My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

The lead policewoman spoke, her voice not loud, but every word was clear and distinct, as if she had been trained in clarity.

Lin Xiaoting opened her mouth, then subconsciously moved aside.

Her gaze unconsciously shifted slightly towards Jiang Miaomiao.

The movement was subtle, but enough for the two policewomen to spot.

The leading policewoman followed her gaze and saw Jiang Miaomiao sitting on the bed.

The computer screen was still lit, and the battle interface of "Three Kingdoms Kill" was still stuck on the "Kill" card that hadn't been played.

Jiang Miaomiao was also looking at her.

Their eyes met in the air.

Jiang Miaomiao's lips were trembling, not from the cold, but from an uncontrollable physiological reaction caused by extreme fear.

Her hand slid down from the touchpad and landed on the blanket, her fingers gripping the corner of the blanket, her knuckles turning white, her nails digging into the fabric, leaving a row of deep marks.

"Are you Jiang Miaomiao?" the leading policewoman asked.

Jiang Miaomiao wanted to answer, but it felt like something was blocking her throat, and she couldn't squeeze out a single word.

She could only nod.

The policewoman took the black folder from her colleague behind her, opened it, and revealed a document inside with a red official seal.

"We are from the Zhongshan Branch of the Kyoto Municipal Public Security Bureau."

Her voice was still not loud, but every word was like a nail, hammering into Jiang Miaomiao's ears.

"You are suspected of involvement in a major online fraud case, involving more than three million yuan. This is an arrest warrant. Please cooperate with the investigation and come with us."

……

The interrogation room at the Zhongshan branch was smaller than the one at the Chaoyang branch, but the lights were brighter.

The stark white fluorescent tubes were embedded in the ceiling, illuminating every corner so thoroughly that even dust had nowhere to hide.

When Jiang Miaomiao was brought in, her legs were already weak.

She didn't walk in by herself.

Two policewomen held her arms on either side. Her feet dragged on the ground for a couple of steps, the toes of her shoes hitting the threshold. She stumbled forward and almost fell.

A policewoman helped her up and pressed her down onto a plastic chair in the interrogation room.

The chair is fixed in place, welded to the concrete floor, so it won't fall over no matter how much you struggle.

Jiang Miaomiao sat there with her hands on her knees, her fingers intertwined, her knuckles so white they looked like they were about to break.

Her hair was still messy, her black hoodie was wrinkled and wrapped around her body, her face still had tear stains from crying, and her eye makeup was smudged, a dark mess under her eyes, like two crushed pandas.

There were three people sitting in the interrogation room.

In the very center was a male police officer in his forties, surnamed Zhou, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Zhongshan Branch.

He was wearing a faded police uniform shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his muscular forearms.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes were deep and heavy. When he looked at people, they were like two unsharpened knives—not sharp, but heavy, making it hard to breathe.

Sitting next to him was a young policewoman, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with short hair and black-rimmed glasses. She had a notebook open in front of her, her fingers resting on the keyboard, ready to take notes.

There was another person sitting against the wall, dressed in plain clothes, in his forties, a technician sent by the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Cyber ​​Security Detachment. The computer in front of him was connected to the interrogation room's system, and several lines of data were flashing on the screen.

"Jiang Miaomiao".

Captain Zhou spoke, his voice not loud, but full of energy, each word seemingly pushed directly from his chest, reverberating in the cramped interrogation room.

Jiang Miaomiao's body jerked violently, as if she had been slapped from behind.

We won't repeat your basic identity information.

Team Leader Zhou's tone was flat, almost devoid of any emotion, "You should know why you were brought here."

This is not a question, it is a statement.

Jiang Miaomiao lowered her head, staring at her intertwined fingers, her lips trembling, and her teeth chattering softly.

She didn't speak, or rather, she couldn't speak.

"Jiang Miaomiao." Captain Zhou called her name again, his voice a notch louder than before.

"Here...here!"

Jiang Miaomiao responded reflexively, her voice high-pitched and thin, as if someone had choked her.

"Tell me, do you know someone named Gu Qinghan?"

Jiang Miaomiao's breath caught in her throat for half a second.

She clenched her fists even tighter, her nails digging into the flesh of the back of her hand, leaving several deep white marks.

In that instant, her mind seemed to explode as if something had blown it apart, with countless thoughts churning within the fragments.

To acknowledge or not to acknowledge?

What would happen if I admitted it?

What can you do if they don't acknowledge it?

My brother has been arrested. What did he say?

How much did the police know?

She looked up and glanced at Captain Zhou.

Those eyes were bloodshot, the pupils dilated with fear, the dark irises like two bottomless holes.

"No...I don't know him."

Team Leader Zhou remained silent.

He glanced at her, and a barely perceptible, almost pitying look flashed in his heavy eyes.

Then he shifted his gaze to the policewoman beside him and nodded slightly.

The policewoman took a piece of paper from the folder in front of her, stood up, walked over to Jiang Miaomiao, and placed the paper on the table in front of her.

The paper is printed in color, A4 size, and has a screenshot of a chat log on it.

The sender's contact name was "Little Moon," and the message contained a series of money transfer records. The sender's contact name was "Baby," and their profile picture was a completely black image.

When Jiang Miaomiao's gaze fell on that screenshot, she felt as if she had been plunged into ice water.

"These are the chat logs extracted from Gu Qinghan's phone." Captain Zhou's voice remained calm. "Are you 'Baby'?"

Jiang Miaomiao's lips trembled, and the sound of her teeth chattering grew louder. "No...no...this isn't me...this is my brother...it's my brother's account..."

Captain Zhou did not refute. He simply glanced at the policewoman again.

The second screenshot is on the desktop.

This time it was the account's real-name authentication information, and the name field clearly stated: Jiang Yi. The ID number belonged to Jiang Yi, and the mobile phone number also belonged to Jiang Yi.

"The real-name authentication information for this account belongs to your brother, Jiang Yi," Captain Zhou said. "But the person using this account is you, right?"

"no!"

Jiang Miaomiao's voice suddenly rose, sharp as if it were about to pierce the walls of the interrogation room.

"It wasn't me! It was my brother! He's the one who let me use his account! He's the one who let me chat with Gu Qinghan! He told me—"

"Jiang Miaomiao".

Team Leader Zhou interrupted her, his voice not loud, but the three words "Jiang Miaomiao" were like three nails, making her freeze in place.

"I'll ask you one more time, is this account yours?"