Chapter 1142 - 1139: Another One Dead
Zheng Hongmei tried her best to squeeze out a smile as she entered her office, closed the door, and plopped down on her chair.
The office lights weren't on, making the room quite dim as Zheng Hongmei sat on her office chair, feeling suddenly very tired.
Reflecting on the events she had experienced over the years, it truly seemed like she had been living in a dream.
There was a knock at the door; Zheng Hongmei didn't respond, not wanting to see anyone right now.
The knocking persisted, accompanied by a man's voice: "Mei, I know you're in there. Please open the door."
Zheng Hongmei did not get up and simply said, "Go away. I want to be alone for a while."
The person outside hesitated for a moment before footsteps indicated they were leaving.
Zheng Hongmei reclined fully in her office chair, her eyes closing slightly.
Over the years, she had suffered a lot, but managed to rise from being a hostess to her current position, showing she's quite capable.
In a daze, Zheng Hongmei heard her office door open. She tried hard to open her eyes but felt a sense of helplessness.
A smiling face appeared in her mind; it was very beautiful, carrying an indescribable magic power. The face slowly changed and ultimately turned into Yang Zi's face.
"Sister," Zheng Hongmei softly called.
Yang Zi's pretty face began to smile too, looking at Zheng Hongmei and saying, "Sister, come on, follow me, accept what destiny has arranged for you."
Yang Zi's smiling face seemed to have magical power, causing Zheng Hongmei's consciousness to blur, as she said, "Sister, I'll listen to you. I accept destiny's arrangement."
"Sister, from today, both you and I will be under destiny's arrangement. We are the guardians of destiny." Yang Zi's smiling face suddenly vanished into nothingness.
Zheng Hongmei felt a flash of light in her mind and woke up abruptly.
The scene just now was imprinted clearly in her mind. Looking at her dark office, Zheng Hongmei broke out in a cold sweat.
Zheng Hongmei sat up from her office chair, fearfully stood up, and went to turn on the lights.
Once the lights were switched on, the office brightened immediately, and Zheng Hongmei exhaled deeply. Just when she was wondering if it had all been a dream, a voice appeared in her mind: "Zheng Hongmei, you are the nine hundred and twenty-first guardian chosen by destiny's guardian power. You must obey the deity of destiny's arrangements."
Zheng Hongmei jumped in fright, looking around the office, but seeing no one. She couldn't help but yell, "Who's talking to me? Who are you?"
No sound responded, and Zheng Hongmei looked around in fear, her body slowly moving towards the office door. Upon reaching the door, she swung it open and rushed out.
The lighting in the corridor was very dim and quiet, with not a soul in sight. Zheng Hongmei shouted loudly, "Someone come quickly, come here!"
After a few cries, no one came; Zheng Hongmei ran towards the end of the corridor, but she couldn't get out of the short ten meters.
"Zheng Hongmei, accept reality. The deity of destiny will arrange your future life," the voice in her mind sounded again. Zheng Hongmei let out a scream, breaking into a cold sweat as she fearfully stared around.
Her fate controlled by others, Zheng Hongmei could imagine what her future held. When she was a hostess, her fate was hardly her own.
She had endured it enough; she would rather die than have her fate controlled by others again.
In the corridor, Zheng Hongmei screamed aloud, but not a single person came up. Under extreme fear, she shrieked, "You demon, dare to control my fate. Even in death, I won't let anyone manipulate my destiny."
Her screams echoed down the corridor. Just as she shouted those words, a look of despair filled her eyes, staring straight forward. Her beautiful face distorted by fear.
In front there was nothing, but it seemed Zheng Hongmei had seen something terrifying, and she began to struggle furiously, making coughing noises from her throat.
The struggle seemed useless, as Zheng Hongmei slowly collapsed, her eyes still showing terror.
That's how Zheng Hongmei died, mysteriously.
Zheng Hongmei died in the corridor, fists clenched and eyes staring at the ceiling, discovered by the front desk manager at the Emperor Nightclub.
Zhang Wenhui was watching TV at home when he received the news of Zheng Hongmei's death, prompting him to rush to Emperor Nightclub.
Originally, he intended to use Zheng Hongmei to lure out Yang Zi; unexpectedly, she was dead within less than three hours after leaving the detention center.
Zhang Wenhui arrived at Emperor Nightclub to find the scene already cordoned off by the police, with two forensic experts in white coats conducting an examination.
Zhang Wenhui walked over to Zheng Hongmei and lifted the white sheet covering her body.
What met his eyes was Zheng Hongmei's face full of terror, her wide-open eyes staring directly at him.
Seeing Zheng Hongmei's eyes, Zhang Wenhui suddenly felt an indescribable chill in his heart, as if those eyes were trying to tell him something.
"Any findings from the scene investigation?" Zhang Wenhui pulled the sheet to cover Zheng Hongmei's face again and turned to ask the forensic experts beside him.
The forensic expert said, "Basically nothing was found at the scene, and there are no fatal injuries on the deceased. Preliminary analysis suggests she died from fear."
"Died from fear?!!!" Zhang Wenhui was somewhat shocked; what terrifying thing must one see to die from fear?
The forensic expert nodded and said, "That's correct, but this is just a preliminary conclusion. The detailed results will have to wait for the autopsy report."
Zhang Wenhui replied with an "Mm", fell into silence, and walked over to where a police officer was questioning a front desk manager in a work uniform: "When did you see Zheng Hongmei was dead?"
The front desk manager, a middle-aged woman in her thirties, said nervously, "Just half an hour ago, I came up to discuss something with President Zheng and saw her like this."
"Then think carefully, did anyone else suspicious come up before you?" The police officer followed with another question for the front desk manager.
The front desk manager thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "I didn't notice anyone."
The police officer frowned slightly and said, "Then think carefully, when did Zheng Hongmei return to the nightclub, and did she go anywhere else?"
The front desk manager said, "President Zheng came back at six twenty in the afternoon. I remember this time clearly because she hadn't been to the nightclub for several days, and when she appeared, I happened to be answering a call. President Zheng greeted us and went straight to the office, seemingly not visiting any other places."
Zhang Wenhui's brows were tightly knitted; too many strange events had occurred recently. First, there were several vicious death incidents in the city where the blood of the deceased was drained dry. Then, when Yang Zi was caught, a puppet appeared to save Yang Zi, causing two officers to lose their lives.
And now, Zheng Hongmei, who just got out of the detention center less than three hours ago, died inexplicably from fear. Zhang Wenhui couldn't shake the feeling that these cases were somehow connected.
A flash of insight crossed his mind; Zhang Wenhui suddenly slapped his forehead. He had received a call from a stranger to locate Yang Zi, and at that time, the stranger insisted on a reward upon capturing Yang Zi.
Days have passed, and that stranger hasn't called again, and he had forgotten about it entirely.
The stranger requested a reward, but there hasn't been any contact since the incident, which seemed suspicious. Zhang Wenhui hurriedly took out his phone, opened the call log, and revisited the stranger's phone number.
He dialed the number but received no answer. Zhang Wenhui called several times and still got no response, so he dialed the telecom company, requesting them to investigate the number's information immediately.
Minutes later, the telecom company reported that the number was from a public phone near Emperor Nightclub.
Hanging up, Zhang Wenhui immediately left Emperor Nightclub and, following the address provided by the telecom company, located the public phone.
The public phone was inside a department store two hundred meters from Emperor Nightclub, operated by a woman in her thirties. Zhang Wenhui entered, showed his credentials to the store owner, and said, "Owner, I'm a police officer, and I'd like to ask you some questions."
The store owner glanced up at Zhang Wenhui's credentials and asked, "What is it?"
Recalling he received the stranger's call on September 13th, Zhang Wenhui asked the store owner, "Owner, please try to remember, was there a man using this phone around seven o'clock on the evening of September 13th?"
The store owner thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "There are so many people coming and going every day. I can't remember."
Zhang Wenhui frowned and asked, "Owner, do you have surveillance installed here?"
The store owner replied, "I don't have any surveillance here, but the lottery shop across the street does."
Zhang Wenhui thanked her, left the department store, and headed to the lottery shop across the street, where about ten people were busy purchasing lottery tickets.
The shop owner was a young man. Zhang Wenhui approached him to explain the situation.
The young man agreed to cooperate immediately and retrieved the surveillance footage from around seven o'clock on the evening of September 13th.
Carefully watching the surveillance footage, Zhang Wenhui noticed a man entering the department store across during that time and exiting again in less than three minutes.
Due to some distance, the man's facial features weren't clear. Zhang Wenhui asked the young man to email the surveillance video to the police station's computer, then returned to the department store.
With Zhang Wenhui's detailed description, the store owner finally remembered a man coming to make a call that day and informed Zhang Wenhui that the caller was approximately thirty years old, not tall, looking soft and weak, resembling a drug user.