The person blinked a total of ten times, indicating they had been frozen for nearly a year. Manager Du walked over and said, "Symptoms like these after a year suggest the research is still not very mature."
Xiao Yuande imitated my method and asked another person nearby, who was so frozen that all their hair had fallen out, "Blink once if you're a woman, and twice if you're a man!"
The person blinked once, and Xiao Yuande exclaimed excitedly, "It's a woman!"
I quickly slapped the back of his head and said, "Stop fooling around!"
When the medical personnel arrived, they carefully lifted the frozen individuals out of the cabinets. I instructed them to take the patients for treatment and then left the freezing area with Xiao Yuande. Staying any longer might have frozen us solid as well.
Initially, I planned to return to the police station since we couldn't continue the investigation for the time being. But just as we were about to leave, Manager Du appeared with several security guards blocking our way, accusing us, "Are you here to steal something?"
"What?" I was confused.
"The hard drive from our research lab's computer has gone missing!"
Exchanging a glance with Xiao Yuande, I recalled seeing a computer in the lab earlier, but we hadn't touched it. Why was Manager Du suddenly acting so strangely?
As security guards moved to apprehend us, I said, "Don't overreact. We'll go back and take a look!"
We followed Manager Du back to the lab and found that the hard drive from the computer was indeed gone.
I asked Manager Du to retrieve the security footage from the hallway outside the lab. In the security room, we quickly reviewed footage from earlier.
Not many people had entered the lab recently, but there were too many clips to review manually. I activated my Deep Insight Vision and instructed the guard, "Fast forward!"
"Double speed!"
"Four times!"
"Eight times!"
"Sixteen times!"
"Thirty-two times! Faster still!"
The security guard, curious about my fast-forwarding speed, asked, "Officer, how can you see anything at this speed?"
"Stop asking questions and keep fast-forwarding!" I snapped.
The guard complied, and at around 1:45 PM yesterday, I shouted, "Stop! Rewind four seconds!"
We quickly saw a figure entering the lab.
Upon seeing the person, Manager Du exclaimed, "It's the president!"
It was none other than Tan Baitao. Who would have thought she'd enter the lab and take the computer data? What was she planning?
Realizing we weren't the culprits, Manager Du fell silent.
I reviewed the footage of Tan Baitao in the lab. She was furiously typing on the computer, seemingly copying something. When that didn't work, she dismantled the hard drive directly. She then made a series of casual circular motions on the desk, each motion involving a few spins.
Watching her actions, Xiao Yuande asked, "What does that mean?"
Using Deep Insight Vision, I quickly deduced, "One circle represents zero, and two circles represent eight. Based on the series of movements, this translates to 325874 in Persian code."
"Amazing, Captain He! But what does this sequence of numbers mean?"
After pondering for a moment, I replied, "It's a password!"
"A password? For what?" Manager Du asked.
"Does your lab have any other secret rooms?" I inquired.
"There might be one," he replied.
Manager Du then led us back to the lab and stopped in front of a purple door. Entering the numbers into the keypad, the door opened.
Inside, we found another frozen individual. At first, we thought it might be Xuan Xingchang, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be another man.
This man emitted a chilling aura, his body blackened and withered. It was unclear how long he had been stored here.
His body was curled up, and there were traces of excrement beneath him, emitting a foul stench that made my stomach churn.
I instructed the medical personnel to transport him to the hospital as well. Prolonged exposure to this environment was unbearable.
We continued to search the lab thoroughly but found no additional clues, so we returned to the police station. There, Li Hong finally uncovered some valuable information. He revealed that Tan Baitao was not always a company president; she was previously a technician at Dragon Ascend Pharmaceuticals and had reportedly been in a relationship with Xuan Xingchang.
During her tenure, Tan Baitao proposed the idea of a drug called Frost Elixir to Xuan Xingchang, but he rejected it due to its high costs. Later, Tan Baitao resigned and somehow managed to establish her own pharmaceutical company, where she resumed developing Frost Elixir. However, upon reaching the final stages, she realized she needed materials she had previously developed at Dragon Ascend Pharmaceuticals. Xuan Xingchang, however, refused to return them.
This incident occurred about a year ago.
Connecting this timeline with Manager Du's account of the research duration, the pieces were beginning to fit. But I suspected there might also be unresolved personal matters, given their past relationship.
Li Hong continued his investigation and identified Xuan Xingchang's current wife, Ke Zhiyan. Surveillance footage revealed that she had recently met with Tan Baitao. The footage showed them arguing and almost coming to blows.
Further investigation revealed that the termination of Tan Baitao's project back then was orchestrated by Ke Zhiyan. This must have fueled Tan Baitao's hatred for her.
As we pondered this, a police officer suddenly rushed in, exclaiming, "Captain He, we just received a report: a woman's body has been found at the German Villa!"
"German Villa?" Li Hong murmured, quickly pulling up a file. "That's the wealthy businessman's residence!"
Realizing the implications, I muttered, "Not good! Ke Zhiyan must be in trouble."
We immediately rushed out of the station, boarded a police car, and headed straight to the scene. By the time we arrived, the villa was already cordoned off by officers. I went inside, finding Zhao Simeng and Sima Chao already there. They were examining a body in the second-floor stairwell.
Since Sima Chao's mentor wasn't present, he was acting nervously around Zhao Simeng. She laid the body flat from the stairway and asked Sima Chao to activate the UV lamp while she opened her forensic umbrella.
After some examination, they found no fingerprints. Zhao Simeng and Sima Chao then flipped the body over. It was a woman. As I had suspected, it was the wealthy businessman's wife, Ke Zhiyan.
I approached them and asked if they had identified the cause of death. Zhao Simeng replied, "There's a needle mark on her back. She was likely injected with a large dose of the same toxin found in the previous two bodies."