They went to the conference room and saw that the employees were all trying to run away while creating chaos while the two police officers on the scene were desperately trying to maintain order.

Chen Shi went over and cautioned, “You all need to remain calm! Are you guys trying to attack the police?”

It wasn’t clear who caused it, but a chair leg found its way towards Chen Shi’s head in the chaos, and a few drops of blood began to run down his head.

Chen Shi was so angry that he kicked a pot-plant in the corridor. When the pot made a bang due to the contact made, the crowd suddenly calmed down. Chen Shi’s face, which was covered in blood, looked very fierce and intense. He sternly reprimanded them without raising his voice. “Don’t think the police don’t know what you all did on the night of the 4th of October. No matter how much trouble you all create now, it’s just the act of a dog jumping over the wall[1]. Nobody can help you now. The only way out of this is to cooperate with the police and to look out for yourself!”

The employees dipped their heads down one by one as if they were primary school students that had done something wrong. This was especially true for the male employees. Their expressions were particularly flustered.

Lin Dongxue glanced at the men. There were ten men present. That is to say, at least five of the men present were involved in the rape of the deceased.

The staff members were taken back to the conference room. Chen Shi used another trick that was up his sleeve. He told the guards to take off their coats and expose their guns with live ammunition. The people who were guilty would usually confess readily after seeing the guns.

Shortly after, a male employee wearing glasses was asked to be interrogated.

Lin Dongxue took out a facial tissue for Chen Shi and asked, “Would you like to go to the hospital to get yourself checked?”

Chen Shi touched his head in the place where he was cut and shrugged. “It’s nothing. I just need to go wash the wound a bit in the bathroom.”

After a while, Chen Shi placed a band aid on his head and returned to the office. The male employee was surrounded by Xu Xiaodong, Lin Dongxue, and Peng Sijue. He looked like he was in the position of a criminal back in the day in the royal courts where there were three officials holding a trial. He kept rubbing and playing with his hands nervously.

Chen Shi whispered to ask Xu Xiaodong, “What is his number?”

“No. 6!”

This was the number labelled on their paper cups earlier. Chen Shi remembered that this person was also one of the people involved in the rape.

He glanced at the name tag on the male employee's chest and questioned, “You are Luo Xiaohui, right? Are you acquainted with Xiao Li?”

“No, I’m not.” It was still the same answer they got earlier.

“Did your manager threaten or bribe you? Did he forbid anyone from telling the truth? But now that your manager has been detained, who’s going to reward or punish you? No one can help you!”

“Really... I really don't know who that is!”

“Do you know how terrible the quality of your lie is? It’s so awful that it should be used as a sample for people attending their first-year of police academy.”

The employee bowed his head down in silence.

Xu Xiaodong whispered, “Fuck, they really won’t cry until they can see their coffin... Captain Peng, show him the evidence!”

Peng Sijue declared calmly, “Your salivary enzymes are exactly the same as those found on the body of the deceased.”

The staff member was visibly panicked but was still unwilling to confess.

Chen Shi went to the employee’s work station and took an exercise book for the civil service exam from under a stack of magazines. He queried, “Xiaohui, have you been preparing for the civil service exam recently?”

“I was just casually looking at it.”

“Just casually looking at it? The answer fields are almost full. It seems that you don't like the job you have right now very much. Do you hate the manager? Or hate the atmosphere here?”

The staff continued to look down in silence.

Chen Shi walked right up to him. “Want to take the civil service exam? If your record is not clean, no one will want you. Will you leave stains on your record? That all depends on your current attitude. This ship you’re currently on will definitely sink. There’s no point struggling to save it in desperation. Even if you are all tight-lipped, when the evidence is taken to court, do you think you can escape? We are giving you a chance now. If you pass the village, you will not come by this store again[2]. You have to think clearly about this! “

The employee suddenly held his head and squatted on the floor. He burst into tears, shocking everyone present.

Chen Shi gave him a facial tissue thoughtfully. After crying, the employee asked, “Do you have a cigarette?”

Chen Shi handed a cigarette over and even lit it for him. The employee who was still shaken began puffing through the cigarette. The first sentence he said was, “I didn’t kill her!”

“Talk us about what you saw.”

He began to tell what happened that night slowly. The day was a payday. It was also a summary meeting after the end of the sales season. The company ordered some goods and food for the gathering, but everyone was not very upbeat about it. They knew that they were going to celebrate some employees, but would also be berating others today.

The company has always promoted wolf culture, and people with poor performance would be severely punished. For example, in the winter, they would be punished to run in the snow naked, or they would have to slap each other. More severe punishments included, but was not limited to the manager forcing them to drink the water in the toilet bowls. These tactics were used to humiliate them.

A few years ago, there was a male employee. Because he was forced to run through the snow naked on a cold day, he developed respiratory diseases. The manager directly fired him due to this. He also sternly warned everyone that the world runs on survival of the fittest, and the useless trash would be eliminated.

He once asked himself why he was here to be humiliated. Some employees could not stand the culture and resigned. The most plentiful thing in the labour market is people. In the words of the manager, if you don’t do it, someone else will.

The manager yelled at them, forced the female colleagues to do that kind of thing at the morning meetings, punished some of them. However, after staying for such a long time, everyone seemed to become numb to it all. The adaptability of people was truly terrifying.

“Talk about the case!” Lin Dongxue interrupted impatiently.

“Okay! Okay! That night...”

He recounted that after dinner that night, the manager stood up with a dark expression. According to the usual practice, several employees who had not performed well were called out. Those who had barely passed the benchmark watched everything like a show and beat the others while they were down. Xiao Li was among the unlucky employees.

This time, the manager thought up a new trick. They told them to take off all their clothes and keep drinking. They needed to drink until they vomited, and then continue drinking again.

Several male employees passed out on the spot. Xiao Li announced that she had been sick recently and could not drink. The manager exploded in rage and after saying a few unpleasant words, he ordered two employees to go over, pinch her nose, and force the alcohol into her mouth.

It may be that in the process, the manager made contact with Xiao Li a few times and thought of something very evil. Xiao Li’s figure was really good in all honesty, and she usually wore sexy clothing. It was easy to make people think perverted thoughts, so the manager commanded people to tie Xiao Li onto the table.

Everyone felt it was a bit wrong, but in the company no one dared to resist the power of the manager.

After Xiao Li was tied up and naked, the manager began to undo his belt. He spat, “Look here, this is the consequence of being trash!” Then, he raped her in public. Xiao Li was so drunk at the time that she didn’t struggle much.

The manager went to the side to smoke after enjoying himself. Everyone drank a lot of wine that night. A male employee who usually followed closely behind the manager and sucked up to him also began to take off his pants. Several female employees looked at the situation and prepared to leave. The manager yelled at them saying, “Nobody is allowed to leave!”

It seemed that there was implied permission from the manager, so the male employee became more and more arrogant. After finishing his round with her, he motioned to a staff member who had a good relationship with him. “This little x is very tight[3]. You should come over and enjoy yourself too!”

It was really difficult to listen to the retelling of the incident. They actually gang-raped Xiao Li that night. This included the person who was doing the retelling.

“How many people in total?” Chen Shi asked.

“Seven... Except for the three guys who passed out, the rest all did the deed.” The staff member stammered with a cold sweat.

After that, they were unsure who, but someone suddenly shouted saying that Xiao Li wasn’t breathing. Everyone was frightened and tried doing CPR on her.

The manager was so scared that he sobered up. He used his hand to check for Xiao Li’s breathing and checked her body to see if she was really dead. He then threatened everyone. “You all are involved in this situation! No one can leak this to anyone. Whoever dares to even make a peep, I’ll get a brother[4] to kill them!”

1. Dog desperately trying to jump over a wall or anything possible when they are rushed into a corner/cornered.

2. You can’t board this ship once it’s passed. You may miss this only opportunity.

3. They really put “little x”, though I’m assuming everyone knows what this means.

4. A triad member.