When Su Meng returned to the crime scene, she looked around and found Xu Bai standing next to Sun Qinya's body. Xu Bai's gaze was on the forensic doctor who was performing the preliminary autopsy on Sun Qinya.
"Master." Su Meng walked to Xu Bai's side. "I've sent them on their way."
Xu Bai glanced at Su Meng and nodded. Then, he looked at the forensic doctor again. "Old Chen, how was it?"
Zheng Sen and Gu Hongyu's appearance here was just a minor interruption for him. Regardless of whatever reasons they would give him, he would not transfer this case to Homeland Security. As for the interdepartmental issues Homeland Security would cause to take the case away from him, Xu Bai was not concerned.
The bald forensic investigator, who was squatting beside the corpse, stood up and shook his head. He had a strange expression on his face.
Su Meng asked curiously, "Mr. Chen, is there something wrong?"
Elder Chen shook his head again and ordered the two of his juniors behind him to pack up the body and bring it back to the station for further analysis. Then, he looked at Xu Bai. "It's a little difficult to explain. I need to investigate further. After working as a forensic investigator for so many years, this is the first time I can't tell you what the murder weapon is."
Xu Bai raised his eyebrows.
Su Meng asked curiously, "Mr. Chen, what do you mean?"
Old Chen frowned as he tried to find the right words. Seeing this, Xu Bai smiled and said, "Alright, Old Chen, go back to the police station first. Sorry for troubling you. If you have anything, call me. I'll look for you."
Old Chen came back to his senses and nodded. He turned around and walked out of the door with the two subordinates and the body bag.
Xu Bai put his notebook away and looked at Su Meng. "Where is the person who reported the case?"
Su Meng pointed to the room opposite the two patrol officers guarding the door. "They're all in that room."
Xu Bai nodded and walked toward where Su Meng was pointing. Su Meng followed closely behind.
The patrol officer guarding the door saw Xu Bai walking over and Su Meng following behind him. He opened the door, revealing five people who were either standing or sitting and talking intensely in the room.
When the five people in the room saw Xu Bai and Su Meng walking in, they immediately stopped their discussion. One of them stood by the fireplace in the room. He had a bit of a gloomy expression on his face. There was a scorpion tattoo on his left cheek. He looked like the leader of the five. When he saw Xu Bai enter, he asked Xu Bai, "Sir, when can we leave?"
The rest of them started chiming in.
"We're not murderers."
"Why did you lock us up here?"
"We want to go home."
Xu Bai looked around at the five of them. Then, his gaze fell on the man with the scorpion tattoo on his face who spoke first. He knew this person.
Previously, when the Cao brothers escorted him up here, this guy was the guard standing outside the room with the crying girls. He was the one who slammed the door when Xu Bai looked inside.
Xu Bai looked at the man. "Liu Qiang, right?"
The man with the scorpion tattoo was taken aback. When he heard Xu Bai call out his name, his expression changed. Suspiciously, he asked Xu Bai, "Sir, do you know me?"
Xu Bai smiled and did not explain. He looked around. After he called out their boss's name, the other four people went silent. Then, he looked at Liu Qiang. "You were the one who called the police."
Liu Qiang hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Right."
"Where's the stuff?"
"What stuff?"
"What you took from the crime scene."
"…I didn't take anything."
The corners of Xu Bai's lips curled up slightly. "You didn't take anything at all?"
Before he left with Shou Hou, he had left a note on the wall.
"The murderer was Xu Xian!"
However, when Xu Bai came back that second time, the note on the wall was already gone. When Su Meng went out to send off the homeland agent, Xu Bai asked the patrol officers who were the first to arrive at the scene, but they made no mention of this note.
It was obvious. Someone took the note before reporting it to the police.
Xu Bai did not say that he was the one who placed the note. Instead, he pointed at the small hole in the wall with the pen ink that had yet to dry.
Hearing Xu Bai's judgment, Su Meng turned around and ran back into the room behind her. Her eyes lit up and she walked in again. "Master, there's really a small hole and there's ink here. Ink that hasn't dried yet."
Xu Bai reached out his right hand to Liu Qiang, whose expression had changed drastically. He waved his hand and said, "Take it out."
Liu Qiang frowned and said, "I didn't take it."
He knew about the note, but he hadn't taken it at all.
Seeing this, Xu Bai did not push the issue any further. He smiled and called the patrol officers outside.
The two patrolmen walked into the room.
"Sir."
"Take them back to the station."
"Yes, sir."
The four people in the room were stunned. They started protesting.
"Sir, it's none of our business."
"That's right, sir. We're the ones who reported it."
"But sir…"
"Shut up." Su Meng shouted to quiet the four men yelling.
Xu Bai looked at the four of them. "If you don't want to go back to the police station, it's easy. Give us whatever you took from the crime scene and you can leave."
The four of them looked at each other and then looked at their boss, Liu Qiang.
Liu Qiang saw his subordinates looking at him and frowned. He was very displeased and looked up at Xu Bai. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Xu Bai shrugged and said, "Fine. You'll all go spend a night at the police station. Maybe you'll figure it out then."
With that, Xu Bai did not waste any more time talking to the four of them. He waved at the patrol officers and ignored Liu Qiang's protests. He brought Su Meng out of the room and walked to the first room near the elevator corridor.
"Huh."
Xu Bai's gaze swept across the entire room. He walked to a sofa that had clearly been moved. After he kicked the sofa away, he looked at the whip that was hidden under the sofa that still had blood on it. "These people are hiding too much."
Su Meng, who was following behind Xu Bai, stuck her head out and looked at the exposed bloodied whip on the floor. Her eyes lit up.
"Mengmeng."
"Master."
"You let everyone in the club go?"
"No." Su Meng shook her head and said, "It's been confirmed that everyone in the club wasn't involved. After recording their IDs, they were let go. The staff is still here. They're still in the lobby."
Xu Bai turned around and walked toward the elevator. "Go to the first floor."
…