Chapter 68 The Only Proof of Death
Beijing, late at night, the Lu family compound.
The lights were still on in Lu Wenbo's study.
The air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood as he leisurely sipped this year's new tea from a gaiwan, his demeanor refined and his bearing extraordinary.
"Ring ring—"
The shrill ring of the telephone shattered the tranquility of the study.
Lu Wenbo slowly put down his teacup, answered the phone, and after listening for less than ten seconds, the refined and composed demeanor on his face vanished without a trace.
“Useless! A bunch of useless trash!” he growled in a low voice.
"Smack!"
He crushed the covered bowl in his hand, and scalding tea and porcelain shards mixed with blood dripped from between his fingers, but he seemed oblivious.
Taking a few deep breaths, Lu Wenbo forced himself to calm down.
Immediately, he walked quickly to the bookshelf at the innermost part of the study, turned the mechanism, and a hidden door quietly slid open.
Inside was another, completely different black phone. A phone without any markings.
I dialed a number I knew by heart.
The moment the call connected, the ferocity and violence on Lu Wenbo's face vanished, replaced by an almost humble respect.
"Sir, things in Shanghai... have taken a bit of an unexpected turn."
His waist even bent down unconsciously.
"Zheng Kai was arrested. He had a foul mouth and vomited something."
There was no sound on the other end of the phone, a deathly silence that caused Lu Wenbo to break out in a cold sweat.
“But don’t worry,” he quickly added.
“I already know about his backup plan. Please use your connections at Huitong Bank to help me… clean up the mess there. Yes, just a little bit of mess.”
...
Interrogation room in a suburban warehouse in Shanghai.
Ignoring Zheng Kai's wails, Lu Jingyan reached out and roughly tore open the lining of his suit.
With a "rip!" sound, the expensive fabric was torn open.
A cold brass key fell to the ground from the interlayer.
The key was clearly engraved with the logo of Huitong Bank and a safe deposit box number.
Li Hu's eyes lit up. He stepped forward, picked up the key, blew off the dust, and handed it to Lu Jingyan: "Boss! This is it!"
The only irrefutable evidence!
Several plainclothes police officers gathered around, all with delighted expressions.
"Good heavens! Let's see how Lu Wenbo will turn things around this time!"
"With both witnesses and physical evidence, this is a serious crime of treason!"
Upon receiving the key, Lu Jingyan's tense jawline finally relaxed slightly.
He glanced at Su Wantang, whose expression was aloof, and nodded.
"Walk."
Half an hour later, a Jeep stopped in front of Huitong Bank.
The bank had closed down, but its doors remained open for them.
A middle-aged man with a receding hairline, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and looking to be in his early forties, was waiting at the door with a broad smile on his face.
"Oh! Is that Commander Lu and Miss Su?"
As soon as the man saw the two get out of the car, he rushed over to greet them, his enthusiasm almost excessive.
"I'm the new bank manager, my surname is Wang, Wang Fugui. The higher-ups have already given instructions. Please come in, both of you!"
As he spoke, President Wang bowed and scraped as he led the way, his demeanor more like that of a shopkeeper than a bank president.
Lu Jingyan kept his eyes straight ahead and strode after him.
Su Wantang's gaze swept lightly across his overly solicitous face, and her heart skipped a beat.
Everything went too smoothly.
It went somewhat unusually smoothly.
She remembered clearly that the last time she came here to clear out her mother's inheritance, the manager, Mr. Wu, was polite, but deep down he carried the caution and disdain of a banker.
The bank manager in front of me, Mr. Wang, seemed more like a shrewd businessman. The cunning in his small eyes made me very uncomfortable.
In particular, the way he looked at her always unconsciously drifted towards her legs through the slit of her cheongsam and the curves of her shapely waist and hips, with a greedy and lewd glint in his eyes.
Something unusual must be going on.
Her fair fingers tapped lightly on her handbag.
“President Wang,” Su Wantang suddenly spoke.
"I remember the previous branch manager here was Manager Wu, right? Where is he now?"
President Wang bent down even lower, but his smile remained unchanged:
“Miss Su has a good memory! As for Manager Wu, he’s getting old and in poor health. He suffered a stroke a couple of days ago and is already… well, let’s not talk about it. I’ll be filling in for him for now.”
As he spoke, he led the two men to the heavy iron gate of the vault.
Su Wantang didn't say anything, but she sneered inwardly. Manager Wu was perfectly fine in Beijing.
A chilling atmosphere emanated from the vault.
Bank Manager Wang rubbed his hands together, his breath steaming in the air, and personally led them to a row of safes at the deepest part of the vault, pointing to one of them:
"This is it. Zheng Kai's."
He first inserted his master key and turned it halfway around.
Then, he stepped aside and respectfully made a "please" gesture.
Lu Jingyan stepped forward and inserted the brass key he had taken from Zheng Kai into another lock.
“Clatter.”
The crisp mechanical sound echoed in the silent vault, exceptionally pleasant to the ear.
The safe door opened.
Lu Jingyan subconsciously held his breath as he reached out and pulled the heavy iron box out of the cabinet.
Open the box.
Inside, a black cassette tape and a thick ledger with a kraft paper cover lay neatly arranged.
It's done!
Even someone as composed as Lu Jingyan, who could remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, couldn't hide the joy in his eyes the moment he saw these two items.
This is irrefutable evidence that can completely destroy Lu Wenbo!
He reached out to grab the cassette tape.
Don't touch it!
Su Wantang's cold voice was like a bucket of ice water being poured down on her!
Lu Jingyan's hand froze in mid-air.
He turned his head and looked at Su Wantang with a puzzled expression.
Su Wantang didn't explain; she stared intently at the cassette tape.
“Look here.” She stretched out her slender finger and pointed to a corner of the plastic casing of the cassette tape.
"The color is wrong."
Only after she pointed it out did Lu Jingyan notice that one corner of the completely black cassette tape seemed to be a little lighter than the rest.
If you don't look closely, you might even think it's an illusion caused by light reflection.
What's wrong with that?
Su Wantang didn't speak again. She raised her hand and pulled out a slender silver needle from her cloud-like hair.
This needle was her weapon for self-defense, and also her tool for testing poison.
Under the watchful eyes of Lu Jingyan and President Wang, Su Wantang carefully and gently touched the unusually colored corner of the cassette tape, holding the silver needle in her hand.
The moment the needle tip comes into contact with the plastic casing.
"Sizzle—"
A wisp of barely perceptible smoke rose from the point of contact.
The silvery needle tip turned black at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Highly poisonous!
Bank Manager Wang was so frightened that he cried out "Oh my god!" and collapsed to the ground, his face ashen and trembling like a leaf.
Lu Jingyan's face also darkened instantly, like the sea before a storm.
What ruthless methods!
This is not evidence at all; it's a trap!
A highly toxic trap coated with a substance that can cause the skin of anyone who comes into contact with it to ulcerate instantly and send toxins straight to the heart!
If he touched it just now, now...
Lu Jingyan dared not think any further. His gaze towards Su Wantang held a mixture of lingering fear and gratitude.
"Walk!"
He slammed the metal box shut, not even glancing at the limp Wang bank manager on the ground, and pulled Su Wantang away from the eerie vault.
The jeep sped all the way back to the warehouse in the suburbs.
The atmosphere was extremely oppressive.
The technician Lu Jingyan had hired, a middle-aged man wearing thick glasses, was carefully examining the ledger while wearing three layers of gloves.
After a long while, he raised his head, looked at Lu Jingyan and Su Wantang, and shook his head dejectedly.
"Commander Lu, it's no use."
The technician's voice was hoarse and dry. "The magnetic powder on the tape has been completely destroyed by a highly corrosive toxic agent. The contents... are beyond recovery."
He paused, then picked up the ledger.
“This ledger has an even bigger problem. Every page of it has been soaked in a special chemical solution.”
"This medicine is colorless and odorless, but it will cause the writing on paper to completely evaporate and disappear within 24 hours of exposure to air."
Seeing the two men's pale faces, the technician swallowed hard and added the most fatal sentence.
"Based on the concentration analysis of the pesticide residue, I can confirm the time when the pesticide was sprayed."
"It will be no more than an hour before the two of you enter the bank vault."
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