Chapter 1: My Father Killed Someone?

In the suburban villa on the outskirts of Shancheng, Tang Jianing sat on the first-floor sofa, her gaze heavy and fixed on the butler.

"Still no news of my father?"

The butler answered with visible anxiety, "None, Miss. Would you like something to eat first?"

At those words, Tang Jianing's brow furrowed deeply.

Her father lived a life of clockwork regularity. Mornings were for business, afternoons for tea, and he was home by six sharp to keep her company. But it was already eight o'clock, and his absence could only mean something had gone wrong.

After a moment's thought, she dialed a number.

The moment the call connected, she demanded in a cold voice, "Lawyer Zhou, where is my father?"

Silence on the other end.

"Speak," she said, impatience edging into her tone.

A middle-aged man's voice came through. "Miss, your father... has been taken away by the criminal investigation unit."

Tang Jianing's expression darkened. "Something to do with overseas matters?"

"The overseas business shouldn't reach this far. From what I've gathered, it appears to be connected to a murder case from seven years ago."

Zhou's words allowed Tang Jianing to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

Within the country, her father was a genuine, well-regarded entrepreneur — his business thriving, his generosity toward the nation unquestioned, whether it came to money or effort.

In reality, however, in a small nation in East Asia, her father's criminal empire had climbed to the very apex of the underworld.

The family had naturally kept all of this from her. But with so many brothers who had fought alongside him to build that empire, a few loose tongues were inevitable. Over the years, she had pieced together a picture of the situation — though she was careful to play the innocent whenever her father was around.

"Find out everything within half an hour," she said coolly. "I'll be waiting at the villa."

"Yes, Miss!"

Fifteen minutes later, Zhou's hurried figure stepped through the villa's doors.

He glanced at Tang Jianing reclining on the sofa with her eyes half-closed and felt a jolt of admiration. *No wonder she's the boss's daughter. What presence.*

Sensing his arrival, Tang Jianing opened her eyes. "Tell me."

Zhou quickly handed over a thick stack of documents and spoke respectfully. "Miss, I received word at half past five this afternoon. Your father was taken on his way home. The grounds for the summons are a murder case."

At the word *murder*, Tang Jianing's brow arched, and a sardonic smile touched the corner of her lips.

"This is a cold case from seven years ago — a killing in the Fuli Residential Complex. Police have recently uncovered new evidence, all of it pointing toward your father. However, the chain of evidence is incomplete and riddled with gaps."

"The case has been picked up by the provincial bureau's cold case unit. After I went to the station to assess the situation, I made a copy of the full dossier and brought it along."

By the time Zhou finished speaking, his forehead was beaded with cold sweat.

Tang Jianing cast a casual glance at the documents. "Evidence with such weak directional force, and yet they can still detain one of Haicheng's most distinguished entrepreneurs. This case must be pressing indeed. What's the situation with the property where the killing occurred?"

Zhou quickly leafed through the papers on the coffee table. "The property has already been sold. When the buyer later learned it was a crime scene, they were too frightened to move in and listed it for resale immediately."

"Buy it. Move quickly."

"I'll see to it right now." Zhou turned and strode out.

Tang Jianing picked up the dossier and began reading.

Seven years ago, twenty-three-year-old Chi Ziqi had died under mysterious circumstances in her own home. When she was discovered, she lay in a pool of blood, three stab wounds on her body. The cause of death was massive hemorrhage from organ rupture.

Police investigation revealed that cash and jewelry had vanished from the apartment. The inquiry naturally shifted toward the theory of a home invasion robbery.

The case had since been unearthed by the provincial bureau's cold case unit, which had taken it over. The team found her father's fingerprints on preserved evidence — and that discovery had set tonight's events in motion.

*Fingerprints.*

Tang Jianing paused at those two words and quickly turned to the victim's personal profile.

Chi Ziqi had graduated from a prestigious university. A Shancheng native herself, she had chosen to return to her hometown upon graduation and joined their family's Datang Group as a trainee. Her position had been secretary to the office of the president.

Had Tang Jianing not known the full truth about her father, even she might have placed him at the top of the suspect list.

"Miss, the property has been purchased. The legal team is signing the contracts now."

At the news that the matter was settled, Tang Jianing rose to her feet.

"Let's go. I want to see the scene for myself."

To get her father out as quickly as possible, she needed decisive evidence of his innocence. The fingerprints in police custody were not conclusive proof — they were not enough to secure a conviction — but they were sufficient to justify detention for a period of time.

Her father's standing was considerable. If the suspicion hanging over him was not cleared swiftly, the violent men across the border might hear word of it and begin entertaining dangerous thoughts.

"Miss, shall I engage a pair of private investigators?"

"Let's have a look first. The physical evidence is all in police hands. We'll start by laying the groundwork."

At that, Zhou nodded and swiftly picked up her handbag for her.

As the two of them stepped out through the villa's front doors, the bodyguards stationed outside fell in immediately behind them.

The car raced along the road and pulled up at the entrance to the residential complex in under half an hour. The security guard, a man well past sixty, took one wise look at the vehicle — worth heaven knew how many zeroes — and the bodyguards with their swelling muscles, and raised the barrier without a word.

The group swept in force to the door of the crime scene property, where a timid young woman stood clutching a set of keys, visibly tense.

"M-Miss!"

Tang Jianing extended her hand and took the keys, then looked the girl over.

"Afraid of ghosts?"

"Yes — yes, I am!"

Watching the girl nod as frantically as if she were pounding garlic, Tang Jianing drew a thousand yuan from her wallet.

"A bonus for working late. Report to the secretarial office tomorrow."

Though the girl's eyes still held a lingering terror of the place, the sight of the vivid red banknotes made them light up.

"Have someone see her into a cab. Everyone else, hold the perimeter."

"Yes!"

The bodyguards fanned out around the entrance and took up their posts. Tang Jianing inserted the key into the lock.

The tumblers clicked, and she placed her other hand on the door handle, preparing to push it open and see what lay within.

In that instant, a neat white rectangular prompt box materialized from the door handle itself, hovering before her eyes.

*This door handle bears no fingerprints — it has clearly been wiped clean with great care by the killer.*

The floating text left Tang Jianing frozen where she stood, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Miss? Is something wrong?"

Zhou noticed her standing motionless in the doorway and could not help but ask.

"Nothing. Let's go in."

Tang Jianing watched the prompt fade and vanish, gave a faint shake of her head, and followed Zhou into the apartment.

"This place hasn't been touched since, has it?"

"Apart from what the police removed as evidence, nothing at the scene has been disturbed."