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Song Yan's heart raced like a swarm of mice scurrying about inside him. He approached the person step by step. Just a few meters felt like an insurmountable distance. He struggled to suppress any signs of his unease, but his body trembled uncontrollably.
As he got closer, he took off his backpack right in front of the man and reached inside.
The man's expression was one of impatience.
"Alright, I'll get it for you," he said.
Song Yan found it strange that the man was so quick to agree.
He needed to act fast; this was what he wanted. The item in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. He glanced around, ensuring there was no one else nearby and no cars approaching. Finally, he quickly pulled out the object.
It was a hammer. However, hidden by the backpack, the man had yet to see what he had taken out. The man remained impatient, letting out a cold grunt. Song Yan tightened his grip on the hammer's handle and summoned all his strength to swing it toward the man's head.
The man grunted again, but this time it was muffled. He slumped without any further reaction, his head drooping down. With the first blow delivered, Song Yan seemed to forget what he was doing.
All that remained was one instinct: survival! He couldn’t let anyone discover him, especially not the man in the car who might wake up and accuse him. He struck again, and then again… until he was certain the man would not lift his head again.
Next, Song Yan pushed the man aside and took the leather bag resting on the passenger seat.
The spell was broken. Song Yan turned and ran for his life…
Gu Xiaolan anxiously searched through the newspaper for information but couldn’t find what she needed. The news these days was bizarre; had the story she anticipated become too mundane for those jaded reporters? With so many newspapers in Chengdu, both big and small, it seemed impossible that none would report it.
Perhaps his plan had failed? How could that be? With the arrow nocked, it had to be released. What kind of audacity did Song Yan have to risk destroying his entire life? The simplest way was for Gu Xiaolan to find Chen Fang and ask her whether her husband, Wan Jiu Xiang, was dead or not; she would know best.
However, for safety's sake, Gu Xiaolan couldn't approach her during such a sensitive time. He could only wait for Chen Fang's call and then feign ignorance. Once he heard the news of her husband's murder from her own lips, he could comfort her, and everything that followed would fall into place.
Gu Xiaolan dashed out of the door like a madman. He bought a SIM card at a small communication shop and inserted it into his phone, dialing Song Yan's number. The last card he had used was discarded immediately after their final conversation for safety reasons.
On the other end of the line, Song Yan's voice came through, weak and tinged with anger: “I thought you were dead.”
Gu Xiaolan replied with practiced nonchalance, “One day, I will be. Where are you now?”
“That's none of your business.”
“Fine. I have someone here whom I want you to kill. Don’t forget about your evidence; I’ve kept it safe.”
Song Yan's tone shifted dramatically, laced with barely contained tears: “Didn’t we agree this was just a one-time thing? How long are you going to drag this out? You have no integrity at all! You bastard… I’ve done everything you asked! The time and place were just as you said. Didn’t you go to the scene? Please destroy that thing.”
Gu Xiaolan understood that he couldn't directly ask whether the deed had been done; that would only reveal his anxiety. All he needed to do was provoke Song Yan slightly, and he would get the answers he sought. Sure enough, Song Yan, unable to contain himself, spilled everything.
So Wan Jiu Xiang was dead? But why hadn’t Chen Fang reached out to him in her sudden widowhood and emotional turmoil? Gu Xiaolan felt an itch in his heart; no matter how composed he tried to appear, this was still his first time doing something like this. A single misstep could ruin him for life. He even felt a twinge of regret over why he had embarked on such a reckless path—there were so many women in the world; why was he fixated on Chen Fang?
Yet in the end, he couldn’t resist calling Chen Fang. She was everything to him.
Yu Jiushun and Zhuo Jianxuan met at the Tingyun Teahouse, where Zhuo brought some updates on the investigation.
"I asked An Yun Ni, and it turns out Wu Qingqing hasn't been in a good mood lately. She's a bit sensitive, but I don't know the exact reason—maybe it has something to do with graduation. Also, as you mentioned, I checked; although the computer's hard drive was burned, it can still be detected that it was formatted. Sigh... Do you think this is related to the murderer?"
Zhuo Jianxuan nodded. "The scene was so chaotic; it's clearly a cover-up by the murderer. Nothing was stolen from the room, which made me think of that computer."
"But..." Yu Jiushun seemed puzzled. "If they wanted to cover their tracks, why not just take something valuable and stage it as a robbery gone wrong? Is the murderer not thinking straight?"
"The murderer must have had a detailed plan beforehand. There must be a reason for their actions. If we can find that reason, we can solve the case. It's certain that something related to the murderer is hidden in that computer."
Yu Jiushun felt overwhelmed. "But there could be all sorts of things on that computer; what could it possibly hold?"
"Let's reenact the timeline of the murder," Zhuo Jianxuan said patiently. "An Yun Ni and the others went out singing at 7 PM, leaving Wu Qingqing alone at home until they returned at 10 PM—only three hours. This outing is a weekly routine for them, and suddenly Wu Qingqing said she wasn't going. We can assume she might have been waiting for someone during those three hours..."
Yu Jiushun interjected, "Waiting for the murderer?"
Zhuo Jianxuan shook his head. "Maybe not just one person."
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