

Later, I’ll ask Simple-Minded if she can access the Martial Association’s database.”

Thinking this, Zhang Wei searched the scene again to make sure nothing was overlooked before preparing to leave.

“Huh, where’s Sister Wang?

Wasn’t she supposed to be guarding the scene?”

When Zhang Wei stepped out, he realized that Sister Wang was nowhere to be seen.

Not only that, he felt something was amiss.

Quiet!

The scene was too quiet!

Zhang Wei walked down six flights of stairs and had just reached the doorway when something unexpected happened.

“Who’s there!”

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Just then, a shout erupted near the entrance, and soon after, several figures suddenly rushed out.

Zhang Wei saw the people wearing the Martial Association’s black combat uniforms, charging towards him imposingly.

“The Martial Association, people from the Serious Crime Team?”

Black combat uniforms, not the blue patrol uniforms.

Those who wore this were from the Serious Crime Team.

And those responsible for this case, according to Sister Wang, were from Serious Crime Team 3, so the identity of the comers was clear.

“I am a lawyer…”

“How audacious, you dare to disrupt the crime scene!”

Before Zhang Wei could get a word in, the newcomers didn’t give him a chance, and after a cold shout, several burly men charged toward Zhang Wei.

The next moment, Zhang Wei felt the weight of several men on top of him, becoming completely overwhelmed.

He was knocked down by a great force, his hands locked up, all in an utterly sorry state.

“You brat, skulking around the crime scene, we suspect you of tampering with it.

We’re taking you in for questioning…”

After being subdued by the men, Zhang Wei heard the person who had shouted before speaking to him in a cold voice.

“Take him away!”

As Zhang Wei struggled to believe it, he was taken away by people from the Martial Association Serious Crime Team.

After a bumpy journey, he arrived at the Martial Association and was taken into a detention room.

Inside the detention room, facing the cold chambers, Zhang Wei was completely baffled.

“This isn’t right.

Why would they accuse me of trying to destroy the scene?

And why wasn’t Sister Wang guarding it?

I certainly don’t have the capability to distract Sister Wang…”

Zhang Wei realized that the people from Serious Crime Team 3 seemed to know he would be coming.

It was as if they were specifically waiting at the scene to catch someone, and their target was him, Zhang Wei!

“Oh, is this a power move?”

Zhang Wei understood in his heart, it seemed someone wanted to teach him a lesson, and that’s why this trap was set at the scene.

Only the upper echelons of the Martial Association could mobilize Serious Crime Team 3, but those from the high level of the Martial Association had no dealings with him, Zhang Wei, so they could be ruled out.

If it wasn’t the higher-ups of the Martial Association, and it was unlikely to be anyone from the Martial Association at all, then who could it be?

The Procuratorate Headquarters, the prosecutor in charge of this case—Wang Can!

Zhang Wei had a preliminary suspect in mind.

He had met Wang Can, and from his demeanor, the man didn’t seem magnanimous.

After being made to lose face at the bail hearing, Wang Can harbored certainty that Zhang Wei would come to investigate the scene and aimed to give him some embarrassment.

What petty behavior!

Now, he had been thrown into the detention room for over an hour; if they really wanted to bring him in for questioning, they would have started interrogating him by now.

This aligned with Zhang Wei’s prediction; these people just intended to make an example of him by arresting him under the pretext of potentially disrupting the crime scene, thus avoiding any loopholes.

Zhang Wei walked to the door of the detention room, glanced around, and saw no one.

But this didn’t deter him; he went to the side of the door, gathered his energy in his Dantian, and used all his strength to shout:

“Murder, there’s been a murder…”

The shout echoed throughout the entire detention room and even startled those outside of it.

“What’s the situation!”

“I don’t know, but someone in the detention room is shouting loudly!”

“I heard someone yelling ‘murder’, let’s go check it out!”

Staff from the Martial Association were alarmed by Zhang Wei’s shouting and rushed into the detention room in a flurry.

But what they saw was that the person who had just been screaming heart-wrenchingly was now sitting calmly in his seat, looking at them with an unperturbed expression.

“Was it you who screamed about a murder just now?”

“Yes, it was me!”

“Who, who wants to kill you?”

“The people from Serious Crime Team 3!”

“What did you say?!”

“I said it, ah, the people from Serious Crime Team 3, they want to kill me!”

“How dare you, you actually dare to slander the Martial Association Serious Crime Team…”

“I’m not slandering, I’m just stating what I believe to be the facts, and you should reasonably suspect that the people from Serious Crime Team 3 and I should confront each other face to face!”

Zhang Wei looked at the several officers in front of him and sneered, “I’m a civilian, and I feel that my life has been threatened within the Martial Association, so as officers of the Martial Association, what you should do is to investigate whether the facts are as I say, not to question my words from the start.

Don’t you know your own organization’s rules and regulations?

You’re supposed to be protecting us, not nitpicking our words, right?”

“This…”

The officers were in a dilemma because what Zhang Wei said was true.

As officers of the Martial Association, they did indeed need to do this when they saw a civilian being threatened.

“What are you staring at?

Hurry up and come protect me, and bring out the people from Serious Crime Team 3 to ensure they won’t come to kill me!”

As Zhang Wei spoke, he walked out of the detention room and started giving orders to the officers in front of him.

A few minutes later, the people from Serious Crime Team 3 “finally” arrived.

However, Zhang Wei was no longer in the detention room but inside a conference room.

The person from Serious Crime Team 3 who came was Vice Captain He Zong, a middle-aged man of around forty, with no distinctive features except for the gold watch on his wrist.

“You say we want to kill you, you dare to slander our Serious Crime Team 3?” He Zong sat in the conference room and questioned Zhang Wei with a cold voice.

“Vice Captain He, it’s me who wants to ask you why you want to harm me!” Zhang Wei was not intimidated by the other’s power and questioned back, “I’m the lawyer involved in the case.

I went to inspect the crime scene this morning and was attacked by your people without any reason, and have been detained in the detention room.

Isn’t this unlawful restraint of personal freedom?

I even suspect that you plan to kill me, of course this is also a reasonable suspicion based on your actions!”

After hearing Zhang Wei’s words, He Zong scoffed, “What nonsense.

We received a report that someone was going to damage the crime scene, which is why we caught you.

We suspect you of deliberately destroying the scene!”

“Oh, a report?” Zhang Wei quickly countered and questioned He Zong, “Is there a record of the report?

Show me the report record, what time was the report made, please point it out to me!”

There was, of course, no report record; He Zong had just made up an excuse.

“Vice Captain He, you claim there is a report record, so if I can’t find this record, does it not confirm that you attacked a civilian without reason?

Moreover, I went to inspect the crime scene because the Martial Association did not disclose the inspection information to me, so I had to go to the scene to investigate.

Isn’t it clear that the Martial Association is negligent?”

“What did you say?” He Zong slammed his palm on the table and stood up.

“Vice Captain He, are you planning to use force?” Zhang Wei was not in the least bit intimidated, facing the other directly, “This matter today will not end just like that.

If there is a true investigation, we will see who has a guilty conscience; you know it yourself!”

Zhang Wei was sure that He Zong would not dare to make a big deal out of it, so he was not frightened at all.

“You Serious Crime Team 3, instead of investigating homicide cases, are willing to be the lackeys of certain people.

Do you know what your actions are equivalent to?”

“Kid, don’t be too presumptuous.

We haven’t even started on your destruction of the scene…”

“I’ve said it, show me the report record!”

He Zong wanted to press charges regarding the scene destruction, but Zhang Wei shut him down with a single sentence.

There really was no report record.

“Martial Association is supposed to leave guards at the scene, but I didn’t see any when I came out, so you must have pulled them away, right?

If we find that person to confront them face to face, it would also be unfavorable for you, He Zong.

Furthermore, you’ve locked me in the detention room for over an hour, not only wasting a lot of my time but also raising the issue of illegal detention.

If you make one more unnecessary comment, I will pursue this to the end to see who ends up in a worse situation!”

Zhang Wei was not afraid of He Zong because he was just a public defense lawyer with no reputation in Dongfang Capital and nothing to lose.

But He Zong was different; he was the Vice Captain of Serious Crime Team 3.

With the old team leader set to retire, he was a candidate for the leader’s position.

If anything went wrong at this time, he could lose his chance for promotion.

Seeing that Zhang Wei was not afraid of him, He Zong looked at him coldly, “Kid, you’re arrogant.

But don’t get too pleased with yourself.

Wang Can asked me to deliver a message to you, might as well consider yourself dead in tomorrow’s court session…”

“I’ve received the message, but please also relay to Wang Can that I, Zhang Wei, am not afraid of any scoundrel, especially those who have no real ability and can only cheat and sneak around behind others’ backs!”

Zhang Wei stared directly at He Zong, but in his heart, he had already marked him as one of his targets to be dealt with.

Wang Can, He Zong.

He was determined to take back today’s loss in tomorrow’s court session!

“Moreover, since I’m here, as the lawyer commissioned by the suspect, I have the right to access the case files from the Martial Association, including all information on the victim Chen Mou—I want to go through it all!”

“And one more thing, I’m looking forward to Vice Captain He Zong’s performance at tomorrow’s court session.

You’re probably the first witness, aren’t you?

Hope you’re prepared!”

In the end, He Zong left, perhaps unable to withstand Zhang Wei’s bravado, and walked away with a cold face.

As for Zhang Wei, since he had come out of the detention room, he could now go check the case files.