Xu Song certainly didn’t believe it.

Life is indeed full of coincidences, but to lightly explain Tao Zhixing’s unexpected death as just a “coincidence” was blatantly insulting their intelligence.

The conclusion given by the Jingpu City Police Department was as if they were taking people for fools. It might work to placate the reporters, but it was absolutely unacceptable to Tao Fengche.

“At least on the surface, that’s how it seems,” Xu Song explained. “I had people investigate. This driver named Luo is a beta, has been driving trucks for over ten years, and occasionally likes to drink a little, but it’s never affected his work. His colleagues speculate that he might have been troubled by something this time, drank too much, and then went the wrong way. As for overloading, his colleagues said that in their industry, overloading is actually the norm.”

“Oh?” Tao Fengche was somewhat surprised and signaled Xu Song to continue.

“For truck drivers, not overloading means they might incur losses. Their freight charges are calculated based on the weight of the goods, the more they haul, the more they earn. For drivers signed with a transport company, the company takes a commission, so the bosses essentially force them to overload. After all, the probability of getting caught is very low compared to the profits from overloading, and the fines are negligible.”

“So you’re saying… the real person I should blame is the boss of their company?” Tao Fengche tilted his head. “Uncle Xu, are you joking with me?”

There was a dangerous undertone in his words, even Xu Song didn’t dare underestimate it and quickly lowered his head. “Young master, that’s not what I meant. His colleagues also said that as a beta, he married a beta wife, but somehow they had an omega son. Unfortunately, this rare omega has congenital heart disease.”

“Luo’s parents always hoped the couple would have another child, but they were unwilling, leading to a break in contact with his parents. Their son was always hospitalized, the expenses were high, and he needed constant care. His wife took care of their son full-time, so he was always the most cooperative in overloading. The doctors and nurses at the hospital felt sorry for their family and organized several staff donations, but the collected money was always insufficient.”

Xu Song spoke deliberately, emphasizing his point, “Recently, the doctor informed the wife to prepare for surgery, and she suddenly disappeared.”

This piece of crucial information caught Tao Fengche’s attention. He scrutinized his fingers and asked, “What, she decided not to keep her son?”

“No, she only disappeared for three days. When the hospital was about to contact Luo, she suddenly returned and promptly paid the surgery fee as well as the overdue medical bills.”

“Where did she get the money?” Tao Fengche narrowed his eyes, lost in thought, “And where is she now?”

Though Tao Fengche didn’t specify the subject, both knew exactly who he was referring to.

Just as Tao Fengche expected Xu Song had detained her, Xu Song also anticipated this question from Tao Fengche.

He smiled, “She’s in the basement next door, and we’ve finished questioning her.”

Xu Song was about to continue when Tao Fengche suddenly tapped the table with his right index finger, signaling him to stop for a moment, “How did she get here?”

“Our people did it. They used a sedative and blindfolded her, so no one knew.” Xu Song smiled again, this time with obvious satisfaction, “The young master has indeed grown up.”

First losing his father and then losing the family property, the young man didn’t collapse as others expected. Instead, he forced himself to grow up rapidly, like a sapling deprived of shelter, firmly rooting itself under the harsh training of storms, striving upwards with determination.

“There’s no choice but to grow up.” Tao Fengche smiled wryly, his expression somewhat self-mocking, “Go on.”

“When she opened her eyes, her first reaction was quite interesting—’What do you want again? Didn’t you say that as long as I did as you asked and called my husband, it would be fine?!'”

“Again?” Tao Fengche frowned.

“Yes. According to her, she was kidnapped when she left the hospital to go back to the rented apartment next door to cook for her son. She was knocked out and taken to a warehouse, chained by her wrists and suspended in the air, barely able to touch the ground with her toes. Her mouth was also gagged, so she couldn’t call for help.”

“The kidnappers didn’t appear until two days later, telling her that as long as she called her husband and explained her situation, they would release her.”

Tao Fengche asked, “Did she do it?”

“Yes, and as soon as she did, she was released, though still confined, but they gave her a bowl of thin porridge. The next morning, they let her go. She stumbled home and found Luo also at home. She wanted to report to the police, but Luo stopped her and then accompanied her to pay the medical bills. She asked him where he got the money, but he wouldn’t say.”

“Later, she saw in the news that her husband was dead.”

“What else did she say?”

“She said… although her husband loved to drink, he was not a heavy drinker. She didn’t know why he suddenly died, what had happened, or why she was kidnapped. But she knows that we are people she absolutely cannot provoke and she begged us to spare her and her son, promising she wouldn’t say a word.”

“Why did you bring the child too?” Tao Fengche was puzzled, “Isn’t that too obvious?”

“Having both of them in hand is more reassuring. Young master, you don’t need to worry. The Tao family established a foundation at her son’s hospital to help children with illnesses. The doctors only know that the foundation took the child for a full-body check-up, nothing more.”

“What a coincidence…” Tao Fengche muttered unconsciously, then suddenly stood up from his chair, “I want to see them.”

The Tao family had a basement specifically designed for interrogations. Tao Fengche had seen his father deal with traitors there in his childhood, but it hadn’t been used for many years.

Removing a certain book from the bookshelf in the main house’s living room would trigger a mechanism, automatically opening a secret door leading to a long and deep tunnel connecting to the basement of the adjacent building, with excellent concealment.

The fluorescent lights in the tunnel emitted a cold white glow. Tao Fengche’s white slippers contrasted sharply with the pitch-black stone path, and his steady footsteps echoed throughout the tunnel. Xu Song followed behind, watching the young master walk down with an expressionless face, suddenly feeling that he had matured to the point where even he couldn’t guess his inner thoughts.

The Tao family’s basement was built to military construction standards, more accurately described as a private prison, resembling an underground fortress—impenetrable and soundproof. This meant that once someone was captured, escape was nearly impossible.

The basement was divided into ten rooms. At its peak, it could almost be fully occupied, but after Tao Zhixing’s time, the Tao family’s secret dealings had significantly diminished, with most successfully legitimized, so now it was mostly deserted. Behind the ten heavy iron doors, only one was still locked.

Tao Fengche stood at the entrance, peering inside through the narrow one-way glass on the iron door.

The interrogation room was no more than ten square meters. The accumulated blood over the years had seeped into the floor, turning a dark brown after drying, giving a chilling impression at first glance.

The beta woman looked as if she had been mistreated by life for years. Her hair was messy, her body was thin, and even her skin was pale. Her clothes were washed to the point of fading. In contrast, the omega child, who appeared to be under ten years old, was also thin but slightly plumper than her. The fabric of his clothes looked much better than what she was wearing.

At that moment, the beta mother was holding her son in her arms, her left hand constantly stroking his hair, her right hand gently patting his back, her lips moving continuously with a fixed rhythm.

Tao Fengche, who had learned lip-reading, squinted his eyes and tried to decipher what she was saying. He realized she was repeating the same sentence.

“Don’t be afraid, baby, Mommy is here. We’ll be out soon.”

It was almost painfully loving.

Why?

Why is it that your husband is suspected of murdering my father, and you can still protect your son with such a posture? As if you are the most innocent victim in the world.

How ridiculous and pitiful. At this point, this stubbornly ignorant woman still didn’t know what her husband had done, nor did she know who she had offended.

Tao Fengche had inherited a pair of very beautiful eyes from his mother. They were long and slightly round, with the ends slightly drooping and deep double eyelid folds, reminiscent of a gentle dog breed with droopy eyes.

But now, those eyes were slightly narrowed, filled with cold cruelty, completely devoid of their usual approachable demeanor.

After all, he was the true heir cultivated by the Tao family, compared to Sui Yuesheng. Tao Fengche was the real mafia prince.

Cold-blooded, ruthless, and opportunistic, these traits were undoubtedly inherited through generations in their bloodline.

Xu Song had already made all the preparations. For them, making someone disappear completely from the world was never a difficult task. At his age, Xu Song didn’t even need to handle the body disposal himself. Even if the police really investigated this time, there were plenty of people below willing to take the blame.

The old butler felt a complex emotion at this moment, mostly a sense of loss watching the boy he had raised from a young age rapidly leave his youth behind.

Tao Fengche was silent for a long, long time.

Just when Xu Song began to suspect that time had stopped, Tao Fengche finally spoke, “Let them go.”

“Let them go?” Xu Song instinctively questioned, almost doubting his own ears.

“Did you not understand my words?” Tao Fengche re-engaged the safety catch, then tucked the pistol into the back of his waistband, his expression looking somewhat dejected and slightly annoyed. “Uncle Xu, I said, let them go.”