Chapter 143: A Death Has Occurred

Having hired Driver Liu for some time now, Ren Qian did not place excessive demands on him. If Liu showed even the slightest sign of fatigue, Ren Qian would never ask him to work, so fatigue driving was completely out of the question.

Yet, why would an accident happen out of nowhere while driving smoothly down the road?

The police claimed there was no second vehicle involved at the time. No second car overtaking from the side, no high-speed vehicle coming from the opposite direction—how did this car crash come about?

Doubts were everywhere.

"You two officers are exaggerating. I simply feel that this car crash came rather abruptly. Moreover, driving properly on the road with no other vehicles interfering with the journey, and with my driver not being fatigued, what was the cause of the crash?"

"It was fatigue driving. Mr. Ren... you had better stop dodging the issue. We know you are a celebrity, and if word of this gets out, it will reflect poorly on you, but please, do not shirk your responsibility!"

Ren Qian was completely enraged.

Were these two cops out of their minds? He merely wanted to understand the details.

Yet they insisted on biting back, accusing him of trying to shirk responsibility for the accident.

Shirk what responsibility? Did he bear heavy responsibility? Even if he did, was Ren Qian the kind of person who would run away from responsibility?

Instead, these two officers always hedged and glossed over the key points. This style of conduct was thoroughly detestable!

He could not help but suspect that these police officers were concealing something.

Thinking further about it, the nurse had left for home around eleven-thirty, and Murong Xue had departed shortly afterward. The travel time from Grand River City to the East Fourth Ring Road should have taken only twenty minutes.

Yet, getting medical treatment at the hospital had been delayed by fifty minutes.

The East Fourth Ring Road was not particularly deserted; it was impossible that not a single person passed by for fifty minutes. In fifty minutes, was there really no one willing to make an emergency call?

Impossible. The only explanation was that when the police arrived, in order to clear the accident scene, they disregarded the life and death of the injured and wasted precious time.

This was definitely not Ren Qian viewing the police with the worst possible malice. It was simply that their statements had far too many suspicious points!

At this thought, Ren Qian lowered his head and activated the recording function on his phone.

"I apologize, I'm just sending a text message to my family to update them on the situation.

I have one more question for you officers...

Were photographs taken of the accident scene, or was the accident scene properly preserved?

Were both injured parties unconscious at the time?

Who made the emergency call?

Roughly when was the call made?

Also, I would like to see the record of the emergency call."

The two officers froze simultaneously, then brushed Ren Qian off by claiming the police station was busy with matters.

"Sorry, we cannot disclose this information. We have no record of who called the police. It was just a passerby, and we've forgotten the exact time."

"No! Please tell me! This matter cannot be glossed over so casually; I do not believe a car crash just happens out of nowhere.

I want the truth, not this kind of evasive perfunctory cover-up!"

Ren Qian was too aggressive and pressing, every question striking directly at the police officers' weak spots.

"Mr. Ren, we have been patient enough. The cause of the accident was Liu's fatigue driving, which led to the crash. Please stop obstructing official duties. Saving lives was urgent at the time, and we had to keep traffic flowing—how could we take photos? We don't remember the accident scene clearly anymore, it was just somewhere around the East Fourth Ring Road."

"You don't remember?! Is this your attitude toward investigating a case?! And you still say you're not covering things up?!"

Ren Qian continued to press relentlessly. The police officers stammered and stuttered for a long time.

"Sorry. The authority to answer these questions does not lie with us; you will need to ask the traffic police detachment."

Heh, Ren Qian sneered inwardly. Were they starting to play table tennis with him already? As expected, they were all cut from the same cloth! At this point, he was even more certain there was something fishy going on.

...

At four in the morning, the surgery concluded.

The nurse brought two pieces of news.

One piece of bad news, and one piece of good news.

The bad news was that Ren Qian's personal driver had unfortunately passed away. The good news was that Murong Xue was out of mortal danger.

Ren Qian was stunned.

Someone had actually died...

Through sheer torment, he finally decided to call Driver Liu's elderly parents. He had heard that Driver Liu also had a daughter in junior high school; losing a father and the pillar of the family at this moment...

He dared not imagine it.

Inside the hospital ward, Liu's mother, Liu's father, his wife, and his daughter collapsed over the remains, weeping inconsolably.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made him work so late, I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Outside the door, reporters who had caught wind of the news blocked the hallway. Hospital security was trying to chase them away, but photos were still being snapped.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Ren Qian felt profound guilt. If he hadn't constantly made Driver Liu work until midnight lately, this car crash perhaps never would have happened.

This traffic accident was a devastating blow to a family. Without the pillar of the household, without a source of income, how were two elderly people, a young child, and a woman supposed to get through the days ahead?

"I will provide as much compensation as possible, no less than four million! I will ensure the little girl can safely attend university, and the two elders can spend their twilight years in peace..."

Ren Qian felt guilt, but he was also afraid. He feared karmic retribution. He was truly terrified; ever since his rebirth, he even believed in ghosts and deities. He dared not take tainted money, and when dealing with others, he rarely drove them to absolute ruin.

Thus, encountering this car crash, he was utterly terrified of this retribution.

"Sigh, child, such is fate. Ahan was working, overtime is normal, and this happening is simply destined by fate. Just compensate us however you see fit..."

Liu's father's eyes were clouded with a hazy mist, his pupils dull and grey. He was very reasonable and showed no anger, nor did he make a scene with Ren Qian; he was simply in low spirits.

There is no greater grief than an elderly person burying someone younger.

Reporters were filming, and there was no stopping them.

"Snap! Snap! What are you snapping! Snapping your mother's—! Get out of here! Get lost!"

Ren Qian finally erupted. Making money off dead men's news—earn! Earn your mother's! You only know how to make money! Go make money in your next reincarnation?!

This was a fire he had been holding inside—the car crash definitely wasn't that simple; there must have been another 'perpetrator', otherwise it wouldn't have been so severe, yet those few policemen refused to reveal a single detail about what had happened at the time.

They forgot the accident scene?

Who was the caller who reported it?

What time was the emergency call made?

What did the recording of the emergency call sound like?

Ren Qian had sufficient reason to believe that the time between the report and arrival at the hospital was abnormally long, and why were they sent to Minghuan Hospital specifically?

All of these were suspicious points.

Before he could begin his own investigation, however, the media began to spin the narrative.

[Ren Qian's personal driver died in a car crash in the early hours of last morning, while Murong Xue remains in the ICU, temporarily out of mortal danger.

In order to eliminate the negative impact of the traffic accident death, Ren Qian attempted to stop reporters from taking random photographs, and even went so far as to kick a reporter in a fit of rage right in front of the grieving family members of the deceased...]

This news appeared in eye-catching positions across every website, undoubtedly attracting a horde of internet trolls.

Especially that group of professional trolls who had previously failed in their attempts to smear Ren Qian.