That afternoon, Qin Guan paced restlessly in the alley.
He watched two more police cars arrive at Tianfu Hotel's entrance through narrowed eyes.
The manager's update came via text: Four officers with evidence kits. Photographing everything.
Technical investigation teams.
Qin Guan's nails dug into palms. Only criminal cases warranted such scrutiny.
Their earlier "accidental injury" classification had been a ruse - the police never stopped investigating.
Dead people didn't frighten Qin Guan. Qi Min's corpse couldn't testify. But living Xu Ruyi...
Memories flashed - Xu Ruyi's "clumsy" baking burns, her "distracted" mommy blogs. All smoke screens?
How deep does this rabbit hole go?
His polished leather shoes scuffed alley gravel as he circled. Every Qi Min disposal detail replayed:
Nails removed with pliers.
Toothbrush flushed through motel plumbing.
Clothes dumped in different trash bins.
Gloves incinerated in construction site furnace.
Foolproof. Until...
The phone.
Qi Min's burner phone used to lure Li Yang - still hidden in his study's hollowed law tome.
Qin Guan hailed a taxi.
Home smelled of Auntie Feng's chicken soup. 7:32 PM - visiting hours at Xu Ruyi's hospital.
The legal compendium's weight felt lighter.
Empty.
No black Huawei device nestled between pages 817-818.
Window curtains fluttered. Had Xu Ruyi's IV-drip arm reached here? When? How?
Forensic vans' sirens wailed in his mind. Every "accidental" bloodstain at Tianfu Hotel now screamed crime scene.
Xu Ruyi's broken nose became damning evidence. Her theatrical lies transformed into prosecutorial leverage.
The math crystallized:
Hospital "confession" + Tianfu "accident" + missing phone = premeditated entrapment.
Qin Guan's reflection in the glass bookcase showed a man realizing he's become the pawn.
Outside, twilight painted the garden crimson - the color of Xu Ruyi's blood on hotel walls.