Chapter 1386
Hard Drive Hidden Under Sofa?!
"Deputy Director Chen."
Luo Fei's voice wasn't loud, but it had a peculiar penetrating power that instantly silenced the conference room. Even Zhong Baoyu temporarily suppressed his anger and looked at him.
"Let's put the issue of identity aside for now. Right now, I just want to ask you a few questions as an ordinary party involved, is that alright?"
Chen Yunfei looked at Luo Fei in horror, not knowing what he was up to, and could only nod stiffly.
“At that time, in that noodle shop, several thugs openly harassed and intimidated the female employee, and even tried to touch her inappropriately. When I stepped forward to stop them, they turned around and attacked me.”
Luo Fei spoke slowly and deliberately, as if he were recounting the details of a case.
"In this situation, Deputy Director Chen, please tell me, based on your understanding and judgment, what should I have done at that time? Should I have ignored it and turned away? Or should I have knelt down and begged for mercy, asking them to be lenient? Or, is there a 'correct' 'standard procedure' that can stop the illegal infringement without harming the other party or making you arrest me as a perpetrator of intentional assault?"
Luo Fei's gaze was fixed on Chen Yunfei, his tone remained calm, but his questions were sharp as knives.
"Please explain to me again, in front of Director Zhong and so many experienced colleagues, what constitutes 'acting bravely for a just cause' and not 'intentional harm' under those circumstances?"
This question, though seemingly simple, is actually quite insidious.
It strips away Luo Fei's later identity as "Director of the National Security Bureau," returning to the core of the incident—the legal definition of a citizen's right to legitimate self-defense. In such an emergency, demanding that the defender precisely control their strength and ensure the other party is unharmed is unreasonable and contrary to the spirit of the legislation.
Chen Yunfei's face turned from white to green, then from green to red, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.
He opened his mouth, only to find that he couldn't answer the question at all. Any answer that was legal and common sense would immediately highlight the absurdity of his initial handling of the situation.
He could only stammer, his eyes darting away.
“I…I was mainly relying on witness testimonies from the scene…They all said you were just jealous…”
"Witness testimony?"
Luo Fei raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he had grasped the key point.
"You mentioned that the noodle shop's surveillance hard drive was faulty, right?"
"Yes! That's right!"
Chen Yunfei felt as if he had grabbed a piece of driftwood and quickly affirmed.
"The hard drive was faulty; it didn't record anything! The technical department has verified this! So at the time, there was a lack of direct audio-visual evidence!"
"Are you sure... that hard drive that was sent for testing was completely empty? And that hard drive is actually currently stored in the city bureau's evidence room?"
Luo Fei pressed on, his gaze sharp.
"I'm sure! I'm sure!"
Chen Yunfei answered quickly, even with a hint of urgency, as if he wanted to use this "conclusive" evidence to solidify his position.
"That was the original hard drive removed from the noodle shop's monitoring host. Engineer Wang from the technical department personally inspected it and said it was physically damaged and could not read the data."
That empty hard drive, after the case file was transferred, was sealed along with other physical evidence according to regulations, and it's definitely in the evidence room now!
He spoke much more fluently, as if he were reciting a prepared speech.
However, the instant Chen Yunfei finished speaking, a faint, extremely subtle glimmer, imperceptible to ordinary people, flashed briefly across Luo Fei's eyes. In his special perception, Chen Yunfei's intensely churning thoughts were clearly "captured" and "interpreted" like noisy radio waves.
【】
A cacophony of emotions—confusion, fear, ruthlessness, and a sense of relief—was instantly revealed to Luo Fei. The truth was laid bare.
A knowing, slightly sarcastic smile slowly appeared on Luo Fei's face.
Looking at the deputy director in front of him, who was inwardly turbulent but outwardly feigning composure, he decided to stop beating around the bush.
"Deputy Director Chen."
Luo Fei's voice remained calm, but every word seemed to carry immense weight, striking Chen Yunfei's heart and the eardrums of everyone in the conference room.
"Are you so sure the hard drive is empty, and that it's in the evidence room?"
But why do I feel... that's not how it seems?
Chen Yunfei suddenly looked up, his pupils contracted sharply, and a chill ran from his tailbone straight to the top of his head.
Luo Fei leaned forward slightly and, in a tone that only a few people nearby could clearly hear, yet which was enough for everyone present to feel the unquestionable certainty in his words, revealed the truth word by word.
"I suspect that the original surveillance hard drive that actually recorded everything that happened in the noodle shop that day is not in the evidence room at all."
It should be in a... safer, more secluded place, somewhere only you, Deputy Director Chen, would know about.
"As for the noodle shop's surveillance equipment..."
Luo Fei paused, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing Chen Yunfei's face, which had turned deathly pale.
"It wasn't broken at all. It was you who, in order to distort the facts and cover up the truth, deliberately hid the hard drive that actually recorded the truth."
Luo Fei's words, "It wasn't broken at all. It was you who, in order to distort the facts and cover up the truth, deliberately hid the hard drive that actually recorded the truth," exploded in Chen Yunfei's mind like a thunderclap, silencing the entire conference room.
Chen Yunfei suddenly looked up, his pupils contracted sharply, and all the color drained from his face, leaving only a deathly ashen complexion.
He wanted to refute, to deny, to loudly rebuke Luo Fei for his slander, but his throat felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, and he could only make a hissing, suffocating sound. Luo Fei's gaze was calm yet sharp as a scalpel, as if it had pierced through his flesh and was looking into the dirtiest corner of his heart.
Seeing Chen Yunfei's ghost-like expression, Luo Fei even leaned forward slightly and continued speaking in a tone that was almost casual, but every word carried a cold, sharp edge.
“Deputy Director Chen, do you think that as long as you don’t say anything and hide that thing in a place you think is absolutely safe and no one will think of it, everything will be fine? You might even think that even if I suspect it, even if Director Zhong wants to investigate, without solid clues, he will never find it, right?”
He paused, a faint, all-knowing smile curving his lips. "Unfortunately, a person's micro-expressions and subconscious body language are sometimes more honest than their words."
They might inadvertently reveal their deepest secrets... like where they hide things.
[Chen Yunfei's inner thoughts.]
Micro-expressions? What a load of rubbish about micro-expression analysis!
That's all a TV trick! I hid the hard drive in a secret compartment under the sofa base in my office. I modified that spot myself; you can't see it from the outside! The sofa is so heavy; nobody usually moves it! Unless you completely dismantle the sofa, even if the King of Heaven himself came, he wouldn't find it! As long as I stubbornly deny it, without a search warrant or clear targeting, what right do you have to move my office? What right do you have to dismantle my sofa? Yes! That's it! Fight to the bitter end!
This inner monologue churned in Chen Yunfei's mind like boiling mud, filled with a sense of luck, ruthlessness, and a hint of desperate, desperate madness.
However, these thoughts, which were absolutely secret to him, were as clear as if someone were reading them aloud in Luo Fei's ear, thanks to his special perception.
So, the moment Chen Yunfei's resolute thought arose in his mind, Luo Fei's knowing smile deepened.
He even shook his head slightly, seemingly feeling a touch of pity for Chen Yunfei's futile mental activity.
Then, he stopped looking at Chen Yunfei, whose face was ashen but whose eyes were still flickering, and turned around to face Director Zhong Baoyu, whose anger had turned into extreme suspicion.
"Director Zhong."
Luo Fei's voice was clear and steady, echoing in the quiet conference room.
“Since Deputy Director Chen is so ‘confident’ about the hard drive in the evidence room, and I am also quite certain of my judgment… In order to clarify the facts and avoid unnecessary suspicion, I have a request.”
Zhong Baoyu immediately replied.
"Director Luo, please speak! I will fully cooperate as long as it's to find out the truth!"
"it is good."
Luo Fei nodded, his gaze sweeping across the entire room before finally settling on Zhong Baoyu's face, and said, word by word.
"Please send someone immediately with body cameras to Deputy Director Chen Yunfei's office—focus on searching under the base of the black leather sofa in his office area. I suspect the real surveillance hard drive is hidden there."
"Under the sofa?!"
"This……"
As soon as Luo Fei finished speaking, a series of suppressed gasps of surprise rippled through the conference room.
This is too specific and too unexpected! Who would have thought that a deputy director would hide such crucial evidence under the sofa in his office?
However, before Zhong Baoyu could react, or even before he could utter the words "investigate immediately," Chen Yunfei, who was standing to the side as if petrified, suddenly trembled violently as if struck by a high-voltage current and screamed incoherently.
"We can't go!!!"
The scream was hoarse and shrill, filled with desperate panic, a completely unconscious reaction without any thought. The sound was particularly jarring in the silent conference room.
All eyes instantly shifted from Luo Fei to Chen Yunfei.
Just minutes before, the deputy director was trying to argue his way out of trouble. Now, his face was ashen, large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, his eyes were unfocused, his lips trembled like leaves in the autumn wind, and he was swaying precariously, as if he would collapse to the ground at any moment.
His cry of "I can't go," and his complete breakdown at this moment, are more powerful than any evidence—it's practically a confession!
Zhong Baoyu had initially been skeptical of Luo Fei's accurate prediction, but seeing Chen Yunfei's ghost-like reaction, his last trace of doubt vanished, replaced by overwhelming anger and a deep sense of betrayal.
He took a sudden step forward, his tall figure exuding a strong sense of oppression, staring intently at Chen Yunfei, his voice trembling slightly with extreme shock and anger.
"Chen Yunfei...you...you really hid something? Under the sofa in your office?! You...you bastard! Do you know what you're doing?!"
"me……"
Chen Yunfei was forced to retreat repeatedly by Zhong Baoyu's interrogation, his back hitting the cold wall, leaving him with nowhere to go.
He looked at the undisguised shock, heartache, and rage in the eyes of his old leader, who was both his mentor and brother, and then glanced at the disdainful, astonished, and incredulous looks of his colleagues around him. Finally, his gaze fell on Luo Fei's calm and composed face, which seemed to see through everything.
The last shred of psychological defense collapsed like a dam breached by a flood.
His legs buckled, and he could no longer support his body weight.
With a "thud," he didn't kneel, but rather slid limply off the wall, landing heavily on a chair next to him, as if all the bones in his body had been removed. His face was ashen, his eyes vacant, and he mumbled unconsciously.
"It's over...it's all over...how did he know...how could he have known..."
At this moment, he was completely unable to understand how Luo Fei knew the exact location of his hidden hard drive. He could only attribute it to the miraculous "micro-expression analysis" that Luo Fei had just mentioned, and his heart was filled with absurdity and fear.
The evidence is conclusive—although the physical evidence has not yet been retrieved, Chen Yunfei's reaction is irrefutable proof. Concealing or altering key evidence; framing or illegally detaining officials of higher-level state organs; assisting the perpetrators in colluding to fabricate false evidence… Any one of these charges is enough to strip him of his police uniform and even send him to the prison he once served in.
Chen Yunfei knew better than anyone that he was finished. His political life, career, and even his personal freedom all came to an end the moment Luo Fei pointed out the location "under the sofa."
Luo Fei slowly walked up to Chen Yunfei, who was completely dejected, and looked down at him.
This time, his gaze was no longer concealed; his deep eyes seemed to contain the power to see through all the truths.
“Deputy Director Chen, the hard drive issue is just the beginning.”
His voice wasn't loud, but it had a penetrating power that struck straight to the soul.
"Did you end up like this just because you handled a case wrong? You had a very close relationship with the local tycoon Xue Shih-hao, and you accepted his invitations to banquets many times. Last year, you even secretly went to Macau together and gambled away a fortune in the casino... In the end, you were heavily in debt and owed Xue Shih-hao tens of millions of dollars in gambling debts. From then on, you had no choice but to obey him and became Xue's 'white glove' and 'protective umbrella' in certain areas."
"Those blond-haired thugs at the noodle shop were hired by Xue Shih-hao to handle his shady dealings. You knew their identities and backgrounds, yet after receiving the report, instead of investigating their crimes of causing trouble and harassing women, you turned your power around and abused your authority to try and condemn me, this 'uncooperative' 'outsider,' as a serious criminal… Am I right?"
These words were like a final, heavy blow, striking Chen Yunfei's already shattered psychological defenses.
He suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide open as if he were looking at a demon who could see into the past and future!
These matters, especially the gambling in Macau and the enormous gambling debts, were his deepest, most hidden, and most fatal scars. He was confident he had kept them extremely secret, that even his closest relatives knew nothing about them! How could this young man know so much?! He even seemed to have witnessed the specific amounts, times, and locations firsthand?! (End of Chapter)