"You really have let me down terribly."
Liu Rulan responded decisively to Tong Junhui's apology.
Xiao He stood at the doorway and glanced inside, confirming Tong Junhui's condition before turning around to wait outside, giving Liu Rulan and Tong Junhui space to talk privately.
Another police officer was also standing by the door, so Xiao He struck up a conversation with him.
The officer clearly recognized Xiao He and initiated the conversation: "I'm an officer from Haibin District. Team Leader Zhang has mentioned you to me before."
Xiao He immediately thought of Officer Zhang and Officer Li.
Back when he had just entered the entertainment industry and was nearly mistaken for an actual murderer, it was Officer Zhang and Officer Li - that mentor-apprentice duo - who had responded to the case. He had encountered them several more times during subsequent investigations, but with his recent hectic schedule flying between different cities, it had been quite a while since he last saw them.
He nodded and asked: "Ah, how has Officer Zhang been lately? Has Officer Li become a full-fledged officer yet?"
He remembered that Officer Li had been a rookie back then, needing to accompany his mentor Officer Zhang on every call. Now, over a year had passed in the blink of an eye - Officer Li should have officially completed his probationary period by now.
"Yes, Officer Li can now lead operations independently with his own team," the officer at the door replied.
Xiao He felt a wave of nostalgia.
Time really flew by so quickly...
With this shared connection as an icebreaker, Xiao He's inquiry about Tong Junhui didn't seem abrupt. He leaned closer to the officer and cautiously asked in a lowered voice: "What exactly happened with Tong Junhui's production team? I've seen it's blowing up online - people are saying the entire crew has gone missing."
The officer glanced at Xiao He, keeping his answers tight-lipped and providing information similar to what Liu Rulan already knew: "They're involved in an important case and are currently perfectly safe. As for the online situation, we're not aware of it, but the main bureau should release a clarification announcement soon."
Xiao He frowned, already forming a rough guess in his mind.
Tonight was likely the police's final operation.
And this takedown wasn't just targeting this production team - it included Hong Kong operations and overseas drug trafficking organizations or forces as well -
Xiao He clicked his tongue mentally.
This operation that had been developing for nearly a year was finally concluding today...
Xiao He exchanged a few more words with the officer, though the officer remained cautious about case details and didn't reveal much. Xiao He didn't press further, bidding farewell before sitting down nearby to wait.
Of course, Xiao He didn't remain idle. He pulled out his phone and continued browsing online for updates.
Earlier, the situation had been too urgent for him to fully digest all the details. Now with some spare time, Xiao He finally pieced together the complete story behind the "Silent Search" trending topic.
The whole situation was rather theatrical when you thought about it.
Yesterday, "Silent Search" premiered to widespread audience ridicule. Feng Zhengyang and Dong Zeng had already planned their escape, so naturally they wouldn't spend money hiring water armies to suppress negative publicity. Consequently, news about "Silent Search" being an absolute cinematic disaster spread everywhere. Investors who had been deceived by Feng Zhengyang and Dong Zeng only belatedly realized they might have been scammed after seeing the online backlash.
Even several cinema chains that had deep collaborations with the "Silent Search" production team recognized that their screening schedules were likely doomed!
Watching the increasingly uncontrollable situation, the various deceived parties began trying to contact Feng Zhengyang and Dong Zeng, only to find themselves universally blocked with no way to reach them.
Even when they managed to contact promotion staff, these workers knew nothing, and many turned out to be outsourced teams hired by the "Silent Search" production crew!
Now that their contracts had expired, these external teams naturally no longer handled "Silent Search" promotional work.
As for the Promotion Director who had been their main contact... he had also disappeared along with Feng Zhengyang.
Suddenly, they sensed something was wrong.
More experienced investors felt their hearts sink, suspecting Feng Zhengyang and others had fled.
Yet they still found it hard to believe.
After all, Feng Zhengyang was still one of Hong Kong's top directors, whose previous works were beloved by mainland audiences, enjoying high prestige and fame throughout China.
This was precisely why they had trusted Feng Zhengyang and scrambled to purchase film shares from him!
No matter how much he wanted to run, could he really abandon all his fame and wealth in Hong Kong, even forsaking everything he had in China, and leave the country?
That seemed utterly impossible! Who would be willing to give up so much?
What these people didn't know was that while Feng Zhengyang indeed couldn't bear to leave everything behind, he had a human life on his conscience! If he didn't flee, he'd be eating prison food for the rest of his life.
Eventually, after repeated failed contact attempts, the person in charge of Shanghai's Never Sleep Cinema chain rushed directly to Feng Zhengyang's hotel in the dead of night.
Unsurprisingly, Feng Zhengyang and his associates had already vanished without a trace.
Clearly, their worst fears had materialized.
This particular manager remained relatively calm and immediately reported to the police. Other investors, after their own chaotic scrambling, gradually followed suit with police reports. Meanwhile, news about "Silent Search" spread uncontrollably across the internet.
The timing happened to be deep night when many were already asleep, but night owls remained plentiful. By the time public opinion fully fermented, the incident had rapidly spread online.
Initially, netizens treated it as mere entertainment, but when several investors began publicly questioning Silent Search's official accounts and Feng Zhengyang himself, people gradually realized this was more serious than it appeared.
After understanding the full context, Xiao He found it somewhat amusing.
Who could have predicted this outcome?
Calculating the timing, the police announcement was probably coming soon -
Sure enough, after sitting a while longer, Xiao He witnessed the police notification arrive.
Of course, the official statement didn't directly claim many "Silent Search" crew members were problematic, but rather highlighted significant abnormalities in the film's financial flows involving the entire production team. The announcement mentioned police intervention in the investigation while debunking rumors about the crew's disappearance.
As for what was truly being investigated, that depended on what misdeeds each individual had committed.
If authorities were previously unaware of these people's "accomplishments," now that they'd all gathered in the same highly suspicious production team, police would undoubtedly conduct thorough background checks as a precaution.
And once police launched their investigation, each person's individual issues would naturally surface together.
For instance, Silent Search screenwriter Lu Qiu's plagiarism and illegal seizure of others' script copyrights...
Such as a certain female lead whose family used her connections to establish companies while engaging in tax evasion...
Or like a particular supporting male actor who privately slept with fans and was suspected of inappropriate interactions with underage girls...
This case was exceptionally serious, involving foreign entities attempting to use Hong Kong's wealthiest Chen family as a conduit, leveraging the entertainment industry as cover to distribute addictive drugs in mainland China. Their goal was to corrupt youth physical and mental health through drug addiction while conducting other unspeakable illegal activities.
Against this major backdrop, even though these actors' personal issues might be unrelated to the core case, police certainly wouldn't overlook any of them.
This might later become a landmark case receiving severe punishment.
Looking at the list of individuals and recalling the severity of their respective offenses, Xiao He felt profound reflection.
The investigating officers themselves might be startled to discover they'd captured an entire nest of offenders, each representing a career advancement opportunity!
Slurp, no need to say more - even he felt tempted by the prospect.