CHAPTER 860: CHAPTER 862: INTERROGATION

"Yeah, I just saw him, he scared me to death. I accidentally bumped into him, thought he’d snap at me, but he didn’t even look my way."

"Could it be—" That employee dragged out his words, sparking the curiosity of the others.

"Could it be—that he’s going to resign!"

"Hey, what nonsense are you spouting? Scared me half to death!" The others couldn’t help but pat their chests, still startled.

Someone even said, "Agent Zhang has managed Sheng Yan for so many years, elevating him to superstar status, how could he possibly resign? If anyone should resign, it should be us. If we don’t work a little harder this month, we won’t meet our targets."

"Bummer, talking to you is such a downer!"

"Get to work, get to work. No work, no food!"

"Hey, Li Songzheng, why aren’t you saying anything today? Aren’t you usually keen on gossip?"

Someone patted Li Songzheng on the shoulder. Uncertain about what he was thinking, he startled, jolting upright, almost as if he was ready to flee at any moment.

"Hey, Li Songzheng, what’s with you? Am I really that scary?" A female employee gave him a baffled look.

Li Songzheng quickly shook his head, bowing as he said, "No, Sister Aiai, I just didn’t sleep well yesterday, had a nightmare, still a bit foggy-headed!"

The employee called "Sister Aiai" looked at him strangely, kindly suggesting, "You don’t look well, why not grab a cup of coffee in the break room to perk up."

Li Songzheng nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, I’ll go right now."

He headed to the break room, his gaze flickering, lost in thought, not even noticing when his coffee cup overflowed.

When he finally snapped out of it, the liquid had spilled over. He quickly turned off the machine and picked up his coffee.

"Hiss—" As he picked it up, it scalded his hand, causing him to lose grip—

"Bang!" The cup hit the floor, shattering into pieces.

Seeing this, Li Songzheng had a sudden sense of foreboding.

He felt he really should have taken today off; something was off about his mental state.

Groggily, Li Songzheng returned to his office seat, just as Zhang Ming came down from the top floor, heading straight to his desk and knocking on it.

"Knock knock" - the sound caught everyone’s attention.

Zhang Ming looked at Li Songzheng, his expression serious, "Come with me."

Li Songzheng swallowed hard, not daring to refuse, he stood up shakily and followed Zhang Ming out.

As the two left, the previously quiet office buzzed with activity again—

"Strange, Li Songzheng seems like such an honest person, why would Agent Zhang suddenly call him away? Did he do something wrong?"

Another employee’s eyes lit up, blurting out, "Did he gamble, then couldn’t pay, and embezzled company funds?"

Others rolled their eyes at him, "You’ve read too many novels, someone at Li Songzheng’s level wouldn’t have access to company funds. Even if someone were to embezzle, it would have to be someone like Agent Zhang or Agent Zhou."

"Could it be that Li Songzheng offended some higher-ups, so they’re calling him in to verify things and possibly hand him a termination letter?"

"Ah, let’s not worry about it. We’ll know everything when the kid gets back. For now, let’s focus on work; if we don’t, we really won’t hit our targets this month."

In the top-floor office, the atmosphere was far more tense and precarious than the employees imagined.

After bringing Li Songzheng up, Zhang Ming instinctively closed the door, leaving only three people in the office—Zhang Ming, Sheng Yan, and Li Songzheng.

With trepidation, Li Songzheng entered the inner meeting room and found Sheng Yan calmly making tea.

In front of them was a large laptop. With just a glance, Li Songzheng could see what was on it, his heart dropping.

On the laptop was footage from the surveillance cameras, and the quality was surprisingly clear!

Even though it was night-time, everything was visible as if it were daylight.

His heart filled with regret, wishing he hadn’t been so foolish.

Before Sheng Yan could even ask, as the footage played twice, Li Songzheng confessed, rendering all of Zhang Ming’s predetermined tactics useless.

Stammering, Li Songzheng recounted his night, pleading for the company’s forgiveness.

"...That’s what happened. I shouldn’t have been tempted by money and acted like that. I shouldn’t have agreed to do something so wrong. I’m at fault. Sorry, I’m so sorry..."

Sheng Yan squinted at him for a moment, then glanced over at Zhang Ming.

Zhang Ming cleared his throat a few times and walked up to Li Songzheng, sternly asking, "Are you sure what you’re saying is the full extent of it?

You snuck into the company, tried to enter my office to steal documents but couldn’t get in without a key, and then you just left?"

Li Songzheng nodded, head hanging, avoiding eye contact with Zhang Ming, "Yes, that’s it..."

Suddenly, he dropped to his knees, grabbing Zhang Ming’s leg, sobbing, "Agent Zhang, I didn’t mean to do it. I was confused, led astray by temptation. I’m sorry, I’ll never do it again!

Please forgive me. I won’t do it anymore. My family is very ill and desperately in need of money. I had no choice, I’m so sorry..."

Zhang Ming remained unmoved, calmly saying, "Don’t rush. Take a look at this footage first."

He operated the computer, revealing another video showing Li Songzheng frantically leaving the company, an hour and a half after the previous footage.

Zhang Ming: "What happened to make you panic like that? You seemed pretty composed when you arrived."

Li Songzheng’s eyes flitted, "I, I..."

Zhang Ming continued, "The company’s surveillance is very advanced, both visible and hidden. There’s nothing you can’t think of, only things you can’t see.

A full hour before you left, the surveillance system was intentionally disabled; in fact, the whole building was shut down, with nothing recorded in that time.

But I’m sure, you—" Zhang Ming’s words suddenly stopped, elongating the tone, "you must have seen something interesting, didn’t you? Why else would you rush out in panic, right?"

He pressed on, "In that hour of missing footage, what really happened? What did you see?"

Li Songzheng’s gaze wavered, holding onto an idea, but unsure if he should follow through.