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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We tracked the footprints all the way to an unfinished construction area where they faded to the point they were almost invisible. I put away the Autopsy Umbrella and turned to the officers beside me, "I'll continue inwards with Xiaotao while the others wait here!"

Although I wasn’t part of the police, the officers obeyed my commands as did Xiaotao. I handed the Autopsy Umbrella to Dali and cautiously proceeded with Xiaotao.

This incomplete residential area was a project that began many years ago. At the time, the plan was to build a stretch of villas in the area, but due to the transportation inconvenience, the rich rejected the idea of purchasing a house so remote from everything else, no matter how well built it was. Thus, the project was eventually deemed a failure. As we walked on, several semi-finished villa structures came into view, along with others that only had the foundation laid down.

I looked around with Cave Vision but discovered nothing amiss until we arrived at a three-story building. I tapped Xiaotao, gesturing for her to stop.

"Are they up there?” asked Xiaotao. “I'll call for reinforcements right away!"

"Don't! Just give me your gun!" I stopped her at once.

I grabbed her gun and pointed it to the sky, ready to fire a shot when Xiaotao interjected, "What are you doing? You’re going to alert them to our presence!"

"That’s exactly what I want to do!" I grinned.

Having said that, I aimed at the sky and pulled the trigger but the loud bang I was waiting for never came. Of course! I had forgotten that the gun’s safety was engaged! 

"I can tell that you’ve never held a gun!” chuckled Xiaotao. “Be careful of a wrist injury caused by the recoil. I'll teach you how!"

She encircled me from the back, placing her arm over mine, wrapping my hands in hers as she disengaged the safety. Her plump breasts were tightly attached to my back and I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, my face flushed with heat. However, my response to intimate contact was much calmer than before. If it weren't for the circumstances at the time, I might have plucked up the courage to do something more audacious.

A loud bang sounded as gunfire shattered the night sky, reverberating like thunder. Then, I heard a voice scream from the second floor. "Ouch!"

I looked Xiaotao in the eye, triumphant smiles reaching our lips at the same time. 

"Get down, or I'll get the SWAT team to swarm the building and shoot all of you!" shouted Xiaotao.

"Don't shoot!” a man yelled. “I surrender, I surrender!"

"How many of you are there?" I asked.

"Twelve," he replied.

"Fine, make sure you watch each other!” I bellowed. “If even one person dares to run, the rest of you will suffer severe consequences!"

"We won’t run. I promise we won't run!” said the man. “We were merely paid to maintain the site but it has nothing to do with us."

In fact, this building had only one exit so escaping was impossible. When the twelve scurried downstairs with both hands timidly held high, Xiaotao radioed the other officer, instructing them to come over. They were all skinny tech guys with pale faces and puffy eyes, indicative of the long hours they spent indoors. 

When questioned about their jobs, they explained that they were responsible for the daily maintenance and management of the website. These were the hackers that Lao Yao had encountered that time. Earlier, they had received a call from their boss saying that the website had been exposed, urging them to evacuate immediately.

"Who’s in charge?" I asked.

"He fled in a car," answered one of the men.

"Why didn't he take you with him?"

"He’s the boss. Of course, his life matters more than ours,” he gave a self-deprecating smile. “Why would he care about us? We had no choice but to hide here."

But I grabbed his hands and examined them, sneering, "You can drop the act! You’re the one in charge!"

The man was visibly healthier than the others, fingers unlike those exposed to computers for extended periods of time, and the T-shirt he wore obviously didn’t fit him. 

Yet he continued to deny it, waving his hands desperately. "I’m not! I’m just a supervisor."

"Is he in charge?” I turned to the others. “If you’re honest, you might get a reduced sentence."

The others immediately turned traitorous and pointed at him. "Yes, he’s the one who pays us!"

We didn’t even have to handcuff these weak-kneed hackers who obediently walked in a straight line led by Xiaotao. Along our way to join the other officers, we bumped into our reinforcements. They stared in wide-eyed shock upon realizing how quickly we managed to round up the suspects.

"Take them all back to the station for interrogation!" ordered Xiaotao.

All the way up until he was pushed into the police car, the man in charge continued shouting indignantly, "I’m not the one behind the website. There’s a boss behind the scenes! I'm innocent!"

Having unexpectedly arrested the people behind the website, Xiaotao was over the moon. "There’s no point in shouting!" she laughed.

After we escorted them back to the station, another group of people were brought in by Wang Yuanchao who soon joined us. Sure enough, the man had thrown his cell phone into a truck as I predicted, but forgot to delete the content in his phone, leaving behind a bunch of contacts.

The officers interrogated the gang all night. I was both excited with our arrest and anxious to know the results of the interrogation so I stayed out overnight, too energetic to bother returning to the dormitory to rest. Dali, Lao Yao and I called a buddy of ours out for supper.

The programmers all confessed upon being questioned. Just like Lao Yao, they only knew the technological aspect of the website and little else. Having signed up as soon as they heard of the high pay, some of them did background maintenance and had no idea of what was being streamed on the website.

However, the man in charge was rather slick and refused to come clean.

Xiaotao called me into the interrogation room where I sat before him. "You mentioned there’s a boss behind the scenes. Who is he?” I asked coldly. “A person or an organization?"

The man forced an awkward smile. "I don't know. My job is to find streamers and manage the finances. Like the programmers, I’m just a small fry who gets paid to do my job. I’ve never seen the boss behind the scenes."

"You’re lying!" I slammed the table.

"Officers, I’m telling the truth,” he spread his hands. “I can’t help it if you won’t believe me!"

The suspect was a sociopath with the sort of stubborn resistance, a face that displayed sincerity but a mouth full of lies. Although I could see through his deception, reading his heart was an entirely different matter.

"Let’s get Wang Yuanchao to interrogate him!" cried Xiaotao.

I had an idea of what she meant. "Will he be able to pry his mouth open?" I asked.

Xiaotao nodded. "Do you know why Wang Yuanchao has been an ordinary policeman even after so many years? Because he doesn’t hold back when dealing with stubborn suspects who refuse to confess. Violence is his way." She glanced at the suspect, her tone nonchalant, "Although it’s illegal for the police to use violence in an interrogation, I think we can do away with our principles when dealing with such scum!"

"Officer I’m telling you the truth!” he shivered. “If I so much as speak one false word, I will be struck by lightning!"

Although this man had never actually gotten his hands bloody, the website he built bred countless perverted criminals and sadistic murderers. I didn't object to the use of extreme measures, but in terms of efficiency, I didn't think a beating was effective.

I took out a small bottle containing the Dream Entry concoction and placed it under his nose. A hard sniff at the powder and his eyes immediately took on a vague, misty look.

"Don’t you feel that the chair is getting hotter and hotter, that it’s almost impossible to remain seated?” I asked in a hypnotic tone. “Can you smell your flesh burning?"

With a scream, the man contorted his body, struggling as hard as he could, as if he were really sitting on a soldering iron. "Let me go, let me go!" he wailed at the top of his voice.

I pounded a fist into the wall and demanded, "Confess! Were you the one who built the website?"

Suddenly, the distinct odor of urine drifted into my nose as a wet stain slowly spread between his legs. "Yes…” he trembled. “I built it."

"Why did you build the website?" I asked.

He said in panic, "T-to make money!"

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