STB Chapter 14: Tracing

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.

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Zhang YaoJin (black-faced): How could it be him?

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After knowing that the girl he liked had a Major as an older brother and a CEO as a father, Assistant Lin’s jaw dropped.

Li Fei’s eyes slowly moved to Zhang YaoJin’s face.

Because of being under the wind and sun all year round, Zhang YaoJin had a darker complexion as well as a tough military aura. But if you looked carefully——the outline of his face, if a few points softer, would almost be the same as Secretary Zhang’s face.

The CEO had a pair of stepchildren at home. This was not news to the company’s senior management, but they hadn’t seen Liang Jun bring them out before. Li Fei was also not interested in this gossip, but who would have thought——

Li Fei suppressed the surge of his restless power.

Going against the country’s military was too difficult and too costly, so sane people would not rashly resist. Even though Li Fei obtained powers from an unknown source, he didn’t have the confidence to control it yet.

If used, no one else in this room could escape except for Geng Tian.

Liang Jun was not a demanding businessman. Star Entertainment Media also had the best reputation among the other companies in the circle. Li Fei, who was the only first-line actor in China who hadn’t opened his own studio, was taken care of by the company and Liang Jun for many years, not even leaving when the contract expired, so of course, he wouldn’t spite them.

Zhang YaoJin felt the dangerous atmosphere subside and his stretched out nerves finally relaxed.

He stared at Li Fei with complicated eyes before sternly saying, “If you cooperate with the investigation, I guarantee that if you are innocent, the outside world did not need to know what happened today.”

Finished speaking, he waved, “Take him away!”

To Li Fei’s surprise, the soldiers who came to take him away, although alert and vigilant, were very polite. They’re not at all coarse and rude. No one even took out handcuffs and detained his freedom of movement.

“And him.” Zhang YaoJin next pointed at Geng Tian among the crowd.

Geng Tian’s expression suddenly changed. He seriously looked at Liang Jun and then at the very cooperative Li Fei. He did not say anything and just hung his head as he was escorted away.

The elevator went directly to the underground garage where a couple of Jeeps with military license plates quickly drove off.

Standing just in front of the window, Liang Jun looked back and ordered with a straight face, “No one is allowed to say anything about what happened today!”

Everyone looked at each other, anxiously wondering what Li Fei had done. How could there be such a big issue? Did the Pearl Hotel’s explosion really have something to do with Li Fei?

What was he planning, ah!

Was being a terrorist more promising than being a film emperor?

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The Jeeps went all the way to Haicheng’s military district, passed through several checkpoints and finally stopped in front of an old office building.

The walls of the building were painted in green, and the lights in the hallway were dim, but the guards were very strict as an armed soldier stood at intervals.

Li Fei was taken to a room at the end of the corridor where the furnishings inside were like that of a guest house decades ago.

The paint on the tables and chairs were peelig off, the cup served had a very simple pattern, and the posters on the walls were printed propaganda slogans such as the Patriotic Love Party.

If it weren’t for his special circumstances, Li Fei had to wonder what kind of stage the military had set up.

Zhang YaoJin did not play the kind of drama that left people there for hours. He came in from the front, turned around to lock the door and with several fully-armed guards arranged at every corner of the room, he coldly said, “Sit.”

There was only one chair in the room, and Li Fei didn’t argue.

Always standing behind Zhang YaoJin was a young man in military uniform. He took a photo from a folder and pushed it in front of Li Fei.

There was a time-stamped on the upper right of the photo. This was a picture taken from a surveillance camera and the people inside were Geng Tian and someone else. He was guarding a man out of the staircase with a coat covering his face.

“It’s me.” Li Fei looked at the photo and very readily admitted it.

“You stayed on the 48th floor and arrived at the third floor within ten minutes after the incident……your reaction speed is not slow.”

Li Fei’s expression was calm. He had calculated the time. It was nothing unreasonable, but it’s probably not what Zhang YaoJin wanted to show him——there were no surveillance cameras in the hotel stairwell, but there must be some in the corridors outside the guests’ rooms.

Sure enough, a few photos were spread on the table.

“When the incident happened and the hotel carried out emergency procedures, we had rummaged the monitoring of the corridor on the 48th floor frame by frame. There was a record of you entering the room, but there was no record of you leaving it.”

The group that blew up the hotel probably thought that in the time stagnant world, the cameras wouldn’t work. They were probably negligent and did not destroy the Pearl Hotel’s surveillance room. Li Fei was speechless.

“Do you have anything to explain?” Zhang YaoJin was good at discovering a suspect’s emotional changes, but he found nothing today. Li Fei was either too calm, or the film emperor’s acting skills were high enough to play the unsuspecting innocent.

A video proved nothing. If people could be arrested on this basis, then arrest warrants would be too easy to issue.

From seeing the rank on Zhang YaoJin’s shoulder, Li Fei realized that the country paid attention to this Pearl Hotel case more than he imagined.

What kind of task force could use a military interrogation room?

Who could arrest a public figure like him without an arrest warrant and even with weapons drawn? 

Li Fei closed his eyes. When he opened it again, it was clear and bright, “Even if I wanted to tell the truth, I’m afraid no one would believe it.”

Zhang YaoJin frowned deeply, while the young military officer behind him wasn’t so calm.

Although he still looked solemn, he couldn’t help but give Li Fei a strange look.

At first, Li Fei thought it was the usual reaction to seeing a movie star.

But he’s not a giant panda, so looking a few times was enough. This relentless look——even though Li Fei’s fans were numerous, he did not think he could match the national treasure. This was the problem he’s worried about.

“I don’t know what’s in the surveillance cameras, but I heard a conversation in the stairwell.”

Li Fei repeated the conversation.

A suspected group of terrorists searched the hotel after committing the crime and also said that this day was a “large-scale awakening day.”

The young military officer’s eyes shone: It matched that ridiculous chat group record!

He could not help but look back at Zhang YaoJin, who was still expressionless, and couldn’t see what he was thinking.

“I’ll trouble you to continue to stay here for a while. We still had to ask your bodyguard. If there’s anything you can think of, feel free to inform us.” Zhang YaoJin then left the room with someone.

The door was not locked, but the guards inside and outside were just like the locks.

The difference was probably——if Li Fei looked for a lawyer afterward, one, he was not “imprisoned”; two, he was not handcuffed; and three, he was not interrogated, he was only “cooperating with the investigation.”

“Major, the maximum output surpassed the limit of the miniature energy detector.”
The soldier in charge of “watching” Li Fei in the jeep just now nervously gave a report.

Looking at the wavy curve symbolizing the data on the white paper, Zhang YaoJin’s face was darker than the bottom of the pot.

He felt like someone came over to say that he just had a conversation with an anti-armor bazooka that was ready to fire. If it was in a good mood, it wouldn’t blow him up into cannon fodder.

“In his case, he can’t go through airport security.”

The spilled energy fluctuated too much, to a shocking extent.

“And his bodyguard——”

Zhang YaoJin had more than one report on his hands. This time, the data was a bit smaller and the lines were also relatively smooth, but it still exceeded the normal value by a lot.

“Well done.” Zhang YaoJin squeezed out these words through his teeth.

If the two people they brought today went to the airport or took the subway, they’d have a very fun time walking through the security check! First of all, it’s necessary to evacuate these people and get them to understand the situation thoroughly. The affected flight/traffic would then be smaller if compared to being mistaken as a terrorist attack which would just bring chaos.

“Major, are we going to check out Li Fei’s side to see if there’s anyone who’s called these names?”

The young military officer, who was responsible for collating the group chat records, had a strange expression, “Especially that Jian Hua.”

“After finishing things, just report it.” Zhang YaoJin tossed the report into his subordinate’s hands and strode away.

When he sees people, he can see through you; his face became bitter.

This world is a book? What a joke! If he reported it to the Chief, will they even believe him?

Of course, Zhang YaoJin’s troubles did not end there. After two days of investigation, new clues had been reported one after the other.

“Major, there’s nothing new on the Pearl Hotel’s surveillance.”

“Through a carpet search, there was a missing restaurant waiter called Guan Cheng in the Huai City’s Development Zone beside the Pearl Hotel.”

Zhang YaoJin finally heard some good news, and despite his drowsy mind, he immediately ordered his men to find the missing person. He had a feeling that the waiter would know more inside information.

Because this person’s “disappearance” was the kind where the surveillance cameras couldn’t find his whereabouts, as if he suddenly disappeared.

Zhang YaoJin’s other headache was about another case regarding the death of a couple that he wanted to trace, but he didn’t know who destroyed the surveillance records of Huan Yu Cinemas and the parking lot. The supermarkets and shops on the other floors still had their surveillance records, but he did not get anything of value.

The Cinemas’ staff members remembered that the couple went there to watch a movie. As to when they left and with whom they took the elevator with, they had no impression.

Zhang YaoJin now had a sheet of paper with the list of sold tickets in that movie.

There were more than 30 tickets in total, half of which were special discounts for group purchases with clear bank account and online transaction records, and the other half were from special discount tickets purchased through Huan Yu Cinemas’ membership cards. There was a system of reporting lost membership cards so it used real names.

The problem was the three tickets purchased at full price. There was no set viewing time, so they could appear randomly. Without the surveillance records, they’re difficult to find.

“First, check those people that you can find and see if someone is acting strangely. For example, if they’ve been to a hospital or if……”

Before Zhang YaoJin’s words were finished, a subordinate ran up with his mobile phone, “Huai City University reported that two girls went missing for more than 72 hours.”

“What are their names?”

“It’s on the list, they bought online tickets…… using Lu Yuan’s bank account. They said she went to the movies with her roommate and never returned to school.”

The young military officer quietly looked at Zhang YaoJin then reminded, “Major, there’s actually another thing which may or may not be related to the case.”

“Speak!”

“The movie they watched before the accident was starred by Li Fei.”

“……”

He’s really everywhere.

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Last Edit: 07-19-2020 7:54 PM

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.