Guan Yi trembled slightly and said it was nothing, probably just that she was too nervous. Then she couldn't help but glance back at the man, who then noticeably quickened his pace and walked towards Gao Xiaojie.
"Something's not right!" Guan Yi and Chen Xu both growled at the same time. Chen Xu immediately rushed out like an arrow. His intuition told him that this man must be very dangerous!
Guan Yi shouted, "Gao Xiaojie, watch out! He's the throat-slitting man!"
That's right!
Both men had undergone that set of physical training, and Chen Xu had even practiced it in a virtual reality environment, so their senses were extraordinary. Just now, as they brushed past each other, they could feel a chilling aura emanating from the man—in more mystical terms, it was killing intent!
And the two of them immediately realized that the man was wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, completely covering his face! Why would he do that?
In just a fraction of a second, the two realized that this guy must be that perverted throat-slitting man!
Hearing Guan Yi's shout, the man disregarded everything else and suddenly charged forward! Before Gao Xiaojie could react, only turning her head and widening her eyes, his right hand rose and slashed! A cold light flashed across Gao Xiaojie's neck! Chen Xu could clearly see that the man's gloved hand was holding a chilling blade...
Chapter 76 The Crazy Stone (Part 1)
At this moment, Chen Xu felt as if the world had become a blank.
He watched helplessly as Gao Xiaojie crashed heavily to the ground, and could even vaguely see the man turn around, the cold light reflected from his sunglasses!
In just a moment, the man who slit the throat charged forward without stopping. Chen Xu roared like a wounded beast. At this moment, he had no time to chase after the man who slit the throat. He pounced on Gao Xiaojie's side, picked up a stone and hurled it hard at the man who slit the throat!
During the time Chen Xu was reading *Water Margin* as a child, his two favorite characters were Hua Rong, nicknamed "Little Li Guang," and Zhang Qing, nicknamed "Featherless Arrow." Due to circumstances, he couldn't become "Little Li Guang," so he practiced throwing stones for a while, developing excellent accuracy, for which he was often beaten by his parents… because his practice targets were roadside light bulbs and people's windows…
As he grew older and matured, Chen Xu realized his past mistakes, and his skill in throwing stones somewhat waned. However, this time, more than a decade later, fueled by anger, he unleashed a skill beyond his usual level, smashing the stone hard into the back of the throat-slitting man's head! The throat-slitting man cried out "Ah!" and, without daring to turn his head, covered his head and disappeared into the intricate alleyways.
Chen Xu scooped Gao Xiaojie up in his arms: "Are you alright? Are you alright?! An ambulance, call an ambulance right now!" At that moment, he forgot that he also had his cell phone in his pocket.
Guan Yi quickly dialed 120 and rushed over. Standing there, he saw Gao Xiaojie lying in Chen Xu's arms, her eyes staring blankly. Startled, he gasped and covered his mouth. Seeing Gao Xiaojie silent, Chen Xu's eyes turned bloodshot with anxiety. He scooped her up in his arms and rushed to the taxi door, yelling, "Open the door! Open the door now! Take us to the hospital!"
The driver was stunned, staring blankly at Gao Xiaojie in his arms, speechless for a long time. Chen Xu, in a fit of anger, kicked the car door hard and cursed, "You fucking open the door right now!"
Just then, Gao Xiaojie's voice suddenly rang out from inside her arms: "Hey! I'm not dead yet!"
"ah!"
Chen Xu looked down and saw Gao Xiaojie blinking her big eyes at him. The bright red neck brace around her neck had made him feel like he was wearing blood when his mind went blank.
The two stared at each other blankly. Suddenly, Gao Xiaojie's face turned red, and she struggled to say, "Put me down!"
Chen Xu quickly said "Oh, oh" twice, then let go. With a "thud," Gao Xiaojie was thrown to the ground, clutching her bottom and yelling, "Chen Xu, you big idiot! I told you to put me down, not to throw me down!"
At this moment, Guan Yi also ran over and, without saying a word, took off the neck brace from Gao Xiaojie's neck. He saw that there was indeed a cut on her fair, swan-like neck, but fortunately it wasn't deep; it was just a scratch on the skin, and no blood had flowed out, only a red mark. He then breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "You scared me to death just now!"
Chen Xu finally realized what was happening and chuckled awkwardly. Just then, the old driver called out, "Hey! I was just about to tell you she's alright! You're being too nervous!"
Chen Xu quickly took out a cigarette from his pocket and offered it to the elderly driver, saying with a smile, "I'm so sorry! I was just too nervous. Hehe, have a cigarette!"
The old driver took the cigarette: "Hey, not bad, it's Furongwang!" He then took out a lighter, lit one for himself, and lit one for Chen Xu as well.
Chen Xu's hands were still trembling slightly, and his heart was still in his throat. He managed to take a puff, and the nicotine made him feel a little better.
"I'm so sorry, driver, I got too excited just now." Chen Xu stuffed the newly opened pack of Furongwang cigarettes into the driver's hand and said, "I'm really sorry, I even kicked your car."
The driver was initially a bit angry, but considering the situation was somewhat understandable and the young man's remorse was so sincere, he smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. It's normal for you to be worried about your girlfriend. Tsk, the car door is dented so badly. It's alright, it's nothing serious. Go check on your girlfriend."
Chen Xu wanted to explain that she wasn't his girlfriend, but he felt there was no point in explaining to this driver, whom he would probably only see once in his life. So he turned around, bent down, and looked at the wound on Gao Xiaojie's neck, saying, "I was really scared out of my wits just now. Thank goodness for this neck brace!"
Actually, Gao Xiaojie was so frightened at this moment that her legs went weak and her mind went blank. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been completely unresponsive when Chen Xu held her and called her name for so long. If it were an ordinary girl, she would probably have cried after surviving such a close call. However, Gao Xiaojie felt that she was a bit thick-skinned. She was just a little weak in the legs and her voice was trembling a bit, but she hadn't reached the point of crying yet.
After a long while, Gao Xiaojie said to Guan Yi, "Thank you, thank you... You saved my life, now I owe you even more."
Gao Xiaojie didn't cry, but Guan Yi's tears flowed. She felt a chill run down her spine thinking about what had just happened. If they hadn't met Gao Xiaojie today, if she hadn't coincidentally given her the neck brace, who knows what would have happened next!
Seeing the conspicuous red mark on Gao Xiaojie's neck, Chen Xu said that they should go to the hospital to get it checked out, because who knows if that perverted razor blade was poisoned!
Upon hearing this, Gao Xiaojie wanted to laugh and scold, "Poisoning weapons? Have you gone mad with game development?" Because their game, *Jin Yong's Heroes*, had a feature that allowed players to poison weapons and hidden weapons. However, seeing Chen Xu's serious expression, she felt a strange unease, and she was genuinely worried that the throat-slitting man might actually be perverted enough to soak the blade in arsenic or rat poison, so she quickly nodded.
The driver, who was standing nearby, heard this and opened the car door, saying, "Yes, yes, we should take him to the hospital! Come on, get in!"
Chen Xu quickly helped Gao Xiaojie to the back seat, and the taxi sped off to the nearest provincial hospital. On the way, Chen Xu called Zhan Jing and told her what had happened. After Gao Xiaojie's neck was wrapped up like a giraffe's, Zhan Jing appeared at the entrance of the waiting hall.
When Zhan Jing saw Gao Xiaojie's neck wrapped up like that, tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back. She quickly came over, squatted down next to Gao Xiaojie, took her hand, and said, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. I should have come with you."
Gao Xiaojie had recovered from her shock and was back to her usual carefree self, happily eating the fruit Chen Xu had offered her. When she saw Zhan Jing approaching, she looked like she was about to cry and quickly hugged her, saying, "It's okay, it's okay! See, I'm fine, aren't I? Even though my neck is badly tied up, it's just a scrape, and there's not even any blood. But please, don't let me catch that perverted throat-slitting man. He gave me such a fright, and I even got a needle prick in my butt."
Hearing Gao Xiaojie speak like that, Zhan Jing knew she was alright. She wiped her eyes and said, "That's good. By the way, where's Chen Xu? He called me earlier. Where is he now?"
At this moment, Guan Yi, who was standing to the side, said, "He seemed to suddenly remember something and hurriedly went out. I don't know where he went."
Gao Xiaojie chuckled and said, "Who cares! Anyway, he said he'd treat me to dinner tonight to calm my nerves and make up for the broken skin. Jingjing, come along!"
Chen Xu then returned to the pedestrian street.
He felt this matter absolutely could not be left unresolved! If it weren't for good luck today, Gao Xiaojie would really be dead, and he happened to be there. If he had seen Gao Xiaojie alive and dead right in front of him, Chen Xu felt he would never be able to forgive himself. Although this matter had nothing to do with him, Gao Xiaojie was, after all, his classmate. To have his classmate murdered right before his eyes—this trauma would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.
Moreover, this is the sixth girl that perverted throat-slitting man has attacked!
Of the six girls, four sustained minor injuries, one was seriously injured, and one died! Although Chen Xu never considered himself a moral guardian or a superhero who saves the world by wearing his red underwear on the outside, when Gao Xiaojie was attacked, he felt as if his heart had been stabbed hard!
When something like this doesn't happen to you, you might just treat it as news. But when it actually happens to someone close to you, it's no longer news; it's a bloody lesson!
If this guy isn't brought to justice, who knows how many more people will suffer! And among these girls, there might be some I know...maybe Guan Yi,maybe Zhan Jing!
Recalling the cold glint in the man's eyes behind his sunglasses when he turned around, and the ruthless way he struck, Chen Xu was convinced that this guy was an absolute bloodthirsty madman! And this madman had likely seen his and Guan Yi's faces... If it were just an ordinary person, that would be one thing, but Guan Yi was now incredibly famous online. A simple Baidu search would reveal her forums and blogs, allowing anyone to find out her real identity!
If he wanted revenge, and if, as in the TV dramas, this throat-slitting man believed Guan Yi might have seen his face, then there's a high chance he would target Guan Yi… One is in the open, the other in the shadows; it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who has his eye on you!
So Chen Xu returned, because he remembered that the stone he had thrown had hit the man on the head...
Chapter 77 The Crazy Stone (Part 2)
Chen Xu knew exactly how hard he had hit the target, and that blow definitely landed. Most people who took that blow would at least get a scratch, even if not a concussion. If they got a scratch, they would bleed, and if they bled… then Xiao Min could find out who did it!
Chen Xu returned to the front of the cake shop, bent down, and searched carefully. Passersby were surprised and couldn't help but sigh, saying, "Hey, his lost item must have been stolen. How could it be lying on the ground unattended?"
The alley in front of the cake shop wasn't very wide. After flipping over several stones, Chen Xu finally spotted one that didn't look quite right. Shining a light on it, sure enough, dark red blood appeared on the stone... That's it!
Chen Xu pressed the stone against his watch and ordered Xiao Min to take a blood test. Xiao Min quickly replied: "Huo Hu, male, ID number 340*****", and a one-inch photo of the man appeared on the screen.
The man in the photo looks very refined; it's impossible to imagine him as the deranged throat-slitting man. If he wore glasses, he'd look every bit the elite scholar.
Xiaomin only provided so little information; how could Chen Xu possibly investigate further? Besides her name, photo, and ID number, all that was available was her blood type. There was nothing on her resume except for the letter "A."
So Chen Xu asked, "How come there's only this much information? Where does he live? What's his identity? Can't you find any of that?!"
"Sorry, insufficient permissions. Query permission is A."
"It's permissions again!" Chen Xu kicked the wall hard, thinking, "If I ever have a grandson, I'll spank him eight times a day! Why bother with permissions?!"
But there's no use being anxious now. Chen Xu knows that Xiaomin is just a program, and programs act entirely according to instructions, unless there's a password, or... cracking these so-called access passwords!
When this thought flashed through his mind, Chen Xu was startled. He realized that he had never thought about this question before!
The likely reason is that his computer skills are terrible. Although they have improved slightly, he might not be good enough for even the most skilled, mediocre, experts of this era. Another reason is that Chen Xu thinks Xiao Min is too powerful, as powerful as Mount Everest, so he simply doesn't have any thoughts about her!
But no matter how powerful Xiaomin is, it's still just a program, even if it's from eighty years in the future... A program is just a program! During his time studying "Chinese Language," Chen Xu learned that every computer, every piece of software, will inevitably have vulnerabilities! Completely vulnerability-free hardware and software don't exist! It's just that if you place the vulnerability where others can't see it, then there's no vulnerability!
Chen Xu is a novice, he admits.
However, every master starts as a novice. Apart from those reborn geniuses, no one can be born a top master.
But being a novice also has its advantages.
For a novice, cracking a computer password from 80 years in the future is about as difficult as cracking a Windows XP password—approaching infinity. Since Wu Yuan had been able to learn how to crack Windows passwords from his father since childhood, why couldn't he work hard and crack Xiao Min's password too?!
This idea is so absurd it's almost fanciful!
It's impossible for a child who hasn't even learned to crawl to dream of flying. But this idea is like a seed; as they grow older and stronger, it will take root and sprout. If it's just wishful thinking now... what about later?
Chen Xu took a few deep breaths, suppressing the thought. Now was not the time to think too much. He didn't know when he would reach that level, and if he waited for that opportunity, he was afraid he would be dead by then.
But there are other ways!
Chen Xu thought for a moment, then hailed a taxi to the police station next to the school. The policeman from last time was a nice guy; he hoped he could ask him to check the ID number. Although there are online ID information lookups now, these methods can't provide detailed information about a citizen, and they don't offer such services.
Online ID card lookup systems only analyze ID card numbers to determine a person's gender, date of birth, and the issuing location of the ID card. Even with a paid service, they can only find the person's real name and photo… but Chen Xu already knows all of that! What he needs to find now is this person's true identity, where they live, and then apprehend them in one fell swoop!
Therefore, the only way is to go to the Public Security Bureau and use their professional system to check this person's detailed identity. Otherwise, just looking at a name and photo like Huo Hu, with a population of 1.3 billion in China! Where are we supposed to find him?!
When Chen Xu arrived at the police station, he saw the young policeman from last time, along with several older officers in uniform. Seeing Chen Xu enter, the young policeman smiled and said, "Oh, the great detective is here. Brother Wang, Brother Li, let me introduce you. This young man is the great detective who came in last time for fingerprint analysis and caught the thief in his dorm room."
Several older police officers looked over with smiles, and the younger officer asked with a laugh, "What's wrong? What's gone missing this time?"
Chen Xu originally wanted to ask them to help him look it up, but he hesitated after hearing their casual remark.
Is it a coincidence once, or a coincidence twice?
Chen Xu had always been well aware of the principle that a tall tree catches the wind. If the previous dormitory theft could be explained by suspecting the pen seller, this incident was simply unacceptable.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Xu immediately said, "Officer, don't you know? The man who slit throats appeared on the pedestrian street today and attacked one of my friends. I was there at the time."
"Oh really?!" Several policemen stood up. Brother Wang said, "There was a phone call from above saying that the throat-slitting man has reappeared. How is your friend?"
"It's okay. Luckily, I was wearing a neck brace, so I only got a minor scrape."
"Neck protector?"
Chen Xu explained about the neck brace, and the police officers laughed upon hearing it, saying, "That's great! These days, businessmen are really shrewd!"
Knowing no one was seriously injured, the police officers breathed a sigh of relief. The throat-slitting incident was truly heinous; one person died, another was seriously injured, and now six people had been attacked, all of them university students! This behavior was a disgrace to the police force. Just appeasing the anger of the victim's family had exhausted them; everyone in the police station hated the throat-slitting man to the core. The problem was, that guy was more cunning than a fox, each attack happening in an instant, leaving no clues. There was only a five-second clip of him passing by, captured by the China Merchants Bank's surveillance cameras… but it was utterly meaningless.
This guy's actions were completely unpredictable, and his crime locations were also unpredictable. The police sent a female officer disguised as a student to patrol the pedestrian street for a week. They did catch a few thieves, but they didn't even see a trace of the throat-slitting man.
Then a police officer asked, "Did you see what the man who slit the throat looked like? Did you see his face?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu had a sudden inspiration and was about to describe the photo on the man's ID card. But the policeman immediately said, "Uh, how could that be? It's said that the throat-slitting man always covers his face completely during his operations, with sunglasses, a hat, and a mask. How could you possibly see his face?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Xu couldn't help but jump up in anger. "Why are you saying that?" he thought. However, he dared not reveal the man's appearance again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blood-stained stone, which he had wrapped in plastic wrap. He said, "In a moment of panic, I used this stone to hit him, and it struck the back of the man's head. It must have drawn blood; there's blood on this stone..."
"Really?!" Several police officers rushed over, carefully taking the stone and saying, "Thank you so much! This is important evidence!"
Brother Wang said, "The man who slit the throat had a head injury, right? Okay, we'll notify all the hospitals to pay extra attention to people with head injuries during this period. Can you describe the characteristics of the man who slit the throat? Like his height, build, etc."
Chen Xu thought for a moment and said, "He is probably over 1.8 meters tall, of medium build, not particularly strong, but not thin either. He is a man, um, he should be."
Chen Xu tried several times to say that he had actually seen the face of the man who slit the throat, but after thinking of several reasons, he felt that they did not make sense, so he finally gave up.
After giving his statement, Chen Xu finally got a chance to speak. He said, seemingly casually, "By the way, can the police find a person's specific information through their ID number, such as where they are now?"