Chapter 123: Xu Xiaodong's Suffering

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue put down their chopsticks and wiped their mouths. Chen Shi said, "Confess!"

"Give me a bite first. I’m so hungry, my stomach feels like a volcano has erupted inside of it." Zhang Jinlei said as he drooled.

"Cut the crap. Talk first."

"Just a bite."

"I’ll count to three. If you’re not going to confess, then I won’t give you another chance. One-"

"I’ll confess! I’ll confess!"

Zhang Jinlei said that his girlfriend, Niu Mudan, was looking at an LV bag in a luxury store a month ago. She was ready to steal it, but who knew that she would get caught by the clerk and have her body forcibly searched? She felt like she lost all face and said that she had to have that LV bag and it had to be from that store.

At that time, Zhang Jinlei and Little Lu were both pursuing Niu Mudan. Or it could be said that Niu Mudan was playing around and leading the two guys on at the same time. Little Lu was a fairly cowardly person, but Zhang Jinlei admitted that he was “a little handsome” and was a bit brainier since he’d been to school before. Zhang Jinlei felt that he might lose that battle.

Therefore, when Niu Mudan made that request, the two love rivals immediately tried to satisfy her desires. In addition, Zhang Jinlei always envied Little Lu’s e-cigarette and took the opportunity to make a bet with him. If Zhang Jinlei got the bag first, Little Lu would have to hand over the e-cigarette.

Little Lu could only think of one option. He went to find his old man who was addicted to gaming. On the evening of December 10th, he went to ask for money. His father told him that there was a New Year’s event in the game, so he didn’t have enough money for a while. He told him that he’d have money after a while.

Little Lu said that he needed the money urgently, but his father chided that he didn’t even hold his own job. He said Little Lu would only be using the money to eat, drink or have fun again.

Little Lu pulled the desktop away and threw it in the water downstairs in a fit of rage. He didn’t expect his dad to chase him down and jump into the water to try and salvage the desktop instead of caring about his son’s feelings.

"It was truly wonderful!" Zhang Jinlei mocked.

Little Lu didn’t have a plan but Zhang Jinlei did. He investigated for a few days and found that it was easiest to target the head office as there were some shady entertainment places across from it. As long as he made some phone calls saying that the police were coming, they’d shut their doors immediately. This way, he’d get rid of all witnesses.

That night, Zhang Jinlei took his buddies to eat and then went to Xinglian Road. The stores actually closed their doors as expected and the street was empty.

A few people started to break the lock. They often conducted thefts like these so they didn’t feel guilty at all. If they didn’t do this, where would they get the money to go to KTVs and Internet cafes?

After entering, several people began to madly take the products and push shelves down. They even peed on some and enjoyed the moment. Niu Mudan praised him as a good man and even kissed him. The kiss was seen by Little Lu, making him tremble with rage.

They didn't expect that the store would leave a clerk there. The clerk ran out and shouted, “I’ve already called the police!”

The big guy in their gang hit the clerk's head with a rod and the clerk fell to the ground. Several boys began adding a few more hits. Niu Mudan was scared and cried that the big guy murdered someone. Zhang Jinlei responded that the clerk wasn’t dead and had only fainted.

Zhang Jinlei warned that the police would come soon so they immediately fled.

"The bags are still with Niu Mudan. She was originally planning to wait for the wind to pass[1] before she began using them. We didn't expect you all to find out. I accept my defeat. Can I eat now?" Zhang Jinlei was salivating intensely.

Chen Shi picked up the ribs on rice and cola and placed it on the interrogation chair’s built-in side table[2]. Zhang Jinlei had both his hands cuffed so it wasn’t convenient to use chopsticks. Instead, he grabbed at the food with his hands greedily.

Chen Shi asked, "Talk about that matter with the e-cigarette. Although you guys made a bet, Little Lu had an accident that night. It’s reasonable to say that it shouldn’t be with you.”

Zhang Jinlei’s mouth was full of food so his speech was muffled. "After the accident, the e-cigarette was indeed still with him, but that was meant to be mine. I couldn’t just let the police take it away, so I took it. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?”

"Compared to the stuff you robbed from the store, it does seem like nothing... At the time, did the e-cigarette leave Little Lu at all?"

"No."

"You need to think about it a bit more before you respond."

"Ah, yes. When we robbed the store, we parked the car in a nearby courtyard. Little Lu’s e-cigarette should have been in the car."

Lin Dongxue looked at Chen Shi and whispered, "Could someone have added the isoflurane in the e-cigarette at the time?”

"I wouldn’t rule out this possibility... Ah, yes, Old Peng's experiment has passed the twenty-four hour mark. Let's go and ask."

As the two were leaving, Zhang Jinlei yelled from behind. "Aren’t you guys going to let me go? You can even put me in the detention center. It’s such a terrible feeling being cuffed here!”

Chen Shi responded, "Just wait here for a bit. There are still things we need to ask you."

"Then give me another round of food. I’m not full yet!"

Chen Shi gave the leftovers from the two rib on rice sets to him. Zhang Jinlei opened the set that Lin Dongxue had eaten from and smiled in a wretched manner. "Hehe, the sister's saliva is really fragrant."

Lin Dongxue was disgusted and snatched her leftovers away before throwing it in the trash can outside the room.

When they got to the forensics department, Peng Sijue still hadn’t left work yet. After listening to Chen Shi's report on the situation regarding the e-cigarette, Peng Sijue said, "That is entirely possible."

"How was your experiment?"

"I was just about to tell you guys. The dose commonly used in surgeries that I inhaled last night has mostly left my body. There are only 0.03 micrograms per milliliter of blood left in me, but we detected 0.4 micrograms per milliliter of blood in the dead body.”

"A full 40 times!" Lin Dongxue exclaimed. Her genius arithmetic abilities won herself a contemptuous look from Peng Sijue.

"It’s 13.33 times," Peng Sijue said. "No matter how bad the metabolic ability of the deceased was, unless he didn’t sweat, drink water or go to the bathroom for a full day, there wouldn’t be such high traces of drug residue left on him... You mentioned an e-cigarette just then. Let me test it!”

"Here!" Chen Shi pulled it out of his pocket.

The two waited there while Peng Sijue personally went into battle[3]. After five minutes, he reported his findings. "There is a minor trace of isoflurane residue in it."

Chen Shi said, "E- cigarettes repeatedly require top ups of the flavored oil, so the drugs inside will be continuously diluted. The deceased must have inhaled a very large amount of isoflurane on the night of December 10th.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"There would have been enough to make him unable to control his steering wheel or to cause him to sleep whilst driving."

"Great!" Lin Dongxue was excited. The moment the truth was finally revealed was the happiest time for police. "Someone deliberately wanted to murder him!"

Chen Shi said, "But how can we prove that this is related to his mother’s receipt of insurance pay-outs? His mom was out of town at the time, so there wasn’t a way for her to act herself... In fact, we can think on the lines that the mastermind behind the scenes was the one to take action as a medium for his mom.”

"That is, in order to prove that this is a case of insurance fraud, you still have to investigate from the source... I wonder how Xiaodong is doing."

A police officer rushed in and said, "There is a person outside. His whole body is covered in blood. You all should hurry out and take a look.”

Peng Sijue took a first-aid kit and went to the bureau’s lobby with Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue. They saw a man with torn clothes with his body covered in blood. His left hand was pressed on his right hand desperately and his little finger was cut off.

Lin Dongxue walked forward to investigate, when she was stopped by Chen Shi. Chen Shi squatted down and shook him, “Hey man, what’s wrong? Are you here to report a case?”

The man opened his eyes and said, "Hurry and save Xiaodong..." Then, he fainted.

1. When everything blew over.

2. Something like this https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcTzNTvgGCgnn8QWnf1TVyJYYkDQFGVgw_mh-IZ056-XYV9EaFBW

3. Usually, when someone of a superior standing heads to battle/leads a war, it indicates importance or eagerness.