The Side Character's Hidden Boss!

“Brother Xiao Liu, bring the engineer and analyst to take apart the snow chipper. Take out the motor and bring it to me.”

“Okay! I am on it!”

Considering the trauma Kang Zhi might have from the chicken experiment, Mo Li arranged for Xiao Liu to be in charge of this.

Zhu Wen and Jiang Zhi looked at Xiao Rui and Mo Li. Neither of them said a word. Mo Li finally cut straight to the chase. “We are running out of time. I wonder if you ladies have felt something was wrong when we started the show?”

“How would I know? I come from a small company, we don’t care about the details like Huan Yu does. Plus who am I to question the people from Huan Yu? I only do the things I was told.”

“I’ve hosted similar travel shows before, there’s nothing wrong if you ask me.” Zhu Wen said as she looked at Mo Li.

“Well, I personally felt something was wrong. It all started at the campsite. Normally when a person faces danger, even if they can’t tell the direction, their normal reaction is to stand up and then turn to escape. However, Jiang Zhi’s reaction was very strange. Based on witness testimony, you were frozen to the spot. And when the police asked you, you said you were too afraid to move. I found this whole thing suspicious until I looked at the map of the footprints around the campsite.” Mo Li pulled up the picture.

“As you can see, most of the footprints moved outwards from the campsite. But look here, this trail of footprints that matches Lin An’s shoe sizes was moving towards the power box.”

Mo Li turned to look at her own feet. “Back then, I assumed this was Lin An’s footprints but then Lin An never arrived at the campsite. Of course, these footprints could have belonged to someone who has the same shoe size as Lin An. However, we have already asked the whole staff and no one said they have moved towards the power box when the light went out.

“So there could only be one explanation. Someone was trying to fool us by pretending to be Lin An.” Mo Li looked at Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi argued. “What do you mean by that? How can you accuse me without evidence? It could have been someone else, why does it have to be me?”

Mo Li smiled. “Well, based on what you told the officer, you were standing right about here when the lights went off. You were frozen to the spot as mentioned earlier.” Mo Li circled out the area. “Notice anything out of place?”

Kang Zhi gasped. “Wait, the shoe prints, they are all large and male-sized!”

“Indeed. The shoe prints at this spot are all sized 41 to 42. Zhu Wen and Zeng Jia wear sizes 34 and 36. The other female staff and guests wear size 36 to 38.” Mo Li turned to Jiang Zhi. “As you said, you were immobilized around here so where is your shoe print? The only explanation is you were wearing someone else’s shoes.

“You wanted to create the impression that Lin An had run from the campsite to the power box so you had been wearing his shoes. However, you didn’t expect things would turn out the way they did. Due to police intervention, most people didn’t panic as much as you hoped they would. It meant that you didn’t have the time to go to change back to your own shoes.”

“That is not enough evidence. So I like to wear men’s shoes, is that against the law?” Jiang Zhi challenged Mo Li.

“Fine, then we’ll move on to the next piece of evidence proving you’ve tried to disguise yourself as Lin An.” Mo Li took out a photograph.

“After Lin An descended from the yacht, no one has seen him. However, based on the testimony from one of the staff members, when he wanted to get Lin An to film some extra footage, he was chased out from his room. The staff member said he saw a human shadow in the bathroom, so that made him believe Lin An was still alive at the time. In reality though, Lin An was already stuffed inside the snowchipper by then.” Mo Li shook a piece of balloon pieces before the woman. “Jiang Zhi, does this look familiar to you?”

This was the piece of balloon Mo Li found at the spot where Xiao Rui’s boat capsized. Jiang Zhi probably dumped the evidence into the water but she didn’t expect Mo Li to accidentally find it.

Mo Li salvaged the balloon and realized it could be blown up to resemble a human shape. It was then that everything clicked in her mind.

After Lin An was dealt with, Jiang Zhi must have set up the device inside Lin An’s bathroom with the balloon and recorder. What the staff member encountered was the shadow of the balloon and a prerecorded message.

Mo Li went to Lin An’s room to search through the bathroom and found other pieces of the balloon. She managed to lift an important piece of evidence from it. “Guess whose fingerprint we have found on the balloon?”

Jiang Zhi revealed a disdainful smile. “Fine, you got me. I admit it.”

“Well then. I have a question for you. How did you know we would encounter high voltage power lines at the campsite before we even got on the island?” Mo Li stared at the two women before her.

“Erm…” Jiang Zhi glanced at Zhu Wen beside her. Why are they only questioning me?

“I knew that from Lin An. He is a sloppy director. I’m always prepared for the worst when he is around. This is not the first time his project has had problems with electricity after all. However, I knew nothing of his death. I only pretended to be him for fun.”

“Really? Then how about I help you jog your memory? Let’s see how much do you really not know.”