Raising a Fox Spirit in My Home Chapter 166

Chapter 166

Interrogation

"What really happened that night, Miss Zhou?"

Zhou Qin raised her head and met Detective w.a.n.g's gaze from across the table . The cold, metallic walls of the interrogation room surrounded her like a prison cell . The chair under her felt hard and uncomfortable, but that probably had more to do with the fact that she'd been sitting in it for hours telling the same story over and over again .

Zhou Qin looked past the police detective's shoulders at the large, two-way mirror carved at the center of the metallic wall . The only thing missing in this entire picture were handcuffs and shackles .

Zhou Qin looked at Detective w.a.n.g once more . "I've already told you everything I know, haven't I?"

The detective sighed . "Come on, Miss Zhou . . . I want the truth . How did He Shao really die? And where's the body?"

Zhou Qin's smirked . "Oh? So you do believe that he's dead, then? Well . I suppose that's progress . "

Detective w.a.n.g shrugged . "We're not ruling out other possibilities, of course . It depends on what you tell us . "

Zhou Qin shrugged . "I told you the truth . "

That wasn't a lie . She did tell Detective w.a.n.g the truth—the relatively believable truths anyway . She'd left out the parts about magic, flying, the fact that Li Yundong's body was glowing the whole time, and the fact that Li Yundong had summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky .

Unreal . It was unreal . Even to her, someone who had seen everything unfold with her own two eyes, all of it seemed unreal . It would be foolish to tell the police the whole truth, since it would further diminish the credibility of her story . No way Detective w.a.n.g would believe all that magical stuff .

"Alright fine," Detective w.a.n.g said . "Let's just run this through from the beginning . "

Zhou Qin gave him a noncommittal shrug . She knew what the man was trying to do . He was trying to find loopholes in her story, and perhaps get her to reveal more than she intended .

Detective w.a.n.g opened a folder on the table, then pushed a couple of photographs towards her . All the photos were taken at Shengyuan Hotel . One was a photo of her speaking with Ding Nan outside the banquet hall . Another one showed her standing beside her Audi, speaking with Li Yundong outside the gates . The rest were random shots of her having conversations with He Shao .

Detective w.a.n.g tapped his finger on one of the photos . "We have evidence to show that you, Miss Ding Nan, and Mr . Li Yundong were the last people He Shao had had contact with before his death . " Detective w.a.n.g raised his brows . "a.s.suming that he is dead and not kidnapped by an unknown party . "

Zhou Qin looked up from the photos . "He Shao is dead," she said in a sharp tone .

"Then prove it . Help me understand . Explain to me how he died . "

Zhou Qin leaned against the back of her chair . Should she show them the video after all? She hadn't planned to do so, but it was starting to seem like she had no other choice .

"Let's start with this . " Detective w.a.n.g pushed another photo towards her . This one showed the curb outside Shengyuan Hotel's security booth . Probably taken by one of the surveillance cameras in front of the booth . The photo showed Zhou Qin and Li Yundong having a conversation beside her Audi .

Detective w.a.n.g tapped his finger on the timestamp of the photo . "This was ten minutes before He Shao drove away from the hotel . And then traffic cams also showed this guy"—Detective w.a.n.g tapped his finger on Li Yundong's image—"running after He Shao's car yelling a bunch of death threats . " Detective w.a.n.g removed his finger from the photo and leaned back . "So you're gonna have to try harder to help me make sense of all this, Miss Zhou . Because at this rate? Things really don't look good for you and your friend . Like I said, you two are the last people He Shao had had contact with before he disa—I mean before he died . "

"Sure . Fire away," Zhou Qin said in a casual tone . "What else do you want to know?"

"I want more details," Detective w.a.n.g said . "As many as you can give me . "

Zhou Qin stared at the detective .

"Start with this picture . " Detective w.a.n.g pointed at the photo . "What were you and Li Yundong talking about at the time?"

Zhou Qin studied the photo for a moment . "I was driving away from the hotel, but then I saw him and his girlfriend standing outside the gates . So I pulled over to say hi . I asked him what he was doing at the hotel . He told me he was on a job . "

"What kind of job?" Detective w.a.n.g asked .

"He runs security for President Cao Kefei of Huasheng Studios . He was there as her bodyguard that night . " Zhou Qin gave the detective a pointed look . "I'm sure President Cao can verify that . "

Detective w.a.n.g nodded and wrote something down on his notebook . "There were two other women in front of the gates . Who are they?"

"I don't know those two women . I did ask him, but he didn't tell me . "

"But they were both with him when you arrived?"

"Yes . "

"They were conversing? Exchanging words?"

"Yes . "

To be exact, Li Yundong was yelling at those two women, but Zhou Qin wouldn't reveal that .

"Did you know what they were talking about?"

"No . "

"So you didn't manage to catch bits and pieces of their conversation?"

"Of course not . " Zhou Qin glared at the detective . "It's not my habit to eavesdrop on other people . Besides, their conversation stopped when they saw my car . "

Detective w.a.n.g studied Zhou Qin for a moment . "Okay . What happened next?"

Zhou Qin suppressed the urge to roll her eyes . This again .

"Look . I already told you, didn't I? After that the twins fell, and we ran into the building—"

"In detail, Miss Zhou," Detective w.a.n.g interrupted . "I want it in full detail . "

Zhou Qin sighed . "Fine . Let me think . "

Detective w.a.n.g nodded . "Sure . Take your time . "

Zhou Qin didn't need any time; she already knew what detail to reveal to the cops . Even so, she had to act like she hadn't practiced her story in her head over and over again before she was called into the interrogation . The cops would suspect a lie if her story seemed rehea.r.s.ed .

After a while, Zhou Qin began her account of the events that night .

"We heard a scream, and then a loud crash . " Zhou Qin arched a brow . "And as you and your colleagues probably already knew from the CCTV footages, all of us ran into the building to see what happened . "

"And? What did you see?"

"Blood . A lot of blood . " That was the complete truth .

"Mm-hmm…"

"One of the twins . . . Deng Yu . Well, I couldn't tell the twins apart to be honest, but I heard Li Yundong yell her name when he ran over . "

"Ran over to where?"

"Towards the blood and the body . "

Detective w.a.n.g nodded and flipped through a few pages in his notebook . "Li Yundong's prints were on Miss Deng Yu's body . His girlfriend's too . . . "

"Well, I'm not surprised that they were . " Zhou Qin arched a brow . "I mean, if you were in the same situation, wouldn't you at least try to check and see if the girl was still alive? To check for a pulse or vital signs?"

"Of course I would," Detective w.a.n.g said distractedly . "Go on . . . "

"Not long after we saw the first body, there was a second scream," Zhou Qin said, pausing for a moment . "The second twin fell off a balcony . "

Detective w.a.n.g put down his notebook and sat up straighter in his chair .

"Ah . Now you've reached the part where I don't get," Detective w.a.n.g said, studying her face carefully . "You said that Li Yundong knew He Shao was the one responsible for the twins' deaths . But how? How could he possibly know?"

"Come on, detective . He Shao drove away from the building just minutes after the twins fell to their deaths . "

Zhou Qin decided to leave out Li Yundong's claim about his being able to see He Shao standing on a balcony fifteen floors up .

"Fair enough . But chasing after a car? A BMW sports car, mind you . " Detective w.a.n.g gave her a skeptical look . "You expect me to buy that?"

Zhou Qin smirked . "What can I say? He's fast . "

Detective w.a.n.g stared at her through narrowed eyes . A moment later, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table . "You hiding something from us, Miss Zhou . I know you are . "

Zhou Qin smiled . "I don't see what I have to hide . " She crossed her legs under the table . "The way I see it? The sooner I can get out of here, the better . "

Detective w.a.n.g's eyes narrowed even further . "We know there's something special about this Li Yundong guy, Miss Zhou . We've seen the footages . "

Oh you have no idea, detective . No idea .

Zhou Qin shrugged . "Then there's really nothing left for me to tell you, is there? You've seen the evidence of his abilities, so you already know that he's fast enough to keep up with a sports car . What else do you want from me?"

"What I want to know is whether any of the evidence presented to us have been tampered with or fabricated . " A smug expression spread across Detective w.a.n.g's face . "With your resources, I don't think it's that hard to hire a team of hackers to mess with the traffic cams . "

Zhou Qin smiled . "Is that an accusation, detective? Do I need to call my lawyer?"

Detective w.a.n.g's smile faltered . "Come on, Miss Zhou . A guy pulling back a BMW sports car, stopping it from moving? This is real life, not a scene from a Captain America movie . No human is capable of a feat like that . "

"What do you want me to say? He just is," Zhou Qin said in mild exasperation . She felt utterly exhausted . Plus, her mind was still reeling from everything she'd witnessed . "And why would I tamper with the traffic cams, detective? What would be the point?" Zhou Qin shook her head . "Even if I did hire a hacker to mess with it, why would I replace the real footage with something that lacks credibility? I could've just changed it to something completely normal and innocuous rather than what you saw . "

Silence fell upon the interrogation room .

"You were there at the scene, where the wreckage of He Shao's car was found," Detective w.a.n.g said a minute later . "How did you know where to find him? Did you follow him?"

Zhou Qin sighed . This was the part where she had to lie . She wouldn't just make stuff up, of course . She was smarter than that . She would lie using the truth .

"Shortly after Li Yundong ran after the BMW, his girlfriend pa.s.sed out in front of the hotel . "

"Why did she pa.s.s out?"

"Shock," Zhou Qin said confidently, even though she didn't have a clue why Su Chan pa.s.sed out .

"Go on . "

"I booked a room and brought her to the room . After that, I checked my phone coz I got an email notification from the university's forum site . Someone made a post on the forum claiming that they saw Li Yundong running past the campus gates . " Zhou Qin gave the detective a quick glance . "You can check the forums and also the time the post was made if you don't believe me . "

Detective w.a.n.g got up and knocked on the two-way mirror twice . Then, he walked back towards the table and sat down . "And then?"

Zhou Qin shrugged . "I knew that if someone saw Li Yundong running past the campus, then He Shao's car must've pa.s.sed by that area as well . " Zhou Qin glanced at the detective briefly . "That was under the a.s.sumption that Li Yundong was chasing after He Shao's car . " Zhou Qin crossed her arms in front of her chest . "By then, it became obvious to me what He Shao was up to . " Zhou Qin snorted . "He was clearly driving towards the city limits so that he could leave the city . So I got into my car and drove over there as fast as I could . "

Lies . Zhou Qin didn't even know where He Shao went until that girl—one of Li Yundong's weird friends—called, asking her to bring Su Chan over to some field at the roadside as quickly as she could .

Detective w.a.n.g flipped through his notebook again . "You told the police commissioner that, I quote, there is a loose gunman on the run, in that particular area . . . " Detective w.a.n.g held her gaze . "And you also told him to set up a blockade to prevent anyone from going in and out of the area for at least half an hour . "

Zhou Qin uncrossed her arms . "Yes I did . "

Detective w.a.n.g's eyes narrowed . "How did you even know that He Shao had a gun?"

Zhou Qin suppressed a smirk . She knew this question was coming . The solution was obvious . Lie . Tell more lies . Believable lies concocted from true events .

"When I was driving to the university, I kept checking the forums for any updates . A few students commented on the post that they heard gunshots in the area . " Zhou Qin exhaled . "I knew it had to be He Shao . "

Detective w.a.n.g shot her a skeptical look . "And that's when you called? You made the call when you were driving to the scene?"

"Yes . "

"So you weren't even there at the scene when the shots were fired," Detective w.a.n.g said .

"Obviously . "

"And yet you deemed it necessary to pressu—" Detective w.a.n.g cleared his throat . " . . . to convince the commissioner to set up a blockade? There could've been witnesses to verify He Shao's supposed getaway . "

"I did what I judged to be right . " Zhou Qin leveled a cold gaze at the detective . "You don't know He Shao as well as I do . That man is capable of anything when he's desperate . " Zhou Qin smirked . "How can I, a responsible citizen of this country, allow innocent bystanders to get injured, or worse, killed by a loose gunman when I know I have the means and resources to prevent further casualties?"

Satisfaction coursed through Zhou Qin when she saw the twitch on Detective w.a.n.g's eyebrows .

"I can totally understand that if your request applied only to civilians," Detective w.a.n.g snapped . "But you told the commissioner not to allow any armed officers to enter as well . "

Zhou Qin smirked . "Yes, I did . And shouldn't you guys be thanking me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you"—Zhou Qin gave the two-way mirror a quick glance—"and your colleagues really want to be put in a position where you're forced to fire your weapons at He Shao?" Zhou Qin smirked . "Do you really think your careers would survive the wrath of the He family?"

Detective w.a.n.g went pale .

Zhou Qin chuckled . "Yeah . I thought as much . " Zhou Qin stared pointedly at Detective w.a.n.g's pale face . "If you guys injure or kill He Shao, you'll most likely face dire consequences . But if you let him go, your reputation as cops would be ruined . " Zhou Qin shrugged . "Either way, it would be the end of your careers . " Zhou Qin smirked . "You're welcome, by the way . "

Detective w.a.n.g cleared his throat harshly . "You said you were in your car, heading over to wherever He Shao was going . "

"That's correct . "

"Were you armed?"

Zhou Qin chuckled . Did these guys think she was stupid? "No I wasn't armed . It's illegal for private citizens to own firearms in this country . "

"Then what was your plan? What were you planning to do when you did catch up to him?"

"To talk to him and convince him to turn himself in, of course . " Zhou Qin smiled . "Like I said, I'm a responsible citizen . "

The detective eyed her skeptically . "But you were also an unarmed woman about to confront an armed man . "

"He knew my background . " Zhou Qin crossed her arms confidently . "He wouldn't dare harm me . "

Detective w.a.n.g pulled out two more photos from his folder and slid them over towards her .

Zhou Qin gave the photos a brief glance . Er Lu and his mother, both of whom He Shao had murdered .

"Do you know these two victims?"

"Not personally," Zhou Qin answered . "But I know the lady runs a vegetable stall at the market . The male victim was her son . "

"Your friend Li Yundong had a rather . . . shall we say . . . antagonistic relations.h.i.+p with the male victim . "

"So?"

"That's motive for murder . "

Zhou Qin smirked . This was a trick .

Nope . Not falling for that, pal .

"Like I said, I don't know the male victim personally . But I did witness Li Yundong save the man's life from a group of gangsters a few days ago . " Zhou Qin played with her nails . "And I also know that Li Yundong wasn't carrying a gun last night . " She looked up from her nails at Detective w.a.n.g .

The detective seemed pretty satisfied with her answer .

Detective w.a.n.g flipped through his notes

"Did you see anything strange while you were driving towards the scene?" Detective w.a.n.g kept staring at his notes . "Anything peculiar or out of the ordinary?"

Another trick question . These guys were trying to see if her story matched the facts . Well, good thing Zhou Qin was smart enough to concoct a lie using the truth .

"Well . . . " Zhou Qin pretended to think hard . "Ah . There were a bunch of potholes along the way . Like, one every ten or twenty meters or so? I remember having to swerve between lanes to avoid them . "

That was the truth . She did have to avoid holes on the road . G.o.d, it was like someone had dropped giant metal b.a.l.l.s from the sky . What on earth did Li Yundong do anyway?

"What about when you arrived at the scene? What did you see?"

Zhou Qin leaned away from the table until her back touched the chair . "I slowed down when I saw skid marks on the road . Eventually, I saw He Shao's car on my left . " Zhou Qin paused for a moment . "It had fallen off the road onto a wide field beside the road . "

"Okay . What state was the car in? Wrecked? Were the engines running?"

"Turned turtle," Zhou Qin said in a heartbeat . "It was pretty badly damaged . But I'm not sure about the details . Don't know about the engine either . I wasn't really focused on the car . "

"What else did you see?"

"I saw . . . " Zhou Qin paused to take a breath . "Well, Li Yundong was walking towards the car . Then, He Shao crawled out from the overturned car . "

Lies . The only thing she saw when she arrived was the entire field bathed in golden light . There was a large golden sphere surrounding Li Yundong's body . It was an unbelievable sight .

"What did Li Yundong do?"

Zhou Qin glanced at the detective . This was the part where she had to be really careful with her words . Saying the wrong thing would incriminate Li Yundong .

"Li Yundong and He Shao were yelling at each other . "

"Were you able to hear them?"

"Yes . They were loud . "

"What were they talking about?"

"Li Yundong was forcing He Shao to turn himself in . "

More lies . Zhou Qin didn't even know if Li Yundong and He Shao were actually talking .

"He Shao tried to bride Li Yundong with money, but Li Yundong didn't take the bait . "

"Was there a physical altercation? I mean . . . Was there any violence involved at some point during the argument?"

Zhou Qin raised her brow at Detective w.a.n.g's blatant insinuation .

Detective w.a.n.g shrugged . "It's a reasonable question . Just now, you said they were yelling at each other . Did the argument escalate?"

"No . They were just yelling . Besides, do you think Li Yundong is stupid enough to attack He Shao when he knew that He Shao was armed?"

Lies . All lies . Even though they sounded logical and totally believable .

"Fair enough," Detective w.a.n.g said, closing his notebook . "And afterwards?"

"He Shao tried to make a run for it into the woods . Li Yundong ran after He Shao, but before he could get close . . . " Zhou Qin gave the detective a pointed look . "You already know the rest . "

Detective w.a.n.g tossed the notepad onto the table . "Right . A bolt of lightning came down from the sky and turned He Shao into ashes . . . " Detective w.a.n.g rubbed his face . "Come on . You expect me to believe that?"

"I expect you to rely on the evidence, detective . " Zhou Qin smiled . "I mentioned that there was a dark hole on the ground?"

"You did . " Detective w.a.n.g chuckled bitterly . "You said it is the spot where the lightning struck He Shao . "

"Well . It is . " Zhou Qin smirked . "Has your forensics team examined it?"

Detective w.a.n.g stole a glance at her . "They're working on it . "

"Then I have no doubt that your team would be able to uncover traces of He Shao's DNA in that hole . " Zhou Qin shrugged . "Charred tissue, maybe? Bones? Hair?"

Detective w.a.n.g's eyes narrowed . "Even if we do find those things, that isn't enough to validate your story . " Detective w.a.n.g leaned forward, pressing his elbows on the desk . "Come on, Miss Zhou . Do you really think that a story of . . . of . . . " Detective w.a.n.g grimaced and made a couple of wild gestures with his hand . " . . . of a person killed by a random bolt of lightning would be taken seriously inside the court of law?"

Zhou Qin lifted a shoulder casually . "Why not?" Zhou Qin arched her brow . "You do know that lightning strike fatalities occur everywhere in the world, right?"

"Seriously, Miss Zhou? Who do you think I am? An idiot? If there was a thunder storm last night, and He Shao was standing on open ground, then the claim would at least be believable! But guess what? The weather was perfectly fine that night!" Detective w.a.n.g took a deep breath . "Look, Miss Zhou . You've got to give me something else here . Come on…"

The detective almost sounded like he was pleading . Perhaps he was . G.o.d only knew how much pressure the He family was putting on the police to find He Shao's "killer . "

Zhou Qin sighed . "You're not listening to me, detective . I can't give you anything else because what I gave you is the truth . " She paused . "And regarding what you mentioned about the weather . I have one more thing to add . "

Detective w.a.n.g sat up straighter and picked up his pen . He gestured for Zhou Qin to continue, then opened his notepad .

"There were storm clouds above the field that night . "

Detective w.a.n.g looked up from his notebook . "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely positive," Zhou Qin said firmly . "I'm sure because I was there . I saw the clouds . You can check the satellite data if you don't believe me . "

Detective w.a.n.g scribbled something down . "Right . Storm clouds . And then this bolt of lightning supposedly came flying down from the sky and then struck He Shao until there was literally nothing left of him . " Detective w.a.n.g tossed the pen onto the table . "Good luck asking the jury to believe all that c.r.a.p . "

Zhou Qin shook her head . It seemed like she had run out of options now . That footage had to be revealed .

Zhou Qin and Detective w.a.n.g stared at each other across the table .

"I can prove it," Zhou Qin said minutes later . "I can prove that He Shao was struck to death by a bolt of lightning . "

Detective w.a.n.g's eyes widened . "How?" He leaned forward, seemingly intrigued .

Zhou Qin sighed . "I recorded the whole thing with my phone . "

Detective w.a.n.g deflated . "We've already checked your phone, Miss Zhou . There wasn't any recording . "

"Not that phone," Zhou Qin said . "My other phone . It's inside my car . In the glove compartment . "

Detective w.a.n.g waved at the two-way mirror, then turned back to give Zhou Qin a narrow-eyed stare . "Why isn't the footage the first thing you showed us?"

Miss Zi Yuan's warning came flooding into Zhou Qin's mind . n.o.body outside of the four of them should know about the events of that night . Yeah . Easy for her to say .

Zhou Qin lowered her gaze like a scared little girl . Great . Now she had to act like a victim she didn't have an excuse for why she didn't reveal the footage first thing she was brought into this interrogation room .

"I- I panicked, okay?" Zhou Qin said with a sigh . "The footage was rather . . . graphic . "

The interrogation dragged on for another twenty minutes before the door of the interrogation room opened slightly . Another detective poked his head in . "Hey, w.a.n.g . I think you need to see this . "

***

Detective w.a.n.g exited the interrogation room, closing the door behind him . "You got something?"

"Oh, yeah I've got something alright," his colleague said . "Come take a look at this . "

This better be good .

Detective w.a.n.g walked over and peered over his colleague's shoulder . "That's the footage?"

"Uh-huh . . . Now watch . " His colleague tapped the s.p.a.ce key .

The video began to play .

Like Miss Zhou claimed, He Shao had tried to run into the woods . The image shook a little as Miss Zhou followed He Shao's movements with the camera .

A bright flash lit up the center of the screen .

"Holy f*ck . . . "

Detective w.a.n.g brought his face closer to the screen, which showed He Shao's entire body engulfed by a white—maybe blue?—light .

Three seconds later, the light vanished, but the video didn't end . The image moved again, and Miss Zhou's stilettos came into view . The poor girl had probably lowered the phone in shock .

Seconds later, the image s.h.i.+fted and refocused on the center of the field . The camera zoomed in on the ground .

The dark hole was exactly where Miss Zhou had described it earlier .

"Holy s.h.i.+t . . . " Detective w.a.n.g whispered .

Sounds of Miss Zhou's heavy panting blared through the speaker .

Dark fumes rose from the hole on the ground as the video played on . At one point, the image began to shake; Miss Zhou's hands were trembling .

Then, the video ended .

"F*cking h.e.l.l . . . " Detective w.a.n.g muttered . "F*ck…"

"There's something else bro," said his colleague .

"What?" Detective w.a.n.g said without looking away from the screen .

"This s.h.i.+t is legit, bro . The geeks checked . The video wasn't fabricated . It's one-hundred percent legit . Even the time stamp matches the timeline of Miss Zhou's story . "

Detective w.a.n.g turned his head and met his colleague's stare .

"Bro, I think the girl's telling the truth," said his colleague grimly .

Detective w.a.n.g ran a hand through his hair . "Then there's no way to blame it on Li Yundong . . . "

There was a brief moment of silence .

"What the h.e.l.l are we supposed to do, man? The commissioner is breathing down our necks . "

Detective w.a.n.g snorted . "Yeah well, the He family is breathing down his . "

Another silence spread between them .

Detective w.a.n.g shook his head . "Miss Zhou's story is pretty much rock solid . "

That was an understatement . Her story was flawless .

"Agreed," his colleague said .

"But… My gut tells me that she's hiding something from us," Detective w.a.n.g said . "She's left out some key information . "

"Like what?"

Detective w.a.n.g paused in thought, then glanced at his colleague . "Did you notice how she always kept her statements short and brief when I asked her about Li Yundong?"

"You think she knows more about Li Yundong than what she told us?"

"I think she's protecting him . "

His colleague sighed . "Then, we'll just have to find other ways to coax the information out of her . "

Detective w.a.n.g shook his head . "The usual tricks won't work on her . That girl is smart as h.e.l.l . "

Detective w.a.n.g reached for the keyboard and played the video again, skipping to the part where the lightning struck He Shao .

"s.h.i.+t, bro . . . Do you really believe all this?" said his colleague .

Detective w.a.n.g raised his brows at his colleague .

"I mean, do you think that He Shao's death is . . . you know . . . the work of G.o.d? Some kind of divine punishment?"

Detective w.a.n.g sighed . "h.e.l.l if I know, bro . "

His colleague's phone pinged .

"Forensic results just came back . The tissue samples obtained from the hole has He Shao's DNA . . . "

Detective w.a.n.g shook his head . "Come on, man . You and I both know that that's far from conclusive . "

"They also did a heat transfer a.n.a.lysis on the tissue . Based on the temperature profile, they estimated the temperature of the heat source . Around 49,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which corresponds to a lightning strike . "

Detective w.a.n.g's jaw dropped open . "You're s.h.i.+tting me…"

His colleague shook his head grimly . "No . And guess how long the heat transfer lasted? 3 . 5 seconds . That's way too long for normal lightning strikes, but it corresponds to the video . "

Detective w.a.n.g replayed the video . The flash lasted for 3 seconds .

"F*ck . . . Divine punishment…" his colleague muttered .

Detective w.a.n.g snorted . "The guy probably had it coming . I mean you know how—" Detective w.a.n.g paused, then lowered his voice into a whisper . "You know how f*cking corrupt he is, bro . All the stuff he's done? Maybe he f*cking deserves it . "

His colleague threw his hands up . "But the He family is gonna want answers from us, you know? And this . . . " His colleague pointed at the computer screen . "This ain't gonna cut it . " His colleague fell silent, clearly waiting for him to answer .

"What did the commissioner say? What does he want us to do?"

His colleague shook his head . "He said to pin it all on that Li Yundong guy . "

Detective w.a.n.g snorted . "Slimeball . That way he can avoid p.i.s.sing off both the He and Zhou families . "

"Well, that's not gonna work anymore," said his colleague . "The evidence is rock solid . It's clear that He Shao was struck by lightning . There's no way we can blame it on Li Yundong . Like, what the f*ck are we supposed to say? That Li Yundong summoned lightning from the sky? That's ridiculous!"

Detective w.a.n.g sighed . "Does the commissioner know about this evidence yet?"

"Not this video . But I think he knows about the forensics report . " His colleague paused and stared at him . "What do you reckon we do? Pin it on Miss Zhou?"

Detective w.a.n.g looked towards the interrogation room . Through the two-way mirror, he saw Miss Zhou's elegant and composed expression . That girl had a lot of guts, that was for sure; she wasn't even here with her lawyer .

Detective w.a.n.g shook his head . "She didn't do it, bro . This is way too messy . With her resources, I'm sure there are much more efficient ways to get rid of a guy . And besides, what's her motive? The Zhou family won't benefit at all from He Shao's death . If anything, they'll lose an ally . "

"The commissioner is gonna try to pin it on her whether we want to or not . "

Detective w.a.n.g stared at Miss Zhou through the mirror and shook his head . "But this ain't right, bro . This ain't right . "