Municipal Public Security Bureau, conference room.
Shian’s work ID was easier to use than the two of them thought. Perhaps it was because the case itself wasn’t big that the police quickly retrieved the information and agreed to Yin Ren’s application to meet with the guest here.
However, when the two checked the information, there were always two public security officers present in the conference room.
At two in the afternoon, Lin Bei arrived as promised. Compared to yesterday, she looked quite refreshed. Before she sat down, she glanced at the two officers.
“What, such a big gesture? Do I have to call a lawyer?” Lin Bei said it half-jokingly.
Her posture was very relaxed, and she didn’t seem to be guilting them. Yin Ren smiled and said, “Bei Jie, we have a thought, and we need your help.”
“Say it.”
“You said before that you took over the work of ‘Mr. Rose’s death’. Has the project started?”
“No. It’s still in the topic selection stage.” Lin Bei was slightly surprised. “Why are you asking about this?”
“Your studio’s account has a lot of influence in Haigu, right?”
“One of the best.” When it came to her work, Lin Bei exuded an overwhelming confidence.
Yin Ren looked at Zhong Chengshuo and motioned for him to speak.
Zhong Chengshuo cleared his throat. “Miss Lin, Mr. Rose is indeed Xie Chao. We hope you can take advantage of this topic selection opportunity to collect clues from fans about ‘Mr. Rose’s girlfriend’.”
The smile on Lin Bei’s face stiffened instantly.
“I’m sorry. I don’t quite understand.” Her shoulders tightened, and her tone became more defensive. “Do you want Gao Mengyu to be exposed? You two have seen the remarks made by Mr. Rose’s fans. Even if Gao Mengyu can be found, she can’t bear what will happen next.”
“Moreover, this behavior is just pretending to be helpful in disguise. I personally think it’s inappropriate.”
Zhong Chengshuo: “No, I don’t need any clues about her. Your company only needs to let fans provide online discussion or debates related to the ‘ex-girlfriend’, and at the same time pay for contributions… This part will be reimbursed by Shian.”
Things had progressed to the point where Yin Ren didn’t understand what he was hearing.
Was this a meeting? It was much more boring than he thought. Yin Ren’s expression looked solemn, but his eyes were empty. He was secretly searching for the keyword “shark” under the table on his phone.
This was the word that he unintentionally typed wrong, and it was a type of fish that he didn’t know about, so he was a little curious.
While Yin Ren was distracted, Lin Bei clearly understood everything…
“I get it. You’re soliciting chat records on the topic of ‘Mr. Rose’s ex-girlfriend’?… You want to know if any fans have contacted Gao Mengyu?”
“Yes. She often visits Mr. Rose’s homepage and once pretended to be someone defending the ‘ex-girlfriend’. Before she disappeared, she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, and she might have had a confrontation with someone online.”
“But if it’s a crazy fan that committed the crime, it’s impossible for the culprit to jump out and provide clues on their own.” Lin Bei frowned.
Zhong Chengshuo didn’t respond as he continued solemnly, “Gao Mengyu is introverted and timid. She would never pull someone into a one-on-one fight. Her exchanges with strangers usually occur online in multi-person discussions, so it’s very likely there are people who know about it.”
Lin Bei smoothed out her hair. “Your guess has quite a lot of details.”
“This is an analysis, and I have proof—she has already done so.”
Zhong Chengshuo pushed the laptop over.
Looking at the pause screen on the tablet, it was an interrogation video recorded by the police station’s surveillance. The subject of the inquiry was a young woman who looked very upset.
“Gao Mengyu is missing? I—I don’t know anything. I have no personal relationship with her.”
“I admit that I didn’t pay attention to what I said that day… but that was half a month ago. She wouldn’t think about me because of that. That’s just too far off!”
The girl’s name was Zhai Jing, a junior preparing for graduate school.
The story wasn’t complicated.
She and Gao Mengyu were in the same local graduate school entrance exam group.
Gao Mengyu was a little out of place in the group. She was too old, had no family support for her exams, and she had just broken up with her boyfriend. In every sense, she could be considered truly alone. Not only that, but she also wasn’t very good at socializing. The students in the group would chat on Twitter, but she never said anything.
However, while Gao Mengyu didn’t have a strong presence, she had a good temperament. The people in the group weren’t interested in being friends with her, but they had no ill feelings towards her either.
The conflict started in a group voice chat.
Zhai Jing’s club was going to hold a summer night horror story meeting. She specially pulled everyone in the group so she could draw materials from.
The atmosphere was good at first until Gao Mengyu spoke.
Gao Mengyu usually just listened on this kind of occasion and never spoke when a person should have. Seeing her take the initiative to participate, everyone was a little surprised, but they all calmed down and listened to her.
Gao Mangyu’s story was extremely strange.
She said she heard a rumor from a friend…
Friend A once came back from shopping for groceries and saw an unfamiliar old man on the street. The old man stood quietly there with an uncomfortable deadness in his facial features.
A didn’t think much about it and went home with her food.
Every day after that, A would see the old man whenever she bought groceries. First on the street near the farmer’s market, then at the entrance to the community near the apartment, then at the entrance to the apartment building.
The old man would do nothing, but every time A noticed the old man, the old man would always be looking at her.
Until one day, A got up and opened the curtains.
The old man was standing at the entrance of her apartment, looking expressionlessly at her window.
The story ended here.
The stories told by the first few people were all a bit grim, with blood and ghosts. Compared to those exciting tales, this story was particularly dull and boring.
“It’s kind of boring. Is this story true?” Zhai Jing was the first to comment. “Your friend seems overly self-conscious.”
Gao Mengyu: “Isn’t it scary?”
“How is it scary? Anyway, it’s not nearly as exciting as a murderer counting each floor of his victim.”
“…Is it really not scary at all?”
“Are you a voice recorder on repeat?”
“You didn’t have to be unpleasant about it.”
“Am I scolding you?”
Zhai Jing had always been blunt when speaking, and usually Gao Mengyu would keep silent to avoid making something small into a big deal. Who would have thought that she quarreled clumsily with Zhai Jing that day, during which Zhai Jing said, “Auntie is still taking the graduate entrance exam like a little girl”, which caused Gao Mengyu to directly withdraw from the group.
Since Gao Mengyu had no friends in the group, no one defended her. Afterwards, Zhai Jing felt that she had said too much, but she didn’t make any specific apologies and left the matter alone.
Lin Bei was covered in sweat after hearing this. “That story, could it be that it was happening to Gao Mengyu herself…”
“I’m not sure, but it’s very possible.” Zhong Chengshuo took back the laptop. “She has a normal relationship with her family and broke up with Xie Chao. She also resigned from her job and didn’t seem to have many friends as she didn’t have a common language with her colleagues. While she had some acquaintances, I’m afraid none of them could be considered close friends, as they only made superficial talk at most.”
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This was why she confided in Lin Bei, who wasn’t even a friend.
“This matter may have been partially made up by her, so it can’t be accepted in full. She was probably trying to get feedback from the others in her exam group—she needed to make sure that she wasn’t ‘being too paranoid’.”
Lin Bei pursed her mouth, looking a little sad.
“Three weeks ago, Gao Mengyu knew that Xie Chao was Mr. Rose. At that time, she should have been quite stressed out…”
Because of Mr. Rose, the internet was full of insults against his “ex-girlfriend”, and Gao Mengyu was already helpless as she was. If that horror story was true, she couldn’t even call the police for help.
After all, the old man hadn’t done anything yet.
Gao Mengyu was timid by nature, and with wave after wave of gloomy encounters, what would she think?
“I’ll find a way to cooperate with the topic selection you mentioned before.” Lin Bei smiled stiffly.
“The two of you set the meeting place here because you want to show your legitimacy by using the police… I trust you.”
She looked at Zhong Chengshuo.
Zhong Chengshuo was wiping his glasses and seemed to feel Lin Bei’s gaze. He hurriedly raised his head. “Yes, we have always abided by discipline and the law.”
Lin Bei’s thought of shaking hands was killed in the cradle. She understood that she shouldn’t expect any normal cooperative feedback.
“And this is your business. We don’t want to kidnap you morally. If it’s inconvenient for you, we’ll find another way… Ngh!”
Yin Ren instantly dropped his cellphone that was full of shark pictures and smacked Zhong Chengshuo’s mouth. He lowered his head and whispered at high speed in his partner’s ear. “She has already promised us. What are you doing, trying to throw it back. Besides, it’s impossible for Bei Jie to do serious business with us just as a favor—”
Zhong Chengshuo said in a muffled voice, “Well, I’m afraid she won’t understand.”
“This is something that someone who’s semi-comatose will understand better than you!”
Lin Bei: “……”
The self-blame and depression in her heart had turned into speechlessness.
“Mr. Rose’s recent emotional topic selection is a case I personally worked on. The stress on Gao Mengyu is also partly my fault,” she said softly. “…Please believe in my professionalism. Xiao Yin is right. I don’t make decisions about serious business so casually. I have my thoughts.”
“Okay, Bei Jie, let’s add each other on WeChat and make a group so it’ll be easy to update each other on the progress.”
Yin Ren struck while the iron was hot, and he pressed Zhong Chengshuo’s head down as he leaned forward with his phone in hand.
Lin Bei couldn’t laugh or cry. “You’re really not afraid that I’ll poach you.”
She readily agreed and operated quickly.
After a while, a cooperation group called “Shian-Flower Bud Studio Cooperation Group” was established.
[LadyBud: When there’s progress, I’ll send the relevant materials here.]
[LadyBud: I hope everything goes well.]
[Fruit Knife: Hard work Bei Jie. We’ll definite get Mengyu Jie back *]
*He’s actually using the jiayou emoji, which I can’t find.
Zhong Chengshuo gestured for a while, feeling that it wasn’t good to copy and paste directly. He pondered for a bit and finally decided to be innovative.
[Final Fruit: ]
Although he wasn’t familiar with using these emojis, this emoji ranked first among all others and was also a smile, which meant it should be very general and friendly.
Zhong Chengshuo pulled up the chat history and clicked on Yin Ren’s avatar. At noon, this person was still using the default avatar, but now he had changed his picture. Maybe he could infer something from Yin Ren’s past based on the avatar that he chose…
The large picture of the avatar had just loaded, and it was an IKEA shark with its belly turned over and lying on the sofa.
Zhong Chengshuo closed the WeChat app blankly.
He had no intention of trying to analyze the meaning of this avatar.
……
That night, after taking a shower, the two of them got into bed. Their mobile phones shook at the same time, and new message notifications appeared in the two groups.
Shian-Farmer’s Orchard:
[The River Flows Eastward: Holy shit, are you guys still awake? Something happened at Fanghua!!!]
[The River Flows Eastward: We actually miss a big boss.]
[The River Flows Eastward: @Everyone you two, don’t go running around.]
[The River Flows Eastward: Don’t go anywhere tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at the hotel.]
[The River Flows Eastward: Things are getting complicated. I guess you’ll have to go to headquarters for a medical checkup!]
Shian-Flower Bud Studio Cooperation Group:
[LadyBud: @Fruit Knife @Final Fruit Are you two there? Excuse me. I got a message here. That person sent several group chat records. I confirmed the WeChat name and avatar, and Gao Mengyu was in it.]
[LadyBud: It’s a pet clinic group. Because of Mr. Rose’s topic, she quarreled with the contributor and was kicked out of the group four weeks ago.]
[LadyBud: [chat record of group chat]]
[LadyBud: [chat record of group chat]]
[LadyBud: [chat record of group chat]]
[LadyBud: I’m a little scared. The contributor is in Haigu. I have already contacted them, so take a look!]
[LadyBud: @Fruit Knife @Final Fruit Did Gao Mengyu go crazy a long time ago?]
The author has something to say:
“The Thousand-Year-Old Ghost King was lazy when he searched for shark pictures during the meeting at the Public Security Bureau”
I didn’t expect that after a few years, I would actually be writing such an outrageous plot that seemed too drunk.
Xiao Yin, looking at you (?
Kinky Thoughts:
How is it that Yin Ren is this cute?
Just a note, I’m not familiar with WeChat and what kind of emoji it uses, so I’m just googling the description the author is giving and plugging in that emoji. For those that I can’t find (like in the case of jiayou), I just plug in an emoji that I think comes closest to the intention.
Here’s some fan art of Yin Ren in an Ikea Shark costume:
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