Chapter 338: The Vanishing Bait

"Two key pieces of information were obtained from Meng Qian. One is that it can be confirmed Dong Ziwu got into his own car, not Tian Mi's vehicle. The second is that the person driving was wearing a fisherman's hat," Zhong Xiaoyu said to Qi Fei after coming out of the counseling room.

"A fisherman's hat?" Qi Fei pondered. "Fisherman's hats are usually worn outdoors; it's rare for someone to wear that kind of hat inside a car, right?"

"So this person wearing the hat had another purpose," Zhong Xiaoyu said.

"Damn it, the suspect is right there in the Nancheng Investment building, how can we not find them!" Qi Fei said in frustration.

As he was speaking, Wu Shanqiu ran over and said hurriedly, "Brother Fei, Tian Mi has gone missing!"

"What? Didn't we send people to watch her 24 hours a day? How could she go missing?" Qi Fei couldn't help but become irritable; bad news was coming one after another.

"She deliberately swapped clothes with her assistant. I'm sorry, it was our negligence that let her escape right under our noses," Wu Shanqiu said guiltily.

"She ran away herself? What is this woman thinking? And the assistant?" Qi Fei scratched his hair in annoyance.

"She's in the interrogation room, that's why I came to get you..." Wu Shanqiu looked at Zhong Xiaoyu on the side for help, forgetting that she wasn't Zhong Kui. If Zhong Kui were here, she would surely be able to soothe Qi Fei's emotions with ease.

The assistant sat in front of the stainless steel table, trembling with fear, still wearing Tian Mi's rustic professional suit, which clearly didn't fit.

"Speak, why did Tian Mi want to run away?" Qi Fei's tone was a bit sharp.

"That... President Tian said she had urgent business and needed to see someone alone, and couldn't let you follow her, so she asked me to help. I have to listen to President Tian's orders..." The assistant seemed very cold, her whole body shaking.

"She told you to do it and you did? Do you know this is interfering with our investigation and you can be held responsible!" Qi Fei was both angry and helpless.

"But I can't resist President Tian, otherwise she'll scold me to death. You guys haven't been scolded by her, so you wouldn't know..." The assistant was almost crying.

"Is being scolded by her worse than being punished?" Qi Fei found it hard to understand, but this was no longer important. What was more important was tracking down Tian Mi's whereabouts. "Do you know who she went to see?"

"I'm not very clear about that, most likely..." Her eyes shifted, looking like she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"If you know something, say it quickly, the situation is very urgent," Qi Fei urged.

"Most likely that old leader at the cadre sanatorium. It's rumored throughout the group that the higher-ups rejected the plan to promote President Tian to General Manager, so she went to find the old leader for help..." After the assistant finished speaking, she didn't forget to warn, "You guys must not say it was me who told you, otherwise I'm dead."

That so-called old leader was someone met through the introduction of Dong Qianjin. Qi Fei quickly obtained the person's name, and the police car screeched to a halt at the cadre sanatorium located in a scenic area.

"She did come to see me, but that was several days ago." This retired leader named Xu Dong Lai didn't panic when he saw the police. "But she hasn't been here today. Although I'm old, I still have that much memory. What? Did something happen to her?"

"An employee under Tian Mi died accidentally, and we are investigating. She is currently out of contact, and there are clues indicating she came to you," Qi Fei said. "What was she here for before?"

"Oh, she just came to ask for advice on some work regarding the management of state-owned funds. I saw she was quite humble, so I chatted with her," Xu Dong Lai said.

"Besides that, did she mention anything else, such as asking you to help with her promotion?" Qi Fei asked straight to the point.

Xu Dong Lai immediately waved his hand and said, "She did have that intention, but I told her right then that this matter isn't something someone of my level can interfere with. We still have to do things fairly and justly."

"You rejected Tian Mi."

"It's that I don't have the ability. She's a smart person and should understand." As Xu Dong Lai spoke, he remembered something. "Over there... I know, it's quite complicated now. She's not the only one who has come to see me."

"There are others?"

"A while ago, an old friend said he wanted to invite me to dinner and asked if I knew a junior. I had never heard that name before. When I asked, it turned out to be from Nancheng Investment too. It seems they are also here with requests."

"Who is this person?" Qi Fei asked hurriedly.

"Called... what was it again..." Xu Dong Lai tried to recall, but soon shook his head. "I even said I had a good memory, but I really can't deny getting old. At the time, my friend just mentioned it casually, and I didn't take it to heart."

"Understood, because this person isn't important to you." Qi Fei was shocked inwardly. In the world of people like Xu Dong Lai and Dong Qianjin, some people can be worshipped like ancestors, while others don't even deserve to have their names known.

The old fox Xu Dong Lai had already smelled that Qi Fei was not of their "kind," so he exchanged a few unenthusiastic pleasantries and sent them away.

For Qi Fei, he only cared about Tian Mi's whereabouts. If she didn't come to see Xu Dong Lai, then which "deity" was she looking for?

Dong Qianjin insisted repeatedly that he hadn't introduced anyone else to Tian Mi.

"If she had a stronger backer, she wouldn't have come to me. I know Tian Mi's bottom line. If she wants to get this promotion done, the only person she can find is Xu Dong Lai," Dong Qianjin said firmly.

This was not good news for Qi Fei. It meant that Tian Mi was very likely deceived, and someone used the promotion to lure her into acting alone, bypassing the police's line of sight.

According to the intelligence provided by Zhong Xiaoyu, this murderer was lurking in Nancheng Investment. Therefore, if they wanted to harm Tian Mi, they should have disappeared at the same time as her.

The police car sped all the way and stopped urgently at the Nancheng Investment building.

"Brother Fei, what do we need to do by coming here so urgently?" Wu Shanqiu trotted along behind Qi Fei as they rushed into Nancheng Investment.

"If Tian Mi's disappearance was designed by the murderer, this person won't appear at Nancheng Investment today. We need to screen the employees who didn't come to work today. This is our best opportunity to find this person. Although our bait didn't listen, it eventually played its role!"

Qi Fei seemed very excited. After days of having no leads, there was finally a possibility of seeing the light today. He ran too fast and, not paying attention near the turnstile, collided head-on with someone.

A smell of cigarette smoke rushed into his nose, and he only heard an "Ouch." This voice was very familiar.

"Ah, sorry, Lao Qian." Wu Shanqiu on the side said hurriedly.

It turned out that the person Qi Fei bumped into was Lao Qian.

"It's you guys. What's wrong? Are you in such a hurry to catch someone?" Lao Qian said while tidying up the briefcase that had fallen to the ground.

Qi Fei felt bad and squatted down to help pick things up. Suddenly, he saw one of the items and couldn't help but ask, "Lao Qian, is this yours?" ===== CHAPTER 339 =====