Li Caiyi was bewildered, but she was shocked by Detective Tang's revelation the next moment.
"Kong used to be one of Ye Wang's as well."
"What?!" Li Caiyi almost yelled out due to how surprised she was. She quickly covered her mouth and glanced at Li Junjie. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice her outburst.
"Shocking, right?" Detective Tang chuckled. "However, even if I said he was one of them, that was technically incorrect since he never pledged to be one of them. We coincidentally met during one of my cases in the past. But that's a story from when I was still working for the public investigator."
Li Caiyi massaged her throbbing forehead. The sudden influx of information overloaded her brain, and she had difficulty ingesting them. "Wait, slow down. Then how could he be related to them?
"Kong had an older sister. She was the fiancee of a high-ranking person in Ye Wang. Kong really loved and cherished her a lot. He often used his skill to help the group per her sister's request. He isn't one of them, but he has done a lot of stuff for them."
Li Caiyi's jaw dropped. To think there was such a significant and vital backstory behind this all.
As she was filled with disbelief, another thought hit her.
Chu Kong's older sister was the fiancee of a high-ranking man in Ye Wang, and she died in a car accident. Why did that story sound familiar?
It took a few seconds before she could finally see the string connecting the facts she already knew in her mind.
"Wait a minute. This fiance—I mean, Mr. Chu's late sister's fiance, could he be Mr. Lin Xiang?"
Detective Tang's brows raised in a mixture of surprise and awe. "I didn't expect you to know some important people from that group too. That's right. If it weren't for that unfortunate accident, Lin Xiang would be Kong's brother-in-law by now."
So she was correct. Li Caiyi was at a loss for words and could only stare blankly at him.
"The police concluded that the car crash was just an accident, but Kong firmly believed it was a premeditated murder committed by one of Ye Wang's enemies. Their parents had long passed away, so those two only had each other. That's why her sister's death hit him hard. Ever since then, Kong isolated himself from the world and refused to meet anyone."
"I see," Li Caiyi felt bad for Chu Kong. To lose the only family member he had must be devastating for him.
"Kong blamed Lin Xiang for her sister's death, but the latter never stopped to watch over him in his fiance's stead. And it's not out of personal feeling either, but because Ye Wang's boss also valued Kong's skill a lot. It wouldn't be hard for them to find out your relation to us after some time."
Li Caiyi was stunned. From his explanation, it was fair to assume Lin Xiang must also know about her involvement with Chu Kong, but what about Dai Zhiqiang?
It didn't seem like he knew anything about her secret because he was desperate to find out what she was hiding. He wouldn't act like that if he already knew.
"You said you felt bad for me earlier; what do you mean by that?"
"Ah." Detective Tang put both hands on top of his knee before lowering his head before her. "Miss Li, I'm terribly sorry for not telling you the truth."
Taken aback by his sudden apology, Li Caiyi had a bad feeling about this. "Explain to me in a way I can understand."
"Actually, Ye Wang is one of the contributors to our research. They helped us with the funding and also information. However, even with Ye Wang's power, it was difficult to crack those shady conglomerates easily."
"There is no lack of funding on our side, but we need to have the Young Master Meng on our side, so we tricked you. We used the excuse of being unable to produce medicine for your sister to manipulate you."
Li Caiyi: "...."
Detective Tang raised his head to gauge her reaction, but Li Caiyi only sat there silently with inexplicable emotion written on her face. He apologetically lowered his gaze again.
"We're really sorry. No, actually, Kong tried to stop me before. He felt it wasn't right to convince you using your sister's life like that, but I convinced him. Because I know you won't refuse our offer if we say this is the only way to save your sister. If you want to blame someone, please blame me."
Li Caiyi didn't know what to say. Certainly, it was unpleasant to be tricked like that, especially when she was always worried about Li Chunhua's health.
It was after Li Caiyi agreed with their conditions she went to Meng Renshu for help. She could imagine how she would refuse if he asked for her favor without using Li Chunhua's medicine as the condition.
Detective Tang was probably aware of that too.
Li Caiyi sighed in defeat. "Please raise your head. I won't bear a grudge or get mad over this matter."
Detective Tang slowly straightened his back again. "Really? But I used an underhanded tactic on you."
"In the end, it turned out to be for the better. We probably wouldn't get this far if you didn't do that."
He smiled widely, feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulder. "I'm the one who keeps saying that we should trust each other, but here I am, using every trick on my sleeve to achieve my goal. I feel bad."
"Stop apologizing. My sister and I aren't harmed by your lie, and that's enough for me. But does Brother Renshu know about this?"
Detective Tang laughed dryly as he wiped the sweat on his temple. "Rather than knowing about it, he saw through me from the beginning. Kids these days are very sharp."
"He did?"
"Yeah. He said since he had already agreed to help, he wanted us to stop using you as a pawn. That was a terrible way to put it, but in a way, he was right. So I couldn't say anything back to him."
Li Caiyi recalled when Meng Renshu and Detective Tang seemed to engage in a serious conversation in the laboratory. Were they talking about this?
A wave of inexplicable emotion washed over her, knowing that Meng Renshu silently cared for her like that. She shook her head to chase away the thought.
"I came here to ask you a few things about Ye Wang, but I didn't expect to hear so much. Especially about Mr. Chu's entanglement with them."
"I haven't known him for long, but I know Lin Xiang. That guy helped me to gather information a few times."
Li Caiyi pondered for a bit before asking again. "If you know Ye Wang, then do you also know about Huang Zhen?"
"Yeah. We have heard of him. Lin Xiang suspected that he is also the main cause behind his fiance's car crash, but so far, there isn't enough supporting evidence for that."
"I heard he used to be one of Ye Wang's as well, but who is that person exactly?"
"One thing I can say for sure is that he must be related, or at least know something related to that organization. Perhaps finding out more about him is the key to unlocking these mysteries."
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