Netherworld Investigator

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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The next morning, I woke Dali up. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and mumbled, "It’s still so early. Are you going to the station to conduct the autopsy?"

"That can wait,” I replied. “Let's visit Ding Xu's dormitory first."

Dali was suddenly energized. "Are you going to see Luo Youyou again? I'll get dressed right away!" 

We went to the cafeteria for breakfast and bought some soy milk and fried dough sticks, then headed to the computer science dormitory. After staying up all night contemplating the case, I remained resolute about my theory that Ding Xu was merely pretending to be possessed, though I didn’t exclude the possibility of his connection to Qiu Wanxia. Determining what that connection was would be key to solving the case.

If Jiu-ge had encountered such an incident, he might have performed an exorcism without a second thought but I wanted to explore the reasons behind it!

This wasn’t a question of who was right or wrong. There wasn’t a universal truth in the world. An acknowledged set of beliefs and methods only worked within its own domain or field. Even Newton who discovered gravity believed in God in his later years.

Although I had witnessed many supernatural phenomena, I was still, in essence, a rational and objective man. Even if Ding Xu was really possessed by Qiu Wanxia’s spirit, I had to determine why her spirit fixated on Ding Xu and not the others.

When Dali and I arrived at Ding Xu's dormitory, we overheard Zhang Cheng narrating last night’s “adventure” to his roommates. Upon entering the room, Zhang Cheng quickly introduced me to everyone. The other two juniors looked at me with equal parts fear and respect in their eyes. Before I knew it, I was already in my final year. I couldn't help but sigh. The march of time was relentless and unforgiving.

"I’m here to find out more about Ding Xu's social circle," I explained.

His roommates burst into noisy chatter as they detailed how frustrated Ding Xu usually was and how he never had a girlfriend though he was interested in a bunch of girls. In a nutshell, he was a textbook example of a loser. 

"Have any of you heard Ding Xu mention the name Qiu Wanxia?" I asked.

The juniors shook their heads, but one of them suddenly interjected, "I’ve thought of something but I don't know if it’s considered a clue."

My eyes lit up. "Let's hear it!"

He explained that Ding Xu was strange for a period of time two years ago, often chatting on QQ late into the night, sometimes smiling at his cell phone. They all lived together long enough to know that Ding Xu’s behavior probably meant he had a new crush.

But this wasn’t anything new. Ding Xu had secretly admired so many girls since high school. One night, Ding Xu received a phone call and left without saying anything. When he came back the next day, he sat in bed, sulking all morning. No one knew what had happened.

After a moment’s contemplation, I asked, "Was it around winter?"

"Yes, you’re right!” he exclaimed. “I remember it was almost winter vacation in our first year."

Indeed, there was more to it than what met the eye. "I have a request,” I began. “I’d like to take Ding Xu's computer to the bureau for our investigation."

The three of them agreed at once. "It’s no problem at all! Do whatever you need!"

Thus, I left their room with the computer in my arms. Dali urged, "Aren’t you going to the girls' dormitory to investigate?"

"You can go if you want to!" I chided.

Disappointment written all over his face, Dali left with me, though we soon bumped into Luo Youyou and her two roommates who were carrying water bottles. She smiled sweetly at me, "Song Yang!"

"Hey, don’t you have class in the morning?"

"Not today,” she laughed. “We’re just getting ready to head over to study hall."

I elbowed Dali and urged, "Seize the opportunity, you fool!"

"What should I say?" he anxiously asked.

"Just go with it,” I said. “If you can't think of something, ask her the same questions I did."

"You’re the best, dude!" Dali patted me on the shoulder.

"I'll see you at the school gate at ten,” I waved him off.

I created an opportunity for him but the rest depended on him. I sincerely hoped he would succeed this time.

I headed to Lao Yao’s dormitory with the computer in hand. Lao Yao was still asleep so I had to call him several times before he finally woke up. Lao Yao rubbed his eyes dreamily and said, “Xiao Song Song, I was just dreaming of you. Has my dream come true?"

His husky bass voice like dark velvet made goosebumps prickle all over my arms and neck. “I’m here for business,” I said with a straight face.

Lao Yao arched an eyebrow, "Above or below the waist?"

I really regretted leaving Dali with the girls. With a lonesome man and a gay in the same room, he was bound to take liberties with me.

"I need your help with some chat records!” I cut to the chase. “How does pizza sound?"

Lao Yao turned over seductively in bed, looking up at me with a come-hither gaze. "I want it now."

"Okay, I'll order now!" Beads of cold sweat dripped down my forehead.

Only after my call to Pizza Hut did Lao Yao lazily get out of bed. He connected Ding Xu's computer to the power supply and his monitor, and began operating at once. When Lao Yao noticed Ding Xu’s QQ profile picture which was his own photo, he squealed like a dying pig. "Who’s the little fatty? God he’s ugly! I'm allergic to ugly people, you know! I’m not doing this!"

"If I had the same concerns as you, then I’d have to avoid any ugly bodies," I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not doing it unless you call me baby!” Lao Yao snorted.

I was close to being driven mad, and the culprit gladly threw his mouse aside. "If you don’t, you might as well get someone else to help you."

I dithered for a considerable amount of time before squeezing out the word "ba–" when the delivery boy arrived. Unfortunately, I finally witnessed for myself just how low Lao Yao could go. He stood at the door, flirting with the handsome delivery boy, his grubby paws wandering all over. He insisted on exchanging numbers and threatened to leave the boy with a bad review.

Luckily for me, Lao Yao had forgotten our earlier conversation by the time the delivery boy left. He sat at his computer, scarfing down the pizza.

The earliest chat records on Ding Xu’s QQ extended to about a year ago. "This won’t work,” sighed Lao Yao. “He updated his system so all the chat records are gone."

"Is there another way? Like recovering the data on his hard disk?"

"The chat records are stored in the server,” he replied. “I’ll break into Tencent's server!"

"Can you do that?" I asked.

Lao Yao grabbed another slice of pizza, inserted a U disk that contained his hacker software into the computer, and tapped away at his keyboard. "I’ll need to hack into their system to get to the servers,” he explained. “I left a back door when I modified the data for my League of Legends account. The programmers haven't discovered it yet. Would you like me to stock up some in-game currency for you?"

"No, thank you!" I waved my hands repeatedly.

Lao Yao pulled up a long list and asked me whose chat records I wanted to check. There was a sea of data to run through since I didn’t know what Qiu Qanxia’s QQ account was and Ding Xu’s two-year chat records were simply extensive. I described a few of Qiu Wanxia’s more distinct characteristics and behavior.

"I'll go through everything but it will take some time,” said Lao Yao. “I'll contact you when I’m done!"

Just as I was about to leave, Lao Yao reminded, "Song Song, have you forgotten something?"

Breaking out in a cold sweat again, I quickly brushed him off, "I have something urgent so I have to leave now. See you later!"

With that, I escaped from the lion’s den.

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