The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 323 Neptune
“The last people to see Ziwu weren’t us,” Li Shuangshuang said before Dong Qianjin could speak. “It was a woman named Meng Qian…”
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"Ha, Nancheng Investment is cursed, it's been less than a year and they're in trouble again." Wu Shanqiu got out of the car, looked at the familiar building, and sighed, "It's time to watch the drama unfold again."

Qi Fei knew what Wu Shanqiu meant by "eating melon seeds" (a Chinese idiom for gossiping).

The clue provided by Li Shuangshuang—that the woman named Meng Qian was an employee of Nancheng Investment, and that Dong Ziwu met with a female colleague alone at night—made people wonder what had happened.

Upon arriving at Nancheng Investment, Qi Fei searched for a long time but couldn't find any acquaintances.

It seems that with each new emperor comes a new court. After Luo Yin and Feng Yi fell from power, many others have been replaced.

The elevator went up to the third floor and soon arrived at Meng Qian's department.

Hearing that someone was looking for her, a girl peeked out from her workstation. She had long, straight black hair and big eyes, and her appearance was noticeably more striking than the others in the office.

However, this style is similar to Li Shuangshuang's, so it seems that Dong Ziwu's aesthetic preferences are quite obvious.

The people around them seemed to have known Qi Fei's purpose all along. They understood each other perfectly but pretended nothing had happened. This familiar office politics made Qi Fei savor the moment, as if he had returned to this time last year.

At Meng Qian's request, the three of them went to the tea bar in the lobby on the first floor.

“That’s right. I was with Dong Ziwu the night before he disappeared. I stayed in his rented apartment for one night, and we went to work separately the next morning.” Meng Qian didn’t shy away from the question at all and said it directly.

"Um, when you said you stayed overnight, you wouldn't mean..." Wu Shanqiu's gossipy eyes were already brimming with curiosity.

“Yes, we had sex.” Meng Qian tossed her head, her eyes filled with a stubbornness that Qi Fei couldn’t understand. “Don’t be surprised, I’m Dong Ziwu’s real girlfriend. We’ve been together for five years. He was transferred to Nancheng to invest because of me. That Li Shuangshuang is just a mistress who used her pregnancy to force her way into the position. Did she send you to find me? That scheming bitch! Dong Ziwu was perfectly fine when we broke up. I didn’t kill anyone!”

"We'll talk about your relationship later. When was the last time you saw Dong Ziwu?" Qi Fei said helplessly, looking at the emotional Meng Qian.

“That morning at eight o’clock, I made him breakfast as usual. To avoid suspicion, I left home before him, and he usually left about ten minutes later. However, I didn’t see him at the company that day, and I assumed he had gone out with General Manager Tian to discuss a project, so I didn’t pay much attention. It wasn’t until Dong Ziwu’s family contacted me that I found out he had gone missing,” Meng Qian said.

"When you were together, did he mention his plans for the next day? Like who he was going to meet or anything like that?"

“We don’t talk about work when we’re together. Nothing special happened that day. If anything, just like before, he told me he was going to announce his marriage to Li Shuangshuang. I found it hard to accept and we argued a bit. But Dong Ziwu is really good at sweet-talking people, and I was swayed by his sweet words in no time. It’s always like this. He was the one who didn’t want us to go public with our relationship. It’s good that he’s dead; I’m finally free!” Meng Qian said, covering her face and crying.

"Based on your understanding of Dong Ziwu, do you know why he went to Buerjing?" Qi Fei asked.

Meng Qian wiped away her tears and shook her head: "He usually only likes playing ball and video games. He definitely wouldn't go to places like this for outdoor hiking." The tone of her voice made her seem more like a wife than Li Shuangshuang.

After meeting Meng Qian, Qi Fei caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the corner of the hall. "Old Qian?" Qi Fei approached him. Old Qian was smoking in front of a trash can. Seeing Qi Fei, he quickly put out his cigarette and smiled, "Officer Qi, I heard that Dong Ziwu from the computing power company got into trouble. You're here to investigate that, right?"

"It seems the news has spread far and wide."

"Ha, in our unit these days, they don't do any real work, but they're all excited to spread gossip. That Dong Ziwu, sigh, don't even mention him." A year has passed, and Old Qian seems to have aged a lot all of a sudden, and he's not as happy as before.

"It seems you have something to say," Qi Fei said with a smile.

"Did you know he rented a place near his workplace?"

"Yes, his home isn't far from here, so why would he need to rent an extra place?"

"It's ostensibly for the convenience of working overtime, haha, but those overtime shifts end up in bed with us." Old Qian's words were laced with disdain.

"Are you talking about your tryst with Meng Qian?"

"Meng Qian is just the one who's relatively consistent. This Dong Ziwu hasn't been here for long, but he's already earned the title of 'playboy.' He's touched most of the slightly pretty girls."

"Huh?" Wu Shanqiu exclaimed in surprise. "Even rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows, is he really that exaggerated?"

"Hmm, Dong Ziwu is decent-looking, has studied abroad, has connections, and is also good with words. With all these qualities combined, wouldn't those naive young girls fall for him one by one?"

"So there are many Meng Qians in this group?" Qi Fei felt a headache coming on. "He's about to marry Li Shuangshuang, doesn't that mean everyone he's had an affair with is a suspect?"

Wu Shanqiu's focus wasn't on that; she asked, puzzled, "Don't these girls know he's dating many women at the same time? Don't they mind?"

"This Dong Ziwu has always presented himself as a lone wolf. People only believe what they see, so they probably all think those rumors are false," Old Qian said. "Besides, he has connections here. Some of those young girls want to take shortcuts by relying on Dong Ziwu. Look, didn't Li Shuangshuang almost succeed?" Judging from the tone of Old Qian when he talked about Li Shuangshuang, he didn't seem to think much of her.

“From the information I see, his parents are just ordinary retirees. Where does this background come from?” Qi Fei asked.

"Officer Qi, you're only seeing the surface. Before he retired, his mother was a mid-level manager at a subsidiary of Nancheng Investment. She used to work in the same department as our General Manager Tian. Although she wasn't a high-ranking official, she was incredibly good at maneuvering upwards and managed to become best friends with General Manager Tian. Everyone in the company knows that Dong Ziwu is General Manager Tian's godson. This position as head of the computing power department is just a stepping stone for him. If he hadn't gotten into trouble this time, becoming the general manager of a subsidiary would have been just a matter of time."

"Who is Mr. Tian?" Wu Shanqiu asked upon hearing this unfamiliar name.

"Tian Mi, the company's second-in-command, oh, the one who replaced Feng Yi in that position." Old Qian said with a wry smile, "We thought that with Feng Yi gone, we'd finally made it, but we didn't expect..."