Chapter 145: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

"Whom are you looking for?" Zhang Tiedan asked as he stepped forward, seeing Chu Feng and Ziyan walk in while he was feeding medicine to his mother.

"We are looking for you. Feed your mother the medicine first, and we can talk after that." Instead of taking Zhang Tiedan away immediately, Chu Feng wanted him to finish caring for his mother.

Five or six minutes later, after Zhang Tiedan finished feeding his mother, he followed Chu Feng and Ziyan outside.

Chu Feng and Ziyan walked in front, with Zhang Tiedan following closely behind. However, Zhang Tiedan kept his hands behind his back, as if he was concealing something.

"Zhang Tiedan, let's talk. Why did you poison the food at the hospital? Who ordered you to do this?"

Chu Feng led Zhang Tiedan to the stairwell. With very few people around and speaking in low voices, no one would overhear them.

"As you can see, my mother has cancer, and my family simply cannot afford the treatment. Someone gave me two million Chinese yuan and told me to pour a certain substance into their rice-washing water."

Zhang Tiedan confessed to the poisoning right away, which caught Chu Feng somewhat off guard. He had expected Zhang Tiedan to put up a stubborn resistance, not admit to it so readily.

"Who approached you? Was it a Chinese person or a foreigner?" Chu Feng stared intently into Zhang Tiedan's eyes, yet he failed to read any information regarding their meeting from Zhang Tiedan's mind, not even a trace of their conversation.

At that moment, Zhang Tiedan had only one thought in his mind—that he must save his mother. The function of Chu Feng's smartwatch could not read everyone's mind, nor could it uncover every psychological activity; it only allowed Chu Feng to easily see or hear what a person was consciously thinking about.

"It was a Chinese person. He was dressed entirely in black and wore a hideous, fanged mask. We met at the underground plaza. He gave me two million and handed me a small bottle, instructing me to find a way into the kitchen every day and wash my hands in the basin used for washing rice."

As he spoke, Zhang Tiedan pulled a small bottle from his pocket. It resembled the bottles used for pediatric cough syrup, but a pungent, acrid odor immediately wafted from it.

Ziyan took out a handkerchief from her pocket and accepted the bottle from Zhang Tiedan. There was still half a bottle of liquid left inside, presumably the poison.

"Since you have confessed, I won't arrest you for now. Stay here and take good care of your mother. I will arrange for officers from the Public Security Bureau to keep watch over you here. Once your mother recovers or passes away, you will report to the public security bureau with them. It will be recorded as a voluntary surrender."

Chu Feng had previously reviewed all of Zhang Tiedan's background information from the public security bureau. His mother was gravely ill in the hospital with cancer, while his father had abandoned them long ago and was nowhere to be found. If they arrested him right away, his mother would be left with no one to care for her.

Clatter. Just as Chu Feng finished speaking, he heard the sound of a metal object dropping to the floor. He quickly pulled Zhang Tiedan aside and discovered a fruit knife lying right where he had been standing.

"What is the meaning of this? Do you intend to kill both of us, or are you trying to commit suicide to escape punishment?"

Seeing the fruit knife, Chu Feng narrowed his eyes. Zhang Tiedan must have intended to end his own life; trying to kill either Chu Feng or Ziyan would have been pure delusion.

"You are right, I did want to end my life, but I never expected that you wouldn't arrest me and would instead allow me to stay here and look after my mother."

Upon finishing his words, Zhang Tiedan dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Chu Feng several times. Chu Feng hurriedly helped him up, and with a swift pinch of his fingers, snapped the blade of the fruit knife directly into two halves.

"Cherish this time well," Chu Feng said, before turning and leaving with Ziyan.

"Aren't you afraid he might run away or commit suicide to escape justice?" Ziyan asked, unable to understand why Chu Feng chose not to arrest Zhang Tiedan.

"Not at all. His life was completely frozen in ice. When you suddenly offer him a sliver of warmth, he will repay you a thousand or ten thousand fold."

Chu Feng had seen something profound in Zhang Tiedan's eyes—human nature. The only reason he had accepted the conditions offered by a stranger and poisoned the hospital food was because he had completely run out of options to borrow money to save his ailing mother, which proved he was a dutiful son.

Since Chu Feng had treated him with such magnanimity, he naturally wouldn't commit suicide or attempt to flee. That was simply the nature of humanity.

Ziyan was an assassin. During her past missions, regardless of whether her targets were male or female, young or old, she had never shown mercy, which was why she could not comprehend such complexities.

Chu Feng called Li Zeming and briefed him on the situation, instructing him to dispatch two plainclothes officers to the scene with a strict reminder that the police must never mention the matter in front of Zhang Tiedan's mother.

"Let's go. I'll treat you to something to eat. I'm hungry after being busy all day." Chu Feng led Ziyan to the street food stall where he and Han Xuefang used to eat frequently.

Gazing at the familiar stall and the familiar owner, Chu Feng felt a deep sense of loss; the familiar person was gone. In the past, whenever he and Han Xuefang ate here, they could always share a common topic of conversation, but now, she was no longer by his side.

"Chu Feng, let's go. Let's not eat here." Ziyan, highly perceptive of subtle changes in mood, noticed Chu Feng's sorrow and immediately guessed that Han Xuefang must have brought him here before. She wanted to take him away from this heartbreaking place.

"It's fine, let's eat here. We still need to head over to the underground plaza later anyway." Chu Feng shook his head, clearing the lingering thoughts from his mind.

He casually ordered some food and sat down with Ziyan to wait. Noticing that Chu Feng was in low spirits, Ziyan remained silent.

Before long, the stall owner brought over all the dishes Chu Feng had ordered, specially adding some extra meat for him.

Picking up his chopsticks, Chu Feng began to devour the food voraciously. Within three minutes, he had swept away everything on the table, leaving Ziyan alone to finish the noodles in her bowl.

Waiting for Ziyan to finish, Chu Feng left two hundred yuan on the table before departing. Though his usual meals here cost around a hundred yuan, he always left two hundred because he knew the owner invariably added extra food to his portions.

When Chu Feng and Ziyan arrived at the underground plaza, it was already seven o'clock in the evening. The underground plaza was a subterranean shopping hub in the capital, featuring numerous brand-name stores alongside bustling street stalls. Because management here was relatively lax, people from all walks of life gathered here.

Chu Feng first called the local police station with jurisdiction over the underground plaza, asking them to send an officer over so they could coordinate with the property management company to review the surveillance footage.

Two or three minutes later, two police officers in uniform located them, indicating that their precinct was quite close by.