Chapter 763 - 458: A Total Breakdown, a Full Confession

Chapter 763: Chapter 458: A Total Breakdown, a Full Confession

At Lin Li’s question, the delivery guy’s face immediately contorted with anger.

"I could’ve gotten this to you much sooner," he began, "but I had another delivery in the complex next door. I went upstairs to drop it off, and when I came back down, your order was just... gone."

"Uh..." Lin Li paused. "Are you saying my food was stolen?"

"Yeah!" the delivery guy cursed, his face still furious.

"Some son of a bitch must have swiped it while I was away. I had to go all the way back to the restaurant to get a replacement, which is why I’m so late."

"The complex has security cameras. You should go check the footage," Lin Li suggested. "Whoever stole it won’t get far."

"Yeah, that’s the plan. As soon as I’m done here, I’m going to find out which bastard stole from me.

This was an expensive order! If I can’t catch the thief, I’ll have worked the last two days for nothing," the delivery guy said. Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly departed.

’What kind of person steals food delivery?’ Lin Li shook his head and grumbled, carrying the large bag of food back into the living room.

He opened the bag and took out a huge spread of KFC.

Fried chicken legs, wings, chicken wraps, burgers, fries, egg tarts... He laid the mountain of food out on the coffee table. It must have cost over three hundred yuan.

Someone had stolen over three hundred yuan worth of food from the delivery guy. If the thief wasn’t caught, the driver would have to cover the cost himself. No wonder he’d been so furious.

...

「Inside an interrogation room at the Superpower Administration Bureau.」

Zhu Daqi sat fidgeting in his chair, his hands clasped together, fingers twisting nervously.

As a thug who worked in an underground casino, he’d been to a police station before. But this was the first time in his life he’d ever set foot in the Superpower Administration Bureau.

Investigators from the Superpower Administration Bureau typically dealt with malevolent Cultivators or exceptionally ferocious Mutant Beasts. It was common knowledge that they were on a completely different level than regular Security Officers.

Even just bumping into a regular Security Officer on the street was enough to make Zhu Daqi flustered.

So now, facing Investigators who were far more intimidating than Security Officers—who had personally come to his door and brought him to the Bureau for questioning—it was easy to imagine the state of terror Zhu Daqi was in.

CLICK.

The door opened. Zhu Daqi saw two familiar figures walk in—it was the two female Investigators who had come to his door earlier.

Liu Jialin and her colleague entered, pulled out chairs across from Zhu Daqi, and sat down. They stared at the panicked man, their faces devoid of expression.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP...

As Liu Jialin stared at him, expressionless, Zhu Daqi’s heart began to hammer in his chest. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His palms grew slick, his back damp, and patches of his shirt darkened as they soaked through with sweat.

Liu Jialin watched Zhu Daqi grow increasingly flustered under her gaze. She knew it was time to begin.

"I’m going to ask you a few questions. I expect you to answer truthfully."

Zhu Daqi was incredibly tense. When Liu Jialin suddenly spoke, he flinched, then nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, of course. I’ll answer everything truthfully."

"Name?" Liu Jialin asked.

"Zhu Daqi."

"Age?"

"Thirty-one."

After a few simple questions, Liu Jialin got down to business.

"Do you know Chen Xiaoyan?"

"Uh..." Having answered the easy questions, Zhu Daqi was about to reflexively say yes when Liu Jialin asked about Chen Xiaoyan. He caught himself just in time, swallowing the word before it could escape.

Seeing Zhu Daqi remain silent, Liu Jialin exchanged a look with her colleague. Then she turned back to him, her expression hardening.

"Do you know Chen Xiaoyan?"

"..." After a few seconds of silence, Zhu Daqi said, "Don’t know her."

Hearing his answer, Liu Jialin’s eyes narrowed. Her voice turned sharp. "I told you when we started that I expect you to answer my questions truthfully.

If you’re straight with me, you can go home soon.

But if you lie, you won’t be going home anytime soon. I suggest you think very carefully before you answer my next question."

"..." Zhu Daqi flinched at her sharp tone. Under the table, his hands gripped his legs, trying to still their uncontrollable shaking.

Liu Jialin wasn’t some rookie Investigator. She was experienced, and she could tell with a single glance that Zhu Daqi was lying.

"There was a homicide at a timber processing plant on the outskirts of the East District, one that’s been abandoned for years. Based on our on-site investigation, we know a Cultivator was involved..."

Zhu Daqi’s heart pounded. His legs trembled in fear.

He gripped them hard with his hands, trying to make them stop.

But facing law enforcement, the perpetually timid Zhu Daqi couldn’t control his shaking legs at all. No matter how hard he squeezed, even when it started to hurt, they just kept trembling...

Just then, he heard Liu Jialin mention the homicide at the timber plant. When she said that one of the victims at the scene was Chen Xiaoyan, his legs stopped trembling. His entire body went rigid.

’How is that possible? Yan... was murdered?’ Zhu Daqi’s eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open. He stared at Liu Jialin in utter shock, his mind a chaotic whirl.

"I’ll ask you one more time," Liu Jialin demanded. "Do you know Chen Xiaoyan?"

"I..." The news of Chen Xiaoyan’s murder had shocked Zhu Daqi to his core.

Now, faced with Liu Jialin’s demand, he hesitated. He wanted to confess, but reason screamed at him not to. Getting mixed up in a murder case meant huge trouble.

"We found Chen Xiaoyan’s phone at the scene," Liu Jialin said, her face a blank mask. "And guess what we found when we charged it up and checked her call history?"

Her words were a hammer blow, shattering Zhu Daqi’s mental defenses.

"I... I knew Yan," Zhu Daqi finally admitted, all hope draining from his face.

"Yan?"

"Yan is Chen Xiaoyan. That’s just what I called her."

Liu Jialin nodded, then proceeded to ask several more questions about Chen Xiaoyan.

Resigned to his fate, Zhu Daqi cooperated fully, telling Liu Jialin everything he knew without daring to hide a single detail.

He even confessed to secretly placing a tracking device under Lin Li’s van and tailing him for several days.

"What did you just say? You put a tracker on Lin Li’s car and were tailing him?!"

A moment ago, Zhu Daqi had been the one reeling in shock, his mental defenses shattered by Liu Jialin’s words. Now, the tables had turned. It was Liu Jialin’s turn to be stunned by his confession about tracking Lin Li.

"Yes. My boss, Liu Menglong, ordered me to tail a man named Lin Li for a few days. I just finished the assignment today.

Investigator, I know it’s illegal to put a tracker on someone’s car and follow them. I admit I was wrong.

But tracking him was all I did, I swear! I didn’t do anything else!

I don’t know anything about the murder case. It has absolutely nothing to do with me..." Zhu Daqi insisted, desperate to distance himself from Chen Xiaoyan’s death.

...