Su Cui snapped back to reality, looking at Su Baixue's sparkling eyes. She coughed to cover it up.
"Who else could I be talking about?" Su Cui picked up the remote and pointed at the TV. "Just that guy on TV who got caught gambling and was crying like a dog... The news today is boring. Let's turn it off."
Su Baixue leaned in to look at Su Cui's expression, sensing that her grandma wasn't telling the truth.
Besides, when Grandma said the man was crying like a dog, she probably meant to say 'that dog of a man.'
"Alright, you're already dozing off. Go to sleep. Don't you have a quiz tomorrow?" Su Cui stood up and urged Su Baixue with a smile.
Su Baixue put her water glass on the coffee table and nodded. But thinking about Su Cui's cold expression just now, she couldn't help but look back at Su Cui before entering her room. To her surprise, Su Cui was also looking at her!
It was a very complex look.
Unreadable—whether it was sorrow or pity—it suddenly made Su Bai Xue feel uneasy. There was a deep ripple in her hazy eyes that made Su Baixue almost timidly say, "Grandma?"
Su Cui's gaze lasted only a moment. When she noticed Su Baixue turning back, it became gentle and warm.
"Go to sleep. Good night, Bai Xue," Su Cui said softly.
"...Good night, Grandma."
*
The next day, Su Cui waited all morning. Seeing no local news about the arrest of drug dealers, she wasn't sure if the police were trying to follow the clues to catch the big fish—after all, it was possible they wanted to trace the leads to the mastermind. She had to hold back and observe for now.
Using her golden finger, Su Cui exported the photos she had taken with her phone last night and the contents of the little red voice recorder that had recorded the drug dealer's confession. She took a bus to a distant internet café and, with her golden finger's power, sent these materials to the A City Public Security Bureau chief—of course, she erased all traces of her online activity. Exposing evidence on a large scale might reveal any undercover informants within the gang.
By sending it directly to the higher-ups, though not guaranteed, the risk of exposure was left for the police to worry about.
Even if the fake pregnant woman ratted out Su Cui, Su Cui wasn't worried. Her face had been smeared with that mask, and she had prepared thoroughly—low-key enough.
Meanwhile, the matter of He Li's body stirred up quite a storm in A City.
He Li had a history of fighting with school thugs that left him lame, and even though it was quickly suppressed, the internet has a memory.
After He Li's body was discovered, because he was wearing the uniform of A City High School, the school contacted the police and reported He Li's disappearance. His identity was confirmed almost immediately.
A death naturally meant investigating the cause.
For a time, the school leadership of A City High was frantic. Media gathered at the school gate every day. The former top student of the grade, after becoming lame, had committed suicide? Was it murder? Either way, it was a huge headline. The A City media were rubbing their hands together, waiting for a big scoop.
The photos Su Cui had placed in the principal's office and teachers' offices of the thugs taking drugs also played a significant role. Not only had most teachers seen the photos, but several students who went to the office early in the morning had seen them too.
The campus was buzzing with rumors, even spreading that the thugs had killed He Li, causing panic among the students.
After confirming He Li's death, despite pressure from the thugs' families, the school, under media pressure, eventually handed over the materials Su Cui had provided to the police. Soon after, the thugs on campus were taken away by the police for investigation in full view of everyone.
The moment Qian Baoyuan received the news, he knew the drug use couldn't be hidden.
Without He Li supplying drugs, Qian Baosheng and the others spent a day at the police station without being picked up by their families. They went into withdrawal. Coupled with the recent discovery of the drug den in Elephant Community, He Li's drug dealing to thugs came to light.
When parents were contacted and Qian Baoyuan came forward to testify, the situation exploded.
For several days, A City news was full of reports like "Former Grade Topper Becomes Drug Dealer," "Campus Violence Leads to Criminal Psychology," and so on—whatever could grab the most attention.
Before the police investigation was complete, some media started leading the narrative, directing readers to criticize the police and the school, then arrogantly analyzed He Li's drug-dealing psychology, his grievances with the thugs, and campus violence. They also reported how A City High, the best high school in the city, could have a drug dealer on campus and questioned student safety. With imaginative articles, they led readers to guess whether He Li was killed by thugs.
These stories were undoubtedly eye-catching and instantly ignited parents' anger.
As for the truth?
Those who truly wanted the truth, kept their cool, and had their own opinions, shut up and waited, barely holding on for the real answer.
Meanwhile, some indignant righteous people, based on the scarce information from the media and the police's evasive responses, stood on their moral high ground to express their feelings and write passionate words! Others, led astray by the media, started spouting nonsense, attacking one target after another. The truth wasn't the most important thing to them; their excitement came from this rare opportunity to satisfy their inner urge to "spray with pleasure."
As the only direct participant who truly knew the truth, Su Cui held the evidence and waited for the outcome while earnestly sweeping the floor at school.
Regarding He Li's matter, besides protecting Su Baixue, Su Cui had two goals: one was to dismantle this drug den to reduce harm to ordinary people and families; the other was to gauge the police's capabilities and the gang's power.
She certainly wanted to take down the entire criminal chain at once, but Su Cui knew her limits—she couldn't do it alone.
No matter how chaotic the outside world was, Su Cui's focus remained on the police's actions.
Only unprocessed first-hand information from the police and her own diligent investigations were trustworthy to Su Cui.
He Li's death dragged on for quite a while.
External pressure seemed to overwhelm the police too, but the final announced result was generally acceptable to the public.
However, Su Cui wasn't entirely satisfied.
The police exposed the drug den in Elephant Community, and some of the photos released by the media were actually the ones Su Cui had provided.
The wording was cautious—neither mentioning the dealers' backgrounds nor any intention to pursue further. The media seemed to have been suppressed by some force as well.
The noise about the thugs died down. The news started focusing more on analyzing He Li?
They defined He Li's death as an internal conflict among dealers, kept blurring the thugs' drug use, and finally completely omitted it.
Some articles even shifted the blame, mentioning He Li's long history of domestic violence and his former identity as a dealer's son, redefining his fights with thugs, and exaggerating his genetic factors—as if the evil factor in his genes made him lure classmates into drugs.
Su Cui scrolled through her phone in the break room, watching the drama unfold among various forces during this period.
She had to admire the power of the consortium and gang forces in this book.
Qian Group focused all the contradictions on the dead He Li.
The gang suppressed the police's deeper investigation.