Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 153

Chapter 153: The Day Regret Began

“Did you buy the heart disease medicine and health supplements online?”
“Do you recognize this?”

Piao Zheng struck while the iron was hot, placing the evidence photos in front of him one by one.

“I’m not a tool.”

Zhan Luo was struggling in his mouth, ignoring Piao Zheng’s questioning.

Piao Zheng did not have Shen Yiyi’s patience and simply sorted out the case process.

“We found in your computer that since July of last year, you have been constantly searching for information related to blood clotting disorders and plastic surgery online.”

The police had found many clues in their search of Zhan Luo’s house, not just his web browsing history, but also his purchase platform records. The police had found that Zhan Luo had been constantly buying various heart disease prescription drugs online since July. Because the online purchase supervision was not strict, Zhan Luo had bought drugs with the same ingredients as the ones in the toxicology test by forging his medical records.

Zhan Luo just kept repeating, “I’m not a tool.”

Seeing that he did not want to face it, Shen Yiyi opened her mouth. “In July, because Qin Luo’s former assistant had resigned, you entered Logos as a replacement and met Li Peipei when you were coordinating your work.”

Li Peipei had changed so much over the years that Zhan Luo had not recognized her at first glance.

A black shirt with a very simple cut, her hair tied up neatly, her features thin and elegant, a very clean-looking woman. She would be by Shang Yi’s side, flipping through his files, tidying his tie clip, and summarizing meetings, like a calm executor. Even in the face of Shang Yi’s negative emotions, she was expressionless.

Later, when the Logos live stream had an incident, he and Li Peipei had added each other on WeChat for work.

Li Peipei’s WeChat profile picture was a professional photo. Zhan Luo had zoomed in and out on the photo, always feeling that it was familiar, but he had flipped through Li Peipei’s Moments and still couldn’t remember where he had seen her.

It wasn’t until Zhan Luo had sent a notice of termination of the project negotiation to Li Peipei at Qin Luo’s request that the two had chatted a few times.

He knew that Li Peipei had been in charge of the online resources of the reading group for a long time, and that many of the media stream businesses were from Shang Yi’s tilted conversations. Zhan Luo had expressed his dissatisfaction with the termination of the project and had even asked if Director Qin had the ability to stop the reading group project.

Li Peipei had spoken with great propriety. When they had talked, she had first said that she had witnessed the growth of the reading group over the years and knew the meaning of its existence. She had told Zhan Luo that Director Qin had the right to terminate the project and had expressed her regret for the end of the cooperation. Zhan Luo could feel the other’s regret in their conversation, which was definitely not an act of false politeness. Li Peipei had even shared with him many books that had benefited from the reading group’s sharing, one of which was particularly eye-catching—Notes from the House of the Dead.

The moment he had seen the title of the book, Zhan Luo had felt as if he had regained his memory.

That was the first activity he had planned after he had become a full-time employee at the reading group. He had carried hundreds of copies of Notes from the House of the Dead into the prison transport vehicle, box by box.

Zhan Luo had recalled all of Li Peipei’s stories at an extremely fast speed.
Including the pain and despair she had talked about in the chat room.

But why had she not yet walked out of the despair, and was still working by that man’s side, tidying his tie clip, and laughing with him…

“You’re not pretending to be stupid now.” Piao Zheng had typed a few lines on his computer, had retrieved a few evidence photos, and had said coldly, “Did you learn about Shang Yi’s heart condition from Li Peipei?”

Shen Yiyi could also see the evidence photos. On them were the chat records provided by Li Peipei. In the chat, Zhan Luo had asked about Shang Yi’s personal health problems several times, but every time, Li Peipei would refuse to answer him.

“Did Li Peipei help you replace the medicine bottle that Shang Yi carried with him?”

Zhan Luo did not answer, just looked at Shen Yiyi hesitantly.

Shen Yiyi asked faintly, “Is it that you don’t know how to answer?”

He had answered that he was not a tool, but he had now suddenly realized that he had been used as a tool for revenge. He had prided himself on being a sober person, an executor of an unjust structure, a judge of society, but in the end, he had found that he was the one standing on the edge, a killer who was dying for others. To protect that woman, to protect a smart woman’s low-risk, zero-cost escape plan, he had actually paid with the rest of his life.

“Since you don’t want to answer, then I’ll ask another question.” Shen Yiyi stared into his eyes and asked, word by word, “Why did you kill Xin Wuzheng?”

Why kill Xin Wuzheng?
Zhan Luo looked up, his chaotic thoughts in a state of confusion.

“Since you can’t think of it, I’ll help you think.”

Shen Yiyi did not intend to give him a chance to breathe. She enlarged the chat record on the computer screen, flipped it over, and pushed it in front of Zhan Luo, forcing him to remember.

“Although Li Peipei no longer uses the profile picture and name from the chat room back then, you remembered her. She had told her story in prison and had become a member of the reading group after she was released. So you learned an important piece of information: Li Peipei was Shang Yi’s mistress.”

“Afterward, you went through the reading group’s member system and found that she had stopped participating in the reading group’s activities three years ago. So you asked Liu Jia’s secretary, Li Yuan, and learned from her that Shang Yi had started to invest in Logos five years ago, and had increased his investment three years ago and had participated in the decision-making of the reading group. Every time node was very consistent with what you had expected.”

“You thought that Li Peipei had chosen not to continue to participate in the reading group because she was afraid of her work being exposed. At that time, the reading group was about to be disbanded, and you were anxious to have Li Peipei help you persuade Shang Yi, because you knew that she was also a beneficiary of the reading group.”

“But you hadn’t expected that after the live stream accident, Shang Yi and Qin Luo had had a verbal argument because of a disagreement in their philosophies. You were insulted by Shang Yi on the spot. You held a grudge against him for this and thought that this kind of person was not suitable to hold shares in the reading group.”

“It just so happened that at this time, you had learned a piece of news from Li Peipei: she had been forced to get pregnant.”

Just like the people who looked down on him, the demeaning tone had reminded him of his unrecognized identity. How could that kind of person be suitable to be a father? So the thought of killing had started to stir again.

He had tried to save her.

“You started to constantly search for information about Shang Yi.”

Shen Yiyi flipped the computer to face her, typed a few lines in the search bar, and then turned the screen to face Zhan Luo. There were hundreds of search records, all of which had been restored by the technical staff.

“You searched for his family, his itinerary, and you even watched his interviews and talks in the middle of the night. You even investigated the family members of his wife.”

The most amusing thing was that in the search records of that day, there was not only Shang Yi, but also You Ning and herself. Shen Yiyi could imagine the scene.

“You found that he had not been back in the country for long but had a lot of resources. Many of his resource areas were not only not in the entertainment industry, but also had no connection with the Liang family. So you suspected that he had illegal means. It just so happened that at this time, a famous host under Logos had betrayed and had left, and you happened to know this host’s friend, Qi Yingjun.”

When the police were searching Zhan Luo’s mobile device, they had found that Zhan Luo had followed Qi’s account on major social media platforms. The longest follow had been for more than six hundred days, which could be traced back to the time when Qi Yingjun had just started doing self-media. Zhan Luo had even followed his assistant’s and his wife’s private social media accounts.

“You had paid attention to Qi because of Yanli’s failed plastic surgery. You had found that he not only abused his assistant, but was also suspected of abusing his girlfriend. So you had used the reading group’s volunteer account to send a link to a psychological studio’s aid to Qi’s wife, Tang, trying to get close to the other. But because Tang had thought that the price of the psychological counseling was too high, she had given up on the psychological aid. You had registered multiple social media accounts, had pretended to be a strange netizen to chat with the other, and you had even pretended to be a business advertiser to add Qi Yingjun on WeChat.”

Just as Shen Yiyi had imagined, the target that Zhan Luo had originally wanted to kill was Qi Yingjun. It was just that Shang Yi’s appearance had caused this killing spree to be constantly accelerated.

Because he had been paying attention to Qi Yingjun for a long time, he had keenly discovered that Dadihua had contacted Li Ran through Qi Yingjun’s connections, and he had seen a party photo in Qi Yingjun’s Moments. There was a figure in the photo that he was very familiar with, and that was the Li Peipei who had just started to show. He had been filled with doubts and had wanted to question Li Peipei, but he had not expected to receive the news of her accidental miscarriage.

“You were happy about Li Peipei’s accidental miscarriage.”

Shen Yiyi’s tone was certain. “When you went to the hospital to visit her, you happened to run into Wang Lu, who had also come to see Li Peipei. So you were even more puzzled about their relationship. After Wang Lu had left, you had pressed Li Peipei about Dadihua.”

“Li Peipei was already in a state of panic after her miscarriage, and she was caught off guard by your questioning.”
“She was afraid that Shang Yi would come after you after he found out, and would cause unnecessary trouble, so she had resolutely refused to say anything. But you had forced her to tell you the truth by threatening to expose her to Qin Luo and Liu Jia.”
“So she had told you a part of the truth, and had also told you about the death of Wang Lu’s friend.”

Before Shen Yiyi could finish speaking, Zhan Luo suddenly burst out laughing. His laughter was very strange, and no one could stand the arrogant laughter of a pervert. It was so loud that Piao Zheng frowned.

As he was laughing, he said, “He has so many reasons to die. Shouldn’t I have killed him?”

Bang—

Shen Yiyi slammed the table with force. “What I’m asking you now is if Li Peipei told you the time of the party and gave you Qi Yingjun’s live stream plan.”

She had never seen Director Shen lose her temper before. She had suddenly shouted a few times, and her volume was so loud that Piao Zheng had put his hands back on his legs and had sat up straight.

“Was the replaced health supplement handled by Li Peipei!”
“Was the list of makeup products for the live stream leaked to you by Li Peipei!”
“Is Xin Wuzheng’s death related to Li Peipei!!”

Shen Yiyi’s three angry questions had silenced the interrogation room. The corners of Zhan Luo’s mouth were still turned up, but there was no more laughter.

“I just wanted to kill him, them.”

Shen Yiyi slammed the table again. “Then what about Liu Jia!!”

“Why did Liu Jia appear on this list?” Shen Yiyi’s eyes were sharp, like a mirror reflecting Zhan Luo’s greedy appearance. “Was her order supposed to be before Xin Wuzheng? On the day the reading group was disbanded, you couldn’t hold back your desire to kill and couldn’t wait to kill her.”

On the day the reading group was disbanded.
Shen Yiyi’s regret had started from that day.

She had originally wanted to take a few peeks at Qin Luo, but she was afraid of an awkward meeting, so she could only keep going to the restroom. That way, she could look at the Qin Luo who was talking to the guests downstairs through the window.

And so, after passing by a couple of times, she and Zhan Luo had brushed past each other at the restroom door.

Although Zhan Luo was wearing a mask, Shen Yiyi could still accurately identify him. But at that time, Zhan Luo was just an assistant, so she had not paid attention to his movements.

At the same time, she also remembered that You Ning and Liu Jia had been chatting in the conference room next door for a long time that day.