After receiving the news from the school, Gao Tian immediately rushed in the direction of the school. In order not to agitate people, he changed into plain clothes and borrowed the chief's private car to hurry to the school. There weren't many people with him, just three police officers.
As for the Immortal Arts Mobile Squad, they were already deployed in the vicinity. They were hiding nearby and wouldn't show themselves for the time being; as soon as Gao Tian gave the order, they would rush in to save the students.
But such a forceful attack was ultimately just a last resort, because this was a serial killer who had already killed several people; he absolutely wouldn't mind killing a few more …
"How's the situation?" Gao Tian asked his assistant on the way.
"The school's teachers are maintaining order at the scene. By the way, Captain Gao, the suspect mentioned a person named Zheng Jingxuan. Our colleagues from the intelligence department went to look into him. Take a look." The assistant handed his phone to Gao Tian.
It was a detailed file on Zheng Jingxuan. Three years ago, he was a student at Magic Treasure Development University, a fresh graduate from the class of 4393. His grades were excellent, and he had even represented the school in a magic treasure design competition.
Gao Tian read the relevant information that the intelligence department had gathered from the Internet. "Because he was suspected of plagiarizing someone else's work in an international competition, Zheng Jingxuan was permanently disqualified from the competition. As a result, his alma mater, Magic Treasure Development University, was tarnished. After discussion with the higher-ups of Magic Treasure Development University, they ordered Zheng Jingxuan to publicly apologize to the entire school and the magic treasure design industry, or he would be expelled and punished. Zheng Jingxuan refused to apologize, and after several fruitless attempts at communication, the school issued a disciplinary notice. When the courier delivered the notice to Zheng Jingxuan's rental apartment, he discovered that he had already committed suicide by detonating his golden core. "
Reading up to this point, Gao Tian rubbed his chin. "So that's what happened …" In fact, this incident had caused quite a ruckus back then. Gao Tian vaguely remembered that the news that year had been overwhelmingly denouncing Zheng Jingxuan; the only thing missing was someone pressing his head down and forcing him to apologize.
After Zheng Jingxuan's death, the incident didn't stop there. Online media outlets wrote articles about how Zheng Jingxuan was so ashamed that he couldn't bear the pressure and had committed suicide to escape punishment.
Then, the netizens' comments on Zheng Jingxuan began to change. Those who had been clamoring to bring him to justice and wanted nothing more than to hang his corpse on the pillar of shame in history began to sympathize with him, wondering if there was some inside story.
But then, in less than a week's time, the voices on the internet had disappeared without a trace …
No matter how popular it was, it couldn't last more than seven days. This was Gao Tian's understanding of the modern internet.
"I remember this case, but I only learned about it three years ago. I don't have the right to intervene in this matter. The final police investigation showed that Zheng Jingxuan had indeed committed suicide, and a suicide note was found in his home. After identification, it was indeed Zheng Jingxuan's notes. "Gao Tian sighed. He didn't expect that after so many years, he would personally come across this case.
Perhaps there really was some inside story in the incident back then?
Gao Tian guessed.
But this was just a guess. He didn't have any proof, and he needed to find more evidence to corroborate the facts back then and restore the truth of the incident.
But even if he wanted to investigate, it wouldn't be easy for Gao Tian. It had already been three years since the incident, and a lot of the chain of evidence from back then had been broken. Even the rental house where Zheng Jingxuan had chosen to commit suicide had been turned into a chess room because no one was living in it.
After Gao Tian finished reading the information, he handed the phone back to the assistant on the side, who said, "All in all, this is a student who has tarnished Magic Treasure Development University's reputation. Thus, we've initially pinpointed that the murderer in this murder and hostage case may have been Zheng Jingxuan's parents who started this case out of revenge.
"After a preliminary investigation, Zheng Jingxuan's parents divorced before his death because they couldn't stand the online abuse. We've already contacted his mother, who is building a relationship with a new boyfriend out of town … We've already asked a colleague out of town to verify the situation, and it should be close to the truth. As for Zheng Jingxuan's father, we're still investigating and can't completely eliminate him from the list of suspects. "
"Mm, we have to find his father."
Gao Tian nodded. Judging from this incident, Zheng Jingxuan's parents were the most likely suspects. Of course, Gao Tian couldn't completely agree with what his assistant had said.
Although Zheng Jingxuan was undoubtedly a pillar of shame in the magic treasure design industry, who knew what the truth was like back then?
"When we arrive at the scene later, don't insult Classmate Zheng in such a way as to provoke the criminal, got it?" Gao Tian instructed.
"Yes, Captain Gao." The accompanying police officers all nodded.
"What are the criminal's current demands?"
"A little lower. He wants a ransom of three million."
"He's only asking for three million for so many hostages?" Gao Tian felt that there was something wrong with this suspect's head. But he suddenly remembered something … the prize for first place in the magic treasure design competition that Classmate Zheng Jingxuan had participated in back then seemed to have been three million.
Was this a hint from the criminal to them?
Gao Tian felt that things were vaguely becoming interesting. This criminal really was here because of the competition back then, and perhaps he was relying on justice to expose some inside story.
But as far as Gao Tian was concerned, this was very stupid.
Whether or not there was a secret behind the competition back then, even if there really was an insider behind the scenes, that wasn't a reason for this criminal to kill so many people in a row. The cultivation world was now on the path of the rule of law, and since it was a country governed by the law, it naturally had to follow the Heavenly Dao. The weapon used to expose inside stories was the law, not private punishment.
Gao Tian would go all out to investigate what happened back then, but he would also arrest this heinous criminal who had killed so many people in a row and hand him over to the law for punishment.
"Second, he wants Principal Zhou Dongye of Magic Treasure Development University to release the live video of the magic treasure design competition that year. But because it's been a long time, Principal Zhou says that this request can't be fulfilled for the time being. He still needs to communicate with the organizing committee and get permission before he can bring the video to the scene … but the criminal doesn't accept Principal Zhou's opinion. He wants Principal Zhou to release the video within half an hour, or else he'll have to kill a hostage every half an hour. "
"And?" Gao Tian's expression turned cold.
"The third and final condition is that the criminal wants all cultivators above the Golden Core stage to withdraw from within a ten-kilometer radius, except for relevant school personnel. If they can't do it within half an hour, he'll blow up the auditorium … "
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