Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 92

Chapter 92: Excuse Me, Who Are You?

“After Qi Yingjun left the plastic surgery hospital, he started doing self-media. We’ve negotiated with the live stream platform and have obtained some of the backend information. It’s roughly this content.”

Piao Zheng had created a large group chat before the meeting and then had a colleague send the materials into the group chat.

There were more than a dozen videos. Shen Yiyi randomly clicked on two of them. Most of them were makeup videos, from ugly to beautiful. With the help of atmospheric lighting and special effects, the visual impact was extremely strong.

“Ranmei Company is an MCN company founded in Nanjing five years ago. It profits from live stream sales, advertising, e-commerce operations, and IP licensing. From this year, Ranmei began to sign a large number of live stream hosts, and Qi Yingjun was one of the male hosts.”

“Because this Ranmei content focuses on the female track, the signing of a male host had caused a heated discussion online. And a while ago, Ranmei was also involved in an online controversy because of a business dispute with Logos.”

Old Feng tilted his head and looked at Little Piao. “Logos?”

He seemed to be very surprised by this name. “The company invested in by that foreigner who was poisoned?”

Shen Yiyi frowned. She had not participated much in the analysis of Shang Yi’s case. She was in charge of the identification review and only needed to calibrate the main examiner’s report and go through the process.

But seeing Old Feng’s reaction, Logos should have appeared in the analysis meeting many times.

She put down her pen, crossed her arms, and concentrated.

Piao Zheng nodded at Old Feng. “Although I’m not in charge of that case, I’ve heard about it.”

“Because both cases are poisonings, and the victims’ backgrounds are linked to Logos to a certain extent. Although there are no specific clues to combine the cases yet, Logos is our current key monitoring target.”

Monitoring target…

Shen Yiyi’s eyes darkened. She readjusted the position of the notebook and pen in front of her. She felt that any target that could be labeled as a monitoring target by the police would not have a good ending.

Although she knew that Qin Luo would definitely not break the law.

But Liu Jia was not necessarily…

A while ago, when she was searching for public welfare projects, Shen Yiyi had also learned about the operation of the agricultural aid live stream.

The rapid asset expansion of Liu Jia’s enterprise in the past two years had produced a significant spillover effect.

Take the storm of the agricultural aid live stream.

The agricultural aid live stream had driven more than a billion yuan in revenue in the local area and had promoted the construction of a ten-thousand-ton cold chain logistics warehouse. But the negative effects were also apparent. The strategy of using the live stream room to drive traffic and set prices for tea had forced more than 300 local physical tea merchants to reduce their profits, and a large number of tea merchant sales backbones had transformed into online live stream hosts, resulting in a service gap in physical services.

And the “shoddy goods” incident that had caused Qin Luo to collapse had caused continuous damage to the reputation of the regional tea merchants, which had not yet subsided. Whether the internet was good or bad was a matter of one night, but the scope of its impact was sustainable.

But she found that Liu Jia had no intention of stopping after the incident. It seemed that she was not afraid of dying in the storm at all.

She had gathered her resources and had asked the local government for more land, preparing to develop “rural incubation.” She had experimentally incubated several agricultural accounts within the county, using a brand co-branding and profit-sharing model. Then she had used the Logos matrix to drive crazy traffic, achieving a rapid increase of one hundred thousand followers for the account in two weeks. And two days before Qi Yingjun’s death, she had achieved a single-session sales of over one million for the new account.

A few days ago, she had been scrolling through You Ning’s posts too much, and big data had still pushed Logos-related posts to Shen Yiyi. She had heard that the live stream company that Liu Jia was setting up was about to be established, making Logos an invisible capital behind the scenes.

Taking too big a step was really not necessarily a good thing.

Shen Yiyi couldn’t imagine how big the impact would be if Logos was caught in a storm again. Would the hosts, artists, and internet celebrities under her be implicated along with the company? Would those scholar IPs collapse? And Her Kill…

At this thought, Shen Yiyi’s heart suddenly clenched.

She didn’t dare to imagine how much pain Qin Luo would be in if that day really came.

Old Feng rubbed the back of his head and shook his head. “This case has many difficulties in determining the evidence from the traces. We didn’t find any special fingerprints or footprints at the crime scene. You’ve seen the scene. This person’s house is like a warehouse. It’s very complicated and tedious to extract fingerprints from all the makeup boxes.”

Shen Yiyi took his words.

She nodded. “We also have a lot of difficulties with the autopsy evidence. We didn’t find any relevant evidence on the clothes sent to the lab. He took the poison himself during the live stream. Because he had a history of blood clotting disorders and plastic surgery, after pressing and swallowing the poisoned beauty blender, and with the catalysis of the high-temperature live stream lights, he died quickly.”

The forensic pathologist and the trace evidence team had expressed that it was difficult. Then the breakthrough in finding evidence for this case would have to be a hundred times more effort. After all, the killer was not at the scene, there were no fingerprints on the weapon, and the chain of evidence was broken.

Even if the killer was caught, it would be a headache to convict them directly with clues.

Old Feng said anxiously, “Team Leader Piao, didn’t you say you had a new clue? Let’s hear it.”

“We visited the complex, and questioned the family and friends. We found that this Qi Yingjun had severe anxiety and had a bad attitude toward some of the staff. Every time he was on a business trip or attended an event, he would insult his assistant in various ways. He had also assaulted other internet celebrities in the complex, causing the other to have a broken nose and lip and to have to get a nose job.”

Shen Yiyi remembered the surveillance camera installed at the door of the resident on the same floor and asked, “Have you asked his girlfriend? Does he have a serious tendency toward violence?”

The visiting police officer said, “Yes, he would curse and slap people when he was emotionally unstable, but he has not used any weapons to attack.”

Old Feng had a lot of experience in handling cases and said based on his first instinct,

“Then the suspicion of a revenge killing is very high.”

The police officer agreed. “Yes, it was almost an indiscriminate attack. He even hit his girlfriend and parents. Many internet celebrities have been hit by him, but given his sincere attitude of apology and the large amount of compensation he paid each time, they all chose to settle privately in the end.”

As one of the few women present, Shen Yiyi couldn’t help but ask, “Then what about his girlfriend? Is this girl named Tang Yao financially tied to Qi Yingjun? Why didn’t she leave after being subjected to violence?”

“This Tang Yao was brainwashed by Qi Yingjun.”

Team Leader Piao sighed and said helplessly, “After learning of Qi Yingjun’s death, Tang Yao fainted in our police car. During the questioning, she was also sobbing so much that she couldn’t speak. It feels like she loved the other to death.”

Shen Yiyi was quite puzzled by this answer.

If something harms a person’s personal interests and ideals, can love become a transcendent force and reconstruct the order of values?

Why was she so devoted to Qi Yingjun?
Why couldn’t she?

This question was puzzling.

“Later, Tang Yao herself said that the reason she couldn’t leave Qi Yingjun was because the other had shown her a bigger world. She was a rural girl and had worked as a housekeeper in his house in Hangzhou. A few months later, Qi Yingjun had confessed to her. At first, she didn’t dare to agree, feeling that Qi Yingjun was rich and handsome, and the two were not suitable. But this man’s persistent pursuit had made her let down her guard. After trying to date for half a year, she had moved in with him.”

Shen Yiyi picked up her pen with a puzzled look. Although her ears were listening, her hand was drawing a table on her notebook.

The horizontal axis was goals, costs, and love.
The vertical axis was benefits, losses, and possibilities.

But just as she was about to think about the feasibility of a relationship with Qin Luo, the calculator that weighed the pros and cons of emotion and reality suddenly crashed.

What was there for her to plan?

Qin Luo had kissed You Ning, and Guo Rui had said that Qin Luo was very desperate, and Liu Jia had said that Qin Luo was preparing for a new life. So what was the point of her making a table and calculating here?

A feeling of annoyance welled up. She threw her pen and crossed her arms, staring at the table in a daze.

“After they moved in together, Qi Yingjun gave Tang Yao the money, and Tang Yao quit her job to take care of the other with all her heart. But after they started dating, she found that Qi Yingjun had a violent tendency and had hit her more than once. But because the other was handsome and had a high income, and her family had pua-ed her, saying that she would never find such a boyfriend again, and had persuaded her to endure it. It wasn’t until they had moved to Shanghai, a month before Qi Yingjun’s death, that the two had had a fight and the other had beaten her to the hospital. Only then did Tang Yao go back to her hometown. It was the other who had constantly begged for forgiveness, and had even given her parents more than three hundred thousand yuan in compensation, that her family had urged her to go back to Shanghai.”

Hearing this, Shen Yiyi frowned, her face gloomy. She asked back, “Could it be that this man didn’t hit her, but instead hit other staff members, and that’s why she didn’t choose to leave?”

The police officer’s eyes lit up. “As expected of you, Director! You’re right.”

Shen Yiyi turned her head abruptly. “Old Feng… did you find any rat poison at his house?”

“I did.”

Shen Yiyi asked again, “Is it the kind in a bottle that you can buy at the market?”

Seeing that Director Shen’s expression was not right, Old Feng put down his hand from his chest and sat up straight. “Yes, what’s wrong?”

Shen Yiyi hesitated for three seconds and said coldly, “Is it unopened, brand new, and placed in the cabinet under the kitchen sink?”

***

“I haven’t even opened this Maotai gift box. I specially brought it today for Old Xin!”

In the private club that Shang Yi often went to, Li Wenping had booked the largest banquet hall. Qin Luo was sitting at the round table in the drinking seat, and You Ning was sitting next to her.

“The Chongqing venue, thanks to Old Xin, saved me a lot of trouble.” As Sister Li spoke, she opened the gift box packaging, and You Ning immediately stood up to help open the bottle.

This meal had been going on for almost an hour, and Qin Luo was a little numb from drinking. Although she had been hanging out at nightclubs with You Ning every day for the past while, beer was just a wheat drink to her, and good foreign wine would not get to her head too quickly.

But today’s meal was a mix of red and white wine. Qin Luo had not been out for a social event in a long time, and her liver’s decomposition was not yet used to this rhythm. She was a little unaccustomed.

“This is all our work. It’s what we should do.”

The one who spoke was called Xin Wuzheng.

He was the lead lawyer of the Her Kill legal team.

His team served various productions in the entertainment industry, handling contracts, IP infringement, and online blacklisting…

After Lu Xi was taken away by the police, he had immediately given Li Wenping various suggestions to avoid risks. A while ago, the Chongqing location had had a conflict with a partner during filming, and it was also he who had flown there to resolve it at the first opportunity. He was very responsible in his work.

“My daughter really admires you. She often watches your reading group’s videos at home. Teacher Qin, many of the things you do are really meaningful.”

Lawyer Xin took advantage of the idle chat at the dinner party and secretly handed over another wine glass.

Qin Luo lightly clinked her glass and said politely, “Thanks.”

There were fifteen people at the dinner party today. Besides the outsourcing company for the photography team that was to be replaced, there were also Xin Wuzheng and the joint investment representative. Everyone had a couple of drinks and chatted about cooperation at the dinner party, which was also a way to stabilize the morale.

But this Xin Wuzheng not only loved to drink, but he also loved to persuade others to drink, which put Qin Luo, who was sitting in the drinking seat, in a difficult position. Although this person’s interests were not great, she had to drink.

Seeing that Qin Luo couldn’t drink anymore, You Ning took the initiative to block many glasses for her. By the time the dinner party was over, she was almost supporting Qin Luo out of the club.

Zhan Luo was not here today. Qin Luo had given him the day off. Before she had come, Qin Luo had only notified Liu Jia, but she had not notified Liu Jia’s driver to pick her up.

Qin Luo looked at the time. It was almost midnight. She didn’t want to trouble others, so she decided to find a designated driver herself.

You Ning was not at ease. Qin Luo’s hands were trembling as she scrolled through her phone screen. What was the use of just finding a designated driver?

“I’ll go back with you.”

Hearing that the other wanted to go back with her, Qin Luo immediately pushed her away. “No need. I can do it myself.”

“You’ve had too much to drink!”

“It’s okay.” It was a physiological lack of control. Qin Luo smiled unconsciously. “I think that bottle of Maotai must be fake. Otherwise, how could I be swaying?”

“Hey! Don’t fall.”

Seeing Qin Luo swaying, her body tilting, You Ning immediately went forward to support her.

But You Ning didn’t dare to touch Qin Luo’s waist. The last time they had kissed, the verification code had already been entered incorrectly. If it happened two more times, this device of Qin Luo would most likely be completely locked to her.

“You drank too fast. That old man Xin has a bad heart. He’s crazy. He even forces people to drink—”

“Ugh—”

Before You Ning could finish her sentence, she saw Qin Luo holding the pillar in front of the club and vomiting into the bushes.

It must be fake wine!

Qin Luo felt that her stomach was full of water, and her body was so heavy that she was top-heavy. If it weren’t for the fake wine, she would definitely not be so drunk. Her throat was burning and astringent. She wanted to stand up and try to calm the churning in her stomach, but she couldn’t hide the urge to vomit again.

As she was vomiting, her phone was still ringing.

She looked at it. It was still the strange number that had been calling her non-stop at the dinner party.

The front desk of the reading group had told her that a strange number that called more than twice was not likely to be a scam, and besides, she had nothing to be scammed of anymore. It had already called five or six times. It was probably Liu Jia’s driver.

As she was vomiting, she handed her phone to You Ning with her backhand, indicating for her to help her answer it.

You Ning was delighted with this privilege. She took the phone and quickly answered it.

“Hello?”

The voice was blurry, and Shen Yiyi didn’t hear it clearly. But she was anxious about Qin Luo’s safety and said without thinking, “Where are you now?”

But it was You Ning who heard the other’s voice clearly and was silent on the other end of the line for a long time.

She chose an answer that would not make either of them embarrassed.

“Excuse me, who are you?”