Chapter 346: Investigating the Orphanage

Lin Qiupu asked, “So, you lied for her?”

Dr. Li guiltily lowered his head. “At the beginning of the month, it rained, and she ran to my place soaked. As soon as we met, she burst into tears, and my heart just broke. She asked if I was willing to do anything for her, and of course, I said yes. So, she asked me to fabricate a surgery record for May 20th and to never tell anyone about it afterward.”

“Didn’t you think at the time that this was forging an alibi?”

“An alibi?” Dr. Li broke into a cold sweat. “You mean… for murder?”

“How did she deceive you at the time?”

“She only mentioned she had a secret, and if I helped her this one time, she’d share it with me… When I heard that, I thought she might finally be willing to accept me, so of course, I was willing!”

“And when the police came to you, didn’t you suspect anything?”

“I asked her about it, and she told me to keep quiet. She also said that we were in this together and that getting through this could lead to us dating… Looking back, that was probably another lie, but I was really scared to tell the truth to the police, because I had molested that girl. Molesting a minor is a jailable offense!”

“It certainly is,” Lin Qiupu sighed.

“I was seduced by her! It wasn’t voluntary,” the doctor cried out.

“Listen, you can redeem yourself by assisting in the investigation, which might earn you a more lenient treatment. We can still help you.”

The doctor covered his face and sobbed, “I haven’t killed or set anything on fire. I’ve been honest all my life, how could I end up in jail? Would that not destroy my career?”

Lin Qiupu felt that the doctor was also unlucky, deceived by Yi Qing’s beauty and tricks, gradually lured into complicity without even realizing he had become an accessory.

For someone like Yi Qing, filled with intelligence and allure, appearing in the ordinary life of the doctor was like the descent of an angel. Lin Qiupu thought that even he might not remain completely rational in the face of such a woman.

“Anything else you’d like to add?” Lin Qiupu asked. “You didn’t intend to commit a crime. Providing more information can only benefit you.”

The doctor thought for a moment and said, “That woman asked me to steal medicine, syringes, and hand over patient records to her.”

“When did this happen? Why did she ask you to do these things?”

“It started last October. The stuff I stole wasn’t anything prohibited, just ordinary prescription medicine. At first, she would tell me why she needed them, but later on, she stopped sharing her motives. As long as I did what she asked, she would reward me—either by praising me or promising to go out to eat with me, and I felt over the moon.”

The doctor continued to disclose these matters, which seemed unrelated to the case itself. Chen Shi, listening outside, said, “Yi Qing made him do these small misdeeds to gradually lower his moral threshold, all of it a prelude to his assaulting Zhao Puyang and lying to the police.”

Lin Dongxue, surprised, said, “An adult can be controlled like this?”

“The degradation of a person is a gradual process, irrespective of whether they are an adult or a child,” Chen Shi recalled Gu You’s analysis of Yi Qing. “She really is a controlling personality. The orphanage was her testing ground; she knew how to manipulate a person.”

Chen Shi remembered the days at “Black Honey” when everyone enthusiastically discussed a technique called ‘mind magic,’ a method of consciousness control, and read books by Darren Brown, an expert in the field. Yi Qing had learned her skills there.

Mind control isn’t as mystical as hypnosis; it’s used in everyday life—in advertisements, games, movies, and even by pick-up artists, although they may not know the term.

If someone deliberately learns and uses it for evil, that is truly terrifying.

But regardless, “Black Honey,” which taught Yi Qing these techniques, also bore great responsibility.

The interrogation went on until 1 a.m., and everyone was exhausted. The doctor had divulged everything he could and pleaded with Lin Qiupu not to imprison him. Lin Qiupu silently gestured for his subordinates to take him into custody for now.

The next day, the police visited the orphanage, unexpectedly finding Gu You there. Seeing Chen Shi, she waved hello.

Lin Dongxue looked around, “Who is she greeting?” Then she noticed Peng Sijue walking behind them, who awkwardly averted his gaze.

Chen Shi said, “I’ll go over and say a few words.”

He asked