Chapter 74: The Performance Begins

The image on the computer screen continued; the Fool Card flipped over, and a video began to play:

The mottled walls were covered in grotesque graffiti, and faint light shone through the broken windows, leaving the dust nowhere to hide; the floor was covered in thick layers of dust, looking like an abandoned, unfinished building.

In the center lay a bloody corpse.

The outline of Yin Cilan could be vaguely discerned.

Subsequently, a voice came through the screen, pouring into everyone's ears like a demonic incantation: "Respected audience, welcome to the magic show."

Xi Huaizhi's disguised voice was hoarse and gravelly.

In the video, a man appeared, his entire body shrouded in a black hood; his face was obscured by the brim, revealing only a fair chin, and in his attire, he truly looked like the renowned Magician.

Provided one ignored the real corpse at his feet.

"I don't know how to start, but you will never catch me! Hahaha... I'm in a good mood, let's perform a destruction of evidence."

Outside the screen, the police officer watched as the man in black took out a glass jar, in which half the water could be clearly seen; the glass jar was opened, and the man in black took out a hermetically sealed iron canister, pouring the white phosphorus from the iron canister onto Yin Cilan; in the high-temperature weather, the white phosphorus quickly self-ignited upon contact with the air.

The firelight illuminated the sky.

The man in black performed an elegant curtain call: "The performance is over."

"Remember to leave a five-star review~"

The video ended there.

A chill rose in Officer Li's heart; the mobile phone the other party had deliberately left behind seemed like evidence, but in reality, it was a provocation!

The Yin Family soon left the Police station.

"Should we still check the surveillance of the Zhuli Pavilion corridor?"

The people at the Police asked cautiously; one could tell from the Yin Family's reaction just now that this matter was not simple.

In the surveillance footage from August 9th, a group of people could be seen walking into Private Room 107; half an hour later, two people walked side-by-side to Private Room 108, and those two were extremely outstanding in appearance.

Officer Li recognized one of them.

It was Ling Wu.

"Did they ever come out after entering the private room?"

The female officer answered quickly: "From the known surveillance footage, neither of the two ever came out."

The surveillance footage fast-forwarded to the end; the door to Private Room 108 was pushed open, and Yu Shixue walked out carrying the intoxicated Ling Wu, leaving the Zhuli Pavilion.

Someone at the Police dialed Yu Shixue's phone, wanting to conduct a simple investigation: "Young Master Yu, this is the North Capital Police Station; the victim was at... on August 9th..."

Yu Shixue interrupted him: "Whoever is dead, go find them."

"Beep—"

The call was quickly hung up.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay.

A young officer asked: "This... there is another phone number, should we call it?"

Officer Li suddenly remembered the scene of the confrontation with Ling Wu at the Police station that day, where the other party had said—"There is a saying that is correct: justice is not given by others; it must be fought for with one's own hands."

He hung his head dejectedly and waved his hand.

"Forget it."

"No need to call."

The fingerprints in Private Room 109 could be erased by methods such as wearing gloves, but footprints would exist if they had been there; the Identification Department's results showed only Yin Cilan's fingerprints, and there were not even footprints inside the room; the evidence had already been destroyed.

Yin Cilan's corpse was deliberately taken away, proving that there must have been some kind of evidence on his body, or perhaps some kind of criminal method.

But this was simply too whimsical.

Evidence built on assumptions can never hold up.

The leads were all broken, and there was no need to continue investigating...

The next day, Lower City District.

Grandma Liu had already been discharged from the hospital, and the injuries Qi Yu sustained at the Underground Boxing Arena had been healing for two days and were no longer so frightening; many of the scars had scabbed over.

The old iron door was knocked upon.

Qi Yu came out of his room, and upon opening the door, he saw a middle-aged couple with sharp, mean-looking features; they were the foster parents who had adopted Qi Yu.

Ever since his foster parents had collected the high tuition fees from Sike, torn up his admission letter, and "sold" him into Sike Academy, he had moved out and cut off contact with them.

This was the first time they had come to find Qi Yu.

They wouldn't come to the temple without a reason.

Qi Yu's gaze toward them was not friendly.

His foster mother pushed past him, walked into the room with a haughty air, and gestured around: "I thought you'd be living so well after moving out, but you're still this pathetic."

The two of them put on the airs of masters and sat down on the sofa.

Then, the foster mother picked up an apple from the table and took a bite: "I heard you gave hundreds of thousands to that old woman Liu over there for her medical treatment; since you have so much money, Qi Yu, you don't even know how to take some out to show filial piety to us."

"We raised you for so long, and you, this little ungrateful wolf, only know how to be ungrateful and look out for yourself; you're going to be struck by heaven's punishment!"

Qi Yu locked the door behind him, his eyes somewhat dark: "Are you here for money?"

His foster father spat quickly: "Why else would we come to find you, you base-born brat, if not for money? If we hadn't been willing to adopt you back then, do you think anyone would have wanted a base-born brat like you?"

"It just so happens we're short on cash lately; you give us two hundred thousand first."

Qi Yu still had a bandage on his face, his eyelids lowered, and he looked very cold and fierce when looking down at them; he refused: "I don't have money."

"Even if I did, I wouldn't give you a single cent!"

During the years he was adopted, he had earned money to supplement the household expenses; whatever he owed had long since been paid off.

His foster father slapped the table: "No money?!"

"I think you just don't want to give it!"

"We raised an ungrateful wolf like you for nothing!"

"If you don't give us money today, we aren't leaving; let's see what you can do about it."

The foster father stood up abruptly, making a move to strike: "I'll kill you!"

Qi Yu lifted his cold, heavy-lidded eyes, his coldness like that of a sharp blade, his white jade-like face sinister.

Qi Yu raised his foot and kicked the man onto the sofa, grabbed his collar, and punched him twice fiercely; the foster mother nearby saw the situation was bad and hurried over to intervene.

"You beast!"

"Qi Yu, you beast, stop at once!"

Qi Yu brushed the foster mother aside, gripped the man's throat, and hoisted him up against the wall; those eyes were calm and without ripples, only hiding a concealed excitement in their depths.

"Let him go!"

The muscles on Qi Yu's arms stood out, full of power; as his palm exerted a slight force, the foster father before him let out a whimpering cry from his throat, and he said coldly: "Do you still think I am that child from back then who couldn't even truss a chicken?"