Chapter 593: A Successful Strike

Qu Jingli took out his phone and played a recording of a phone call. The voice on the other end had been altered.

“Qu brothers, long time no see. You owe me, and it’s time to pay up. I have a memorable gift for you!”

“Hey, who are you? Zhou Tiannan?”

The call ended there. Qu Jingli, visibly shaken, said, “A few days before the signing ceremony, we received this call. We knew Zhou Tiannan was going to retaliate, but we didn’t expect my brother to actually die!”

He covered his face and began to sob.

“Retaliation? So you’ve wronged him in the past?” Chen Shi asked.

Realizing his slip, Qu Jingli frantically shook his head. “I don’t know anything. It was all my brother’s doing.”

“How long are you going to keep hiding it? Back then, company shareholders kept disappearing during the height of the serial killer ‘Zhou Xiao’. The police were stretched thin, and those cases went unsolved. Zhou Tiannan helped you secure your position. Now he wants his payment, and you either didn’t pay or didn’t meet his demands!”

Qu Jingli’s nervous demeanor betrayed his guilt, though admitting it would land him in prison. He kept denying, “It’s not like that. We never hired anyone to kill!”

“Stop lying. Zhou Tiannan must really hate you to plan such a high-profile murder.”

Sweating profusely, Qu Jingli took out a bottle of eye drops, but Chen Shi snatched it away. Qu Jingli frowned, “I have dry eye syndrome. I carry these eye drops with me.”

Chen Shi inspected and sniffed the bottle before returning it. Qu Jingli applied the drops and pleaded, “Please take me to the Z Company hotel. The signing ceremony must proceed. It was my brother’s wish, and I must fulfill it, no matter the cost.”

Unable to resist Qu Jingli’s plea, Chen Shi consulted Lin Qiupu, who agreed to continue.

By now, the poisoned driver had been taken away by ambulance. Other cars followed Chen Shi’s to escort Qu Jingli to the hotel.

Upon arrival, Chen Shi noticed numerous reporters. “How did the media find out?”

“I don’t know, maybe Z Company contacted them. It’s their first project in the country, and they want publicity.”

Reporters swarmed Qu Jingli, but Chen Shi quickly intervened, preventing anyone from getting too close. Amid the chaos, he locked eyes with Yan Ke, who was skulking about. Yan Ke turned to flee, and Chen Shi, handing Qu Jingli to the bodyguards, pushed through the crowd to chase him. Dressed as a reporter, Yan Ke ran, but Chen Shi tackled him to the ground. Yan Ke protested, “I didn’t do anything. Don’t arrest me.”

“Why are you running? Who sent you?”

“I…”

Lin Dongxue arrived, recognizing the “familiar face,” and sneered, “We meet again.”

“What’s Zhou Tiannan’s plan?” Chen Shi demanded.

“Who’s Zhou Tiannan?” Yan Ke feigned ignorance.

“Don’t pretend. You know him from the school.”

“We never spoke.”

Yan Ke refused to confess, so Chen Shi shoved him into the car, leaving him handcuffed alongside the earlier photographer.

Lin Qiupu and his team arrived. Qu Jingli safely entered the hotel and shook hands with the Z Company representatives, seemingly secure for now.

Chen Shi, still uneasy, called KK. “I told you to watch Yan Ke. How did he get to the hotel?”

KK, groggy, replied, “Chen, I need sleep. You know I wake up at ten. I can’t watch him 24/7. I’m not invincible.”

“Did he do anything suspicious yesterday?”

“Not really… Wait, he did receive a package.”

Chen Shi glanced at the composed Yan Ke, dressed in a journalist’s uniform, complete with a press badge.

“I’ll take him to the station,” Lin Dongxue offered.

“No, your driving skills are questionable. Stay here and watch the scene. We’ll deal with him later.”

Chen Shi instructed a bodyguard to keep an eye on Yan Ke and entered the hotel with Lin Dongxue. The signing ceremony proceeded smoothly, followed by a press conference. All attendees were verified, with guards and police present.

As the conference concluded and reporters left, Qu Jingli applied his eye drops again. He suddenly began convulsing and collapsed. Rushing back in, the reporters added to the chaos.

“Stay put!” Lin Qiupu shouted, checking Qu Jingli, who was foaming at the mouth, convulsing, and bleeding from the eyes. He died before their eyes.

Chen Shi was stunned. “Yan Ke swapped the eye drops!”

“Impossible. When Yan Ke appeared, someone else was between us, and he’s just a teacher, not capable of this.”

Qu Jingli only had one bottle of eye drops, kept in his jacket pocket. Even with the scene secured, Chen Shi was deeply shocked. How did Zhou Tiannan manage this with ordinary people, swapping the drops under everyone’s watch?

In the afternoon, Yan Ke was interrogated again. Smirking, he said, “Didn’t expect to be back here so soon.”

“What did Zhou Tiannan make you do?” Lin Qiupu demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lin Qiupu showed photos of Yan Ke meeting the man in the black hat at the café. Yan Ke shrugged, saying nothing.

“This time, there’s no lawyer to help you. Don’t you get it? They used you as a pawn. Do you still think you owe them?”

“…”

“How do you explain the journalist outfit and badge?”

“They were sent to me yesterday.”

“By whom?”

“I don’t know!”

“What was your task?”

“Just to wear the outfit and be there.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. What more do you want me to say? That I committed murder?”

The interrogation ended, and Yan Ke was temporarily detained. Lin Qiupu, frustrated, said, “Didn’t expect him to be so tight-lipped.”

Chen Shi pondered, “This is strange. Zhou Tiannan wouldn’t have one person commit murder directly, especially not Yan Ke.”

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”

Chen Shi had been asked this multiple times. “I’m sure Yan Ke didn’t swap the drops, and I checked them myself. What does Peng say?”

“Only Qu Jingli’s fingerprints are on the bottle.”

Lin Dongxue rushed in with a document. “The economic police found that Qu Jingli recently transferred a large sum to an offshore account. The recipient withdrew the money immediately.”

“How much?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“Forty million.”