Read Chapter 14: — THE WEB AROUND ZOU

The business dispute thickened into something harder.

A researcher linked to GTP5 was followed home.

An intermediary offered money for access credentials.

A former contractor claimed Jiang Haozhe had been paying people for schedules, travel details and internal documents. Jiang denied it and accused Gao’s staff of using him as a scapegoat.

Every witness pointed toward another witness.

Li began drawing names on a whiteboard in a police meeting room.

Chenxi watched him add arrows.

“You know you’re a doctor?”

“Frequently reminded.”

“That board looks like the wall of a detective who lives alone and owns too much red string.”

Old Zhao laughed until the laugh became a cough.

His treatment had bought time but not certainty. He tired more easily now. Some days his face seemed older by a decade.

He refused to retire from the case.

“Work keeps me alive.”

Chenxi answered, “Work is also trying to kill you.”

Both were probably true.

Investigators learned that Gao’s interests were not limited to patents. Whoever controlled Zou’s public identity could influence boards, companies, licensing and access to experimental technology.

Identity.

The word meant nothing special yet.

Then an incident at the hospital made Li’s old notes harder to dismiss.

A nurse insisted she had seen Professor Zou enter an administrative building at the same time another surgical team swore he was scrubbed into a long operation.

People laughed about mistaken timing.

Li did not.

“Security footage?” he asked.

The administrative corridor camera had been offline.

The operating theatre records were clear.

“Perhaps the nurse was wrong,” Chenxi said.

“Probably.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I’m trying not to be convinced.”

Old Zhao rubbed his eyes.

“Good. Suspicion is useful. Certainty is expensive.”

A few days later, Zou cancelled a public event at the last minute.

The next morning, no one could reach him.

By evening, Hongda Hospital had activated internal emergency procedures.

Professor Zou Shiming had disappeared.