Faced with Rhea's doubts, Lily remained calm. Raising her pen, she pointed to the ceiling. "Oh, but there are CCTVs."

Rhea fell silent, unconvinced. "No one checks the footage. Who knows if you were really at the lab?"

"I was," Lily insisted. She started to suggest Rhea check the footage, but a man at the side spoke, startling her.

"What?!" Rhea exclaimed, surprised by his intervention.

"I've checked the monitoring systems," the man said in a deep voice. "She's not lying."

Rhea stared fiercely at Lily, unconvinced, then leaned back. "All right," she conceded. "Our priority is getting the boss back. Rick, you've known him longest. Any suspicions?"

Mike steered the conversation back to the central issue.

Rick, his deep brown eyes fixed on Mike, replied lightly, "As for who did it, I have no idea. But I want to ask you what you were doing."

The arrow of suspicion landed squarely on Mike.

Mike sneered. "So, you suspect me?"

He nodded. "Indeed! I was the only one there. The boss summoned me, but then someone attacked him. Even your men were no match. What could I do? I barely escaped with my life!" He patted his injured leg, the effort causing him to sweat profusely.

"Is your injury severe?" Rick asked.

Lily sensed something amiss. She glanced over to see Rick standing beside Mike, one hand on his shoulder, a knife in the other. A flash of cold steel—

"What are you doing?!" Mike cried out.

Lily's eyes narrowed. Rick had slashed Mike's bandage, revealing a long, thin wound that tore through the skin. Even the hardened group winced.

Rhea turned away, complaining, "What are you doing, Rick?!"

"A knife wound?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mike cursed angrily. "Of course, it's a knife wound! Do you think it was a gunshot? If it were, someone would have noticed! Sometimes, I question how you've lasted so long around the boss!"