Chapter 144 Finding the Suspect

After running around for half a day, Chu Feng tracked down two suspects, yet neither of them had committed any crime. Although the rice washer was the most suspicious person, Chu Feng still needed to verify the state of his gloves first.

The gloves had been taken away by the health bureau officials for inspection. Chu Feng and Ziyan then returned to Elder Chen’s ward, where they found not only Elder Chen but also Hospital Director Liu Shuiqing.

A poisoning incident had occurred within the hospital. Although nobody was actually poisoned, an event of this nature carried severe negative repercussions, prompting Liu Shuiqing to rush over to Elder Chen’s room in a desperate bid to protect his official position.

"Chu Feng, you've been running around for quite a while. Do you have any results to share? Look at how anxious Director Liu is, sweating all over." Seeing Chu Feng arrive, Elder Chen immediately asked about the progress of the investigation, while Director Liu beside him also gazed at Chu Feng with eager, pleading eyes.

Chu Feng had no choice but to recount the results of his investigation to Elder Chen and Director Liu. However, there were certain details he chose to omit; without concrete evidence at this stage, talking about them would be pointless.

"Director Liu, you should go attend to your duties first. Once this matter is properly resolved, I will have someone notify you for a meeting." Hearing Chu Feng's report, Elder Chen could sense that Chu Feng undoubtedly still held back some information, presumably because Liu Shuiqing was present.

After Liu Shuiqing departed, Chu Feng shared the withheld portion of the information with Elder Chen. It was not a matter of distrusting Liu Shuiqing, but rather that some secrets were safer known by as few people as possible.

"According to what you're saying, these people must be targeting me. If that's the case, they could have simply poisoned my meals directly; there was no need to poison all the food."

Elder Chen’s doubt matched Chu Feng’s own. Such a move was simply too reckless, and a single misstep would undoubtedly invite fatal disaster.

"Actually, there is one thing I still haven't figured out. If the people from Scorching Sun really carried out the poisoning in the hospital, what did they take me for? As long as I am here, your life cannot possibly be threatened."

Chu Feng suspected that the poisoning might not have been orchestrated by Scorching Sun, because their operatives knew him very well. The very reason they were in such a rush to eliminate Chu Feng was to prevent him from treating Elder Chen.

"This poison must have been planted by Scorching Sun. The first time I encountered this toxin was in Jack's possession; he had acquired a small amount out of sheer curiosity back then."

Ziyan recalled the time she had previously seen the toxin, noting that Jack had procured some back then, though she had no idea what specific purpose he used it for.

Jingle bells. Just as they were discussing the true identity of the poisoner, Chu Feng’s cell phone suddenly rang. Pulling out the device, he saw a landline number on the screen. Figuring it must be someone from the health bureau, Chu Feng answered it without delay.

"Mr. Chu, this pair of gloves contains traces of the toxin, and the concentration is quite high. It appears these gloves had direct contact with the substance beforehand."

The officials from the health bureau reported the test results to Chu Feng and also presented a hypothesis.

If the gloves had been contaminated with the toxin before the rice was washed, the viral or toxic concentration on the gloves would remain very high.

Conversely, if the poison had been mixed into the water first, and Old Qin had worn those gloves while washing a large quantity of rice, the residual concentration of the poison on the gloves would be relatively low, as the gloves were constantly submerged and rinsed in the water, washing away a significant portion of the contaminant.

"I have a method to test whether Old Qin is the poisoner, but it's a risky approach." Chu Feng suddenly remembered that he possessed some rudimentary hypnotic skills. If he were to hypnotize Old Qin, he might just extract the truth about whether he was the culprit.

"Forget it. What if your hypnosis gets broken or manipulated by him? Instead of finding the killer, we might end up heading in completely the wrong direction."

Elder Chen rejected Chu Feng's proposal. If the suspect were merely pretending to cooperate with the hypnosis to intentionally lead Chu Feng astray, they would undoubtedly fail to catch the real perpetrator.

"I think we should take another look at the surveillance footage. During the time they were preparing the food, did any strangers enter the cafeteria besides the regular staff? If so, that stranger might have been the one who planted the poison."

Sitting there, Ziyan meticulously pieced together everything that had happened today. Once her thoughts cleared, she realized that both she and Chu Feng had made a massive mistake.

Neither she nor Chu Feng had checked how many people had entered the hospital cafeteria or whether any outsiders had gained access.

"Then let's not waste any time; let's go right now." Hearing Ziyan's reasoning, Chu Feng found it quite logical. He immediately grabbed her hand and headed straight for the security monitoring room.

As Chu Feng pulled her along by the hand, a fleeting trace of sweetness flashed across Ziyan's eyes. Perhaps even she herself was unaware of how sweet her heart felt at that very moment.

Arriving at the control room, Chu Feng instructed the security guard to pull up the surveillance footage once again. This time, Chu Feng examined the recordings with extraordinary care, while the security guard beside him helped take notes.

"Stop right there. Zoom in on the person in the middle for me. Let's see if he's actually an employee of the cafeteria."

Upon closer inspection, Chu Feng spotted a suspicious individual. The person was not wearing the uniform of the hospital cafeteria staff, yet he had managed to enter the back kitchen.

The security guard maximized both the front and side views of this individual. Chu Feng used his phone to take a picture of the image on the monitor before asking the guard to resume playing the footage.

After reviewing the rest of the recording, this suspicious person remained the only anomaly. His figure and face appeared extremely blurry, making him difficult to identify clearly.

Chu Feng sought out Fatty Xu and asked whether the man in the photograph was an employee of theirs. Fatty Xu replied that he was not and that he did not recognize him at all.

Shortly after, Chu Feng located Old Qin, as this mysterious person had crossed paths with Old Qin earlier.

"This fellow did come into our back kitchen. At the time, his hands were covered in grease, seemingly because he had spilled his food while eating."

Old Qin recalled the scene from earlier. He was just about to step outside when a man with greasy hands suddenly approached him, asking where he could wash up.

Initially, Old Qin intended to direct the man to the public washing area, but seeing that the man seemed anxious and in a rush, Old Qin allowed him to wash his hands in the back kitchen instead.

"It has to be this punk without a doubt. Our next step is to track him down and bring him to justice."

Chu Feng showed the captured photograph to Elder Chen and simultaneously forwarded the image to Li Zeming, asking the police department to run an investigation and uncover the man's background.

Before long, news came back from the police. The man was named Zhang Tiedan. His mother had been hospitalized thirteen days prior, and he had been staying at the hospital to take care of her ever since.

Checking the hospital's front desk records, Chu Feng found the admission information for Zhang Tiedan's mother. Suffering from cancer, she was currently undergoing chemotherapy in a special ward.

What struck Chu Feng as odd, however, was that despite Zhang Tiedan lacking a steady job, he always managed to pay the hefty hospital and treatment fees.

Harboring these doubts, Chu Feng and Ziyan made their way to the ward of Zhang Tiedan's mother. As soon as Chu Feng stepped inside, he was greeted by the heavy scent of traditional medicinal herbs.