Chapter 746: A Ma.s.sive Murder?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At 11:30 p.m., Gao Peng, the owner of the Champion Pictures, was taken by the police to the temporary interrogation room on the command vessel.
The interrogation room was located in the cabin. It had dim lights, which made it perfect for interrogations.
As soon as he entered the interrogation room, one could tell that something was strange about Gao Peng. He didn’t look well. He seemed quite awkward and nervous, and his hair was untidy.
At this time, Wu Xiumin had not come back from the hospital yet. So, in order to ensure a smooth interrogation, Zhao Yu had to go interrogate Gao Peng with Zeng Ke.
Just after Zhao Yu sat down and put the case file on the table, Gao Peng s.h.i.+vered in horror. He then said in a hurried manner, “Officer… I was wrong! I wasn’t telling the truth. Li Qian… Um… Li Qian offered me some benefits, so I made her the leading actress of ‘Lighthouse!’”
Zhao Yu swallowed hard. He never thought that Gao Peng would say such a thing.
“What benefits?” Zeng Ke asked. He was sorting out the computer files at the moment.
“Um… Well…” Gao Peng hesitated.
“Forget it!” Zhao Yu waved his hand, indicating that Zeng Ke should not ask again. Obviously, Zhao Yu knew what Gao Peng was referring to.
“Then… Ok!” Gao Peng put his fat finger on his gold-rimmed gla.s.ses and said, “I was wrong! I shouldn’t have hid it from you. When ‘Crazy Delivery Woman’ started, the heroine we chose was Qiao Ruxue. And, in order to get sponsors.h.i.+p, Qian Jin put Qiao Ruxue into contact with some investors.”
Then, Gao Peng bowed and said, “Please believe me. It really has nothing to do with me. Qian Jin did all of this for money. He got a sponsors.h.i.+p of 2.55 million yuan, but the cost of the whole film was actually less than one million yuan. Since our company could also profit from this, I just turned a blind eye to his actions!”
“Turned a blind eye? How about admitting that you encouraged them to do it?” Zeng Ke taunted him.
“Yes, yes…” Gao Peng did not dare refute this claim. “But, unexpectedly, Zhang Meiwei suddenly showed up, insisting on playing this role! Although Zhang Meiwei was a new actress, her background was so intimidating that we dared not offend her!”
Gao Peng shook his head, then said, “So after I negotiated with Qian Jin, he agreed to help me. But, I never expected that Qian Jin would do such a bad thing! I thought that maybe he would offer Qiao Ruxue some compensation, but I didn’t expect that he would use such a dirty trick and even involve Qin Hao in all of this!”
“Hum… It seems like no one is clean in all of this!” Zeng Ke angrily scolded him.
Zhao Yu sighed, then said, “Surely Zhang Meiwei must have offered you and Qian Jin a good price.”
Hearing this, Gao Peng shuddered.
“Well, let’s cut to the chase,” Zhao Yu said. “Gao Peng, I’ve got the confirmed information now. Your company insured all of the crew members with a large amount of accident insurance, right?”
“What? Insurance?” Gao Peng was stunned. He did not expect Zhao Yu to suddenly mention insurance. “Yes… I believe so.”
Zhao Yu snapped his fingers. Then, Zeng Ke added, “At the beginning of this year, your company bought a large amount of accident insurance for your employees. The insurance’s compensation is far larger than normal, especially for accidental deaths! What’s more interesting is that it’s double insurance.”
He went on to explain, “This means that the family members and the company are both beneficiaries, meaning that each get half the compensation if an accidental death occurs. That is to say, once an employee dies unexpectedly, the insurance company will not only compensate the family members of the employee, but the company also get compensated an equal amount to those family members!”
Zeng Ke then said coldly, “I’ve done the math… Six people died on the island. If the insurance company pays in full, your company can get up to 80 million yuan as compensation!”
“Oh my G.o.d. That’s an extraordinary amount of money!” Gao Peng was stunned.
He then shook his head and rushed to explain, “Officer, this is not exactly what you think it is. That’s… Oh… The insurance company owed us a debt, and they wanted to use that employee insurance to pay for that debt. That is why it is such a high compensation! I… I also suffered a great loss! But they say that they have no money, so what can I do?”
Gao Peng shook his hands, then said, “Oh, officer, that’s six lives. Please, believe me… I dare not go that far, not just for the insurance money.”
“Really? I’ve checked your company’s financial status. Hasn’t it been several years now that you have not be able to make ends meet?” Zeng Ke asked him coldly. “What’s more, you have a lot of personal debts! How can you pay for those?”
Gao Peng hurriedly explained, “I could never kill someone just because I was short on money! And… It’s accident insurance. That means that, if it is deemed a murder, the insurance company won’t pay for it!”
“Well, we’ve already thought about that!” Zeng Ke said. “To identify whether it’s a murder or not, we need to solve the case and catch the real murderer! However, the suspect has disappeared! Therefore, you can apply for compensation from the insurance company in case we fail to settle the case!”
He then added, “Moreover, the lawsuits between you and the insurance company would not be difficult to win. And… If there is no murderer to be found, all the dead victims on the island could be cla.s.sified as accidental deaths! That figure would be considerable! So, I’m afraid you’ve planned this since long ago!”
Zeng Ke then said forcefully, “All of these island murders are a big show of your company’s. Guo Yihang is just your scapegoat! Gao Peng, tell me the truth. Where is Guo Yihang?”
Hearing this, Gao Peng shook his head and muttered, “Officer, I am really innocent. How could I dare do this kind of thing?”
“Where were you the night before the murder? Who can testify for you… Do you even have an alibi?” Zeng Ke asked him with a stern look.
“The day before yesterday? I… Um… Um…” Gao Peng hesitated for a long time, but suddenly thought of something and said, “Right! Officer, as far as I know, the insurance company has gone broke. Where could I get such a large compensation from then? They’ve already sold the whole company, so they couldn’t afford to pay such a large sum of insurance money!”
“Oh?” Zhao Yu made an unexpected sound.
Hearing this, Zeng Ke was surprised. He and Zhao Yu looked at each other, then Zeng Ke quickly did an online search.
A while later, Zeng Ke said, “You’re right. The insurance company is called Anlumei. It did indeed go broke. However, Haipingyang bought it!”
“According to their agreement, Haipingyang will pay all of Anlumei’s compensations! Haipingyang is a domestic leading insurance company,” Zeng Ke said with relief. “It turns out that you are aiming at this big fish, which is the reason for this murder scheme on Yongjin Island! Gao Peng, how can you explain this?”
Gao Peng was so stunned that his eyes didn’t even blink. He was speechless.
“So where were you the night before the murder?” Zeng Ke stood up and raised his voice, which made Gao Peng tremble.
“Zeng Ke…” However, at this time, Zhao Yu suddenly stopped Zeng Ke, then said, “We are wrong! This incident… It has nothing to do with insurance claims!”
“What? Leader, you…” Zeng Ke could not understand. He then asked, “Why?”
However, instead of answering him, Zhao Yu gathered up the files that were in front of him and left the interrogation room in silence.