After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

Chen Ping was taken to a temporary interview room.

The room was small, with no windows, and the walls were covered in soundproof padding, completely blocking out outside noise. A single incandescent bulb shone brightly overhead, but offered no warmth. The air felt oppressive, making it difficult to breathe.

The room was simply furnished with a long table and a few chairs.

Team leader Zhang and a young investigator beside him, responsible for taking notes, were already seated across the table. Both men had serious expressions and remained silent, quietly watching Chen Pingfang being brought in, creating pressure through their silence.

However, Chen Pingfang's reaction surprised the two of them.

Chen Ping showed no panic at the sudden interrogation. He calmly walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down naturally. He even gave a polite nod to the tense-looking recorder.

His demeanor was as composed as if he were attending a regular departmental meeting.

Team Leader Zhang, having seen all sorts of situations, knew that psychological pressure wouldn't be very effective on this young man. Without waiting any longer, his eyes sharpened, and he turned a brown paper bag upside down.

"Splash—"

A stack of color photos suddenly scattered across the table.

Team Leader Zhang didn't say anything, but simply used two fingers to push several photos in front of Chen Pingfang.

The photos are very well taken.

Each photo precisely captures the moment Chen Pingfang and Huang Qianshu are at the entrance of a high-end hotel. Under the night sky, the graceful Huang Qianshu happens to turn her head, while Chen Pingfang also happens to turn his head. Their gazes seem to meet in mid-air, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the lingering reluctance after a private date.

Team Leader Zhang leaned forward slightly, placed his hands on the table with his hands crossed, stared sharply at Chen Pingfang, and began to exert pressure in a cold tone.

"Comrade Chen Pingfang, based on the real-name report from the public, we have obtained these photos. Please explain," his voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet room, "As a state public official and the chief commander of a key provincial project, why would you and Huang Qianshu, the winning bidder for the project, enter and exit such high-end places alone late at night? Does this behavior comply with our disciplinary regulations?"

His words were highly suggestive, directly characterizing the incident as someone being alone late at night, with every word intended to completely throw him into a panic.

Before Chen Ping could answer, the investigator next to him, who had been taking notes, looked up and added, "We also noticed that shortly after this meeting, an overseas personal account with a name that is very similar to yours in pinyin, PingFang, received a transfer of five million yuan from an investment company, with the note that it was for project funds."

He opened his notebook and added in a businesslike tone, "Comrade Chen Pingfang, is there any necessary connection between these two matters?"

Photos, alone late at night, winning a bid for a supplier, huge sums of money transferred.

The two investigators worked in tandem, tightly binding together two seemingly independent pieces of evidence, instantly weaving a complete chain of evidence of corruption.

The air in the room seemed to freeze at that moment.

The two pairs of eyes of the investigation team were fixed on Chen Pingfang's face, not missing a single twitch of his muscles or a single shift in his gaze.

In their extensive experience handling cases, when the physical evidence is so conclusive and the logic so sound, the person being investigated will inevitably panic and become speechless. This is a precursor to the collapse of their psychological defenses.

They had been waiting for this moment to arrive.

However, something completely unexpected happened.

Chen Pingfang calmly reached out and picked up the photos on the table. He didn't rush to explain; instead, he looked at them carefully for a few seconds, as if appreciating a photograph.

Then, instead of panicking, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

He raised his head, meeting Team Leader Zhang's scrutinizing and intimidating gaze, and calmly asked, "That's all?"

These three light-hearted words rendered Team Leader Zhang unable to utter a series of questions he had prepared.

Chen Ping gently placed the photo back on the table and continued, "I must say, the person who took this photo is very professional and knows how to capture the angle perfectly. It's a pity... he only dared to hide in the shadows and couldn't get the whole picture."

These calm words stunned both Team Leader Zhang and the recorder.

The script is completely wrong.

None of the reactions they had anticipated—panic, anger, impassioned explanations, even weeping—emerged. Chen Pingfang's demeanor was completely beyond their control and expectations. This composure made them feel uneasy and shocked for the first time.

Team Leader Zhang's brow furrowed instantly; he could sense the interrogation was slipping out of his control. He asked, "What do you mean? Are you trying to deny the authenticity of these photos?"

"The photos are definitely real."

Chen Ping's crisp and decisive answer once again surprised them.

He put the photo back on the desktop and gently tapped Huang Qianshu's beautiful profile with his index finger.

Immediately, he leaned forward slightly, his aura instantly shifting from passive to sharp, his gaze like a sword, his tone clear and forceful: "But what I mean is, this is a crucial business negotiation concerning whether the Jinshuiwan project can receive additional investment from Tianxing Group."

He watched the fleeting astonishment on the faces of the two investigators, and then, slowly and deliberately, delivered a crucial message.

"Besides Mr. Huang and me, there were three vice presidents and the head of the investment department of Tianxing Group present at the time, as well as a hotel waiter who poured tea for us."

Chen Pingfang's gaze swept over the two of them. His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried weight.

"This professional photographer deliberately chose this angle to frame me, cleverly blocking the other five people from the shot."

"Five people?"

The young recorder finally lost his temper and cried out. He immediately realized his mistake, his face flushed red, and he shut his mouth, but the shock in his eyes was impossible to hide.

Chen Ping's words left the two investigators completely blank.

They had considered countless possible explanations, but they never imagined that there was such a shocking secret behind it all.

Chen Ping didn't give them much time to digest or think, and continued, "The photos clearly show the time of the shooting and the hotel name. I suggest that the investigation team immediately send someone to retrieve the complete surveillance footage from the hotel lobby, corridors, and the door of the private room where we were at the time."

His tone was full of confidence, as if he were instructing them on how to handle a case.

This reversal of roles, this feeling of being controlled by the suspect, greatly shocked even the battle-hardened Team Leader Zhang.

Team Leader Zhang stared intently into Chen Pingfang's eyes for several seconds.

There was no guilt or evasion in those eyes, only calmness and composure.

He exchanged a brief glance with his colleague, then without hesitation, decisively picked up the internal phone on the table, dialed a number, and solemnly instructed someone to immediately go to the hotel to retrieve the surveillance footage for verification.

The room fell silent once again.

But this time, the tense atmosphere quietly shifted to the two members of the investigation team.

After a brief yet incredibly long wait, the phone rang again.

Team Leader Zhang answered the phone, and after listening for only a moment, his expression became extremely serious.

The verification results came clearly over the phone: the hotel's surveillance footage clearly proved that everything Chen Pingfang said was true. It was indeed a formal business meeting with six people involved, and afterwards, everyone left the hotel together and politely said goodbye.

The so-called "late-night rendezvous" photos are a complete fabrication, created through tricky angles and malicious editing.

This "ironclad evidence," which Zhou Wenyuan considered the core breakthrough and thought to be flawless, was so easily and thoroughly shattered by Chen Ping in the first round of the investigation.

Team Leader Zhang slowly hung up the phone, raised his head, and looked again at the young man in front of him who was still frighteningly calm.

For the first time, he realized that the seemingly conclusive evidence behind this whistleblower case was far more complex than they had imagined.

But the "prey" in front of us might not be prey at all.