All of the people in the monitor room were taken aback. They couldn’t help it. This was just a natural reaction whenever Xuanlong was brought up. Li Zhi was the first to discover. He gave a warning look to the two technicians and told them, "Whatever you hear in this room will stay here. Understand?"

The technicians straightened up and gave a loud reply, albeit a little confused. "...Yes, Sir!"

Tak Jung-Hwa raised a brow in inquiry, but Li Zhi shook his head and indicated that they would talk later. Things had already come to this, he did not want to take any risk, no matter how small it was. Fortunately, Tak Jung-Hwa’s eyes deepened in understanding and he no longer chased after an answer.

"Fuck," Rong Simo spat out, his mood even more somber than a few seconds ago. "No wonder we’ve been led around the circles. If the one behind all of this is Xuanlong... then everything makes sense. I have seen the footage when this guy fought with the security guards," he gestured with his chin toward Cui Yan. "That’s some real moves he got there. And I can tell that he’s still holding back."

Li Zhi furrowed his brow. "Holding back?" Why would he do that? Didn’t he realize that not using all of his strength to escape meant that he would sooner or later be caught by the police? But from Rong Simo’s words, it seemed like Cui Yan was doing it on purpose – messing with the power circuit, causing chaos in the hospital and lastly, getting caught red-handed amidst the act...

His line of his thoughts broke off when the door opened again and Director Zhang stepped in. The two technicians stood up and gave the man a formal salute, whereas Li Zhi, Rong Simo and Tak Jung-Hwa gave a nod of acknowledgement.

The usually benevolent and smiley Director Zhang was absent. Right now, his expression was solemn and the aura around him was especially heavy. He did not beat around the bush and immediately sent a command, "Li Zhi, you go."

"Me?" Li Zhi was stunned. He glanced at Rong Simo and found that the man was staring at him with his eyes narrowed in accusation. Helplessness overcame him. He was the innocent party here. Unlike Rong Simo, he had not expressed any personal opinion to Director Zhang whatsoever! Alas, now that the leader had spoken, what could the subordinate do but to comply? With a sigh, he received the earpiece from the technician and went to the interrogation room next door.

Cui Yan raised his head when he came in and gave him a light greeting, "Hello, officer."

Li Zhi chose not to be provoked by the mockery in Cui Yan’s words. If the one who stood in this place had been Rong Simo, he would have definitely exploded to pieces upon hearing this. Now Li Zhi seemed to understand why Director Zhang chose him to go. Silently, he dragged the chair out, sat down opposite Cui Yan, opened his notebook and said casually, "This session will be recorded and everything you say may be used against you in the court. But I’m sure you already know this, right Master Cui?" He stressed on the last few words on purpose and Cui Yan’s nostrils flared in anger, his face flushing to the color of a pig liver.

However, as though recalling something, he painstakingly held his temper back and assumed a lackadaisical air. Li Zhi took in each of his reactions with keen eyes.

"So, what questions are you going to ask me? Let’s make it fast, shall we?" Cui Yan leaned back on the chair with an impatient look. It was as if he was the Big Boss who was having a meeting with incompetent subordinate.

The corner of Li Zhi’s lips twitched. Somehow he could almost hear Rong Simo’s curses behind the wall, even though it was impossible for the voices to travel here. "Alright, first question." Li Zhi flipped open his notebook to the latest page and held a pen in his other hand. "Why did you cut off the power in Yuyang Hospital Center? Are you also the one behind the surveillance cameras malfunction? Who’s your accomplice?" Li Zhi raised his eyelids and gazed at him sharply. "...And what did they want with Wu Yuan?"

Cui Yan laughed, still entirely at ease. "Wow, so many questions. Okay, okay, I will answer them. Why did I cut off the power in Yuyang Hospital Center? And am I the one who caused the CCTVs to be down? And... what else are you asking me again? Oh, you know what? I will just answer them all at once. My purpose is simple. I just want to get rid of that kiddo... just like how I did with his old man. Too bad that the security guards stopped me before I could do so." He clicked his tongue. "...I was so close."

Heavy silence descended after that bold declaration. Li Zhi leveled him with a nonplussed stare, the tip of his pen pressed against the paper and caused the ink to spread.

What did this man just say...?

He wanted to kill Wu Yuan, just like... his father? He was the true culprit behind Wu Liang’s death?

A crackle sounded from the earpiece, bringing Li Zhi out of his reverie, and Director Zhang’s voice came out in an angry hiss, "Proof."

Li Zhi lowered his lashes. Copying Cui Yan, he also leaned back on the chair while spinning the pen between his fingers. Then he suddenly barked out a laugh and nodded, "That’s... quite admirable, Master Cui. But unfortunately, our system doesn’t operate on oral confession alone. Do you think that we will capture any Tom, Dick and Harry as long as they confess to the crime? I will trouble you to hand in the evidence first."

A strange feeling began to brew in Li Zhi’s chest. Wu Liang’s death had been a total mystery, especially those ten minutes where Wu Yuan claimed that he had blacked out only to wake up to his father’s corpse. As long as no new evidence cropped up, then Wu Yuan would definitely be locked in as a culprit due to the on-site evidence. But was Wu Yuan really the murderer? What had transpired in those ten short minutes? And... what was Cui Yan’s role amidst all of this scheme?

More importantly, why now? Why would Cui Yan, who allegedly had no connection with the case whatsoever, appear at this moment?

"Sure," Cui Yan replied easily. Then he gave an address and told Li Zhi, "Everything you want can be found there."

Director Zhang’s voice drifted out from the earpiece. "Rong Simo is on it."

Seconds and minutes crawled slowly amid the subtle tension in the air. Li Zhi was having a smoke in the hallway to calm his restlessness when the report from Rong Simo came in an hour later. Li Zhi had never heard him so furious before. "There’s a fucking video! Not only that, we also found clothes, wigs and make-up tools to alter one’s appearance. They’re the outfit that the imposter has worn before. Qin Zhen’s money... the rest of the missing money is also here! Damn, does it mean that Cui Yan is the imposter?!"

As soon as Li Zhi heard this, he could finally pinpoint what had been bugging him all this while. With this set of evidence, the blame of Wu Liang and Qin Zhen’s murder would befall Cui Yan’s head. Even though there were some dubious points, they could be glossed over as soon as they secured the evidence that could prove that Cui Yan was the real culprit.

— Scapegoat. Cui Yan had been sent here as a scapegoat.

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A/N: *cough* Cui Yan thought that he would be safe behind the bars. As for Ku Jin, he would be able to keep track of Cui Yan this way, poured all the blame on him, and provoked the police. It should be... killing three birds with one stone? Why is he so cunning? QAQ