200 – Barrels

Zhu Ah Nin arrived at the backroom of the Dong Xuan Clinic Rouxi where Ju De, Bufu and Li Yun were diligently shifting through the different camera footage to recreate the timeline of what had happened to An Zhangmi. With free software editing everywhere, it was easy to sort through the required clips. Rouxi, Li Yun, Bufu was naturally the fastest. Li Yun worked on various software to manage data, and was comfortable with computers, but he wasn't as fast Bufu and Rouxi. Bufu didn't normally use video editing software, but he was used to navigating computers. Rouxi edited a lot of videos for her livestreaming broadcast.

“Where’s Wang Fang?” Asked Zhu Ah Nin as she settled in next to Ju De.

“Here, I'm working from home,” said Fatty Fang who was keeping the pregnant Mu Lian company.

“Did you guys manage to stitch together a timeline?” asked Zhu Ah Nin. She was the only one who had class that day and returned home late. Aside from Rouxi, everyone was basically working for Li Yun.

“Yep, it’s as close as we can get,” said Fatty Fang.

“Around 5:30pm, they arrive at the club,” said Rouxi pointing to the external camera feed. “The group of 8 headed up to the second floor, led by Attorney Lang. They were awarded by Lawyer Shang with an invite to the second floor for closing a business deal.”

“Attorney Lang is an ambitious woman, but I don’t think she knows what is going on,” said Ju De. “When I saw her at their office, it looked like she hated almost everyone in the office.”

“Why did they even hire her?” asked Zhu Ah Nin.

“She’s pretty good at closing deals and an active party member,” said Ju De. “I think she’s looking for another job, but hasn’t found any place that could afford her.”

The camera on the second floor only showed the main corridor near the elevator and the door of the lounge that Zhangmi had entered. Around 7pm, the mousy intern was seen carrying an incapacitated Zhangmi out of the room. 

The waiter walked by and appeared to ask the mousy intern a question. There was no audio, but luckily, the mousy intern’s side profile was enough for Zhu Ah Nin to guess what she was saying. 

“Ah, my friend, she’s drunk, I’m bringing her up to her room on the 6th floor,” said the mousy intern.

"This bitch!" Ah Zhu Nin clenched teeth, seething with rage.

"Calm down dear," said Ju De patting Ah Zhu Nin's head.

They continued to watch as the waiter assisted the mousy intern with moving Zhangmi onto the elevator. From there, the camera switched to the 6th floor, where Zhangmi was moved into room 615. They waited to see who would enter the floor, but surprisingly, two sections of the footage were missing.

“Someone deleted the footage,” said Bufu. “From 12:30am to 1am, and from 4:00 to 4:30am.”

“Ah, that's interesting,” Li Yun said as he scratched the side of his chin.

Most floors had security cameras at the point of entry and the elevators, with the exception of the private floors. There wasn’t anything missing from the other security cameras, so whoever went into room 615 came from the private floors. 

“We will have to check the entrance cameras to see who came in and focus on the VIPs,” said Bufu. It was possible that an employee had access to the room, but it made more sense that the VIPs were involved.

There were four entrances into the building, three used for egress, and one for the employee and services. They rewound the videos, took a screenshot of the VIPs, and posted it on a digital board for everyone to see. The camera view was a bit blurry, but they were able to identify a few by searching online for the top lawyers in Yide.  

“This is Lawyer Nan,” said Ju De, as he pointed to the woman he recognized. “Nasty old lady who attended some parties my dad hosted.”

The VIPs were allowed to enter without waiting. Lawyer Nan wasn’t even stopped by the bouncer and was let into the club, so she was a regular at the club that the bouncer had recognized her.

"And this is that trash Lawyer Gong," said Ju De. "He arrived after the group, but he is likely the one that had incited the bitch."

Aside from Lawyer Nan and Lawyer Gong, there were at least two dozen other VIPs who had entered the building that night. One of whom was Wing Bo.

“Who is this guy?” Rouxi asked. “It looks like you guys know him.”

“Just a little bit,” said Li Yun. “He’s a lawyer from Angao who represents a local crime boss.”

They had been investigating Wing Bo ever since they started the wine cellar.

“He’s one of four VIPs that had to display his ID, so he’s not a regular,” said Rouxi. “He’s from Angao, so why do you think he’s here?”

“Probably to scout out the location,” said Li Yun. There were already shady people in the real estate auction in Yide. If they were looking to expand, they would need assistance from the local lawyers. Out of the four VIPs, Wing Bo had the most aura.

"Do you think it could be him?" asked Zhu Ah Nin, mentally preparing a knife or shear.

"It's hard to tell from the camera angle," said Li Yun. He had not met the lawyer, and from the poor camera resolution to the darkness of the night, it was difficult to study Wing Bo's expression. "Check the entrance camera to see what time they all left."

Out of everyone, only Wing Bo left early at around 4:30am.

"So, it's likely him," said Ju De. "What do you want to do?"

Li Yun thought for a moment, but he still had a few questions.

"Why didn't he just delete the entire backup video?" Li Yun asked.

It would be easy to wipe out all traces by deleting the entire day's worth of footage, but instead, two small sections were deleted. If Wing Bo was in Mr. Bai's fraction, Mr. Bai could have erased the footage easily and explained that a glitch in the camera system had deleted the data.

"You think they aren't in this together or that they don't trust each other yet?" asked Rouxi.

"This is something I would do if I don't trust someone, but I don't want to set them off either," said Li Yun.

If Wing Bo wanted to remove evidence, he had to do it discretely without Mr. Bai's suspicion. Deleting an entire day of footage was suspicious, so he had deleted enough where he couldn't be directly charged with a crime.

The plan would have worked out fine if Li Yun and his friends didn't get involved. Li Yun took out a phone he rarely used and typed in the message.

Y: Start moving barrels to the wine cellar.

N: Roger

chocomug

Also, chapter 9 has been revised. Just a little tidbit on JuDe/Ning Xuxu. Also, I'm going to change Cana... I mean North Beauty Country to Maple Country. I don't know what I was thinking, Maple makes more sense. I also want to change the States to Beauty Country. This is to avoid confusion when I use state-owned companies, which generally means owned by the government.