Hiromi Collection - Chapter 42
"Except for alcohol," Liao added mischievously in Luo Lin's mind.
"I've quit! Ever since that time I got drunk and inexplicably fell asleep in a temple on Luoxiang Mountain!!"
It was a strange experience. In mid-August, Luo Lin went up Luoxiang Mountain at night to deliver something to her grandmother. When she woke up in the morning, she found herself sleeping in the back hall of Yueyan Temple on Luoxiang Mountain. She had also drunk all the wine offered to Buddha in the temple. From then on, Luo Lin was strictly forbidden from drinking alcohol. (See "Searching for Osmanthus Blossoms in the Mountain Temple in August")
Who are you talking to?
"No...no, I was just talking to myself." Smiling sheepishly, Luo Lin mentally instructed, "Don't talk nonsense in my head again!"
"Tch~" Liao uttered a dismissive "I don't care about you."
"By the way, I still don't know your name?" Zhang Anqi fiddled with the ice cubes in her glass, her gaze lingering somewhere. "Do you like me?"
"like?"
"Because you've been staring at me since just now," the girl smiled. "If you like me, I can sleep with you, since my boyfriend doesn't want me anymore anyway."
Shh—the noisy monster was quiet for only a few seconds before it whistled another incredibly slick tune in Luo Lin's mind.
"Is your boyfriend of medium height, wears wire-rimmed glasses, and has rather delicate features? Oh, and he has a barely noticeable scar on his left eyebrow bone..."
"How did you know?!" Zhang Anqi suddenly stood up. "How...how do you know A-Miao?"
"His name is A-Miao?"
“His name is Ye Miao.” Zhang Anqi said as she slowly sat down. This time, her eyes were devoid of life and spirit, instead revealing a deep sense of loneliness.
"He's my senior from university, and we've been dating for over two years. Around this time last month, he asked me to wait for him here, saying he had a surprise for me. But I waited and waited, until the coffee shop closed, and he never showed up. I called him, but the line was always dead. I called his company, and they all said he took the day off. I went to his rented apartment, but I couldn't find him. I called his home, and his parents said he hadn't come home either..."
He was like someone who never existed. He never appeared again after that day, and no one knew where he went. His parents reported him missing to the police and went to identify bodies several times, but it was never him. Not knowing if he was alive or dead, this feeling is too painful, you know? "Zhang Anqi roared angrily, "I come here every day to wait for him, sending him messages nonstop, calling him every now and then, but the phone is always dead, and he never replies to my messages. I... I really can't take it anymore, I feel like I'm going crazy!! If you like me, I can date you, really! Please, save me!"
Luo Lin sighed: "Your boyfriend actually came that day, and he's still with you now."
Zhang Anqi looked up, her face filled with immense surprise: "You know him, don't you? That's why you've been staring at me! I was just acting crazy, don't take what I said seriously, I meant about our relationship, please tell me, A-Miao, where is A-Miao? Did I do something wrong that's why he doesn't want me anymore, A-Miao, sob sob..."
The patrons in the coffee shop once again cast disapproving glances at Luo Lin. In such a short time, this young man had made two girls cry. Some of the more righteous patrons were starting to get restless, seemingly wanting to stand up for the girls.
"Don't cry, your boyfriend really didn't leave you." Luo Lin was a little flustered; he really didn't know how to comfort a girl. Because he always seemed to attract attention in ways that ordinary people couldn't understand, his romantic experience was practically nonexistent. Although he was fairly good-looking, he had never had a girlfriend, and the only person he could be considered to have had a past relationship with wasn't even a person.
"Then why did he leave me?" Zhang Anqi cried, her face streaked with tears, which drew pity from several younger male customers nearby.
"He... because he died."
Zhang Anqi stopped crying and stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
"You can't say he's dead. His current state is a bit strange, but he's been following you as a ghost. If you pay attention, you'll definitely be able to sense it..."
The second glass of iced orange juice was splashed over without mercy.
"You...you've gone too far!" the second girl finally snapped, "You're the most despicable scum in the world!"
After saying this, the girl, wearing high-heeled sandals, ran out of the coffee shop while crying.
"Dude, you're really something!" Two young men who looked like students stood up, seemingly looking for trouble with Luo Lin.
"Hey, if you don't leave now you're going to get beaten up! I'm not going to help you!" The monster Liao was chattering away in Luo Lin's mind.
"I understand." After hurriedly settling the bill, Luo Lin left the coffee shop that had earned him a bad reputation under the accusing gazes of the crowd.
"I must check the almanac when I get back to see why I'm so unlucky today!" Luo Lin thought with a touch of grievance as she walked, orange juice still dripping from her hair.
(III) Unfamiliar QQ
When bad luck strikes, even drinking cold water can cause problems. A sudden downpour in the evening caused Luo Lin's third flood disaster of the day.
"Two orange juices and a downpour, you've had a really unlucky day!"
"I'm so unlucky!" Luo Lin tossed the bath towel into the sink, turned on her computer, and logged into QQ.
Looking at the few avatars on that blue bar, the monster in the human-monster pair once again made a lukewarm comment: "So deserted, so deserted. Your personality, which is like that of an eighty-year-old man, is really annoying."
"If you have time to complain, how about you leave my precious body and find a brand new host that suits your needs?"
"You think I don't want to? I can't break free from that old Luo's restriction."
"So, no matter how many times you repeat the same nonsense, it's useless." Luo Lin sighed, picked up the telephone receiver that she had placed on the table before going into the shower, and tentatively listened to it about twenty centimeters away from her ear. She quickly frowned and turned the receiver over again, placing it face down among a pile of cotton on the table. After thinking for a moment, she covered it with a thick dictionary.
"Still cursing?"
"Um."
Half an hour ago, the matchmaker aunt called Luo Lin. Before Luo Lin could even say a word, the aunt started berating her. Half an hour has passed, and the aunt is still, still, still berating her…
The profile picture in the bottom right corner of the screen flashed. Finding the beeping sound too noisy, Luo Lin disabled QQ's default message sound. Opening the message window revealed an exaggeratedly grinning panda face.
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I heard you went on a blind date today?"
LinTO Qingtong: "You even collect this kind of information?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "Sure, how does it feel? I heard the other party has a good family background and good character."
Lin TO Qing Tong: "Now that you know this much, you naturally know the final outcome."
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I know, but I want to hear you say it yourself, hehe."
Lin TO Qing Tong: "You vixen, you're still as arrogant as ever!"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "Idiot snake, don't steal your master's words."
……
"Who told that fox spirit you are my master?" After a half-second of stunned silence, the enraged monster roared in Luo Lin's mind, "And who gave him permission to call me a snake?"
"Hurting at me won't help, I didn't say anything." Luo Lin clutched her head, groaning. "I did say something, don't yell at me in my head!"
"Alright, I have important business with you." Interrupting the standoff between the human and the demon, a window automatically popped up on the screen, and Qing Tong, the nine-tailed fox who was acting as a private detective, tossed over a document.
LinTO Qingtong: "What is this?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "A new case I took on, a missing persons case."
Lin TO Qing Tong: "...What does this have to do with me?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "Same as always, we'll split the profits 50/50 after it's done."
Lin TO Qing Tong: "I have never received what I call the 'five'..."
Since unfortunately meeting this troublemaking detective fox in that incident, Luo Lin has been dragged into countless innocent situations. Although they always agreed to split the profits 50/50 beforehand, in reality, for various reasons, Luo Lin has never received a single penny after the incident ended!
A "50/50 split" that's like a mirage!
Qing Tong TO Lin: "Why should a real man worry about so much!"
Lin TO Qing Tong: "I'm just an ordinary person..."
"Hey, there's a demon over there, can I eat it?" Because of the words that suddenly popped into her head, Luo Lin's attention was diverted. Following the direction pointed by a certain voice, Luo Lin reluctantly saw a thing with wrinkled skin, only a mouth on its face, a big head and a small body, similar to E.T., standing next to her wardrobe with its stick-like fingers. In its other hand, it was holding a round, elastic object, a human eyeball.
Cold sweat...
Luo Lin promptly corrected his statement.
LinTO Qingtong: "I just want to be an ordinary person."
QingtongTO Lin: "Some people are destined not to be ordinary people."
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I will now begin explaining the case."
Lin TO Qing Tong: "Hey, you..."
Ignoring the computer owner's suggestion, Luo Lin's computer started operating automatically, and the newly received Word document quickly unfolded on the desktop.
FILE0707: The Disappearance Case
Client: Mr. Jiang
Missing Person: Jiang Jianjun (the client's only son)
Jiang Jianjun's personal profile:
Male, 27 years old, local resident, living alone in a rented apartment in Hengyang District. A freelancer, he earns a living by writing film reviews for magazines. He lives a secluded life, rarely interacts with others, has no girlfriend, few friends, and distant relationships with his neighbors. He has no bad habits. He returns home once a month at the end of each month. His family became concerned when he did not return home at the end of last month. On June 27th, his family went to his rented apartment and found him missing. Because he did not have a mobile phone, they could not contact him. After waiting three days, they reported him missing on the 1st of this month. The police have been searching for him without success.
LinTO Qingtong: "I don't see anything special about it."
Instead of answering, Luo Lin's computer started running again, this time displaying a PowerPoint file. Looking at the mouse moving automatically across the screen, Luo Lin felt a complex mix of emotions. Everyone else hated being an ordinary person, so why was it that he was the only one who couldn't even be an ordinary person?
The program ran quickly, and several scanned images appeared in front of Luo Lin. A quick glance revealed that they were investigation records made by the Public Security Bureau, including investigations of the missing person's neighbors, magazine editors who had contact with him, the cinema's contact person, the parents who reported the case, the community security guards, and Jiang Jianjun's only two friends.
The files flashed by rapidly, appearing before Luo Lin's eyes at intervals of less than 30 seconds, like snowflakes falling.
LinTO Qingtong: "Slow down, how am I supposed to look at you like this?"
The demon controlling the computer screen ignored Luo Lin's words completely, continuing to flip through the documents rapidly until he finally stopped at a certain page.
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I've already seen those before, and I'm pretty sure they're not suspects, but take a good look at this photo."
Sure enough, the last page contained three photos taken from different angles, each accompanied by the same line of text: "Panoramic view of the missing person's room."
The photo shows a small room with a single bed, a desk against the wall, a plastic wastebasket, a simple wardrobe, two stools, a CD player, a bookshelf mounted on the wall, and a desktop computer. The room is quite messy. The desk is piled high with various books, magazines, and lunch boxes. The wall behind the desk is covered with posters, mostly movie posters, but also some of them featuring robots. On the other wall facing the bed is the only window in the room. The curtains are half-drawn, revealing a potted clivia plant that looks fairly healthy on the windowsill. Clean clothes are strewn all over the room. It's practically a perfect example of a single man's room who doesn't know how to take care of himself.
LinTO Qingtong: "Was this photo taken on the 1st?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "That's right."
LinTO Qingtong: "This person hasn't been missing for long."
QingtongTO Lin: "Yes, on the 20th of last month, the magazine editors contacted him online for topics for next month. This is the last person to contact him."
Qing Tong TO Lin: "You figured he hadn't been gone long from that potted clivia, right?"
LinTO Qingtong: "This person doesn't even have a telephone in his room? I remember he didn't have a mobile phone either."
QingtongTO Lin: "Yes, the only way to contact him is online, via QQ."
LinTO Qingtong: "What do you mean by QQ records?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I just wanted you to see this."
The computer started up again, and Luo Lin turned the mouse to the next page of the file. A partially enlarged photo appeared before her eyes. The photo clearly showed a portion of the QQ interface: the "Strangers" group, followed by a blank page.
QingtongTO Lin: "Jiang Jianjun has no more than 20 friends on QQ, two of whom are his friends, and the rest are editors, people working in the film industry, etc. He is usually invisible online, and it is very difficult for people who do not know his QQ number to find him. However, last month, on the evening of June 22, someone talked to him."
LinTO Qingtong: "Who?"
Qing Tong TO Lin: "I don't know."
LinTO Qingtong: "You don't know?"
QingtongTO Lin: "A stranger contacted him to chat, but strangely, there was no information about that stranger in his QQ history. You can see that there is no trace under the stranger column in the picture. I found his conversation with this person in his chat history, but from beginning to end, that person did not leave any trace of himself. I will show you the records."