Yan Junxun tossed away the steel pipe and stepped over the shattered glass covering the ground to pull open the other party's car door. The car's windshield was already smashed. There was no one inside. The distress call from the car's system grew fainter and fainter, finally turning into a long electronic 'beep—'.

The other person wasn't here at all.

Yan Junxun roughly yanked down the car's visor pouch. Inside was a stack of printed notes, all saying, "Let's play a game." He clenched the notes, seeing a plush toy sitting in the front passenger seat, its head tilted in a smile. The person seemed to know Yan Junxun's triggers, having even put glasses on the plush toy, dressing it up to look like Huo Qingjun from the family photo. The 'beep' from the car's system suddenly cut off and automatically switched to a voice recording.

"I really want to see you, I want to so badly... Ah, I know you, I've known you for a long time," the person said, leaning close to the recording device in an exaggerated tone. "You are the Son of the Hunt."

He sounded a little mocking, then moved away from the recording device. Yan Junxun heard him moving around. He was wearing leather shoes that clicked on the floor. He seemed to know Yan Junxun wouldn't miss any details, so he stood in front of the device and briskly tap-danced a few steps.

"Don't try to find me through this recording. You can't do it." The person sounded like he was in his own home, casually rummaging through things around him. "Why do you listen to Fu Chenghui? Yan Junxun, you'd better think carefully about how to answer me. You can treat this as a game too, since..." He tapped the table. "Since none of this matters to you anyway. Fu Chenghui thinks you can 'see' the truth. He's so stupid. You're clearly just a failed, one-dimensional, uninteresting fake. You deceive everyone with your clumsy acting. You're a Clown who is all style and no substance."

He grew cheerful at this point, unable to stop himself from laughing, biting the tip of his tongue. The sound was very strange.

"Go back, Yan Junxun. Go back to your dark, cramped nest and fly into a rage like a normal person. Do you think you're some kind of goddess of justice? Fucking hell," his laughter became even stranger, "you're not even weaned yet. I still don't get what the hell you're doing, hiding here. You're a complete and utter piece of trash here, completely useless. Your profiling—can you even fucking call that profiling? Sorry, I cursed," he slowed down, annoyed. "I shouldn't curse, but when I think of you, I can't help it. You can never understand my hatred for you, just like an ant can never understand being stepped on by a human. I want to make you understand that you have to pay a price for what you've gotten. You need to understand your own failure. I will make you understand."

He sat down, adjusted his clothes, and his fingers brushed against the edge of the table in the process.

He was wearing a ring.

In that instant, Yan Junxun heard the soft click of a ring against the table's edge. It was like a ripple on the surface of water, sending out a tiny aftershock in the bottomless darkness.

"I want to negate you. Where do you even exist?" The person faltered here, seeming not to have thought through what to say next. "No one in this world needs you at all. Although I'd love to just say 'go die, Yan Junxun', I don't want it to be that simple. You'll break down, won't you? Even if you're trying your best to imitate the system, your core is still fragile enough to shatter at a touch. I want you to break down, to despair... Despair is a good word. It holds more power than 'death,' enough to contain all my malice toward you. I've already started. Out of courtesy, I should greet you. I almost succeeded last time, but unfortunately, there was a bastard. That bastard named Shi Shanyan, another fucking Black Panther. Please reply to him for me: I don't want to die, I won't die." He seemed tired of laughing, his tone turning ice-cold when he mentioned Shi Shanyan. "I want to kill him, and I'll find a way. He's getting way too complacent—"

The car system's core unit, protruding next to the driver's seat, suddenly burst. Like a balloon filled with air, it was popped that easily. Shi Shanyan, leaning against the car door, had been listening for who knows how long, squinting in the sunlight.

"Do you want to sit here and chat with him? Listen to him ramble on incoherently about his secret inner world." Shi Shanyan tossed the wires he had pulled out at his feet and wiped his hands with a tissue. He looked at Yan Junxun, tapping the hand he had resting on the wrecked car door. "You're so patient and kind, sitting there so obediently it's as if I'm the one who smashed this door. Don't listen to him. Don't try to understand him."

Shi Shanyan was too tall, blocking Yan Junxun's light. When he leaned down, the inside of the car seemed extremely cramped. He reached out and brushed away the black hair hanging over Yan Junxun's eyes. His gaze was like that of someone observing a work of art, his eyes caressing Yan Junxun's beauty mark and cheeks with fascination.

"You could crush his head," Shi Shanyan's voice was low. "Who could stop you? Little genius, don't pay him any mind."

There was a steel pipe under Yan Junxun's seat, and a push dagger in his pocket. He crushed a cigarette in his hand and felt a strange urge to laugh.

He really had a hard time controlling himself. He couldn't quit the cigarettes he wanted to quit, and a greedy part of his nature urged him to keep making excuses for himself. What was he even supposed to do? Artemis hadn't made it clear, and no one had ever told him. But he often felt tired, and when he wasn't, he'd just zone out. Otherwise, he always felt the need to do something. He was never comfortable anywhere. It seemed there was no place in this world where he could completely relax; he was constantly on edge.

Fuck the Black Panther. Fuck Fu Chenghui.

They had released a dangerous element to lure him. Every second, Shi Shanyan was telling him, "Come on, do something." Do what? Beg for attention like the psycho in the recording just now? Yan Junxun wasn't that kind of person. He had written it rigidly, resolutely, on a blackboard.

He wasn't that kind of person. He wasn't the kind of person they thought he was.

"I won't bite him, and I won't touch him." Yan Junxun turned back towards Shi Shanyan, not shying away from his chilling gaze. He reached up, grabbed Shi Shanyan's collar, and said as if making a vow, "Stop luring me. I know what to do."

 

 

 

 

Chapter 23: Suspicion

Jiang Lian saw Cheng Lixin inside the Supervisory Bureau. He watched Cheng Lixin's expression for a while through the glass and asked the investigator beside him, "Did you find him in the surveillance footage of Li Jianhua's apartment building?"

"'Jue' discovered that this Cheng Lixin had been to Li Jianhua's home half a year ago when he was in debt." The investigator was named Piao Lin and was "Jue's" partner. It was rumored that he had a photographic memory and had never made a mistake when reviewing files or verifying information. Piao Lin dimmed the light screen, looked up at Cheng Lixin in the room, and said, "The money he owed Liu Xincheng's mahjong parlor was paid off for him by Li Jianhua. According to his own confession, half a year ago, an online acquaintance offered him several health product investments. He wanted to do it but had no money, so the person introduced him to a mahjong parlor in the Huihe Residential Community area, which happened to be a place Liu Xincheng was managing. He borrowed money there, but the investment turned out to be a scam, and all his money went down the drain."

Back home, Cheng Lixin thought it over and over, feeling he had been set up. He believed the online acquaintance who scammed him and the mahjong parlor were in it together. But he was a bully to the weak and a coward to the strong. He heard that Liu Xincheng used to be a senior finance department head at some factory and had even been to prison. He figured Liu Xincheng had connections in both the legal and criminal worlds, so he didn't even dare to drive his truck anymore, hiding at home all day.

"His mother, Yang Yu, happened to be a recipient of aid from the service station at that time and had worked as a cleaner in the Puli Residential Community," Piao Lin said as he enlarged the light screen and turned it for Jiang Lian to see. "Jue, show Boss Jiang Yang Yu's file."

"Understood," Jue replied. "This is Yang Yu's file. As you can see, she was complained about four times half a year ago, all related to information leaks."

Jiang Lian browsed Yang Yu's file and saw the word "blackmail."

"Cheng Lixin got customer information from Yang Yu, including door codes, system settings, ID numbers, and so on. He joined online chat rooms and asked some so-called experts to help him dig deep into these customers' online accounts, then blackmailed them." Piao Lin clasped his hands together as he spoke, sighing with emotion. "The information security in our district is still very weak, unlike a developed area like the Light Rail District. Here, an ID number is the unlock code to a person's private world. Cheng Lixin made a fortune with this."

"That's right," Jue liked to chime in after Piao Lin. "Cheng Lixin specifically selected his blackmail targets. It mainly involved a lot of customer privacy, including issues like bigamy, infidelity, and abnormal account funds. These were things they couldn't conveniently report to Punctual Cleaning's officials, nor could they report them to us, so very few people called the police. As a result, Cheng Lixin grew bolder and started using Yang Yu's ID to chat with her colleagues, fishing for other people's customer information. And among that information was Li Jianhua's."

"Li Jianhua had been in the news, and Liu Chen had even done follow-up reports on him. In Cheng Lixin's eyes, he was a minor celebrity. Furthermore, Li Jianhua's parents were wealthy, which greatly tempted Cheng Lixin," Piao Lin recalled these details clearly. "At the time, Cheng Lixin still had a debt of two hundred thousand, so he went after Li Jianhua."

Anyone could get into Li Jianhua's home. He had no sense of security for his own residence and had even told the community management to let his motley crew of friends come and go as they pleased. Yan Junxun had guessed the killer had been inside, and Cheng Lixin had been inside as well.

"He used those videos of Li Jianhua as a threat to demand money from Li Jianhua's parents, and with that, he paid off his debt to Liu Xincheng's mahjong parlor. I suspect Li Jianhua's mother died of anger because of this incident. But according to 'Jue's' information search, we found that not only did Li Jianhua not hate Cheng Lixin, he actually stayed in contact with him."

Li Jianhua wanted Cheng Lixin to help him dig up some account information. He often roamed the internet, and his browsing history was full of voyeur websites and dating platforms, but he was also very interested in pretty girls who posted photos of their daily lives on legitimate platforms.

"Cheng Lixin didn't know how to search for information, but he wanted money from Li Jianhua, so he hung out in online chat rooms, constantly posting to find experts in information retrieval." Piao Lin signaled Jue to pull up some screenshots. "In Liu Chen's chat room, he met an 'older brother' figure, who had already been chatting with him for several months. According to Cheng Lixin, this 'older brother' treated him like a real younger brother and was willing to help him do this for free. Relying on this 'older brother', Cheng Lixin continuously helped Li Jianhua dig up personal information on those girls, including their schools and addresses, and tracked their information."

However, Li Jianhua quickly lost interest in the matter because Cheng Lixin was charging too much.

"Cheng Lixin's exorbitant demands gradually became too much for Li Jianhua to handle. He also had to pay off some of Cheng Lixin's gambling debts, and it wasn't long before he got fed up. Cheng Lixin threatened him with the videos, but unlike his mother, Li Jianhua didn't care."

Li Jianhua had no sense of morality; he saw himself and others as nothing more than beasts walking on two legs. Even if Cheng Lixin made those videos public, he would be completely unscathed.

Cheng Lixin could only find a new path. The 'older brother' from the chat room introduced him to many online friends. One of them lived in the Diba Residential Community, was also unemployed, and hit it off with Cheng Lixin. The two of them would meet up at eight-thirty every day to play games all night.

"Later, this friend said he had a good job to introduce and met with Cheng Lixin," Piao Lin opened his thermos, took a sip of hot water, and continued, "The two of them went around swindling and cheating people, and eventually discovered that the friend's next-door neighbor, Huo Qingjun, was in the middle of a lawsuit. They thought lawsuits were the most expensive thing, so they figured Huo Qingjun must have a huge sum of money in his account and started trying to find ways to blackmail him."

Huo Qingjun lived too close and had nowhere to run. He had no money; what little he had left was all spent on the lawsuit. His pockets were as clean as his face.

"Huo Qingjun's uncooperative attitude pissed them off. They picked his lock and even cornered and beat him near the residential community. However, Cheng Lixin insisted that after beating Huo Qingjun, he never bothered him again. At that time, the news of Liu Xincheng's death was out. After seeing it in Liu Chen's real-time push notifications, he was afraid we would investigate him, so he stayed at home," Piao Lin put down his cup. "But Jue discovered he was lying. He and that friend from the Diba Residential Community appeared at the mahjong parlor several times, always at night. Both of them have a serious gambling addiction and also gamble online."

Jiang Lian finished reading this morning's investigation results. He was silent for a moment, not speaking.

"One last thing. You told us via the Communicator to check the bicycle at Li Jianhua's door. We found Cheng Lixin's fingerprints on it, and the old sneakers hanging from the bike were the same size as Cheng Lixin's."

Piao Lin knew why Jiang Lian was silent. Jiang Lian had great trust in that mysterious Profiler. The Profiler had been involved in Jiang Lian's past cases, providing the scope for some of the investigations. Piao Lin felt the other party's information targeting was very accurate, so accurate it was almost deified, which in turn made him feel distrustful.

Humans are creatures that make mistakes. No matter how capable someone is, they will make mistakes, especially in a profession like a Profiler's, where experience can sometimes be a hindrance.

"You can discuss this with the Profiler," Piao Lin thought for a moment, then added, "Even if his speculative direction turns out to be wrong in the end, tell him not to be discouraged. Based on his past accuracy rate, I still trust some of his judgments."

"What about Huo Qingjun's family photo," Jiang Lian suddenly asked, "do Cheng Lixin's fingerprints match?"

"Oh, that," Piao Lin said. "That doesn't match. The fingerprints on the family photo aren't Cheng Lixin's."

"Ask him for more details," Jiang Lian said, looking at Cheng Lixin through the glass, recalling Yan Junxun's speculations. "It's best to clarify if the bicycle is his."

......

Su Heting felt like hanging up. The information he provided was wrong. But the feeling of being played wasn't too bad; he wasn't that upset. After all, he wasn't the only one who'd been fooled.

"Call the police," Yan Junxun ducked out from under Shi Shanyan's arm and picked up his steel rod from the glass shards. "He stole this car."

"Are you sure?" Su Heting said doubtfully. "You smashed a private car like this. Is the Supervisory Bureau going to pay for it for you?" He paused, still shaken, and said in a low voice, "If you guys need it, I can help delete the system's surveillance video so no one will know you did it. For free."

"One must take responsibility for their misdeeds," Shi Shanyan pulled out a pen that was stuck in the car's interior, picked out a slip of paper, flipped it over, and wrote on the blank side, "For compensation, please call—"

He wrote Su Heting's ID number on it.

"Fuck you," Su Heting said. "Don't even think about getting my help ever again."

"Help with what? Hindering us?" Yan Junxun retorted sarcastically.

"Come on, guys, I didn't do it on purpose," Su Heting turned off his light screen. "I suspect the other party knows my tracking habits and has seen my file. Don't you guys feel it?"

"Perhaps your skills are just limited," Shi Shanyan said teasingly.

Su Heting was actually silent. He fell back into his chair, leaned back and thought for a while, then said, "He knows the system quite well and has some decent camouflage techniques." He hesitantly asked Yan Junxun, "Do you think Artemis has an illegitimate child? I mean, would the system be capable of two-timing?"