Chapter 127: Further Inference Confirms Su Ming’s Guess about the Identity of the Poisoner!

As Liu Yang and the others were searching for clues, two unremarkable private cars slowly drove out of the parking lot of the Xiangcheng Criminal Investigation Team.

According to plan, they chose to abandon the more convenient highway and immediately head towards Liangxi City on the national road, opting to waste a bit more time in order to completely conceal their movements.

The leader of the drug trafficking organization was like a rat in the sewer, always hiding in the rafters, spying. To unearth the entire organization as quickly as possible, extreme caution was necessary.

…

The cars moved slowly on the national road. Even though Xu Changsheng was an excellent driver, the road conditions on the national road were too complex for him to speed up.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Tian put down his phone, glanced at Su Ming through the rearview mirror, and softly gestured.

“Xiao Ming.”

“I’ve already contacted Director Gao from the Yuhua District of Liangxi City. He will help us prepare a meeting room, as well as relevant files and surveillance footage about the [Rose Flower Shop Unveiling Case].”

“Of course, all of these actions are being carried out in secrecy, and even most of the officers in Yuhua District are unaware.”

“The head of the drug trafficking organization, with his powerful connections and crafty schemes, surely won’t be able to anticipate our plans.”

“The operation of this covert line is proceeding step by step according to our established plan.”

“By the way…”

“Have Director Liu, Xiao Bai, and the others made any progress after going to the victim’s former company, Jinwei Software?”

Upon hearing Lin Tian’s question, Su Ming glanced at the latest message on his phone, nodded slightly, and replied.

“There has indeed been some progress.”

“According to the recollections of his colleagues, we’re still unsure if the victim had gastritis, but on the day of the incident, there was indeed a departmental dinner to celebrate the completion of a project.”

“Since the dinner was a celebration, the victim would never dare to skip it, which undoubtedly provided the murderer with an excellent opportunity and timing for the crime.”

“Additionally, Xiao Zheng learned from chatting with the victim’s former team leads and colleagues that…”

“The dinner took place at 7 p.m. and was primarily composed of spicy Hunan cuisine. Since it wasn’t a state-owned enterprise where hierarchy dictates the drinking rituals, no one was forced to drink.”

“But the dinner lasted for three full hours and didn’t end until around 10 p.m.”

“After the dinner ended…”

“A small group of people from the department went to a KTV for a second round of activities.”

“However, the victim didn’t go. On one hand, his introverted personality didn’t like singing, and he certainly didn’t enjoy the atmosphere of a KTV.”

“As for the other reason…”

“It was because the second activity, the singing session, wasn’t attended by the department leaders and was instead an impromptu idea from the employees. No company funds were used, so everyone had to pay for it themselves.”

“Without the leaders there, and already having bought a movie ticket in advance, the victim definitely wouldn’t want to spend extra money on karaoke and would prefer to use the movie ticket he’d already purchased.”

“After leaving the group at 10 p.m., no one from the department saw him again.”

“Later…”

“They received the news of his death.”

At this point, Su Ming paused for a couple of seconds, narrowed his eyes slightly, and pointed out.

“Director Lin, analyzing the information Xiao Zheng dug up, we can already confirm quite a few things.”

“First.”

“We’ve verified the initial inference about the method of murder.”

“Now, with a 90% certainty, the murderer, codenamed ‘Poison,’ likely replaced the victim’s omeprazole capsules with highly toxic cyanide.”

“Because the dinner was mainly spicy Hunan cuisine and didn’t end until around 10 p.m., based on the victim’s long-standing experience with stomach pain, he would have certainly taken a stomach medicine beforehand to avoid any discomfort in the middle of the night.”

“Second.”

“The murderer definitely knew the victim very well, aware of his frugality and stomach issues, and knew the exact timing of the dinner.”

“So, the murderer had nearly 100% confidence that, even if there was a second activity after dinner, the victim would not participate in order to save money.”

“After all, if the victim had gone to the karaoke session, the poison would likely have been discovered immediately.”

“This information came from Xiao Zheng, who also learned that the person responsible for reviewing the surveillance and company projects, Brother Quan, discovered…”

“Although the victim was a homebody, he was highly skilled and could have been at least a small team leader if he had been more sociable.”

“In the performance evaluations after the project completion, the victim was ranked third in the department, which was quite a good rank.”

“Several colleagues in the department, who were dissatisfied with the victim’s high performance rank, specifically went to the leaders to protest, trying to change the evaluation.”

“This suggests that the victim may have been envied by his colleagues.”

“Because employees in Software companies often leave, those colleagues who had reported the victim are no longer at Jinwei Software.”

“From a criminal investigation perspective…”

“The possibility that the murderer is one of these department colleagues seems to be the most probable.”

“Killing out of jealousy is indeed a common motive for murder.”

“But I believe…”

“This case is not that simple, just like the deliberately created needle marks, which were purely intended to mislead our vision.”

“Considering the caution of this drug trafficking organization, and their sharing of killing techniques and experience, these details suggest that…”

“If Poison had been the victim’s colleague, wouldn’t the case be too simple?”

“Moreover, I believe…”

“Even though Director Liu didn’t look into these colleagues in detail, he certainly investigated them to see if they could be the murderer.”

“By the way, Director Lin.”

“Just now, Xiao Bai told me…”

“The sneaky rat might have learned from the elevator surveillance cameras that we’ve already focused on the victim’s former company.”

At this moment, Xu Changsheng, the driver, could no longer suppress his curiosity and doubt. While waiting for the traffic light, he turned his head, looked at Su Ming in the back seat, and curiously raised his head.

“Xiao Ming.”

“Now that we’ve already looked into the software company, and the drug lord has, as expected, shifted most of his focus to Gusu City…”

“How should we proceed with the investigation next?”

“If we don’t come up with a new breakthrough, I’m worried that the rat might start observing and monitoring the members in other cities, and that could cause trouble.”

Su Ming smiled faintly, narrowed his eyes, and confidently replied.

“Don’t worry, Brother Sheng.”

“Within three days, I will make sure that the sneaky rat won’t have any chance to act.”

“Because, based on the information I just received from Director Liu and the others…”

“I think I may have already figured out the identity of Poison.”

After a brief pause, sensing the curiosity from Xu Changsheng and Lin Tian, Su Ming lowered his head, interlaced his hands into a triangle shape, and calmly tapped his right index finger on his left hand as he said with confidence.

“Director Lin, Brother Sheng.”

“Who do you think… other than the victim’s colleagues, could know such specific personal details about the victim?”