QQ Lost

Chapter 21

"Ga!"

Xu Haibing hesitantly moved the mouse pointer to the file directory that he both urgently wanted to see and couldn't bear to look at.

The document suddenly unfolded!

The words "Summary of the Situation Regarding Guo Qinqin's Suspected Online Fraud" already caused him a dull ache in his heart. Reading further, Xiao You's revelations about Guo Qinqin's actions only added to his turmoil.

…Among the several difficult cases reported internally by the Municipal Public Security Bureau this year, several online fraud cases particularly caught my attention. Since last year, the Municipal Bureau has received several similar reports, mostly from middle-aged people with a certain economic foundation, the so-called successful or semi-successful people. In their spare time, they like to go online to enter some low-brow, or more accurately, self-made chat rooms with names that are blatantly sexually suggestive. They seek stimulation in these licentious chats, and when they encounter women with similar interests, they often ask for their phone numbers, using these calls to further distort their sexual psychology and physiology.

According to the later investigation by the municipal police, they all encountered a woman with a sexually suggestive online name who claimed to be a female college student and frequently had passionate phone conversations with her. This woman would occasionally hint that she needed money, such as for school events, her mother's birthday, or clothes she liked at the mall but couldn't bring herself to buy. The expenses were usually no more than tens or hundreds of yuan, and she never asked for money. Therefore, the complainants were very willing to offer assistance, transferring money to her account via credit card.

However, things weren't that simple. The girl wasn't just after a few dozen or a few hundred yuan in handouts! Later, several people who reported the crime discovered that thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan had been secretly withdrawn from their accounts. Only then did they realize they had fallen into a carefully crafted trap, paying a heavy price for a fleeting moment of pleasure. Some were forced to report the crime, but many others undoubtedly kept quiet, swallowing their anger. Perhaps out of a sense of caution, few of the victims were locals; most were from other provinces or cities, especially economically developed areas. However, their phone area codes and credit card numbers were all from this city, suggesting the perpetrator was likely the same person. Whether she was a student or not is unverifiable, but she was undoubtedly a young woman!

The municipal police immediately investigated the woman's contact number and credit cards provided by the complainant. They discovered the perpetrator was well-prepared; all her credit cards were registered with fake IDs, and the cards used to withdraw money were forged after obtaining the card numbers. The phone number she provided was from a readily available and easily replaceable prepaid card, making it difficult to break through the existing leads. How she knew the credit card PINs or how she prevented the victims' phones or landlines from displaying her landline number remained untraceable. This was a rare case of sophisticated crime. Despite my desire for a challenge and my belief that I wasn't entirely stupid, I secretly plotted a brilliant solution, but all my efforts were in vain.

…The case took an unexpected turn! Shen Daxing, a postgraduate student at Dalian University, died suddenly late at night. The scene indicated that he died while operating a computer. I removed the hard drive from the computer he was using, hoping to find some valuable information from the stored data. Unexpectedly, I discovered an email Shen sent to Guo Qinqin, a sophomore at the same university, urging her to turn herself in. I also found a petition he was writing, which he hadn't finished, pleading with the police to treat Guo leniently! Both documents indicated that while helping Guo remove a virus from her computer, he accidentally discovered from her QQ records that Guo had created a chat room with an obscene name on the QQ system to befriend netizens with lowbrow interests, make sexually suggestive phone calls with them, and then indirectly extort money from them under various pretexts. Furthermore, he pointed out that Guo had advanced computer skills and might have invented a method to copy other people's bank credit cards. However, when he advised Guo to confess, she only admitted to passively accepting small amounts of voluntary assistance and refused to admit to forging credit cards to steal money, which led to a falling out between the two. I believe Shen Daxing's account is entirely true and credible; the only current lack is strong physical evidence, such as a computer program floppy disk or magnetic stripe reader/writer used to copy credit cards. Detaining Guo Qinqin directly based solely on this letter is clearly premature. I suggest first placing Guo under 24-hour covert surveillance, focusing the investigation on her, and following the leads until strong physical evidence, especially evidence of forging other people's credit cards to steal large sums of money, is obtained before taking further action against Guo…

Xu Haibing closed the file, leaned back in his chair, and couldn't shake the images of Guo Qinqin's radiant face, her warm face, her dark face, her ferocious face, her sorrowful face...

He gritted his teeth, straightened up, slammed his hand on the table, picked up his phone, and dialed a number: "...Hello? Is this the West Suburbs Police Station?...Is Xiao You there?...Where did he go? Please tell me, I need to talk to him about something very urgent...What?!...

He jumped to his feet: "...They went to the new campus of Dalian University on a mission?!...!"

He slowly closed his phone, gripping it tightly, the wailing of sirens clearly ringing in his ears…

From afar, you could see the bright lights shining in apartment 507 of Building D!

Xu Haibing arrived here sweating profusely and quickly went up to the fifth floor.

The portly security guard stood at the stairwell, arms outstretched, trying to stop him: "Oh, oh, this is a police-controlled area. Trespassing is strictly prohibited."

Xu Haibing was unstoppable. She forcefully pushed him aside, tore off the warning tape, and walked straight in.

"Bang!" He burst through the door, quickly scanning the entire room.

Drawers were pulled out, cabinet doors were opened, beds were overturned, and items were gathered together—clearly, the entire house had been searched!

The only person in the room was Xiao You, who was intently staring at the computer screen!

However, what puzzled Xu Haibing next was that Xiao You turned to him with a face covered in tears!

Xu Haibing moved her legs, which felt like they were made of lead, step by step, as she approached him.

Xiao You silently got up and gave up her seat.

Xu Haibing sat down in front of the computer; the open screen displayed the letter of appeal from Shen Daxing to the Public Security Bureau that he wanted to know.

QQ Lost, Chapter 32 (2)

...Dear leaders of the Municipal Public Security Bureau: I am writing this letter with very conflicted feelings. Its purpose is twofold: to report Guo Qinqin's illegal activities and ensure she receives the punishment she deserves under the law; and at the same time, to plead for leniency, requesting that she be forgiven for her crimes and given a chance to start anew. I originally intended to strongly urge her to turn herself in to you, but now it seems unlikely. I fear she will sink deeper into the abyss of crime, so I have taken this action in an attempt to save her and awaken her from her despair. I earnestly request that you take my request and the punishment of Guo Qinqin very seriously, treating her as your own flesh and blood, cherishing and saving her, for she is, after all, an orphan in this world, unloved and uncared for…

"An orphan? She said herself that she has parents?" Xu Haibing blurted out.

Xiao You leaned closer and used the mouse to bring up another folder, where Guo Qinqin's scanned and saved old photos from different periods, faded and yellowed, were clearly visible.

With a somber expression, Xiao You explained each picture one by one:

"--When the War of Resistance against Japan broke out, Guo Qinqin's grandfather, a wealthy businessman in Southeast Asia, resolutely sold his family property and returned to China to support the war effort. Generals on both the front lines and behind enemy lines paid tribute to him. This is a photo of her grandfather with New Fourth Army general Peng Xuefeng on the shores of Hongze Lake; this is a photocopy of the letter of tribute personally issued by Chiang Kai-shek in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the China Theater…"

After liberation, her grandfather took the lead in public-private partnership by establishing his family factory and donating all his valuable real estate to the state. He later fell ill and died without money for medical treatment. This is her grandfather's portrait; this is a photo of him wearing a big red flower and speaking at a celebration of the public-private partnership…

--During the Anti-Rightist Campaign, Guo's uncle was labeled a rightist according to quotas and committed suicide. This is a photo of her uncle in front of the first electronic precision missile test instrument he was developing in my country...

--When the Cultural Revolution began, the Guo family was evicted, and Guo's father, then a teenager, was sent to a remote, impoverished village. This photo shows her father singing songs based on Mao Zedong Thought quotations with other educated youth from the village during a performance by a Mao Zedong Thought propaganda team…

After the Cultural Revolution, Guo's father went to university and became an electronics engineering expert. His elderly grandmother resolutely supported her son and daughter-in-law's decision to travel thousands of miles to a remote mountain village on the border of Sichuan and Guizhou to develop a military industry, while she helped care for her infant granddaughter. This is a photo taken at their parting; the woman in her grandmother's arms is Guo Qinqin, who is less than four months old…

--Later, Guo's parents were also killed in a mudslide, and their bodies have never been found. This photo shows her parents receiving an award certificate from the leaders of the military factory three days before their deaths...

He closed the photo folder, paced slowly around the room, and said in a heavy tone, "...From Shen Daxing's letter of appeal, we learned that young Guo Qinqin lived with her grandmother, often suffering bullying from classmates, neighbors, and others in society. Over time, she learned to swallow her tears and to retaliate... Before her grandmother died, she wanted to eat dumplings. Guo Qinqin went to a restaurant to steal some and was beaten. When she returned, she put a broken dumpling, which she had been clutching tightly in her hand, into her grandmother's open mouth, but her grandmother was already dead... She gritted her teeth, struggling to live, stubbornly..." She survived, but tragically, due to the long-accumulated darkness in her emotions, a seed of hatred for the world was prematurely sown deep within her young heart. Her soul became twisted, her mentality degenerated, and her passion cooled… In her eyes, familial love, human friendship, and social warmth were all completely irrelevant to her. She felt like a weed in a bountiful field of crops, living a lonely and indifferent life on the fringes of society. She inherited her family's intelligence and wisdom, but not her… Inspired by the dedication, resilience, and tolerance of her ancestors, she used her intelligence and wisdom to express her hatred for the world, to manipulate and retaliate against it, and to make the world compensate her for the happiness and well-being that should have been hers... How Guo Qinqin transformed from a sensible and adorable little girl into a ruthless, two-faced thief is a path whose transformation and inner journey are impossible to reconstruct, but it is clearly related to her abnormal and peculiar upbringing, where she felt no warmth from the world. What remains is a bitter and lengthy historical and social reflection. Especially after the district government forcibly demolished their old house, their only home, and withheld resettlement compensation for a long time under the pretext that the people must make necessary sacrifices for urban development, leaving them homeless, and her 90-year-old grandmother dying from illness and cold, these events inevitably caused a drastic change in her heart... This is a resentment dripping with blood, a hatred deep in the bones, that no one can truly forgive or change... Shen Daxing may have realized this, which is why he had to take drastic measures and painfully denounce her...

Silence. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Bang!" Xu Haibing suddenly slammed his hand on the table, turned around, and angrily rebuked Xiao You: "Stop pretending to be compassionate! What are you doing? These are crocodile tears! Do you know that Guo Qinqin was not just anyone, but you, you heartless Officer You, who ruined her life! Because you could have given her one last chance to repent!"

Xiao You shrugged: "But Da Yu won't give me a chance! He'll be 45 after the New Year. If he misses this promotion opportunity around the New Year, he'll never become the director."

Xu Haibing scoffed, "Hmph, no matter how eager he is to get promoted, he's not as eager as you to claim credit. If you don't report it proactively, he'll never know!"

Xiao You retorted, "You're right, but do you know what? Your suspicious behavior at the police station today alerted him. He personally searched all the files on my computer while I was seeing Liya off!"

Xu Haibing said dismissively, "What? Him? He knows computers?"

"Even a cornered dog will jump over a wall. He heard that the promotion to police station chief required an exam, including a computer test, so he secretly studied and obtained a Level 2 computer operation certificate. Let me tell you, he even memorized 30 commonly used English phrases for duty! ...Look at him, seemingly stubborn but actually cunning! Back then, to earn merit and transfer to a civilian job, he wasn't afraid of death. He even blew up five enemy bunkers in succession on the Vietnam battlefield! He's even more heroic than Huang Jiguang!"

QQ Lost, Chapter 32 (3)

Xu Haibing was speechless.

Xiao You composed herself: "...Actually, Da Yu's hasty actions this time might not necessarily be for Guo Qinqin..."

Seeing that he hesitated, Xu Haibing urged him hastily, "Speak! What might it be? It might not be a bad thing? What exactly is it...?"

Xiao You interrupted him: "Don't pressure me. I'm a police officer. I have my own sacred and inviolable professional ethics..."

QQ Lost Chapter 33

"Smack!"

A bony hand slammed a letter of introduction bearing a scarlet seal onto the desk of the West Suburbs Police Station.

"What's going on?" Da Yu, who was sitting behind the table, raised his big black head, looking completely confused.

"What are you doing? I'm here to bail someone out!" The thin director standing in front of the table puffed out his flat chest, his temper flaring.

Da Yu countered, "Guarantor? Who? Guo Qinqin?"

Xiao You moved a chair behind the thin director. "You know perfectly well what I'm asking," the thin director said unceremoniously, plopping down on the chair.

"Who is she to you?"

"My students."

"Is she the student who gives you a headache? I heard she often puts you in a very passive position, and even mobilizes students to evaluate and select teachers, almost getting rid of your teaching qualifications? Almost causing you to capsize?" Da Yu asked teasingly.

The thin director tapped the table: "You're not a teacher, how could you possibly know that to let students stand on your shoulders, a teacher must first kneel down? A teacher who doesn't want students to surpass them is never a good teacher. It's precisely because she's shown multifaceted talents at such a young age, including organizational and leadership abilities surpassing mine, that she has potential and is worth redeeming, which is why I'm protecting her. Even if she did break the law, you can't act so simplistically and hastily; there's still room for help and rehabilitation!"

Da Yu also pointed at the table: "You're not a policeman, and you couldn't possibly know that my duty isn't to educate, but to punish. Once she commits a crime, once she's in my hands, no one can protect her."

The thin director slammed his fist on the table: "What makes you so sure she committed a crime?!"

Da Yu slammed his fist on the table: "Arrest them all, even if they're suspected!"

The thin director slammed his fist on the table: "But you have to release him within 24 hours without solid evidence!"

Da Yu clenched his fist and slammed it on the table: "Whether or not we release them is neither up to me nor you!"

The thin director stood up, pointing at Da Yu: "Let me make this clear: if she suffers any inhumane treatment while in custody, I won't let you off the hook!"

Da Yu also stood up, pointing at the thin director: "Let me tell you straight, once you're in the detention center, you'll be skinned alive, if not dead!"

Enraged by this retort, the thin director grabbed Da Yu by the collar, snarling, "You, you..."

"Hey, hey, calm down, calm down, let's talk this out." Seeing that the two were getting serious, Xiao You quickly ran over and pulled them apart.

Xu Haibing was about to come in from outside when he saw this scene and immediately pulled his head back. Xiao You saw him, persuaded the thin director and Da Yu, who were both panting heavily, to return to their seats, and then left.

Xu Haibing pointed towards the house and quietly asked Xiao You, "What's he doing here? Adding fuel to the fire?"

"On the contrary, it's a desperate measure to get Guo Qinqin out of trouble." Xiao You's tone was full of admiration.

Xu Haibing was also surprised: "Oh? It's true what they say, you see people's true colors in times of crisis. I admire you... Hey, do you still need that hard drive? The school asked me for it, they thought I stole it!"

"Okay, I'll go get it for you now. Why don't you come in and sit down?"

Xu Haibing waved his hands repeatedly, and after Xiao You went inside, he craned his neck to look through the window.

The thin director and Da Yu were still arguing heatedly, but no more physical altercations occurred.

Xiao You took a hard drive out of a file folder and handed it to Xu Haibing, deliberately reminding him, "Take a look, don't take the wrong one again."

Xu Haibing laughed self-deprecatingly.

QQ Lost (Chapter 34)

The stars have set and the moon has fallen; the night is long and endless.

After completing a simulated adversarial training course at a large foreign-invested enterprise, Xu Haibing rushed home from Jiangbei overnight to immediately connect the hard drive that Shen Daxing had used before his death, which had been lost and recovered, to his computer. He wanted to see if he could find any clues in QQ that could help solve the mystery of Shen Daxing's sudden death before returning the hard drive to the school.

QQ was opened, and Xu Haibing immediately clicked on "Chat History" on the panel. Unfortunately, the history for each QQ friend was empty!

He then specifically searched for the online name "Mischievous Wild Girl," but after flipping through dozens of his friends' Facebook profiles several times, he still couldn't find it.

Although he had gained nothing, he still seemed to have a glimmer of hope, clicking the scroll button on the QQ panel with his mouse, watching the black and white QQ friends' faces indicating that they were offline scroll up and down rapidly.

He suddenly felt truly disappointed, decided to give up, stopped flipping through the pages, and picked up an evening newspaper to read.

At that moment, a black and white face on the QQ panel silently turned into color, and the username changed color, displaying four fluorescent hues: red, yellow, green, and blue.

Stockings

While reading the newspaper, Xu Haibing inadvertently noticed the colorful mask out of the corner of his eye. His eyes lit up, and he put down the newspaper to take a closer look.

The alluring face of the stockings seemed to transform in his eyes into the image of a modern, promiscuous woman stretching out her legs to put on stockings.

He perked up and immediately clicked the "start a conversation" button.

Erhei: "We've finally been waiting for you!"

Stockings: "Oh my god, you scared me to death! Are you a human or a ghost?"

Erhei: "What, you know I'm dead?"

Stockings: "You're not dead, so why are you hiding in the shadows?"

Erhei: "Hmm--?"

Stockings: "You're so stupid, come online and let me see you."

Xu Haibing realized that he had been in "invisible" mode as instructed by Mao Dan, so he quickly brought up the menu on the status bar and changed "invisible" to "online".

Stockings: "Now I see. I hate chatting with invisible people the most."

Erhei: "Why?"

Stockings: "You know perfectly well that I usually hide in the shadows, doing things that can't be brought to light. I'm about to settle accounts with you. What kind of good deeds have you been up to behind my back these past few days?"

Erhei: "No."