Crime Scene Report by Hayley Ng

One (1) new message!

The following attached file contains a crime scene report that has been translated into English. Sections have been omitted and/or censored by the Shanghai Municipal Police for reasons likely beyond maintaining confidentiality. Caution is advised when reading.

Shanghai municipal police
crime scene investigation Report

[Six (6) rows were omitted by the Shanghai Municipal Police]

End of report

One (1) new message!

The following attached file is the case’s photo log. Take note of the fact that the Shanghai Municipal Police declined to give us the actual photos.

Shanghai Municipal Police
Crime Scene Investigation - Photo Log

End of log

Two (2) new messages!

We managed to get ahold of the raw interview log between Li Fu and one of the reporting officers, which occurred not long after Cindy’s death along with Cindy’s journal, specifically the most recent entry. The English translations of both are in the following attachments. 

INTERVIEW LOG 44-0932-A: 

Date: 14-08-22

Interviewee: Zheng Li Fu

Interviewer: Officer Wang

Notes: Zheng Li Fu did not behave particularly abnormally when walking into the interrogation room, besides showing mild indicators of stress. 

<BEGIN LOG>

[Zheng Li Fu sits quietly in the interrogation room. He appears anxious and frequently wrings his hands. After thirty (30) minutes, Officer Wang enters the room with a clipboard. Zheng Li Fu straightens up as Officer Wang takes a seat across from him.]

Officer Wang: Alright, the recorder is on. State your name for the record. 

Zheng Li Fu: My, my name is Zheng Li Fu. 

Officer Wang: What is your relationship with Chen Xing Yi?

Zheng Li Fu: I was her next-door neighbor, but we talked occasionally and traded food. 

Officer Wang: Traded?

[Zheng Li Fu’s anxiety appears to recede as he gives a wan smile.]

Zheng Li Fu: Some of the Da Bai [T/N: translates to “Big Whites”] don’t give us enough food while giving others food they don’t need or can’t eat. I usually traded cabbage with Chen Xing Yi, for some rice.

Officer Wang: Was it only you who Chen Xing Yi traded with? Or were there other people? 

Zheng Li Fu: I, I think it was only me. To get to her door, you’d need to go past my door. I would have probably heard if someone else came by.

[A pause. Officer Wang writes in his notes.] 

Officer Wang: Where were you when Chen Xing Yi was killed?

Zheng Li Fu: Ah? Killed? Are you saying she was murdered?

Officer Wang: That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Please answer the question.

Zheng Li Fu: I told you before, I was in my apartment, composing music. If someone pushed her out the window, I would have heard it. And I didn’t hear anything. I haven’t heard much from her apartment after Yun died. 

Officer Wang: Who’s Yun?

Zheng Li Fu: Yun was Chen Xing Yi’s cat. When she was out, I heard the Da Bai kick open her door. I didn’t leave my apartment to see, but I heard them grab Yun and take him outside. I saw them beat Yun against the ground—I saw them from my window, just killing him and beating him even after it was clear he died. 

[Zheng Li Fu mimes whipping something against the table. He appears visibly distraught. Officer Wang quietly takes notes. Once Zheng Li Fu stops, Officer Wang waits to let him catch his breath before continuing.]

Officer Wang: How did Chen Xing Yi react?

Zheng Li Fu: “How did Chen Xing Yi react?” [Raises voice] How did you think she reacted?

[Zheng Li Fu visibly restrains himself. Officer Wang remains impassive.]

Zheng Li Fu: The cat was all she had during the lockdown. Not even her family, because her family was all the way back in America. Did you know she only came here four months ago? Aiya, poor girl, traveling here by herself even though she as sick. 

Officer Wang: Sick? Sick how? 

[Zheng Li Fu hesitates.]

Zheng Li Fu: She told me she always feels tired, and a little bit, a bit aimless. She said she was taking medicine up until a little while ago when the Big Whites stopped bringing it up. Even so, she told me that she was okay because she had her cat. Her cat was her life. 

[Officer Wang writes in his notes for one (1) minute and twenty-two (22) seconds.] 

Officer Wang: I see. Thank you for your time, Zheng Li Fu. We’ll be contacting you shortly. 

Zheng Li Fu: Ah? That’s it? 

[Officer Wang escorts Zheng Li Fu out of the interrogation room. Officer Wang returns to the room and picks up the clipboard he left on the table. He flips through the pages.]

End of log

Addendum.1: INCIDENT: #4409324990AL

Four (4) days after the conclusion of the interview, Zheng Li Fu was seized from his apartment and charged with killing Chen Xing Yi. 

— S.A. Andrea Pierson