Chapter 300: Not Without Cause

It was late at night, and Qi Fei still remained in the office.

The lights in the corridor were off, and only the desk lamp on the table was on.

Being in the dark, it seemed that everything would be clearer.

Qi Fei reviewed the case of Ma Ziqiang over and over again. The special thing about this case was that every related person investigated so far was very suspicious. From Song Yun and Fan Xin to Wu Weiwei and Chen Zhuo, and even Song Yun's father-in-law, no one told the truth. Ma Ziqiang, this man who looked kind, was an evil ghost who caused trouble everywhere after drinking, giving everyone around him a reason to kill him. But what about Lin Yu? This designer who lived alone had no intersection with Ma Ziqiang except for being in the same residential district. Why were both Song Yun and Wu Weiwei inextricably linked to his death?

Everything seemed to be clear, and everything seemed to be in the depths of the fog.

"Damn it, why exactly?" He clenched his fists and hammered the table. The dull sound in the silent office was particularly clear.

"Thump, thump, thump..." Rhythmic sounds came from outside. One could tell it was the sound of Zhong Kui's high heels.

Qi Fei waited for Zhong Kui to appear in front of him with mixed feelings.

She left Zizai Shan because of Xi He, although the motivation for leaving was not because of concern but to confront. But this kind of care was enough to make him jealous.

"The feeling of not being able to think of an answer is very painful, right?" In the dark, Zhong Kui's voice seemed to echo, as if it shouldn't have appeared in this time and space.

Qi Fei didn't look up, just looked at the dense notes and touched his chin, which had grown stubble: "I am thinking about what you said. If our opponent is not Song Yun or anyone in this case, but Xi He, many things have a clue instead. Perfectionism itself is a flaw, isn't it?"

"So even an idiot can make progress." Zhong Kui teased.

"You are right. In front of you, I am just an ordinary idiot." Qi Fei was not angry.

This attitude of readily accepting made Zhong Kui dissatisfied: "Really boring." Although she said so, she still walked to Qi Fei's side. In the afterglow of the desk lamp, she sat on the desk next door. "I asked Meng Apo to inquire about that guy named Fan Xin."

"The last person to see Ma Ziqiang?" Qi Fei remembered the man who deliberately provided his ride-hailing record and claimed that Ma Ziqiang was a perfect friend. In his current dictionary, anyone who set up a good person persona for Ma Ziqiang was very suspicious. "This person ran thousands of miles to accompany Ma Ziqiang for late-night drinks. It's very suspicious. Unfortunately, he has a sufficient alibi."

"Hands not stained with blood don't mean they haven't killed anyone," Zhong Kui said. "Ma Ziqiang went to find Fan Xin, do you know?"

"Hmm? When?"

"Many times."

"How did Meng Apo ask about it?"

"Simple. There is no news that cannot be asked from the old ladies dancing square dance. Fan Xin didn't say it, but his mother would complain everywhere, saying that because Fan Xin had problems with his business a few years ago, he borrowed money from Ma Ziqiang. Although this money had been repaid, Ma Ziqiang kept making an issue of it. Whenever he had nowhere to make trouble after drinking, he would take a taxi to Fan Xin's house, knock on the door in the middle of the night, and once he got in, he would drag Fan Xin to drink with him until dawn.

Sometimes he would even vomit in Fan Xin's house. Fan Xin didn't dare to have any opinion on this. As long as he expressed a slight refusal, Ma Ziqiang would shout and say he didn't know how to be grateful."

Qi Fei listened and remembered Fan Xin's sentence when accepting the questioning—"You don't understand Old Ma's appeal." At that time, he thought Fan Xin was saying Ma Ziqiang had good popularity. Now that he thought about it, I'm afraid everyone was afraid of him making trouble and had to accompany him to drink. He sighed: "This Old Ma is really good at poking people's sore spots after drinking. However, even without knowing such specific information, I guessed that Fan Xin and Ma Ziqiang had conflicts. But, my current trouble is that these people all have perfect alibis. Conviction requires evidence. Having a motive for murder is not enough."

"Xi He seems dissatisfied with your progress in handling the case, otherwise he wouldn't have sent me that letter," Zhong Kui said. "It's obvious he wants me to help you."

Qi Fei was really unhappy now, his brows furrowed: "How? Hasn't he been interfering with my handling of the case? When did he become wanting to help me?"

"He hopes you will become his opponent," Zhong Kui said.

Qi Fei finally looked at Zhong Kui this time. In his line of sight, only the lower half of Zhong Kui's face was illuminated by the arc light of the desk lamp, making her lips look particularly beautiful.

"Zhong Kui, when did you become Xi He's spokesperson?" Qi Fei said dissatisfiedly.

"I just know him well enough. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle," Zhong Kui said calmly, completely ignoring Qi Fei's current emotions.

The more she was like this, the more annoyed Qi Fei was. He stood up from his seat and said loudly: "We are facing human lives, not chess pieces! This is not a game; this is a major event concerning the life and death of ordinary people!"

"You know I won't understand," Zhong Kui said. "Human life and death have nothing to do with me. I only care about your life and Xi He's death." After she finished speaking, she lightly jumped down from the desk. "I hope this is the last time you argue with me about these meaningless topics. I came to let you watch a good show, but it seems you don't intend to accept my invitation."

Qi Fei didn't make a sound, letting Zhong Kui leave the office alone. He waited until the sound of the high heels disappeared completely before he looked around angrily, as if the drift of his gaze could dispel the stuffiness in his heart.

His gaze swept to the desk Zhong Kui had just sat on and found a piece of paper on it, which was actually a menu of a barbecue restaurant. Looking at the name of the barbecue restaurant, it was the one where Ma Ziqiang and Fan Xin had their last late-night snack.

It seems Zhong Kui came in the middle of the night to show him this. It seems there is a mystery in this menu. Qi Fei looked at it repeatedly, as if he saw the situation of Fan Xin accompanying Ma Ziqiang to drink that night—one was making wild remarks while drunk, and the other was forced to cater to him. It's just that Ma Ziqiang never dreamed that this late-night snack was the last meal that sent him to the Yellow Springs.

Looking at it, Qi Fei couldn't help but make an "ah" sound and muttered to himself: "Could it be?" He couldn't care about the late night, grabbed the phone, and dialed the forensic doctor Xiao Tao's phone. The waiting time for the connection was a bit long. Finally, Xiao Tao's sleepy voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, do you need to go to the scene?"

"Xiao Tao, I remember when you performed the autopsy on Ma Ziqiang, you checked the food residue in his stomach. I want to see that food list again," Qi Fei said eagerly. ===== CHAPTER 301 =====