I'm being held captive by a monster

Chapter 157 Didn’t you just spend the whole afternoon with him yesterday?
Monday.

Half past nine in the morning.

In the meeting room of the committee's siege department, several people walked in one after another and sat in their seats.

Liu Xu stood behind with his head lowered.

"Lao Xu, what's wrong?"

Zhao Wuji, who had the best relationship with Xu Zhe in the Medical Department, locked the office door, took off his coat, and asked first.

Judging from Xu Zhe's gloomy expression now and the tone he used when he called them over just now, it can be seen that something really happened.

"Just now, the minister called me."

Xu Zhe took off the rings on his hands one by one and placed them on the table.

There were soft sounds.

"..."

Koko, who had regained his neutral appearance, straightened his body.

Bai Yue, the director of the logistics department, who looked like he might float up at any moment, immediately sat upright on his chair.

An aura that made people tremble in their hearts slowly covered the entire conference room, with Xu Zhe as the center.

"Pain! Pain! Pain!"

"Pain! Pain! Pain!"

In his ghostland, all the rings that Xu Zhe took off turned into twisted people, wailing in despair that was worse than death.

"Gudong..."

Liu Xu, who was standing behind, swallowed his saliva with a fluttering heart and didn't dare to breathe.

Because among these rings was his former leader, one of Xu Zhe's right-hand men - Tian Ming.

After Taoyuan reappeared, Tian Ming, who was basically the deputy director of the Operations Department, turned into a ring the next day.

Enduring pain forever, a life worse than death...

This is Xu Zhe's method.

Failure to complete the task will result in penalties.

But if you cheat on him...

Liu Xu lowered his head even lower.

"Minister Zhang asked me this morning how my investigation into Jiang Xiaojiang's death was progressing."

Xu Zhe took off his tie and leaned his hands on the table.

"I told you that the matter of Jiang Xiaojiang's murder ends with us. There's no need to let the minister know."

"It's because the minister is under tremendous pressure right now, and I don't want to let this kind of thing bother him anymore."

"However, it doesn't matter if you tell Minister Zhang. I can understand. After all, Lao Zhao, Director Bai, and myself were all promoted by Minister Zhang."

"But do you know how the minister knew about this?"

His eyes swept over everyone present.

The suffocating coldness of the ghost realm suddenly intensified, causing the desperate wails of the rings on the table to become even more shrill!
I wanted to jump off the table!
"Shut up!"

Xu Zhe slammed the table with a bang!

Shake the upper ring up a few centimeters.

"Minister Zhang heard the news from the Coordination Department."

"It was Li Jiu, the deputy director of the Coordination Department, who called our Director Zhang at six o'clock in the morning."

Xu Zhe held the three rings in his fists and pressed them against the table with his clenched fists, making a crackling sound.

The expressions of everyone present changed at the same time.

"This Li Jiu used this incident to mock our siege troops as useless."

"Jiang Xiaojiang is useless. She was killed so easily without even struggling before she died."

"I'm useless because Jiang Xiaojiang is from my operations department."

"You're all useless because you've been investigating this for a whole day and there's no progress at all?"

"Minister Zhang is also useless, because all of us under him are fucking useless! Damn it!"

"Why the hell are all our siege team a bunch of losers? Huh?"

Xu Zhe's eyes turned as red as a beast's, and his body seemed to lose its human form in an instant.

The atmosphere in the room became increasingly oppressive due to his anger that seemed to have solidified into something.

"I'm really curious, how did this damn Li Jiu know about this?"

"Just because of this incident, he, the deputy director of the Coordination Department, actually dared to call the director of our Encirclement and Killing Department directly and mocked him."

Xu Zhe chuckled and twisted his neck, making a crackling sound.

The scarlet tongue slowly licked his lips.

"The only people who know that Jiang Xiaojiang is dead are the few people in the room now."

"Tell me, how did the Coordination Department know about this?"

Xu Zhe took a deep breath, sat in the middle seat, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.

"...Lao Xu, since you've emphasized it, we definitely didn't tell anyone about Jiang Xiaojiang's death."

"After we found out yesterday, Xiaobai and I, you and Xiaoke, and Liu Xu, we all investigated on our own."

"We all know each other well, and we were all promoted by Minister Zhang."

"It's absolutely impossible for the Coordination Department to leak secrets. I suspect that this was done by someone from the Coordination Department."

Zhao Wuji cleared his throat and spoke first.

"Brother Xu, we've checked all of Jiang Xiaojiang's relationships, and there's absolutely no clue."

"There were no traces of anything in the room where Jiang Xiaojiang died."

"This is equivalent to using the ability to 'kill people from a distance'. The only ones who can do this without leaving any trace are the Coordination Department."

Bai Yue's expression was also unusually serious.

After she finished speaking, Zhao Wuji nodded and continued speaking.

"Lao Xu, the reason we didn't dare to doubt the Coordination Department at first was mainly because we felt they had no reason to kill Jiang Xiaojiang."

"But now, isn't this Li Jiu's behavior their reason?"

Zhao Wuji's words made Xu Zhe open his eyes. "Director Ke, what do you think?"

He tapped the table with his finger and asked Keke who was looking down with a frown.

Keke took a deep breath.

"Brother Xu, only the five of us know about Jiang Xiaojiang's death."

"Even if there's a mole among the five of us, why would we tell the Coordination Department about this now? Wouldn't that be a clear sign of exposing ourselves? After all, only the five of us know about this."

"What's more, we were all promoted by Minister Zhang and have worked together for so many years."

Keke paused.

Zhao Wuji and Bai Yue on the side also nodded, silently agreeing.

"So since it couldn't have been us who leaked it, then Li Jiu knew about it, so it must have been done by their Coordination Department."

"Then tell me, what is the purpose of the Coordination Department? Why did they want to kill Jiang Xiaojiang?"

Xu Zhe's voice softened a little.

But the coldness and pressure in the ghost realm did not dissipate.

"First, the Coordination Department can mobilize the entire department's strength to do this case perfectly, which can greatly consume our energy."

"Secondly, handling this kind of thing is originally the responsibility of our siege and killing unit, especially since the victims were members of our siege and killing unit."

"If we find the murderer one day later, they can mock us one more day, damage the image of our siege unit, and suppress us, saying that it's useless even if we have so many people."

"Three, even if we guess that the murderer is from the Coordination Department..."

Ke Ke shook his head. "Until we find 100% conclusive evidence, we can't investigate the Coordination Department."

"This trick is indeed insidious..."

Zhao Wuji also narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Once we proactively investigate the Coordination Department without concrete evidence, they will be right."

"Instead, they can say that our siege unit is engaged in internal strife and division."

Zhao Wuji's face showed a hint of embarrassment. Meanwhile, Bai Yue, standing beside him, propped up her chest and placed it on the table. She spoke thoughtfully, "Perhaps... this is their purpose?"

Seeing that Keke and Xu Zhe were looking at him, Bai Yue continued speaking.

"This Li Jiu called Minister Zhang to tell us that the Coordination Department knew that Jiang Xiaojiang was dead."

"If we think a little more, we can guess that they were responsible for Jiang Xiaojiang's death."

"In other words, the Coordination Department is almost telling us that they killed Jiang Xiaojiang, but we have no substantial evidence."

"If we investigate them in this situation, it means that our siege and killing department is the first to provoke a struggle."

"But if we don't investigate, we won't be able to find the murderer, and they can mock us as good-for-nothings and then target our siege unit."

Bai Yue's long fiery red hair seemed to be floating in water.

Her words made Zhao Wuji nod his head. "As for the deceased Jiang Xiaojiang... She was just an intern, insignificant, but we have to take care of her."

He sighed.

The conference room fell into silence again.

"Minister Zhang, give me two days to find the murderer and resolve this matter."

"I'm giving you one day to find me concrete evidence, substantive evidence that proves this matter is related to the committee."

"Use your connections, your contacts, and your methods to find it for me."

Xu Zhe tapped the table with his fingers and spoke calmly.

The ghost domain that covered the house gradually dissipated.

After looking at each other, they walked out with serious faces without saying anything more.

"Keke, you stay."

Xu Zhe suddenly spoke.

Ke Ke was stunned when he walked to the door, nodded to Zhao Wuji and Bai Yue, and closed the door.

"Do you think you can find substantial evidence?"

Xu Zhe took a deep breath, was silent for a moment, then raised his eyes and asked.

“…It’s difficult…”

Keke smiled bitterly and told the truth.

Xu Zhe shook his head. "It's not that it's difficult, it's that it's impossible to find substantial evidence. It's simply impossible."

He stood up and stood in front of the window, looking outside the meeting room.

It's snowing again.

"Your analysis makes sense. This case is very likely a plan of the Coordination Department."

"If this was their plan, how could we possibly find evidence to investigate them?"

Xu Zhe asked back.

"..."

Keke also fell silent.

indeed……

They were not fighting a murderer now.

This "murderer" is the entire Coordination Department...

Since they have done such a thing, they must be sure not to leave any evidence.

"Xiao Ke, let alone one day, a week, a month, or a year, we won't find any substantial evidence in this lifetime."

"Because this matter has been a dead end since it happened."

"This is the Coordination Department's trap."

"Of course, I haven't ruled out the possibility that there really is a traitor among us. I even hope there really is one."

"Or, there really is a powerful murderer, and the whole thing has nothing to do with the Coordination Department."

"But at present, these two situations basically do not exist."

Xu Zhe waved to Keke.

Keke also walked to the window and stood beside him.

"...Brother Xu, what should we do now?"

Seeing Xu Zhe remained silent, Ke Ke frowned and asked, "If you can't find any evidence..."

"No, no, no, Koko, we don't need to find evidence."

Xu Zhe waved his hand.

"...Then we should just search the Coordination Department? Check the abilities of everyone there? But that would be like us provoking internal strife, which would play right into their hands."

Koko said doubtfully.

Xu Zhe said nothing and looked at Ke Ke deeply.

"Xiao Ke, you still don't understand."

He retracted his gaze and spoke calmly.

But the confusion on Keke's face was even deeper.

"Xiao Ke, we have found the murderer who killed Jiang Xiaojiang."

"……what?"

Keke was stunned for a moment.

"Xiao Ke, what would happen if we found a random person and said he was the murderer of Jiang Xiaojiang?"

Xu Zhe asked again.

"meeting……"

Keke seemed to realize something, his eyes widened and he took a breath!
"do you understand?"

Xu Zhe put the rings back on his hands one by one.

"Since the Coordination Department knows that Jiang Xiaojiang is dead, and since they say we are useless and can't find the murderer, then we will find a 'murderer' for them."

"We made sure all the evidence pointed to this 'murderer' and then told the Coordination Department that the case was closed and the murderer had been found."

"Even though we knew he wasn't the real murderer, and even though the Coordination Department knew that, there was nothing they could do."

"Because the real murderer is from their coordination department."

Xu Zhe chuckled.

And a look of realization appeared on Keke's face.

"In this case, Brother Xu, if the Coordination Department questions this 'murderer' that we have packaged so perfectly, it will prove that they know who the real murderer is."

"And it's like they've exposed themselves, giving us the opportunity to fight back. After all... if they're innocent, how do we know who the real murderer is?"

"Then at this time, the ones who took the initiative to provoke internal strife are the people from their coordination department."

"But if they don't question it, then the matter will be over. They can't point fingers at our siege unit anymore. After all, the 'murderer' has been found."

"Their painstakingly crafted plan just went to pieces. Nothing happened, and they only lost a random person!"

Keke looked at Xu Zhe and his eyes lit up!
And Xu Zhe nodded.

He opened the window, letting the cold air mixed with snowflakes sweep into the room.

"Let Lao Zhao and Director Bai investigate for a day or two. It would be best if they can find something."

"While they're investigating, let's prepare as well."

Xu Zhe let out a light breath.

"Yeah, but Brother Xu, this 'passerby A'... isn't actually that easy to find..."

"After all, at least on the surface, he has to meet some of the characteristics of the murderer."

"Let me take a look at Jiang Xiaojiang's interpersonal relationships."

Just as Keke was about to leave, Xu Zhe called her back.

"Xiao Ke, why is this person so hard to find?"

"Isn't there a ready-made one?"

Xu Zhe saw a hint of doubt on her face and smiled.

"Didn't you just spend the whole afternoon with him yesterday?"

　Happy New Year brothers
　　
　
(End of this chapter)