Both Ends

While one side was in a state of utter chaos, on the other side, Su Mian—though she knew she had caused quite a stir—had no other choice.

She couldn’t stay behind to observe the aftermath. After making the call from the hotel and confirming that the ambulances had arrived, she quickly left the scene.

Although her body had not yet fully reverted to its original state, her resistance to external temptations had increased significantly now that she was “full.” Even wandering through a crowd wouldn’t affect her too much.

Of course, Su Mian didn’t dare stay out for too long. If she kept smelling those “scents” and made herself hungry again, she’d be in real trouble.

She first found a quiet, undisturbed spot to contact Qi Chuan via mobile, primarily to confirm his current location. Upon receiving her message, Qi Chuan hurriedly asked about her situation and why she had suddenly vanished.

Fortunately, Su Mian had already prepared an excuse on the way.

“My sister was passing through and saw me, so I went to grab a meal with her. Sorry, I didn’t have time to check my phone just now.”

She typed out the line, and as expected, he didn’t suspect a thing.

Although Qi Chuan was very close to Su Mian, he didn’t know much about her older sister, Su Meng.

In fact, forget Qi Chuan—even Su Mian’s relationship with her sister wasn’t exactly great, though it wasn’t terrible either.

How to describe it? “Distant.” That was probably the best word for it.

Firstly, there was an age gap of over ten years between them. Secondly, before their parents passed away, Su Meng had been in a fierce conflict with them. Su Mian didn’t know the specifics; they rarely discussed it in front of her.

But the rift between her sister and parents was nearly irreconcilable. In Su Mian’s memory, their relationship had always been at freezing point.

She had only spent significant time with her sister as a small child. After Su Meng graduated from university, she moved away for work. Since then, she might not even return once a year. Most of the time, she was completely out of touch—Su Mian wouldn’t even know how to contact her.

It wasn’t until the car accident a few years ago that the two siblings began to interact again…

However, Su Meng was very busy. Her focus wasn’t in Jade Capital, and she still harbored a deep loathing for their family home. Consequently, they still only saw each other once every month or two, and she never stayed overnight.

Su Meng had suggested several times that Su Mian move away with her or buy a new house elsewhere in Jade Capital, but Su Mian had refused.

In short, the siblings weren’t strangers, but they weren’t exactly close either. If Su Mian felt this way, Qi Chuan was even more of an outsider.

Furthermore, for some reason, Qi Chuan seemed quite afraid of Su Meng. Once, when Su Meng visited and learned Su Mian had a best friend, the two had met; ever since then, Qi Chuan had inexplicably avoided her sister whenever possible.

It was with this in mind that Su Mian used her sister as an excuse.

The effect was immediate. Qi Chuan stopped asking questions altogether. In fact, he seemed worried she might invite him to dinner with her sister, so he quickly made an excuse about needing to cram for an upcoming exam and hopped offline instantly.

After confirming everything was fine with Qi Chuan, Su Mian scanned a shared bicycle and rode home.

…

Inside the presidential suite on the top floor of the Sunset Hotel.

Jiang Xun was half-squatted, touching the bloodstains on the carpet with his fingers. He brought them to his nose and sniffed lightly. “The blood is still fairly fresh. It was likely left several hours ago.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at the hotel manager who had followed them up.

“You just said this is a long-term private suite for the Second Young Master of the Yuansheng Group, correct?”

“Yes.” The manager nodded hurriedly. Jiang Xun continued, “Has this Mr. Yu Yuan been acting abnormally lately?”

“Well…” After thinking for a moment—as time passed, the manager’s expression and state had fully recovered—he looked troubled. “Young Master Yu doesn’t come at fixed times. When he’s here, he mostly stays in the room. Aside from what I mentioned… oh, I did see Miss Amy come downstairs this morning.”

“Miss Amy?”

“She’s Young Master Yu’s assistant. I saw her go downstairs this morning and bring someone back up. It should have been a woman, but she was wrapped up very tightly, wearing a hat and a mask. I couldn’t see her face at all.”

As the manager spoke, he seemed to hesitate about something. Under Jiang Xun’s steady gaze, he finally spoke up with some embarrassment. “Actually, this sort of thing happens often. Young Master Yu is a well-known playboy; he frequently brings many different women here.”

“I see.” Jiang Xun nodded to show he understood. He stood up and scanned the room, but ultimately found no further clues.

While the blood on the carpet looked suspicious—and the bullwhip nearby appeared to be the ‘murder weapon’—it was just an ordinary whip.

There were no special traces at the scene. If it was merely a suspected homicide, it wouldn’t be for Jiang Xun and his team to worry about.

Their primary job was to figure out what caused the mass fainting. For now, it seemed unrelated to the Young Master of the Yuansheng Group. After all, the incident occurred after 3:00 PM, while Yu Yuan had left with his people at noon. He wasn’t even on the scene.

Of course, it could have been a pre-set trap. But without clues, speculation was useless.

Jiang Xun wandered aimlessly through the suite and unknowingly entered one of the bedrooms. This presidential suite was top-tier, spanning an entire floor, so there was more than one bedroom.

He had just checked the other master bedroom. It was filled with various messy items and clearly looked like the room the Young Master frequently used, but there was nothing useful inside.

This room, however, looked very new. Although it was spotless and clean, it lacked any “lived-in” atmosphere.

Jiang Xun’s gaze swept the room. He walked to the bed and looked closely, then raised an eyebrow.

The bedsheets showed signs of having been used recently. The marks were slight, but he noticed them.

The man searched around and suddenly pulled open a cabinet, reaching deep into the back. Quickly, he pulled out several pairs of stockings that had been crumpled into balls.

“…”

Right at that moment, the bald man, Old He, walked in holding a strange device. He looked up to see Jiang Xun standing by the bed, staring blankly at the stockings in his hand. He was stunned. “Captain, you… cough. Look, I know you haven’t had time to find a girlfriend and it’s normal to have needs, but this is a crime scene after all. You should be a bit more careful.”

“Get out.”

Jiang Xun stuffed the silk fabric back where it came from and gave him a cold look. Old He coughed twice and apologized quickly, “I was joking, Captain. You’re not actually angry, are you?”

“Stop talking nonsense.” The man took one last look around the room. Finding nothing useful, he walked out and asked, “Any leads from your end or An Ye’s?”

“Nothing. According to our investigation, absolutely no one has any memory of what happened before they fainted. They have no idea what went on. Many of them don’t even understand why we won’t let them leave.”

Old He also looked troubled. “Xiao Ye and I used the instruments to check every corner of the hotel. All readings are normal. Not a single problem.”

Jiang Xun nodded. As he reached the door, he suddenly paused and looked at the people around him.

“By the way… who was the one who originally called the police?”

The group looked at each other, speechless.