Chapter 163 Denying the Crime

She touched her smooth chin, her face regaining its composure, as if she hadn't been the one who had just made the threatening remarks.

She turned to Qin Haoran, who was still "admiring the night view," and said, "Officer Qin, it seems we won't get anything out of him today. It's alright, he's here anyway, he can't run away. I'll come back next Tuesday to check on things; I'll head home now."

Qin Haoran seemed to have just come to his senses. He turned around with a serious expression, as if asking, "What just happened?" and nodded, "Okay, I'll see you out."

The two walked out of the interrogation room one after the other.

Just as she closed the door and turned around, she almost bumped into Lu Zheng, who was hurrying this way.

When Lu Zheng saw Su Xiaonuan come out, he quickly glanced at her to make sure she was alright, and then nodded to Qin Haoran as a handover.

He frowned, pulled Su Xiaonuan to a quiet spot in the corridor, lowered his voice, and said in a slightly faster tone, "It's good that you haven't left yet. I just received news that the guy who ate your squid at the night market a few days ago and was then drugged and captured has completely denied the crime in the interrogation room."

Su Xiaonuan was stunned for a moment: "Deny?"

“Hmm.” Lu Zheng’s expression was not good. “He claimed that he did not know any of the chat contacts on his phone and that he found the phone. He also denied that the large amount of illegal drugs and hidden cameras found at his temporary residence were his residence.”

As Su Xiaonuan listened, she subconsciously opened the [Reputation System] panel in her mind and quickly searched for more information about that guy.

A barely noticeable message scrolled across the panel: "[Has repeatedly sold homemade hallucinogenic drugs at high prices through dark web channels...]"

A thought struck her, and she interrupted Lu Zheng, asking, "Officer Lu, are you sure the house you searched that contained illegal drugs belongs to him? Did you find any information about the homeowner or any rental records?"

Lu Zheng nodded: "We checked. The property certificate isn't in his name, and there's no lease agreement. But he did frequent that place before. We found some of his fingerprints and personal belongings. However, he now insists that the house isn't his home, that he's just temporarily staying there, and claims that the illegal drugs inside were a setup."

He paused, his tone tinged with sarcasm, "He even implied that it was you, Su Xiaonuan, who maliciously framed him because he... harassed you before."

Upon hearing this, Su Xiaonuan was not angry at all; instead, she couldn't help but chuckle and almost burst out laughing.

That excuse was... both stupid and wicked.

But then she thought, maybe this is an opportunity?

"Where did he say his home was?" Su Xiaonuan pressed.

“At the foot of Fragrant Hills, in Fenglinyuan Residential Area, Unit Z, Building X, Y Unit.”

As soon as the address was given, Su Xiaonuan's eyes lit up instantly!

This address was exactly the same as the home address of Liu, the rapist who used stinky tofu to drug her!

She was just worried about how to catch that netizen hiding behind the internet who shared the same bad habits as Liu. Now it seems that she can kill two birds with one stone!

She suppressed her excitement, a thoughtful expression on her face, and continued to guide Lu Zheng: "Has there been any progress in the case of that Liu guy at the foot of Fragrant Hills? What about the disappearance of his wife and daughter?"

Although Lu Zheng didn't understand why Su Xiaonuan suddenly asked about this, he still replied, "There has been progress, but not much. It's basically confirmed that his wife, daughter, and his best friend named Lin Ling are all missing, not that he initially claimed to have absconded with the money. We checked Lin Ling's residence, and there haven't been any valid traces of her life in the past three months, which is very unusual. But so far, we haven't found any evidence directly related to Liu, or... found him."

Su Xiaonuan sat in Lu Zheng's office chair, her fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the armrest, her face thoughtful.

Three missing women, a suspect who refuses to plead guilty and claims to have been framed, a common address... there must be some connection between them.

The routine investigation appears to have reached a stalemate.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she imagined a furry little creature with golden eyes.

She looked up at Lu Zheng, her eyes clear and bright, with a hint of cunning: "Officer Lu, regarding the disappearance of Liu's wife and daughter and Lin Ling, and that guy's claim of being framed for the house... perhaps we can try a different approach, a... more unique method, to find clues."

She thought of an inkstone.

The black cat that the system gifted, which seemed to have special searching abilities.

Perhaps it's time to officially let this silent and reliable little assistant take the lead.

When I got home from the police station, the city lights were already on.

Su Xiaonuan threw her tired body into the soft sofa and rubbed her throbbing temples.

So much happened today, so much information, that her brain was almost overloaded.

Just then, the familiar system notification in my mind, now replaced by a calm, indifferent, and neutral female voice, rang out precisely on time:

[Weekly performance review begins...]

[Task completion analysis in progress...]

[Street vending sales target met...]

Number of criminals apprehended/directly arrested: 2...

[Special Incident Handling (Undercover Area Operations) Assessment: Excellent...]

Overall rating: Excellent!

The cold, electronic voice paused, seemingly with a very faint hint of approval, before continuing to announce:

[Weekly performance review reward: 1000 Merit Points.]

[Excellent rating bonus: 1000 Merit Points.]

[This week's stall sales revenue converted into merit points: +600.]

Current merit points balance: 12890 points.

Su Xiaonuan looked at the number and felt a slight surge of joy. Her merit points were finally plentiful again.

[Weekly performance bonus: RMB 50,000, already transferred to the host's linked account.]

[The host's recent task completion and efficiency have been consistently excellent, resulting in an increase in the reward amount. Starting next week, the weekly base reward will be adjusted to RMB 100,000.]

Is there really such a good thing?

Su Xiaonuan quickly took out her phone to check the bank's app. Sure enough, a deposit notification showed that her account balance had jumped from over 100,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan!

This was a huge sum of money for her, who had once struggled to raise 50,000 yuan for startup capital!

A sense of solid economic security arises spontaneously.

After treating herself to a simple dinner, Su Xiaonuan opened the system interface and entered the [Food Recipe Encyclopedia].

The dazzling array of recipes on the screen shimmered with an enticing glow.

She carefully reviewed the recipes, taking into account the upcoming season and the complexities she might face, and meticulously selected six new recipes:

[Roujiamo], [Oden], [Traditional Roasted Milk], [Crispy Pork Belly], [Delicious Roast Duck], and [Lotus Leaf Wrapped Rice].