CH 116

Wang Chao smiled brightly—or at least he felt himself do it as the corners of his mouth seemed to be grinning ear to ear.

After all, it had been a long time since his boss had taken such a strong stand to cover for him. It felt great to have someone cover for him so he could do whatever he wanted.

He was in a good mood as he raised his hand a little higher. Just when he was ready to grab a big job, he felt his hand sink, and something cold touched his palms. The sudden metallic texture made him shudder before he realized someone had put a phone in his hand.

After realizing this, he looked up sharply and saw Li Jingtian’s gentle and elegant face. Or rather, it was more appropriate to say “a gentle scummy face” to describe him. In short, Li Jingtian’s face was as white as a ghost. He didn’t believe in the excuse of excessive blood loss. At some point, Li Jingtian was already sitting at the edge of the bed, hanging his slender legs on the side. A large piece of gauze was wrapped around his neck. They didn’t know what kind of disinfectant the hospital used, but most of the gauze was still oozing with blood. The singer was staring at Wang Chao with an extremely gentle look. When Wang Chao looked at those bottomless eyes, despite searching through his guts, he couldn’t find a suitable adjective to describe them. The fact was, Li Jingtian’s eyes were too gentle, so gentle that they gave him goosebumps.

At that time, he wanted to say something to interrupt, but when he was about to speak, Lin Chen’s reminder echoed in his ears.

A’Chen had told them not to talk to Li Jingtian.

So he won’t say anything.

He didn’t plan to make any more eye contact with Li Jingtian, so he quickly looked away. He hurriedly looked at the phone he just got, turned it over, and looked at the phone jack.

Then he gave a soft snort.

Naturally, Lin Chen noticed Li Jingtian looking at Wang Chao with a strange gaze. But in the end, Mr. Singer wasn’t doing anything, so he couldn’t interject.

When he heard Wang Chao snort, Lin Chen saw an obviously weird smile on Liu Ying’s face.

“Hey, this phone model is pretty popular in Xinni…” Wang Chao quickly explained.

The teenager looked at the phone jack again and casually said, “Oh, let me look for the cable for this phone.”

As he spoke, he slammed his red backpack on the ground and began to rummage through it.

Wang Chao’s backpack was no different from a treasure chest. Lin Chen once saw him take out some surveillance cameras and signal blockers from it, so if he took out a special adapter for a phone made in Xinni from his backpack, it wouldn’t be a surprise.

However, Liu Ying didn’t have this knowledge. When Wang Chao pulled out the adapter and connected Li Jingtian’s phone to his laptop, Ms. Liu’s face darkened once again.

The teenager kept knocking on commands with his usual terrifying hand speed as data streams began to flow on the computer screen.

“Huh!”

Not long after, Wang Chao’s hand stopped.

“Well?” Unknowingly, Liu Ying had squatted down and looked at Wang Chao’s laptop screen.

“This phone is indeed infected by a virus.” Wang Chao ignored the manager next to him and nodded to Xing Conglian. “A kind of network phone worm called Cabir. It’s not particularly high-tech, so you can buy it on those shady forums.”

“How did that virus get into our Jingitan’s phone?” Liu Ying asked.

“Have you guys connected to the wifi recently?” 

Wang Chao’s question was directed toward Liu Ying, but Li Jingtian took the initiative to answer. “No, because I know that the wireless network isn’t very secure, so I’ve been using my phone network.”

“Hey, you’re quite rich.” The teenager spoke suddenly, as if he had found something unusual, and rubbed his nose. “This virus is transmitted via Bluetooth. It’s a variant of Cabir and can scan the Bluetooth systems of nearby phones. If a vulnerability is found, the virus will automatically be transmitted.”

“In other words, anyone who has been in contact with Jingtian may have sent this virus?” Liu Ying asked.

“Hey, sister, are you interested in solving this case?” The teenager’s moe was usually effective against short-skirted beauties, not queenly sisters, so he spoke with a gentle tone towards Liu Ying. “Wait, I can find out how this virus got implanted.”

He curled his lips and took out a Mentos from his backpack and popped one in his mouth, but his eyes kept staring at the screen.

Soon, as if he had discovered something incredible, he glanced at Xing Conglian with a rare solemnity on his face. “This virus was implanted at 10:03 today.”

When Li Jingtian heard this, he suddenly said, “10:03 is… the time when my throat was slit?”

Wang Chao didn’t speak and just nodded, agreeing with that assessment.

“Could it be that the culprit used the opportunity when she was approaching me while giving me flowers?” Li Jingtian asked.

This time, Wang Chao had no self-doubt. At least the teenager didn’t have any hesitation on his face. He just stared at the computer screen solemnly and said, “I found that the Bluetooth on your phone is turned on. If it’s implanted through the Bluetooth system, then she really needs to be very close to you to do it, but in theory, the first row of spectators under the stage can also do it.”

“I remember. When she came on stage and hugged me, she seemed to want to get very close to me on purpose. Is it because she was implanting the virus? Why?” Li Jingtian’s tone became lower and more terrified, with the curiosity of finding out more. Unfortunately, his tone didn’t sway Wang Chao, who wasn’t interested in solving that case.

“I don’t know. Maybe you offended her somehow.”

“How terrible.” Liu Ying couldn’t help covering her mouth. “You must arrest that perverted prostitute and bring her to justice,” she said to Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian raised his brows and took a noncommittal stance.

It seemed that the last suspicion about Li Jingtian had been cleared. He did have his throat slit, and his phone was indeed infected by a virus. It seemed that someone was setting him up. They now seemed to have no reason to doubt Li Jingitan, but obviously Xing Conglian and Lin Chen didn’t think so.

In fact, the moment they entered the ward, Lin Chen didn’t have any verbal communication with Xing Conglian, but based on his understanding of his friend’s consistent behavior, Xing Conglian knew well that Lin Chen hadn’t started yet.

So, at such a moment of no progress, he glanced at Lin Chen, who started to make his move.

“I have a question I want to ask you in private,” Lin Chen said.

The girl hurriedly shook her head and looked at Ms. Liu, who was standing by the window, as if asking for help.

Liu Ying smiled as she said, “What question do you have, Mr. Officer, that you can’t ask in front of us?”

“It’s really a bit inconvenient,” Lin Chen replied.

Liu Ying was speechless. Lin Chen’s reticent attitude was difficult to deal with. Xing Conglian couldn’t help but feel a little sympathetic for those who insisted on fighting against Consultant Lin.

“No, you must ask in front of us. We have to listen, in case you try to induce a confession or something!”

“Have you been reading too many detective novels?” Lin Chen turned his head and gave her a light, mysterious look.

However, he didn’t dwell on Liu Ying for long. Instead, he looked at Li Jingtian’s female assistant, gave up on the private conversation, and gently said, “This is just a routine inquiry. Please don’t think too much and answer truthfully.”

The assistant reluctantly nodded, but the girl still held her head down desperately, as if she didn’t dare look Lin Chen directly in the eyes.

“I want to ask, have you been following Mr. Li Jingtian today?”

“Yes… Yes.” The girl’s voice was soft like a mosquito, to the point where it was almost inaudible.

Lin Chen took another step closer and asked seriously, “But Ms. Liu Ying didn’t follow you. I know that she arrived at the hospital later. Basically, were you responsible for the meet and greet at Ansheng International Mall?”

“I… I just helped with the luggage. I’m not responsible for it…” The girl’s face flushed.

“I had to meet with an important guest in Hongjing today, so that’s why I wasn’t there with Jingtian. If you don’t believe me, you can…”

“I didn’t ask you.” Lin Chen turned his head and interrupted the manager.

Liu Ying stared wide-eyed and was speechless again.

Lin Chen refused to give Liu Ying a chance to question him. He turned his head and continued to look at the little assistant, who was almost lowering herself into dust in the room, and gently said, “Don’t be nervous. This is just a simple question. Who arranged for the female fan who came on stage to give flowers?” He paused. “A lot of evidence now shows that the fan who came on stage was the prostitute who accused Mr. Li Jingtian of raping her a few days ago, including you. Now you’re all confident about it, right? But, as Mr. Li Jingtian’s assistant, you should be very clear on the person’s appearance. You shouldn’t be unable to recognize her. So, who was it that arranged for her to bring flowers up?”

Lin Chen’s question was sharp. This was one of the biggest doubts in the entire case. The assistant who was staring at him bit her lip. “I don’t know. It was arranged by the mall, but it seems to be someone from the fan club. I really don’t know.”

“It can’t be the fan club. There’s no way the fan club members can’t recognize the person who framed their idol.”

The girl was so confused. She looked around the room, trying to find someone who could give her an idea, but there was no one in the ward who could help her.

The ward fell into silence.

Liu Ying wanted to save the scene, but Lin Chen seemed to possess eyes on the back of his head. The moment the manager was about to speak, he stretched out his hand and patted the girl’s head and softly said, “Don’t be nervous. If you can’t remember, you don’t have to think about it. It’s okay.” Despite being the target of his questioning, Lin Chen had shut it down uncharacteristically. His gaze still remained on the top of the girl’s head, never changing from beginning to end.

“Okay, then can you repeat Mr. Li Jingtian’s itinerary for today?” Lin Chen continued.

Just then, the singer, who had been silent on the hospital bed, finally couldn’t help but speak. “If you have any questions, you can ask me directly. There’s no need to hassle Xiao Ke.”

Lin Chen turned his head and said to the singer in a disdainful tone, “Why should I ask you?”

Lin Chen’s eyes were clear, revealing an unspeakable arrogance, as if the person sitting on the hospital bed wasn’t a superstar who could cause a stampede in a shopping mall, but just an ordinary suspect—or rather, not an ordinary suspect. His eyes were as if he were looking at scum or garbage on the ground.

Anyone who was looked at by Lin Chen with that kind of gaze would only have two reactions: either anger or fear.

But for Li Jingtian, who could enjoy Lin Chen’s special treatment, their reactions were always more special.