CHAPTER 838: CHAPTER 838: IDENTIFYING ACCOMPANYING PERSONNEL

Back at the mansion, Li Qiao was concerned about the private bank matter and was about to send Luoyu to open the safety deposit box when Wang Yue appeared inopportunely.

Moreover, his expression was very grave.

Li Qiao casually popped a plum slice into her mouth just as Wang Yue reported with a heavy tone, "Boss, the IP address from Parma’s side has been traced. It shows... it’s from the mansion."

"Cough—" Li Qiao let out a small cough.

Shang Yu’s attention immediately turned to her, his handsome face slightly tense. With a long arm, he scooped her to his side, "Feel like throwing up?"

Li Qiao shook her head, swallowing, "No, it’s just too sour."

Shang Yu signaled with his eyes, and Luoyu understood, promptly going to pour a cup of warm water.

Wang Yue stood still, a layer of frost covering his brows, "Boss, I suspect there’s a traitor in the mansion. We’d better investigate thoroughly. Otherwise, if Parma capitalizes on this, we won’t be able to clear our name even if we are in the right."

While taking care of Li Qiao, Shang Yu glanced at him distractedly, "Are you sure it’s the mansion’s IP?"

"Positive," Wang Yue nodded. "Cheng Mo and I analyzed the IP route. It’s definitely from the mansion."

Shang Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he leisurely turned to the girl beside him.

But Li Qiao, as if oblivious, lowered her head to flip through the plum slices, occasionally lifting the box to smell it, eating with great focus.

With his legs crossed over one another, amusement brewed in Shang Yu’s eyes, "Well then, you may go."

"Boss, this matter is no small issue. If there truly is someone..."

Before Wang Yue could finish, Luoyu kicked him in the calf, "Liuyun is calling you."

"Where?" Wang Yue followed Luoyu’s gaze and saw Liuyun standing outside the French window, his head bowed over a camera, evidently captivated by something, his brows tightly knitted.

Wang Yue had no intention of entertaining him and was ready to give further advice when Luoyu, understanding the situation, hooked his shoulder and pulled him out, "I also have something to ask you, anyway."

The living room returned to tranquility. Li Qiao lowered her eyelids and set down the sour plum box, shifting the topic without much fanfare, "When is Luoyu going to the bank?"

Shang Yu’s arm rested on the back of the chair behind him, slightly turning to face her with those eyes that seemed too deep, as if nothing could escape their scrutiny.

He curved his lips into a light smile, "Are you in a hurry?"

"Not really." Li Qiao licked the sugar from the corner of her mouth, and faced with Shang Yu’s penetrating gaze, she felt somewhat embarrassed and guilty.

It wasn’t so much that she had intended to keep it a secret; it was just that it involved Madam Xiao, and instinctively, she didn’t want Shang Yu to be involved.

Conveniently, her phone in her pocket rang then.

Li Qiao took it out to see it was a video call from Su Moshi.

She gestured to Shang Yu, then naturally got up to walk to the underground lab.

In the elevator, she answered the video, her facial expression already stern.

"Did you find out?"

Su Moshi pursed his lips, sighing with a tone of helplessness, "Yes, it was given by my dad."

Li Qiao’s brows suddenly knitted, a hint of disapproval on her face.

Patiently, Su Moshi explained, "I asked him about it. Master Yan did not mention it was for his personal use, just asked for Clonazepam, thinking it was for research, so my dad had the R&D center prepare eleven bottles..."

"Eleven bottles?" Li Qiao clenched the phone tighter and walked into the lab, thoughtful.

Only ten bottles were found in the drawer yesterday; perhaps the eleventh one was the one Shang Yu was currently taking.

Knowing he was at fault, Su Moshi spoke with full apology, "My dad was indeed careless this time, but you don’t need to worry. If the usage time hasn’t been long, it won’t cause dependence for the moment. When you have time, conduct a blood test for him to check the white blood cell count.

If strong side effects occur clinically, they consider using haloperidol to alleviate it, though since Master Yan has a short usage period, you could also consider using a combination of Chinese and Western medical treatments to adjust."

...

A few minutes later, Li Qiao ended the video call.

She sat at the research desk, musing over the whereabouts of the other bottle of Clonazepam.

Considering the time Shang Yu got back to the master bedroom from the platform last night, he shouldn’t have gone to the study.

The other bottle of Clonazepam might still be in a corner of the living room.

Li Qiao rubbed her temples, put that matter aside for the time being, glanced at her phone, and prepared to call Bai Yan to confront him.

But no one answered.

Li Qiao made several calls and he didn’t pick up any of them, obviously feigning death to avoid trouble.

Since the IP address had been traced, Li Qiao didn’t bother pursuing it further.

She tossed her phone aside, logged into her email on the computer, and started to sift through the messages she had intercepted from the customs information network in the early hours of the morning.

As time passed, Li Qiao watched the filtering program, and about ten minutes later, the screen abruptly froze.

Ming Dailan’s immigration information was glaringly displayed on the screen; Li Qiao took a screenshot, saved it and hit the enter key again for the system to continue the search.

In this manner, by six o’clock in the evening, Li Qiao had obtained all the information she desired.

Eleven years ago, Ming Dailan went to Parma with a Knight Squad in tow, amounting to twenty members.

Included were a family doctor and two maids.

Apart from Ming Dailan, there were twenty-three people in total.

The Knight Squad was all male; under the British Imperial’s strict hierarchical system, it was unlikely they would have close contact with Ming Dailan. This left the doctor and maids as possibilities.

The female doctor was in her forties at the time, and the two maids were of a similar age. The immigration records showed they were all British Imperial People.

Li Qiao extracted their information and logged into the Flame Alliance’s database to search, but she could not find them.

She touched her chin, her fingers lightly tapping on the keyboard twice.

Immediately after, Li Qiao opened Bai Yan’s WeChat and sent him a voice message, "Have you ever accessed the British Imperial census database?"

She remembered Bai Yan disturbing her sleep last night, and it seemed he had mentioned this.

The chat window indicated [The other party is typing...] at the top.

But a second later, it changed back to his name.

Seeing this, Li Qiao sneered, sent the information of the doctor and maids to Bai Yan and, after a moment’s thought, packed up the list of the other twenty Knight Squad members and sent that over as well.

At the end, she typed a message: Check the current whereabouts of these people.

Bai Yan replied immediately: Okay.

Li Qiao smirked and was about to put down her phone when Bai Yan sent another message: What do you mean by ’these people’???

Li Qiao: Just say if you can’t find them.

Bai Yan silently sent an [obedient] emoji, followed by a word: Can.

This time, Bai Yan was quick, and in less than ten minutes, he sent back the whereabouts of all these people.

The family doctor had died of illness.

The two maids had died of illness.

The twenty Knight Squad members had either retired, died of illness, gone abroad, or immigrated...

In short, not a single one remained at the Charlman Ducal Mansion.

Perhaps feeling guilty, Bai Yan also included the specific whereabouts of all the members, noting that one of the immigrated Knight Squad members traveled constantly and had no fixed residence.

Importantly, that person was currently in Scarlet City.

A former member of the Duke’s Knight Squad, even in retirement, would hardly have no fixed abode and travel all the time—this was too contrary to common sense.