Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Finding the Mole

”Boss, was Dongyuan harmed by someone?” Gundam asked, feigning surprise. ”Wasn’t he fine last night? Just now, she was claiming she was framed, that she only went to the warehouse with Dongyuan. How did he end up like this?”

Wan Fang shook her head in a panic. ”Brother Qi was perfectly fine last night! This has nothing to do with me! Boss, it must have been Gundam...” The thought that Gundam was lying snapped her to her senses. She was suddenly sure that he was the one who had stolen the goods and harmed Qi Dongyuan. ”The one who stole the goods and hurt Brother Qi, it has to be Gundam! Otherwise, why would he lie? He clearly saw us last night... and he won’t admit it...”

”Boss, besides the time you were... enjoying yourself... last night, I was with you the whole time...” Gundam didn’t even need to explain further. ”There’s so much stuff in that warehouse; you couldn’t move it all in less than two or three hours. How could it have been me? I say it was her. She’s the one who did this to Dongyuan!”

At that moment, the underling who had gone to retrieve the security footage returned. ”Boss, Wan Fang is definitely suspicious...”

He played the security footage. It showed Wan Fang helping a stumbling Qi Dongyuan into an elevator, followed by Chen Xing, who kept her head lowered.

The video quality was poor, and since her head was down, no one realized the woman in the footage was Chen Xing, the person they were looking for.

”You harmed my brother?” Boss Qi’s gaze turned sinister as he looked at Wan Fang. He raised his hand.

A gunshot rang out. Wan Fang didn’t even have time to feel afraid before a bullet pierced her skull.

Though he had avenged his brother, he had no real affection for him. The kid was always throwing his weight around, relying on his name. He couldn’t care less whether he lived or died.

”We’ve checked the security footage of the main gate. No one left!” the underling continued. ”If I’m not mistaken, the woman in blue is hiding among us right now!”

”Find her!” Boss Qi was furious.

’His warehouse was supposed to be a secure place, yet this thief waltzed in like they owned it.’

Gundam’s attention wasn’t on the woman. ”There was so much stuff in our warehouse, and there’s no record of anyone leaving. How did they get it all out?”

’The fuel truck being empty could be explained away as it being empty to begin with. But the warehouse goods had been piling up for a long time. How could it be just an empty shell now?’

’Unless someone had been tampering with things for a while.’

As he watched Boss Qi, a flicker of suspicion entered Gundam’s eyes.

Boss Qi might have seemed slow-witted, but he had a mind of his own.

Especially after Wan Fang had cried out that Gundam was behind everything, he had been keeping a close eye on him.

Gundam’s suspicious glance was fleeting, but Boss Qi still caught it. ”You have doubts?” Although Gundam had looked at him with suspicion, Boss Qi didn’t call him out on it directly.

Gundam was naturally more cunning than Boss Qi. Seeing that the boss was already suspicious of him, he concealed all his emotions and put on a facade of complete concern for him. ”I’m worried we have an insider. Otherwise, with all that stuff in the warehouse, it would take dozens of trucks to haul it away. How could it all disappear in just a few hours? No matter how capable that woman in blue is, she couldn’t have pulled that off alone.”

”Then what do you suggest we do?” Boss Qi’s head was throbbing with anger.

What he was most worried about was a search of the factory grounds.

The goods were gone—not all of them, but enough to make him genuinely pissed off.

’The worst part was, this damn thief was despicable. Stealing was one thing, but they took the contents and left the containers, all without a record of leaving. Now his own secret stash of goods was about to be exposed.’

”First, we drag out the woman in blue who’s hiding here. Then we go over the security footage. There’s bound to be a clue somewhere!” Gundam wasn’t without ideas.

’He had a rough idea of how much had come in, but what was left in the warehouse was far from enough.’

’He’d long suspected Boss Qi had a private warehouse, and not a small one at that. But he still had to rely on Boss Qi, so he pretended not to know.’

’Even now, he had no intention of exposing him.’

Boss Qi wasn’t afraid of him checking the footage. ”Do as you say!”

’When he did his business in secret, he avoided all the cameras. They’d never find anything on him.’

Having received his orders, Gundam began to make arrangements. ”All men can leave. All women stay. Supervisors, get a headcount of every room. First, find me that woman in blue who came in last!”

Two minutes later, all the men had withdrawn, watching from a distance.

There weren’t many women to begin with, so once the men left, a single glance was enough to take them all in.

”Isn’t that the woman the boss wants? The one named Chen Xing?” Someone in the crowd of onlookers had already spotted Chen Xing, but they were a bit too far away to be certain.

So he looked closer. The more he looked, the more it looked like her.

He finally took out his phone, pulled up a video for comparison, and was now positive it was her. He pointed at Chen Xing and yelled, ”Boss, Chen Xing, the one you’re looking for, is over there!”

Boss Qi and Gundam both looked toward the group of women at the same time.

Even though there were nearly a hundred women, Chen Xing’s figure and height made her stand out, and the two men recognized her at once.

”Boss, it really does look like Chen Xing, the one who saved Song Yiguo!” Gundam was particularly incensed, making no effort to hide the hatred in his eyes.

Having been pointed out, Chen Xing showed no sign of unease, her gaze as cold as ever as she looked at the platform.

’She was certain Gundam had a grudge against Song Yiguo, and a deep one at that.’

Boss Qi never would have imagined that the person he’d been searching for for two days was right here in his own camp.

’Looking now at the woman in blue from the frozen video frame, who else could it be but Chen Xing?’

”How did you get the goods out of my warehouse?” This was what he was most curious about.

’Now that he had her, he didn’t believe for a second she had any way to escape.’

’So, he was in no hurry to kill her.’

”Guess.” Seeing no more reason to hide, Chen Xing actually took a step forward.

As she stepped forward, the women beside her automatically backed away, creating a safe distance.

Partly for their own safety, and partly, of course, because they didn’t want to be suspected of being her accomplice.

”Guess my fucking ass!” Boss Qi exploded.

’Who the hell was in the mood to play guessing games with her right now?’

”Do you have any fucking idea what situation you’re in? The second I’m not happy, I’ll blow your head wide open!” he said, pulling out his gun and waving it around.

Chen Xing wasn’t the least bit worried he would shoot.

’Until he found the missing goods, he would never let her die. Otherwise, he’d never find them.’

Seeing he hadn’t managed to intimidate Chen Xing, he abruptly changed his tone. ”How about this: you just point out the mole hidden in our factory, and I’ll make an exception and let you live.”

’He didn’t believe this little slip of a girl had done it all by herself.’

’Even if she had the skills to sneak in, there’s no way she could have gotten all that stuff out without an inside man.’

’The cameras might not have caught anything, but who’s to say they didn’t just avoid them?’

’Being able to avoid the cameras proved there was a mole.’

’To be able to evade all the cameras without being spotted, the person would have to be fairly high-ranking in the factory. Wan Fang... she didn’t have the clearance.’

Since Boss Qi wanted to root out the mole, Chen Xing was naturally happy to oblige. ”I stole the goods all by myself. There is no mole.” After she finished, she deliberately flicked her gaze toward Gundam.