In the conference room, Lai Xiang was reviewing the case. Ping An and Gao Xiaofei quietly entered and sat in a corner.
"That's the situation. You can all take another look at the photos and surveillance videos that were just played. We'll probably be working through the night. Tomorrow morning, we'll start by questioning Su Tang. Qiao Yidan said, "Su Tang is a minor. We'll follow procedure and call her legal guardian."
"That's me!" Ping An, who had been silent until now, suddenly stood up and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Su Tang's legal guardian is my sister, An Jing, but my sister is giving birth today and cannot be here. She has entrusted me to come, and here is the power of attorney."
Qiao Yidan and the others hadn't even noticed Ping An enter. His sudden speaking startled everyone.
"Bring it over!" Qiao Yidan frowned, glanced at Ping An, and said grumpily.
Ping An quickly walked over, placed the power of attorney on the table, and then said anxiously, "I request to visit Su Tang!"
"We've already drawn blood, and the child is asleep. You know the rules: no one can see her until the test results are out," Qiao Yidan said, then placed a hand on Ping An's shoulder to comfort him. "Don't worry, Lai Xiang has already found some inconsistencies in the case. Give us some time, and we'll clear the child's name."
"Captain Qiao, I request to participate in this case as a consultant." Ping An stood up straight and said stubbornly.
"You? No way! How can you be a consultant on this case? Who will you be loyal to? Don't be ridiculous!" Qiao Yidan gave Ping An a dismissive look and said, "Whether the case needs a consultant depends on the situation. Even if it does, we can't ask you. You're a powder keg right now. Ask Lai Xiang, would he dare to have you?"
"Sister, I'm really worried!" Ping An remained as stubborn as before.
"Alright, do you know that because it's Su Tang, everyone from Director Xiang and Gao Xiaofei down to Mei Qian and Hei Dou needs to avoid suspicion? You are that child's master, and it's not an exaggeration to call you her father. Do you think you can avoid suspicion?" Qiao Yidan said patiently. "Don't worry, would your sister or Lai Xiang harm you? To put your mind at ease, Old Xiang specifically had Mai Mang transferred back for you. Don't you trust Mai Mang either?"
Ping An stopped talking, his breathing becoming slightly rapid. He tapped lightly on the table, then suddenly walked up to Lai Xiang.
"This is bad! Is this old boy going to take the opportunity to get revenge on Lai Xiang?" A bad feeling flashed through Gao Xiaofei's mind. Just as he was about to move, he saw Ping An bow ninety degrees to Lai Xiang.
"I beg you!" Ping An's hoarse voice called out these four words.
Lai Xiang, who had been feeling a bit guilty, never expected Ping An to suddenly bow to him. The honest, hearty man from the Northeast quickly flapped his large hands and dodged to the side like a landmine.
"Reporter Ping An, please don't do this here. I, I, I will definitely try my best, I will definitely try my best!" Lai Xiang said flusteredly.
The meeting ended. Ping An gave Lai Xiang a detailed introduction to Shi Han's existence and once again called Da Shu and the other two, who were preparing to sneak into the university to find Shi Han, to the municipal bureau. He then meticulously explained Su Tang's recent situation and whereabouts.
"Reporter Ping An, you know what you should and shouldn't say, what you should and shouldn't see. That's how things were last night. I've always suspected why Su Tang would appear in such a place. Now it seems your apprentice has been investigating independently. This intelligence is very important," Lai Xiang said. "It's almost dawn, and I need to prepare for the upcoming interrogation. You'll be able to see Su Tang soon. Regardless, I hope you can get Su Tang to tell the truth."
Although Qiao Yidan had strictly forbidden Ping An from touching the case, during Lai Xiang's interrogation of Da Shu and others, and with Mai Mang's intentional or unintentional assistance, he had learned and seen what he needed to know. Combined with the information provided by Da Shu and the others, it was only now that Ping An realized how badly his indulgence had caused Su Tang to fall!
However, despite the seemingly conclusive evidence and the caught-in-the-act scenario, after re-evaluating the case, Ping An not only found the doubts Lai Xiang had previously summarized but also made further discoveries. For example, the iron rod, when combined, resembled a steel pipe used on construction sites. So, when did this rod appear in Su Tang's hands? During the attack on Ma Delu, after striking him directly, why did she wait for him to get up, open the curtains, and then strike again? If she wanted Ma Delu dead, couldn't she have just smashed him to death? Did Su Tang have the guts for that? Finally, there was the missing security guard. If Su Tang was innocent, then he was the most suspicious.
Su Tang slept soundly, which was unprecedented. Ping An, who had smoked in the hallway all night, waited for Su Tang's test report. "The blood test report contains barbiturates, which are sedatives. Judging by the dosage, it's quite high. That girl probably won't wake up for a while." At eight in the morning, Lai Xiang received the report and reported loudly in Qiao Yidan's office.
According to the forensic doctor's speculation, Su Tang absorbed a large amount of sedative that night through injection or oral intake, which should cause impaired thinking, slowed reactions, and delusions and hallucinations. In other words, she could have been manipulated..."
"Keep your voice down! I'm not deaf? What do you mean 'should be'? Is this your first day as a detective?" Qiao Yidan glanced outside the office and indeed saw Ping An with his ears perked up. He said with some dissatisfaction and some pity, "Since the person is fine, wake her up quickly and interrogate her immediately!"
Sedatives? Rats squeaking? So that's what it was! However, very few people knew that Su Tang was afraid of mice, Ping An thought, stroking his beard.
After sleeping soundly all night, Su Tang seemed much more normal upon waking.
Having thought through her experiences the previous night, the girl actually became much calmer.
She ate the plain, meatless hot noodle soup completely clean. After eating her fill, she didn't rush to see her master. Instead, she faced the wall and muttered to herself in an alien language.
"Has the effect of the sedative not worn off yet?" Lai Xiang, who had come to pick her up, looked at Su Tang with concern.
"Master!" In the hallway outside the interrogation room, Su Tang saw Ping An through the iron bars.
In just one night, Su Tang noticed that her master seemed to have aged several years.
"Su Tang!" Seeing that his apprentice was unharmed, Ping An's heart eased considerably. Just as he was about to say a few words of caution, he heard Su Tang say, "Master, I've forgotten everything that happened last night, but I know I was set up!"
"Just tell us what happened, I'm here for you!" Ping An knew this wasn't the place to talk and could only offer comfort for now.
In the interrogation room, Lai Xiang, Mai Mang, and a clerk began the customary interrogation of Su Tang. Ping An, as the legal guardian, sat silently behind Su Tang. Su Tang looked curiously at the handcuffs on her hands and answered every question with a clear and lucid "I don't know!"
"Shi Han and I have been monitoring Ma Delu for quite some time to investigate the disappearance of girls. Last night, Shi Han told me that Ma Delu would be sending a girl away. We thought this information was very important, so we sneaked into Ma Delu's office building. Oh, Shi Han had previously pretended to be a temporary worker and had been working for Ma Delu for half a month, so he was familiar with the situation in the office building," Su Tang said. "After the business vehicle left, Shi Han came out of the utility room and chased after it on a bike, jumping over the wall. He told me to wait for an hour, and if I didn't get a call, I should leave by myself. I waited for an hour, but he didn't call, so I prepared to leave. Then, well, I don't remember the rest. The last thing I remember is Uncle Lai Xiang pointing a gun at me."
Indeed, she knew nothing.
"Do you know you were injected with a sedative last night?" Mai Mang asked.
"Sedative?" Su Tang looked at Ping An with disbelief.
"Yes, we found traces of sedative in your blood. We'd like to know if you came into contact with anything last night," Mai Mang asked.
"I didn't get an injection? I just drank a sip, a sip of water," Su Tang suddenly covered her mouth instinctively.
"What water? When?" Lai Xiang asked.
"Shi Han, Shi Han gave it to me." Su Tang patted the table uneasily and muttered, "Impossible, how could this be?"
"Explain your relationship with Shi Han!" Lai Xiang asked expressionlessly, continuing his questioning.
"Shi Han, he's a detective, oh no, a college student, he approached me..." Su Tang stuttered out her relationship with Shi Han.
The entire interrogation process wasn't very long. Su Tang claimed to know nothing about what happened last night. Under the crucial evidence of the sedative, the police temporarily believed that she might have been involved in some activities unconsciously. However, whether she was the one who killed someone still required further investigation.
"Currently, Su Tang is still the most suspicious. It only took Lai Xiang a few minutes from discovering the attack on Ma Delu to reaching the scene upstairs. With the only exit blocked, even if someone else was involved, they couldn't have escaped," Mai Mang quietly explained the case to Ping An after the interrogation. "I independently reviewed Lai Xiang's body camera footage and questioned the police officers who were on stakeout last night."
"Could it be that someone quietly slipped away while Old Lai was going upstairs to control the situation?" Ping An said unyieldingly. "The first and second floors of that building don't have corridor lights."
"I've considered the possibility you raised. When Lai Xiang and Lu Lu were securing the scene, a police officer who reported the situation at the back door of the office building, not understanding the rules, entered the building alone. He also patrolled the first and second-floor corridors and found nothing," Mai Mang said. In reality, it didn't mean much because, after that, until the team entered, no outsiders entered or exited the office building, and the team searched the entire building, finding no reasonable suspects.