Chapter 34

The light filtering through the blinds shone onto Niu Yinzhu's desk, where a layer of grey dust rose slightly in the air, making Qi Fei sneeze uncontrollably.

"Lao Qian, has anyone been in here during this time?" Qi Fei asked.

"Nope, I've got the key, and I can't be bothered to come in," Lao Qian replied, still in his usual prickly mood.

"That's strange," Qi Fei muttered. If he wasn't mistaken, compared to the last time he entered this office, the things inside had clearly been moved.

He carefully looked around; the folders, pen holder, and even the chair all showed signs of having been shifted, no longer matching the original dust outlines. Someone had been here, and they had rummaged through everything.

On the contrary, the stack of work documents remained consistent in order and exposed edges with last time; they shouldn't have been touched. It seemed the target of this search wasn't Niu Yinzhu's work files.

Qi Fei put on the gloves he carried with him and followed the trail of dust to investigate. Whoever had entered this room must have been related to the recent reopening of Niu Yinzhu's case.

Niu Yinzhu was a PhD, after all, and maintained a good filing logic; the items in the office were arranged in perfect order. Qi Fei finally stopped in front of the bookshelf, where one spot had been rubbed back and forth and was exceptionally clean. He set his gaze on the corresponding stack of documents, then carefully took them out to look. Inside were medical examination reports from over the years and some lab reports from Niu Yinzhu's own hospital visits.

Judging by the reports, apart from the shoulder and neck problems common to office workers and the occasional cold, Niu Yinzhu's body seemed to be in good health. But the data for the final year before her disappearance was missing. What could be the reason? He pondered for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud laughter, leaving Lao Qian stunned.

"This time, it's a case of being too clever for one's own good—purely a case of 'there are no three hundred taels of silver buried here'," Qi Fei said with inexplicable excitement.

At the police station, Wu Shanqiu ran over and said, "Brother Fei, there's news from the hospital. Sure enough, Niu Yinzhu had booked a minor surgery before she went missing and had been getting check-ups for several months prior. These reports weren't included in the medical records you brought back."

"What was the specific reason?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Shanqiu actually became shy, leaving Qi Fei feeling baffled.

"See for yourself." She shoved the report into Qi Fei's hand, acting unusually coy.

Qi Fei realized the truth after reading it and immediately felt it was hard to put into words.

Wu Shanqiu whispered from the side, "It's just that during her last check-up, Niu Yinzhu was found to have a gynecological issue, likely caused by congenital imperforate hymen, so she scheduled a surgery, which was planned for after she returned from her business trip to Hai City. Niu Yinzhu isn't young anymore, and to think she was actually..." As she spoke, she stuck out her tongue. "I asked the people at Nancheng Investment, and Niu Yinzhu was indeed the type of person who poured her heart into study and work, so it's understandable she was single. What I don't understand is that the reports left in her office were clearly taken by someone intentionally. Why on earth would that person do that? How could this possibly be related to her disappearance?"

Qi Fei's mind was filled with the scene in the tavern's private room where Feng Yi and the others shamelessly mentioned that Pan Ting had assaulted Niu Yinzhu. Yet, right now, before his eyes, the black-and-white records showed that until her business trip to Hai City, Niu Yinzhu's virginity was intact. Where exactly had things gone wrong?

In the parking lot, just as Pan Ting was about to start his car, someone suddenly sat in the passenger seat.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" Pan Ting looked at this stranger and asked with annoyance.

"I'm Qi Fei, a criminal police officer from the Nancheng Police Station. I have a few questions about Niu Yinzhu that I'd like to ask you," the person replied while showing his badge.

Pan Ting took a glance, and his expression turned even uglier.

"Look, when she went missing, some of your people already asked me. I said it before: I never saw her in Hai City. She never came to Hai City. Later, I heard you checked the information yourselves and said she never even got on the train to Hai City, right?"

"I'm not here to ask about that. Three years ago, when you were discussing a project with Niu Yinzhu, what happened after you drank?" Qi Fei asked straightforwardly.

Upon hearing this, Pan Ting squeezed a stiff smile onto his greasy face: "We businessmen drink a lot; it's common. And it was three years ago, how would I remember?"

"We have reason to believe you assaulted Niu Yinzhu, and it's such a coincidence that she went missing shortly after. It's entirely possible you killed her to silence her for fear of the matter being exposed," Qi Fei said coldly, staring at Pan Ting with a sharp gaze.

"I didn't do it on purpose! I'm a victim too, okay!" Pan Ting suddenly became agitated, even carrying a tearful, aggrieved tone. "I reached an agreement with Niu Yinzhu; she wasn't going to report me, so why would I silence her? You can't arrest me based on such wild guesses!"

"She indeed didn't report you, because she went missing, didn't she?" Qi Fei said, staring at him.

Hearing this, Pan Ting hurriedly waved his hands: "Her disappearance has nothing to do with me. Besides..." He became hesitant, as if he had some unspeakable secret.

Unspeakable secrets are often the most important parts. Qi Fei saw this and immediately pressed, "If you are certain you have nothing to do with Niu Yinzhu's disappearance, I advise you to tell the truth about what happened that year. Don't worry, we will provide you with protection."

Pan Ting looked around, and after confirming there was no one else in the parking lot, he took a deep breath and said, "I even suspect I was set up in a honey trap."

"Hm? You mean your relationship with Niu Yinzhu was a honey trap?" Qi Fei was left between laughter and tears; this turn of events was something he hadn't expected. "Honey traps" usually involved using a person's desire for beauty to set a trap with a beautiful woman. In any case, Niu Yinzhu could hardly be called a beauty. "How did they know you liked that type?"

Pan Ting immediately waved his hands: "Of course I wasn't interested in Niu Yinzhu! The wine that night must have been spiked. I clearly saw a beauty beside me and couldn't control myself for a moment, but when I woke up, the person sleeping next to me was Niu Yinzhu. At the time, I really didn't know who had suffered more!" He said this with such sincerity that there was no hint of sarcasm.

Qi Fei was helpless: "You say it was a honey trap, but Niu Yinzhu must have had a motive, right? Looking at the partnership, she represented your client; why would she need to use such methods to blackmail you?"

Hearing this, Pan Ting suddenly got angry: "Of course I have grounds for saying that. After the incident, I kept replaying the whole process. That night, Niu Yinzhu kept pouring me drinks from the start. Even though I was drunk, I vaguely remember that the suggestion to go to the hotel was made by Niu Yinzhu. But having said that, the compensation she demanded was truly fucking outrageous..."