Netherworld Investigator

In mere minutes, Lao Yao was able to restore a ton of files in the hard drive. There were numerous video files in there, and when Lao Yao clicked on one randomly, it turned out to be a video clip of a man stabbing another man with a knife.

"Oh my god!" shrieked Lao Yao.

"Well done, Lao Yao, but I need you to go out for a while," ordered Xiaotao sternly. "Song Yang and will be going through these files together. They’re confidential, so the utmost care must be taken to avoid leaking anything out to the public."

"Alright, I’ll go out and grab something to eat," replied Lao Yao. "Don’t forget to protect yourselves, kids! The condoms are in the drawer!"

He then quickly slipped into his sandals and ran out the door. I was so focused on the video files that I didn’t really hear what he was saying at first. When I realized it, I balled up sheets of paper on the desk and threw it at him.

"Bastard!" I shouted.

Lao Yao left with a naughty smile on his face. Xiaotao closed the door immediately once he was gone.

Although there were many video files to look through, it actually wasn’t that hard to find the one we were looking for because they were catalogued with the date the videos were recorded on. We found it after only a few minutes. The surveillance video was shot at night, plus the camera used wasn’t of the highest quality, so it was very grainy and pixelated. Xiaotao asked me to increase the playback speed of the video, then after a while, she pointed at a car in the video and exclaimed, "That’s the one!"

"The video’s too blurry," I commented. "I’ll tell Lao Yao to clean it up later."

Xiaotao chuckled. "You’ve watched too many Hollywood movies, Song Yang. That kind of technology doesn’t exist. At most, you can adjust the color and tone of the video to sharpen the image. Here, let me try."

As I sat in front of the computer screen, Xiaotao stood on my left and inched closer to hold the mouse. I could feel her soft body pressed against mine, and my face reddened again.

Xiaotao worked on the video for a while, and soon enough it looked much clearer. She looked back at me and asked, "Why is your face red?"

"No reason, let’s watch the video again."

Xiaotao smiled. She pulled her chair right next to mine and sat down very close to me. I could clearly smell her scent and my heart started racing.

Fortunately, my attention gradually shifted away to the surveillance video after a while. We stared at the couple in the car for twelve minutes, then repeated the video again and again, but we found nothing. I frowned and remarked, "It looks like they didn’t change their positions at all!"

"What are you thinking about?" Xiaotao asked with a smile.

"No, seriously. Doesn’t it look like the woman was as still as a corpse from beginning to end to you?"

I rewound the video and zoomed in on the two figures in the car. Although the video was quite blurry, I could see that the woman’s eyes were open the whole time.

"Do women’s eyes stay open when they’re having sex?" I asked.

"I don’t think so," answered Xiaotao. "If it was enjoyable, then her eyes should be closed."

Right now, we were both in a serious mode, so neither of us felt shy about it anymore.

"Also,"

"You mean the husband was having sex with his wife’s dead body in the car?!"

"Yes, that’s why he needed Viagra’s help."

"That’s disgusting!" cried Xiaotao with a grimace. "To think that he’d go to such length just to get the insurance money!"

I copied the video to a USB flash drive, deleted all the recovered data, then unplugged the hard disk. We were leaving Lao Yao’s room when we bumped into him.

"You’re both done?" he asked.

"Yes," Xiaotao replied. "By the way, are you interested in joining the police force as a consultant like Song Yang?"

"A consultant?" Lao Yao considered.

"Yes, a technical consultant."

"How much money do I get?"

"Well, there will be bonuses and your transportation costs would be covered, but it won’t be much."

"Forget it, then," replied Lao Yao. "I might as well just be a hacker!"

"That’s up to you," said Xiaotao. "But, you know, hackers like you are a dime a dozen, yet how many could boast that they helped the police solve crimes? You’d stand out in a sea of hackers. And more importantly, you’ll be contributing to society with the knowledge that you have."

Lao Yao was unmoved. "If there’s not much money to be made, then I’m out. I’m no fool."

"Hey, Lao Yao, will you be graduating soon?" I asked.

"Not very likely," he replied. "My academic counselor told me I might need to stay another semester."

Xiaotao smiled. "If you assist the police in solving a few cases, I can issue you a special certificate to prove that you’ve made a special contribution to Nanjiang City and ensure that you get enough credits to graduate! Think about it. Call me once you’ve made a decision."

She gave him her number. As we turned around to leave, Lao Yao said, "Miss Huang, I’ll think about your offer. I’ll give you a call once I’ve made up my mind!"

When we were downstairs, Xiaotao touched my arm and told me, "You were much better at persuading him than me!"

"Well, I know his weakness."

In truth, I wasn’t sure if Lao Yao was going to agree. After all, that bastard’s only priority was money.

We quickly returned the hard drive to its original place. Fortunately, no one noticed that it was missing. By then, it was already about seven o’clock in the morning. Xiaotao wanted to meet the suspect right away, and as we got in the car, she called Wang Yuanchao to ask him to find out more about the man.

It turned out that the man’s name was Zou Wei. A year after his wife’s death, he used the money he got from the insurance company to start up a new security company. He was now the director of that company. We went there to find him, and when we announced our intention to meet him at the front desk, the receptionist replied, "Please wait here for a moment. I’ll ring his office to see if he’s there."

I smiled. "I’m sure you know he’s there. You’re here at the front desk the whole time, how could you not notice whether the director has gone out?"

"Are you trying to obstruct the police investigation?" yelled Xiaotao. "Would you rather come back with us to the station?"

"No, please!" cried the receptionist, on the verge of tears. "It was an order from the director to say that. I’ll call his office to inform him that you’re here."

We then entered the man’s office. Before we got inside, a disheveled secretary rushed out, tidying her hair as she walked.

"Looks like he’s having a good old time after his wife died!" Xiaotao commented.

"His blissful days are numbered," I sneered.

When we got into the office, we were met with a sharply-dressed man sitting behind a big desk. Before we spoke, he said, "I run a legitimate business here and have never evaded taxes, officers. You must’ve mistaken my company for another one."

"We’re not here to check your financial dealings. We’re from the violent crimes division."

Xiaotao showed him her badge.

"Violent crime division? What business do you have with me? I’m a law-abiding citizen!"

"Your wife was killed in a car accident a year ago," I explained. "You received a huge sum of insurance money after that. We’re here to investigate this."

Zou Wei laughed. "Are you kidding me? The case was closed ages ago! What are you doing still investigating it?"

"Because we have reasons to doubt you!" I stated.

Zou Wei raised an eyebrow. "The police can’t frame innocent people at will, can they? I was investigated for a whole month after the accident, and so did the insurance company. Xiaoli’s death was a huge blow to me. She was my wife, after all! And now you want to re-open the wound and investigate me again? I’m sorry, I’ll have to ask for your warrant. Otherwise, please get out!"

I realized that it wouldn’t be easy to deal with this guy. Naturally, we didn’t have any warrant. We were both at a loss, but suddenly Xiaotao said, "You murdered your wife. She was killed before the car crash. To prove that she was alive, you had sex with her corpse in front of the surveillance camera in the parking lot."

I launched my Cave Vision, and under Xiaotao’s sudden allegations, Zou Wei panicked. There were beads of cold sweat on his forehead, his fingers trembled, he swallowed his saliva, and his nose turned slightly red. There was no doubt about it—he was a murderer!