Xu Sichen nearly snapped her pen in half as she took the notes. To think that Guo Junyi’s brush with death was, in this man’s words, merely the result of him needing to dispose of some "extra" virus! If she hadn't maintained a shred of rationality, she likely would have shoved the pen down Cheng Hao’s throat.
Cheng Hao’s face remained utterly indifferent. The way he spoke of Guo Junyi was as if he were discussing a stray cat or dog on the side of the road.
"My client is exhausted. I am requesting a suspension of the investigation to let him rest," Chen Yuanjin finally recovered from his shock. "I believe everything he just said was nonsense. How could such an absurd thing be possible!"
Xu Sichen looked at him coldly. "Oh? Based on what your client just said, it seems you’ll need to prepare a psychiatric evaluation for him."
Having his thoughts read by Xu Sichen, Chen Yuanjin could only manage a pretentious huff. Yet everyone present understood that, aside from producing a psychiatric report, there was no other way forward.
Xu Sichen met Chen Yuanjin’s gaze and sneered back. "I just wonder if your client is willing to suffer from this 'sudden' mental illness."
Before Cheng Hao could even consider the question, his phone suddenly vibrated. Lu Linjiang gave a perfunctory nod of inquiry before reaching out with his long arm and snatching the phone.
Chen Yuanjin stood up in protest. "Captain Lu, that is an invasion of privacy!"
Lu Linjiang looked at the message notification without even lifting his eyelids. "I have a search warrant. Strictly speaking, your client cannot hide anything from me right now. However, I respect his right to know. I’ll read it to you: 'The medicine you asked me to find has arrived. It’s been sent to Micro-Big. Please check for it.'" Lu Linjiang scrolled up. "The sender is Jiang Langmin."
He placed the phone on the table and looked intently at Cheng Hao. "What medicine?"
Cheng Hao felt as though everything was surreal. He had known Jiang Langmin since primary school, and through a strange twist of fate, he had somehow become the man’s follower. It wasn't a bad thing; on the contrary, for someone of Cheng Hao’s average background, it was like being struck by a stroke of incredible luck.
His family was ordinary, but his parents, desperate for their son to succeed, had scrimped and saved to send him to a private school. During his adolescent years, the wealthy children had frequently marginalized him. Before Jiang Langmin appeared, Cheng Hao’s life had been a living hell.
It lasted until one day when Cheng Hao was cornered in the restroom. His school uniform had been stripped off to wipe the floors. As he "worked" while fighting back tears, Jiang Langmin appeared. The star student had been crouching in a stall, using his phone to record a crystal-clear video of the dialogue and key scenes.
Relying on that recording, Cheng Hao escaped his role as a punching bag. Because of that incident, he was eternally grateful to Jiang Langmin, and subsequently, he presumptuously considered himself the other man's "friend." Their friendship had lasted nearly twenty years. Despite being a man of mediocre talent, Cheng Hao had used Jiang Langmin’s connections to leapfrog into the position of Chief Operating Officer at Micro-Big. Although long-term proximity had taught him that Jiang Langmin was a man who was warm on the outside but cold within, he always thought he was the exception. After all, they had so many years of history.
Cheng Hao let out a self-deprecating laugh. All these years, he really had been hopelessly stupid. His smooth sailing over the years had been, in the end, nothing more than an exchange of equal value—Jiang Langmin spent money to keep him around during the quiet times, only waiting for the moment of need, when Cheng Hao would have to step in front of the gun as a qualified piece of cannon fodder.
Lu Linjiang watched Cheng Hao’s shifting expressions and tapped the table. "What, not convenient to say?"
"My father had surgery last year. I asked Jiang Langmin to get some health supplements." Cheng Hao spoke one word at a time, as if reciting from a textbook.
Lu Linjiang asked keenly, "It sounds like you and Jiang Langmin are very close?"
Cheng Hao snorted. "A private relationship..." He saw Lu Linjiang watching him. "I suppose we're close, otherwise I wouldn't have let you use the lab. Speaking of which, you haven't officially thanked me for that."
Chen Yuanjin tried to stop him several times but couldn't halt the man’s determination to seek his own ruin. To justify the retainer fee he’d received, the lawyer had no choice but to turn his pressure toward Lu Linjiang and Xu Sichen. "I have reason to believe my client’s current mental state is poor. I demand the interrogation be stopped!"
Lu Linjiang glanced at Chen Yuanjin, his sharp gaze instantly sending a chill through the lawyer’s heart. Lu Linjiang was all too familiar with such tactics. Before he could even dispel Chen Yuanjin’s notion, Cheng Hao spoke up. "No need. My mind is perfectly fine."
Chen Yuanjin looked at Cheng Hao with an expression of disbelief; the words "Are you crazy?" nearly escaped his lips. As if he hadn't had enough, Cheng Hao said leisurely, "Don't bother with that angle. I’m not playing the lunatic." He looked at Chen Yuanjin with disdain, then turned back to Lu Linjiang. "Same goes for you. Don't waste your breath. Since I’ve been caught, I have nothing to deny. In my view, Guzman and Martina got what they deserved. One took my money but stabbed me in the back, and the other tried to use some trivial nonsense to squeeze a fortune out of me." Cheng Hao huffed. "If I didn't teach them a lesson, did they really think I was running a charity?"
Cheng Hao’s cooperation meant they didn't have to play games with Chen Yuanjin, but it didn't make Lu Linjiang any happier. He looked at Cheng Hao; the man’s indifferent attitude was that of a "dead pig unafraid of boiling water." "Luo Jia killed Tao Minxing because his data falsification was discovered. So, what happened with Guzman?"
"Didn't I just say? He screwed me over. Got a cigarette?" Cheng Hao looked around. Seeing that everyone automatically ignored his request, he shrugged nonchalantly, leaned back, and continued. "Years ago, Guzman was just a lowly pharmaceutical representative. I only chose him to take on the identity of Salazar because I saw he could keep his mouth shut. Who knew my judgment would fail me? These days, truly no one can be trusted."
Cheng Hao laughed neurotically. "Think about him and Luo Jia—one providing the money, the other doing the work. Two people doing such shady business, essentially holding each other's secrets. To think they actually developed a mutual professional respect under those circumstances... they’re the ones who are crazy! When Guzman heard Luo Jia was in trouble, he actually came to me in a fit of rage, demanding I help! Both of them were incompetent fools. Did they really think I couldn't do without them?"
Lu Linjiang listened to Cheng Hao, his face showing no emotion. "And so?"
"And so, I simply gave him a bit of the virus to make him understand who exactly calls the shots." If one didn't know the context, looking at the expression on Cheng Hao’s face, it would be impossible to believe he was speaking so lightly of a human life.
"Was this before or after he went to Liucheng Island?"
Cheng Hao paused. "Before."
"Where? Where did you poison him?"
Cheng Hao rubbed his fingers and glanced at the phone on the table. "At the station. The restroom. He arranged to meet me there for the money. I gave him a cup of water laced with the virus."
"What kind of water?"
"Just an iced drink I bought at a random milk tea shop."
Lu Linjiang looked at him, a trace of deep meaning flashing in his eyes. "Which milk tea shop?"
Cheng Hao frowned with feigned difficulty. "It’s been so long. How could I remember?"
"You just bought it randomly on the way?"
"Of course. Did you expect me to make a special trip?"
"There are only two milk tea shops at the station. Including fast food places, there are only three, and every single one is within surveillance range. We’ve already specifically checked Guzman’s itinerary, and we never saw a trace of you," Lu Linjiang said. "So, how did you fly into the train station to poison Guzman?"
Cheng Hao’s face turned pale. He replied impatiently, "I bought the drink on the way there. And the restroom wasn't in the waiting hall; it was in the parking lot downstairs."
Lu Linjiang interrupted him immediately. "Guzman never went to the downstairs parking lot."
Cheng Hao let out a scoff. "Captain Lu, are you certain Guzman was under surveillance the entire time? He never disappeared for even three or five minutes?" He faced Lu Linjiang now without a hint of fear. "Or do you think I’m so stupid that I’d chat with him openly in the waiting hall, just waiting for you to come looking for trouble?"
A cold light flashed in Lu Linjiang’s eyes. "You just said Guzman came to you for help to save Luo Jia, but then you said you went to the station to give him money. Which was it? Saving Luo Jia or giving him money?"
Cheng Hao laughed arrogantly, completely unconcerned by the contradictions in his testimony. "It’s about the same. Giving money, and saving Luo Jia." He looked at the clearly skeptical Lu Linjiang. "Captain Lu, don't be too confident in life. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?"
A bizarre smile appeared on Cheng Hao’s face. "Otherwise, you’ll fall right into a pit."
***
Lu Linjiang looked at the testimony Xu Sichen had compiled, his brow never unknotting. Yang Bo, who had watched the entire process from the monitoring room, couldn't help but remark, "Yesterday, Cheng Hao was so high and mighty, bringing a crowd to bail Jiang Langmin out. Today, it’s his turn to be in here, and he’s confessing everything like he’s lost his mind... I feel like this guy is seriously ill!"
"More than that. If he hadn't taken the blame for Guzman and Guo Junyi himself, no one would have even suspected there was such a connection," Tang Hua looked at Lu Linjiang. "I keep feeling like he’s doing this to cover something up."
Lu Linjiang looked up and tossed the phone across the table. Yang Bo caught it and saw the screen still displayed the text message from Jiang Langmin.
"You mean, Jiang Langmin?" Yang Bo thought for a moment. "Is Cheng Hao taking the fall for Jiang Langmin?"
Tang Hua looked at the phone in Yang Bo’s hand. "But Cheng Hao... to say he’s arrogant or a bully wouldn't be an exaggeration. Why would a man like that willingly take all of this on his own head just for Jiang Langmin?"
"That’s what we need to find out," Lu Linjiang finally spoke. "There are so many suspicious points. Cheng Hao isn't an idiot. If he’s willing to carry this burden, there must be a reason."
Yang Bo held up the phone. "For example, holding the emperor to command the lords?" He paused after saying it, looking at the phone in disbelief. "He wouldn't be that brazen, would he?"
Lu Linjiang looked at him, his solemn expression suggesting he didn't find the idea strange at all.
"First, check where Cheng Hao’s parents are and what they’re doing. Also, find out exactly what the relationship is between Jiang Langmin and Cheng Hao. I’ll keep an eye on Jiang Langmin myself." Lu Linjiang looked at the three people before him. "Everyone, stay alert. If you feel even slightly unwell, go to the CDC immediately."
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
---|---|---
徐思晨 | Xu Sichen | A police officer/assistant to Lu Linjiang.
陈远近 | Chen Yuanjin | Cheng Hao's lawyer.
姜朗旻 | Jiang Langmin | Cheng Hao's boss/friend; a key figure at Micro-Big.
骝城岛 | Liucheng Island | A location mentioned in the investigation.
挟天子以令诸侯 | Holding the emperor to command the lords | A Chinese idiom referring to using a powerful figure as a puppet or leverage to control others.
