Deadly Emails

Chapter 2

"Oh, right, right," Cheng Hai said, slapping his forehead in sudden realization, "Then let's change it to meeting every day."

The whole table burst into laughter again.

Li Zu said, "It's still two days, we still need to have a couple more drinks."

Wu Xiaoyuan kept putting this and that on He Se's plate, making He Se flustered and occasionally glancing awkwardly at Cheng Hai, who was also engrossed in peeling crabs. Fortunately, Li Zu noticed He Se's embarrassment and would occasionally strike up a conversation with Wu Xiaoyuan to ease He Se's predicament. Li Zu and Cheng Hai drank and chatted about all sorts of things, but Li Zu did most of the talking, with Cheng Hai occasionally offering a summary. Several hours passed in the blink of an eye. Wu Xiaoyuan brought out the cut fruit from the kitchen, and Li Zu said, "Guess what happened to me today?"

All three of them looked at Li Zu with expectant eyes.

"Don't you think this is fate? This morning, I went back to my office and as soon as I turned on my computer, I received a letter. Can you guess what it was?"

Everyone remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"It's that chain letter we made when we graduated. When I saw the words 'Are you scared?' in the subject line, I was stunned. I quickly clicked on it, and sure enough, it was the one we made. It even had the same picture and the words inside were exactly the same. At that moment, I thought, is it really fate that knew we were going to have a reunion today?" Li Zu said with a smile, looking at the three of them.

"Is it true?" Wu Xiaoyuan asked.

“Of course, why would I say this to fool you? It’s a pity that only I received it. It would be great if you all received it too, at least it would fulfill our original wish,” Li Zu said.

The animated image immediately flashed into He Se's mind. Just thinking about that terrifying ghost face made her heart skip a beat for no reason. She secretly glanced at the jubilant Li Zu.

Cheng Hai became excited as well, “It seems our good wishes have finally come true. The people are reunited, and the letter has been returned to the host’s home. Hehe, Li Zu, let’s celebrate with a drink.” Li Zu happily clinked glasses with him.

Before they knew it, it was late at night. After He Se finished helping Wu Xiaoyuan tidy up, he prepared to go back. Li Zu asked Wu Xiaoyuan to get him a coat so he could take them home.

Still in high spirits, Li Zu gave them a ride around the city, showing them the Shenzhen night view. When they returned to their building, Li Zu reminded them of the schedule for the next day's activities before driving away.

Back in their new home, Cheng Hai and He Se were a little unaccustomed to it at first, and were busy unpacking the washing utensils.

"Hey, why don't you take a shower first? You've had a long day. I'm out of cigarettes, go downstairs and buy a pack. Where are your keys?" Cheng Hai asked, patting his pocket.

"Do you know where to buy it?" He Se asked.

"Let's look for it. When the car came in just now, I saw that there was a small shop still open at the entrance of the community."

"The key is on the table. Remember the house number so you don't go out and can't find it again."

"Okay, I know. I'm not a child anymore," Cheng Hai said, taking the keys and leaving.

As Li Zu drove into the corner of the driveway in the residential area, a car suddenly flashed in front of him with its high beams on. The sudden turn of the headlights blinded Li Zu, who quickly closed his eyes. Just then, a strange face flashed before his eyes and disappeared again. When Li Zu opened his eyes again, the car had already passed him, but he was still thinking about the face that had just flashed by. It didn't seem like a human face; it seemed vaguely familiar, but it was too fleeting to remember. So, he closed his eyes again.

The face reappeared, smiling at him. This time, Li Zu recognized it clearly—it was indeed the ghost face from the chain letter! But it was alive, a sinister smile playing on its blood-stained lips, its eerie blue eyes fixed on him. Li Zu quickly opened his eyes; the ghost face was gone. Then, he suddenly heard a series of heavy, labored breaths.

three

Li Zu and Wu Xiaoyuan had just fallen asleep when they were startled awake by a rapid phone call. It was He Se calling; she was still panting heavily when they answered, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time. However, when Li Zu understood what she meant, he immediately jumped out of bed and quickly found clothes to put on.

"What's wrong?" Wu Xiaoyuan asked sleepily.

"Cheng Hai had an accident and was taken to the hospital," Li Zu said hurriedly while putting on his clothes.

"Huh?" Wu Xiaoyuan's sleepiness vanished as soon as she heard that, and she quickly got up. "Wait, I'll go too."

Li Zu and Wu Xiaoyuan found He Se at the entrance of the hospital's emergency room, where she was surrounded by some community security guards and two police officers.

Seeing He Se's pale face, red and swollen eyes, and constant sobbing, Li Zu quickly stepped forward, put his arms around her shoulders, and gently comforted her, "Don't be sad, everything will be alright, everything will be alright."

Li Zu's action startled Wu Xiaoyuan for a moment. Then she quickly stepped forward, reached out and hugged He Se's shoulder, and naturally removed Li Zu's hand from He Se's shoulder.

Li Zu approached the security guards and police officers, inquiring about Cheng Hai's accident. One of the guards spoke first: "I discovered it first. I usually patrol every half hour when I'm on the night shift. When I got to the bottom of a building, I saw the injured man lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood. I quickly called my colleagues, and together we took him to the hospital. Then we called the police. The injured man was already unconscious on the way. We found his family by looking at the room number on the key he was clutching tightly in his hand..."

After listening to the security guard's account in one breath, Li Zu turned to the two policemen and asked, "Any clues? Was it a robbery?"

One of the older policemen glanced at Li Zu and asked, "Excuse me, who are you—"

"Oh, I'm Cheng Hai's only friend in Shenzhen. My name is Li Zu. He just arrived here today. He doesn't have any enemies. It's definitely not a robbery." After saying that, the two shook hands politely.

"I am Xiao Dong, and this is Xiao Chen. We are from the local police station. You said you are the injured person's only friend, and that he just arrived in Shenzhen today, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Let's go over there and make a statement, since we currently know nothing about the injured."

“Okay.” Li Zu nodded in agreement.

Xiao Dong found the nurse on duty and asked for an empty outpatient room. The three of them went inside.

"Mr. Li, could you please give us a brief introduction to the injured person's basic situation?"

“Of course, his name is Cheng Hai, he’s my college classmate. He just flew from Luoyang to Shenzhen today. The lady you just saw is He Se, she’s his wife, they came together,” Li Zu quickly introduced Cheng Hai’s basic information to the two policemen. Xiao Chen took notes, while Xiao Dong listened attentively, smoking a cigarette.

“That’s basically it,” Li Zu said, looking at Xiao Dong.

“Mr. Li, we just conducted a brief investigation of the scene and questioned the injured party… Ah… Cheng Hai’s wife. Cheng Hai only had a small amount of cash on him at the time, and it wasn’t missing. His watch was still on his wrist. Furthermore, judging from Cheng Hai’s injuries, it doesn’t seem like a simple robbery. Based on the information we have so far, this is a typical assault case. The attacker’s purpose is very clear: to kill Cheng Hai!” Xiao Dong emphasized the last sentence.

"Ah—" Li Zu gasped in shock. "Are you serious? That's impossible."

"Why is it impossible?" Xiao Dong immediately pressed.

“Cheng Hai is an honest and simple man who doesn’t utter a word more than necessary. How could he have any enemies? Besides, even if he did, he has always lived in Luoyang and only arrived in Shenzhen today. His enemies wouldn’t have followed him here so quickly to attack him, would they? Why didn’t they attack him in Luoyang?” Li Zu said, sorting out his thoughts.

“Based on normal reasoning, there are two possibilities: one is that his enemies couldn’t make a move in Luoyang, so he had to follow them all the way to Shenzhen before taking action; the other is that his enemies were actually in Shenzhen, and he couldn’t wait to make his move as soon as Cheng Hai arrived,” Xiao Dong analyzed slowly.

[This post was edited by the author on 2003-11-26 13:43:11]

Hearing this logical analysis, Li Zu couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Who could have such a deep hatred for Cheng Hai? If they were to be followed from Luoyang, that would be terrifying. I drove them directly back from the airport, and they still managed to be followed. It's truly frightening, truly frightening..." Li Zu shook his head, indicating disbelief. "If the murderer is actually in Shenzhen, that would be even more terrifying."

"Why?"

"I rented the house where Cheng Hai lives two weeks ago, and only my wife Wu Xiaoyuan and I knew about it. So, the murderer was even stalking me? That's terrifying..." Li Zu felt increasingly frightened as he thought about it.

"Hehe, this is just our speculation. The procedure for solving a case is to make a hypothesis, and then refute it one by one until there is a hypothesis that cannot be refuted. Then it is probably the truth. However, the murderer may not have been following you normally, because he doesn't need to go to that much trouble. The murderer in a revenge killing must know the victim, otherwise why would there be a grudge? So it would be easy for him to know the date Cheng Hai came to Shenzhen, and then follow you at the airport. It's easy to do."

"But I clearly saw them downstairs and watched them go upstairs, so why did Cheng Hai come down again?"

"Oh, I asked his wife about that. Cheng Hai said he was going down to buy cigarettes."

"Did the murderer know Cheng Hai was going downstairs?" Li Zu was confused.

Xiao Dong shook his head. "Of course that's impossible. It's possible that the murderer was going upstairs but ran into him downstairs and then attacked him. It's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, otherwise his wife might have suffered the same fate as him."

Li Zu gasped again, shaking his head repeatedly in disbelief.

After giving their statements, the three walked back to the emergency room entrance, where Cheng Hai was still undergoing emergency treatment. The community security guard had already left, leaving only He Se and Wu Xiaoyuan sitting alone in the empty corridor. Li Zu glanced at the "In Surgery" sign on the emergency room door, his heart heavy, and sat down next to He Se. He wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say, so he could only sigh. At that moment, he felt mostly self-blame; perhaps calling Cheng Hai here had harmed him, and he hadn't expected him to encounter such a thing as soon as he arrived in Shenzhen.

Xiao Dong and Xiao Chen offered He Se a few words of comfort before taking their leave. As they walked out the door, Xiao Chen asked Xiao Dong, "Captain Xiao, do you really think this was a revenge killing?"

Xiao Dong glanced at the newcomer, seemingly quite pleased with his eagerness to learn and his inquisitive nature. "My intuition tells me this is more like a crime of passion!"

"A crime of passion?" Xiao Chen's eyes widened in surprise. "Why?"

"Hehe, Xiao Chen, to be a criminal investigator like us, you have to be meticulous and have sharp eyes. Many clues often slip away when we're not paying attention. No matter how cunning a criminal is, he is still a human being. As a human being, he will unconsciously reveal his true nature, but that is often very brief. If you are not meticulous and have sharp eyes, you will miss even when you are facing a criminal."

"Facing a criminal? You mean Li Zu is a suspect?" Xiao Chen was even more confused. "Although the school taught us that everyone around the victim could be the murderer, Li Zu just doesn't seem like it to me. His behavior is very normal."

"Hehe, Xiao Chen, you're right, but we need to be careful not only when we're face to face, but also when we're observing. Didn't you notice that Li Zu behaved strangely when he first arrived?"

Xiao Chen carefully replayed the scene in his mind, then looked at Xiao Dong and shook his head blankly.

"When Li Zugang came in, he saw He Se looking heartbroken and naturally walked over and hugged her shoulder, completely disregarding the fact that his wife was beside him. His concern and gaze were obviously too intimate, which was a bit abnormal."

Xiao Chen nodded, and Xiao Dong continued, "If this is just my personal feeling, then Li Zu's wife's actions later confirmed my feeling. She quickly came over and hugged He Se's shoulder on the other side. There was a detail to this action: she removed Li Zu's hand from He Se's shoulder at the same time. This is an instinctive reaction of a wife in the heat of jealousy."

Xiao Chen listened intently, and his face involuntarily filled with astonishment and admiration.

“However—” Xiao Chen asked again, “If Li Zu is the murderer, why did he keep saying that Cheng Hai had no acquaintances in Shenzhen, only him? Wouldn’t that have helped us narrow down our investigation? How could he be so stupid? He could have easily avoided saying that. It wouldn’t be surprising if Cheng Hai had other classmates and friends in Shenzhen.”

“I’ve noticed that too. Li Zu’s suspicion is just my speculation, and it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve confirmed it. Besides, if it really is him, I’m even more puzzled. Even if it was for love, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to kill. And even if he did, he wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble, helping Cheng Hai find a job, coaxing him from Luoyang, all this taking its time and seeming very premeditated, and then acting on the very day he arrived, as if he was in a hurry. Sigh, I just can’t figure it out, I just can’t understand it.” Xiao Dong said, shaking his head repeatedly.

"Captain Xiao, you've contradicted yourself again, haha," Xiao Chen joked.

"The people's police cannot let a bad person go unpunished, nor can they wrong an innocent person."

"Should we still investigate Li Zu?"

"Of course, our job is to clear the name of every suspect. If they really can't be cleared, then they are the murderers, haha."

Four

As dawn broke, Li Zu had just returned from buying a few bottles of water at a convenience store when the operating room door opened, and the attending physician came out first. The three of them hurriedly went to greet him.

"Doctor, how is the injured person? How is he?" the three asked anxiously in unison.

The attending physician seemed used to such scenes. He slowly took off his mask, glanced at the family members who had gathered around with tired eyes, and said, "He is now out of danger, but he suffered a severe concussion and remains in a deep coma. He will not wake up for the time being."

"You mean—" He Se exclaimed in surprise.

The doctor nodded. "That's right, he might become a vegetable, but don't worry, we'll find a way."

Upon hearing this, He Se swayed and almost fell, but Li Zu, who was next to her, quickly supported her.

"He Se, don't worry, no matter how much it costs, I will wake Cheng Hai up. Cheng Hai will be alright," Li Zu said softly, trying to comfort him. Wu Xiaoyuan stood by without moving, coldly watching Li Zu's tender care for He Se.

Li Zu then completed the admission procedures and arranged a private room for Cheng Hai. He Se refused to go back, insisting on staying in the room with Cheng Hai. Li Zu had no choice but to let her go. After comforting her for a while with Wu Xiaoyuan, they went home first.

It was past nine in the morning when Li Zu got home. He made a call to his company, gave them instructions, and was about to go to sleep when Wu Xiaoyuan, who had just finished showering, suddenly asked, "Li Zu, where's your coat?"

Li Zu yawned repeatedly and said, "Go ahead and look for it. I don't know either. It's either at home or in the car."

While drying her wet hair with a large bath towel, Wu Xiaoyuan said indifferently without even looking at Li Zu, "There's none at home, and I checked the car just now, there wasn't any either."

Li Zu was taken aback. "Where could I have lost it? I didn't go anywhere else. I remember I wasn't wearing a coat when I went to the hospital."

Wu Xiaoyuan stopped drying her hair, gripped the towel tightly in her hand, and stared intently at Li Zu, as if desperately trying to suppress her excited emotions.

"What's wrong with you? It's just a coat. It's okay if you lose it," Li Zu said, puzzled by Wu Xiaoyuan's expression.

"Hmph—" Wu Xiaoyuan snorted coldly through her nostrils, "You threw it away on purpose, didn't you?"

"What did you say? Why would I deliberately throw it away?" Li Zu was completely baffled.

"Because there's Cheng Hai's blood on it!" Wu Xiaoyuan suddenly shouted at him, her eyes wide.

"What did you say? What are you talking about?" Li Zu jumped up and yelled at Wu Xiaoyuan.

Wu Xiaoyuan instinctively took a step back in fright, staring at Li Zu as if he were a stranger. Then, mustering her courage, she took another step forward and shouted, "What, do you want to kill me too?"

Li Zu couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed Wu Xiaoyuan, "Do you know what you're saying? Cheng Hai's murder is already troublesome enough, and you're making things worse."

"Didn't you kill Cheng Hai?" Wu Xiaoyuan was desperate, glaring angrily at Li Zu with her neck stiff.

"Damn it, I'm your husband! What right do you have to make false accusations? Just because my coat is missing?" Li Zu glared at Wu Xiaoyuan with bloodshot eyes.

Wu Xiaoyuan struggled to break free from Li Zu's grasp. "Why did you come back so late last night? You were talking nonsense as soon as you fell asleep, and you even screamed a few times?"

What did I say?

"I didn't hear you clearly." Wu Xiaoyuan was no longer afraid; her eyes, like sharp swords, pierced Li Zu's heart with a dull ache.