Kiyomi Tsuki und sein Fuchs

Kapitel 19

As planned, Huang Jieyuan sat down at his computer and typed the police's response in the chat software's dialog box: "We're here too."

“I see you.” As Eumenides typed this, Luo Fei and the others noticed that the video option in their chat software was turned on, and the webcam on computer number 33 was pointed directly at their location. Clearly, Eumenides was watching them via video from the other end of the network, and his next statement further confirmed this.

He typed out the names of three people on the screen in turn: "Huang Jieyuan, Luo Fei, and Mu Jianyun".

Huang Jieyuan looked uncomfortable. Being so exposed to his opponent without any cover was indeed quite embarrassing.

Luo Fei focused his gaze intently on the camera, even taking a step forward as if trying to see the face of the person opposite him through time and space.

Mu Jianyun frowned. She didn't like being spied on by a strange man, so she reached out to try and turn the camera away.

However, Eumenides warned in time: "Don't turn off the camera, I need to know who is sitting across from me."

Luo Fei waved his hand slightly to Mu Jianyun, stopping the latter from doing so. To ensure the online conversation could continue, they had to comply with the conditions set by Eumenides.

Mu Jianyun pursed her lips helplessly. She turned her body to a position out of the camera's view, and at the same time, she gave Huang Jieyuan a wink, signaling that he could begin.

Huang Jieyuan sent a message in the chat box: "Where is my child?!"

Eumenides did not answer the question; instead, he commanded via message: "Put on your headphones. I need to hear your voice."

Huang Jieyuan seemed to hesitate for a moment—of course, this was just a feigned expression. The police had already guessed that Eumenides would use video and voice communication to probe for the information he wanted, and Huang Jieyuan was prepared to deal with this situation. When he put on the headset, his first words were still: "Where is my son?"

“Your son is with me.” Eumenides’ voice came through the headset.

"Is he alright?"

"I'm fine now."

"I want to see him. Turn on the video over there."

“It makes no difference whether we meet or not now,” Eumenides said coldly.

"Don't hurt him!" Huang Jieyuan roared angrily. "I'm warning you, don't hurt him!"

Eumenides was silent for a moment, then he sighed softly: “There’s something you have to understand: you’re the one who will hurt him. If it weren’t for the stupid tricks you played this morning, your son would be playing with his friends right now.”

Huang Jieyuan took a deep breath, as if trying his best to control his emotions, and then asked in a calm voice, "What exactly do you want?"

This was exactly the confrontation strategy the police had planned in advance. Although the goal was to set a trap for Eumenides, the process of setting the trap had to be realistic enough. At this moment, Huang Jieyuan had to emphasize the child's safety first, which was the normal reaction.

Luo Fei was fairly satisfied with Huang Jieyuan's performance. Just then, he saw Zeng Rihua walk out from behind the stage and wave at him. Luo Fei immediately went over.

Zeng Rihua also hurriedly took two steps forward, while carefully avoiding the camera area of computer number 33.

“We’ve tracked down an address.” He waved a note in his hand, on which was written an IP address. “It’s the Blue Star Internet Cafe, ten kilometers away.”

"An internet cafe again?" Luo Fei found it strange. Would Eumenides openly contact the police in an internet cafe? At the same time, he noticed that Zeng Rihua added the qualifier "one" to the "address," which implied that it was not the exact location of Eumenides.

Zeng Rihua had already noticed Luo Fei's confusion, and he quickly added, "There's a 99% chance this is a 'Trojan horse'."

Luo Fei asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"A Trojan horse is a virus program used to remotely control an infected computer." Zeng Rihua knew Luo Fei's computer knowledge wasn't extensive, so he used an analogy to explain, "You can think of an infected computer as a kite, a Trojan virus as a noose on the kite, and the network as the rope attached to the noose. The person flying the kite can control it by pulling the rope. Of course, if the 'kite' is smart enough, it can also find the person controlling it by following the rope. A 'chain Trojan' is even more complex. It uses one infected computer to control another infected computer, and so on, possibly involving many links in between. It's like many kites strung together; to find the real controller, you have to follow the kite strings one by one to the end."

"You mean that internet cafe isn't Eumenides' location, but there's a computer there connected to computer number 33 here, and that computer is being controlled by a third computer elsewhere?"

“Yes,” Zeng Rihua nodded. “I have to go to Lanxing Internet Cafe to find the location of the third computer. It’s like a kite strung together; we can only search one level at a time.”

"Understood." Luo Fei decisively ordered, "You immediately summon Liu Song, take a full team and set off. Investigate as quickly as possible. No matter how many steps Eumenides has taken, you must dig him out!"

Zeng Rihua did not immediately accept the order: "There is another problem..."

Luo Fei raised an eyebrow: "What's wrong?"

“The program that Eumenides just uploaded to computer number 33 is running now, but I still don’t understand what it is,” Zeng Rihua replied somewhat dejectedly.

"You just said you copied that program?"

"It has been copied. But the program's interface has been deleted, so it's impossible to tell what it does... I just opened the backend code, and some modules are clearly doing some external monitoring and will provide real-time results."

"Is he monitoring us?" Luo Fei pressed, sensing something amiss. "What exactly is he monitoring?"

"I don't know... Anyway, it's some kind of external indicator that changes, such as sound, image, temperature, light, vibration... There are too many possibilities. It depends on what the external hardware connected to the program is detecting."

Luo Fei realized something: "You mean some kind of special external hardware was installed on computer number 33?"

“Yes. Because when that program runs on the server, it can't measure any values, but the program on computer number 33 keeps showing unclear waveforms.” Zeng Rihua said, while staring at computer number 33 from a distance.

Luo Fei followed Zeng Rihua's gaze and then shook his head: "That computer is exactly the same as the others. If it had any special peripherals, you should have found out before."

“It must be some kind of hidden device. Let me check again, and I’m sure I can find it.” Zeng Rihua turned his head and looked at Luo Fei with a requesting attitude.

"No, stop looking now." Luo Fei shook his head decisively. "Whatever it is, have him monitor it. Use that to keep him in check, do you understand?"

The police had planned to keep Eumenides calm while Huang Jieyuan lured him into a trap, and secretly track his hideout. Checking the surveillance program Eumenides had set up now would obviously alert him.

Zeng Rihua nodded in understanding. Regardless of what Eumenides was monitoring, his goal was simply to ensure his own safety, right? And the police were now trying to give him that sense of security.

His most important task should be to follow the trail of those "kites" and find Eumenides' hiding place as soon as possible. However, if he didn't react while Eumenides were playing these tricks right under his nose, it would be too much for his opponent to underestimate him. Thinking of this, Zeng Rihua felt a deep sense of displeasure.

"Let's go," Luo Fei gave his order again.

"Yes!" The young man looked annoyed, but he still turned and left as ordered.

Luo Fei didn't have time to linger. He hurriedly returned to a corner of the internet cafe, where Huang Jieyuan and Eumenides' duel was still going on next to computer number 33.

Mu Jianyun gave Luo Fei a thumbs-up, indicating that Huang Jieyuan had performed well in the previous maneuvering. Luo Fei calmed down a bit, and through Huang Jieyuan's headset, he could vaguely hear Eumenides' voice coming from the other end of the network.

“Tell me about Case 130.” His voice was cold and harsh, as metallic and devoid of emotion, giving people a very strange feeling.

“You’ve already stolen the files. They contain records and photos. Why are you asking me?” Huang Jieyuan asked wearily and helplessly, looking completely at a disadvantage.

“I need the details, the details that were omitted from the files—or rather, the details that were deliberately hidden.” Eumenides’ calm tone contained a sharp, aggressive edge, because he knew he held a bargaining chip that Huang Jieyuan could not resist.

Huang Jieyuan remained silent, intimidated by the other party's leverage. He had to say something, but he was unwilling to reveal too much. After hesitating for a moment, he adopted a posture of retreating to advance, saying, "Ask whatever you want to know, and I will try my best to answer."

Mike converted Huang Jieyuan's voice into an electronic signal. Through the extensive network of network cables that spanned the city, the signal traveled all the way, jumping back and forth between several computers before finally reaching a hidden corner.

The young man who received the signal seemed somewhat bewildered. He had many questions, and now the time had come to unravel them, yet for some reason, he felt a vague sense of fear. Like a thick veil concealing certain unknown truths, as that veil is lifted, are you prepared to face whatever unfolds?

However, in any case, those are mysteries that must be unraveled.

After calming his thoughts, he posed his first question: "Why is Yuan Zhibang among the investigators?"

Yuan Zhibang, a name both familiar and unfamiliar. He wasn't used to associating those three characters with a certain image in his mind. Yet, those three characters were precisely the most crucial link between two phases of his life.

“Yuan Zhibang was a graduating student at the police academy and was assigned to the criminal investigation team as a trainee officer. Captain Ding, who was in charge of this case, was his mentor,” Huang Jieyuan replied.

"According to regulations, are trainee police officers qualified to participate in such serious cases?"

“It probably won’t work. At most, he can only be responsible for some peripheral liaison work. At that time, Captain Ding sent me with him to find the suspect’s family members, hoping to ease the situation at the scene by using the family members to win their hearts.” Huang Jieyuan paused and changed his tone, “But after contacting the family members, the change in the situation forced Yuan Zhibang to enter the core scene of the case.”

The young man's heartstrings trembled slightly; the other person's narration was touching something deep in his memory, and those vague shadows were coming towards him again.

"What kind of changes in the situation?" He composed himself and asked again.

“We found the suspect’s wife and son at the hospital. His wife was seriously ill and bedridden, so it was impossible for her to be at the scene. Since we had to rely on his family to influence the suspect, we could only place our hopes on his son. The boy was only six years old at the time, an age when he was very shy around strangers. But for some reason, he really liked Yuan Zhibang.”

Yes, that uncle… I liked him the first time I saw him. Why? The young man murmured to himself, but he couldn't explain why. He only vaguely remembered the uncle's smiling face, kind and sunny, and how he longed to be held in his arms. Yuan Zhibang, Yuan Zhibang… Was he really the same ugly, cold, and unsmiling teacher who later became like a ghost?

On the other end of the network, Huang Jieyuan continued to recount the situation eighteen years ago: "Because Yuan Zhibang and the boy got along very well, Captain Ding made a last-minute decision to let Yuan Zhibang bring the boy into the scene, hoping to arouse the suspect's love for his son."

"You bought toys for that child, and even put headphones on him and played nursery rhymes, right?" The young man's memories and the other person's account began to resonate with each other.

"Yes. It was all Yuan Zhibang's idea—the child completely trusted him. I remember when Yuan Zhibang carried him into the scene, he was singing and playing with toys, looking very happy. That was exactly the effect we wanted: how could any father bear to lead such an innocent and adorable child down a path of destruction?"

Father. Although the man's physical image has become so blurred, the meaning contained in that word will never be erased. A bitter pain welled up in the young man's heart: those happy days in his memory, when he was singing nursery rhymes, were actually the beginning of his father's tragic life.

Father, why did you ultimately abandon your son? Under those circumstances, why did you choose that most tragic path?

With these questions in mind, his voice became somewhat hoarse: "Tell me what happened next, tell me the details after Yuan Zhibang entered the scene..."

Huang Jieyuan's answer disappointed him: "I don't know the details of the scene."

"How could I not know?"

“After Yuan Zhibang entered the scene, he wore a concealed walkie-talkie in his collar so that the external police force could understand the situation inside the house. However, the receiver of this device was always worn on Captain Ding's ear, so apart from Yuan Zhibang himself, only Captain Ding could understand the progress of the situation on the scene in a timely manner, and we were just acting according to Captain Ding's instructions.”

The young man was clearly dissatisfied with Huang Jieyuan's explanation. He pressed further, "Even if you didn't know at the time, did you not know later? In a case like this, since walkie-talkies were provided, wasn't the recording made on site?"

“There is a recording, but I have never listened to it.”

"Where are the other officers?"

“I was Captain Ding’s assistant at the time. If I hadn’t heard it, our captain wouldn’t let anyone else hear it either.”

"Why?" the young man questioned. "This is not in accordance with procedure."

Huang Jieyuan readily admitted: "Yes. There are many procedural irregularities in this case—starting from when Yuan Zhibang entered the scene. That's why many details of the case were not recorded in the file."

"If that's the case, it means there's a problem with the police operation! So the problem lies hidden in the on-site recording, right?" the young man asked sharply.

After a moment of silence, Huang Jieyuan said, "That should be true."

The young man pressed on: "What do you think the problem is?"

"I already said I don't know."

"I want to hear your guesses. As a detective, if you've already realized there's a problem, you can't possibly not have any guesses!" The young man emphasized, brooking no refusal or argument.

Huang Jieyuan sighed and said helplessly, "Okay... I think it was... one mistake."

"What mistake?" The young man's heart clenched. He knew what he feared most, but he couldn't avoid it.

"Because of Yuan Zhibang?" he asked almost cautiously.

Fortunately, he received a rather reassuring answer.

"No, it was the sniper's mistake."

The young man breathed a sigh of relief: "It's a sniper... What about a sniper?"

"Yuan Zhibang's persuasion at the scene should have had a good effect, but... the sniper fired the wrong shot at that moment."

"What?" This was undoubtedly a surprising answer for the young man. "You mean... that, that..." He tried twice but couldn't bring himself to say "suspect," so he simply gave up on the pointless pretense. "You mean, my father was about to give up, but he was still shot and killed by a sniper?! Why?!"

A relieved, bitter laugh came from the other end of the network: "...You really are his son."

Ignoring the topic of identity, the young man gritted his teeth and pressed on, "Answer me, why?!"

“I don’t know,” Huang Jieyuan replied. “And I’m not even sure it was the sniper’s mistake—it’s just my guess. You’re forcing me to say this guess.”

The young man calmed down a bit, then asked, "What makes you think that?"

“As I just mentioned, we were waiting for the captain’s orders outside the building. After Yuan Zhibang went inside, the captain kept monitoring the situation inside through his earpiece. I saw his expression gradually relax—which should be a good sign. More importantly, the captain later gestured for us to prepare to rush into the building.”

The young man analyzed: "In hostage situations, if police are to rush into the scene from outside, it must be after the situation has calmed down; otherwise, it will only lead to the most serious consequences."