Chu Juxian had stayed away from the gathering, having greeted Guo Junyi beforehand out of fear that his presence would stifle the younger generation's fun. He never expected that a simple team dinner would result in a fatality. Now, his face was a mask of grim fury as he crouched in the autopsy room, his voice tight with suppressed rage. "Who brought this person?"
Guo Junyi looked utterly dejected. "No one brought her. She came on her own."
"On her own?" Chu Juxian’s breathing was ragged with irritation. "How does someone just 'come on her own'? Are you all playing that fast and loose these days?"
Lu Linjiang stepped in to explain. "Martina seemed to be pursuing Jiang Langmin. I’ve seen her cornering him at the hospital before."
Guo Junyi followed up, "She’d shown up a few times. Most of the guys who went to the hospital to check on me after work had seen her. When she appeared that day, everyone thought they’d help create an opportunity for them, so they brought her along."
Chu Juxian had nowhere to vent his frustration. He looked at Guo Junyi, feeling that his subordinate had been plagued by a string of terrible luck lately. A simple celebration had spiraled into a major incident.
He forced himself to swallow his anger and exhaled heavily. "The damage is done. You two need to determine the exact cause of death. Everyone at that dinner was one of our own; if we don't get to the bottom of this, people with ulterior motives will use it against us. Make the report detailed. Don't leave any loopholes for anyone to exploit." Having finished, Chu Juxian couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
While Guo Junyi prepared to perform the autopsy, Lu Linjiang didn't stay idle. Regardless of the cause of death, Martina’s family had to be notified to claim the body. After contacting international police channels, he was informed that Martina had an emergency contact. They would send over the details once the person was reached.
Listening to Xu Sichen’s report, Lu Linjiang suddenly remembered something. "Regarding Guzman—has anyone come to claim his remains?"
This wasn't under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Investigation Unit. Xu Sichen blinked, startled by the question. "I haven't followed up on that. I'll go ask." She didn't understand why Lu Linjiang was suddenly interested in this. Worried she had missed something, she asked, "Did I overlook a detail?"
"No," Lu Linjiang explained. "I just thought of it. I’m a bit curious about Guzman as a person." Although the case seemed closed, his intuition told him something was off.
He logged into the internal network himself to check. Guzman’s personal effects had been claimed a week ago. He stared at the English signature for a moment before instructing Xu Sichen, "Do me a favor. Go to Forensics and pull the surveillance footage. I want to see the person who picked up Guzman’s things."
Xu Sichen left, looking puzzled. Lu Linjiang calculated the dates and placed a call to Wang Qi. It took a while for Wang Qi to answer, as he seemed occupied.
"How are things on your end?"
"Don't even ask. We've been chasing a smuggling ring across two provinces, and there's cross-border involvement from the Vietnamese side," Wang Qi’s voice was thick with exhaustion. "We knew it wouldn't be simple, but we didn't expect that pulling up the radish would bring up so much mud. I thought we’d close the case within a month, but now it’s definitely going to drag on."
"Did you ever find out where that civet cat Guzman ate came from?"
"Hard to say. Those things aren't worth much, and they can be farmed. Usually, they're just animals that happen to fall into traps and are sold as a side business. There were several in that batch. The smugglers ate some themselves, gave some away as gifts, and by the time they reached Cui Shihai, only two were left."
"So, many people ate from that same batch of civet cats?"
"Yes. We specifically asked. they were eating them as they transported them, so there's no way to pinpoint a specific source."
Lu Linjiang narrowed his eyes slightly. "Could it really be such a coincidence that only Guzman was affected?"
Wang Qi was equally baffled by the question. "At least that’s how it looks for now. We specifically tested that tourist, and there was no problem."
***
At the same time, Jiang Langmin was sitting in Cheng Hao’s private lounge. A glass of mineral water sat by his hand as he carefully reviewed a report on the table. Cheng Hao sat on the opposite sofa, bored, trimming a cigar.
After finishing the report, Jiang Langmin glanced at Cheng Hao. "Are the loose ends in Europe cleaned up?"
"All swept clean."
"What about her family? Who’s coming for the body?"
Cheng Hao admired his cigar, answering half-heartedly, "Her parents divorced and remarried long ago. They live worlds apart and haven't spoken in years. No one even knew she and Guzman were a couple. I sent people to destroy anything that could link them. No one will find out about her connection to Guzman. As for the body, whoever wants to come can come. It’s none of my business."
Jiang Langmin’s brow furrowed. "And the identity information for Roman Salazar? Was it recovered?"
"Recovered. That brat really had some nerve, trying to keep a card up his sleeve. He actually registered half of those companies under this Martina woman’s name. Europeans are so damn unreliable!"
Jiang Langmin frowned at him. "That company will no longer operate openly. Keep a low profile. Don't let anyone catch a scent of us."
"Don't worry..."
"Don't worry? It’s because I trusted you too much that this mess happened!" Jiang Langmin snapped. Cheng Hao pursed his lips and put the cigar back.
"You should be grateful I was bored enough to extract a sufficient amount of alpha-gal. Otherwise, this wouldn't have been so easy to clean up!"
Cheng Hao rubbed his nose awkwardly, offering a sheepish smile. "I really didn't expect her to try and move against Jiang Cheng. Tsk, she was quite something. But wait—hasn't Jiang Cheng eaten meat lately?"
Jiang Langmin gave a cold snort. "You actually believed her?" He looked at Cheng Hao’s surprised expression and sighed. "At first, I was skeptical because I saw her appear at the hospital completely unscathed. I thought she was actually capable enough to have detected that the substance in the 'Diamond' was merely alpha-gal. But I quickly realized that if she could brag to me about tampering with Jiang Cheng’s drink, she actually had no idea what she had been infected with. Given Jiang Cheng’s diet, it would be impossible for there to be no symptoms if she had succeeded. Being able to find out what takeout Jiang Cheng orders is one thing, but having the god-like ability to actually poison him? Impossible."
"Still, she wasn't half bad. At least she bluffed you."
Cheng Hao was speechless. "...I guess I’m just too honest."
"Even if Jiang Cheng had actually drunk it, it wouldn't matter. As long as I'm by his side, he won't die," Jiang Langmin said calmly, looking at the water in his glass.
Cheng Hao quickly spotted a discrepancy. "Then why was Martina fine all this time?"
Jiang Langmin stared at Cheng Hao, his eyes clearly labeling the man an idiot. "She was a vegetarian. Is that really so hard to figure out?"
Cheng Hao silently toyed with the cigar on the table.
"Keep your wits about you. The only reason I stepped in was because no one expected Guzman, who was always a reliable partner, to lose his integrity at the end and leak the Roman Salazar identity to a third party. That was my mistake. But if you screw up the aftermath with Martina, you’d better be prepared to face Lu Linjiang yourself."
Under Jiang Langmin’s gaze, the hair on Cheng Hao’s arms stood up. He couldn't help but shiver. "I... I..."
Jiang Langmin looked at him, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
Strictly speaking, Lu Linjiang was not a creature of pure instinct. However, whenever his intuition told him something was wrong, there was almost always a problem.
He flipped through Guzman’s case file page by page. This tragedy, sparked by a quest for the exotic, had been ruled an accident. But after his call with Wang Qi this afternoon, Lu Linjiang’s doubts had resurfaced. The fact that only Guzman had been affected seemed far too strange, no matter how he looked at it.
The internal line on his desk rang. It was Guo Junyi. "Come down to the autopsy room. I think something’s wrong."
***
