DF Chapter 26

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Zhen Yi grinned. “Nope, just here to buy something.”

The shop owner’s expression turned a little awkward. Even though he worked in this business, he still had a slight bias when it came to sex.

Zhen Yi was completely shameless. “Well, you’re gonna use it anyway, so instead of giving all the money to big supermarkets, why not support small local businesses?”

The owner’s face lit up with a broad smile. “What can I get you?”

Zhen Yi leaned in conspiratorially, casting a quick glance outside before lowering her voice. “That thing Tang Yu bought the other day. She said it worked really well and recommended it to me.”

The owner frowned, saying nothing. Zhen Yi watched his face closely, feeling a little disheartened. Maybe this place would be like the many others she had visited, and he would respond with, “Tang Shang’s sister, Tang Yu? She never comes here.” And then, she’d have to backtrack with, “Oh, no, I meant Tang Yu—a guy.” The owner wouldn’t know him either, and she’d leave empty-handed again.

But after thinking for a few moments, the owner quietly said, “Hold on a second, I’ll grab it for you.”

Zhen Yi perked up instantly. When the item was in her hands and she saw the label, her heart almost leaped out of her chest. This was it! The heavens were helping her out!

The owner glanced outside the shop, noticing Yan Ge standing tall on the sidewalk. Curious, he asked, “Is that your boyfriend, Lawyer Zhen?”

Zhen Yi rolled her eyes playfully, shaking her head with a resigned, almost tragic look that said, If only…

The owner, assuming he had grasped the situation, tried to be flattering. “Lawyer Zhen, you’re so beautiful. You don’t need any of this to win over a man.”

Thinking about how Yan Ge seemed completely indifferent to her, Zhen Yi’s mischievous side kicked in again. She puffed out her chest, raised her head proudly, and with a wicked grin, said, “I know I’m gorgeous, but he’s impotent.”

Later, Zhen Yi found herself back at Ecstasy. In the harsh light of day, the place looked desolate and run-down. The buildings that had glowed so brightly at night were now stripped of their neon flesh, leaving behind only their cold, skeletal remains of steel and plastic.

The streets were eerily quiet, with not a soul in sight. Inside, even with the lights on, it still felt cold and gloomy.

Zhen Yi had put on a staff uniform from the club, and as she moved through the place, none of the few employees prepping for the night ahead seemed to notice her. She explored for a while until she found the administrative office. It was the middle of the afternoon, so there was no one on duty.

She rummaged through drawers and cabinets. Since investigations were like experiments, she needed the most objective evidence she could find. Before coming here, she had convinced Si Gui with her analysis. Now, Si Gui was waiting for her just outside the district.

Before long, Zhen Yi found exactly what she was looking for. She was in the middle of carefully going through the documents when Suo Lei’s voice interrupted her from behind.

“What are you doing in here?”

Zhen Yi didn’t respond, flipping through the papers and snapping photos as quickly as she could.

“I said, didn’t you hear me? Why are you slacking off here instead of checking the inventory up front?”

Zhen Yi turned around to face him. Suo Lei froze. “It’s you… Why are you wearing our staff uniform?”

“Running an experiment,” Zhen Yi said casually. “Since Ecstasy frequently has temporary drink sellers, even if the staff sees a stranger in uniform, they won’t pay attention.”

This time, Suo Lei wasn’t as polite as last time. “Lawyer Zhen, what you’re doing is highly inappropriate.”

“I have some questions for you,” Zhen Yi said, unfazed. “How about we talk it over with a drink?”

Her phone was hidden behind her back, secretly connected to Si Gui’s recording device. Without concrete evidence, her only option was to coax a confession from the suspect.

Suo Lei didn’t seem suspicious, though. He turned and led her to the bar in the inner hall.

Only a few lights were on, making the bar feel shadowy and eerie. Zhen Yi perched on a high stool, discreetly glancing at her phone. The photos she had taken had already been sent. As she looked up, Suo Lei was busy mixing drinks. Behind him, the dimly lit tables and chairs created a somber atmosphere.

Zhen Yi casually asked, “In a bar, how successful is it to spike someone’s drink?”

Suo Lei was busy crushing ice for the cocktail and didn’t bother to look up. “Depends on how cautious they are.”

“That makes sense,” she nodded. “If it were someone like Lin Ziyi, a regular at bars, it’d be hard for a random woman to drug him.”

He stayed silent, violently shaking the cocktail shaker.

“But,” Zhen Yi continued, her voice calm, “what if the bartender tampered with the drink from the start? That’d make it a lot easier, wouldn’t it?”

Suo Lei’s eyes flicked up. “What are you trying to say?”

“You know exactly what I’m saying.” Zhen Yi met his gaze, her face illuminated by the cool blue light of a pendant lamp, her figure framed by the darkness behind her. Her pale features stood out sharply. “I’ve seen your logbook and sign-in sheets. Every temporary drink seller works here for at least three days. But the one on duty the day of the murder only worked for a single day. Her ID number was…”

“She didn’t perform well. We let her go after just one shift. Is that a problem?” Suo Lei didn’t flinch, pouring the colorful, layered drink into a cocktail glass. “A Bloody Mary.”

“Sounds convenient. Wouldn’t it be even more convenient if her ID card was missing from the employee files? Or if the police looked up that ID number and found that it either didn’t exist or didn’t match?”

Suo Lei pushed the glass toward her, the liquid in the blue light turning a gradient of purple. “It was an oversight on our part. We’ll make sure to fix it.”

“Is it possible that no one at the bar noticed someone wearing the uniform that night and who wasn’t captured on the security cameras? Could that person have been Tang Yu?” Zhen Yi toyed with the cherry stem in her drink. “If it were your girlfriend, Tang Yu, this wouldn’t be an oversight—it would be deliberate.”

The bar was dead quiet, with only the two of them inside.

A single cone of light shone down on Zhen Yi, casting long shadows from her eyelashes onto her eyes, making them look even darker than the blackness behind her. Suo Lei stared at her for a long moment. “You’ve got quite the imagination.”

“Do I?” Zhen Yi said, holding her phone firmly. “I just think that while the staff here might not recognize Tang Yu, if the police came around with her photo, mentioning she’s Tang Shang’s sister, how many of your employees would have no memory of her?”

His face remained impassive. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’ve got a lot to say, actually,” Zhen Yi replied. “But one thing I find odd—how come a crime scene in a public place like this didn’t have a single fingerprint, shoe print, or stray hair from any random person? Was your cleaning staff that good?”

“Our cleaning staff is very thorough,” he said.

“And if forensic technicians were to search the other rooms, would they be just as spotless?” Zhen Yi swirled the drink in her hand, the liquid changing colors under the shifting light. Suo Lei didn’t respond immediately.

Zhen Yi knew she had hit a nerve. “Suo Lei, to clean up a crime scene to that extent, it’s possible that even the carpet was replaced. That would require some help from the inside, wouldn’t it?”

The man across the bar let out a nonchalant laugh, wiping down the bar tools with a cloth. “The room’s furnishings were old. We replaced them with new ones.”

“Oh? Is there a record of the purchases and delivery slips for the new items? Replacing an entire set is quite a big task. Which staff members were involved?”

He didn’t answer, pausing momentarily. The lawyer’s questions were sharp, leaving no room for escape.

Zhen Yi pressed on. “The murder weapon is also strange, don’t you think?”

“What’s strange about it?”

“This wasn’t a crime of passion—it was premeditated. For a planned murder, not preparing a weapon and relying on the bar’s fruit knife to kill? Was the killer really that careless, or did they know there would be a suitable tool at the scene?”

Suo Lei remained silent, using the cloth to polish the glass until it gleamed, completely free of water spots. “It seems I’ve underestimated lawyers.”

“You’ve underestimated me,” she corrected. “So, are you admitting that everything I’ve said is true?”