Chapter Ninety-One: Clues and Traces (Part Five)

Although this conversation with Xiaoxue did not yield a massive breakthrough or easily expose the true face of the killer, it provided Chen Tianyu with a great deal of inspiration. While Xiaoxue’s potential involvement could not be entirely ruled out, his intuition told him that this delicate "young lady" of humble origins simply lacked the capability to murder that old fox, Hu Wenyi.

He decided to play his trump card, combining both soft and hard tactics.

With a solemn expression, he said, "Xiaoxue, although I personally do not believe you are the murderer, I hope you will answer the following questions truthfully. Whether you can escape this predicament depends entirely on your willingness to cooperate."

Xiaoxue seemed somewhat caught off guard by the sudden shift in his demeanor. However, after their lengthy discussion, she only hesitated for a moment before giving a prompt nod.

Chen Tianyu got straight to the point. "Tell me, was it Yun Ji from the Divine Eagle Detective Agency who instigated you to go to Imperial Pictures on the day Hu Wenyi went missing and look for him in his office?"

"Ah?! Yun Ji?" Xiaoxue asked in bewilderment. "Is there such a person at the Divine Eagle Detective Agency?"

Chen Tianyu readily caught the double meaning behind her words: first, that she did not know Yun Ji, or at least did not realize the person she met was Yun Ji; and second, that she tacitly acknowledged her connection to the Divine Eagle Detective Agency.

Chen Tianyu patiently continued, "Don't rush to deny knowing him for a moment. Let me ask you, when did the Divine Eagle Detective Agency first approach you?"

Xiaoxue thought for a moment. "It was either the second or third day after I escaped from Black Dragon Pool, I forget which."

Chen Tianyu nodded. The timeline matched his estimation. The Divine Eagle Detective Agency must have caught wind of the news and, like a beast scenting its prey, initiated contact.

"Was the person who met you male or female?" Chen Tianyu decided to take things slowly, lest Xiaoxue start deflecting again.

"It was a young woman," Xiaoxue replied.

Chen Tianyu was not particularly surprised. He had long suspected that the operational model of the Divine Eagle Detective Agency could not possibly involve anyone as eccentric and rigid as Yun Ji; otherwise, anyone coming into contact with such a person would keep their distance.

"Could you describe this woman in detail?"

Xiaoxue pondered. "She was around my age, tall and slender, and quite pretty. She said her name was Oriole and that she was a staff member of the Divine Eagle Detective Agency."

"Oriole?" Chen Tianyu had never heard the name before, though he guessed it was likely an alias. "What did she say to you?"

"Uh..." Xiaoxue seemed a bit hesitant.

Chen Tianyu smiled. "Did she tell you to keep it a secret?"

Xiaoxue nodded. "After all, she was trying to help me. If I talk about it like this, will it..."

Chen Tianyu said helplessly, "Have you forgotten where you are right now, and why you are even in this place?"

Xiaoxue was not stupid, but she still insisted, "Yet what she said had nothing to do with this case."

Chen Tianyu thought for a moment and decided not to press further. He could easily guess that the best, and perhaps only, way to build trust between two completely strangers who were young women was through shared misery.

Therefore, he said calmly, "Never mind, I was just trying to understand the situation. Tell me, were you only in contact with this Oriole from beginning to end?"

"Um. Yes..."

"Then whose idea was it for you to go see Hu Wenyi? You just said Oriole had nothing to do with this case, and now I'm a bit confused." Chen Tianyu indirectly raised his doubt.

Xiaoxue sighed softly. "Going to find Hu Wenyi was my own idea, but Oriole certainly did seek me out before I went."

"What did she say?" Chen Tianyu decided to focus on the key points.

Xiaoxue thought back once more. "She asked about my plans and expressed support for my fight to protect my rights. She also said that if I needed to apply for assistance, they would do their best to help."

"Just like that?" Chen Tianyu found it hard to believe.

Xiaoxue nodded, confirming it was correct. "That was basically it. I don't have a very deep impression of what was specifically said at the time, so it probably wasn't very important."

Chen Tianyu fell into deep thought. This Divine Eagle Detective Agency was truly extraordinary. How on earth did they know Xiaoxue had such intentions that day, or did they simply happen to learn of it and decide to play along with the situation?

He raised a crucial question: "Wanting to go find Hu Wenyi couldn't have been an idea you came up with overnight, right? Did you mention this thought to Oriole?"

"That wasn't really a secret. We talked about it the very first time I met her." Xiaoxue was quite frank this time. Naturally, she saw no harm in it, even imagining that the whole world knew she intended to seek revenge on Hu Wenyi. Such a psychological state was rather subtle—in other words, centering everything around her personal feelings, she infinitely magnified or radiated her hatred, as if the entire world ought to sympathize with her.

A light went on in Chen Tianyu's eyes as he grasped the crux of the matter. "So to speak, it was on that day that you finally made up your mind to go find Hu Wenyi."

"Uh... I suppose so," Xiaoxue said uncertainly. "To be honest, I had always been somewhat afraid, and I didn't have a particularly concrete revenge plan. I had been hesitating for quite a while before that."

*A brilliant psychological tactic!* Chen Tianyu thought to himself.

He nodded. "So, she offered you plenty of pointers and encouraged you?"

Xiaoxue nodded. "She talked me through a lot of reasoning and encouraged me to take the first step. No matter the outcome, at least I would find out what Hu Wenyi's true attitude was. She also said that perhaps after a few rounds of mediation, the conflict between Hu Wenyi and me could be resolved peacefully, and then we wouldn't have to fight to the death."

Chen Tianyu smiled. "And as it turned out, when you found Hu Wenyi, he actually pulled out a marriage certificate, intending to resolve it peacefully."

At the mention of this, Xiaoxue lowered her head, her voice dropping to a mosquito-like buzz. "I didn't know that marriage certificate was fake either."

Chen Tianyu hit the nail on the head. "And you certainly wouldn't have imagined that Hu Wenyi would end up dead in such an obscure manner?"

Xiaoxue did not speak, simply keeping her head bowed.

Chen Tianyu sighed. "Have you never suspected that this might have been a trap carefully laid by the Divine Eagle Detective Agency, using you as a scapegoat by any means necessary?"

Xiaoxue raised her head in surprise, her eyes flickering. It seemed she was not without suspicion; she had simply been waiting for someone else to voice it for her.

After a long silence, Xiaoxue finally spoke, "I haven't had any contact with them since then." By "them," she naturally meant the Divine Eagle Detective Agency.

Chen Tianyu's expression turned grave. From the very beginning, he had sensed a certain aversion in Xiaoxue toward the word "detective." Comparing both ends, her words just now should be true. Anyone would hold a grudge against the person who pushed them into an abyss, but because the other party had ostensibly acted out of kindness, a pure and traditional girl like Xiaoxue naturally tended to cover for the Divine Eagle Detective Agency.

After all, she could never truly confirm whether the facts were as she feared, or if she was merely judging others by her own petty standards.

Chen Tianyu concluded the interview. He planned to thoroughly discuss this issue during the detectives' evening chat session, while also checking whether operations in other directions had yielded any results.

After Chen Tianyu rose and bade farewell, Xiaoxue was taken back into custody, though her mental state was evidently much improved.