Memory inheritor

Chapter 16 Prediction

After waiting for more than twenty minutes, the door to the private room opened, and three people filed in.

The man in the lead was in his early forties, with short hair about an inch long, his temples slightly gray, and several deep lines etched between his eyebrows.

As soon as he entered, he said to Wu Wenjun, "You really know how to find a place. Why did you call me out in such a hurry? What's the matter?"

Clearly, this is Yu Zhen, the old comrade-in-arms that Wu Wenjun mentioned.

"Please have a seat, we'll talk after we finish eating," Wu Wenjun said, standing up to invite the guests to sit down.

When Wei Hongsi saw the person behind Yu Zhen, he was slightly taken aback.

The man was about thirty-four or thirty-five years old, tall with broad shoulders and long legs, and his features were quite regular; he could be described as having a dignified appearance. However, due to years of exposure to wind and sun, his skin had become somewhat dark and rough.

The man was taken aback when he saw Wei Hongsi, opened his mouth but then swallowed his words.

This person was none other than Wei Hongbo, Wei Hongsi's elder brother.

Looking at the last person, Wei Hongsi recognized him as Zhang Shengyong, his brother's colleague. Zhang was in his early thirties, not very tall, and as lean as a cheetah.

Zhang Shengyong was equally surprised to see Wei Hongsi, and nodded slightly as a greeting.

Wu Wenjun invited Yu Zhen and the other two to sit down, while Liu Zhifeng went out to call the waiter to serve the dishes, closing the door behind him.

"You idiot, you told me it was an emergency, but now that we're here, you're not worried anymore," Yu Zhen complained as he sat down.

"No matter how urgent the situation, we have to eat first," Wu Wenjun argued. "Before going to the battlefield, don't we need to fill our stomachs first?"

"Then you might as well come work for our bureau. They can easily provide you with a meal in the cafeteria," Yu Zhen teased him. "You, General Manager Wu, wouldn't look down on me, would you?"

"I can't go," Wu Wenjun said seriously. "It's a matter of great importance, and I'm afraid of being exposed."

Seeing his serious expression, Yu Zhen laughed and scolded, "What do you think this station is? Did you get into trouble?"

"Don't jump to conclusions," Wu Wenjun said in a low voice, feigning mystery. "I'm worried that someone is watching us. Going to the police station might alert them, and if the trail goes cold, it'll be troublesome."

"Oh?" Yu Zhen raised his eyebrows. "What's the big deal? Why are you making such a fuss?"

Wu Wenjun snorted and said, "It's a gang crime, involving hundreds of billions of yuan, and it's already resulted in deaths. Tell me, aren't you shocked?"

Seeing that Wu Wenjun didn't seem to be joking, Yu Zhen was about to ask him more questions when there was a knock on the door of the private room, so he stopped talking.

Two seconds later, Liu Zhifeng pushed the door open and came in, asking the waiter at the door to bring the dishes inside.

The food was served quickly: eight dishes and a soup, plus two bowls of rice. It must have started cooking right after we ordered, otherwise it wouldn't have been so fast.

When Yu Zhen saw that they were all simple home-style stir-fries, and that it really was just a simple meal, he began to believe Wu Wenjun's words more. He stopped asking questions and started eating his bowl of rice.

Everyone else was also focused on eating; the six of them ate at the table, and almost no one spoke.

Before Wei Hongsi had even finished his bowl of rice, the other five had already eaten three or four bowls and were wiping their mouths with napkins.

"Mr. Wei, please take your time eating. I'll talk to the officers about the situation first." Wu Wenjun said to Wei Hongsi, then sat down at a small square table, opened his briefcase, and took out two file folders and a tablet computer.

Yu Zhen, Wei Hongbo, and Zhang Shengyong also sat down at the table, while Liu Zhifeng sat down at the entrance of the private room.

Wu Wenjun recounted the entire incident, from discovering the problem with the BGG solution, to Ji Yongsheng's investigation at the afternoon meeting, all the way to Li Yunxiang's death. He truthfully recounted everything except for internal company squabbles unrelated to the case.

Wei Hongsi ate while listening to the conversation. After finishing his meal, he moved a chair closer to the four people.

After listening to Wu Wenjun's explanation, Yu Zhen pondered for a moment and then said, "Old Wu, if the situation is really as you speculate, this case—let's just call it a case for now—is going to be really difficult to investigate."

"What do you mean?" Wu Wenjun said with a displeased look. "Do you think I'm exaggerating?"

"I wish you were just exaggerating," Yu Zhen clicked his tongue. "If there really is a force pulling the strings behind the scenes, both of these leads you mentioned might not be able to be investigated further."

"Oh?" Wu Wenjun's expression immediately turned serious. "What do you mean?"

Yu Zhen analyzed, "Let's talk about the deceased first. Her name was Li Yunxiang, right? She was able to erase all the traces in your company's system logs, so it's likely that any other special connections she made would be no exception. Even if she didn't think of it herself, someone else would have done it for her."

Wu Wenjun nodded slowly, acknowledging that Yu Zhen's words made sense.

Yu Zhen added, "Let's talk about GG Company. Either the people involved were completely unaware and were simply being used, or they were pawns like Li Yunxiang. If we don't investigate, all is well, but once we trace it back to that person, it's just another accidental death."

Wu Wenjun frowned. If this situation occurred, then the investigation would truly be impossible to continue.

"Of course, this is just the worst-case scenario," Yu Zhen said, changing the subject. "Perhaps the reality isn't so bad."

"How come I remember every time you analyzed the situation, things always seemed to develop in the worst possible direction?" Wu Wenjun said with a wry smile.

Upon hearing this, Wei Hongbo and Zhang Shengyong both glanced at Yu Zhen.

"What kind of talk is that?" Yu Zhen scoffed. "I just made a deduction based on your speculations. From an evidentiary standpoint, the whole thing—gang crime, billions of dollars—is baseless. So far, there's only been one unnatural death, which, strictly speaking, has no direct connection to your speculations. Whether a case can even be filed is debatable."

Wu Wenjun asked, "What do you mean?"

"If I understand correctly, Li Yunxiang's position in your company is similar to that of a cleaner, right?"

"More or less."

"So what's her connection to Option B?"

"Let me show you this," Wu Wenjun said, opening his tablet and clicking on a video file.

The video is a portion of the afternoon meeting, starting from the last time Li Yunxiang served tea and ending with Ji Yongsheng receiving a phone call informing him of Li Yunxiang's death.

The meeting room was equipped with cameras in all four corners, and the cameras recorded audio. This video clearly shows the entire process from different angles.

After the video finished playing, Wei Hongbo looked at Wei Hongsi: "You predicted that woman would commit the crime?"

Others might not immediately recognize the young man pulling Li Yunxiang's hair, but he recognized him the moment he saw the image.

Wei Hongsi explained, "I was curious about her sudden change and wanted to get closer to observe her."