Yu Yi asked, “Is it about investigating the tourists’ food poisoning incident?”
Meng Qing looked slightly surprised, “How did you know?”
For a moment, he thought Yu Yi might have secretly planted a listening device on him, most likely during his shower when she could stick it to his clothes. He never expected her to have such a careful thought…
Yu Yi raised the terminal on her left arm and smiled, “I just read the news. This morning, four tourists from Blue Sapphire Hotel were urgently sent to the hospital, suspected of food poisoning.”
Meng Qing smiled in relief, “Having a clever partner makes things easy and convenient. Let’s go.” He realized he had overthought things, and that habit of distrusting others after being betrayed was indeed deeply rooted.
Meng Qing rented an electric car from a rental company for their transportation these few days. The car was soon delivered downstairs.
The hospital was located in the central-west part of the island, between the airport and the seaside. The drive took about ten minutes.
Meng Qing claimed to be a Blue Sapphire Hotel staff member and asked the doctor about the tourists brought in that morning. The doctor said, “All four are fine. The most serious one is still on IV fluids, and the others can already be discharged.”
“Fortunately, what was the cause of their illness? I want to know if our hotel is responsible,” Meng Qing asked.
“Uh, I think your hotel is not responsible. Their condition was caused by improper eating.”
“Improper eating?”
“
Meng Qing nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off, especially with the recent incidents involving the tourists.
“So, what’s our next step?” Yu Yi asked, breaking through Meng Qing’s thoughts.
Griffin looked serious. “We need to ensure the safety of all our guests. Taylor will assist us in tightening up security protocols. We can’t afford another incident.”
Taylor nodded, pulling out a folder. “I’ve already initiated a review of our security measures and surveillance footage. We’ll find out if there is anything suspicious.”
Meng Qing felt a little relieved at the proactive measures being taken. As they discussed the necessary steps, he focused on the immediate need for improvements and how to communicate this to hotel management.
Several hours later, after their meeting, Meng Qing decided to take a stroll outside to clear his mind. The seaside breeze soothed his anxiety.
Suddenly, he overheard two tourists expressing concern about the hotel’s safety, discussing their plans to check out early. Meng Qing’s heart sank. They had to act quickly to regain the trust of their guests.
“
After introducing themselves to Taylor, Meng Qing explained to Griffin that the four tourists’ sudden vomiting and diarrhea were not due to any hidden manipulation or hotel responsibility, but completely caused by the four people’s own excessive eating and drinking.
Griffin frowned slightly after listening to Meng Qing but still nodded, “At least this proves it’s not our hotel’s responsibility.”
Taylor left Griffin’s office with Yu Yi and Meng Qing, taking the elevator downstairs. He said to Meng Qing, “Mr. Li, besides today’s incident, there have been other accidents at our hotel recently. Excluding those with seemingly reasonable ‘accidents’, there’s one peculiar matter.”
“What matter?” Meng Qing asked with interest.
The elevator had reached the eighth floor where Yu Yi and the others were staying. Meng Qing and Yu Yi stepped out of the elevator.
Taylor also stepped out and continued, “Our hotel’s central air conditioning system has been malfunctioning frequently, three times already. Fortunately, most occurred late at night, minimally affecting guests, but it has generated numerous complaints.”
You know, suddenly waking up in the middle of the night to find the room’s air conditioning is broken is quite infuriating.”
Meng Qing deeply agreed.
At this moment, another elevator opened, and several tourists emerged. Taylor paused his explanation, waiting for the guests to walk down the corridor and their laughter to fade before continuing, “Many guests not only complained but also checked out, with some moving to Rainbow Hotel. Combined with previous accidents and incidents, our hotel’s guest flow has significantly decreased.”
Meng Qing pondered, “Isn’t this just a technical malfunction? Why call a private detective like me who knows nothing about central air conditioning?”
“That’s precisely why we called you. After the first air conditioning failure, our technical department investigated but found nothing. The second time, we contacted the air conditioning system’s sales company, and they sent professionals who also found no issues. The third time, we requested them again, and still no cause was discovered. Mr. Griffin thus suspects sabotage rather than a technical problem.”
Meng Qing thought carefully and said, “I want to review the hotel’s surveillance footage. If someone is tampering with the system, it should be captured.”
Taylor shook his head, “We’ve carefully reviewed the surveillance footage and found no evidence of external intrusion.”
However, we later discovered that the equipment department has an employee who has been working for only three months, and he is a distant relative of Rainbow Hotel’s executive assistant, Rodney.”
Meng Qing was surprised, “It is indeed strange that he works at your hotel instead of Rodney’s.”
Taylor said, “Indeed. Please track this employee and try to gather evidence of his meetings and discussions with Rodney.”
Meng Qing agreed. Taylor then entered the elevator to return to his office. Yu Yi and Meng Qing also returned to their room.
Back in the room, Yu Yi looked at Meng Qing, “It’s almost closing time. Are we going to follow the equipment department employee?”
Meng Qing said, “Tracking that equipment department employee is probably useless. Wait a moment.” He opened his terminal and focused on operating it. Two minutes later, he transferred a file package to Yu Yi’s terminal.
Yu Yi opened it to find numerous video files, grouped by date. Opening them revealed files categorized by hotel areas.
Meng Qing explained, “These are surveillance videos from the Sapphire Hotel in the past month. Focus on checking the air conditioning main room, equipment room, control room, and security department during the three days of malfunction.
“
Although Taylor, as the security department manager, guaranteed no anomalies in the surveillance, Meng Qing didn’t rule out overlooked details or intentional concealment. Hacking into a hotel’s internal system was trivially easy for him.
Yu Yi opened the video file group from the most recent malfunction and began playing the air conditioning main room’s surveillance. Meng Qing advised, “You can display multiple monitoring angles simultaneously in four windows and play at eight or twelve times speed. If you see someone, slow down the playback.”
Yu Yi followed his instructions, which reduced viewing time, though watching an entire day’s surveillance would still take over two hours. Meng Qing reached over to pause the playback and said, “Let’s watch from the bed.”
Yu Yi looked at him questioningly, “Isn’t it the same?”
Meng Qing pointed to the wall opposite the bed, “Use the terminal’s projection function.”
Yu Yi tried it and found it more comfortable. She reclined on the bed, and her terminal projected the images onto the wall, enlarged yet still crystal clear. Although there was wall fabric, its light color didn’t interfere with quickly browsing surveillance footage.
Meng Qing said, “Stay here and watch. Contact me if you find any leads. I’ll go investigate Rodney’s situation.”
After Meng Qing left, Yu Yi continued watching.”
