STB Chapter 14: Investigation

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 (with a stern face): Why is he involved everywhere?

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Upon learning that the girl he likes had a Major as her brother and that she was the daughter of the CEO, Assistant Lin was in utter disbelief.

Li Fei’s gaze slowly shifted to Zhang Yaojin’s face.

Due to prolonged exposure to the elements, Zhang Yaojin had a slightly darker complexion and possessed the robust aura of a military man. However, upon careful observation, one could discern that his facial features bore a resemblance, to a certain percentage, to the secretary.

It was not uncommon for CEOs to have stepchildren with whom they share no blood relation, and this was not news among the upper echelons of the company. However, Li Fei had never shown any interest in such gossip. Who could have imagined…

Li Fei suppressed the surging restlessness within him.

Going against the machinery of the state was an incredibly difficult and costly endeavor, one that even rational and clear-minded individuals would not recklessly undertake. Although Li Fei now possessed a power whose origin he himself was uncertain of, he lacked the confidence to control this wild beast.

If he were to use his power, it was likely that everyone in this room, except Geng Tian, would find it difficult to escape death.

Liang Jun was not a ruthless businessman, and Star Entertainment Media was known for its good reputation in the industry. Moreover, Li Fei was the only domestic film emperor who had not established his own studio. He had been supported and nurtured by the company and Liang Jun for many years, even after the expiration of his contract. It went without saying that he would not bite the hand that fed him.

As the sense of danger subsided, Zhang Yaojin’s tense nerves finally relaxed to some extent.

He stared at Li Fei with a complex expression and solemnly said, “If you cooperate with the investigation, I guarantee that if you are innocent, the outside world will not know what happened today.”

With a wave of his hand, he ordered, “Take him away!”

To Li Fei’s surprise, the military personnel surrounding him, while maintaining a vigilant gaze, were polite in their actions. They were neither rude nor brutish, and no one used handcuffs to restrict his freedom.

“And him too,” Zhang Yaojin pointed to Geng Tian among the crowd.

Geng Tian’s expression changed abruptly. He looked at Liang Jun, who appeared serious and then glanced at Li Fei, who was cooperating. Without saying a word, he lowered his head and was led away.

The elevator went directly to the underground parking lot, where several jeeps with police license plates swiftly drove off.

It was only when Liang Jun, who had been standing by the window, regained his composure that he sternly ordered, “No one is to speak of today’s events!”

The people exchanged puzzled and anxious looks, wondering what Li Fei did to cause such a massive commotion. Could it be that Li Fei was truly connected to the Pearl Hotel explosion?

What is he thinking?

Does he believe that being a terrorist has a better future than being a movie star?

***

The jeep continued driving into the Haicheng Military District, passing through several checkpoints, and finally stopped in front of an old office building.

The walls inside the building were painted green, and the corridor lights were dim and unclear. However, the security was extremely tight, with armed soldiers stationed at regular intervals.

Li Fei was taken to a room at the end of the corridor, which was furnished like a guesthouse from decades ago.

There were peeling tables and chairs, and enamel basins with simple patterns served as cups. The posters on the walls displayed patriotic slogans and party propaganda.

If the situation weren’t so peculiar, Li Fei would have suspected that this was a set built by some drama crew.

Zhang Yaojin didn’t play the game of leaving people waiting for hours. He entered the room immediately after Li Fei, and once the door was locked, several fully armed guards took their positions at the corners of the room. Zhang Yaojin coldly instructed, “Sit.”

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

The military officer who had been standing behind Zhang Yaojin the entire time took out a photo from a folder and pushed it in front of Li Fei.

In the top right corner of the photo was a timestamp. It was a still frame taken from a surveillance camera, and the person in the photo was none other than Geng Tian, protecting someone whose face was covered by a coat as they walked out of a stairwell.

“It’s me,” Li Fei examined the photo and admitted it readily.

“You were on the 48th floor and arrived on the 3rd floor within ten minutes after the incident… Not a slow reaction.”

Li Fei maintained a calm expression. He had calculated the time beforehand, and there was nothing unreasonable about it. However, he suspected that Zhang Yaojin was not showing him these photos for that reason alone. There was no surveillance in the hotel stairwell, but there should definitely be cameras in the corridors of the guest room section.

As expected, several more photos were spread out on the table.

“During the period from the incident to the hotel being placed under lockdown, we meticulously reviewed every frame of the surveillance from the 48th-floor corridor. We have footage of you entering the room, but there was no record of you leaving.”

The group of hotel bombers probably believed that the cameras in the timeless world of the explosion wouldn’t function, so they neglected to destroy the surveillance cameras in the Pearl Hotel. Li Fei couldn’t help but feel speechless.

“Do you have anything to explain?” Zhang Yaojin was adept at detecting changes in a suspect’s emotions, but today he gained nothing. Li Fei was too calm, or rather, this movie emperor’s acting skills were high enough to portray an innocent person who knew nothing.

A video clip couldn’t prove much. If they could arrest people based on this, arrest warrants would be far too easy to obtain.

Li Fei realized the extent to which the nation valued the Pearl Hotel explosion case from the moment he saw Zhang Yaojin’s military rank.

What kind of special task force can conduct interrogations in a military district?

What kind of person can apprehend a public figure like himself without an arrest warrant and with a gun?

Li Fei closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was clear-minded. “The things I want to say, I’m afraid no one will believe.”

Zhang Yaojin furrowed his brow deeply, and the military officer next to him couldn’t maintain the same level of composure.

Though his expression was serious, he couldn’t help but cast a strange gaze at Li Fei.

At first, Li Fei thought it was a normal reaction to seeing a popular actor.

But he’s not a giant panda that needed to be stared at endlessly—just a few glances should be enough. Li Fei had many fans, but he didn’t consider himself on par with a national treasure. There’s definitely something fishy going on here.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the video, but I overheard a conversation in the stairwell.”

Li Fei recounted the dialogue.

He mentioned the group of suspected criminals searching the hotel and their mention of it being the “Day of Great Awakening.”

The military officer’s eyes lit up. It matched the absurd chat logs!

He couldn’t help but turn to look at Zhang Yaojin, who had an inscrutable expression, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“Please stay here for a while longer. We will also be questioning your bodyguard. If you remember anything, feel free to notify us at any time,” Zhang Yaojin said and left the room with his team.

The door was not locked, but there were tight guards inside and outside, making it no different from being locked.

The difference was probably that if Li Fei wanted to find a lawyer later, he was not “detained,” didn’t wear handcuffs, and hadn’t undergone interrogation—-he just “cooperated with the investigation.”

“Major, the maximum peak exceeds the limit of the micro energy detector,” the soldier who was responsible for “monitoring” Li Fei inside the jeep handed over a report, his expression tense.

Zhang Yaojin’s face turned even darker than the bottom of a pot as he looked at the wave curve representing the data on the white paper.

It felt like someone came over and said, “You just had a conversation with an infantry-type anti-armor rocket launcher, and the rocket launcher was in a good mood and didn’t turn you into cannon fodder.”

“With his condition, he wouldn’t even pass the airport security check.”

The energy fluctuations were too significant, to a shocking extent.

“And his bodyguard—”

Zhang Yaojin had another report in his hand. This time, the data was smaller, and the lines were relatively smoother, but it still exceeded the normal range by a significant margin.

“Well done,” Zhang Yaojin squeezed out these few words between his teeth.

If these two individuals were to go to the airport or take the subway, it would be quite a spectacle during security checks! First, they would have to evacuate the personnel until they figured out the situation. While it might only have a minor impact on flight and traffic, if mistaken for a terrorist attack, it would cause widespread panic in society.

“Major, should we investigate if there are people with these names around Li Fei?”

The military officer in charge of organizing the chat records wore a peculiar expression, “especially that Jian Hua.”

“Finish organizing the information and report it up the chain of command,” Zhang Yaojin threw the report into the hands of his subordinate and strode out.

His subordinates exchanged looks, their faces filled with bitterness.

This world is a book? Are you kidding me? Reporting it to the superiors, won’t it get rejected?

Zhang Yaojin’s worries certainly won’t end there. After two days of investigation, new clues kept coming in.

“Major, there are no new findings from the surveillance at the Pearl Hotel.”

“We conducted a thorough search and found a missing restaurant server, Guan Cheng, near the Huaicheng Development Zone.”

Zhang Yaojin finally heard some good news in his foggy mind and immediately ordered the search for the missing person. He had a hunch that this server knew more about the situation.

Because his “disappearance” couldn’t be found even on surveillance footage, it was as if he vanished into thin air.

What gave Zhang Yaojin a headache was another case he wanted to investigate—-the sudden deaths of a couple at the Huan Yu Cinema. The surveillance records at the cinema and parking lot were destroyed by someone, but the surveillance at the supermarket and other floors were still intact, though they didn’t capture anything of value.

The cinema staff remembered that the couple came to watch a movie, but they had no recollection of when they left or who they took the elevator with.

Now Zhang Yaojin only had one piece of evidence in his hands—-the ticket sales record for that movie.

There were over thirty tickets in total. Half of them were purchased at a group discount, with a clear account and online banking transaction records. The other half were purchased at a late-night discount with the cinema’s membership card, which required real-name registration and had a reporting system for lost cards.

The trouble lay with three individual full-price tickets, purchased without any movie plans, by people who suddenly appeared. Without cinema surveillance, it’s nearly impossible to track them down.

“Start investigating these identifiable individuals and see if they exhibited any unusual behavior, such as visiting a hospital or…”

Zhang Yaojin’s words were interrupted as one of his subordinates ran over, holding a phone. “Huai City University has reported a case. Two female students have been missing for over seventy-two hours.”

“What are their names?”

“They’re on this list. They purchased tickets online… The bank account holder’s name is Lu Yuan. She told her roommate that she was going to watch a movie but never returned to the school.”

The military officer discreetly glanced at Zhang Yaojin and reminded him, “Major, there’s actually another matter that may or may not be related to the case.”

“Speak!”

“The movie they watched before the incident was one starring Li Fei.”

“…”

He really is everywhere.

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Last Edit: 06-16-2023 2:30 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.