Chapter 35: The Hospital

Ear-piercing shrieks echoed from the interrogation room, a sound like rough glass scraping together that reverberated down the hallway, accompanied by the dull thuds of objects being thrown. Zhou Langxiu was venting her fury like a madwoman, trying to escape reality by hurting others and herself. The officers who had gone in to bring her out had also been scratched by her sharp fingernails, and they began to issue stern warnings with cold expressions.

Qiong Cang paused outside for a moment, then turned and walked away calmly.

“What a mess,” the officer said, recalling the events of the case. He still felt it was like a highly satirical, absurd farce. “Zhou Langxiu is one thing; she’s uneducated and knows nothing about medicine. But Wu Ming was an intellectual, and yet he still ended up like this. If he could have just balanced his feelings for his mother and his wife, I don’t think it would have been hard for him to live another twenty years.”

Qiong Cang said, “Unfortunately.” Unfortunately, the human heart was unpredictable.

As they walked into the spacious lobby, her colleague asked, “Boss, are we going to arrest Li Yujia next? We’re still missing the suspect who desecrated the corpse. If we don’t find them, it’ll be hard to convince the media and the public that Wu Ming died by accident. We’ll be in a very passive position.”

Simply knowing Wu Ming’s cause of death was far from the end of the matter. A case drawing this much attention, labeled with tags like “witness retaliation,” “young tycoon,” and “official negligence,” was expected to have a dramatic, twist-filled process. This was the public’s subconscious expectation of the “truth.”

They didn’t know Wu Ming; their enthusiasm stemmed purely from curiosity. When they found the development of the case to be mundane, they would lean toward conspiracy theories.

“We don’t have evidence,” Qiong Cang said, shaking her head. “There’s no evidence to prove that the person who staged the crime scene is connected to Li Yujia.”

Judging by the method of operation, Li Yujia was a relatively cautious person. Although she had initially lost her composure due to Wu Ming’s death, she quickly calmed down after leaving the villa.

She was completely disappointed in Wu Ming. A woman pushed to despair would undergo a complete transformation. When she had nothing left to lose, what was there to fear?

Judging by the time she arrived at her friend’s residential community, she must have quickly weighed the pros and cons during her drive and planned the entire process.

She left the keys for the accomplice, teaching them how to avoid all surveillance cameras in the community and the house, and covered up the scene in a way most likely to attract public attention.

Since leaving the villa, she had been busy handling Wu Ming’s estate.

If the police were fortunate enough not to discover her crime, she would have a bright future ahead of her. If her scheme was eventually exposed, she would still have had the opportunity to transfer and hide the assets during the few days the police spent investigating the case, planning her next move.

She was cold, calm, and goal-oriented.

Despite suffering from stomach cancer and HIV, she still fought so fiercely for the estate, likely because she simply did not want to leave Wu Ming’s inheritance to Zhou Langxiu, the woman she despised.

This reason gave her plenty of motivation.

“True, we don’t have the evidence to summon her by force right now,” her colleague said, a bit anxiously. “But the longer this drags on, the worse it is for our investigation. The accomplice might flee, and who knows what Li Yujia is planning.”

Li Yujia had already had a day and a night to dispose of evidence, so she certainly wouldn’t have left many flaws. Even if the police brought her in now, they probably wouldn’t get anything out of her. Besides, she had a perfect alibi; they could only request her cooperation, not summon her by force.

Her colleague asked, “Do we have to find the accomplice first? Where do we even start looking? Go through the street surveillance footage one by one?”

Qiong Cang said, “Since Li Yujia thought of the surveillance in the community and the house, she might have also considered the cameras in the surrounding streets. To buy time, she likely had the accomplice prepare beforehand. The cameras in the vicinity might not have captured the suspect’s face, which means the search area would be massive.”

Her colleague let out an exhausted sigh. The phrase “massive search area” was what he dreaded most, and it almost brought tears to his eyes. He raised a hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, brushing away the imaginary tears.

Qiong Cang said, “When did Li Yujia start contacting this person? Was it when she mistakenly thought she had killed Wu Ming? Or when she was staying in the hospital alone, helpless and isolated? Or perhaps when she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and realized no one around cared about her? Or even earlier, when she found out she was diagnosed with HIV and her life plunged into darkness?”

Her colleague turned his head, looking at her expectantly.

Qiong Cang said in a low voice, “Humans are very fragile. The more vulnerable they are, the more they need someone’s care. A man willing to take the fall for her and stage the crime scene must be very important to her.”

Compared to Wu Ming’s death, realizing his cold-bloodedness and ruthlessness was what truly broke Li Yujia’s heart. Once she accepted that reality, Wu Ming’s death was no longer a tragedy; instead, it was a relief.

Li Yujia lay in the hospital alone, enduring the pain for two days. She was only human. During that time, wouldn’t she have felt the urge to vent to someone?

Qiong Cang said, “Let’s go check the hospital.”

Her colleague nodded immediately. “Okay.”

·

The hospital where Li Yujia received treatment was a private one near the villa district. The hospital had lush greenery and a comprehensive surveillance system. There were usually few inpatients, and the service was relatively thorough.

She had been staying on the third floor.

The two walked through the quiet outpatient building to the inpatient department at the back, following the signs straight up to the third floor.

In the spacious, brightly lit corridor, a nurse emerged from a nearby ward, pushing a cart as she went from room to room to check the patients’ temperatures.

Qiong Cang walked over and stopped her, pulling out her badge to show her identity. “Hello. I’d like to know if you remember Li Yujia, who was staying in Room 316 a couple of days ago?”

The nurse barely had to think before nodding. “Yes, I do. The lady who was a victim of domestic violence and diagnosed with stomach cancer, right? We tried to contact her family at the time, but none of them showed up.”

Qiong Cang stuffed her credentials back into her breast pocket and asked, “Do you remember if any friends came to the hospital to visit her?”

The nurse shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least, nothing was registered at the front desk. She was always by herself. We even helped her handle the discharge paperwork.”

Qiong Cang’s partner pursed his lips. “Think again. A male, shoe size 44, around 1.83 meters tall.”

“Really, there wasn’t,” the nurse said, her tone growing more certain. “At least, no one came into the inpatient ward to see her, otherwise we would’ve known. It’s just… we all have a pretty deep impression of her, especially since something happened to her family recently, right? We’ve all checked with each other.”

The young officer sighed almost imperceptibly.

Qiong Cang kept up her smile and asked, “When Li Yujia wasn’t in her ward, where did she usually go to walk around?”

The nurse seemed a bit too shy to look her in the eye, her voice softening. “The patients here all come from well-off families. Besides, Ms. Li was in a very bad mood. When she went out for some peace and quiet, she didn’t like us following her. But she definitely never left the hospital, otherwise we would’ve known.”

She paused to think for a moment, then added, “But normally, patients clear their heads in the garden downstairs. There’s a lawn out back with nice sunlight and a pretty good view.”

Qiong Cang asked, “Are there security cameras over there?”

“Yes, quite a few,” the nurse said. “You can get the footage from our security office.”

“Thank you.” Qiong Cang flashed her a bright smile. “We appreciate your cooperation.”

The nurse blushed slightly. “I’m just glad I could help. I’ll get back to work now.” With that, she lowered her head and hurried off, her quick steps looking like a shy escape.

Her colleague nudged Qiong Cang with his elbow, winking suggestively. “Wow, Boss, you’ve got quite the charm.”

Qiong Cang: “…” Sure, she had charm, but she lacked the necessary equipment, so she would pass.

·

Although it was a private hospital, the staff cooperated fully with the police investigation. The administrator quickly pulled up the surveillance footage from the past two days at their request.

However, Qiong Cang didn’t know when Li Yujia would go out for a walk or where she would meet anyone. She could only watch the entrance of the inpatient ward to pinpoint the relevant times first, then have the administrator pull up footage of specific locations based on those times and Li Yujia’s movements.

The staff in the security room volunteered to help share the workload, keeping their eyes glued to the screens to search for Li Yujia.

This process dragged on for a very long time. The stream administrator simply enlarged the surveillance footage to fill half the screen, allowing the online viewers to share in the “joy.”

It took over two hours, but Qiong Cang successfully reconstructed Li Yujia’s movements in the hospital.

Around noon on the first day, Li Yujia sat alone on a bench, staring blankly. She just sat there at first, then buried her face in her hands and began to cry, before finally wiping her tears away with the back of her hand to force herself to calm down.

That silent footage spoke volumes of her loneliness and grief.

In the evening, she went out again, bought a bowl of porridge from the nearby cafeteria, and ate it in a pavilion in the garden. Afterward, she just sat there in silence until a nurse came to call her back.

On the second day, Li Yujia returned to the garden and sat in a corner. Before long, a well-built man approached her and sat by her side. The two spoke for a moment and seemed to get into an argument, ending with the man storming off in a rage.

But the man didn’t actually leave. About forty-five minutes later, he reappeared in the footage carrying a takeout bag. Li Yujia leaned against his shoulder and wept.

The man hadn’t been on his guard when visiting the hospital. He was dressed lightly, and his face was fully exposed, captured clearly by the camera.

“This is him.” Qiong Cang pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her tired eyes. “Please copy this segment of the footage for us. Thank you for your help.”

The friendly middle-aged man smiled. “It’s nothing. Just serving the people.”

·

As Qiong Cang hurried back to the police station with the footage, the viewers in the Live Stream Room let out collective sighs of relief.

“I watched surveillance footage in the Live Stream Room until my eyes almost went blind. Why do I do this to myself?”

“If Sanyao keeps doing this, I’m going to stop loving it.”

“Even though it’s high-definition, it still looks pretty blurry from that distance. How on earth did they recognize Li Yujia right away?”

“I’m never casually saying ‘check the security cameras’ ever again. It’s only been two hours and I already can’t take it. This is straight-up torture.”

“This character was hidden so deep, only showing up right at the end. He’s got real final boss energy.”

“Every single plot twist happens in a way I never expected. Not bad, my friend.”