The Scene of Death

Barrier Field District, Coal Mine Field.

The small building, which remained clean and tidy despite being surrounded by coal dust, was already packed with people.

Over a dozen police officers were busy taking photos for evidence, while several newspaper reporters who had caught wind of the news from Radiance District were frantically clicking their shutters at the cold, obese corpse.

"The valuables in the room have been completely looted. We haven't found the perpetrator's fingerprints here, but based on a comparison of the shoe prints on the living room carpet on the first floor, we can confirm the suspect is the undocumented person who followed those two deceased foremen into the district yesterday. He registered for the transport under the name Zhao Zihong and was accompanied by a dependent claiming to be his sister. Both have been confirmed missing as of this morning."

"It is inferred that the suspect killed the two foremen who brought him into the mine at 11:13 AM. After waiting for two hours, he quietly arrived at the residence of Manager Xie, ate some food in the first-floor dining room, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and finally went upstairs to threaten Manager Xie into handing over his valuables before killing him to silence him."

The deputy police chief, who was in charge of the on-site investigation while separated from Tian Yuan, listened to his subordinate's report with a furrowed brow.

Combining the information already known, it was actually quite easy to deduce who had done this.

It was none other than the genius girl whose reputation had long been the talk of the entire Radiance District—Feng Zi—who, in collusion with a bio-human experiment from Tian'en Company, had found those two foremen and hitched a ride on the labor train under the guise of wanting to work in the field.

As it turned out, the two heartless foremen had tried to swindle them, killing the bio-human to claim the compensation money, only to be killed in retaliation.

As for the death of Manager Xie here, however, it was somewhat baffling.

Killing the two foremen could be argued as self-defense, but what was the motive for coming to this small building to kill and rob?

Would Feng Zi, who was said to have grown up in the Physics Institute laboratories and possessed a naive personality, make such a decision?

Or had the bio-human she rescued from Tian'en Company gone mad and lost control, developing an antisocial personality?

Just as the deputy police chief was deep in thought, a growing clamor from outside the police cordon interrupted him.

The understaffed officers could no longer hold back the reporters' cameras and microphones. If this were just a simple murder case, let alone attracting the attention of these news hounds, they wouldn't have traveled all the way from Radiance District to this backwater place.

The news of Feng Zi eloping with a bio-human had been spreading like wildfire for the past two days, and somehow, word had leaked out that this murder at the Coal Mine Field was connected to her.

"Chief! The entire city has been stirred up. Was this murder committed by Miss Feng Zi herself? If she was involved in this crime, what decision will the Sunlight Council make?"

"Regarding Miss Feng Zi's constant insistence that the Light Stone at the top of the White Tower does not belong to Sun City, and that the upper echelons of the Council have tarnished Speaker Feng's ideals—what is the Council's actual stance? Do you know?"

"There are rumors that the Sunlight Council has been keeping Miss Feng Zi under house arrest, and this escape is her rebellion against that confinement! Has the police received any similar reports?"

"Will Miss Feng Zi forcibly use her authority at the Tian'en Company headquarters and the central government to seize the Light Stone? If she truly intends to do so, how will the Council retaliate?"

"Chief!"

The scene was chaotic, with microphones constantly being shoved into the deputy police chief's face, making his expression grow increasingly grim.

"Excuse me, this is a crime scene, not a press conference! Call in the company security from the Barrier Field District—do not let any unauthorized personnel near the scene!"

Under the deputy police chief's strict order, the scene finally quieted down. However, before he could even rub his throbbing temples to soothe his mind and return to analyzing the case, a "crunch-crunch" chewing sound caught his attention.

The deputy police chief looked up in anger, only to see a young man with messy hair, wearing black casual pants and a black shirt, eating potato chips while curiously examining the pool of blood on the large bed.

He didn't question the young man in black directly; instead, he grabbed a nearby officer by the collar and glared at him, shouting, "Didn't I say no unauthorized personnel were allowed on the scene! Are you treating my words like air?"

The officer replied tremblingly in a low voice, "Ch-Chief, he's from Tian'en Company."

Hearing the words "Tian'en," the deputy police chief's reason allowed him to temper his temper.

Releasing his clueless subordinate, he walked over to the young man with an unfriendly expression. "Hasn't your company already reported the case and handed it over entirely to the police department?"

Bai Qiulin extended his hand with a beaming smile. "But this involves a high-profile figure from our own company. While the leaders above are willing to trust the police department's capabilities, they still need to arrange for someone to understand the progress of the case to satisfy their own desire for control, right?"

"Hello, Officer. My name is Bai Qiulin, a specialist from the Sun City branch of Tian'en Company. Just call me Xiao Bai."

He was clearly very eloquent, not at all as socially inept as he appeared when facing his superiors.

The deputy police chief's expression softened slightly, but upon seeing Bai Qiulin's grease-stained hands, he instinctively pulled back the hand he had intended to extend.

Bai Qiulin raised an eyebrow and offered the bag of chips. "Want some? I swiped these from a priest's house yesterday. They're his granddaughter's favorite flavor; I even made her cry when I took a bag."

"So, how does your company view this matter?"

Seeing that the deputy police chief had no intention of accepting his offer, Bai Qiulin didn't show the slightest bit of embarrassment.

He tilted his head back to pour the remaining chip crumbs into his mouth, then casually tossed the empty bag into a nearby trash can.

"I'm just a specialist. My role here is limited to acting as the eyes and ears for the company's top brass, so who knows what they're thinking upstairs?"

Just as the deputy police chief was staring at Bai Qiulin, who was wiping his hands on his shirt, thinking the man was just a slacker sent to go through the motions and that talking to him would be a waste of time, Bai Qiulin suddenly spoke.

"However, if you're asking for my personal opinion, honestly, I don't understand why the police department is focusing all its attention on that young lady."

The deputy police chief, who had just turned to leave, stopped in his tracks. He frowned and turned back to look at the lazy, disheveled young man.

"What do you mean?"

"I recall that when our company reported the case to the police, it was clearly stated that the young lady was bewitched and abducted by a bio-human from the experimental field, which is why they eloped together."

Bai Qiulin stared at the large pool of blood on the flannel sheets and said calmly, "From that statement, can't you tell? Of the two of them, the one in the dominant position isn't Miss Feng Zi, but that bio-human experiment with the code name [Liang Xincheng]."