Chapter 89: Public Execution (Part II)

The entire interrogation room, and even the millions watching this live broadcast through their screens, held their breath in that instant.

After a brief pause, the comment section exploded like a torrent:

“Holy hell! A deal! A devil’s bargain! What kind of movie plot is this?”

“I knew it! I knew there was an earth-shattering secret behind all this! A regular technician and an underground king being life-and-death friends—there’s no way that makes sense!”

“The pressure from ‘the undead guy’ is overwhelming. Even through the screen I can barely breathe—is Liu Gang okay?”

“So this is the art of interrogation (tactical lean back)! Captain Yan and Officer Su have faded into the background, haha!”

At the top floor of the Jiangcheng Group.

Zhang Fu stared at the aggressive young man on his tablet, and for the first time, a ripple disturbed the depths of his enigmatic eyes.

His secretary beside him didn’t even dare to breathe.

Inside the interrogation room, Liu Gang’s eyes snapped open, his face awash with sorrow and regret.

He had never expected this—never even considered it.

Chen Yu had managed, with a single photograph, to strike at the secret Liu Gang had buried in his heart for fifteen years, a corner of his soul even he had nearly forgotten.

What Liu Gang didn’t know was that Chen Yu’s confidence was far more extraordinary than he could have ever imagined.

To be honest, before entering this interrogation room, Chen Yu was just as bewildered by the exact relationship between Liu Gang and Lei as anyone else.

All his deductions were based on one principle: “Boldly hypothesize, carefully verify.”

It wasn’t until a few minutes before the broadcast began, when he used the excuse of a final check on the evidence and once again touched the laminated photograph, that everything changed.

That touch revealed an entirely different “Retrospect” vision.

Previously, the “Retrospect” ability allowed him to sense residual emotions or memory fragments of the item’s owner.

But this time, as Chen Yu’s fingertips brushed the cold plastic, there was nothing of “Pipe” Shen Tao’s memories—no trace of his investigative struggles, nor the resoluteness of his quest for vengeance.

Instead, the system’s cold prompt sounded in his mind: [Causal chain key node detected. “Retrospect” skill triggers special effect—scene reconstruction!]

The next moment, Chen Yu’s consciousness seemed to detach, plunging him straight into that dim, damp alleyway from fifteen years ago.

He “saw” the young Lei leaning against a mottled wall, nervously smoking a cigarette and giving instructions in a low voice to his underlings.

The first key detail emerged!

Lei said, “Keep an eye on the person inside. Give her whatever she wants. If you neglect her, we can’t bear Mr. Jin’s wrath!”

Mr. Jin!

That name shot through Chen Yu’s mind like a bolt of lightning, illuminating every corner of his confusion.

Lei, Dong Zhan, Zhang Fu—all their talk of that all-powerful “big shot,” Mr. Jin!

And then, the second key detail appeared.

Just as Lei finished speaking, something flickered faintly in the shadows at the end of the alley.

In such a pitch-black environment, any movement was glaringly obvious.

Human vision is naturally drawn to motion.

Chen Yu’s “gaze” instinctively focused in that direction—he “saw” it!

A face, twisted by terror and rage, was staring at Lei from behind a corner.

A younger Liu Gang!

So that’s how it was.

The “Retrospect” information in this photograph didn’t come from the photographer Shen Tao, but was a direct restoration of the real scene at the moment the photo was taken!

It was these two critical pieces of information that gave Chen Yu absolute certainty, allowing him to launch the most devastating psychological assault on Liu Gang in this widely watched broadcast.

Now, faced with Chen Yu’s razor-sharp questioning, Liu Gang’s mental defenses finally collapsed completely.

He raised his head, scanning the cold interrogation room, and finally fixed his gaze on Chen Yu’s half-smiling face. A bitter smile crept across his own as he spoke.

“Back then…my wife died a terrible death.”

That single sentence silenced the uproarious live chat.

Everyone knew—the real story was about to begin.

Liu Gang seemed lost in memory, his eyes hollow and sorrowful. “My wife and I grew up together. We were very much in love. I thought we’d live ordinary lives—work, have children, grow old together… I never imagined she’d die so horribly at the hands of a monster.”

“Slashed open… When the coroner told me, I lost my mind. My world fell apart.”

His voice trembled uncontrollably, pain from fifteen years ago still etched deep in his bones.

“Detectives from the city came one after another. They were completely stumped by my wife’s case. No witnesses, no clues—the killer was like a ghost, coming and going unseen.”

“I went to the precinct every day, and every day I got the same answer: ‘The investigation is ongoing.’ I couldn’t wait—not a single day! Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was my wife, covered in blood.”

Su Qingzhu and Yan Zheng wore expressions of empathy. They had seen such cases before and deeply understood the despair and helplessness that consumed victims’ families.

“In my desperation, I came up with an idea…” Liu Gang continued. “If the authorities couldn’t help, I’d find someone myself! I thought of hiring a private investigator.”

“Unfortunately, I was just an ordinary technician at a research institute, with a meager salary. The ones I found were all… petty frauds.”

He forced a self-deprecating laugh, more pitiful than tears. “They made up all sorts of stories, claimed to have inside connections or special methods, and swindled my money time and again.”

At this point, Chen Yu suddenly spoke, picking up his story.

“And then, when you were almost in despair, ready to risk it all, you used your last bit of savings to hire a private investigator who’d just gained a little reputation in the field and charged comparatively little—the one known as ‘Pipe,’ Shen Tao.”

Liu Gang jerked his head up, his pupils contracting violently. “How…how do you know that?!”

This was the very question every viewer wanted to ask.

It was uncanny! Even the private detective from fifteen years ago—how could he know that?

This was beyond mere reasoning; it was almost prophetic!

A knowing smile played at the corners of Chen Yu’s lips.

“My hacker friend dug up your bank records from fifteen years ago, right after you turned yourself in—that is, the month after your wife’s murder.”

“Within two weeks, your bank account showed more than a dozen small payments, each to a different random individual—those must have been the scammers.”

“And at the end, there was one last, largest payment that emptied all your savings. Tracing the recipient through several layers, it ultimately pointed to one person—Shen Tao!”

Bang!

Liu Gang slumped in his chair as if struck by lightning.

Even decades-old transactions had been unearthed!

Any last shred of hope he harbored was ground into dust.

Chen Yu watched him, delivering the final blow: “And that explains perfectly why ‘Pipe’ Shen Tao took that photo with you in the background all those years ago—because you’d hired him to tail and investigate Lei.”

“All of this—from your wife’s murder, to you being scammed, to finally finding Shen Tao—happened in just over two weeks!”

Chen Yu’s voice dropped, tinged with regret.

“You were simply too desperate back then.”