Qu Jingli took out his cell phone and played a recording of the phone call. The voice of the person who called was processed.

"Qu Brothers, I haven't seen you for a long time. What you owe me should be paid now. I will arrange an impressive gift for you!"

"Hey, hey, who are you? Zhou Tiannan?"

The content of the call was just these two sentences. Qu Jingli said nervously, "A few days before the signing ceremony, we received this call. We knew that Zhou Tiannan was going to get revenge on us. I didn’t expect that my brother would really die!"

Talking about it, Qu Jingli cried while covering his face.

"Revenge? So, you offended him?" Chen Shi asked.

Aware that he let something slip, Qu Jingli shook his head desperately. "I don't know anything. Everything was done by my brother."

"Till when do you want to keep secrets? When the company's shareholders disappeared one after another, it was when the serial killer under the pseudonym "Zhou Xiao" was most rampant. The police didn’t have enough resources so those missing persons cases were overlooked just like that... The person who helped you two firmly sit in this position was Zhou Tiannan. He asked for the repayment, right? You didn’t pay it? Or was it not as he intended?!"

Qu Jingli's nervous expression had already exposed his heart. Of course, these truths may directly send him to prison, so he desperately shook his head. "It's not like this. It's not like this. We haven't done anything like hiring murders."

"Save it. Based on Zhou Tiannan's character, being able to plan such a sensational murder, he definitely hates you guys."

Qu Jingli was covered in cold sweat and took out a bottle of eye drops. He was about to drip them when Chen Shi grabbed his hand. Qu Jingli frowned. "I have dry eye syndrome. I take these eye drops around with me."

Chen Shi carefully inspected it and opened it to smell it. Only then did he give it back to Qu Jingli. He dripped his eye drops into his eyes and said, "Please send me to the hotel where the Z company is located. The signing ceremony must go on. This is my brother’s long-cherished wish. It has to be done no matter the price."

Unable to stand up to Qu Jingli's pleading, Chen Shi told Lin Qiupu and Lin Qiupu agreed to continue.

At this time, the poisoned driver had been taken away by the ambulance. Several other vehicles followed Chen Shi's car and escorted Qu Jingli the whole way.

After finally coming to the hotel, Chen Shi saw that many reporters were already at the scene. He asked, "How could the news have already been leaked to the media?"

"I don't know. They may have been contacted by the Z company. They’re doing projects In China for the first time and want to use the media to build momentum."

The reporters saw Qu Jingli and rushed over to surround him. Chen Shi quickly got out of the car and prevented anyone from approaching him. The bodyguards also ran over to maintain order. Amidst the mess, Chen Shi made eye contact with a set of eyes. That person was Yan Ke.

Yan Ke turned away sneakily and walked away. Chen Shi handed Qu Jingli to the bodyguard and pushed aside the crowd. Yan Ke actually wore reporter's clothes and ran away when the situation was bad.

The two crossed the road. Chen Shi chased after him and threw him to the ground. Yan Ke desperately said, "I didn't commit anything. Don't catch me."

"Why did you run? Who told you to come!"

"I…"

Lin Dongxue came and saw this "acquaintance". She sneered, "We meet again."

"What is the task assigned to you by Zhou Tiannan?!" Chen Shi demanded.

"Who’s Zhou Tiannan?" Yan Ke pretended to be confused.

"You’re still pretending? You work at the same school. How could you not know him?"

"Even if we’re in the same school, we usually don't talk!"

Yan Ke wouldn’t tell the truth no matter what. Chen Shi escorted him to the car. Lin Dongxue's handcuffs had already handcuffed the man who was taking photos, so they stood beside the car and watched him.

Lin Qiupu had already arrived. Qu Jingli entered the hotel safely and was shaking hands with representatives of the Z company. There seemed to be no safety at the scene anymore[1].

Chen Shi felt uneasy and called kk, "Didn't I tell you to monitor Yan Ke? How did he come to the hotel?"

kk seemed like he hadn’t woken up yet, yawning, "Brother Chen, I need to sleep. You should know that I only get up at ten every morning. How can I monitor him for twenty-four hours? I'm not made of iron."

"Did he exhibit any suspicious behavior yesterday?"

"No... wait, he seemed to receive a couriered parcel."

Chen Shi looked in the car. Yan Ke's expression was calm. He was wearing a uniform for a media reporter and was also wearing a reporter's licence.

Lin Dongxue said, "I’ll take him to the bureau first."

Chen Shi shook his head. "Leave it along with your driving skills. Monitor the scene first. We’ll deal with this guy later."

Chen Shi called a bodyguard to watch Yan Ke and entered the hotel with Lin Dongxue. The signing ceremony went ahead smoothly. At the press conference, the people invited to the site had their identities verified. There were also bodyguards and police guarding all around.

Time passed by and the press conference finally ended. The reporters left the scene one after another. Qu Jingli took out the bottle of eye drops and dripped a bit more into his eyes. Then he talked with the representative with a smile, when he suddenly twitched and fell to the ground from his chair. The reporters who were leaving rushed back in.

"Stop!" Lin Qiupu yelled, stepping forward to check on Qu Jingli's condition, only to see him foaming in his mouth. His body was twitching and he had bloodshot eyes. His breath stopped under everyone’s gaze.

Chen Shi was stunned when the bottle of eye drops dropped in front of him. Lin Dongxue said, "Yan Ke just approached him to change the eye drops!"

"It's impossible. When Yan Ke appeared just now, there was a person between me and him. Besides, he’s just a teacher. He doesn’t have this skill."

Qu Jingli only had this bottle of eye drops in his jacket pocket. Until the scene was completely controlled, Chen Shi was still immersed in deep surprise. How had Zhou Tiannan do it? Only through a batch of untrained, ordinary people, how could he have adjusted the eye drops under the eyes of everyone?

In the afternoon, Yan Ke was taken to the interrogation room for interrogation. When he came here for the second time, he looked around and sneered, "I didn't expect to come here for the second time this month."

Lin Qiupu scolded softly, "What did Zhou Tiannan ask you to do?"

"I don’t know what you're talking about."

Lin Qiupu took out the photo, which showed that he was in a coffee shop with a man in a black hat that day. Yan Ke shrugged his shoulders and refused to talk.

"This time, there’s no lawyer to help you. You still don't understand? The other party treats you as a piece they can abandon, but you’re still thinking you’re repaying them like a fool?”

"..."

"How do you explain the reporter's clothes and reporter's license on you?"

"Someone sent it to me yesterday."

"Who?"

"I don’t know!"

"What is your mission?"

Yan Ke spread his hands. "Put these clothes on and go to the scene."

"That's it?"

"That's it. What do you expect me to have done? You want me to bear the murder charge?"

After the interrogation ended, Yan Ke was temporarily detained. Lin Qiupu said in frustration, "I didn't expect him to be so tight-lipped."

Chen Shi said, "I think this matter is a bit strange. Zhou Tiannan wouldn’t arrange for a person to kill people directly, and because of Yan Ke's ability, he can't do it either."

"Did you really not see anything at the time?"

This wasn’t the first time he was asked about it. Chen Shi shook his head. "I'm sure he didn't switch the eye drops. The eye drops were also checked by me beforehand. What did Old Peng say?"

"Only Qu Jingli's own fingerprints were on it."

Lin Dongxue ran over, holding a document in her hand. “Qu Jingli recently sent a huge sum of money to an overseas account. The other party immediately withdrew it after receiving the money.”

"How much?" Lin Qiupu asked.

"Forty million!"

1. The author wrote “no safety” at the scene anymore, but I assume this would be “no danger” instead. However, I’m leaving it as is just in case it serves a purpose down the line.