CH 23.1

Chapter 23.1: Parallel Worlds

The team members of the special task force gathered around Xia Liang’s seat. Xia Liang enthusiastically explained the decryption process, “It’s really troublesome. The person used a proxy server, and it’s not just an ordinary one; it’s a highly anonymous one! I had the tech investigation team identify the owner of this proxy server, and they’re not in our city; they’re quite far away. Luckily, the logs were preserved, and I filtered through the data center…”

He Wei placed his hand on Xia Liang’s shoulder, “Impressive work. Where’s the exact location?”

Xia Liang opened a folder, “It’s here, No. 56 Fuzuo Road. I found out it’s a cybercafé. With this kind of setup, the website logs only show public IPs. If we want to trace which computer, we need to look at the internal network’s IP address.”

“Knowing the location is enough.” He Wei grabbed his coat with one hand. “Xiao Xia, ErHu, come with me.”

As they got into the jeep, Xia Liang noticed the genuine leather seats in the back were almost worn out like canvas seats. He said, “Captain He, do we need to replace the seats? The lining is almost showing.”

“If we need to replace them, we’ll have to go through the logistics department. There’s no point in talking to Captain He about this. It’s government property.” Hu Songkai looked at the worn interior and shook his head, “Is this old guy still from the Special Police team two years ago? They’re all driving luxury Mercedes-Benz cars, so why do we have to rely on this old Jeep to travel around?”

“Just having a car is good enough. Don’t be so picky.” He Wei inserted the key into the ignition and started the engine. “Chong Zhen wants a new gun every day, and you’re complaining about wanting a new car. Why don’t you two go and report to Lao Zheng? Don’t drag me into this.”

Hu Songkai glanced back at Xia Liang and gestured with his eyes. See that? This is our Captain He, always so indifferent to the world, just going with the flow. He bears the pain and tears in silence, swallowing them all.

“Seriously, it’s better to get a new car than a new gun. Criminals these days are driving supercars. If we follow them in a beat-up jeep, we’ll lose them after just two streets!”

He Wei griped while steering the wheel, “Come on, how many people are actually driving supercars? In the entire last year, I only saw one r*pist driving a stolen Porsche. But somehow, everyone here seems to be driving Bugattis now.”

“Listen to Captain He’s nonchalant tone, ‘just a Porsche,’ yeah, you’ve got the right to be disdainful. We all understand.” Hu Songkai arched his hand in a mock salute.

Xia Liang’s big round eyes darted between the two senior officers, and he quietly asked Hu Songkai, “ErHu-ge, does Captain He really have… this?” He joined his index finger, middle finger, and thumb together, mimicking the classic money-counting gesture.

Before Hu Songkai could say anything, He Wei had already slammed on the brakes, and the jeep came to a stop at a red light at the intersection.

“Don’t talk nonsense with kids.”

Hu Songkai was taken aback, “…Nonsense?”

Xia Liang was stunned, “…Kid?”

Forty minutes later, the three of them arrived at the “Leijing Cybercafé .” Along the way, He Wei had an oddly familiar feeling about the street scenery, but it wasn’t until he saw the massive art sculpture in the city square that he remembered how close he was to a friend’s house. He hadn’t been here much, usually taking a different route, but this time he followed the navigation and ended up feeling a bit disoriented.

Leijing Cybercafé had two floors. Its interior was more upscale and sophisticated compared to typical Internet cafes, featuring a lobby, individual booths, and private rooms. As a result, the hourly internet fees were about 3 to 5 yuan more expensive than regular internet cafes. Despite this, the cafe was bustling with business, and even on weekdays, the first floor was usually filled with young men and women pouring their passion into online games.

He Wei’s task was to review the surveillance footage from the 14th and determine the computer from which the exploration order was issued. The former was easy to retrieve, but the latter would take some time. Xia Liang was at the reception desk, systematically checking the web browsing logs of each computer. However, if someone used incognito mode or deleted their records, the process would become more complicated—like unraveling Russian nesting dolls.

The network administrator pulled up the surveillance footage, and He Wei asked the cafe owner, “Was there a lot of people on the 14th?”

“It was about the same as today. Our weekday customer flow is quite steady here.”

“Did you see any unfamiliar faces? Or any customers with unusual behavior?”

The cafe owner called over the cashier girl and asked her to think about any unfamiliar customers from the afternoon of the 14th. The girl’s eyes darted around as she said, “I remember now. There was a tall customer wearing a mask and sunglasses, all covered up. He didn’t even take them off indoors. I thought he might be a celebrity, but then I saw his ID and didn’t recognize him.”

After retrieving the surveillance footage from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on the 14th, He Wei asked the girl to identify the person. The video was fast-forwarded to 3:35 p.m., showing a tall man in black clothing entering the cafe. He stood at the front desk and requested a computer.

“That’s him!”

Hu Songkai asked the network administrator to check the registered identity information. A minute later, the network administrator looked up and said, “The name is ‘Lian Jingyuan.’ Lian as in ‘connected,’ Jing as in ‘scenery,’ and Yuan as in ‘abyss.'”

He Wei was taken aback and stared at the surveillance footage intently. After registering as “Lian Jingyuan,” the man retrieved his ID and then looked up at the camera in the upper right corner.

Although the mask and sunglasses covered most of the man’s face, He Wei only took a glance and came to the conclusion, “It’s not him; someone is using the ID.”

Hu Songkai leaned against the counter, surprised, “How did you figure that out?!” Even with his face mostly covered, you could tell it’s not the same as the ID? What kind of perception is that? It’s almost eerie.

“I know Lian Jingyuan,” He Wei stood up, no longer looking at the surveillance footage, “He was my high school classmate. He lives nearby.”

——

During the lunch break, Xiao Chen came to the Criminal Investigation Department office. When Cheng Zesheng spotted him, he beckoned him over.

Xiao Chen hurried into the office, closing the door behind him and attempting to pull down the venetian blinds. Cheng Zesheng stopped him, “Drawing the blinds down would only make people suspicious. What’s going on? Your tech investigation team isn’t the secret service. Are they not allowing you access to the equipment?”

“The key is that this is a new product, and our Captain Qiu doesn’t allow it to be taken out!” Xiao Chen spoke cautiously and took out a small black micro-camera from his pocket, “It’s this one, the SQZ model you mentioned. Its performance is still being tested.”

Cheng Zesheng picked up the micro-camera and examined it closely. It was indeed identical to the batch he had seen last night. It was a shame that those five had disappeared; otherwise, he could have had the tech investigation team examine them to find out where they were leaked from.

“Cheng-ge, what did you want me to come here and see?”

Cheng Zesheng remembered that he had initially asked him to look at a quartz clock. However, considering the supernatural occurrences in his apartment, he didn’t want to scare Xiao Chen away. He changed the topic casually, “How’s He Wei’s phone repair going?”

Xiao Chen shook his head repeatedly, “I really tried my best. I exported the contact list several times, but they’re all empty numbers. The font chip is probably damaged beyond repair.”

Cheng Zesheng nodded, “Alright, if it can’t be fixed, then it can’t be helped. You’ve done your best.”

Xiao Chen tucked the micro-camera away and sneaked back. Le Zhengkai had been waiting at the door all this time and teased, “What did you make him do? So secretive.”

“Nothing, just checking out the new toy from the tech investigation team.” Cheng Zesheng massaged his temple and took a sip of the herbal tea he received from Chief Huang. Lately, he’d been prone to headaches. It seemed he should start brewing wolfberries in his thermos cup—just a mid-life necessity.

In the afternoon, Cheng Zesheng led a team of people along with two police dogs to revisit the crime scene.

The security perimeter around Mount Fulong had not been removed. Cheng Zesheng wore shoe covers and gloves as he entered the crime scene mansion. The progress of the case was still unclear. Since they couldn’t find useful clues from He Wei’s social connections, they needed to start from the scene again. They would carefully search once more, hoping for unexpected discoveries.

The team split up, with three members and the police dogs searching the mountain and four members staying in the villa, conducting a more detailed search than before.

At the time of the crime, there were only two types of shoeprints. However, it was deduced that there were at least three people involved. Examining the shoeprints again, Le Zhengkai suddenly asked, “The sole patterns of ‘Blue Snake’ and ‘North Carolina Blue’ shoes are different. According to the surveillance, He Wei was wearing ‘Blue Snake’ shoes when he left the residential area. Why aren’t there imprints from those shoes here?”

“That’s one of the strange points, isn’t it? Didn’t I tell you before? With my intuition, I don’t believe those two He Weis are the same person. It’s possible they didn’t even come to the mansion,” Cheng Zesheng speculated. “Or maybe the shoeprints were deliberately removed. After all, leaving only one type of shoeprint makes it easier to confuse things.”

“Could he have switched shoes halfway?”

Xiang Yang’s voice suddenly interjected, and Cheng Zesheng and Le Zhengkai both looked up, their gazes filled with bewilderment.

Cheng Zesheng: “It’s the middle of the night.”

Le Zhengkai: “Desolate mountain and wilderness.”

Xiang Yang: “?”

Cheng Aiyue suppressed a laugh, patting Xian Yang’s back. “What they mean is that your inference doesn’t hold up. Alright, alright, silly child, go busy yourself with something else. If you don’t leave soon, Vice-Captain Cheng might want to send you back for retraining.”

Xiang Yang looked baffled. Why did he even consider such a possibility? What if he was really carrying a spare pair of shoes?

Cheng Zesheng observed the footprints in the living room and pulled out the photos taken during the initial forensics. After comparing them one by one, he finally spotted something unusual.

“Get me a magnifying glass.”

Le Zhengkai handed over the magnifying glass, and Cheng Zesheng focused on the upper half of the footprint. “A-Kai, look at the middle part of that footprint. Check the third row of patterns on the right front sole. Is there a very subtle bulge on the upper right?”

Le Zhengkai practically lay on the ground, observing the remaining footprint, and shook his head. “No.”

“Take a look at this, see if you can figure out what might have caused it.”

Le Zhengkai walked over, took the magnifying glass, and examined the shoe pattern. The subtle bulge wasn’t apparent even under the magnifying glass, requiring keen observation to notice it. Cheng Zesheng asked Cheng Aiyue for a notepad and a pen, and he drew the shape of the circle pattern. Le Zhengkai frowned, “Something got stuck in it?”

“Seems like a pebble, wedged in a crevice.” Cheng Zesheng stood up. “Aiyue, did He Wei’s shoes have small pebbles stuck in the soles?”

Cheng Aiyue shook her head. He Wei’s shoes had mud on them, but there wasn’t anything difficult to deal with left behind.

Le Zhengkai looked surprised. “…Could it be that the person standing here wasn’t He Wei?”

“I’m not sure. It’s possible, but also not.” Cheng Zesheng took off his gloves. “Well, it’s better now. It’s highly likely there were four people. Our initial consensus when we first came here seems to be quite accurate.”

Listening nearby, Xiang Yang posed a soul-searching question, “…Why couldn’t it be that after he walked over there, the pebble fell out?”

“Do you wash your shoes regularly?”

Xiang Yang shook his head in confusion.

Le Zhengkai affectionately ruffled his short hair. “You’ll know once you wash them once in a while.”

——

After sifting through for over half an hour, Xia Liang finally found the computer terminal used to log in to the website: B046, the terminal used by the man to surf the internet.

The seat for B046 was in the rear booths, out of view from the corridor where the camera was positioned. They could only see him walking in that direction. The network administrator confirmed that the man in black indeed sat at that terminal, but he only stayed for a short time, about ten minutes before logging off.

They made a copy of the surveillance footage and left. Hu Songkai and Xia Liang conducted a further investigation in the vicinity to trace the man’s route to the Cybercafé. He Wei stood at the entrance of the cafe, looking back at the several tall buildings several hundred meters away. The building complex was named “Huyue Xingchen (Lake Moon and Stars)” because the seven artificial ponds in the community were arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation. His classmate Lian Jingyuan lived there; he had moved there two years ago.

That person was near Lian Jingyuan’s residence and used his ID to access the internet. Could it be that he was acquainted with Lian Jingyuan?

He Wei took out his phone and dialed a number, but it went straight to voicemail. He checked the time and realized that Lian Jingyuan might be in class at the moment, so he sent him a message, asking him to call back after he was done.

“Lao He, come over here.” Hu Songkai stood at the intersection near a convenience store and waved to He Wei. “This store captured something!”

He Wei stared at the screen as the convenience store’s surveillance indeed captured the man in black walking past the front entrance. He seemed to have come from the other side of the road. Hu Songkai called over Xia Liang, preparing to investigate the other side. However, He Wei stopped them, replayed the surveillance footage, paused it, then zoomed in. He looked briefly up briefly at the shops across the street and pointed to a flower shop on the right. “He came from the right side; start the investigation from there.”

Hu Songkai was puzzled, “What’s your reasoning?”

He Wei didn’t bother explaining. He pointed at the surveillance footage. Hu Songkai stared at it for a while, still looking confused. But Xia Liang gradually widened his eyes and said, “There… seems to be something on him, something white.”

Hu Songkai turned back to the footage, and after a moment, he exclaimed at He Wei, “Damn, how keen are your eyes? It’s all pixelated, and you can still figure it out?!”

The surveillance only showed the man in black for a brief two seconds, and due to the counter’s obstruction, only the upper body was visible. But it was precisely the exposed forearm that brushed against the fine white powder. In contrast, the flower shop across the street had a table set up outside with a bunch of freshly arranged roses, each petal evenly dusted with silver powder. In the radiant sunlight, the powder sparkled with a delicate gleam.

Hu Songkai wasn’t giving up, “Why not consider that it’s flour? There’s also a dumpling shop across the street.”

He Wei reached into his cigarette box and shook one out, placing it in his mouth. “Does your flour reflect light?”

“…,” Hu Songkai was utterly defeated. He had nothing to say to flour reflecting light. Xia Liang’s eyes had turned into stars. Impressive! He truly deserved his reputation as the legendary Captain He, who could single-handedly form a criminal investigation team!

Starting from the flower shop, they indeed found surveillance footage of the man shortly after walking a few steps. As they continued, they eventually lost track of his whereabouts at a crossroads. He Wei looked at the elegant entrance of the community across the street and pondered: there was a strong possibility that he entered “Huyue Xingchen.” It seemed necessary to have a proper conversation with Lian Jingyuan.

As the sun set, the three members of the criminal investigation team headed home. Lian Jingyuan also replied to his message, saying he was attending an academic seminar out of town and would be back at school for classes tomorrow afternoon. He Wei didn’t explicitly mention the reason for wanting to meet him. He simply replied with a “Got it” and didn’t set a specific time.

In the Future Domain complex, many residents had already moved in. He Wei encountered a colleague in the lobby, helping them carry a cabinet into the elevator. He lent a hand and struck up a casual conversation. The colleague thanked him and asked which floor he lived on. He Wei mentioned the fourth floor. The colleague envied him, mentioning that the fourth floor had the ideal balance between floor level and lighting. He’d initially requested the fourth floor in his application, but they assigned him the top floor instead. He pointed out how troublesome it was to move things up and down.

He Wei smiled and, once he reached the fourth floor, slipped out of the elevator through a small gap beside the wardrobe. He had become familiar with the path home. After turning a corner, he suddenly came face-to-face with a face he knew all too well, and he was momentarily stunned.

“Ge,” He Wei’s younger brother, He Lu, leaned against the wall, rubbing his neck. “Why did you take so long to come back? I’ve been waiting for you for half an hour.”