Chapter 80 Interrogating the Pipe (Part One)

Chen Yu and Su Qingzhu walked out of the holding room, one after the other.

The atmosphere was oppressively heavy.

Su Qingzhu’s footsteps were light, yet her high-heeled police boots struck the polished floor with a rhythmic “tap, tap, tap,” like an unsettling beat knocking at one’s nerves.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned her breathtaking face to the side, her cool gaze settling on Chen Yu’s profile.

“You’re just going to leave like that?”

“What else?” Chen Yu kept walking, hands in his pockets, his posture lazy and unconcerned. “Your master’s locked himself up. Am I supposed to go in and play cards with him?”

Su Qingzhu frowned, clearly annoyed by his flippant attitude.

“That’s not what I meant,” she replied coldly. “I’m talking about the pipe! Aren’t you curious why my master wouldn’t tell you what Pipe got out of Brother Lei during the interrogation?”

“What’s there to be curious about?” Chen Yu finally halted, turned, and leaned nonchalantly against the wall, a smile playing on his lips.

His gaze was unabashed, sweeping up and down the breathtaking curves of Su Qingzhu’s figure, making the usually unflappable police beauty flush with an uncharacteristic blush.

“First, the record will have it. Second…” He paused, his smirk deepening. “Detective Su, you’ve worked with your master for so long—haven’t you figured out what kind of person he is?”

“He likes to watch us thrash about like headless chickens, enjoying the thrill of manipulating everything from the shadows.”

“If you ask him now, he’ll just stare at you with those dead-fish eyes and say, ‘If you want to know, find out yourself.’”

Su Qingzhu was stunned.

Shock filled her beautiful eyes.

This man… He’s only known Master for a few days.

Why… why can he see through Master’s character so clearly—even more than I can, after so many years as his disciple?

They spoke no more, the atmosphere growing subtly tense.

…

The interrogation rooms of Jiang City’s Detective Division were secured to the highest level.

Each had an adjoining surveillance room with one-way glass. At this moment, Chen Yu and Su Qingzhu stood in the observation room, silently studying the figure inside through the special glass.

Pipe.

Ranked sixth on the “Cold Case Revival” star detective leaderboard.

A man so low-key on the show he nearly vanished into the background.

He sat upright now, perched on the icy metal bench. His face revealed no emotion, his composure so absolute it was unnerving.

Such self-control was anything but normal.

Su Qingzhu slipped instantly into work mode. Sitting at the surveillance computer, she gripped the mouse and rapidly scrolled through every frame of the footage from Pipe’s interrogation with Brother Lei.

Chen Yu, meanwhile, simply stood before the glass, unmoving.

His eyes were fixed on Pipe inside the interrogation room—so utterly still he seemed… frozen.

Su Qingzhu glanced at him out of habit, inwardly grumbling.

Here comes the “Zombie Man” act again.

She had long grown used to these spells of his, but she couldn’t help but wonder what shocking stunt he’d pull this time when he “woke up.”

What she didn’t know was that, at this very moment, Chen Yu’s mind was undergoing a seismic transformation.

[Ding! Side quest detected: The Death of Brother Lei has been triggered!]

[Objective: Uncover the method of murder and identify the true culprit behind Brother Lei’s death!]

[Restriction: Host’s core skill “Rewind” is temporarily disabled during this mission!]

[Reward: 500 skill points.]

A sharp twitch flickered at the corner of Chen Yu’s eye.

Damn system!

Here to stir up trouble again!

No “Rewind”? What’s the point of having a genius detective system if you take away its core investigative function? Might as well be a salted fish.

Are you forcing me to use my brain now?

Trying to turn me from a rookie who relies on cheats into a true detective, step by step?

How interesting.

Though, the reward is only 500 points—so stingy, not even enough for a passive skill.

Well, may as well… play along with you.

His thoughts flashed by in a split second. When he finally lifted his eyes again, that roguish, mischievous grin returned to his lips.

“Let’s go, Detective Beauty.”

He spoke suddenly, his voice tinged with lazy excitement.

“Let’s have a talk with him.”

Su Qingzhu was caught off guard by his abrupt change in tone.

Now he’s calling me “Detective Beauty” again? Shameless! Flippant! Incorrigible!

She shot him a cutting glare.

The interrogation room door opened.

Chen Yu entered with an innocent, harmless smile, swaggering in, and without hesitation plopped himself down in the main investigator’s seat—right beside Su Qingzhu.

Her brows creased again, but she said nothing.

Across from them, Pipe’s impassive face finally betrayed a flicker of surprise upon seeing Chen Yu.

Chen Yu waved warmly, as if greeting an old friend.

Pipe nodded in return, but deep in his eyes, a flash of mockery and wariness surfaced.

“So it’s you—Zombie Man.” He sneered. “Who would have thought the infamous Zombie Man was actually an undercover planted in the show by the Jiang City Detective Division? That’s quite a game you’re playing.”

“Oh?” Chen Yu feigned confusion, then exaggeratedly shook his head, chuckling. “Brother Pipe, you’re mistaken. I’m a consultant—Captain Yan hired me by the hour, and I’m quite expensive.”

He turned to Su Qingzhu, grinning brilliantly.

Getting no response, he grinned sheepishly, pulled out a brand-new phone, and began tapping rapidly on the screen, the clicking sounds echoing through the room.

Su Qingzhu, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, picked up the case file and adopted a businesslike tone.

“Brother Pipe, there’s no need to be nervous.”

Without looking up, Chen Yu remained absorbed in his phone, speaking as casually as if chatting on a street corner.

“So, tell us—what thrilling events happened tonight?”

Pipe was silent for a moment before replying.

“Nothing much. Tonight, the production team notified me that I could collect evidence from Brother Lei, the suspect. I brought the authorization signed by both the city and the production team—all procedures were followed. Captain Yan checked everything and was present the whole time.”

His account was airtight.

“And then?” Chen Yu’s fingers danced even faster across the screen, as if he were in the midst of an intense chat, his questioning almost absentminded.

“And then?” Pipe’s tone was tinged with mockery. “Then Brother Lei went mad, repeating over and over, ‘I confess. I killed them all.’ No matter what I asked, that was all he’d say. Honestly, I was helpless—felt like I’d wasted my time.”

“If it was a wasted trip, then why are you sitting here now?”

Chen Yu finally looked up, his eyes bright with amusement, making Pipe feel inexplicably uneasy.

“How should I know? Maybe it’s just police procedure.”

Pipe deflected the question smoothly, then shot back, “But you, Consultant Chen, why suspect me? I never even touched Brother Lei. How could I have killed him?”

Here it comes.

Chen Yu sneered inwardly.

“Heh.”

He leaned forward, lowering his voice.

“Brother Pipe… You seem awfully nervous.”

“Why are you so sure that Brother Lei… was murdered?”

The air froze in that instant.

“Huh?”

Su Qingzhu, who had been irritated by Chen Yu’s careless questioning, jolted upright at those words. She shot a fierce look at Pipe.

It was a trap—a linguistic trap.

From beginning to end, the police had only ever stated publicly that Brother Lei died of “sudden asphyxiation.”

Pipe’s expression stiffened for a split second. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but that was enough for Chen Yu’s Insightful Eye to catch the wild spike in his heart rate.

[Heart rate: 75…98…80!]

But in the next moment, Pipe regained his composure, even managing a smile.

“Consultant Chen, you must be joking. You kept me here all night with this much fuss—obviously you suspect me of murder. I was just following your lead. What’s wrong with that?”

A flawless answer.

Impeccable psychological control.

Chen Yu regarded him with newfound respect.

Just then, Chen Yu’s phone screen lit up with a new message.

He lowered his head again, his gaze glued to the phone, slipping back into his distracted act.

“Fair enough. Go on—once you finish your account, you can leave.”

A glimmer of cold amusement flashed in Pipe’s eyes. He seemed certain Chen Yu had run out of tricks.

“After I finished questioning Brother Lei, Captain Yan accompanied me out of the interrogation room. I was just about to leave when I heard Captain Yan shout in alarm from inside.”

“I rushed back and saw Brother Lei slumped in the chair, convulsing violently—and then… he went still. I even helped call the ambulance!”

“And then?” Chen Yu’s eyes remained glued to his phone screen, fingers swiping and zooming as if he’d found something deeply engrossing.

“And then?” Pipe’s patience was wearing thin, his tone edged with anger. “Consultant, could you show some respect? Playing on your phone during an interrogation—what kind of attitude is that?”

“The doctors came and declared him dead! Captain Yan told me not to leave, then called the medical examiner. They took Brother Lei’s body away. After that, Captain Yan locked himself in the holding room without saying a word!”

“Sure, sure. Go on,” Chen Yu parroted.

“Hey!”

Bang!

Su Qingzhu finally lost her patience.

She slammed the table so hard her beautiful face flushed crimson with anger, her chest heaving.

Pointing at Chen Yu’s nose, she shouted, “Chen Yu! What the hell are you doing? Can’t you take this seriously? Are you addicted to your phone?!”

Chen Yu was startled by her lion’s roar, shaking his head with a wry smile, about to offer a placating word.

Ding!

Suddenly, his phone vibrated again, the notification tone crisp and clear.

“You…!”

Su Qingzhu was on the verge of exploding, her finger trembling as she jabbed at Chen Yu.

He had completely ignored her!

At that moment, Chen Yu’s gaze was glued to the phone as if drawn by a magnet.

On the screen were several high-definition photos.

With a sudden motion, he placed two fingers on the image and spread them apart.

The picture zoomed in instantly.

Every detail leapt out with crystal clarity.

Silence.

In the interrogation room, only Su Qingzhu’s heavy breathing and the growing brightness in Chen Yu’s eyes could be heard.

One second.

Two.

Three.

“Heh… Ha ha…”

A slow grin spread across Chen Yu’s lips, finally blooming into a victorious smile.

He slammed the table, the sound ten times louder than Su Qingzhu’s outburst.

“Enough!”

He stood, slipped the phone into his pocket, and announced in a ringing voice,

“It’s done!”