The Trembling World
chapter-289

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

Liu Gan glanced at Zhou JingJing. From the looks of her torn clothes and disheveled appearance, it fit the description. There were also bluish bruises at the corner of her eye and ruptured lips. Zhou JingJing sat there crying, so her eyes were flushed red with tears rolling down her face.

“Elder Liu, I really didn’t! Look at how handsome I am. I have the qualities of a prince, and the aura of a gentleman. There are so many single females that worshipped me at the prison compound, and you think that I would rape his wife? How bad do you think my taste is? There is no way my standards are that low, am I right?” Treadmill started pleading his innocence to Liu Gan.

“You must not want to live! You rapist! How dare you lie to Elder Liu!” HuJun angrily glared at Treadmill. If Liu Gan wasn’t here, his first task would be killing Treadmill.

“Martial Thunder, go call squad leader Han from the cargo bay. You will take his place to figure out the anchor situation,” Liu Gan said after thinking briefly.

“Understood.” Martial Thunder replied as he rushed down the hall and stairs to find Han GuangMing.

Inside the reception hall, no one else made a sound. HuJun glared at Treadmill, but Treadmill merely kept an innocent look. Meanwhile, Zhou JingJing was crying on the floor.

“Elder Liu, you called me?” Han GuangMing came up quickly.

“You are a college student studying at a police academy, right?” Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing, as the two talked in a far corner.

“Yes,” Han GuangMing nodded.

“So the situation is like this…” Liu Gan retold the case to Han GuangMing.

“Which of the three do you think is lying?” Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing. With Serenity drifting into the open sea, there was no solution. Yin He’s disappearance was also a mystery. Now with a rape case, this is starting to become very strange. Liu Gan felt that this was all tied to the situation onboard Serenity. So to find a breakthrough, it was decided that this case would be the starting point.

“Then…was there anyone else that was present at the scene?” Han GuangMing asked the rest of the members in the reception hall.

“When those two were fighting, we were present. But, for the rape and such, we weren’t there. We didn’t see any of that…” Huang WeiTao and Qi Shaohua quickly declared.

“Okay, so we have five people present. Zhao Meng, you watch these five people. I will go with Elder Liu for individual interrogation. Once we get their personal statement, I will figure out the truth.” Han GuangMing was definitely a good candidate from the police academy. With Elder Liu’s high expectation on Han GuangMing's shoulders, it was a heavy responsibility and he wouldn’t allow for disappointment.

“Sounds good,” Zhao Meng responded.

“Sister Zhou, please come with us. I need you to explain your case,” Han GuangMing called for Zhou JingJing.

“Squad leader Han, do you think he won’t hurt me? The moment you and Elder Liu leave, he will kill me. Without your presence, if he wants to kill me should I put up a reason for self-defense? If I don’t block and he kills me, then wouldn’t that mean I died for no reason?” Treadmill quickly yelled at Han GuangMing. Right now, HuJun was angrily glaring at Treadmill.

“While we are conducting investigation, you are not allowed to leave the reception hall. You are not allowed to curse or talk to each other! More importantly, no fighting! Little Zhao is watching you. Whoever tries to break my rules is trying to screw up the case. That means you don’t respect Elder Liu. You will be severely punished!” Han GuangMing quickly shouted back.

“I believe in Elder Liu and squad leader Han will return justice to me and JingJing,” HuJun held down his anger as he replied to Han GuangMing.

Han GuangMing nodded to HuJun. Then they went inside a nearby cabin room with Liu Gan and Zhou JingJing and closed the door behind them.

Without the presence of others, Zhou JingJing started speaking of the details to Liu Gan and Han GuangMing. After being rudely awoken in the reception hall, Han GuangMing with Zhang Hua and another member left the hall. Then Liu Gan left. After a brief moment, Martial Thunder and Zhao Meng went to the communications room.

[TL: Remember there were 12 people. Yin He is missing, so that means 11 people.]

Zhou JingJing crawled out of the sleeping bag, then headed to the bathroom closeby. After finishing up with the bathroom, she opened the door to come out. Right then, Treadmill was walking nearby and saw her come out. Quickly, Treadmill pushed her back into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Zhou JingJing was scared and asked him what he wanted. Treadmill kept saying HuJun was targeting him, and reporting him for trivial matters. This made him very angry. So he wanted revenge. Treadmill grabbed Zhou JingJing and pushed her onto the bathroom floor. Zhou JingJing kept resisting and screamed for help, but Treadmill slapped her multiple times. Finally, he shoved a piece of cloth into her mouth and tied her up.

Zhou JingJing was terrified, but the only thing she could do was resist. In the end, a level 4 player was no match for a level 5 player. Using brute force, he could do whatever he wanted.

When it was all over, Treadmill pulled the cloth out from her mouth. Then opened the window in the bathroom and tossed it overboard. He slapped her a few more times in the face, threatening to kill her if she made a sound before he departed.

Zhou JingJing was ashamed as she put back on her clothes, but she left the bathroom crying and told everything to HuJun. When HuJun heard what had happened, he was infuriated. HuJun ran toward the front of the ship, where Treadmill was. Right then, Treadmill was returning back to the reception hall from the outside of the ship. HuJun pulled out his dagger and ran towards Treadmill.

After Zhou JingJing finished her statement, she was allowed to leave. Han GuangMing halted the interrogations and went to the bathroom with Liu Gan to take a look at the scene of the crime. They discovered that the floor was a mess. There was evidence of someone falling to the floor that matched Zhou JingJing’s clothes.

“What do you think?” Liu Gan asked Han GuangMing.

“Zhou JingJing doesn’t seem to be lying. Treadmill and HuJun did have some personal disagreements from earlier. So if this happened, it wouldn’t be strange. But, we still don’t have all the evidence, we shouldn’t drop our conclusions so quickly. We need the other statements as well,” Han GuangMing replied.

Returning to the reception hall, Treadmill was called into the interrogation cabin to give his personal statement.

“Elder Liu, I am innocent! Do you think I am that type of person? It is true that I have a grudge against HuJun, but I wouldn’t do something that vile. I am a person of quality and taste, there is no way I can do that to his wife, right? His wife looks like she is from the countryside, do you think I can do something as lowly as to rape her? I’d rather do a female pig to resolve my problem…” Treadmill continued jabbering on and on.

“Shut up! I’ll ask, then you talk. If I don’t ask you, then cut the bull!” Han GuangMing interrupting Treadmill.

“Okay, you can ask.” Treadmill finally quieted down.