Chapter Ten: Luring the Snake out of its Hole

  "All I can say is that the gemstone doesn't seem to be in this venue." Ouyang Xiuxiu said with a flicker of her eyes, speaking mysteriously.

  "Cut! You're no different from saying nothing." Zheng Hanfei snorted disdainfully, wondering what he was trying to do.

  "No way." Ouyang Xiu shrugged his shoulders. "I don't dare to make arbitrary conclusions, let's not forget, there is still no evidence."

  "Evidence, I've already found it." Zheng Hanfei smiled confidently, "You should know that from just now to now, the thief shouldn't have had time to get close to the display rack, so that thing should still be inside. As long as we find it..."

  "Hold on," Ou Yang Xiu interrupted, "If the thief was wearing gloves, there wouldn't be any fingerprints on it. In that case, this thing can only explain the mystery of the missing gemstone, but it can't reveal who stole the gemstone."

  "Are you saying... lure the snake out of its hole?"

  "That's right, it's drawing the snake out of its hole."

  "Alright." Zheng Hanfei nodded, "I'll go prepare first, you..."

  "Wait." Ouyang Xi blocked Zheng Hanfei's path, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

  "What's wrong?" Zheng Hanfei looked very puzzled.

  "May I ask you something."

  "What?"

  "Do you really want to expose his (her) misdeeds? I think you already know he (she) didn't mean it, just wanting to teach him a lesson, just like the meaning of that name - Acheron's sprite."

  "I don't know what you're talking about." Zheng Hanfei burst out laughing, seemingly mocking Ouyang Xi's words. "If I knew the thief, I would have gone to force them to confess long ago."

  "You're afraid!" A glint of sharp light flashed in Ouyang Xiu's eyes, "Although I don't know what's going on, your heart is filled with fear."

  "What are you talking nonsense..."

  "No need for explanation," said Ouyang Xiu. "I just hope some relevant people know, and those irrelevant ones, it's better they don't."

  "Do your best." Zheng Hanfei fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "I've said it before, there are some things that aren't within my control."

  "Thanks!" Ou Yang Xiu patted Zheng Han Fei gratefully.

  ……

  "Sorry, Uncle Sterling," Zheng Hanfei said somewhat dejectedly. "This thief is really too cunning, I couldn't find any clues about where the gemstone is."

  "It's all right, just do your best," Sterling comforted. "As the spirits of Acheron said, you were originally a mortal, and it's reasonable that you can't stop it."

  "Thank you."

  "Right! Weren't you saying that the culprit was among us? And you said you'd tell me about your modus operandi, please go ahead and say it now." Dilo seemed to have remembered something and said.

  "Hehe, I was wrong, sorry, didn't mean to disturb your fun."

  "Wow, I didn't think the famous detective would actually admit defeat. This is really unexpected." At this time, Katie said with a bad face and sarcasm, her red face showing that she was still angry at Zheng Hanfei.

  "Are you satisfied?" Zheng Hanfei said with a displeased face, "I admit it, I couldn't solve this case, my reputation is ruined because of this, but what does it have to do with you?"

  "Can't you just admit it? It's because we trusted you that we removed the surveillance from the meeting room, and yet you still had the nerve to say that the gemstone would definitely not escape under your watch. And what happened in the end? The gemstone was still stolen. Are you going to take responsibility?"

  "Sister is right, you should take responsibility!" Di Luo said in support from the side, his eyes showing disgust proving that he also didn't like Zheng Hanfei, it was unclear whether it was because Zheng Hanfei had angered Katie or simply because he found him unlikable.

  "You... " Sterling couldn't believe that his two children would be like this. He wanted to say something, but he knew in his heart that they wouldn't listen to him.

  "So tell me, what do you want me to do?" Zheng Hanfei took a deep breath and said calmly, but his constantly twitching eyebrows revealed that he was very angry.

  "First of all, you need to apologize to my sister."

  "I agree." Zheng Hanfei nodded and immediately bowed to Katie, "Miss Katie, I was wrong. I shouldn't have doubted you. I apologize to you."

  "I accept," Kitty said calmly. Although she didn't like Zheng Hanfei, he had apologized so sincerely, and with her own character and upbringing, she wouldn't make things difficult for him.

  "Is there anything else?" Zheng Hanfei continued to ask.

  "Secondly, you have to compensate..."

  "Alright, no problem. How much for 'Tears of Hope'? I'll pay for it, I admit."

  "Wait! I don't want your money. 'Tears of Hope' are priceless, and no amount of money can buy them. Besides, this is a birthday gift for my sister."

  "What do you want then!" Zheng Hanfei continued to ask with suppressed anger.

  "We want your reputation."

  "What? My reputation?"

  "That's right, although your reputation was ruined in this case, as long as we don't say anything, no one will know. Besides, you still have a good reputation abroad, for example in Japan."

  "This...". Zheng Hanfei thought for a moment, and finally replied with a reluctant expression, "Alright, I'll agree to it. Anything else?"

  "Lastly, you have to compensate my sister for her emotional distress. Don't think you can get away with it easily, 50 million!"

  "What!" Zheng Hanfei finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted at Di Luo, "Don't be too arrogant!"

  "That's it! Your demands are too outrageous!" Sterling also shouted on the side, he didn't expect Dilo to say such a thing.

  "Dyro, you're really going too far...” Katie also couldn't help but speak up, “For the first two points, it's already good enough that they could swallow their pride and agree to your terms, why do you need to push them to the edge? Besides, we don't lack money either."

  "Sister, you can't be soft-hearted!" Di Luo glared at Zheng Hanfei and said, "He made you lose face many times. Has he kept your birthday gift well? According to the law, he must compensate you for spiritual damages."

  "But...," Zheng Hanfei thought for a moment before speaking, "I don't have that much money."

  "That has nothing to do with us, you're on your own..." Before he could finish speaking, a gold card appeared in front of Dilo, and a voice that was all too familiar sounded beside his ear.

  "I paid for him."

  "What are you doing?! You're on break!" Seeing a smiling Ouyang Xiu standing in front of him, Di Luo looked somewhat startled and hastily waved his hand in refusal.

  "Yes, Ou Yang Xiu, how can I take your money?" Zheng Han Fei also shook his head and refused beside Di Luo.

  "Let's just consider it as making friends!" Ouyang Xiuzi shrugged indifferently and handed the gold card to Dilo, "This amount of money is nothing, anyway Zheng Hanfei has already settled with you two, so I hope you can get along friendly and don't keep hurting each other. Uncle Sterling, it's getting late, we'll leave first, no need for you to see us off."

  "Alright, be careful on the road!"

  The two nodded and walked out of the meeting room, following them were Wang Bo and those guests who had been standing under the stage for a long time with dissatisfaction on their faces.

  "Right, tell the security guard to seal off the scene and invite the police over tomorrow. Got it?" Sterling sighed, just as the letter had said, the sprite in Acheron was indeed making things more painful for him, not only ruining the exhibition but also damaging his friend's child's reputation.

  "Got it, I'll tell," Katie and Dilo replied in unison.

  "Alright, it's already so late, let's just spend the night at the company today." Sterling scratched his head in annoyance and turned to leave the meeting room. As he reached the door, he seemed to remember something and stopped, saying: "Daughter, I'm sorry."

  Katie was taken aback for a moment, then said: "Don't think that an apology can get you my forgiveness."

  "Goodnight!" With a flick of his coat, Sterling vanished from their sight.

  ……

  Late at night, the venue.

  Creak... The tightly closed door suddenly opened with a faint sound. Unfortunately, there was no one on the floor where the meeting room was located, so no one heard it.

  A dark figure first stretched out its head, took a look at the scene, although it was dim, but with the help of the moonlight outside the door, the dark figure still saw clearly where to go and confirmed that there was not a single person in the scene.

  He carefully closed the door, locked it, and tiptoed along the route in his mind. After a while, he finally arrived in front of the display rack, revealing a faint smile.

  "I didn't think they were so stupid, what a famous detective, it's simply an idiot." The black shadow sneered for two sentences, then put on gloves, stretched out his hand, grabbed the edge of the display rack's circular hole, and pulled hard. A part of the display rack was removed by him.

  Heiying opened his hand and felt the pocket, took out a mini flashlight, turned on the power, and white light burst out of the bulb, shining inside the display rack.

  "How is that possible, where's the thing?" Seeing the empty display rack, Hei Ying was clearly startled. After that, he heard a "click" sound, and all the lights in the venue turned on, dazzling him to the point of being unable to open his eyes.

  "Is this what you're looking for?" Zheng Hanfeng waved the object in his hand and smiled: "Mr. Murderer."