Cheng Hao escorted Jiang Langmin back to his home and followed him inside without the slightest hint of hesitation. Jiang Langmin seemed to be in a decent mood; he merely spared him a sidelong glance, tacitly permitting his presence. Cheng Hao walked straight to the liquor cabinet, picked through the selection, and poured himself a glass without being asked.
"Ah, you really know how to enjoy life."
Jiang Langmin opened his mouth to remind him he still had to drive, but said nothing in the end, simply finding a comfortable position to sit down.
"Not having one?" Cheng Hao saw Jiang Langmin shake his head and sat down beside him. "This is my first time here. Truly luxurious." He leaned back, sprawling across the sofa like a starfish. Within his field of vision, ribbons of light formed by streetlamps stretched out, disappearing among the distant high-rises.
Cheng Hao didn't mind Jiang Langmin’s silence at all. He took another sip of wine, then suddenly sat bolt upright with a start. "Oh, I forgot I was driving!" He stared at the glass in his hand for a moment before leaning back again. "Eh, it's no big deal. I'll just call a designated driver later."
He gazed contentedly at the scenery outside, failing to notice the profound, meaningful smile that appeared on Jiang Langmin’s face.
"How has your Jiang Cheng been lately?" Having finished one glass, Cheng Hao went back to the cabinet to switch to another variety. It seemed the alcohol was going to his head, as he took the initiative to strike up a conversation. "You're so invested in him—you're not playing for keeps, are you?"
Jiang Langmin picked up his phone casually. "That has nothing to do with you."
Cheng Hao clicked his tongue. "Already playing the protective lover? I really never expected that a day would come when you, Jiang Langmin, would actually like someone. That’s more terrifying than hearing it’s raining knives."
Ignoring the teasing, Jiang Langmin flipped through his emails and asked, "How are your parents doing lately?"
"Hmm?" Cheng Hao blinked, his alcohol-addled brain reacting a few beats slow. "My parents? They’re doing great. That doctor you put us in touch with last time is excellent. My father keeps insisting I thank you."
"That’s good then," Jiang Langmin said nonchalantly. "No need for thanks. Your parents' affairs are my affairs."
Cheng Hao instinctively looked at the wine in his hand. The alcohol content was moderate; even if it were high-proof, his tolerance was usually more than enough. So why did Jiang Langmin seem to become so surreal after a few drinks? He scrutinized Jiang Langmin and said cautiously, "Being so polite? I’m afraid I’ll feel embarrassed."
"No need to be embarrassed. It’s only right."
Cheng Hao’s mouth couldn't help but twitch. Jiang Langmin looked like a refined gentleman, polite to everyone, but only Jiang Langmin himself knew how cold his heart truly was. Cheng Hao secretly suspected he was some kind of cold-blooded creature; he often maliciously thought that in a place like Sweden, this man should have been frozen into hibernation.
But Jiang Langmin had just said his parents' affairs were his own... Cheng Hao looked at the amber liquid in his glass, then back at Jiang Langmin, completely bewildered. He took another sip. Below were colorful neon lights, and outside the window were the lights of ten thousand homes. The magnificent view made Cheng Hao feel lazy all over. He burrowed deeper into the sofa, deciding to put Jiang Langmin’s abnormality out of his mind. Regardless of whether those words were sincere or false, they didn't hurt him.
Cheng Hao, thinking this was merely a minor interlude, had no idea that the scenery before him would be the last colors he would see in his life.
Cheng Hao didn't stay at Jiang Langmin’s place for long. He climbed into the back seat with stumbling steps, intending to take a short nap before reaching home. Just as he was drifting off, a piercing siren suddenly rang in his ears. Reality and dreams intertwined like two hands violently tearing at him.
For a moment, he felt as if he had lost gravity. Fortunately, he wasn't so drunk that he’d forgotten to buckle his seatbelt, so he wasn't thrown by the momentum. Cheng Hao was jolted awake by the tightening belt. With a hint of irritation, he asked muddledly, "What’s going on!"
Lu Linjiang shone a small flashlight on him. "Mr. Cheng, please come with us to the police station."
Cheng Hao shielded his eyes with one hand. "Wha—what? Lu Linjiang, you’ve gone mad!"
It wasn't until three hours later that Cheng Hao was fully sober. He sat coldly and motionless, his lawyer beside him. Lu Linjiang had already laid out the evidence piece by piece before his eyes. On the surface, Cheng Hao maintained his composure, but his shirt was already soaked through with cold sweat—he finally understood what Jiang Langmin’s abnormal behavior had been about.
"Officer Lu, I hope you understand that this so-called evidence you’ve produced doesn't carry much weight," Chen Yuanjin said with a hint of disdain. "As for voiceprint comparison, if you give me the equipment, I can produce ten different versions for you. And this... this video recording..." He tapped the screen and smiled sarcastically. "It doesn't even show a face. Give me some time, and I guarantee I can find ten people in Dangui Garden with a similar build to Mr. Cheng Hao."
Chen Yuanjin pushed everything on the table back toward Lu Linjiang. "This evidence is a joke. Captain Lu, if you can't produce anything else, then I will be applying for bail pending trial."
Cheng Hao listened to all of this with a wooden expression. Even the mention of bail didn't stir a ripple in his heart. From the moment he realized this was likely a trap set by Jiang Langmin, he knew there had to be something else—some decisive piece of evidence waiting in a corner for Lu Linjiang to discover.
He unconsciously touched a hangnail on his finger and yanked it down hard. The sharp pain from his fingertip made him feel a bit more clear-headed.
The door to the interrogation room swung open, and a sweat-drenched Yang Bo rushed in. He held a transparent evidence bag containing an old-fashioned candy-bar phone.
Cheng Hao actually felt a weight lift from his chest. Yes, this was it. He thought silently: *When did Jiang Langmin plant this thing on me? I didn't notice a thing.*
Lu Linjiang placed the phone in front of Cheng Hao and Chen Yuanjin. "Mr. Cheng, this is the phone found in your car. Inside is a text message sent to Martina providing an address—a small park near the gas station you drove past that night. Mr. Cheng Hao, can you explain this?"
Cheng Hao looked at the phone, the indifference in his eyes making it seem as though he wasn't the one being questioned for murder. Chen Yuanjin also noticed something was wrong and whispered a reminder, "Cheng Hao, it’s not your phone. You can completely deny it."
Cheng Hao looked at Chen Yuanjin and suddenly smiled. "I know when I've lost the gamble."
An expression of disbelief appeared on Chen Yuanjin’s face. "Cheng Hao, think carefully!"
"The phone is mine. I intended to dispose of it, but I got delayed by other matters."
Chen Yuanjin’s expression nearly contorted. "Cheng Hao, what nonsense are you talking about! Shut up!"
Cheng Hao gave him an indifferent look. "There’s nothing to hide. I asked Martina to meet in the park because I wanted to know exactly how much she knew."
The suspect had finally opened his mouth, but Lu Linjiang didn't feel happy. The way Cheng Hao calmly confessed only deepened the doubts in his heart. Nevertheless, he asked, "About what?"
Cheng Hao looked at him. "About MURA. Years ago, I established that company through overseas connections. Primarily... primarily to do some drug replication. After all, medicine is too expensive. If we could replicate some, it would be much cheaper, no matter how you look at it."
Chen Yuanjin looked at him in disbelief, thinking the man had gone insane.
"Guzman was the proxy I found back then."
"Wait!" Lu Linjiang asked. "Guzman?"
"Yes, Guzman. There were things that weren't convenient for me to do personally, so I hit it off with Guzman, who was a pharmaceutical salesman at the time. He provided the labor, I provided the money, and we saw if we could do drug replication. But that stuff was too much trouble. Later, we found that it was faster to just falsify data and scam investors for money."
Lu Linjiang didn't buy it. "Replicating drugs and putting them on the market would clearly yield much higher profits!"
"That’s the thinking of an outsider. If you replicate drugs and get caught by the patent holder, the compensation alone would ruin you."
Lu Linjiang keenly spotted a loophole in his story. "Since you're such an expert, why did you start MURA in the first place?"
Cheng Hao paused for only a moment before smiling nonchalantly. "Naturally, I had a backup plan. The original intent was to register another pharmaceutical company in India, set up the factory there, and then smuggle the drugs in. See? It’s extremely tedious. Better to just cash out; getting investment is much more practical."
Lu Linjiang made no effort to hide his suspicion, but Cheng Hao ignored it. "Guzman was capable. One thing led to another, and he got in touch with Luo Jia. For just a little money, we got Luo Jia to falsify data for us. The reports were beautiful, and the investors were very happy."
"It’s just that Luo Jia did too much, and Tao Minxing found out. You know the rest."
"What does this have to do with Martina?"
"She and Guzman were lovers. Behind my back, Guzman told her a lot about our dealings. Once Guzman died, she came knocking..." Cheng Hao spread his hands helplessly. "You tell me, what else could I do but kill her?"
Chen Yuanjin closed his eyes in despair, deeply regretting that as a lawyer, he couldn't just knock his client unconscious.
"How did you kill Martina?"
"Oh... how I killed her..." Cheng Hao reminisced. "There’s a substance called alpha-gal, extracted from ticks. When injected into the human body, it causes an allergy. I gave Martina one injection in the park. Later, on the day you all were having dinner, I followed her. When she came out of the restroom, I pretended to accidentally splash water on her. In reality, it was alpha-gal. I don't need to go into detail about what happened after that, do I?"
Lu Linjiang watched Cheng Hao, who had the air of a man who had nothing left to lose. "Then why did Martina go to Micro-Universe University to look for Jiang Langmin initially, instead of you?"
Cheng Hao froze, his eyes flickering involuntarily. However, he quickly regained his composure. "That question, I’m afraid, you’ll have to ask Martina herself."
Lu Linjiang leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on Cheng Hao like a hawk on its prey. "Cheng Hao, think clearly. This is a homicide case; there’s no room for nonsense! Martina even sent her emails to Jiang Langmin. Where did you get her number?"
Facing the suppressed fury of Lu Linjiang, Cheng Hao pinched the bridge of his nose to rouse his spirits. "Perhaps I should tell you one more thing. Oh, no, two things." He smiled at Lu Linjiang, a smile tinged with irony. "Guzman, who you thought died from eating the wrong thing? That was actually my doing. As for your Forensic Doctor Guo..." Cheng Hao smiled triumphantly. "Actually, when he first came to Micro-Universe University for testing, he wasn't infected with Gaimore at all. When he performed the autopsy on Guzman, the virus in Guzman’s blood should have been long dead. It was impossible for him to be infected through that tiny wound."
Everyone watching the interrogation suddenly began to doubt their own ears. Cheng Hao’s lawyer, Chen Yuanjin, in particular, looked at Cheng Hao as if he were a madman.
"But in my lab, there just happened to be a little bit of the Gaimore strain left. Keeping it was a liability, so while I was performing the test, I smeared a bit on the vacuum blood collection tube. Consider it putting it to good use," Cheng Hao said leisurely. "But Forensic Doctor Guo has a tough life. I suppose I’ve indirectly contributed to humanity again."
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 丹桂园 | Dangui Garden | A high-end residential community. |
| 阳光街 | Sunshine Street | The street where Dangui Garden is located. |
| 愿赌服输 | I know when I've lost the gamble | Idiom: to accept the consequences of a lost bet/game. |
| 陈远近 | Chen Yuanjin | Cheng Hao's lawyer. |
| alpha-gaI | alpha-gal | Likely referring to Alpha-gal syndrome (tick-borne meat allergy). |
| 垓莫尔 | Gaimore | The name of the virus/pathogen in the story. |
| 陶敏行 | Tao Minxing | A character mentioned in relation to the data falsification. |
| 珞珈 | Luo Jia | A character or entity involved in falsifying data. |
| 真空抽血管 | vacuum blood collection tube | A sterile glass or plastic tube used to collect blood samples. |
