Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
The middle-aged man's eyes were somewhat dazed, but when he saw me flick the cap off a beer bottle with my thumb, his eyes widened in surprise. After a moment, he laughed and said, "Wow... impressive... I never expected... to meet someone like you... while having a late-night snack. Come on, let's have a drink!"
I chuckled, "Nothing else, just drinking."
The Central South Man nodded, "Right, nothing else."
By the time we finished the case of beer, I was already feeling lightheaded, and the middle-aged man was even more so, his eyes glazed and his face pale.
"Alright, no more drinking," I said as I snatched the beer bottle from him. "If you keep drinking, you'll drink yourself to death!"
"Death... what does that matter? I'd rather die... sob sob sob... I deserve to die a thousand deaths! Just let me drink myself to death..." The middle-aged man started crying again.
I called the boss to settle the bill, thinking that if he wanted to die, I couldn't stop him; I was leaving anyway.
"Then I won't drink anymore either. I still have to work tomorrow!" After crying for a while, the middle-aged man wobbled to his feet, turned to leave, and then took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to me. "Let's... let's drink again sometime!"
He staggered off and hailed a taxi, getting in and disappearing into the flow of traffic.
I casually placed the business card on the table. Drink again? Sure. After taking the change from the boss, I grabbed a napkin and was about to leave when my gaze accidentally fell on the business card. My mind suddenly went blank; it clearly read Sha Zhiyuan... The man who had just been drunk out of his mind was actually Yeh Rong's husband, Sha Zhiyuan?
Suddenly, I remembered that at the barbecue stall, he had been shouting something about A Hong Teng after getting drunk. It seemed that the boss had misheard him; he must have been calling for A Rong Tong.
So what did Sha Zhiyuan mean when he said he deserved to die a thousand deaths? Could it be that Yeh Rong and Ye Litong's deaths were caused by him?
Thinking this over, I stood up ready to chase after him but then smiled wryly and shook my head. The cars on the road were flowing endlessly; how could I possibly catch up? Even if I did catch up, what could I do? Without evidence, how could I force him to confess?
Better to go back and sleep. I waved for a taxi and returned home, collapsing into bed immediately.
I woke up early and called Sima Sanguang to tell him the company address. About half an hour later, we met on the first floor of the Bond Building.
"Do we really have to be this early?" Sima Sanguang yawned widely, holding a laptop in his hand. "I’m not even awake yet."
"We need to get here early to track down the suspect. As soon as he arrives at work, we can catch him," I replied, also yawning; some things are indeed contagious.
"Alright then, let's head up."
We took the elevator to the fifteenth floor. The main door was not closed, and several of Zeng Xian's subordinates were standing at the entrance. Upon seeing me, they greeted, "Ghost Brother!"
I smiled and asked, "Nothing happened last night, right?"
"No!" several subordinates replied in unison. "Absolutely no one came in."
One of them, a Short-Haired Youth, added with a laugh, "Last night a security guard came to close the door, but we persuaded him with reason and emotion!"
Persuaded with reason and emotion? More like persuaded with feet and fists! I laughed and instructed them to keep watch at the door, not letting anyone in—not even employees.
"Well, I need a reason for this. This company belongs to Boss Tang, and we are Boss Tang's subordinates. So technically, we are colleagues with the employees of this company. Colleagues should care for each other because we are one big happy family..." the Short-Haired Youth rambled on.
"They're conducting counter-terrorism operations inside!" I threw out that line and walked straight in.
Upon entering the office lobby, I saw that the Photocopier had been returned to its original position. Using the Photocopier as a table, seven or eight people were happily playing poker, each holding varying amounts of cash. A poker game that could involve seven or eight people was nothing more than high-stakes games like Texas Hold'em or Bullfighting.
Seeing me enter, the men quickly put away their cards and money. I noticed that the Photocopier was plugged into a Power Supply and felt a sudden jolt of concern: "Who plugged in this Power Supply?"
"It was me! It was me!" a Young Man with acne raised his right hand high and said with a smile. "Before I joined Boss Tang's crew, I was a salesperson at Computer City. I know a thing or two about Photocopiers. You told us to keep an eye on it, so I thought about whether it might be broken and plugged in the Power Supply data cable to test it out. Surprise! It actually works."
Suddenly, an ancient saying popped into my mind: Confucius traveled eastward and would greet anyone he met...
"Hey, why are you so capable?" I remarked. The power supply was plugged in, and they even connected a data cable. This meant that the person controlling things behind the scenes had likely erased all traces. If the traces were gone, what was the point of calling Sima Sanguang over?
Just as I was about to curse, I glanced sideways and saw the young man’s face brimming with excitement, as if every pimple on his face was shouting, "Praise me! Please praise me!" I realized it was my fault for not explaining things clearly, and could only smile bitterly.
Sima Sanguang cleared his throat and said, "Let's take a look first."
He opened the laptop and pulled out a data cable from his bag. One end connected to the photocopier, while the other connected to the laptop. He placed the computer on the photocopier and typed rapidly on the keyboard for about ten minutes before sighing and shaking his head. "This person is quite skilled; all traces have been erased."
"By the way, there's another photocopier in the finance office. Similar incidents have happened there before; let's check it out," I suddenly remembered.
Sima Sanguang unplugged the data cable and gestured for me to lead the way.
The finance office door was locked. Just as I hesitated about whether to break in, I heard a commotion outside. I recognized the furious roar of Finance Director Tian Yong and couldn't help but feel delighted; this was just what I needed. I asked Sima Sanguang to wait for me and walked over to the door.
Outside, one side of the argument was the short-haired youth, while the other side was Finance Director Tian Yong. Upon seeing me approach, Tian Yong shouted at me, "Hey, you’re an employee of the company, right? Who are these people outside? They’re conducting anti-terror operations inside—what does this mean?"
The short-haired youth also yelled, "Ghost Brother, you came at just the right time! This guy claims to be the Finance Director, but we can't persuade him at all. I was planning to reason with him emotionally!"
What he meant by reasoning emotionally was naturally a physical confrontation.
I smiled slightly at Tian Yong. "Director Tian, you came at just the right time; we need your help with anti-terror operations inside."
"What do you mean?" Tian Yong looked at me warily.
"You'll find out when you come in."
Tian Yong eyed me suspiciously but eventually followed me inside.
When we reached the finance office door, I smiled and said, "Director Tian, could you please open the door?"
Tian Yong frowned deeply and firmly refused, "Absolutely not! The finance office is a crucial area of the company; how can you outsiders enter?"
I was about to try to persuade him when Sima Sanguang directly knocked Tian Yong unconscious with a punch. I exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"It's just opening a door; what's the big deal?" Sima Sanguang searched Tian Yong and found a set of keys. He approached the Lock Hole, compared them, and found a key that was twice the size of a regular one. He opened the finance office door directly and grinned at me, raising his chin, "Come in, Ghost Brother!"
I smiled wryly and shook my head as I stepped inside. I stumbled slightly and almost fell; looking down, I noticed that the floor of the finance office was about ten centimeters higher than the outside floor, covered with luxurious tiles that looked quite upscale.
Wealthy departments really are impressive; even the flooring is grand.
The two of us entered the finance office, marveling at its opulence. Sima Sanguang opened the Photocopier, plugged in a data cable, and worked on his laptop for about ten minutes before shaking his head in disappointment, "No use; the traces have already been erased, and we can't find the other party's address."
"What should we do? Is there any other way?" I was somewhat stunned; I had thought it would be easy to find out who controlled the Photocopier, but this unexpected turn of events left me at a loss. "Or should we check other computers one by one?"
"That's useless. Since they already knew to erase traces from the Photocopier, they would likely erase traces from their own computers as well," Sima Sanguang shook his head. "If you can think of it, they can too."
I fell silent for a moment before saying, "Is it possible that someone from the IT department is involved?"
Sima Sanguang chuckled lightly, "Well, as long as a computer is connected to the internet, anyone in the world could be a suspect, not just your company's IT department."
"It seems we'll have to return empty-handed today," I said with a shake of my head and a bitter smile.
As we reached the door, I shook Tian Yong awake. "Mr. Tian, you were just attacked by terrorists. Whether you believe it or not, I certainly do..."
In his astonished gaze, I walked into the lobby and signaled for Zeng Xian's men to retreat. At this point, four or five employees from various companies had gathered at the entrance, including Zhu Qi from the Marketing Department.
"Hey, Zheng Nan! What are you doing in there?" Once Sima Sanguang and the others left, Zhu Qi came over and asked me, "What are these people doing?"
"Checking for fire safety," I casually replied as I walked further inside.
"Is the fire inspection? Why does it look similar to the Mafia?" Zhu Qi said beside me, looking skeptical.
"Is there a difference between fire inspectors and the Mafia?" I exaggeratedly retorted.
"Zheng Nan, are you really being so dismissive with me?" Zhu Qi pouted.
"Of course!" I laughed.
"Zhong Zhengnan, can we still have a pleasant conversation?" Zhu Qi huffed as she stepped in front of me to block my path.
Just as I was about to respond, a flash of realization struck me. Last night, that Photocopier clearly printed my name. That means the person knows I am Zhong Zhengnan; they definitely recognize me and might even be watching me from an office somewhere.
Thinking of this, I quickly took out my phone and, regardless of whether Zhu Qi was beside me or not, directly called Sima Sanguang. Upon hearing this, Sima Sanguang nonchalantly told me that the other party could easily achieve this through a camera; it was not difficult at all.
Frowning, I hung up the phone, and beside me, Zhu Qi's cold laughter rang out: "You're not really a designer; you're here to investigate supernatural events, aren't you?"
Comment 0 Comment Count