Night of the Apocalypse

Not long after, Shen Qiu walked out of the clinic with his hands in his pockets. The morning streets had only a few scattered pedestrians, and occasionally, he could see patrolling guards passing by.

About half of the storefronts on the street were closed.

Shen Qiu glanced around and headed toward the residential complex.

Before long, the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor of Building 4 in Xiangyuan Community.

Shen Qiu stepped out of the elevator and walked toward his home.

However, after taking only a few steps, he stopped, his brow furrowing slightly.

He noticed two men standing in front of his door. From their black-striped uniforms, it was clear that they were from the KPI department.

Upon closer observation, one of the men appeared to be around thirty, exuding a calm demeanor. The other was relatively younger, with a refined appearance.

“Who are you? Why are you in front of my house?” Shen Qiu asked, feigning ignorance.

At this moment, the composed man took out his identification and said to Shen Qiu, “We are Zheng Duo and Gao Li from the KPI department. You must be Mr. Shen Qiu, right?”

“I am. What’s the matter?” Shen Qiu replied calmly.

Zheng Duo’s experienced gaze continuously scrutinized Shen Qiu as he spoke. “Mr. Shen, there’s no need to panic. We’re here to verify some matters and hope you can cooperate honestly.”

“You can ask. I will do my best to cooperate,” Shen Qiu replied without any change in his emotional state.

“Mr. Shen Qiu, were you filming at the Tianqing Canal the night before last?” Gao Li began the questioning.

“Yes!” Shen Qiu responded.

Shen Qiu responded without hesitation.

“Then may I ask, during the filming process, did you go missing?” Gao Li continued to inquire.

“No!” Shen Qiu replied calmly.

“You’re lying. That night, there was a large-scale disappearance of personnel at Tianqing Canal. After receiving the report, the guards sealed off the scene and conducted a personnel count, but your name was not on the list,” Gao Li directly questioned, staring into Shen Qiu’s eyes.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the room became tense and solidified.

“It’s normal for my name not to be there because I left in the afternoon. Here’s my completion certificate; you can take a look. If you don’t believe me, you can also check the community surveillance footage,” Shen Qiu said, pulling out the completion certificate that Sun Shu had given him from his pocket.

Gao Li took the completion certificate with a hint of surprise and examined it closely, reading it several times. The document had a signature and an official stamp, which didn’t appear to be forged.

As for the community surveillance, it had been broken for several months. Due to many residents defaulting on their property fees, no one had come to repair it yet.

Zheng Duo squinted at the completion certificate and said to Shen Qiu, “Mr. Shen, since you say you finished work early and went home, why do we have no record of you using any transportation?”

Shen Qiu paused for a moment before replying, “My friend picked me up.”

“Who?”

Zheng Duo asked, staring intently at Shen Qiu.

“He! If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself,” Shen Qiu said, pulling out his phone, opening his contacts, and dialing the shady businessman’s number before handing the phone to Zheng Duo.

Zheng Duo took the phone with some skepticism and switched it to speaker mode.

Beep beep~

The sound of the phone connecting echoed repeatedly.

Under Shen Qiu’s seemingly calm face, his heart was racing. Facing the interrogation from the KPI department, he had no choice but to take a gamble, hoping that the shady businessman would be clever enough.

After a moment, the call was connected. Zheng Duo did not speak first but waited for the person on the other end to say something.

Soon, a suspicious voice came from the other side of the line.

“Shen Qiu?”

“Hello, you are Shen Qiu’s friend, right?” Zheng Duo asked at this moment.

Upon hearing Zheng Duo’s words, the shady businessman immediately became alert and asked, “Who are you? How did Shen Qiu’s phone end up in your hands?”

“I’m from the KPI department, and I need you to cooperate with us. Mr. Shen Qiu mentioned that he was with you yesterday afternoon. Is that true?” Zheng Duo asked calmly.

Beside him, Shen Qiu felt a pang of anxiety upon hearing Zheng Duo’s words. He thought to himself, “This is bad; they’re trying to trap the shady businessman.”

“Yesterday? No, that’s wrong. Isn’t it the day before yesterday? He finished work early that day, and I went specifically to pick him up,” the shady businessman replied quickly with a smile.

Shen Qiu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the shady businessman’s words; he had won the gamble! After the Tianqing Canal incident, the shady businessman definitely had been keeping an eye on the situation. This fat guy must have figured out Zheng Duo’s identity and realized his own position.

“Great, thank you for your cooperation,” Zheng Duo said and promptly hung up, handing the phone back to Shen Qiu.

“Was that all?” Shen Qiu asked as he took the phone.

Unfortunately, Zheng Duo and Gao Li did not believe Shen Qiu based on this evidence alone. They then asked, “Mr. Shen, may we come into your home and take a look?”

“Sure.”

Shen Qiu did not refuse because he knew very well that their inquiry was merely symbolic; whether he agreed or not, they would definitely go in.

“Then please open the door for us,” Gao Li said politely to Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu extended his hand to scan his fingerprint, unlocked the door, and led the two men inside his home.

“Mr. Shen, do you live here alone for a long time?” Zheng Duo asked while observing the photos in the living room.

“Yeah, I live alone,” Shen Qiu nodded in response.

“Your home is quite nice.”

“It’s okay.”

“Even though this is the seventh ring, the housing prices aren’t cheap. Living alone is quite impressive,” Zheng Duo remarked.

Zheng Duo and Gao Li wandered around the living room for a while. After finding nothing particularly noteworthy, they moved to the left bedroom and stopped.

“Mr. Shen, may we take a look at this room?”

“Go ahead,” Shen Qiu replied expressionlessly.

“Excuse us!”

Gao Li then opened the door, and a collection of extreme sports gear immediately came into view.

Both of them showed surprised expressions, but their demeanor quickly returned to normal. After touring the room, they stepped back out.

“Are we done?”

Shen Qiu asked with an indifferent expression.

“Can we see your room?” Gao Li said with a slight smile.

Shen Qiu took a deep breath and then turned to lead them to his room.

Zheng Duo and Gao Li exchanged glances, both showing a hint of confusion. Did they really suspect him wrongly? Had this guy really not gone missing? Otherwise, why would he be so cooperative?

But despite their doubts, the two still followed Shen Qiu into his bedroom.

“Take a look,” Shen Qiu said coldly, stepping aside.

Zheng Duo and Gao Li immediately spread out to examine Shen Qiu’s bedroom.

Gao Li noticed the neatly folded bedding and couldn’t help but glance at Shen Qiu with newfound respect. In this day and age, it was rare to see such a clean and tidy single young man.