As Meng Chao was immersed in his thoughts, he suddenly thought of something. He grabbed the thick stack of files and said, “Big Sis Ya, didn’t you say that you’re not interested in the case? So how did you manage to get such detailed information?”
“I was not interested in it before. I only obtained this information in the morning,” Lu Siya said casually.
Meng Chao thought about it and said with slight surprise, “In just a few hours, you managed to get so much information, inquire about yesterday’s autopsy, and bribe two guards. You actually did so many things? You’re really efficient. You must have used a lot of money, right? Why did you do that?”
“Because of your instincts.”
“My instincts?”
“That’s right. Your instincts have helped us while we were deep underground. You managed to find a path of survival that led to a Blue Origin Crystal cave after we hit what appeared to be a dead-end. It was a one in a billion chance. So, how could I not believe in your instincts?”
Lu Siya gave Meng Chao the ghost of a smile. “Or are you saying that you are working with more than just your instincts?”
Meng Chao shut his mouth and focused on reading through the cases.
After a moment, he looked up and noticed that Lu Siya had already driven the race car to the high-end apartment complex next to the culture and education area.
From a distance, he saw a few skyscrapers that stood out like sore thumbs. They formed Blessed Paradise.
“Right now, we don’t know who the real culprit is. Both Spirit Creations Creatures and Heavenly Works Machines are major businesses. We can’t go in there as we please to conduct an investigation. We are only able to start our investigation from the victims.”
Meng Chao flipped through the reports. “I feel like there’s something wrong with this Jin Yongqiang. If we could get more information about him, it’d be great. It says here that he has been cohabiting with a woman in her early twenties. If we can find her, we should be able to get more clues.
“But the safety measures in Blessed Paradise are really tight, and now that such a tragedy occurred, it’s impossible for them to be lax in their guard. There might be secret police keeping watch around the area. It’ll be difficult for us to sneak inside.
“And this female might not know what happened at that time. Even if she does, she might not be willing to tell us.
“After all, we’re not part of the secret police. She might also be shocked and currently in a very unstable state of mind. She might also have been interrogated dozens of times by the secret police and be averse to further questioning…”
Meng Chao was not a professional detective. There were a multitude of clues, but he did not know where to start with his investigation.
“Get out.” Lu Siya opened the car door. “We’re going to eat.”
They arrived at a restaurant with a lot of pavilions. It had a lot of twists and turns and a really quiet atmosphere.
Lu Siya had already reserved a place.
When they went to a rather hidden spot, they noticed a woman in black sitting there. She looked haggard.
Meng Chao was slightly stunned.
The woman in black stood up and asked hesitantly, “Are you the one from the morning?”
Lu Siya remained calm. “I am the one who gave you money in the morning and asked you to come out for lunch. You don’t need to know who I am. You just need to know that I will definitely keep my promise.”
As she spoke, she brought out a really thick envelope from her handbag. It was so thick that it was about five times as thick as the envelope she gave to the two guards. She placed it on the table and pushed it forward.
The woman in black helped herself to it. She opened the envelope, which revealed a thick stack of cash notes with the highest value printed on them. The woman counted them with her fingers, and delight showed up in her eyes. Then, she put on a sad look.
“My condolences, Ms. Zhou,” Lu Siya said faintly. “We’re deeply regretful about Mr. Jin’s death, but instead of moaning and groaning about it, it’s more important to figure out the truth. It would bring comfort to his spirit in heaven, don’t you think so?”
“You’re right.” The woman in black placed the thick envelope into her pocket. The money seemed to have given her the energy to walk forward on her own. She sat up straight and said, “What do you want to ask? Fire away.”
Meng Chao finally guessed her identity.
She was the female cohabitor of the third victim, Jin Yongqiang, the machine master.
Lu Siya was right. If she could solve problems with money, why would she need any mind attacks?
As long as the sum was large enough, the evil money was even more effective than a Deity Realm elite’s hypnosis!
Lu Siya motioned for Meng Chao to sit down. She then removed her sunglasses and earring to lower all the walls she had built for herself. With her talent of a Spirit Sensor, she read the woman’s muscle movements and listened to her heartbeat and breathing.
“We want to know whether Mr. Jin had any enemies while he was alive. Has he ever offended anyone?” Lu Siya asked.
The woman in black had clearly been asked this question multiple times over the past few days. She shook her head with a bitter smile and went straight to the point by saying, “Old Jin was a normal machine master, and he lived his days by earning his keep. He didn’t even have any shares in his company.
“Do you think that his creditors released a dog to bite him just because they were angry? That’s impossible. That dog was his. Besides, it’s not the first time his dog went out of control.”
“Wait. You said that the dog was his?”
Through great observation, Lu Siya caught something in the words the woman used. “Usually, when it comes to pets, people often say that the pet belongs to the family. You make it sound like you didn’t quite like that biochemical pet.”
“I never liked it.” The woman in black pursed her lips, and deep disgust rose to her face. “I’ve never liked dogs. When I was seven or eight years old, I was attacked by canine-type monsters. I still have a faint scar on my calf, so I’m traumatized. If I ever decided to keep a pet, it’d be a feline-type monster. But even if I chose a dog as a pet, I would never pick a large one like a Contest Tiger!
“We didn’t keep pets at first because Old Jin is allergic to both cats and dogs. Later though, it felt like something went wrong with his head. When he had a lot of debt and was at the end of his rope, barely able to keep himself fed, he suddenly insisted that he needed this dog. And as luck would have it, he got himself killed by that dog!”
Lu Siya and Meng Chao looked at each other.
They could see the spark that appeared briefly in each other’s eyes.
“Ms. Zhou, you mentioned that Mr. Jin was allergic to cats and dogs?” Meng Chao pursued the line of questioning.
“That’s right. When I just got to know him, I celebrated my birthday with him. I wanted to buy a small Exquisite Cat for myself, but Old Jin refused itt. He told me that had attempted to reach Heaven Realm a few years ago and failed. He nearly went through spirit energy deviation because of it.
“Even though he was fine afterwards, his immunity system faced slight complications. He became allergic to the parasites that live in cats and dogs,” the woman in black said. “It was not some extreme allergy, though. It’s just that when he came into contact with cats or dogs, red, swollen spots would rise all over his body, and he would suffer from really bad itches.
“When he thought that I wouldn’t believe him, he went to touch the feline-type pet in our neighbor’s house. Just as he said, that night, red spots appeared on his arm and his back, and the itching was so bad that he couldn’t sleep the entire night.”
“Mr. Jin knew that he was allergic to cats and dogs, but he insisted on keeping a Contest Tiger as a pet? That’s a large canine-type biochemical pet, right?” Meng Chao said with a frown. “When did he begin taking care of this biochemical pet? After he started keeping it, didn’t he suffer from allergies?”
“How could he not have?” the woman in black asked. “He took care of it for around half a month. Ever since he brought the biochemical pet home, he couldn’t sleep at night and kept scratching his body while tossing and turning in bed. Even if he didn’t find it uncomfortable, I found it uncomfortable just watching him.”
“Then, did you try to persuade him against it? Did you ask him why he kept a canine-type pet even though he knew that he was allergic? Could it be that Mr. Jin was someone who really loved small animals?”
“I’ve been with him for more than a year, and I never knew him to be a loving person.” The woman in black scoffed. “He was either playing around with machine models or trying to figure out how the dice and chips in the casinos worked. He had never shown any interest in biochemical pets.
“I don’t know what got into his head half a month ago. I’ve asked him about it and even argued with him about it. I was even thinking about breaking up with him.
“Of course, it’s not entirely because of him keeping a pet that I wanted to break up with him. It’s mainly because I recently discovered that he has a huge debt and has even pawned off the house we’re currently living in. And he had the nerve to pretend to be some successful elite in the working force. He tricked me into giving up my youth for him.
“I’ve been stewing in my anger, and on the night he brought the biochemical pet back, I got into a real argument with him. He told me not to care about the dog and said that he was only going to keep it for a month, at most two months. It would all be over after he endured it.”
“What does that mean?” Lu Siya asked. “Could it be that someone asked him to keep that biochemical pet?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t have a lot of friends, and he didn’t seem like a person whom others would entrust their pets to,” the woman in black said. “I was really angry at that time, and I demanded to know why he didn’t tell me that he has such a large debt. I also asked him why he became so generous and decided to keep a biochemical pet like other people. He couldn’t say anything in his defense, but he insisted on not giving the dog away, so I couldn’t do anything about it.
“Then, for the next half a month, our relationship was really cold. Sometimes, even when night came, I didn’t go back to his place to sleep. But he didn’t say anything about it. He just hugged that damn dog all the time while mingling around with the neighbors who also kept Contest Tigers in the area.
“They exchanged their experiences on how to rear these dogs and train them. They even took their dogs out on walks together.
“He often looked for guidelines on how to take care of pets online, and by the end practically turned into a pet expert.
“Unfortunately, he was just a half-baked professional. Who knows what he did to the biochemical pet? In any case, it went out of control and killed him. Thank goodness I didn’t sleep at his place that day; otherwise, I might have ended up dead with him even though I’m still so young.”
“Wait, Ms. Zhou, you mentioned that he often took his dog out on walks with his neighbors?” Meng Chao asked. “Does that mean that he also went out on walks with the other two victims and their two biochemical pets who also went out of control?”
“I think so. There are only about ten families who keep Contest Tigers as pets in Blessed Paradise. As long as they’re free in the morning or at night, they often gather together to walk their dogs and exchange experiences. They have their own circle,” the woman in black said.
“I’m terrified of large dogs, so every time I saw them, I would avoid them. I don’t know what Old Jin said to the neighbors, but he was always laughing with them, and he seemed to have grown really close to them. Perhaps he was really unlucky at work and at the casino, so he wanted to change his environment and relax a little.”
Lu Siya narrowed her eyes and said clearly, “Or it might be that Mr. Jin had to overcome his allergies to cats and dogs and overcome the itchy and swollen symptoms by personally keeping a biochemical pet before he could mingle around with his neighbors and fit into the circle of people who keep Contest Tigers as pets.”