The Devil Doctor's Spicy Love
Chapter 110: Spot the differences game

Chapter 110: Spot the differences game

Huojin asked, "So you came early today to talk to Kong Chuanli?"

"Yes...I was extremely nervous. My wife had me practice what I needed to say. But as time ticked closer, my mouth went dry. I couldn’t muster up the courage. Then as usual, I headed for some coffee to clear my head. When I returned, I was still shivering. I knew it was the time to talk to him. I finally did. I knocked on the door, but I didn’t hear any response."

"Then?"

"I went inside and saw Sir Kong on his seat. He looked really still to me. I came closer and then..."

Zhang Feiyu heaved breathlessly and clutched his temple. "I don’t remember much."

Xiyang blinked. "What do you not remember?"

"About what happened next. I don’t really know what is wrong with me. But ever since this stress has started to overwhelm me, at times, I feel...I don’t know how to explain," he licked his lower lip, trying to find his words, "l-like I blank out. It gets too much for me to handle and then...I just zone out."

Huojin stared at him. "So you mean to say you remember going inside but you don’t remember what happened next? You don’t remember talking to Kong Chuanli?"

"...No. I am not really sure if I talked to him or not."

Huojin turned to look at Bojing. "Do you know what he is talking about?"

Bojing nodded. "Yes. Th-that can happen. Extreme stress, lack of proper sleep and me-mental burnout can cause cognitive difficulties that include memory issues. That person m-might experience gaps in his memory during stressful periods. Too much stress re-results in cognitive fatigue which impacts a person’s concentration and memory."

"So that means he doesn’t remember how he got behind Kong Chuanli or had his tie on his palm?"

"G-guess no. Not until he remembers, but there are v-very low chances of those memory gaps coming back to him."

Shilin gave a nod as well.

Xiyang whispered in his ear. "Inspector Mo. Zhang Feiyu forgetting the crux of the incident seems too...coincidental, doesn’t it? I am not saying he is lying, but it’s a little difficult to digest when he has been caught in an incriminating position."

Huojin found it hard to argue with that.

Bojing asked a question to Zhang Feiyu, "Are you t-taking any medication for it?"

"No. I mean I just thought that the blank outs were because I wasn’t properly sleeping at a stretch. It was inconvenient, yes, but it wasn’t really causing me any major problem. So I didn’t look for any treatment. Th-though my wife had indeed felt something was wrong with me and urged me to visit a doctor. I planned to, but it just kept on getting postponed because of work. I couldn’t even find time to eat, much less get an appointment..."

Zhang Feiyu rested his hands over his head, tightening his brows. "Did I really kill Sir Kong...? Could I really have done it? I...What will happen if I really did...? What about Luqi...?"

The thought of the future panicked him. What would his wife do if he was really proved to be the murderer?

"Th-there is nothing left to prove, right?" Tears fell as he broke down. "Zou Haoran saw me killing him...What is there left to be said?"

Huojin wanted to correct the detail that Zou Haoran actually didn’t see him in the ’act’ of murder, but he let it go.

The graver question was what he should be doing next. He gave it a thought and went outside. The employees jolted back into positions who were peering to know what was going inside the conference room.

He took a seat opposite Zou Haoran and Hu Linglu as they were part of the same team.

"How was Kong Chuanli as a manager?"

"He was a good manager," Zou Haoran somberly said, "I mean, yes he was strict and all but then which manager isn’t? Like any other manager, he had his faults. But we learnt to deal with it."

Hu Linglu’s expression twisted. "Only you would say that about him, you ass-licking moron! Hmph, you even wore a coat today to impress him."

"Hu Linglu, mind your tone!" Zou Haoran glared at her.

"No screaming and shouting," Huojin said with a deadpan voice. He glanced at her. "You seem to hate him."

She looked dumbfounded. "Everybody hates him! He was a mean son of a-"

"Miss. Hu," he warned.

She cleared her throat and forced herself to calm down.

"There is a difference between being strict and being a pain in the ass. It was just too stressful to work under him," her eyes teared up, "Do you know I had to miss celebrating my Dad’s birthday last week? Why? Because I was stuck in resolving a God damn error and he wasn’t letting me go!

I begged him that it was my Dad’s birthday, but he refused to even look at me! He would force us all to stay late at night for work. He set unrealistic deadlines, talked so rudely and was such a freak particular about the smallest things. It was hellish!"

Zou Haoran frowned. "You know the IT field is demanding. Why are you complaining?"

She returned him a blank stare. "Does that mean I should stop eating, sleeping and enjoying? Forget that I have family, friends and a LIFE? But here I am stuck in front of a computer the whole day! What’s worse is that we are supposed to put in only 8 hours of work but we were forced to work for 16 hours instead at times! It’s double the work time policy and we aren’t even getting any overtime compensation for it! It feels like a crime!"

Huojin let the tense air settle down. "Was Zhang Feiyu the first and only person to meet Kong Chuanli? Nobody else went before him?"

Zou Haoran shook his head. "I was working at my seat."

Hu Linglu had the same answer. "Yeah. Zou Haoran and I have adjacent cubicles. We never left. But I didn’t notice when Zhang Feiyu went inside. I was completely buried in my documentation work," she bitterly said.

"Are there no cameras here?"

She frowned. "Not inside the workzone here. We have cameras outside in the corridors and reception area. W-Why are you asking? Are you doubting us? I mean, isn’t this a very simple case? Zhang Feiyu killed him."

"Simple things are often not so simple. Do you know that Zhang Feiyu tends to blank out at times?"

"...Sometimes we have indeed seen him in a daze and then when I ask him, he would say he wasn’t sure what he was thinking about. Totally like he is in his own world."

Zou Haoran asked, "Is that what he said? That he blanked out? It definitely didn’t feel that way to me though. His shock looked genuine...like he couldn’t believe he did something like that."

"Let’s see. We are still investigating."

Huojin waved them off with a smile and entered Kong Chuanli’s office. The crime scene was surrounded by tapes. He put his arms behind his back and took slow steps towards the front of the desk. The head seat and desk were along the entry door’s line, which was situated at the right side.

The air felt still and undisturbed.

It’s too undisturbed to be honest. Not just the air but the things here too. Didn’t Kong Chuanli struggle at all?

How can his desk still be so neat and tidy?

He looked around the shelves, files, books, drawers and the whole space in its entirety. He noticed a picture frame on the desk and picked it up.

It was Kong Chuanli himself. The picture was clicked right here in his own office. He was in his seat, smiling. The office in the picture and in real time now looked like carbon copies.

He stared at the picture for a long time. Then he looked beyond it towards the desk. He went back and forth like this many times.

Huojin then smiled.

Xiyang stepped in and was surprised. "Why are you smiling, Inspector Mo?"

"Have you ever played that game where you have to spot differences between two exactly identical images?"

He scratched his head. "Yeah when I was a kid."

"It was my favorite game too. It seems like I got the chance to play it once again. And I won."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.