Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

The interrogation room of the security team was brightly lit, the stark white light hurting one's eyes.

That fluorescent light tube had been used for who knows how many years, and the ballast was constantly buzzing, like a fly buzzing around your ear, which was very annoying.

Song Chao was handcuffed to an iron chair, his hands were tied behind his back, and his shoulders were numb from being twisted.

The serrated edges of the handcuffs bit into my wrists, sinking deeper into the flesh with every movement, causing blood to seep from the chafed skin and trickle down the chains.

His clothes were torn in half during the arrest, revealing an old scar on his shoulder from being pressed by steel bars, with several layers of purplish-red marks.

Liu Lei sat opposite him, a pen in his hand, a cold smile on his face.

That smile was neither sinister nor genuine; the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards, but there was no hint of amusement in his eyes, like a cat eyeing a mouse it had already caught, calculating where it would be most interesting to bite.

Liu Lei threw his pen on the table, opened the folder in front of him, which contained a thick stack of materials.

"Song Dynasty, tell me, how did you steal the steel bars from the construction site? Where did you hide the money from the stolen goods? Did you have any accomplices?"

Song Chao suddenly raised his head, his throat feeling like it was blocked by a piece of burning coal.

"I didn't switch the steel bars!"

His voice was hoarse from shouting, echoing in the interrogation room, sounding dry and hoarse.

"That's how the steel bars arrived! I'm just a steel bar tying guy; I can't even read the steel bar markings! The 30,000 yuan Zhang Jinshan gave me was a bonus, not embezzled money!"

"bonus?"

Liu Lei scoffed, pulled out a stack of materials from the folder, and slammed them down in front of Song Chao.

Papers were scattered all over the table, with a few floating to the ground, covered with dense data and red stamps.

"Look at this! This is the purchasing department's receiving slip. It's signed and stamped, clearly stating that the steel bars delivered were HRB400. But the quality inspection station has found they're HRB335, two grades lower, and the strength is a third less. If you didn't replace them, who did?"

He stood up, walked around to Song Chao, and shoved the papers into his face.

"And this bank statement shows that 30,000 yuan was transferred from Zhang Jinshan's account to your card, and the timing matches perfectly with the time the steel bars were replaced. You still dare to call it a bonus? What company gives workers a 30,000 yuan bonus? Is Zhang Jinshan a philanthropist? Do you think we investigators are three-year-olds?"

Song Chao was so anxious that the veins on his forehead bulged, his face turned bright red, and his spittle was stained with blood when he spoke.

"He framed me! Go investigate! Ask the purchasing department! Ask Old Zhou! He knows what the steel bars looked like when they arrived! I, Song Chao, have worked on the construction site for five years and have never taken a single steel bar scrap home. What makes you think I substituted the steel bars?!"

"Old Zhou?"

Liu Lei raised an eyebrow, walked back to his chair, sat down, crossed his legs, and wiggled his toes.

"Old Zhou has already confessed."

The Song Dynasty was stunned.

"Old Zhou confessed?" His voice trembled slightly, carrying a bewildered disbelief. "What did he confess to?"

Liu Lei pulled another piece of paper from the folder, slowly unfolded it, and held it up to Song Chao.

That's Lao Zhou's statement. Below it is Lao Zhou's red handprint, which is pressed a little crooked, as if his hand was trembling.

"Old Zhou told me personally that you approached him privately and told him you wanted to secretly sell the steel bars from the construction site for money, and that you would give him 30% of the proceeds. He disagreed, so you threatened to expose his previous theft of building materials. He was afraid of your retaliation, so he didn't dare to say anything."

The entire Song Dynasty was stunned.

Old Zhou.

Old Zhou actually turned the tables on him.

He recalled how Lao Zhou had always taken care of him, offering him cigarettes, calling him "honest man," and telling him, "You are the worker I trust the most."

He remembered that night when Lao Zhou squatted down next to him, patted him on the shoulder, and told him that Boss Zhang had given him a 500 yuan red envelope.

He recalled the bruised eyes of Old Zhou when he handed him an envelope containing 30,000 yuan on the day he left.

It turns out that it wasn't guilt.

They conspired with Zhang Jinshan to push him to his death.

Song Chao felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest, the pain so intense that he almost stopped breathing.

"He's lying!"

Song Chao suddenly lunged forward, the iron chain snapped taut with a clang, and the wound on his wrist reopened, blood dripping down his fingers.

"I never said anything like that to him! If I had, may I be struck by lightning! Bring him here! I'll confront him face to face!"

"A confrontation?"

Liu Lei chuckled and shook the notepad in his hand.

"He put his fingerprint on it, it's written clearly in black and white, and you're talking to me about a confrontation? The court recognizes evidence, not your empty claims of innocence."

He put Lao Zhou's statement back into the folder and then took out a photo from it.

The photo was printed and the image quality is a bit blurry, but you can tell it was taken in the interrogation room of the police station.

In the photo, Yuan Qiao is sitting in a chair with her head down, her hair covering her face, so her expression is not visible.

Liu Lei stood up, walked to Song Chao, and held the photo up to his face, less than ten centimeters away.

"You must know Yuan Qiao, right? She's your wife."

Song Chao suddenly raised his head, his eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out.

"What do you want with Yuan Qiao?" His voice suddenly rose, filled with a fear that seemed to be forced from his throat. "This has nothing to do with her! She knows nothing! If you have a problem with her, come at me!"

"Is it okay?"

Liu Lei threw the photo in his face; the edge of the photo grazed his cheekbone, leaving a shallow bloodstain.

"Your wife has confessed that you did bring 30,000 yuan in cash back home this time, and told her that the money was 'quick money you earned from the construction site,' and told her not to ask where it came from or tell anyone. She also said that you let it slip to her at home that you recently 'made a big profit.'"

Song Chao's mind exploded with a bang.

Yuan Qiao.

Yuan Qiao said the same thing.

Why did she say that?

That 30,000 yuan was clearly given to him by Lao Zhou through Zhang Jinshan. He told Yuan Qiao it was "a year-end bonus from General Manager Zhang," and never mentioned anything about "quick money" or "making a big profit"!

She knew perfectly well that he would never do anything underhanded.

She knew perfectly well that he would even pick up five yuan that someone else had dropped on the ground and return it.

Why would she say such things to the police?

Song Chao's vision blurred in waves, and his ears were ringing. Liu Lei's voice came through indistinctly, as if through a layer of water.

"What's wrong? Can't you say it?"

Liu Lei squatted down to look him in the eye, his mocking smile deepening.

"Your wife has already admitted it, what else do you have to say? Witnesses, physical evidence, confessions—everything is there. The evidence that you switched the steel bars is irrefutable; you can't run away."