Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1231: Hei Zeming

“Did you betray Mr. Blank?”

For a moment Zhao Le’s expression changed.

He didn’t know how Chen Mingming had managed to come to this place, but he understood that every next step was crucial — one wrong move and everything would be lost. Zhao Le’s eyes slid past Chen Mingming’s back; all he saw was the officer on guard a few steps away in the holding area.

He wasn’t sure if anyone else was outside.

Maybe… the police knew you were classmates, and that’s why they let you in.

Zhao Le exhaled and sat on the single bed bolted to the wall, murmuring, “Betrayal? If you want to call it that… fine. I won’t say anything else because that would only make things worse for me. Even if I stay silent, the case won’t stop — the longer it drags on, the worse it is for me. You know I have to take care of my sister… I can’t just let it stall. If the case doesn’t move forward, the police might apply to extend my detention, right? I… have no choice.”

Chen Mingming had been watching Zhao Le’s subtle expressions and movements. He was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, “Was Wang Liang really killed by Mr. Blank?”

“Probably,” Zhao Le replied.

“Probably?” Chen Mingming frowned.

Zhao Le said, “When I arrived, Wang Liang was already dead.”Chen Mingming said calmly, “But you also said you’d never seen Mr. Blank in person. So even though you went to the scene, you were not there at the same time… That means both Mr. Blank and you are suspects in Wang Liang’s death.”

Zhao Le frowned. “You should have seen the conversations I had with Mr. Blank.”

Chen Mingming said, “But in fact, there are only conversations from before and after the incident… there’s no record of communication during the incident itself. So from the time you arrived at Wang Liang’s rental to the time you two began discussing how to handle things online, there’s a real blank.”

Zhao Le said softly, “What I said is the truth.”

Chen Mingming looked at him firmly. “I can see that — the police can see that too. If you can’t produce solid evidence proving you were merely an accomplice, that will work strongly against you.”

Zhao Le bowed his head and was silent. After a while he said slowly, “Mingming… if the police really sent you here, forget it. I have nothing useful to say. Wang Liang was dead before I arrived… but how he died, I truly don’t know. I can only guess Wang Liang was killed by Mr. Blank. I’ve said all I can… the forum logs between me and Mr. Blank are authentic. How it’s judged, I leave to fate.”

Chen Mingming suddenly asked, “Do you think Mr. Blank would have expected you to stand up and identify him?”

Zhao Le’s eyes grew complicated. In a low voice he said, “It probably could guess. So if the police want to catch it, they’d better hurry.”

Chen Mingming knew there wasn’t much more to get from him unless he exposed himself as Mr. Blank right then — but would Zhao Le believe him?

He was more and more certain he’d had part of his memory tampered with by the shop’s Boss; he had forgotten that section of memory. If he himself had no recollection, he couldn’t prove it to Zhao Le.

“Take good care of yourself.” Chen Mingming’s face darkened; he turned and left.

“Thanks for coming. You’re flying out tomorrow, right… maybe this is the last time we see each other…” Zhao Le called after him.

Chen Mingming didn’t stop. He nodded slightly to the guard as he walked past.

…

Like the last big question on an exam with only three minutes left to work it out.

In the tea room, Chen Mingming stirred his coffee with a spoon, lost in thought for a long time.

“Mingming, what are you doing here?” Zhou Yusheng walked in and, seeing Chen Mingming’s distant look, asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“The case,” Chen Mingming managed a smile.

“What do you think the problem is?” Zhou Yusheng set his hands on the table and asked.

Chen Mingming frowned. “Based only on Zhao Le’s confession and the chat logs, we still don’t know what happened right before and after Wang Liang died — who the killer really is can’t be confirmed yet.”

Zhou Yusheng asked, “You think Zhao Le is more suspicious?”

Chen Mingming stuck to the facts. “The witness only saw Zhao Le. Unless someone saw Mr. Blank as well, Mr. Blank exists only as data on the internet. For now Mr. Blank is virtual.”

Zhou frowned. “Mr. Blank is probably not fabricated. Apart from the hours around the crime, we can trace a year of contact between it and Zhao Le. But you’re right — there’s a blind spot in the timeline. There’s another strange point…”

“You mean the missing parts of Wang Liang’s body?” Chen Mingming asked.

Zhou nodded. “Old Ma and I studied it and both found the procedure odd.”

“How do you see it?” Chen Mingming asked directly.

Zhou Yusheng said, “If we accept Zhao Le’s version, and Mr. Blank wanted to challenge the police, it’s already done — no need to remove parts of the body. From the remains we can almost deduce cause of death. But given how the scene was handled, even if we knew the cause, it might not help much.”

“So the cause might reveal something?” Chen Mingming mused.

Zhou Yusheng nodded. “We think the killer wanted to hide something. But this case will likely be a long fight — unless Mr. Blank is caught, we don’t know the next move. For now, all we can do is keep questioning Zhao Le.”

A long fight — maybe for the police. For Chen Mingming, his exam time left was only 24 hours.

Once those 24 hours passed, would everything revert to how it was days ago, or would something else happen? He had no idea. Right now the thought that worried him was: if those 24 hours end, he’d probably no longer be able to show up openly as a police officer — and his identity as Mr. Blank might be exposed soon after.

If that happened, would his memory as Mr. Blank return… and would the truth surface?

Chen Mingming even entertained another possibility: after the exam window closes, his memory might only go back to before the assessment, and the memories of the past few days could be wiped — then he’d board the flight tomorrow.

If that happened and he left the country, even if it was later confirmed he was Mr. Blank, the difficulty for police to catch him would greatly increase.

Wait… if the blackout hadn’t exposed the bodies now, discovery might have been delayed much longer. By then both the witness and the repair shop boss might have forgotten everything — all traces would vanish, and Zhao Le would never have come forward.

From one perspective, this crime might have almost succeeded.

“Get off work now. You haven’t gone home for two nights—your mother’s going to kill me.”

Zhou Yusheng’s words snapped Chen Mingming out of his thoughts. In that brief daze, Chen Mingming nodded slightly… Perhaps, after tonight, there would no longer be such a home to return to.

“Let’s take a trip to West Street,” Chen Mingming suddenly said as he stepped out the door.

“West Street? Why?” Zhou Yusheng asked, puzzled.

Chen Mingming smiled faintly. “Mom likes the clay pot porridge from the night market there, remember?”

“Oh, right…” Zhou Yusheng nodded. “You’re more thoughtful than me. If I don’t bring her something tonight, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

As the car slowly drove out of the parking lot, Chen Mingming looked back at the place fading into the distance. Somehow, the past few days had felt both unbearably long and fleetingly short.

…

Later that night, when it was already quite late, Nan Xiaonan finally said goodbye to Little Bao and grabbed her things to leave the office.

However, instead of leaving the bureau immediately, she quietly made her way toward the detention room.

As a forensic doctor, she wasn’t authorized to directly contact the suspect, so she needed to find another way—something that required a bit more caution.

Zhao Le was already being held in custody, and perhaps the case would soon reach a conclusion… but Nan Xiaonan was not someone who left things half-done.

Zhao Le’s confession was not completely trustworthy—so she would make him speak the real truth.

She knew very well that without her interference, the case wouldn’t have progressed this fast. But now that it had, pushing it a bit further wouldn’t matter anymore.

Her fingers traced a sigil in the air—a magic seal. In addition to being a Star Creation Saint Guide, she was also a master of the arcane.

With a light flick of her finger, the seal began to dissolve in the air—Nan Xiaonan smiled faintly.

But suddenly, her smile froze in terror. The half-dissolved sigil was reforming—right before her eyes.

A chill shot through her body, her hair stood on end, and she tensed as though encountering a natural predator. She quickly turned around—the source of that horrifying aura came from right behind her.

“Mr… Mr. Luo!”

“Miss Nan,” Luo Qiu’s calm voice replied, “You’re off work. Why haven’t you left yet?”

Nan Xiaonan froze for a moment. Instinctively, she tried to enter her accelerated mental state—but dizziness hit her instantly, forcing her to lean against the wall.

She sighed softly. The mental acceleration she had used too many times in the past few days had taken a toll on her body.

Then, a warm current suddenly flowed through her limbs, washing away her fatigue. Her body recovered to how it felt about ten seconds earlier.

Nan Xiaonan blinked, a little uneasy. “Mr. Luo… does this case have anything to do with you?”

“It does, a little,” Luo Qiu said with a calm nod, not bothering to conceal anything.

Nan Xiaonan was confused—how could someone like him be involved in such an ordinary murder case?

Then realization struck—her spell had been stopped. That spell was meant to make Zhao Le tell the truth. Which meant… Luo Qiu was protecting Zhao Le?

If that was the case, then by using the Star Creation Lifeform to capture Zhao Le, she might have…

“I… I didn’t know,” Nan Xiaonan said, her anxiety deepening.

“It’s fine,” Luo Qiu said casually with a faint smile. “This way, the outcome might actually be better.”

She was startled, unsure what he meant by “better outcome,” but she dared not ask more. From the fact that he stopped her spell, it was clear he didn’t want her to meddle further.

“I’ll take another day off tomorrow,” Nan Xiaonan said seriously.

Luo Qiu replied mildly, “Miss Nan, do you have anywhere else to go?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I plan to keep working on the material you asked for tonight.”

Luo Qiu nodded, gesturing invitingly. “Then let’s go together. I’m heading back too.”

Nan Xiaonan hesitated briefly, then gathered her courage and stepped toward him. The moment she came close, the scenery around her rapidly shifted—and in the blink of an eye, they were standing in front of Luo Qiu’s home.

…

Because of the detour to West Street, it was almost midnight when they returned home.

The living room lights were off, only a small lamp lit beside the sofa.

When Zhou Yusheng gently opened the door, he saw his wife sitting on the couch, glasses on, an album in her hands.

“You’re back,” she said quickly, putting down the album and removing the blanket over her. “I made some soup. Let me heat it up for you two.”

To avoid worrying his mother, Chen Mingming had asked Zhou Yusheng not to mention his hospital stay.

Zhou Yusheng figured low blood sugar wasn’t a big deal and agreed.

“Here, eat something,” Zhou Yusheng said, lifting the food box in his hand.

It was her favorite meal.

“What were you looking at?”

Chen Mingming sat down beside his mother, while Zhou Yusheng joined them. The three squeezed together on a two-seater sofa.

“Your childhood photos.”

Performances in kindergarten. Recitations in primary school.

Sports meets, family trips.

Birthdays, New Years.

As the album pages turned, his mother slowly fell asleep, leaning on Zhou Yusheng’s shoulder. He too drifted off, holding her close.

Chen Mingming moved quietly, fetched a blanket, and covered them both.

He watched them for a long moment, then turned off the lamp and quietly left the room.

Half an hour later, Chen Mingming returned to his other home—the one his mother had bought after the divorce.

In just a few days, dust had already settled on many surfaces. He said nothing, went straight to his room, and turned on his computer.

“If it really was me, there should be something left behind…” Chen Mingming took a deep breath and began opening folders one by one. “Information. I need more information.”

He suddenly felt like a man dangling off a cliff, clinging to a single branch—while a venomous snake coiled around it, waiting to strike.

(End of Chapter)