You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

When Yan Huo was taken into the interrogation room of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Major Crimes Unit, it was already 3 a.m.

His right wrist was in a cast, his left leg was in a splint, and he was strapped to the interrogation chair. His face was ashen, like a dead fish slammed onto a chopping board.

Su Qingge sat opposite him and turned on the voice recorder.

"Name."

"...Zhou Zhe".

The sound of the fireworks was hoarse; without the disguise of a voice changer, it was just the voice of an ordinary middle-aged man.

"The source of raw materials for targeted thermosensitive white phosphorus microcapsules."

Zhou Zhe licked his chapped lips and rolled his eyes.

"I want to drink water."

Su Qingge gestured with her chin to the side, and Li Mingyu reluctantly stood up, went to the water dispenser, filled a glass of water, placed it on the table, and pushed it over.

Since Zhou Zhe's hands were both useless, Li Mingyu had no choice but to hold the paper cup to his lips and let him drink a couple of sips.

After finishing the water, Zhou Zhe seemed to feel better, and his eyes began to focus.

"The raw materials... came from a supplier on the dark web called 'Abyss Pharmacy,' who has three laboratories in Southeast Asia..."

Su Qingge's pen flew across the paper.

"What's the core list? Who are the people from 'Abyss Pharmacy' that you've contacted?"

Zhou Zhe opened his mouth.

Then his body began to convulse.

There was no warning whatsoever.

His back arched violently, as if an invisible hand was prying his spine outward from the inside. A large amount of white foam spilled from the corner of his mouth, his eyes rolled back, and his limbs struggled wildly in the restraints.

"What's going on!"

Su Qingge stood up abruptly.

Li Mingyu was so startled that he jumped back a step, causing the chair to overturn to the ground.

The convulsion lasted for less than ten seconds.

Zhou Zhe's body suddenly went limp, his head drooped to one side, white foam hung from the corner of his mouth, his pupils dilated, and his chest stopped rising and falling.

died.

Su Qingge rushed to the door and yanked open the interrogation room door.

"Seal off the entire floor! No one is allowed to leave! Call the forensic doctor!"

When Lin Chen arrived after receiving the call, the interrogation room had already been cordoned off.

A dozen or so police officers stood in the corridor, looking at each other in bewilderment, a tense silence hanging in the air.

He didn't go inside; instead, he stood at the doorway and took a deep breath.

Bitter almond flavor.

It was so faint that it would have been impossible for him to detect it unless his senses had been heightened to an abnormal degree.

But it was this faint scent that made his eyes turn cold instantly.

Cyanide.

He pushed the door open and went in.

Zhou Zhe's body remained in the position he was in when he died, and the white foam had dried at the corners of his mouth, forming a thin scab.

The paper cup on the table was still there, with about half a cup of water remaining inside.

Lin Chen walked to the table, lowered his head, and sniffed the paper cup.

The bitter almond flavor is more pronounced now.

He straightened up and looked at Su Qingge.

"Cyanide poisoning, the poison is in the water."

Su Qingge's face was deathly pale.

"Impossible. The water dispenser is for public use, and the cups are disposable paper cups. Li Mingyu filled the cup in front of me..."

"So the problem isn't with the water dispenser, nor with the water cup."

Lin Chen's gaze swept across every corner of the interrogation room.

Surveillance cameras, one-way glass observation windows, ventilation openings, tables and chairs.

"The question is, who had the opportunity to touch the water after it was placed on the table and before Zhou Zhe drank it?"

He turned to Li Mingyu.

Li Mingyu's face was even paler than Su Qingge's, and his lips trembled. When he saw Lin Chen looking at him, he almost knelt down.

"It wasn't me! It really wasn't me! I put the water on the table right after I got it, and I didn't leave it in between! I swear!"

Lin Chen stared at him for two seconds, then looked away.

Li Mingyu's fear was real.

His fingers were trembling, and his pupils were constricted with extreme panic, showing no sign of pretense.

A fool of this caliber certainly doesn't seem like the kind of mole who could keep a secret.

"Who entered this room before the interrogation began?"

Lin Chen asked.

Su Qingge forced herself to calm down and pulled up the duty log.

"The cleaning staff swept the room once at 6 PM, the technical department checked the recording equipment at 10 PM, and Old Zhao came in at 11 PM and put a stack of interrogation transcript templates in the drawer..."

"Who is Lao Zhao?"

"Zhao Deshun, deputy captain of the serious crimes unit, has worked in the bureau for 32 years and will retire next year."

Su Qingge frowned.

"He's usually very popular, he smiles at everyone, and everyone calls him Uncle Zhao."

Lin Chen did not respond.

He walked over to the water dispenser, squatted down, and glanced at the water tray at the bottom of the machine.

Clean, with no abnormal residue.

He walked back to the table, picked up the paper cup, and turned it over to look at the bottom.

On the paper fiber layer at the bottom of the cup, there is a pinhole-sized puncture mark that is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.

The surrounding paper fibers showed very slight chemical burning discoloration, turning pale yellow, and the area was less than one millimeter in diameter.

Lin Chen put the paper cup down.

"The poison wasn't put in the water. It was injected into the wall of the paper cup beforehand."

Su Qingge was stunned.

"Someone used an extremely fine needle to pierce the paper cup wall from the bottom and injected a small amount of high-purity potassium cyanide solution into the interlayer fibers of the paper cup's inner wall."

"From the outside, the cup looks perfectly fine, but as soon as you pour in warm water, the potassium cyanide will dissolve and leach out, mixing into the water."

His voice was flat, but every word was like a nail driven into the ears of everyone present.

"This person is familiar with all the procedures in the interrogation room. He knows that the suspect will ask for water, and he knows that Li Mingyu will go to the water dispenser to get water and will use the paper cups that are readily available on the table."

"He only needs to come early, put the processed paper cups on top, and then leave."

"The whole process takes no more than 30 seconds, requires no contact with the water dispenser, no contact with the suspect, and doesn't even require being on this floor during the interrogation."

Lin Chen turned around to face Su Qingge, his eyes as cold as knives.

"There's a mole within the Municipal Public Security Bureau."

"He's not low-level, and he's not just protecting himself; he's protecting the entire dark web supply chain."

A few hushed whispers drifted down the corridor.

Unease and suspicion were written on the faces of all the officers, and the way they looked at each other had changed.

Su Qingge clenched her fists.

"I immediately reported to the director and requested a comprehensive investigation of all personnel who had contact with the interrogation room."

"An investigation is fine, but don't alert them."

Lin Chen stopped her.

"This fish has been hiding for so long without ever showing its tail, so it can't be detected using conventional methods."

He reached into his pocket and touched a small, cold bottle.

Truth comes out like a poison.

"I have a faster way."