Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 202 The Murderer Tan Jia 21
The basement was crammed with too many people, and with the low-frequency hum of a dozen or twenty computers, it was hard to breathe.

Someone has to go out.

Captain Qiu sat down directly in the chair that Tan Jia had just gotten up from, making it clear that he wasn't going to leave.

"I want to see how many surveillance cameras are in here, and whether any of them captured the scene of my team member Xiao Qian's murder. I still have his body frozen; he died with his eyes wide open in disbelief."

This reason is beyond reproach.

Zheng Yan continued, "My team members have been treated as murderers and then captured and tortured here by the real murderers. They've suffered so much. Someone has to stay and find out what's going on here. We can't let the victims turn into murderers in the blink of an eye."

Xiao Chen and Tan Ming immediately stepped forward.

It was obvious they didn't trust the investigation team. The other team members looked stiff, as if they had been slapped twice in the face, especially the newly added personnel who had been temporarily assigned today.

The National Security Bureau will not interfere in their affairs. They only require that all the surveillance video footage be "filtered" first, and that Zhou Qi'an be interrogated first to confirm whether there is any involvement in the sale of secrets.

There's no way to stop them; they have a higher priority, but some details can be negotiated.

Tan Jia had no interest in listening to their game of strategy; all she wanted to know was Wenwu's death.

Oh, and what about the corpse in the bamboo forest?

In the end, after a three-way negotiation, Zheng Yan and half of the investigation team decided to go out, taking Tan Jia with them.

Zheng Yan is keeping a close eye on her now. The investigation team wanted to keep her with Zhou Qi'an for on-site questioning to clarify what happened, but Zheng Yan refused.

"She's a victim, injured and suffering for so long, and she helped you catch the murderer and figure out most of the situation. You still want to take advantage of her? Didn't the leaders give you two days? Can't you get anything out of the murderer in two days? Just because the victim is part of the system doesn't mean you can ignore her mental health and emotional state!"

They made the investigation team sound like a ruthless perpetrator who was exploiting his victims.

The people from the same system were surprisingly hostile, and the National Security personnel listened and turned their attention to Tan Jia.

"A bit clever. Interested enough to…"

“The child is still young, just a temporary worker, can’t come.” Zheng Yan stopped her again in advance, and pulled her up the stairs and left the basement.

Back on the ground, try to breathe more easily.

Tan Jia took a deep breath, shook her hands, and walked towards the doctor waiting outside.

The cut on my palm from the plastic sheet had stopped bleeding, but it reopened after being rinsed and disinfected, causing a sharp, stinging pain.

She just frowned, watching the doctor bandage her hand, and said to Zheng Yan:

"Zhou Qi'an admitted to laundering money through a film and television company with the murderer 'Qianqian' in the previous toxic yogurt case, and also admitted that he introduced the gay internet celebrity to the money laundering."

“When the money laundering gang was arrested, no one implicated him because he had been working under his father Zhou Yuan’s name and was taken the blame by Zhou Yuan. Moreover, he had dirt on many people, so no one dared to go against him.”

"Those incriminating facts are not simply things like cheating, having affairs, or theft. Rather, they refer to his ability to infiltrate their lives in every way, to keep track of their and their family's whereabouts at any time, and to be discovered for any wrongdoing. It sounds very perverted. The people being threatened are constantly in fear and can't even sleep well."

Zheng Yan nodded, glancing at the investigation team out of the corner of his eye, as if to say: See? The child is so good. He has suffered so much but doesn't complain. He works so hard to help you advance the investigation.

The wound was quickly bandaged. Tan Jia thanked the doctor and then led them back to where the body had been found.

“There are many cameras around the body. Although there is no one in this area, which makes Zhou Qi’an feel safe, he probably also wants to see people, especially when someone discovers the body. He would feel very good.” The lights swept around, and if it weren’t for so many people and cars, it would be impossible to see clearly at night. The bamboo all looked the same, and after walking for a while, it felt like being in a maze.

Zheng Yan couldn't help but ask, "How did you find his lair in this bamboo forest?"

"I've been to the African savanna, so I'm pretty good at finding my way around."

Just as they finished speaking, they arrived at the location. The flashlight shone directly onto the corpse, as if giving the protagonist in the center of the stage a special halo.

The rotting body, the buzzing insects and flies, and the dark blood were all clearly visible in the light.

“…Disgusting. How did he die?” Zheng Yan covered his nose and walked forward.

“A bamboo shoot has grown up below, and it’s grown into the flesh,” Tan Jia said calmly. He focused the flashlight beam on the bamboo shoot root that was faintly visible on the surface of the soil.

The forensic intern who arrived late gagged as soon as she got there.

"Holy crap, that's so perverted... Ugh—"

The investigators who were following along finally got a chance to speak: "This is called bamboo torture, which is usually used to treat prisoners. Bamboo shoots grow fast enough that they can sprout from the ground and penetrate the corpse in just a few days. The fact that the corpse is sitting so upright is not just because it is tied up; that bamboo shoot must have already grown to his chest cavity."

The forensic intern gagged again.

Old Li was quite excited: "It's rare to find someone like this among a thousand people. This is excellent learning material. Come on, lend a hand and gather the flashlights together."

The investigation team was distracted by the task of examining the body and removing the surrounding surveillance cameras, and Tan Jia and Zheng Yan, hidden in the darkness, finally had some time to chat privately.

"what happened?"

"The higher-ups want Zhou Qi'an and me to kill each other. Ideally, I would kill him, and the evidence that could speak would be gone. I would then become the murderer and take the blame for three lives. Then, their people would delete some of the surveillance footage, and their secrets would not be exposed. Maybe I could even get promoted because of this."

They couldn't see each other's expressions, but they could tell how the other person should be reacting just by listening to their voices.

Zheng Yan must be frowning deeply right now. He said, "So this is what they were settling accounts for. What about Wenwu's death?"

"Zhou Qi'an refused to say."

But she guessed that this matter involved a big shot, someone even more powerful than the investigation team's superiors, and that this person might not have been involved at all; it was his subordinates who were truly active.

They were more eager to exonerate their boss than to exonerate themselves.

But she could only keep these thoughts to herself for the time being. This place wasn't absolutely safe. Zheng Yan didn't ask her whose secret she had seen, nor did he ask her if she had guessed who her superior was. She wouldn't be foolish enough to say it out loud.

To avoid those people keeping an eye on her.

"Is it possible for me to become a murderer again? There's more than one person who wants me to be the murderer to settle scores. Zhou Qi'an is actually the weakest one. Arresting him doesn't mean I can relax."

“Then you can really rest assured,” Zheng Yan said with a hint of appreciation in his voice. “What you had Lin Zhiyue do was very useful. Now there are many topics online about concerned citizens being wronged. For the time being, no one will want to go after you under the public’s scrutiny.”

She smiled, slowly exhaled, and her shoulders slumped as she suddenly felt physically and mentally exhausted, and also very hungry.

I'm craving the food that Lin Zhiyue's housekeeper cooks.

(End of this chapter)