Chapter 091: On Inferior Creatures

A woman who smiles often is never unlucky...

That phrase kept echoing through Li Tianque’s mind, and those blood-soaked teeth kept surfacing there in a grotesque way as well.

On the night of the murder, Li Tianque had never gotten a clear look at the killer.

But like Tuden Nima, the officer who took the emergency call, he was certain the voice belonged to a woman.

Thinking of this, Bai Ruixue now seemed to be under serious suspicion.

“After you went back with Bai Ruixue, were you always together?” Li Tianque asked at once.

“Yes. Xiaoxue, Lin Ya, and I stayed in one room. Liang Zhichao and Professor Lu stayed in another room. But because Professor Lu often lived in the laboratory or pitched a tent outdoors to observe insects, Liang Zhichao mostly lived alone,” Su Wei said.

As Ma Baoguo continued taking notes on Su Wei’s statement, he seemed to think of something suddenly and raised his brows.

“What do you think of Professor Lu? What kind of person is he?”

Su Wei’s expression froze slightly, as if she had not expected Ma Baoguo to ask such a question.

After thinking for a moment, she said, “Professor Lu is a rather strange person in temperament, but he works with extraordinary focus. Especially in his own field of research, he has unique insights and a rather distinctive research method.

Isn’t it said that a man is most charming when he is working earnestly? Because of that, the three of us girls were really more or less his little admirers.”

“Ha, if that’s the case, wouldn’t Liang Zhichao get jealous? A graduate student in his thirties facing a doctoral supervisor of twenty-seven—just that alone would make him envy the man, let alone when he’s so popular with women!” Ma Baoguo said with a smile.

Su Wei did not think too much of it and replied, “Well, we felt more admiration for Professor Lu, I suppose. At least I do. I don’t know how the others felt.

Though Liang Zhichao and Lin Ya never made it public, they should be dating. Lin Ya has always admired Professor Lu greatly, so Liang Zhichao had no reason not to be jealous.”

Ma Baoguo smiled and tapped ash from his cigarette.

At that moment, Li Tianque seemed to think of something too.

“What about Bai Ruixue? Did she also have a secret crush on Professor Lu?”

“She? Absolutely impossible,” Su Wei said with certainty.

“Oh? Why are you so sure?” Ma Baoguo asked with interest.

“Because their views on academia are completely opposed. Professor Lu has always followed the principle of seeking truth and being practical, with science above all else, and...”

Su Wei frowned, hesitating as though she did not want to go on.

Ma Baoguo saw her concern, set his pen on the table with a smile, and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t record this part. Just say whatever is on your mind.”

Su Wei still hesitated, but in the end she said it anyway.

“Also, Professor Lu believes that from a biological perspective, human beings are the highest form of life, possessing the smartest minds. All other creatures are inferior. Insects like these only have research value!”

The moment she said that, Li Tianque and Ma Baoguo exchanged a glance, both visibly shaken.

Professor Lu’s thinking was truly shocking, even frightening.

Moreover, as a researcher with considerable achievements in biology, he should not have had such a narrow worldview or such a mindset.

Still, the two of them quickly regained their composure. Ma Baoguo pressed on, “What does that have to do with Bai Ruixue? Is it because she opposes this theory?”

“That’s right. After all, Bai Ruixue is still a girl, and she’s somewhat emotional by nature. She also stands at the opposite extreme.

She believes that all things have spirit, and that studying insects is only for the sake of better preserving ecological balance and gaining a fuller understanding of everything in this world.

For that very reason, Bai Ruixue had never personally dissected an insect. When we were doing dissections, she would always find some excuse to deliberately avoid them.

The most outrageous thing was that once we caught a very beautiful scarlet emperor butterfly, and we were about to make it into a specimen, but she somehow took advantage of a moment when we weren’t paying attention and quietly let it go.

Because of that, Professor Lu was extremely angry and even wanted to expel her from the project team.

But considering that Bai Ruixue had very solid theoretical knowledge and was the strongest of us in that regard, she was ultimately allowed to stay after everyone pleaded on her behalf.

I often joke with Xiaoxue that she must have been a butterfly in her past life.

So I don’t think Xiaoxue would like Professor Lu.

But Lin Ya and Liang Zhichao both supported Professor Lu’s views very strongly. Especially Lin Ya—she even wrote this line of thought directly into her paper, and was once fiercely condemned by the academic world.”

Li Tianque seemed lost in thought and murmured, “Matters of the heart are hard to predict. Plenty of people who bicker and quarrel every day end up together in the end. Opposing views can actually make it easier for sparks of love to fly.”

“Heh, brother, sounds like you know quite a lot about this. You’ll have to give me more pointers,” Ma Baoguo said with a laugh.

“I’m just showing off before an expert,” Li Tianque replied with a helpless shrug. Indeed, for someone like him, unlucky in love, it seemed only natural to play the role of romance expert.

The two of them asked Su Wei a few more questions, and the answers were basically no different from her earlier statement.

After Bai Ruixue returned to the dormitory with Su Wei, it was already nearly ten o’clock. The two of them tidied up and went to sleep.

But when they came back, the victim, Lin Ya, was not in the dormitory.

In the middle of the night, Bai Ruixue had once suddenly woken up. She sat up and looked out the window for some unknown reason, then drew back the curtains to look again. But before long, she returned to bed.

Li Tianque organized Su Wei’s statement, then began reading Bai Ruixue’s basic information and her testimony.

After roughly understanding the situation, Ma Baoguo called Bai Ruixue in.

Bai Ruixue was twenty-five years old. Her skin was somewhat dark, and her looks were nothing special. The glasses she wore were half-rimmed. Though she was a girl, her limbs were sturdy and well built.

Her first impression was much like her name: cold as ice and snow. Unfortunately, she was not a beauty.

As Li Tianque flipped through her statement, Bai Ruixue’s account of what happened that day was much the same as Su Wei’s. However, there was no mention of her getting up in the middle of the night. So he asked directly, “Bai Ruixue, Su Wei is your roommate, right?”

“Yes,” Bai Ruixue answered briefly, without expression.

“On the day of the incident, Su Wei said you got up in the middle of the night and later walked to the window, pulled back the curtain, and looked at something. What did you see then?” Li Tianque pressed.

Bai Ruixue adjusted her glasses, frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said, “I had almost forgotten about it. That night I was lying in bed and couldn’t sleep, and later I heard a noise on the wall.

At first I didn’t pay much attention. But the sound never stopped, and it kept getting closer.

In the end, I saw a strange black shadow appear outside the window, and there was also a clicking sound coming from the window.

I sat up and looked at that shadow. After it moved down from the window area, I immediately ran to the window to see what it was, but in the end I saw nothing.”

Li Tianque had never taken part in interrogations and knew very little about police procedure, so he turned his head to look at Ma Baoguo, wondering whether someone trained in criminal psychology could tell if she was lying.

Ma Baoguo took a deep drag on his cigarette and shook his head slightly, as if he had not detected any flaw.

Li Tianque stared at Bai Ruixue and asked, “What time was it then?”

“Eleven oh five,” Bai Ruixue answered with complete certainty.