CHAPTER 516: 204 THE FIRST ENCOUNTER, TOTAL DEFEAT_3

Guo Hui held up her phone.

Li Zonghong hung her head low, not daring to make a sound.

Gao Yuyue sneered, "Showing off your swordsmanship in front of Guan Yu? Aren’t you ashamed?"

Pointed at and mocked by a student, Guo Hui’s face turned livid with anger. "How absolutely outrageous!"

Gao Yuyue spread her arms open. "These two are officers from the Criminal Police Unit. Weren’t you looking for the police? Go ahead, tell these officers about your grievances."

Guo Hui froze. Police?

The receptionist had already felt that Manager Li was acting oddly. Hearing Gao Yuyue’s words, they were startled.

Had Manager Li committed a crime?

Bi Xing chuckled amiably, "Obstructing police operations incurs penalties under public security management regulations. If severe, criminal charges will be pursued according to the law."

As he spoke, Bi Xing used his free hand to pull out his identification from his coat and briefly displayed it in front of Guo Hui.

"Got a good look?"

Guo Hui’s pupils constricted sharply, instinctively taking a step back. Her expression was uneasy, and she dared not say a word.

Gao Yuyue snorted coldly. As she passed by Guo Hui, she lowered her voice and said, "Li Zonghong is in big trouble. Do you really think you can get away?"

Delighting in the panic on Guo Hui’s face, Gao Yuyue walked away satisfied.

Shen You’an and Gao Yuyue’s statements were taken by a gentle policewoman.

Li Zonghong was brought into the interrogation room, where Bi Xing conducted the questioning.

As soon as she entered, Li Zonghong confessed everything.

Yesterday afternoon, a stranger called her, using the threat of her husband’s gambling debts to coerce her into doing something.

Overwhelmed in the moment, Li Zonghong agreed.

The target was Shen You’an. She was tasked with observing Shen You’an’s daily habits. Harboring resentment toward Shen You’an for some time, she took the opportunity the previous day when everyone was absent to sneak into her room. In truth, she wasn’t entirely sure why she violated her professional ethics to do this.

Pressed for time, she didn’t have the luxury to inspect thoroughly and hastily recorded a video.

Little did she know this video would prove immensely useful.

She sent the video to the email address provided by the stranger.

There was no reply, but an hour later, her gambling-addicted husband called to thank her for clearing up 500,000 yuan of debt.

That still left 1.5 million yuan of debt.

Li Zonghong hadn’t anticipated that one video could bring such substantial benefits, and she was ecstatic.

At 11 p.m. last night, while everyone was asleep, a same-city delivery service brought her an anonymous package. Inside was a small bag of powder weighing no more than 0.1 grams.

The stranger instructed her to find an opportunity to mix the substance into the water Shen You’an regularly drank.

Li Zonghong feared that it was poison. If someone were to die, her life would be over.

The stranger assured her it wasn’t poison and told her not to worry.

To be cautious, Li Zonghong dissolved a bit of the powder in water and fed it to a stray cat near her neighborhood. She observed the cat all night, and the next morning, it was lively and energetic.

Relieved, she realized the substance was odorless, tasteless, and non-toxic when dissolved and even though she still didn’t understand the stranger’s intentions, knowing it wouldn’t result in death was reassuring.

The next day, she used her position to claim that the bottled water supply hadn’t been replenished. She delivered the tampered water bottle to Shen You’an herself.

Everything was flawlessly executed.

She racked her brain trying to figure out where the plan had gone wrong.

While Li Zonghong was being interrogated, the criminal police searched her home and workplace.

They examined her phone and accounts for evidence.

Based on her testimony, they discovered a contact on her phone. Police immediately tracked the number, which unsurprisingly belonged to an unregistered SIM card.

However, with the advanced forensics technology available today, it didn’t take long for the police to identify the SIM card’s owner.

It was a meat vendor at a local market who claimed ignorance, saying he had found a phone in a trash bin at the market. Since it appeared to be new, he took it home and used it.

The police quickly reviewed surveillance footage near the trash bin and successfully identified a suspect.

A man in his thirties, tall and well-built, exhibited strong anti-detection behaviors, never showing his face in the footage.

Xiang Chenyan’s team had solved an array of complex cases over the years, and this one was relatively straightforward. In the era of big data, no one can commit the perfect crime.

Bi Xing stared at the surveillance footage as the man’s figure entered the grand entrance of the luxury hotel.

"Beiqi Hotel."