Klasse 0 der 10

Kapitel 6

There was a work summary meeting at the bureau in the morning, which Qin Ge, as the leader of the criminal investigation team, had to attend. He saw the captain at the meeting and wanted to talk to him about this matter, but didn't get a chance. Finally, the meeting ended, and just as he was about to grab the captain to discuss it, he received a call from He Lan.

He Lan said that there was progress on the recording, and she told Qin Ge to go over there as soon as possible.

Qin Ge didn't have time to explain in detail to the captain and rushed back to the team. The captain sat in front of the computer watching the video to catch up on his lessons, while He Lan briefly reported to Qin Ge what she had learned that morning.

He Lan was the first to call the radio station, and the host and director of the late-night talk show were quite frightened. That same night, someone reported the video to the station, and the duty manager, upon seeing the recording, knew it was no ordinary incident. Radio broadcasts are normally subject to a 6-second delay, but the host and director were so engrossed in the love story that they became careless and made such a serious blunder.

The radio station's pursuit of responsibility is none of Helan's business; Helan only wants to know where that phone call came from last night.

The phone number was recorded, but it was useless; it was a public IC card phone on the street.

With no leads, Helan called a company. The website address the radio host had announced last night actually belonged to a company. A young man in charge of network maintenance at that company admitted that their server had been hacked last night and their homepage had been altered. However, the hacker's purpose in attacking the server was clearly to release the video recording; they hadn't damaged any other data or files on the server.

Helan concluded that last night's events were clearly premeditated. If it were just a phone call, it could be dismissed as a prank by someone bored and wanting to annoy everyone. But this involved a server attack, which raised legal issues. Therefore, Helan felt heavy-hearted.

For the rest of the time, Helan focused on studying the video recording. The man in the video wore a mask and a loose robe throughout, while the woman, after being tortured and murdered, revealed her true face. Helan stared at the woman's face, thinking that if they could find the body or identify the woman, things would be much easier.

Just then, the instructor from the Gucheng Road Police Station called, saying that one of their household registration officers had discovered an important detail during a visit to the community that might be related to the murder case. The officer who answered the phone transferred the call to He Lan, and the instructor immediately mentioned the online video recording. He Lan's spirits lifted, thinking to herself, "Just what I was hoping for has come true."

"The instructor and the household registration officer are waiting for me at the station right now. I have to go there now," He Lan said finally.

Qin Ge quite liked He Lan's efficient and decisive work style. The team leader, a seasoned veteran, had also finished watching the recording; he could sense the potential for something great just by looking at a seed. He knew this matter was bound to escalate and commended Qin Ge and He Lan for their proactive approach. His opinion coincided with Qin Ge's: the matter needed to be investigated, but the number of people implicated couldn't be too large, given the year-end and the team's many other commitments.

"Let's go, I'll drive you there." Qin Ge patted He Lan on the shoulder. The little girl giggled and said goodbye to her captain.

The snow on the roads was thick and icy, and many companies organized their employees to shovel snow. After the heavy snow stopped, the streets became much more crowded. Although the temperature was low, the snow-covered city, coupled with the long-awaited sunshine, brought laughter and chatter to the streets.

Qin Ge drove slowly and stopped. He Lan peered out; they were still in the new urban area.

"It's already midday, let's have some food first," Qin Ge said.

He Lan nodded in satisfaction: "Going out with the leader is so different; we have to have a good meal today."

"I was just planning to treat you to a bowl of beef noodles, maybe with two yuan more beef."

He Lan scoffed in displeasure. They parked the car and entered the restaurant; it wasn't large, but the decor was quite exquisite. The two found a seat, and Qin Ge went to the restroom, telling He Lan to order first, specifically instructing her not to consider anything over 20 yuan. He Lan watched his retreating figure, finding it amusing; a man in his thirties, yet sometimes acting like a child.

This wasn't the first time He Lan had worked on a case with Qin Ge. Six months ago, Qin Ge had helped her solve the Scarface Killer serial murder case. The Scarface Killer surrendered himself to the police, but died in a detention center less than two weeks later. Before his death, he was shirtless and had drawn a strange pattern on his chest with his fingernails. Later, experts from the Religious Affairs Bureau identified the pattern as a "rebirth talisman" from the Five Pecks of Rice sect founded by Zhang Jiao in the Western Han Dynasty. Several months later, the murders occurred again, and the Scarface Killer seemed to have truly been reborn through that talisman. During that time, Qin Ge was mentally unstable, and the captain had He Lan follow him closely. As it turned out, the captain was right; if it hadn't been for He Lan, Qin Ge might have died in the killer's old house.

So, in a way, Helan was Qin Ge's savior. Qin Ge didn't show it on his face, but he was quite grateful to her. Helan could sense this, and therefore sometimes she didn't treat Qin Ge as her captain, and would chat with him idly.

After ordering the food, they waited for quite a while, but Qin Ge still hadn't returned. He Lan turned and looked around, seeing Qin Ge sitting at another table not far away, chatting with someone. There were three people sitting at that table: a couple and a little girl.

It's normal to chat with acquaintances after running into them, and Helan didn't think much of it. Qin Ge was quite considerate and returned after a short while. They sat down, and the dishes were served quickly. Helan casually asked who the person over there was, and Qin Ge, without looking up, simply gave a name.

Helan's mouth was still moving as she picked up two more bites of food. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she pointed in the direction of the couple and the little girl and stammered, "Is he Ma Nan?"

Qin Ge quickly shushed her, seemingly quite dissatisfied with He Lan's performance.

Helan lowered her head and remained silent, but her gaze kept drifting in that direction. Once, her eyes met those of a little girl, who smiled faintly and waved at her. Helan smiled back, but it felt extremely unnatural.

Qin Ge clearly didn't want to talk about Ma Nan right now, so He Lan thought about it and decided not to ask.

After lunch, we went out, got in the car, and arrived at the Gucheng Road Police Station half an hour later. The instructor knew Qin Ge and they were quite familiar with each other. After exchanging pleasantries, they got straight to the point.

The household registration police officer was named Ge Hua. He was young, with fair skin and a delicate build. He sat opposite Qin Ge and seemed quite excited.

“The security situation on Gucheng Road has never been very good. As the year draws to a close, I patrol the area every day. This morning, a citizen told me that he saw a video of a murder online, and he had seen the murdered woman before.”

The instructor had other matters to attend to and didn't go with Qin Ge and the others. Ge Hua rode in Qin Ge's car, pointing out directions, and the car quickly stopped at the entrance of a small alley. Entering the alley, after walking a short distance and turning a corner, a small street appeared—this was the famous backstreet of the old city. The backstreet was actually a street, parallel to the ancient city road, separated by two rows of houses.

Time Station Photography Studio is located in a back alley.

Ge Hua, familiar with the place, pushed open the courtyard gate, and Qin Ge and He Lan followed him inside. The courtyard wasn't large, but it was quite tidy, with a plum blossom blooming brightly in the snow. A long corridor led to the main hall, with wide eaves. The doors and windows were all made of wood, carved with patterns, giving it an antique feel. Hearing the noise, a young man with long hair opened the door and peeked out.

Ge Hua introduced him as Yang Zheng, the owner of the studio.

Yang Zheng was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with a straight nose, square mouth, and shoulder-length hair. He was dressed in clothes with many pockets, clearly an artistic young man. He gave Qin Ge a faint smile as a greeting, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant.

After sitting down inside, Qin Ge remained silent. It was He Lan who was asking him about the situation.

First, I asked him how he saw the video, and he replied that it was from a late-night radio talk show. Then I asked him when he recognized the murdered woman in the video, and he replied that it was this morning.

"I was filming all day last night and was a bit tired. I didn't think much of the video after watching it; there's a lot of this kind of thing online. After I finished filming, I went to sleep, but the video kept popping into my head. I vaguely thought the woman looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place her. Then this morning, after filming, my CF card was full, and I went upstairs to save the photos to my computer. Suddenly, I remembered that woman had filmed here before."

He Lan and Qin Ge exchanged a glance and asked, "Do you still have that woman's photo here?"

“I don’t usually keep the photos; I delete them from the hard drive after burning them for the customer. But there are exceptions, some photos that I’m really satisfied with. After all, they’re my work.” Yang Zheng took out a small disc from his pocket. “I knew you would definitely ask about the photos, so I’ve already burned them onto a disc. You don’t need to take up any more of my time.”

Yang Zheng is clearly a smart man; dealing with someone like him is quite worry-free.

Helan thanked him and accepted the gift. Then he asked him to recall the process of the woman coming to take photos, and it would be best if he could provide information that identified the woman and her contact information.

This time, Yang Zheng was prepared: "I've had quite a few young girls come here. If I think about it, I really can't remember any. Besides, it's been quite a while, about two months. However, I have the receipts from the people who have taken pictures. These are the payment and receipts I give to customers after they pay. Customers usually fill in their contact information on them."

Yang Zheng archived the photos by customer name, making it easy to search the records. Soon, a yellow record was handed to He Lan. He Lan saw the name was Xu Li, the date was a day in September, and the contact information section contained a mobile phone number.

He Lan stood up, took the initiative to shake hands with Yang Zheng, and thanked him again for his cooperation.

The three policemen left, with Ge Hua at the very back. Before leaving, he turned back and winked at Yang Zheng, seemingly asking why he hadn't seen Yang Mei. Yang Zheng turned his head away, pretending not to see her.

Once outside and in the car, He Lan dialed the number on the slip, only to be met with a voice prompt that the phone was switched off. But such a minor matter was no problem for the police. Qin Ge drove very fast, dropping Ge Hua off at the police station and then heading straight to the mobile company's headquarters.

The mobile customer service representative retrieved Xu Li's ID number and the number's recent call history. He Lan randomly picked a number from the call history and dialed it. This time, the call was answered quickly; the other end was a woman's voice, and she sounded quite young.

Helan got straight to the point, introducing herself and saying she was looking for Xu Li. There was a moment of silence on the other end, with some hesitation, but in the end, she honestly said that Xu Li had gone missing. They had broken up three nights ago and there had been no news of her since.

He Lan frowned slightly; the current situation seemed to confirm the authenticity of the video circulating online.