Chapter 83: Gradually Becoming Clear

Ning Shuyi knew that his words were reasonable and not just perfunctory, so she could only resign herself to the task. She lifted her aching arms, wiped the sweat from her cheeks, did some stretching exercises, and finally headed to the shower to wash off the stench of sweat. She changed into fresh clothes and braced herself for the day's work.

Previously, because Huo Yan's police training schedule had been so tight, their physical training sessions were always brief and mostly in the evenings. This was actually the first time Ning Shuyi had been made to break a sweat so early in the morning. If, in the past, Huo Yan had simply wanted to set up a challenge to make her back down, this time it was clear that he was taking things seriously—both the intensity and the demands of her training had increased significantly.

Yet, strangest of all, despite her legs feeling weak and her arms heavy, Ning Shuyi was seized by a strange sense of clarity and vigor; her whole state of being was inexplicably excellent.

Late that morning, Ji Yuan returned from the Agricultural University with the answers they’d been looking for—his efficiency was impressive. As Ning Shuyi and her colleagues had guessed, the strange-looking insect, like the toad from the “Truth or Dare Club,” was not something that could be found domestically. It, too, was a foreign species strictly prohibited from entering the country by law.

The insect turned out to be a kind of ant from the other side of the globe—aggressive, highly venomous, and so toxic that both humans and large animals bitten by it could die within minutes. Since this creature was banned from entering the country, its origins must naturally be shady.

Huo Yan immediately questioned the detained club members. Since they had managed to acquire hallucinogenic toads through illegal channels, perhaps these bizarre ants were connected to them as well. The club members were visibly intimidated by Huo Yan; after suffering at his hands the last time they tried to act tough, they couldn’t help but shrink back at the mere sight of him.

However, they all professed total ignorance regarding the poisonous ants. They insisted that trafficking in toads was profitable, but there was no benefit for them in dealing with those ants. Their only goal was to get their “customers” addicted, so besides the toads, they provided “spiked” popcorn to regulars—but they certainly didn’t want their customers dead.

Their explanation made sense, at least to Ning Shuyi’s ears. In the end, it was the bleached-blond youth—who had once faced off with her, only to be knocked down by Huo Yan—who, perhaps eager to show his cooperation, offered a helpful tip: exotic insects like that ant, only found abroad, were coveted by certain fringe pet bloggers.

Ordinary pets and even common reptiles had lost their appeal; only the rare, bizarre, or even dangerous insects and reptiles could attract enough attention to boost popularity and increase followers through shock and spectacle.

This provided Ning Shuyi and her team with a new line of inquiry. The deadly ant, smuggled across the sea, was clearly used as a murder weapon. Such a dangerous creature would be a huge risk to hoard unless one was an experienced insect keeper—otherwise, one might well die at the hands of their own “tool” before ever carrying out their crime.

The mastermind behind the ant attack on Wang Yuluo must have obtained the ant through a similarly illicit pet shop. Since these “pets” were so niche, sales would be quite limited, making it much easier to narrow down suspects.

Ning Shuyi’s tangled doubts began to unravel, and the outline of a suspect emerged in her mind. But hunches and suspicions were far from enough—what she needed was concrete evidence.

“You focus on tracing the origin of the poisonous ant. I have a few more details I need to clarify,” she told Huo Yan.

Huo Yan had no objections to her plan. He nodded, took care of a few matters at hand, and set off.

That afternoon, Zhao Dabao returned from his errands, spotted Ning Shuyi, and hurried over, waving. “You didn’t go out on a run today! Perfect! Didn’t you ask me to look into Wang Yuluo’s aunt and uncle? I’ve got it all figured out!”

“It’s just as we suspected. While Wang Yuluo’s uncle was running the company with her father, he repeatedly embezzled company funds for personal use. Sometimes he’d invent projects as a pretense and funnel money to his own shady friends, lining his pockets from the corporate account.

“It was this behavior over a few years that ran the company into the ground. The books ended up hopelessly in the red, and patching one hole just opened up another—it was chaos.

“When Wang Yuluo’s father realized the company was going under and decided to pull out his investment, the uncle never held a proper job again. He spent his days drinking himself into a stupor and coming home to argue with his wife.

“I talked to their neighbors to confirm all this. They can all vouch for it—the fights were loud and nasty, with the uncle shouting obscenities that could be heard by everyone upstairs, downstairs, and on both sides.

“Sometimes it wasn’t just shouting—things would get smashed, too.

“The neighbors said that the couple used to get along well with everyone. They were friendly, a model couple, always in harmony. The change came after the uncle’s business failed.”

The neighbors also said that everyone in the area knew that for years, Wang Yuluo’s aunt had helped take care of her brother’s family. The two families had always been close. But after the business failure, there was a period when the uncle seemed perpetually drunk—either heading out to drink or already tipsy.

“Once drunk, he’d rant about the rich being heartless, about being cast aside after being used. Then he’d turn his anger on his wife and children.

“People wondered if the families had fallen out. But after a while, aside from the constant fights behind closed doors, the couple never said a bad word about her brother’s family in public. When the aunt spoke of her brother’s household, she still acted close, and she never stopped bustling around, helping out.”

As Zhao Dabao finished recounting his findings, Ning Shuyi sighed and asked, “So what do you think the aunt and uncle are plotting?”

After his recent research, Zhao Dabao answered without a moment’s hesitation: “They’re raising their own child up while spoiling the brother’s daughter rotten.

“The aunt’s plan is crystal clear: she’s pressuring her own daughter to study accounting, pushing her to get her certifications as soon as possible, all the while encouraging Wang Yuluo to keep drifting aimlessly.

“When Wang Yuluo is reduced to a pampered layabout obsessed with pleasure, and her own daughter becomes an excellent accountant, it’ll be easy to win her brother’s favor and trust.

“Her daughter can join her uncle’s company, become his right-hand woman, and as for herself and her useless husband, they won’t have to lift a finger—they’ll just latch on like parasites and continue living comfortably off her brother’s family!

“And in the future, her brother will only have one daughter—Wang Yuluo, who by then will be utterly spoiled and incapable. Even if the company is handed to her, she won’t be able to manage it. In the end, it’ll be their own child who takes the reins.

“What a classic case of the cuckoo laying its eggs in another bird’s nest!”