Hearing what Chen Gong said, it seemed as though it actually happened, but Chen Shi disagreed. "It's not a particularly great technology. Any product will gradually reduce their costs, especially electronic products. I still remember that smart phones cost a few thousand ten years ago. Now they’re in the thousand’s range and so it’s even popular among school students."

Chen Gong said, "From the perspective of its long history, this really is nothing. However, this price cut has made many communication companies become unable to survive. Zhuoyuan Company is best at fighting price wars. This is how Hanjie Company was driven to a desperate situation previously."

"These seem to have nothing to do with you though?" Lin Qiupu asked. "When was the last time you saw Cao Man?"

"I remember that it was at the end of December. He was going to interview Dong Xiao that day. He finally got Dong Xiao's reply after lots of struggling. After he went, he never came back and I couldn't get through to him over the phone, so I thought that something might have happened."

"Cooperate with us. If we can find the corpse, we can successfully file the case. We don't care about the business war. They have to pay the price if they do bad things!" Lin Qiupu said.

"You can start with Lu Qi. Lu Qi is Dong Xiao's confidant. If Dong Xiao kills someone, he will definitely be asked to deal with the corpse... You may not know this, but Lu Qi is not only the vice president, he’s also Dong Xiao's godson. Their relationship is very close." Chen Gong said.

Chen Shi said, "You know a lot."

"Haha, I'm a reporter!"

"What is Lu Qi like?"

Chen Gong thought for a while and replied, "Shady, cunning, and plays both fields. His eyes glow at the sight of money. It is said that… And this is only what’s been said, but Dong Xiao gave him a large sum of money when he was still in the Ding Group and asked him to steal the technology. He worked in the Ding Group for ten years, but he actually sold out his boss so casually! However, he is indeed very capable, holding many sales channels in his hands. There was a group of top-notch sales people who switched jobs together with him. He became the vice president and Dong Xiao recognized him as a godson."

"Since he’s this type of person. I think that nurturing the tiger will bring calamity sooner or later." Chen Shi commented.

"Haha, great minds think alike."

"We’ll make a transcript of what you’ve just said. I will apply for the official filing of this case!" Lin Qiupu made a transcript for Chen Gong, and then applied for a search warrant.

The first person they needed to look for was Lu Qi. The next day, Chen Shi, Xu Xiaodong, and Lin Dongxue found him and asked about the missing Cao Man. The meeting place was in the underground garage. It was just when Lu Qi was getting off work. He was a tall and burly man. He might have been over 190cm, had a stout figure, and full, strong muscles that stuck out from underneath his suit. Even Lin Dongxue’s face flushed red a little just looking at him.

He was also pretty handsome with sword-shaped eyebrows. When it was raised, it gave people a feeling of anger. Perhaps it was because of this that there was a hostile spirit in his appearance.

After seeing Cao Man’s photos, Lu Qi leaned on his Rolls Royce and lit up a cigarette at a leisurely pace. “I have no impression of this reporter. You should ask Mr. Dong, but as far as I know, he doesn’t accept interviews normally, let alone from such small newspaper agencies."

Chen Shi observed him carefully. Based on Lu Qi's expressions, it didn't seem like he was lying.

"What we’re investigating right now is his disappearance." Lin Dongxue said.

Lu Qi raised his eyebrow at Lin Dongxue and smiled. "Beauty, I have never seen this person. How would I know that he’s missing? Go ahead and ask what you need to but I'm in a hurry. It’s better if you guys do it quickly."

Chen Shi said, "We want to see your driving records in the last half month."

"Uh..." Lu Qi pondered. "It’s okay if you have a look, but please don't make a fuss about it. People like me usually socialize a lot and often go to certain places. I hope you won't bother with the content outside of the case. "[1]

"We won’t invade your privacy."

After copying down the driving records, the three of them verified the data and images for that night. The car went home on time on the day of Cao Man’s disappearance and didn’t go elsewhere. Lin Dongxue said, “If he abandoned the body, he is unlikely to drive his own car. His luxury vehicle is too conspicuous."

Xu Xiaodong said, "I think we should just investigate Dong Xiao directly! It’s not reliable investigating this guy.”

"The murder happened in his own office. There must have been Dong Xiao's cronies right by him. They won’t say anything. It’s impossible for Dong Xiao to cooperate and allow everyone in the company to be investigated." Chen Shi said.

"Fuck. Someone went missing in that company, but the police are just going to watch it happen?" Xu Xiaodong said.

"Do you know why it’s difficult to investigate the case of the underworld? It's because the door is closed when things are done and nobody knows what’s happening. Everyone has a uniform testimony, so the police can’t do anything."

The three of them were unable to do anything when Lin Qiupu came over and asked, "How’s the investigation?"

Lin Dongxue shrugged, and Lin Qiupu said, "Look, there’s a reply from that email."

Lin Qiupu opened the email on a computer and the anonymous account sent a photo of the suburbs, which seemed to suggest the location of the body. Lin Dongxue complained, "Would it kill them if they sent over an address? We have to investigate again since they just sent us this picture!"

"Now I’m even more convinced that the person who made the anonymous report is Lu Qi. As soon as we left, he sent the photo. It seems that he wants to borrow a knife to kill someone." Chen Shi said.[2]

"Borrow what knife and kill who?" Lin Qiupu scolded. "Don’t talk nonsense. Someone killed someone, so we have to investigate it. This is the duty of the police. As for the informant's purpose, it’s their own business... I’ll call people over to investigate this photo!"

Everyone spent a whole night looking for clues from the photo. It took another half of the next day to find the address in the photo.

Each member of the police shoveled around on the wasteland thoroughly. Chen Shi, who was forced to be there and participate in the laborious task, shoveled for a while before stabbing the shovel in the ground to rest. Next to him, Xu Xiaodong said, "Let me tell you a joke. A prisoner’s wife sent him a letter saying that since he wasn’t home, there wasn’t anyone to dig up the ground and life was too difficult to live on. The prisoner wrote back, ‘Don’t turn over the land. I hid the gun underneath.’ As a result, the police went to his house and dug three feet around the house to find it. His wife sent a letter again saying that the police went over and tore the ground apart but couldn’t find the gun he mentioned. The prisoner said, ‘I can only help you this much.’"

After listening to himself, Xu Xiaodong smacked his thigh and laughed. At this moment, someone shouted, "Found it!"

Everyone threw their shovels down and ran over, only to see a piece of human tissue that was as black as charcoal in the ground. Everyone carefully dug up the ground in that area and a set of human bones was exposed. The skeleton, including the surrounding soil, was scorched black. It seemed like the abandoned corpse was first burned and then buried.

Peng Sijue preliminarily determined that the deceased was a male in his 20s or 30s. The root systems of the plants there hardly grew in winter and there were no insects in the ground. It was difficult to determine the exact time of death. It should have been within three months.

Everyone looked around for clues and found a tire print and a hose. The most surprising thing was that they found a reporter’s identification card in the grass with the words “Cao Man” written on it.

1. The author wrote the content that’s to do with the case, but I’ve changed it to content outside of the case as that makes more sense.

2. Get others to do one’s dirty work.