Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Qiu Ziyu soon sent over a video clip.

Judging by the footage, it showed Panpan leaving not long after she had helped Nan Mu back to his room.

She didn’t seem very used to the formal dress she was wearing, and her steps were somewhat awkward and stumbling. But unlike someone boarding a cruise ship for the first time, curious about everything around her, she moved with a very clear purpose.

She seemed to be looking for something on the cruise ship. When she reached an intersection, she took a neatly folded slip of paper from her handbag and slowly unfolded it.

Nan Mu paused the video, but the resolution was too low. Even after zooming in as much as he could, he still couldn’t make out what was written on the paper. Vaguely, though, it looked like some kind of topographic map.

Nan Mu took a screenshot of the blurry frame and sent it to Qiu Ziyu.

Nan Mu: [Can you use tech to make out what’s on the paper?]

After sending the message, he returned to the video.

Panpan looked at the paper in her hand, then turned in a certain direction. She passed through a long corridor. Along the way, she spoke to no one and didn’t stop for any scenery or entertainment facilities, not until she reached the south side of the floor above.

Most of the people staying here were senior researchers from within Wisdom Biotech Company. That day, they had also been invited to attend the banquet.

When she arrived, she stopped moving. She began looking around, as if searching for someone. At that moment, guests who had boarded the ship were scattered through the corridor in twos and threes. Following the direction where she suddenly fixed her gaze, Nan Mu saw an elderly man with graying hair standing at the other end of the corridor, talking to someone.

Was it him? Nan Mu was wondering.

Then he saw the old man and the person he was speaking to wave goodbye to each other before the old man returned to his room alone. Just as he went in and was about to close the door, a pair of hands suddenly pressed against it.

It was Panpan.

But because the old man was inside the room, they couldn’t see his expression. Panpan had her back to the camera as well, so there was no telling what the two of them said. Still, the standoff lasted at least half a minute before the old man finally released the door and let Panpan in.

There was no video inside the room, so what exactly happened between them was impossible to know.

But when Panpan came out, the time displayed on the footage showed that the dinner banquet had already officially begun. No wonder Xu Yang hadn’t been able to find her anywhere back then. Who would have expected her to be in someone else’s room?

Nan Mu studied Panpan closely again and noticed that the way she walked was a little strange. Earlier, she had been holding up her gown the whole time, but this was different. Now, she was practically clutching the skirt of her dress all the way back to his room, shrinking in on herself as she walked.

Because everyone had been at the banquet at the time, she didn’t run into anyone along the way.

Just then, Qiu Ziyu’s reply came in.

Qiu Ziyu: [Already tried. No good. The paper’s too small to see clearly. My guess is it’s a map.]

If it was a map, then Panpan’s relationship with that old man… If she was only going to see someone she knew, who would go so far as to prepare a map in advance?

Nan Mu: [Who was staying in the room where Panpan met him?]

Qiu Ziyu: [I just had a colleague check the registry. Wait a bit. I’ll send it to you when we find it.]

Nan Mu: [What are you doing right now?]

Qiu Ziyu sent over an image.

Nan Mu opened it and saw an arrest warrant. The person to be arrested was Wang Pandi. After that came her place of origin, workplace, address, and the like.

At first glance, the name didn’t register with Nan Mu. It wasn’t until he saw that her workplace was the First Affiliated Hospital of A University of Science and Technology Medical School that he understood.

Wang Pandi was Nurse Panpan’s full name.

Qiu Ziyu had probably gone to arrest Wang Pandi. But… Nan Mu watched the video for a long while and still couldn’t see what was wrong with it.

Confused, Nan Mu typed: [Why arrest her?]

Qiu Ziyu: [You can’t tell from the angle in the video I sent you. When Wang Pandi left the room, there were bloodstains on the back of her skirt. Look at her dress-it’s practically soaked. She must have been cleaning up inside the room, and the blood that splashed onto the back got overlooked. Also, after she left, that old man never came out of the room again, all the way until the ship sank and the surveillance went offline.]
The person he had brought onto the ship on a whim had actually killed someone there. Nan Mu found it almost impossible to believe.

But before he could process it, Qiu Ziyu threw another explosive piece of news at him.

Qiu Ziyu: “Holy shit! Do you know who that old man was?”

Before Nan Mu could even ask who, Qiu Ziyu impatiently sent a string of messages.

Qiu Ziyu: “Jia Lingyuan! Dr. Jia Lingyuan, the one Doctor Yu mentioned that day.”

Qiu Ziyu: “Image1.jpg”

Qiu Ziyu: “Image2.jpg”

Nan Mu quickly opened the two images.

The first was a lodging registration record. It was clearly written there: Wisdom Biotechnology’s Jia Lingyuan, checked into Room 8136 on Deck 08.

The second image was the list of missing and deceased passengers from the cruise ship disaster that had been released a few days ago. Jia Lingyuan’s name was listed prominently among them.

There were too many names on the list. Among the victims of this disaster were no shortage of business elites and actresses from film and television, so in the overwhelming flood of news, Nan Mu had not even noticed that such a scientist had also passed away.

Qiu Ziyu: “After I heard Yu Jingtong talk about him last time, I had someone look into him. And now they just told me he’s dead… I’m completely dumbfounded. What grudge could Wang Pandi have had against Jia Lingyuan?”

On Nan Mu’s end, his head was aching too. He also had no idea why Wang Pandi would want to kill Jia Lingyuan.

And besides… according to their deductions, Jia Lingyuan was supposed to be the mastermind behind all the cases. Yet now… he had died so easily at the hands of Wang Pandi?!

Just who exactly was this Wang Pandi?

Did she have some unknown connection to Gu Zhishu, Wen Miao, and the others?

Or perhaps, once they found her, all these mysteries would unravel.

Qiu Ziyu: “…”

Qiu Ziyu: “The place is empty. By the time I got here, there was no one in the apartment. All the daily necessities had been packed away. Looks like this woman planned her escape.”

Nan Mu frowned, feeling that something was off.

He sent Qiu Ziyu a message: “Let’s assume Wang Pandi killed Jia Lingyuan, and Jia Lingyuan was locked in the room. Then, right after that, the cruise ship had its accident and sank, and Jia Lingyuan’s body sank with it to the bottom of the sea. The official missing persons list also shows Jia Lingyuan as missing. That means Jia Lingyuan’s body hasn’t been found, which, for her, at least proves that she’s safe for now. Under those circumstances, why would she suddenly run? And she didn’t hand over her work either. She only took personal leave?”

Qiu Ziyu: “Maybe because resigning would require handover procedures, and she was afraid it would take too long.”

Nan Mu: “We only got the video yesterday. I just asked the other nurses. They said Wang Pandi requested leave several days ago. What, can she predict the future? It doesn’t make sense. The body hasn’t been found yet, so she had plenty of time to arrange everything properly before leaving. Rushing off like this would only make people talk and draw more suspicion.”

Qiu Ziyu: “So?”

Nan Mu: “She might not necessarily have run away. She may have encountered something more urgent than avoiding the police.”

Qiu Ziyu: “?”

Nan Mu: “I just have this feeling. If we can discover that Wang Pandi made a move, then is it possible someone else discovered it too?”

Someone like Huangfu Junsheng…

Qiu Ziyu understood what Nan Mu had left unsaid, but he was a little puzzled. He tapped on his phone: “You mean Huangfu Junsheng? Didn’t we already discuss this before? He and Gu Zhishu’s death…”

Before he could finish typing, his phone screen suddenly switched to an incoming call interface. It was a call from Fang Yue. Qiu Ziyu had just asked him to pull Wang Pandi’s household registration information.

Qiu Ziyu answered the call. The moment he heard the first sentence from the other end, he practically sprang up from his chair.

“What did you say? Who is she? Zhaodi’s younger sister? That Zhaodi connected to Gu Zhishu?”