POTL Chapter 10

“What a coincidence…”

Yu Shi and Xiang Ling both leaned their heads to the side, arms crossed over their chests, staring intently at the computer screen.

The person using the flash drive had appeared at Chengwang University. What was the connection between him and Chen Changming?

“I think… Chengwang University is a massive school with tens of thousands of people. It might not necessarily have anything to do with Chen Changming.”

Even though Yu Shi told Xiang Ling this, how could Xiang Ling possibly stop herself from linking ‘Xiao Hua’ to Chen Changming?

“Maintain an attitude of skepticism toward everything.” This had been her life’s motto ever since she became a journalist.

There was no harm in being skeptical. Those who are innocent will eventually be cleared, while those who aren’t will only see the truth buried if doubt is abandoned.

After a long period of silence, the computer screen flickered back to life. A string of code appeared within the black dialogue box. Neither of them understood it, so they focused solely on the specific line the programmer told them to watch. The one that would reveal the IP address.

There it was!

“A new IP…” Xiang Ling copied the string of numbers and searched for them on the map. This time, the location dropped onto an internet cafe.

“That’s the cafe we visited this afternoon, isn’t it?” Yu Shi looked at the address. It was known as the most chaotic internet cafe in the city, the kind of place where the police were guaranteed to find something every time they conducted a raid.

“Even if we go, we won’t find him. The entire cafe uses the same IP for its network…”

Xiang Ling opened the ‘Eden’ software. It had been quite a while since Xiao Hua received the photos, yet he still hadn’t upgraded her room. She typed out a message: “Did you get the photos or not? Have some professional ethics, okay!”

After a short while, Xiao Hua replied: “It’s not that I’m dissatisfied with the photos, it’s just that something is missing… where’s the head?”

Xiang Ling replied, “If I’d known years ago that you wanted to see heads, I would’ve taken them for you…” implying that none of her photos ever included faces.

The other party seemed to hesitate again, but having already accepted the photos, he couldn’t completely abandon his professional ethics. He replied: “Coming right up.”

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Xiang Ling saw herself being moved out of “Room 3”. In its place was “Room 4”. This new room had significantly fewer people than the others. Including herself, there were only twenty.

“Hehe! A newcomer.”

“Is it a big spender this time?”

“Hope not. There are too many rich people here already. If everyone just pays their way through, the game won’t be fun anymore.”

“True. If all twenty people pay up, it just lines Xiao Hua’s pockets.”

“Hello everyone, it’s your dear Xiao Hua here. As per routine, I’m putting this newcomer in the spectator seats first. They won’t be participating in tonight’s game.”

“Newbies always get special treatment~”

“But only once~”

The people in this room spoke back and forth like a practiced comedy duo. Xiang Ling was curious about this “game”. More specifically, what Chen Changming meant by “playing with your life”.

As 9:00 PM approached, the virus hidden in the photo was still active, proving that Xiao Hua was still at the internet cafe. After a quick discussion, the two decided not to rush to the cafe to nab him just yet. After all, they hadn’t uncovered the inner workings of the game room. If they went now and missed him, they’d only succeed in tipping him off.

The atmosphere in the group began to reach a fever pitch. As soon as nine o’clock passed, Xiao Hua announced to the group: “Everyone, please choose any one of these five numbers. You have one minute. Hit send at 9:01 sharp. The newcomer does not need to participate.”

The image Xiao Hua provided contained five randomly selected numbers: 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9.

The moment it turned 9:01, the nineteen users, excluding Xiang Ling, all sent their chosen numbers. After a quick tally, number 6 came out as the overwhelming winner with eight people choosing it.

Xiao Hua wrote: “Then today’s game participants will be those whose ID numbers contain a 6. I’ll give you some time to think. Bidding starts in five minutes. The starting bid is still one hundred.”

Bidding?

The two of them were completely baffled. They hadn’t even seen what was being auctioned, so how could people be putting in bids already?

When the five minutes were up and Xiao Hua posted the starting price, the users with a “6” in their IDs began placing bids. It didn’t take long for the price to skyrocket from one hundred to two thousand, and the numbers kept climbing. After a fierce round of bidding, the pace finally slowed as the figure approached six digits, eventually stopping at 100,000.

“You’re a maniac. You’d better pray this money is worth it.”

“I’m praying he loses everything.”

After closing the bid, Xiao Hua said, “Alright, today’s Task Wheel goes to the winning bidder at 100,000. Name your target first.”

The person who had bid so crazily wrote: “Then I’ll choose the person who just placed the lowest bid.”

The person with the lowest bid replied with a single sentence: “Looks like my luck will be better tomorrow~”

“Alright, tonight’s target is 13036. You may now unlock your wheel. Once it stops, upload a screenshot.”

A moment later, ‘100k’ uploaded the image. It was a simple spinner wheel divided into colors: green, yellow, red, purple, and black. Each color occupied a different amount of space. Black had the smallest slice, making it nearly impossible to hit. In the screenshot, the arrow had landed on the red section.

“Looks like red is a loss after all,” 100k added with a sigh.

“Based on today’s date, the performer’s ID and the color the winner spun, I have the mission for 13036,” Xiao Hua wrote. “Before midnight tonight, go to the famous wellness center in the red-light district. Pick a woman and do anything to her except kill her. Remember to livestream it.”

“I’m lying at home naked right now, but I’m on my way, I’m on my way~” There wasn’t a hint of complaint in 13036’s tone. In fact, he sounded almost excited.

“Tch! Is excitement all you’ve got? I lost a fortune tonight!” The winning bidder was clearly dissatisfied.

“I have to get down there.” Yu Shi hurriedly threw on her coat. From the chat logs, it looked like some poor woman was about to suffer.

Xiang Ling nodded, tapping her Bluetooth earpiece. “Be careful. If he starts the stream, I’ll report the location to you. Don’t forget your hat and mask.”

Yu Shi grabbed her gear and left, leaving Xiang Ling alone at home watching “Room 4”. At that moment, most of the members were chirping away, discussing what 13036 might do and what they hoped to see.

From the entire bidding process, it was clear that Room 4 was dangerous. Everyone was paying for the power to command others, and their targets weren’t outsiders. They were fellow users within the room. They bid without knowing what the task would be, the amount entirely dependent on their own whims and what they deemed “worth it”. Because the tasks and their costs were unknown, it fueled a twisted sense of anticipation and thrill.

Based on the colors on the wheel, one could conclude that the tasks were ranked by difficulty. From green to black, the danger and severity progressively increased. According to Xiang Ling’s speculation, a green task might just be shoplifting from a store or snatching a child’s pocket money on the street, while the most severe, the black one, could likely involve homicide.

Whether it was stealing a child’s lunch money or taking someone’s life, to the users in this room, it was all just a game.

However, she couldn’t understand one thing: the person spending the money bought the power of choice, the person performing the task seemed to get nothing but orders, and Xiao Hua pocketed the money without lifting a finger. Why did they allow such an unequal set of rules to exist? She tentatively asked: “As the performer, what kind of reward does 13036 get?”

“You don’t need a reward! The thrill during the mission is incomparable. It’s like being an undercover agent or an assassin. As long as it’s thrilling and fun, that’s enough.”

“Actually, what you guys don’t know is that being the performer has its perks!

Besides the rush mentioned above, Xiao Hua also splits the pot. For that 100k just now, 13036 might personally get a cut of twenty or thirty thousand.”

“Holy crap, I never knew that! You get to play and make money? I’m volunteering as the performer next time.”

“The veteran users all know. It’s just that if no one asks, no one explains much anymore.”

“Thanks for the info, boss!” Xiang Ling replied with a polite token of gratitude.

“Newbie, you’re on the bench today. If you want to join, you’ll probably have to wait a few days. The group owner announces when the games happen in advance, just keep an eye on the chat,” the user who explained things to her added.

She sent an ‘OK’ gesture and checked the time. It was a thirty-minute drive from her house to the red-light district. She wasn’t sure where Yu Shi was or if she would make it in time.

The livestream started.

Xiang Ling immediately called Yu Shi. Over the Bluetooth earpiece, Yu Shi’s voice came through. She was stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, 13036 had started the livestream from an alleyway. He asked, “Anyone there? I hope you haven’t all gone to sleep.”

It wasn’t his real voice. Just like Xiao Hua before, he was using an electronic voice changer. The livestream was a built-in feature of the app. At this moment, the members of “Room 4” were online, cheering 13036 on.

“I’m about to enter the wellness center. Wait for me~”

Xiang Ling watched as the camera on the screen shook. 13036 panned the lens quickly around his surroundings. Although the image was a bit blurry, she could still see the bustling crowds on the street. Neon lights flickered everywhere as men and women passed by with their arms around each other. There were also standard restaurants and snack stalls catering to these “patrons.”

The “red-light district” didn’t mean the entire area was an illegal den. Rather, word of mouth had it that many businesses here were fronts for illicit activities. Naturally, there were local street patrols that would signal a warning if anyone resembling a police officer was spotted. Not only the patrols, but even the ordinary shopkeepers acted as voluntary human surveillance. If the illegal establishments were raided, their own businesses would suffer. This made police crackdowns incredibly difficult. Everyone knew the area was a melting pot of shady characters. Parents would warn their children to stay far away.

Just then, Yu Shi’s voice came through the earpiece: “I’ve taken a detour. Help me pinpoint the exact location of that wellness center.”

Xiang Ling understood the urgency, so she scrutinized everything captured on the screen. A “wellness center” in this context certainly wasn’t for health, and its sign likely wouldn’t be something mundane like “So-and-So’s Spa”. By now, 13036 had already asked the counter for their “top-tier” girl and was being led toward a private room.

Xiang Ling warned Yu Shi not to be too conspicuous. If a woman alone in a place like that looked suspicious, she could easily be surrounded by a mob in broad daylight.

Yu Shi sped to the outskirts of the district and parked her car haphazardly. She pulled on her hat and mask, blending into the crowd as she entered the red-light district. Instructions came through the earpiece. Xiang Ling told her to look for a stall selling stir-fried instant noodles next to a Thai restaurant. She moved with the flow of the crowd, scanning the stalls one by one, until she finally found the spot Xiang Ling had described.

“What next?” Yu Shi asked, standing her ground and scanning the area, but she couldn’t see any shop with the words “Wellness Center” on it.

“Look around. There are potted plants at the entrance. Once you go in, it looks like a perfectly normal massage parlor.”

Xiang Ling couldn’t bear to watch the screen. 13036 was a total sadist. The sheer brutality of his actions was stomach-turning.

“If it looks normal on the outside, then the real place of business won’t be that easy to get into.” Yu Shi started searching for any massage parlor in the vicinity with potted plants out front.

This was giving her a headache. She wondered if she should research whether one needed to learn specific code words or slang before visiting such places. Xiang Ling could only offer: “Once you’re inside, you’ll have to wing it. Or… just ask for a girl? I saw 13036 just ask for one directly.”

“So you’re basically leaving me to fend for myself,” Yu Shi sighed, making a mental note to grill the next suspect she caught about how these places operated.

Her eyes caught a shop not far away. There was a large potted plant by the door. She couldn’t tell what kind of plant it was, but she adjusted her gear and pulled open the door.

Inside was a lobby. The reception desk was to the left, where a staff member dressed in a tidy suit gave her a polite smile and a bow of welcome.

Yu Shi swallowed hard. She stepped forward and asked bluntly, “Do you have any pretty girls?”

The receptionist replied, “We do. It depends on what you’re looking for. We have cute ones, sexy ones, the ‘ice queen’ types. Quality is guaranteed, and their techniques are all professionally trained. You can see our certificates hanging on the wall over there.”

Yu Shi thought to herself that she hadn’t asked for all that detail. Sure enough, there were certificates framed and displayed properly on the wall. She cleared her throat and said, “I don’t want ‘professional’ techniques. I want the unprofessional kind.”

The receptionist froze for a split second, his eyes shifting unnaturally as he scanned her from head to toe, making her incredibly uncomfortable. “Unprofessional… we have those, too. What kind are you looking for?”

“I want… a cute one,” Yu Shi said awkwardly, fighting the urge to bite her own tongue off behind her mask.

Thank goodness she was wearing a mask. Otherwise, the receptionist would have surely kicked her out the moment he saw the look on her face.

The staff member had Yu Shi pay up front before picking up the desk phone. “Room 9, someone cute…” After a long pause, he added, “It’s a female guest.”

Soon, someone emerged from the back to lead the way. Yu Shi could feel the meaningful look exchanged between the two employees. Over the earpiece, Xiang Ling couldn’t resist teasing her about her “preference” for cute girls.

She was led into what appeared to be a standard massage room. The attendant took a remote, pressed a few buttons, and the massage table meant for guests began to rise, revealing a hidden staircase leading underground.

She followed the attendant down. The stairs weren’t long. They reached the bottom quickly, opening into a corridor. Rooms lined both sides, each marked with a number.

“Third one on the left,” Xiang Ling chimed in, knowing she had made it inside. She hadn’t seen the room numbers in the livestream earlier, so she had to count them manually.

The corridor was eerily silent. The only sound was the echo of their footsteps. The attendant brought her to the door of Room 9, handed her the key, and said, “She’s inside.” However, he didn’t leave immediately.

Feeling awkward and realizing he was waiting for her to enter, Yu Shi opened the door and closed it behind her. She couldn’t tell if the man outside had left, as no sound from the hallway penetrated the room, unless someone were to knock.

She tossed the key onto a small table by the door. The room was cramped. Once the large bed was accounted for, there was barely any walking space left. Brightly colored candles sat on the nightstand, emitting a fragrance that made Yu Shi frown. There was also a tiny attached bathroom.

“First time here?” A woman was sitting by the bed. She was petite, appearing a bit shorter than Yu Shi.

“First time at this shop,” Yu Shi replied, leaning against the wall with feigned experience. “I want you to shower first. If you can, wash off the makeup. I’m not a fan.”

The woman gave a soft hum of agreement. “I won’t bother putting clothes back on after I’m done, then!”

“Whatever makes you happy.”

Yu Shi watched her enter the bathroom. As soon as the sound of running water began, Yu Shi hurried out of the room to the third door on the left that Xiang Ling had pointed out. Over the earpiece, Xiang Ling whispered, “He cut the stream. He was still in the room right before it went dark. I don’t know if he’s still there.”

Yu Shi knocked on the door. No one answered. She kept knocking until she heard someone fumbling with the lock from the other side. The door creaked open, and she stepped inside cautiously. She found a woman lying on the floor, her clothes in tatters and her body covered in injuries. Her face was a mass of bruises and blood, her eyes so swollen she could barely open them. She had clearly used every ounce of her remaining strength just to reach the door.

Seeing the woman lose consciousness, Yu Shi did a quick sweep of the room. He was gone. It was too late to chase him now, and the person on the floor was in critical condition and needed to be taken to a hospital immediately. Yu Shi ran back to the stairs, but the entrance she had come through was now sealed shut. She couldn’t find a way to open it from the inside. She hurried back, bumping right into her “cute girl”, who had come out wrapped in a towel looking for her.

Yu Shi pushed her back into the room, urging, “Get your clothes on, quick!”

“I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted?” the girl pouted, looking a bit miffed.

“Put them on so you can help save your colleague! She was just brutalized by her client. She’s lying on the floor unconscious. Do you have a way to contact your supervisor immediately?”

Hearing this, the girl rushed over to Room 6. Panicked, she used the room’s landline to call upstairs. Moments later, an older woman and two attendants hurried down. Yu Shi could tell from the older woman’s demeanor that she was the boss.

The woman took one look inside the room and turned a piercing, accusatory glare toward Yu Shi. “Did you do this?”

“No, I’m with Number Nine,” Yu Shi defended herself.

The cute young lady also chipped in to help, “Auntie, she’s my client, not A-Ying’s.”

“Then how did you find her?” The old woman stared at Yu Shi with a highly suspicious look. A-Ying, who had been abused, had already been carried away by the two attendants.

“I just had her take a bath. Since there’s only one bathroom and I needed to use the toilet, I came out to look for one.” She had already thought of this excuse before stepping out.

“Oh my! If you had just said something, I wouldn’t have minded opening the door to let you in. We could have used it together,” the cute young lady said, suddenly turning a bit bashful as she spoke.

The old woman rubbed her temples. Massaging her forehead, she figured that since A-Ying had already been sent to the hospital and the female client in front of her had probably just stumbled upon the scene by chance, she asked, “So, are you going to continue?”

“Yes!”

“No need.”

Yu Shi and the cute young lady spoke at the exact same time.

The old woman looked at Yu Shi, then at the cute young lady, and asked helplessly, “Are you continuing or not?”

The cute young lady pouted again and asked, somewhat angrily, “Why don’t you want to?”

Yu Shi spoke in a completely mechanical, word-by-word monotone: “I am sorry, but now that you have washed your makeup off, I do not like you anymore.”

“You’re the one who told me to wash it off, and now that it’s washed off, you’re the one who doesn’t like it anymore!”

The old woman’s eyes widened. This was not the professional service attitude a girl in this line of work should have. The customer always comes first. She would have to give her a proper scolding next time.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that after you took off your makeup, you look too much like my ex-girlfriend. The moment I think about her, I get heartbroken and lose all interest.” Yu Shi’s gaze instantly turned sorrowful.

She wasn’t heartbroken because she actually had an ex-girlfriend, but rather because she was miserable over how she ended up in this predicament. A female criminal detective arriving at a place like this, unable to reveal her identity, and being badgered by people asking why she didn’t want to continue.

The old woman patted Yu Shi on the shoulder and said, “I understand. Tell you what, I’ll pull some strings for you. Go upstairs and take your money back. If you ever crave our cute young lady here again, you’re welcome to come back.”

Yu Shi thanked her. When she went upstairs, she didn’t actually take the money back. Instead, she fled the scene in a hurry. She considered that money as an apology gift to the cute young lady.

After learning that the suspect had fled, Xiang Ling lost the heart to listen to what was happening on Yu Shi’s end. The group chat was buzzing with excitement. The fugitive, 13036, had made a glorious return. Egged on by the others, they posted a few more photos of their crimes, all of which she carefully recorded.

Yu Shi was sitting in her car, her call with Xiang Ling still ongoing. She gave a quick heads-up and headed home first.

Xiang Ling looked at the group chat, which had finally quieted down. She found the “big shot” who had explained everything to her earlier and clicked on their profile picture. Not knowing if a private message would be detected by Xiao Hua, she cautiously sent a greeting: “Hey, big shot, you there?”

A moment later, the big shot replied: “Yeah, what’s up?”

Xiang Ling wrote: “There are just a few things I wanted to ask advice on, but I felt embarrassed asking in the group chat. After all, I set up a specific persona in front of Xiao Hua, and I don’t want him to know that I’m actually clueless.”

The big shot quickly replied: “Ask away!”

“It’s about the colors on that wheel. I can tell they represent difficulty levels, but I was wondering if any of you have ever spun black before?”

Xiang Ling figured that even if Xiao Hua saw her messages, it wouldn’t be an issue. At the very least, it just looked like she was asking these things to save face.

“Yeah, I’ve only seen it happen twice so far. The chances of landing on black are extremely low.”

Xiang Ling unconsciously raised an eyebrow and asked, “Can you fill me in? Just so I can be mentally prepared if it’s my turn next time.”

“You should have been mentally prepared the moment you stepped into this room.” After a pause, the big shot wrote: “Both times played out differently. The first one was hidden so well that it still hasn’t been discovered to this day. At least, I haven’t seen any news reports about it on TV. The second time, the location wasn’t great, and no clean-up was done afterward, so it was found within a few days. But the case is already closed, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

There was a massive amount of information packed into that paragraph. After reading it, Xiang Ling immediately followed up: “Who was lucky enough to spin black? Must have been well worth the money, right?”

“One was Madman, and the other was the group admin himself. That was the only time he ever participated in the game.”

“I thought the admin would absolutely never participate?”

“We thought so, too. But that one time, he suddenly announced out of nowhere that he wanted in. He won the bid, spun the wheel, and landed on black. He was the executor who didn’t clean up the aftermath.”

“He hit it on his very first try?”

“Of course, none of us believed it, but he’s the admin, so we played along to save him face. Plus, we all enjoyed the show.”

“Thanks, big shot!”

From the very beginning, she had linked Yang San’s death to Eden. If Yang San had been set up and murdered by Xiao Hua, then everything made sense. Yang San had accidentally exposed his identity, so Xiao Hua personally joined the bidding, instructed someone in the group to kill Yang San and stage the scene, and cleaned out all the investigative materials related to Eden in Yang San’s house to create the illusion of a burglary turned homicide, all without getting a single drop of blood on his own hands. As for why the killer was ultimately found hanging in the old warehouse, it was likely because they had left behind too many clues during the crime. Xiao Hua had simply cut his losses in time, killing the culprit and staging it as a suicide out of guilt.

This deduction seemed highly plausible. Its only flaw was the killer’s suicide note. Yu Shi had confirmed that the note was indeed written by the killer’s own hand.

The first possibility was that Xiao Hua could forge the killer’s handwriting, doing so convincingly enough to pass for the real thing. But where would Xiao Hua get samples of the killer’s handwriting that just happened to fit the required content of a suicide note?

There was another possibility. Xiao Hua had used some method to trick or coerce the killer into writing the suicide note himself.

The next day was Friday. At around four in the afternoon, Xiang Ling received a new IP address flagged by her virus. As soon as she looked up the location, she immediately drove over to the destination.

The navigation system led her to a residential area. Following the precise location displayed on her map, she locked her target onto the house with the house number 32. It was a two-story house with a yard large enough to park two cars. In fact, two cars were parked inside. The entire property spanned a sizable area. Judging by the neighborhood, it had to be quite expensive. It was a nice house that she couldn’t afford for the time being.

She had brought her laptop along. The virus currently indicates that the user was inside the house. She calculated the success rate if she were to call the police right now and storm the place to catch them. But her naturally paranoid disposition ultimately made her drop the idea. Suppressing the urge for now, she parked her car nearby to observe the house.

She wanted to see exactly who lived there.

After about half an hour, the screen showed that the user had ended their activity. Another five minutes or so passed, and someone walked out of the house.

Chen Changming, carrying a briefcase, shut his front door and got into his car. The iron gate of the yard opened automatically, and Chen Changming drove out. Xiang Ling slammed her laptop shut. She started her car, hit the gas, and followed him. She tailed Chen Changming all the way to Chengwang University. After parking her car, she got out and followed him from not too far behind. Once inside the faculty building, Chen Changming entered the professors-only elevator with several other professors. They laughed and chatted as the doors closed.

Xiang Ling couldn’t be sure which exact floor he had gotten off on, so she had to look for him floor by floor. Peering through the small transparent glass panes on the classroom doors, she tried to identify the professors inside while keeping as low a profile as possible.

When she reached the eighth floor, she finally spotted Chen Changming teaching a class in the room at the very end of the hallway. It was a lecture hall capable of holding over a hundred people, with tiered seating like a movie theater that sloped down toward the podium. Chen Changming stood on the elevated stage, pointing a laser pointer at the presentation displayed on the white projector screen while explaining the material to the students through a lapel mic.

Every classroom had a bulletin board on the outside wall, plastered with club advertisements, event information, and the classroom’s seven-day weekly schedule. Xiang Ling gave it a quick look. Chen Changming’s lecture was scheduled to run until seven o’clock. She decided she would corner him and get some clear answers once his class let out.

She texted a quick update to Yu Shi. Yu Shi replied that she had some troublesome matters to handle at work, but would do her best to wrap up and get there before seven.

The moment the clock struck seven, the bell rang, and students began pouring out of the classroom one after another. Squeezed in the middle of the crowd, Xiang Ling watched as Chen Changming drifted further and further away from her, eventually stepping into the professors-only elevator. She immediately turned around and bolted down the stairs. Because many students were using them, she had to push past people as best she could while trying not to knock anyone over. By the time she finally made it to the ground floor with great difficulty, Chen Changming’s retreating figure was vanishing outside the faculty building, seemingly heading toward the parking lot.

Ignoring the curious stares of the surrounding students, she dashed after him and managed to intercept and corner him right in front of his car door.

Gasping for breath, she pinned him against the car door. Visibly startled by her sudden, aggressive move, Chen Changming hurriedly asked, “Who are you? This is a school, don’t do anything reckless!”

Xiang Ling glanced at her surroundings. A surveillance camera was mounted on the wall right behind her, undoubtedly capturing her every move. But things had already progressed to a point where she didn’t care about such minor details.

“Chen Changming, it’s a real tragedy you aren’t competing for an Oscar with acting skills like yours,” she said, her tone brimming with near-absolute certainty. “You’re Xiao Hua, aren’t you?”

“What kind of nonsense is that? I don’t even know who you…” Chen Changming stopped mid-sentence. A look of sudden realization washed over his face as he said, “You’re the person who came to my office looking for me last time!” Since she wasn’t wearing a mask now, he hadn’t recognized her at first, but her voice was highly distinctive.

“We planted a tracking virus inside a flash drive that Xiao Hua used. This afternoon, that virus pinged its location right inside your house.” As Xiang Ling spoke, she pulled out her phone and showed Chen Changming the tracking map on her screen.

Looking as if he were on the verge of tears, Chen Changming defended himself vehemently. “It wasn’t me! I’m a victim here! My son was targeted, too. No matter how vicious I might be, I would never harm my own son!”

“The old saying ‘even a fierce tiger won’t eat its cubs’ doesn’t apply to me. The tracking location was at your house. If it isn’t you, am I just making things up out of thin air?”

Faced with his completely innocent expression, Xiang Ling almost believed him for a second. But remembering he had pulled the exact same act last time, she figured it was probably all just part of his performance.

Chen Changming suddenly got agitated and threw a question right back at her: “Are you saying the virus tracked someone to my house this afternoon? What time was this?”

“Four o’clock.”

As if a lightbulb had suddenly gone off in his head, Chen Changming practically jumped in place, roaring with wild agitation: “It’s Ye Feiyang!”

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