"I didn't meet her!"
I had anticipated that Xu Haorang would say this, so I pulled out surveillance footage showing him at Xinming Restaurant. "You're trying to deny it now? You clearly met with Nanmen Chunrou. Did you swap out her syringe while she wasn't paying attention?"
Hearing this, Xu Haorang appeared frightened and quickly denied it. "Yes, I was involved with her in that way, but I didn't kill her. We just had a drink together, and I left first. I don't know what happened afterward."
"Oh really? Nanmen Chunrou is dead, and you claim you didn't know?"
"What? That's impossible! I just saw her yesterday, and she was perfectly fine…" Using my deep gaze, I observed that Xu's reaction was genuine. It seemed he really didn't know about her death. This confirmed for me that he wasn't the killer—my earlier intimidation was merely a test of his reaction.
I pressed further. "How many women have you been involved with recently?"
"None. Only Nanmen Chunrou," Xu stubbornly denied, as though we wouldn't find out the truth.
I raised my voice and slammed my baton against the table to scare him. "If you don't come clean, I'll beat you up right now!"
"You're a police officer—can you even hit people? If you dare lay a hand on me, I'll sue you!" Xu wasn't frightened and even tried to threaten me.
"Don't be so smug. We found photos of you and multiple victims being intimate on an app called Same-City Romance, including in hotels and motels…"
I deliberately exposed his misdeeds, and Xu's embarrassment was evident. Finally, he couldn't hold back and confessed, "Alright, I'll tell you. I've been with four women recently."
"Four? Besides Nanmen Chunrou and the other two, who else?"
"There's one more—her name is Xing Anlü, a university professor."
"Which university?"
"The Fuming City Medical School."
Upon hearing this, I turned to Xiao Yuande and said, "We need to head there immediately, or the fourth woman might be in danger."
"But Xu is already in custody—how could he…"
I shook my head to stop him and turned to Xu. "If anything happens to the fourth victim, I won't let you off the hook!"
"How would I know? I'm not the killer! Can I leave now? I have a lot of work to do at the hospital. If you don't release me, I'll sue you for emotional distress and lost wages!"
I ignored him and prepared to let him go. Yet as he was leaving, Xu sneered, "You think you can summon me whenever you want and let me go just like that?"
At this point, Xiao Yuande cracked his knuckles, revealing his muscular arms, and growled, "You don't want to leave? Do you want to feel how heavy my fists are?"
Seeing Xiao's bulky physique compared to his own slender frame, Xu turned pale. He quickly got up, stammering, "I'll leave! Goodbye!" He practically bolted out of the interrogation room.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped outside, we heard him say, "Oh, it's you, little sister Liu Keying. You're quite lovely. How about we have dinner together next time and talk about work?"
Bam! A heavy punch landed square on Xu's face. We heard him shouting in pain outside, "You'll pay for this!"
To our surprise, Liu Keying innocently looked around and said, "That fly was too big—sorry about that!"
Xiao Yuande, now outside, played along. "Yeah, this place is full of flies!"
The surrounding officers joined in, pretending to search for flies. Even Li Siqi couldn't hold back a chuckle. Xu left the station, humiliated, while Liu Keying mockingly called after him, "See you around, handsome!"
As we were preparing to leave for Xing Anlü, a police officer ran over and shouted, "Bad news! Xu Haorang collapsed on the stairs just now!"
"What?" We all turned to look at Liu Keying.
She immediately waved her hands defensively. "I didn't hit him that hard!"
Li Siqi, visibly irritated, snapped, "Pulling stunts in a police station?!" She stormed off, and we followed her to where Xu was lying. She gave him a hard kick and said, "Get up! This is the police station—what are you doing?"
I noticed Xu twitching, his face pale, foam at his mouth, and bloodshot eyes. I quickly stopped Li Siqi. "Don't touch him! He's been poisoned!"
"How is that possible?"
At that moment, Xu clutched his stomach in pain and groaned, "Get me the antidote! It's in the interrogation room!"
A nearby officer rushed back to the interrogation room and returned with a bottle of medication. Li Siqi hesitated and said, "We need to test this before letting him take it!"
"No, give it to me now, or I'll…" Xu gasped in agony. Seeing his dire condition, I grabbed a pill from Li Siqi's hand and shoved it into Xu's mouth. After taking the pill, Xu quickly recovered. He stood up and said, "I'm fine now. I've had a heart condition for years—taking this medication fixes it."
"Did you prescribe this for yourself?" I asked.
"Of course! I'm a doctor, aren't I? Who else would I trust to prescribe my medication?" Xu replied.
"But I thought you were just a general practitioner. How do you have access to advanced medication like this?"
"I hold a doctorate. I should've been working in a top-tier hospital, but…" He trailed off and tried to leave.
I grabbed his arm and demanded, "Leave the medication bottle."
Reluctantly, Xu handed it over. I instructed Li Siqi to give it to Zhao Simeng for testing. It suddenly occurred to me that this incident pointed to someone close to Xu—the nurse with the burned forehead, Shan Yayun!
She was the only one who had daily contact with Xu. I also recalled how, when Liu Keying had asked for Xu's contact information, Shan's expression had been one of murderous jealousy.
If my guess was correct, Shan Yayun was deeply infatuated with Xu. However, given her appearance, it was unlikely that Xu reciprocated her feelings.
I grabbed Xu and demanded, "Have you been involved with Shan Yayun as well?"
"What? Are you kidding me? I'd never be interested in someone like that. Don't insult my taste!"
"Fine, but she prepares your medication, doesn't she?"
"No, I make it myself. But she does handle it for me every day."
That confirmed it. Shan Yayun likely tampered with Xu's medication, destabilizing his health over time.