WWY Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Mole – Since the back door is no good…

Chapter 23: Mole – Since the back door is no good…

The ID on Man Qin’s list used to play a variety of games, but after logging in again a year later, it only had one gaming partner – Man Qin.

They always played in a 1v1 format, and the ID had logged into the platform in recent days, but hadn’t done anything.

Silence fell over the Second Squad’s office as everyone thoughtfully went over the case details.

Tuxi Ling cleared his throat: “I think this account came back specifically for Man Qin. That’s not normal, it’s more like the two of them had arranged something.”

Shengbo Xia ruffled the hair at his temples: “But Man Qin’s social circle isn’t big, we’ve checked everyone, there’s no one suspicious?”

Li Wu asked doubtfully: “Ling, that doesn’t necessarily prove anything, right? Man Qin committed the crime because of his own greed. The other party’s behavior of inducing him to gamble is just a trigger. Ultimately, it’s about money. He probably doesn’t care where Man Qin’s money comes from.”

Shengbo Xia nodded vigorously beside her, “Yes, yes, yes.”

“You have a point.” Tuxi Ling nodded approvingly, “But, have you forgotten that Man Qin had an accomplice? That accomplice might be the one who killed him, which means they weren’t friends. Since Man Qin’s social circle doesn’t include this person, what do you think…”

After a few seconds of silence, Li Wu and Shengbo Xia said in unison –

“Forcing him to repay the money!”

“Collecting illegal debts!”

Tuxi Ling slammed the table: “Keep investigating!”

Xiao Xu said with difficulty: “The colleagues from the cyber police branch just mentioned that the platform’s firewall is impenetrable, there’s no way to go through the back door. We can only ask them to cooperate in checking the ID’s registration information, but they’re overseas, and even the registration information is fake. They probably won’t give us the time of day.”

Indeed, their reach didn’t extend abroad, especially in such a gray area.

Tuxi Ling’s brow furrowed deeply, then relaxed after a long while: “Since the back door is no good, why not go through the front door?”

Xiao Xu turned to look at him, letting out an “Ah.”

Tuxi Ling pointed to the avatar in the upper right corner of the screen: “Don’t we have an account? Keep an eye on him. As soon as he comes online again, find a way to add him as a friend and invite him to gamble!”

Shengbo Xia exclaimed: “Ling, are you going to walk Man Qin’s path again and lure him out?”

Tuxi Ling nodded: “This is the most effective way. Whether the owner of this ID killed Man Qin, or it was a debt-collecting killer from the platform, we can wait for him to walk right into our trap. It’s just that we don’t have that much time, we need to be more aggressive.”

Xiao Xu raised his hand: “I’ll find a way!”

–

Lan He hadn’t left the house for the past two days, and that day’s date seemed to be an encouragement to Ya Gu, as she had people send gifts to the He family for two consecutive days.

Every time she received something, Aunt Long was radiant with joy, subtly asking Lan He when he would officially be with Miss Gu, and every time this topic was mentioned, Lan He would run away quickly.

On the third day, Ya Gu’s assistant came again, holding a red velvet box in her hands, saying that Qing Gu had shipped it back from abroad and insisted on giving it to Lan He in person.

Lan He saw the familiar store logo, smiled knowingly, then pulled out a necklace from inside, looking at it over and over again, confirming that it was exactly the same as the one he had put away at the bottom of a box. He was very satisfied.

He put the necklace back, took out his phone, looked at the time, and sent Qing Gu a WeChat message, expressing his thanks.

As expected of the social butterfly Qing Gu, he immediately sent a video call request.

For the sake of the necklace, Lan He answered, seeing Qing Gu’s smiling face and the golden sunset behind him.

“Lan He, did I buy the right necklace?”

“It’s great, how much do I owe you?”

“Hey, why are you talking about money between us? It hurts our feelings!”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you when you get back. When are you coming back?”

“At least two months!”

“Two months? What’s the point? There’s nothing to do there except gamble.”

“It’s very boring. I spent the whole day in the room playing with my phone. That’s why I came up to the roof to take a walk, swim, and watch the sunset.”

As he spoke, Qing Gu raised his phone, showing him the surrounding environment in a circle.

He was on the hotel rooftop terrace, with a huge outdoor swimming pool surrounded by patches of green plants. The edge of the pool was covered with star-like colorful neon lights, and there were people coming and going under the rain shelter, as well as champagne towers and cold dishes, like a pool party.

In the distance, the setting sun was falling between the buildings, the gray-blue sky was plated with gold, orange, crimson… further down, it became a dark city outline with scattered street lights.

The familiar scenery made Lan He curl his lips: “Not bad! But why do you have to stay in Las Vegas? You don’t gamble, so if you want a vacation, why not go somewhere else?”

Qing Gu smiled and said, “Who said I don’t gamble?”

“If you liked gambling, would you be playing with your phone in the room all day? There are casinos on Fremont Street. Even if Young Master Gu can’t afford to lose, it wouldn’t cost you anything to go downstairs and see the excitement, right?”

Being exposed at once, Qing Gu was not embarrassed, but very excited: “Wow, Lan He, you know me so well! Do you want to come and keep me company? I’m really bored alone!”

Lan He couldn’t understand: “If you’re bored, come back, or go somewhere else. Is anyone tying you down there?”

“But I booked a hotel room for two months at once, and it’s non-refundable! You know I don’t have much pocket money, I can’t waste it!” Qing Gu winked, “Presidential suite, all-inclusive luxury, you come, I’ll show you around!”

Lan He raised his right hand, beckoned to him, signaled goodbye, and directly ended the call.

This Qing Gu has always had a knack for being a spendthrift. If it weren’t for Ya Gu, their family would have fallen apart.

Just as he was thinking about Ya Gu, her call came.

Lan He looked at his phone, feeling a headache.

He thought he had made things clear that day, and she wouldn’t bother him for at least a year. He didn’t expect her to be so persistent, wanting to get on his good side so badly, so eager to get benefits from him?

The phone rang for a long time, and Lan He took a few deep breaths and answered.

Ya Gu’s voice came from the other side: “Lan He, are you feeling alright these days?”

Lan He replied calmly, “I’m fine.”

“If it’s convenient, I’d like to meet with you and talk about the press conference.”

“There’s no need to meet. You set the time for the press conference, and I’ll show up.”

Ya Gu was a little surprised, and then her voice became cheerful: “Then I’ll prepare immediately. How about the afternoon of the day after tomorrow?”

Lan He agreed readily: “Okay.”

He was completely businesslike. With the conversation reaching this point, Ya Gu didn’t seem to have anything else to say, saying, “Then, see you the day after tomorrow.”

“See you the day after tomorrow.”

On the other end of the phone, Lan He sneered.

Did she think the press conference would become his golden hoop?

She wanted to get that old thing Weiyu He’s inheritance from him, she was purely wasting her efforts.

–

After reporting to Director Liu, Tuxi Ling was about to return to the team when Shengbo Xia came up to him, yelling “I’ve found something” and dragging him away.

Tuxi Ling was out of patience, and asked: “What did you find?”

“The surveillance footage from last time!”

“What surveillance footage?”

“Purple Jade Sea View! Oh, you’ll know when you go back and look!”

Tuxi Ling was stunned, immediately keenly aware that something must be very serious.

In the team, Xiao Xu was sitting in front of the computer, impatiently clicking around with the mouse.

Shengbo Xia rushed in: “Quick, tell Ling about it!”

After reporting for half an hour non-stop, Tuxi Ling was parched. The first thing he did after returning to the office was to pick up the bottled water on his desk and take two gulps, before looking at the screen: “What’s wrong?”

The screen was frozen on a man and a woman. The man was about 1.8 meters tall, with a slicked-back hairstyle and a long windbreaker. He was a very stylish middle-aged man. He was holding someone in his arms, and from the figure, it could be seen that it was a very petite woman, but because the hood of her hoodie was very wide, most of her face was hidden in the shadows, only revealing a small part of her snow-white chin, making it impossible to see her full face.

Tuxi Ling looked at the time the surveillance footage was frozen at, and asked: “What’s the matter?”

Xiao Xu turned the screen a few degrees in his direction: “We all overlooked it before. These two people only appeared once in the surveillance footage. So here comes the question, when did they enter this building?”

Tuxi Ling twisted the bottle cap back and forth, his brow gradually furrowing: “During the power outage? What a coincidence?”

“What a coincidence, right?” Xiao Xu nodded, “Let’s assume it was the day of the power outage, and they also left the community one after another with the suspect, taking the same fire exit. Can this still be said to be a coincidence?”

Shengbo Xia added: “Yes, besides, which normal person doesn’t go downstairs for so many days? Can you do it? I can’t! So, they must be avoiding frequently appearing in the community and arousing the suspicion of the security guards, so they only sent one accomplice out to buy food, and when there wasn’t enough food, they used the food in other people’s refrigerators to cook!”

Tuxi Ling agreed with their analysis, which also corroborated the view that there were two kinds of footprints in the room.

Wait, two kinds of footprints? Then what about this girl?

The mineral water bottle made a faint “crackling” sound, slowly being squeezed flat by him. Water overflowed, he shook his hand, and ordered in a low voice: “Zoom in!”

Suddenly realizing where something was wrong!

The girl’s head was slightly tilted towards the man’s shoulder, revealing one side of her smooth chin, her whole body limp, more like a corpse.

He pointed to the girl’s face, only revealing below her cheekbones, and Xiao Xu and Shengbo Xia quickly leaned closer to look, almost sticking to the monitor.

Soon, they also discovered the clue.

“This mole, this mole!”

“Ah? Isn’t this Yingying Zou?”