The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 298 T-shirts
“It’s true that Chen Zhuo is on a business trip, but he wasn’t originally supposed to be on this trip; he asked to go. I heard that Chen Zhuo is a very individualistic person. He usually doesn’t want to go on business trips, but this time he actually asked to go. The most important thing is that the date of his business trip is the day before Lin Yu’s death. Brother Fei, isn’t that too much of a coincidence?” Wu Shanqiu said, spilling the beans.

“When we first discovered the problem with the surveillance footage, the security guard mentioned that Lao Liang, who was originally on duty, was injured while repairing a light at Wu Weiwei’s house, so Xiao Pan, who wasn’t very diligent, took over. Now, Wu Weiwei’s husband, Chen Zhuo, is an engineer who works on surveillance equipment. It would be really suspicious to say that Lin Yu’s death has nothing to do with them,” Qi Fei said, crossing his arms.

"The good news is that Chen Zhuo is back today," Wu Shanqiu said.
-
Chen Zhuo sat at the interrogation table, his long face framed by plastic-framed glasses. His hands, resting on the table, were unconsciously rubbing together. It was early autumn, yet he was sweating profusely. After a while, he took off his coat, leaving him in only a T-shirt as he sat in front of Qi Fei.

"The surveillance system in Huantai Residential Area has been tampered with. The live feed has been replaced with footage from a few days ago. We had professionals check it and found that someone logged into the system and made changes. Logging in requires a key. We asked the property management, and just last week, the surveillance system in Huantai Residential Area had a problem. You volunteered to have it repaired, so that malfunction shouldn't have been an accident, right?" Qi Fei said, placing Lin Yu's photo in front of Chen Zhuo. "Do you know this person?"

After reading it, Chen Zhuo shook his head blankly: "Who is this? I don't recognize him at all."

Qi Fei frowned slightly. Based on his experience, he knew with regret that it was unlikely that Chen Zhuo's reaction was fake—he genuinely didn't seem to know Lin Yu.

"Then what about the surveillance footage? Did you replace it?" Qi Fei asked directly.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zhuo was surprisingly frank: "I might have made a mistake, but this isn't illegal, is it?"

Qi Fei looked at Chen Zhuo, feeling somewhat annoyed. This engineer had already devised all his strategies before even entering the interrogation room.

"What's wrong? You called me here just to ask about the surveillance footage?" Chen Zhuo was so confident that he could ask back.

"Your 'mistake' cost us the chance to find the real culprit. Three days ago, the person in the photo fell to his death, and we have reason to suspect that this was not an accident," Qi Fei said coldly.

“That’s definitely not me, I’m not even in Nancheng,” Chen Zhuo said immediately.

"I heard that you volunteered to go on the business trip in place of your colleague. Perhaps you already knew that Lin Yu would get into trouble and deliberately arranged an alibi for yourself."

"Ha, officer, you need to be logical. No matter what the reason I'm on a business trip, it doesn't change the fact that I'm not in Nancheng. I can't kill someone from a distance, can I?"

Qi Fei knew he was right, but he also knew he currently had no evidence.

After questioning him to no avail, they had no choice but to release Chen Zhuo.

In the corridor, Chen Zhuo and Zhong Kui brushed past each other.

"Stop." Zhong Kui's clear voice rang out in the corridor.

Chen Zhuo froze in place, startled, and a moment later Zhong Kui appeared in his sight.

"Who are you?" Chen Zhuo didn't recognize Zhong Kui, but he vaguely felt that there was an unsettling aura about her.

Zhong Kui stared intently at Chen Zhuo's face with her clear eyes, remaining silent for a long time.

The look in his eyes made Chen Zhuo feel uneasy, and he stammered, "I...we don't seem to know each other. What are you looking at?"

“I’m looking at a doll,” Zhong Kui suddenly said, then a smirk appeared on her lips. “Interesting. How did he convince you to agree to this deal?”

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhuo's already pale face turned deathly white, and he couldn't utter a single word. Zhong Kui, however, laughed: "You're scared like that? That shouldn't be the case."

Chen Zhuo pushed up his glasses with trembling hands, suddenly realizing that he didn't need to talk to this strange woman, and hurriedly walked around her.

But Zhong Kui stubbornly blocked his way and suddenly made a strange request: "I really like your T-shirt, can I have it?"

For some reason, Chen Zhuo was shocked when he heard this request. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing.

Zhong Kui seemed quite pleased with herself, and whispered in his ear, "Do as I say, and I'll let you go."

Chen Zhuo seemed terrified and, disregarding his embarrassment, hurriedly took off his T-shirt and handed it to Zhong Kui. He then put on his coat and ran away as if fleeing, without even turning his head back.

Qi Fei witnessed all of this and couldn't help but step forward to ask Zhong Kui curiously, "What dolls, what deal? What are you and Chen Zhuo talking about?"

Zhong Kui continued to gaze at Chen Zhuo's departing figure: "He is the reason I came down the mountain."

"Huh?" Qi Fei was surprised and disappointed.

How could these things escape Zhong Kui's eyes? She glanced at him and grinned mischievously, "What? So disappointed that you won't even ask me why I know Chen Zhuo?"

"How did he get involved with Zizai Mountain?" Qi Fei asked sourly.

Zhong Kui took out a piece of paper, and Qi Fei took it and looked at it, and couldn't help but be puzzled: "What is this?"

All that could be seen on the paper was a set of incomprehensible curved lines, but this method of conveying information with letter paper reminded Qi Fei of Xi He. Could it be that he had appeared again?
Zhong Kui seemed to read his mind and said, "Are you thinking of that person too?"

"I don't understand, what does this have to do with Chen Zhuo?"

“Because of his T-shirt,” Zhong Kui said.

"A T-shirt?" Qi Fei was completely confused. His gaze fell on the shirt in Zhong Kui's hand. In his opinion, it was just an ordinary shirt.

Zhong Kui tossed the clothes into Qi Fei's hands with a disappointed look: "Idiot, figure it out yourself." Then she gracefully left on her own.
-
Back in the office, Qi Fei laid Chen Zhuo's T-shirt flat on the table, face up.

This is a white T-shirt with some patterns printed on the front. The patterns are colorful lines, intermittent and very abstract.

Qi Fei glanced at the letter paper placed to the side, which was also covered with incomprehensible lines.

"Could it be..." He seemed to understand something. He placed the letter on the T-shirt and suddenly discovered the problem. He excitedly grabbed the pen next to him and, following the lines on the letter, filled in the corresponding empty spaces on the T-shirt. As the lines were connected, a pattern that made him tremble appeared on the T-shirt—it was the long-lost monster, Xi He's monster, which was actually hidden on Chen Zhuo's clothes.

However, when Qi Fei finished the last stroke, the monster was still missing a part and not finished.