"We don't know what you're talking about? We're just helping the boss process some drugs!" one of the men retorted.
"You don't know what effect these drugs have?" I probed.
"No idea. We just manufacture them, their specific effects have nothing to do with us, as long as we get paid!"
Seeing his reaction, I knew he was lying. I snorted, "We'll talk about it at the bureau. Who's in charge among you people?"
I scanned the room. There were five men and three women among the workers, including an old man. My attention quickly shifted to him.
"Is it you?" I approached him. The old man struggled but couldn't overpower the two SWAT officers behind him. "Do I look like it? I'm just a security guard who doesn't know anything!"
"Does a place like this need a security guard? You're lying!" Liu Yuning angrily confronted him.
"Bullshit! Every place needs a security guard!"
"No matter what you say, the evidence found at the scene is the best proof. Take them all back!" I said coldly.
After the people were taken away, this illegal workshop was completely sealed by our police. Upstairs, I had also found some packages, these guys were trying to mail them to others.
We immediately collected them. He Xin had also quickly traced the online store's registrant, a man named Zhang Haoge, aged 45. I compared him to the workers we had just apprehended; none of them seemed to match.
I returned to the provincial department temporarily to hand over the extracted powder to the lab. At their pace, the results should be out soon.
Of course, we needed this result before any interrogation; otherwise, those people could find endless reasons to refute us.
When the results came back, they surprised me. Xie Chuchu found me with a report. "Senior, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The drugs they manufactured are not Kangfuning at all, nor are they toxic. They're just normal cold medicine!"
"What? Have their workshop moved then?" I asked in disbelief.
I suddenly thought of the missing Xiao Yuande, wondering if there was any connection between the two.
Liu Yuning, who also knew the results, was quite surprised. "No way? Then we arrested the wrong people?"
"We were tricked. No wonder He Xin said it was too easy to crack. It must have been intentional. If I'm not mistaken, that online store has already moved. The previous address might not even have been their real location. We were thoroughly outmaneuvered. And now, we don't even know where Xiao Yuande is. This case is getting more complicated."
"Yes, I didn't expect them to be so cunning. Someone else will definitely receive Kangfuning later." Just as Liu Yuning finished speaking, He Xin suggested, "This case reminds me of when someone mailed dangerous weapons to others. We issued a public announcement back then, asking those who received the weapons to turn them in. We could do the same this time!"
"I already had Director Zhang release the information, but no one has turned in a single box of Kangfuning so far. I've noticed that those who were mailed the drugs seem to have lost the will to live, or perhaps they recently intended to use this drug to harm those around them."
"This mailer has a very extensive information network. How do they know about these people's recent desires?" He Xin asked.
I rested my chin on my hand, contemplating. "It's quite similar to the previous case."
"Could it be that the previous case hasn't been solved yet?" Liu Yuning asked.
"No, think about it. If both these cases were orchestrated by the Polaris organization behind the scenes, and we haven't eliminated them yet, then it's not strange for similar cases to appear."
"I knew you'd bring up that organization. It's become a constant worry of ours."
As we were discussing in the conference room, an alarm suddenly blared.
"Attention, members of the Sin Cleansing Team. We just received a report of a bizarre death in Minghua Residential Area, Guangming City. Please proceed to the scene immediately."
Another incident. It was likely someone who had received Kangfuning. We realized this even before we set out.
Not long after dispatching, we arrived at the residential area to find many police officers surrounding the scene. A cordon had been set up at the base of a building.
We proceeded to the unit involved, Building F, Apartment 704. Two officers were guarding the door. Before we entered, we could hear the heart-wrenching cries of a man from inside.
"Wife, what happened to you? Who harmed you! I only went out for a moment, and you're gone! Who was it?"
"Everything at home needs your attention. Without you, how will I live! Wife, please wake up!"
We approached the man, the deceased's husband. I noticed Xie Chuchu was already performing the autopsy. After a period of examination, she shook her head and told me, "It's generally the same as the previous cases, but this time we found the drug at the scene!"
Xie Chuchu motioned for a forensic technician, who indeed held a box of Kangfuning in an evidence bag.
It seemed the deceased had passed away shortly after taking the drug. After comforting the man for a while, he finally calmed down slightly. He tightly gripped Liu Yuning's hand and said anxiously, "Officer Liu, you must find the true killer of my wife! She's my only wife!"
As the man looked at Liu Yuning, his eyes roamed over her. He was a lecher.
If it weren't for work, I would have pushed him aside. Liu Yuning said awkwardly, "Sir, please calm down. We will thoroughly investigate this. For now, you need to calm down and tell us about recent events. You said you only went out for a moment? Where did you go? How long were you gone?"
The man released Liu Yuning's hand, paused, and then said, "My wife wanted to eat some roast duck, so I went downstairs to buy some. She was fine half an hour ago. I never expected this to happen when I returned. It's so strange!"
"She took a drug called Kangfuning, and that's what caused her death," Liu Yuning deliberately tested him.
"Kangfuning? Isn't that for stomach pain?"
"Who told you that?"
"Someone online!"
"Do you have the chat records?"
The man fumbled on the woman's body, retrieved a mobile phone, opened an online shopping app, and pointed to a window. "It's all here!"