Chapter 418: Common Interests

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

With such a sudden situation happening, Luo Zuyu was invited to "rest" in another room for the time being. Lin Qiupu and Chen Shi went outside. Lin Qiupu lit up a cigarette miserably. "Old Chen, what do you think she would say?"

Chen Shi replied, “‘We didn’t kill anyone, but the body was dismembered by us’, and so on."

"What should we do?"

"Don't worry. Let her tell the lie before we break the whole chain of lies."

It was already five o'clock in the afternoon. The two took a short break while also investigating some information.

Luo Zuyu's company was founded by his brother and sister-in-law. His brother was naturally a celebrity as well. After Luo Zuyu was exiled, the company had desperately engaged in public relations behind the scenes to slowly rebrand and clean-up his image.

It could be seen that the company will use all its strength to resolve this crisis for him. Calling them formidable opponents would not be an understatement.

A police officer ran over and said, "The people in the entertainment news company said that the original photos couldn’t be found. They said that a temp worker was careless and had reformatted the hard disk. We took people to search their office and brought the computer back."

Chen Shi smiled. "They’re still using temp workers as an excuse in this day and age?"

Lin Qiupu couldn't bring himself to smile. "Can it be restored?"

"We’re attempting it right now."

Lin Qiupu said, "Isn't that a bit stupid? They’ve lost the evidence for their alibi now."

ad"Of course they’d have to do this when it didn’t exist in the first place. In this way, the entertainment article becomes the only evidence for his whereabouts."

"That wouldn’t hold up in court!"

"It depends on which court. Luo Zuyu's nationality is..."

Lin Qiupu just remembered and held his forehead. "Canadian nationality. Anglo-American legal system. There is a jury system there!"

"But he is at best an ordinary citizen. As long as the evidence is solid, he can be tried in our country... The goal of this group of people is to prevent us from getting clear evidence and arresting him. Then they’ll find a way to send him back to Canada for a trial instead.”

Lin Qiupu felt a headache coming on and supported his forehead without speaking for quite some time. Lin Dongxue went over and said, "Brother, if you’re too tired, let me and Old Chen take over the next round of questioning."

Lin Qiupu looked at her. "You have to be careful."

"I know!"

When the interrogation began later, Ji Xingyao had not found herself a lawyer. She seemed very confident. She said, "I didn't expect you police to investigate so meticulously and even find the vomit in the vase. What you think is correct. The manager did see the corpse that night and vomited in the vase. But the person wasn’t killed by Luo Zuyu, or by any of us."

Chen Shi said, "Who do you think killed her then?"

Ji Xingyao shrugged, "That's the police’s job. But I speculate that someone wanted to frame and hurt Luo Zuyu. That’s why he went to his room to commit murder. The surveillance was filmed clearly. When Luo Zuyu came back that day, he saw the body and panicked. So, Manager He contacted me. My first reaction was that we absolutely could not call the police. After all, a celebrity’s reputation is very important. Then I hurriedly brought the team there that night. I thought about it on the way. We would have to dispose of the body.”

Chen Shi said, "We found the DNA of the deceased on the roof, but the process of moving the body was not captured by the surveillance cameras. There are several floors between the 22nd floor and the roof, so you booked all the rooms in the upper floors. Then you used a rope to transport the body upwards from outside the window."

Ji Xingyao smiled and nodded, "Sure enough, we couldn't escape your discerning eyes. That’s true. After all, the hotel is intensively monitored and we could only handle the corpse from above. How did we deal with it? I thought of the large helium balloons in the gym that I rented not long ago. I sent someone to steal the balloons and the helium machine. Then we took them to the roof under the cover of equipment boxes. We divided the body into small pieces, put them into bags, hung them from balloons, and let them fly away! Even so, the police were able to find this place, I have to say you have my admiration! "Ji Xingyao clapped slowly.

"So, what about the head of the corpse and the used helium machine?"

"They were taken away using balloons too."

"I think most of what you said is the truth, but the motive doesn’t make much sense. You said that you’re protecting Luo Zuyu's reputation. What reputation would be preserved by dismembering and throwing away a body? When this matter is exposed on the Internet, netizens won’t know what your name is or what your company is called. They will only search for keywords like 'Luo Zuyu' and 'Dismembered corpse'. Do you think that his reputation can be protected?"

Ji Xingyao said calmly, "Of course, protecting the reputation is a reasonable motive. This was based on the assumption that the police wouldn’t be able to solve the case. Of course, I never dreamed that you can find the hotel with just a few balloons. The police in Long’an City sure aren’t your average Joes."

Chen Shi sneered. What a good “evade major charges while admitting minor ones” move. After taking away the murder charge, the charges of defiling a corpse, taking drugs, and disrupting law enforcement could be easily be shouldered.

Chen Shi said, "Miss Ji, I admire your ability to adapt to crisis... You have prepared three ‘outer coats’ for Luo Zuyu. The first one was the tricky means of corpse dismemberment. It was a gamble made in the hope that we wouldn’t be able to find you at all, or find you only after seven days. That way, the hotel’s surveillance footage would no longer exist. The second one was the forgery of fake surveillance footage and alibi evidence. In short, as long as Luo Zuyu wasn’t at the scene, he wouldn’t be suspected of murder. The third one is what you’re saying right now. When it can’t be covered up, you’ll take on the charge of dismembering the body. Besides murder, you confess to everything else... What beautiful tricks. But I want to remind you that this dam that blocks the truth is made up of lies. As soon as there is a gap, it will fall apart immediately. I hope you understand what you are doing!"

Ji Xingyao shrugged indifferently. "You can say what you want. In short, this is the truth. There’s no evidence, so you can only make guesses! Actually, I would like to ask you something. Why would a big star commit murder? Don’t you think that he would know the consequences of doing it? Your unreasonable speculations are nothing but jealousy. You want to watch a high and mighty person topple down and then laugh at his misfortune. It’s lonely at the top, and stars like him are often framed and entrapped. As the owner of the agency, I’ve seen this too often. I just didn’t expect that one day, the mainland police would also use this kind of dirty method to frame him. But the truth is the truth. Luo Zuyu didn’t kill, so he didn’t kill. Before you can pull out any evidence, what can you do to us?"

Chen Shi sneered. The last sentence was probably her only honest words. He said, "Call your whole team! We need to check your confession."

At the end of the interrogation, Chen Shi came out and said to Lin Qiupu, "You can handle the rest! If you need to detain them, do that. If you need to let them go, do it."

"What?! Did you give up?"

"It's not giving up. We really don't have evidence right now. Continuing interrogations at this point is meaningless."

Looking at Lin Qiupu's disappointed look, Chen Shi wanted to say that he was, after all, not a god. Finding the murderers were the limits to his abilities. He just didn't expect the murderer to be so cunning and meticulous this time.

But of course, he wouldn't say it out loud. Saying such words in front of the eyes of a group of police officers would undoubtedly pour a bucket of cold water on everyone's enthusiasm.

Chen Shi patted Lin Qiupu on the shoulder and said, "This time will be a battle of endurance. Don't be discouraged. Look for evidence slowly... I believe there must be evidence."

"For the first time, the suspect walked out of the interrogation room in peace."

"Yeah, it's our shame. But you can rest assured that we’ll definitely get our justice." Chen Shi laughed. "I just want to go back to sleep now. I’m so tired, I can't bear it anymore."

On the way back, Lin Dongxue asked, "Why did you suddenly stop interrogating?"

"Motivation!" Chen Shi said, "I suddenly found that the motive for the murder was a mystery. Why does a star with such a status kill people? I can't figure it out! But if there is doubt, it’s a good thing. If there is doubt, it means that there is still a place that hasn’t been investigated.”

"A lot of manpower was invested in this case. I believe there will be results."

"Let's just take it as greeting them today!”

Ji Xingyao and Luo Zuyu went through the bail procedures respectively. The two got into the car that came to pick them up. After getting into the car, Luo Zuyu laughed. "Sister-in-law, did you see the blank expressions on the police’s faces? Hahahaha, a bunch of rice buckets[1]!"

Ji Xingyao glared at him fiercely. "Don't let your guard down. This time, the police are very clever. Especially that one with the surname Chen. You’re not allowed to act without permission from now on!”

"What can happen. It’s been so many times and I’ve-"

Ji Xingyao glared at him again and Luo Zuyu was too scared to talk further.

Ji Xingyao thought that there should be no flaws. Everything followed the script perfectly. As long as they get over this obstacle, it would be fine. But Luo Zuyu was an unstable factor. She didn’t think he would go nuts in the interrogation room that day.

She had connected with the paparazzi. As long as they helped her with the "little favor", she would provide them with three or four major news tip-offs in the future.

As for the female artist who just debuted, Ji Xingyao had promised her that she would be given a chance to star as the leading actress this year.

Everyone now had common interests. If there’s glory, they’ll share it, and if there’s loss, they’ll bear it together too. There shouldn’t be any problems... There should be no problems!

No, absolutely not!

This was the entertainment circle. Everyone lies for their own interests in exchange for their consciences. They were acting both inside and outside the shows. The people in this circle are all acting masters. A bunch of police officers couldn’t do anything to them.

Although she thought so in her heart, the voice of that officer was still ringing in her ears, making her frown...

At that moment, an anonymous text message was sent to her mobile phone, "Boss Ji, do you want to make a deal? I can divert the police's attention for you."

Ji Xingyao was shocked. Who was this? How could they know her private number? She muttered to herself a few times before replying, "Who are you?"

The other party quickly replied, "I’m a professional. Let's work out a place to meet!"

Was it a scam?

She thought it over for a long time and then replied with an address. "See you at nine tonight!"

1. An expression that is used to describe people as being useless.