Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 98: Chapter 98: The Disappearing Colleague

"Are there any eyewitnesses at the scene?" Beibei looked up at Captain Xu.

"Yes, it happened in the blink of an eye. They were all scared stiff at the time. We have the surveillance footage as well, but there’s a glitch with the equipment. Our technicians are working on it," Captain Xu glanced at the time, "It should take about half an hour more."

"The testimonies of the eyewitnesses are all the same. This He Manling walked into the office, stood behind the man for a while, then suddenly lifted the bronze tripod and smashed it down hard." As Captain Xu recounted the incident, he mimicked the action for Yang Xiao and the others to see, "After our investigation, we believe these testimonies to be credible."

Beibei stood up, "Captain Xu, you’ve got this He Manling under control, right? Where is she? I have some questions for her."

With a sigh, Captain Xu replied, "You won’t be able to question her for now. She was greatly traumatized after the incident. Before our people could reach the scene, she attempted suicide, using a utility knife. She’s currently being resuscitated in the emergency room at Rongkang Hospital. But rest assured, we have police officers watching her."

"Phew—" Beibei exhaled, and Yang Xiao immediately asked, "What was He Manling’s relationship with the victim?"

"Colleagues from the same office. According to others, they got along well and had recently become closer, showing signs of a budding romance."

At this point, Captain Xu’s expression suddenly became grave, "Right, there’s something very important I need to tell you. This sort of incident... it’s not the first time it’s happened."

"There have been two other incidents before, though they weren’t as severe as this one. They were just injuries, and the company paid off the victims to settle the matters, so no police reports were filed. We were unaware until employees spilled the information during our inquiries."

"Strangely enough, the perpetrators in those incidents were also women, and the victims were male colleagues they got along well with. One pair was even in a relationship at the time."

"According to colleagues’ recollections, there were no arguments on the days of those incidents either, everything was normal. So they were just as puzzled when the incidents occurred."

Yang Xiao frowned slightly, "You said these two incidents were covered up by the company, which paid to settle the matters. Why would they do that?"

"That’s right. We approached a female executive of the company. She said these were minor issues, just some emotional outbursts between friends, and didn’t warrant blowing things out of proportion. Besides, they were running a business and wanted to maintain peace and good fortune. How could they carry on with business if there was bloodshed?" Captain Xu subconsciously took out a cigarette. Just as he was about to light it, he stopped abruptly and looked awkwardly at Yang Xiao.

Yang Xiao waved his hand, indicating that it was fine for him to proceed.

"Have you found the women involved in the other two incidents?" Beibei asked.

"Yes, we found them. One went back to her hometown and is currently unreachable. The other has been brought in by us already. I’ll take you to her," Captain Xu responded.

As they opened the door, the people outside were still crowded near the nearby emergency exit. A woman in red was relentless, trying to force her way in, "This is barbaric law enforcement, I’ll sue you! Take your hands off me, don’t touch me!"

Among the noise, there were also some broken Chinese phrases. A tall African man in a white T-shirt was glaring, looking very imposing as he tried to break through the front line until the officers showed their handcuffs and gave their last warning, causing these people to calm down a bit.

"Hmph, that woman in red is the company’s female executive, and that foreigner is also one of the partners. Seems like his name is... Schröder. He hasn’t been here long, speaks disjointed Chinese, and he has quite a temper," Captain Xu remarked with a grimace, clearly annoyed.

Under Captain Xu’s guidance, they arrived at a room on the right side of the corridor. The place resembled a temporary staff dormitory more than anything else. The small room was crammed with four beds and several tables, without any sign of valuables. A young woman with dyed blonde hair sat nervously on the bed, her hands entwined. There was also a female officer in the room with her.

Seeing Yang Xiao and the others enter, the woman immediately stood up, her nerves on edge, "Officer, please... please don’t arrest me. My mother is sick, and I need to take care of her. I... I’m really not a bad person, I usually can’t even bring myself to kill a chicken!"

As she spoke, tears began to pour out, and she looked utterly pitiable, "I really don’t know what got into me that day. I harbored no ill intentions towards Sun Qiang. He was pursuing me at the time, and I thought he was decent, so I agreed to start as friends. I... I had no reason to hurt him. He even forgave me afterward. You can ask him if you don’t believe me."

Without waiting for her to finish, Captain Xu and the female officer left the room, leaving only Yang Xiao and his party. Beibei held the woman’s hand, calming her down, "Don’t be nervous. We know it wasn’t your fault. You just encountered some strange things, right?" ƒreewebɳovel.com

"Yes, yes, yes." The woman nodded vigorously, clutching Beibei’s hand as if it were a lifeline.

"Just tell us everything that happened in detail. Once we clear things up, you can go back home and take care of your mother, alright?" Beibei spoke earnestly.

"Okay, I’ll do what you say; I’ll listen to you!" The woman gradually calmed down, swallowed, and began to recall, "It... it was about a month ago. The weather was fine that day. Sun Qiang had even asked me out for Japanese food at lunch, he had invited me, and I had said yes. But... but around 11 in the morning, I was in the bathroom taking a moment to touch up my make-up. I had just washed my hands and came out, when suddenly... suddenly I heard someone calling my name from behind. When I turned around, I saw it was one of my colleagues."

"She came up to me secretly and told me Sun Qiang was getting cozy with another female colleague while I was away, even harassing her. She even showed me a video of Sun Qiang with those women in bed, in a luxurious double bed, with more than one woman. That scene was... that scene was terribly disgusting."

"I don’t know what came over me. Anger surged up, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I grabbed a porcelain vase from the corridor to confront Sun Qiang, and then... then I smashed the vase on his head. There was blood..."

The woman wept, "Really, right after I hit him, I regretted it. We were only a bit closer than ordinary friends; there was no need for that. I could have just scolded him. Watching the blood flow, I was in shock. Sun Qiang was writhing on the ground in pain, and I was shivering so badly, I couldn’t say a word."

Beibei put down her notebook and looked at the woman for a moment. "After this incident, you just couldn’t remember who the female colleague was who told you about Sun Qiang’s infidelity, could you? No one in the company admitted to it, even after searching everywhere?"

As soon as she heard this, the woman’s face changed dramatically, "How... how did you know?!"