Chapter 190 A Series of Bad News
"Fu...Fu Lilian?" Su Xiaonuan could hardly believe her eyes. "How did you get here?"
In an instant, all the previous questions—the mark on her shoulder blade that resembled Ji Xianjun's, her seemingly reasonable but flimsy escape experience, and the possible connection between Han Ming and her—were pieced together in her mind like scattered puzzle pieces, instantly forming a vague yet chilling answer!
Fu Lilian smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes; it carried a condescending pity: "Surprised, Miss Su? It seems you and Officer Lu are quite out of touch with the news here."
She walked gracefully into the cell, her gaze sweeping over the shabby surroundings before finally settling on Su Xiaonuan's face, which was filled with shock and disbelief.
"I've come to bring you some... news from the outside world." Fu Lilian's tone was unhurried, yet it was like a poisoned dagger slowly approaching. "I suppose you're very concerned about the situation of your friends?"
Su Xiaonuan's heart sank suddenly, and a strong sense of foreboding gripped her.
Fu Lilian seemed quite pleased with her instantly tense expression. She tilted her head slightly and, in an almost cruelly calm tone, dropped the first bombshell:
"First, it's about your best friend, lawyer Anran."
Su Xiaonuan held her breath.
“She fell from the top floor of the building where her law firm was located a few days ago.” Fu Lilian uttered these words softly, as if she were talking about a trivial matter. “Unfortunately, she died on the spot…”
Boom—!!!
It was like a thunderclap exploding in my mind!
Su Xiaonuan felt an icy chill instantly flow from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, and her limbs and bones lost all sensation in an instant! Her vision blurred, and her ears rang!
An...an? Fell from a building...and died?
Her best friend, who grew up with her since childhood, had a cool and aloof personality but was incredibly loyal to her, and who always said she didn't care about her but always silently did things for her... is dead?
No! Impossible!
Su Xiaonuan swayed, almost losing her balance. She instinctively reached out to hold onto the cold wall, her fingernails digging into the metal.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out; only her chest heaved violently, like a fish out of water.
Lu Zheng also sat up abruptly from the bed, his face drained of color, his eyes piercingly sharp as knives as he glared at Fu Lilian, his fists clenched tightly.
Fu Lilian seemed oblivious to their pain. She relished Su Xiaonuan's momentary breakdown and continued dropping the second and third bombshells in her terrifyingly calm tone:
"Oh, and one more thing. An Ran's boyfriend, that forensic doctor Qin Haochu, is said to have suffered a mental breakdown because he couldn't handle the blow. He has developed severe symptoms of schizophrenia and has been sent to the city's First Mental Hospital, where he is being kept under surveillance in a VIP ward."
"His younger brother, Officer Qin Haoran, lost control of his emotions after his brother's incident and acted excessively during an enforcement operation, causing a negative impact. He has been dismissed from his post and is currently under investigation."
She paused, her gaze seemingly unintentionally sweeping over Lu Zheng, a deeper smile playing on her lips:
"In addition, Officer Zhao Liyue went missing while carrying out a joint mission and her whereabouts remain unknown. Her brother, Officer Zhao Liming, while investigating her disappearance, unfortunately followed in his sister's footsteps and also disappeared."
One piece of bad news after another, like the heaviest iron hammer, slammed into the already overwhelmed hearts of Su Xiaonuan and Lu Zheng!
An Ran died tragically, Qin Haochu went insane, Qin Haoran was dismissed from his post, and the Zhao siblings both disappeared...
All their comrades, all their support, were wiped out in such a short time?!
Su Xiaonuan felt dizzy and the whole world was collapsing and shattering in front of her!
She could no longer hold on and slid down the wall to sit on the cold floor, her eyes vacant and her mind blank, as if her soul had been ripped away.
Lu Zheng gritted his teeth so hard that his gums almost bled, barely managing to suppress the anger and grief that threatened to burst from his chest.
He looked at Su Xiaonuan, who had collapsed to the ground and seemed to have lost all her vitality. His heart felt like it was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, and he was in so much pain that he couldn't breathe.
Fu Lilian stood in the center of the cell, calmly watching everything unfold like a harbinger of doom from hell.
She knew that the knife of words had torn the spirits of these two people to pieces.
For a long time, the only sound in the deathly silent cell was Su Xiaonuan's heavy and broken breathing.
She abruptly raised her head, her bloodshot eyes fixed on Fu Lilian, her voice hoarse like a broken bellows, carrying a stubbornness bordering on madness: "An Ran... how... did she fall from the building? Tell me!"
She needs to know! She absolutely must know!
Fu Lilian seemed unsurprised by her almost out-of-control questioning.
She gently smoothed out non-existent wrinkles on her suit, her tone remaining calm, even carrying a hint of indifference:
"It's very simple. The Sacred Heart Society's relentless pursuit of debts drove an elderly couple to their deaths. They had a daughter who had just graduated from university. She was indignant and spent all her savings seeking justice everywhere. The lawsuit eventually went to the law firm where An Ran works."
Fu Lilian paused, looking at the churning pain in Su Xiaonuan's eyes, and slowly said, "You should understand An Ran. Those kinds of cases that no one dares to take, cases that would obviously offend important people, people would avoid like the plague, but she... took them."
Su Xiaonuan felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart!
Yes, that's Anran!
He appears calm and rational, but deep down he is more stubborn than anyone else, and more steadfast in upholding justice and bottom lines than anyone else!
“She’s really good, no wonder she’s a top lawyer.” Fu Lilian’s tone even carried a hint of “admiration”. “She collected evidence, filed a lawsuit, and pressed her step by step. She almost really tore a hole in the wall. She forced the Sacred Heart Society to take action against her.”
"The final result was just as you expected, and as they wished."
As Fu Lilian uttered her last word, a flash of lightning pierced through the darkness in Su Xiaonuan's mind, instantly recalling the conversation she had vaguely overheard outside the chairman's office that day—
"...We must keep the lawyer calm! We absolutely cannot let him say a word!"
"If things get out of hand over there, we're all doomed!"
So... so the lawyer they were plotting against back then was An Ran!
The crisis they mentioned that might "outweigh" is the ongoing lawsuit against Enron!
She was right next to An Ran at the time, but she was completely unaware and failed to give An Ran any warning!
She was even secretly rejoicing at having infiltrated the Sacred Heart Society and found what she called an opportunity!
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