The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 339 The Vanished Bait

"We got two key pieces of information from Meng Qian. One is that we can confirm Dong Ziwu got into her car, not Tian Mi's. The second is that the driver was wearing a fisherman's hat," Zhong Xiaoyu said to Qi Fei after leaving the consultation room.

"A fisherman's hat?" Qi Fei pondered. "Fisherman's hats are usually worn outdoors. It's rare for someone to wear one in a car, right?"

“So this person has another purpose in wearing the hat,” Zhong Xiaoyu said.

"Damn it, the suspect is in the Nancheng Investment building, how come we can't find him!" Qi Fei said in frustration.

Just then, Wu Shanqiu ran over and said urgently, "Brother Fei, Tian Mi has gone missing!"

"What? Didn't we send people to keep an eye on them 24 hours a day? How could they disappear?" Qi Fei couldn't help but get agitated, as bad news kept coming one after another.

"She deliberately swapped clothes with her assistant. I'm sorry, it was our oversight that allowed her to escape right under our noses," Wu Shanqiu said guiltily.

"She ran off by herself? What is this woman thinking? Where is her assistant?" Qi Fei scratched his hair in frustration.

"It's in the interrogation room, that's why I came to call you..." Wu Shanqiu looked to Zhong Xiaoyu for help, forgetting that she was not Zhong Kui. If Zhong Kui were here, she could easily calm Qi Fei down.

The assistant sat silently at the stainless steel table, wearing Tian Mi's rustic business suit that clearly didn't fit him.

"Tell me, why did Tian Mi run away?" Qi Fei's tone was somewhat aggressive.

"Well, Ms. Tian said she has something important to discuss and needs to meet with someone alone. She can't let you come with her, so she asked me to help her. I have to obey Ms. Tian's orders..." The assistant seemed very cold, and his whole body was trembling.

"You just do whatever she tells you to do? Do you know that this is interfering with our investigation and you can be held accountable!" Qi Fei was both angry and helpless.

"But I can't go against President Tian, ​​otherwise she'll scold me to death. You wouldn't know unless you've been scolded by her..." The assistant was almost crying.

"Is being scolded by her worse than being punished?" Qi Fei couldn't understand, but that wasn't important anymore. What mattered more was finding Tian Mi's whereabouts. "Do you know who she went to see?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that, but most likely..." Her eyes darted around, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Speak quickly if you know anything, it's urgent," Qi Fei urged.

"It's highly likely that the old leader at the retirement home, everyone in the group is saying that the plan to promote General Manager Tian to General Manager was rejected by the higher-ups, and she went to the old leader for help..." The assistant finished speaking and didn't forget to remind him, "You absolutely mustn't tell anyone that I told you, or I'm dead."

Qi Fei got to know the so-called old leader through Dong Qianjin's introduction. He quickly obtained the man's name. The police car came to a stop at the sanatorium located in the scenic area.

"She did come to see me, that was several days ago." The retired leader, Xu Donglai, remained calm upon seeing the police. "But she hasn't come today. Even though I'm old, I still have a good memory. What's wrong? Did something happen to her?"

“One of Tian Mi’s employees died unexpectedly, and we are investigating. She is currently out of contact, but there are leads indicating that she came to you,” Qi Fei said. “What did she want to see you about?”

"Oh, she just came to ask for advice on some aspects of state-owned fund management. I thought she was quite humble, so I chatted with her for a bit," Xu Donglai said.

"Besides that, did she mention anything else, like asking you to help her with her promotion?" Qi Fei asked directly. Xu Donglai immediately waved his hand and said, "She did have that idea, but I told her at the time that this is not something someone of my level can get involved in. We still have to be fair and impartial."

"You rejected Tian Mi."

“It’s my fault for not having the ability. She’s a smart woman, she should understand.” Xu Donglai said, then seemed to remember something. “I know about them. It’s quite complicated now. She’s not the only one who’s come to me.”

"Anyone else?"

“A while ago, an old friend asked me to have dinner with him and asked if I knew a younger person. I had never heard of that person before. When I asked, he said he was from Nancheng Investment. It seems he came here because he wanted something from me.”

"Who is this person?" Qi Fei asked hurriedly.

"What was my name again...?" Xu Donglai tried to recall, but quickly shook his head. "I used to say I had a good memory, but I can't deny that I'm getting old. My friend just mentioned it casually, and I didn't take it seriously."

“I understand, because this person is not important to you.” Qi Fei thought to himself. In the world of people like Xu Donglai and Dong Qianjin, some people can be worshipped as ancestors, but some people don’t even deserve to have a name.

Xu Donglai, that old fox, had already sensed that Qi Fei was not one of their kind, so he exchanged a few perfunctory pleasantries and then saw him off.

For Qi Fei, the only thing he cared about was Tian Mi's whereabouts. If she wasn't looking for Xu Donglai, then who was this "deity"?
Dong Qianjin repeatedly stated that he had not introduced anyone else to Tian Mi.

“If she had a stronger backer, she wouldn’t have come to me. I know Tian Mi’s trump card. If she wants to get this promotion sorted out, the only person she can turn to is Xu Dong,” Dong Qianjin said confidently.

This was not good news for Qi Fei. It meant that Tian Mi had likely been tricked, and someone was using the promotion as bait to lure her away from the police and act alone.

According to the information provided by Zhong Xiaoyu, the murderer was lurking in Nancheng Investment. Therefore, if he wanted to harm Tian Mi, he should have disappeared at the same time as Tian Mi.

The police car sped along and came to an emergency stop at the Nancheng Investment Building.

"Brother Fei, what do we need to do in such a hurry?" Wu Shanqiu jogged after Qi Fei and rushed into Nancheng Investment.

"If Tian Mi's disappearance was orchestrated by the murderer, this person wouldn't be at Nancheng Investment today. We need to check the employees who didn't come to work today. This is our best chance to find this person. Although our bait didn't cooperate, it still worked in the end!"

Qi Fei seemed very excited; after days of being clueless, today he finally saw a glimmer of hope. He was running too fast, and near the turnstiles, he wasn't paying attention and bumped head-on into someone.

A strong smell of smoke wafted over, followed by a familiar "Ouch!"

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, Lao Qian," Wu Shanqiu said hastily from the side.

It turned out that Qi Fei had bumped into Lao Qian.

"It's you guys. What's wrong? Are you in such a hurry to arrest someone?" Old Qian said as he picked up his briefcase that had fallen to the ground.

Feeling bad, Qi Fei squatted down to pick them up with him. Suddenly, he noticed one of the items and couldn't help but ask, "Old Qian, is this yours?"