Because, in terms of motivation, many people's first thought would be Zhang Bo.
However, Hao Aiguo replied with a wry smile, "It's a few days too early. Our comrades have already gone to investigate Zhang Bo and his son Zhang Hong. It turns out that Zhang Bo hasn't had a chance to make a move yet."
"What's the meaning?"
“Zhang Bo does harbor deep resentment towards Yi Shuihan. He has also considered hiring someone to assassinate Yi Shuihan. However, Zhang Bo has only just begun this plan. In other words, he hasn't even found an assassin yet, and Yi Shuihan has already been attacked. We have a lot of evidence to confirm that this was not ordered by Zhang Bo. But he has a motive and has already begun to carry it out. Although it hasn't started yet, it's enough to convict him.”
Not Zhang Bo?
“Our crime experts have also analyzed it. If Zhang Bo hired the assassin, it's unlikely to be a foreigner. Because it's not so easy for foreigners to operate in China. We suspect that this might be the work of foreign spies, with the purpose being that liquid bulletproof vest. However... this speculation isn't very reliable either. But it's the most reasonable motive we can think of right now.”
"Is that so?" Chen Xu fell into deep thought. Only after he finished his cigarette did he reply to Hao Aiguo: "Protect Yi Shuihan. I don't want anything to happen to him again. As for Zhang Bo, I don't want to hear any more news about him."
Hao Aiguo paused for a moment. He replied, "I understand what you mean." Then he thought to himself, "Poor Zhang Bo, whoever messes with you has to offend this guy. So don't blame us for digging up your secrets. For the safety of Yi Shui Han, you might as well go eat a free boxed lunch."
A well-known princeling has become a prisoner simply for offending someone he shouldn't have. Hopefully, this incident will serve as a lesson for other princelings, teaching them to be less arrogant in the future.
At this point, Chen Xu asked Xiao Min how the investigation was going. Xiao Min replied, "The data is insufficient to restore its original appearance. But there is another method we can try, though it may not be successful."
Chen Xu's eyes lit up, and he asked, "What method?"
“By restoring the system, we have learned the person’s physical data. We can use image search engines to find similar people in databases and on the internet. However, the biggest drawback of this method is that the person’s information may not exist in databases or on the internet, but we may also find many people with similar body shapes. This method does not have a very high degree of accuracy.”
"Oh, so that's how it is," Chen Xu thought for a moment and said, "Well, we have to try it anyway. Start searching."
Xiaomin answered yes and then started searching for similar pictures online. Frankly, Chen Xu didn't have much hope for this method, because there were simply too many people with similar body types. Although the data Xiaomin obtained through measurement was quite accurate, it's important to know that a person's body shape can vary greatly at different times. For example, what if he suddenly loses weight? Or gains weight? These things can cause significant errors.
Sure enough, as Xiaomin searched, many pictures of Black people appeared on the screen, scrolling down to the bottom in a flash... because the person was Black, Xiaomin's search only targeted Black people.
Chen Xu sat listlessly in front of his computer and lit a cigarette. He didn't smoke much normally, only four or five cigarettes a day, and rarely smoked like that consecutively. However, when he was in a bad mood, he would smoke heavily, one cigarette after another. And Chen Xu's mood was certainly not good right now. After all, Yi Shuihan's fate was now intertwined with his own; his misfortune was equivalent to the misfortune of a friend, so Chen Xu's mood was bound to be low.
With Xiaomin's computing speed, she quickly searched the entire internet, but looking at those photos of black people who looked almost identical, Chen Xu felt hopeless... There were at least a thousand photos of black people here, so who was it? And it wasn't even certain whether that person was among these photos!
Unfortunately, there was too little information. Even a supercomputer isn't omnipotent, so Chen Xu could only send the 3D reconstruction of the person to Hao Aiguo so they could search for it. He felt somewhat sorry for Yi Shuihan; Chen Xu was powerless to help. This helplessness made Chen Xu a little depressed, but he quickly let it go... What's wrong? Ha, did he think he was a god? Did he think he was omnipotent? Chen Xu chuckled self-deprecatingly, turned Xiao Min back into a watch, and went out... It had been several days; he needed to go to the hospital to check on Wu Yu and his wife.
Chen Xu took a taxi to the hospital and arrived at Wu Yu's wife's ward. Wu Yu was diligently peeling an apple for Wang Jiao. It was clear that Wang Jiao was recovering quite well these past few days; she had a smile on her face and was much better than the last time Chen Xu saw her.
Upon seeing Chen Xu enter, the two greeted each other warmly. Chen Xu glanced at the bedside and thought, "Wow, they've bought quite a few supplements like honey and ginseng extract, but why is there such an outrageous thing here... Brain Gold?"
Chen Xu greeted her with a smile, "Sister-in-law, how are you feeling now?"
Wang Jiao leaned against the hospital bed, a slight smile appearing on her face: "It's alright. Where's your girlfriend?"
These words nearly choked Chen Xu, who was looking at Wu Yu's malicious smile. Chen Xu really didn't know what to say, so he could only give a vague answer, saying that Gao Xiaojie had something to do today and couldn't come... Last time she came to the hospital, Gao Xiaojie appeared as Chen Xu's girlfriend.
Wu Yu knew about this. But Wang Jiao was still in the dark, and laughed, "Your girlfriend is a really nice person, you should treat her well. It's your good fortune that a girl like that is interested in you."
Chen Xu was speechless, so he could only say, "Ahem, let's not talk about her now. Um, sister-in-law, how are you feeling right now?"
"It's nothing serious," Wang Jiao smiled. "Just think of it as youthful ignorance. She can be discharged after a few more days of rest." After saying that, she gave Wu Yu a meaningful look. Wu Yu chuckled obsequiously, looking like a complete bastard, which made Chen Xu almost burst out laughing.
It seems Wu Yu has had a miserable few days. Well, there's no way around it; women need to be coaxed in these situations. Besides, he was the one who made the mistake, so this is just to make amends.
A miscarriage is indeed a very serious matter, and Wu Yu and the others have been keeping it a secret from everyone except Chen Xu. They also took a two-week leave from school; otherwise, if word got out, it would be very difficult for them to face others.
This kind of thing is very serious for girls, both psychologically and physically. Even though Chen Xu borrowed a lot of money from Wu Yu and had a painless abortion, and the fetus wasn't large—only a little over a month old—this kind of painless abortion is basically a matter of "sleeping and waking up" and nothing's wrong.
However, this is the first time such a situation has occurred. The woman is under a lot of psychological pressure, and if it is not properly managed, it could lead to tension, fear, agitation, or even "post-abortion syndrome".
Fortunately, Wang Jiao seems to be in good spirits now, which means Wu Yu has been comforting her well recently... If the man behaves poorly during the abortion period, then the pressure on the woman will be enormous.
Now Wu Yu and Wang Jiao aren't so hesitant to talk about this anymore, and some things can't be avoided simply by not discussing them. Wang Jiao herself is a rather fiery woman; she's from Sichuan, and now that she's recovered, she dares to say anything to Chen Xu… After all, Chen Xu already knows about such an embarrassing thing, so what can't she say?
Moreover, Wang Jiao is now in her second semester of sophomore year, and has spent almost half of her four years of university life. She can be considered a seasoned veteran, so there's really nothing she's afraid to say. So Wang Jiao said earnestly, "I know that boys your age are very curious about girls, but Gao Xiaojie is a good girl. If you don't plan to marry her, it's best not to take her virginity."
Oh dear, Chen Xu blushed. He really wanted to remind a woman who said such things: "Sister-in-law, don't set a bad example for the children, okay? You need to be mindful of your image!"
But Chen Xu was indeed very curious... If a virgin of this age isn't curious about a woman's body, then he either has a physiological problem or a psychological problem, otherwise so many people wouldn't watch porn!
As the saying goes, lust and attraction to young women are simply human nature. Especially for virgins like Chen Xu, when they occasionally have a fleeting, blissful dream, they feel a pang of loss looking at the white spots on their underwear. It's said that some guys in the college couldn't resist and lost their virginity to those heavily made-up women in the red-lit hair salons on Jixi Road behind the school… The price was fifty yuan, and afterwards, they felt even more lost…
I've heard there's a drink called "Heartache," which is like spending fifty yuan on a glass of plain water. But those brothers who went to the little hair salon behind the school to study the deepest mysteries of humanity spent fifty yuan, not only giving up their virginity... but that exciting moment only lasted for a dozen seconds before it was over.
The reason is simple: a virgin's first time is always incredibly short, and fifty dollars only gets you one chance...
Sometimes Chen Xu really envied those beasts who dared, or rather, were willing to give their precious virginity to sex workers. Because Chen Xu had plenty of money now, theoretically he could find any woman he wanted, even beauties like Guan Yi, Zhan Jing, and Gao Xiaojie—it would only cost a few thousand yuan a night… That amount of money was nothing to him. And unlike the women in roadside brothels, he wouldn't just finish quickly… To put it bluntly, with money, he could hire a beautiful woman and do whatever he wanted with her!
But to be honest, Chen Xu didn't want to do that. On one hand, he was reluctant to give it up, and on the other hand, he felt that his first time was still very precious and sacred, and he couldn't use money to insult his first time.
As for those three girls, who will become his future girlfriend... Chen Xu has been undecided about this. In matters of the heart, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Chen Xu indecisive.
Moreover, he was afraid of failure, and even more afraid that if he confessed his feelings to one of them and was rejected, it would affect their current harmonious and tacit relationship. This was due to his personality, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Seeing that Wang Jiao still wanted to speak, Chen Xu was really scared. He made an excuse and slipped away. He has always disliked others interfering in his emotional matters.
Chen Xu walked to the hospital entrance and lit a cigarette when an ambulance suddenly rushed in with its lights flashing and sirens blaring. A group of doctors and nurses hurriedly got out of the ambulance, shouting as they did so, and even carried a hospital bed out of the vehicle.
With half of his view blocked by the nurse, Chen Xu could only watch as the person lying on the hospital bed bled profusely. Chen Xu shook his head and sighed. Tragedy, oh, tragedy happens every day.
But just as Chen Xu was about to turn around, the nurse blocking his way stepped aside, allowing him to see the person lying on the hospital bed.
Upon seeing this, Chen Xu immediately dropped the cigarette in his hand and turned deathly pale!
"Boss?! What's wrong?!"
Chapter 186 The Same Murderer
The moment the nurse stepped aside, Chen Xu got a clear look at the person covered in blood on the hospital bed. Short hair, a pair of silly-looking black-rimmed glasses, and a thick beard on his face—who else could it be but Wu Yuan, the dormitory leader?!
Chen Xu immediately rushed forward, shoved aside the person blocking his way, and knelt down in front of Wu Yuan's hospital bed with a thud, shouting, "Boss, boss, what's wrong? What happened? Where are you hurt?"
Wu Yuan lay on the hospital bed, a weak and painful smile on his face. He said, "Third brother, warn everyone to be careful..." then his head lolled to the side and he collapsed onto the pillow. This terrified Chen Xu, who frantically cried out, "Big brother, big brother, how are you? Big brother, don't scare me! Don't die!"
A doctor immediately came over, reached out and pinched Wu Yuan's neck, saying, "He still has a pulse. You know him? That's good. Don't block the way, we need to save him! He's badly injured, get out of the way!"
The doctor roughly shoved Chen Xu aside. Under normal circumstances, with Chen Xu's current strength, a doctor wouldn't be able to move him. But when he saw Wu Yuan covered in blood, Chen Xu was so shocked that his body went limp and he lost all strength. With the doctor's push, he collapsed to the ground, watching as the doctors and nurses quickly pushed the gurney into the hospital building.
Chen Xu's mind went completely blank. He wasn't prepared at all. He never expected that his closest friend would suddenly encounter such a thing. Although he didn't know exactly what had happened to Wu Yuan, seeing him covered in blood was truly terrifying. How could a student like Chen Xu possibly encounter something like this under normal circumstances?
Chen Xu sat on the ground, stunned for a moment. Then, he grabbed a nurse who had just gotten out of the ambulance and yelled, "What happened to my boss? The one you brought in! What happened to him? Why is he covered in blood?!"
Perhaps Chen Xu's ferocious expression frightened the young nurse. Or perhaps he hadn't held back in his grab. The nurse, whether from pain or fear, sobbed and dared not speak. This made Chen Xu anxious. He wanted nothing more than to slap the nurse twice to stop her crying and tell her to cry however she wanted after she finished speaking.
Just then, a long siren wailed outside. A police car sped in. The door opened, and out stepped a familiar face to Chen Xu… Captain Xu from the Criminal Investigation Brigade!
Captain Xu saw Chen Xu and asked in surprise, "Little Chen, what are you doing here?" Then he asked the nurse, "Where's the person who was brought in earlier? The one who was shot and wounded?"
"Shot?!" Chen Xu exclaimed in surprise. Grabbing the young nurse, he yelled, "You're saying my boss was shot?!"
Chen Xu's hands were like iron clamps; in his rage, he struck without restraint, squeezing the young nurse until she finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears. Captain Xu quickly pulled Chen Xu aside, saying, "Chen, don't be impulsive. What did you just say? That you were the one who got shot? What? Boss?"
"He's my dorm leader, but I don't know if he was shot, but he was bleeding a lot from his abdomen." Chen Xu was completely dumbfounded at this point. Shot? My God, shootings can happen in China?
Wait, a shooting?!
Chen Xu suddenly realized that Yi Shuihan had been shot, could it be...?
Just then, a middle-aged woman who looked like the head nurse ran over and said, "Captain Xu, you're here? The patient has been taken to the emergency room and is being resuscitated. The doctors are performing surgery. This is a criminal case, and we're cooperating. But the costs..."
Chen Xu immediately pulled a bank card from his pocket and threw it over: "Deduct all the money from this card! I want the best doctors. The best medicine! My boss absolutely cannot get hurt, or I guarantee this hospital will go out of business!"
At this point, Chen Xu was no longer speaking rationally. The head nurse took the bank card, glanced at him, and, knowing he was emotional, muttered something and walked away. Although she muttered softly, Chen Xu, with his sharp ears, heard her clearly: "Who is this? You think you can shut down this public hospital?"
This was truly both laughable and infuriating. Chen Xu wasn't in the mood to argue with her. To be honest, with Chen Xu's influence, shutting down such a hospital was impossible, but he certainly had the ability to completely overhaul the entire facility. However, now wasn't the time to argue. Chen Xu asked Captain Xu, "Uncle Xu, what exactly happened? How did my boss get shot?"
Seeing that Chen Xu was agitated, Captain Xu lit a cigarette for him and said, "Xiao Chen, calm down. Your classmate will be fine. When I arrived, the doctor said they arrived at the scene very quickly, and since he was shot in the abdomen, it shouldn't have hit any vital organs, so don't worry so much, okay?"
How could Chen Xu not be worried? This was a shooting, a shooting!
This is something you might only encounter once in your lifetime, how could Chen Xu not be worried?!
Moreover, the words Wu Yuan uttered before fainting left Chen Xu feeling as if a thorn was stuck in his heart, a feeling that nearly drove him mad.
Seeing his unstable emotions, Captain Xu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Chen, you absolutely can't give up now. Director Wang and I have always had high hopes for you, it's a pity you didn't want to become a policeman. You've handled many other things very well too. Right now you're just overwhelmed by worry, so you absolutely can't put too much pressure on yourself, understand? If you panic, you won't be able to handle anything, and you won't be the Xiao Chen who dared to beat up even a special envoy from the National Security Bureau!"
After Captain Xu's persuasion, Chen Xu felt better and went with Captain Xu to the outside of the emergency room to wait for the surgery results. During this time, Captain Xu also told Chen Xu what had happened.
Just now, around 7 PM, a gunshot was heard on Huaihai Road in Hexie City. When someone rushed over, they found a young man lying in a pool of blood, shot in the abdomen. He was bleeding profusely, so the person immediately called the police and an ambulance. But unexpectedly, the man who had been shot turned out to be Wu Yuan.
It's important to understand how egregious a shooting in China is. Gun control in China is extremely strict; the average person may never even see a real gun in their lifetime. Precisely because of this, the probability of a shooting is very low. But once it occurs, it inevitably receives the utmost attention.
Chen Xu now suspects two things: First, is this shooting incident related to the shooting of Yi Shuihan?
Secondly, what did Wu Yuan mean when he said to himself in his last moments of lucidity, "Third brother, tell everyone to be careful"?
Chen Xu stood anxiously at the entrance of the emergency room, watching the light above remain on. Occasionally, a doctor would come out, and he would immediately go up to ask questions, but the doctor would rush out without giving any answers.
Chen Xu felt like he was about to collapse.
Because from childhood to adulthood, Chen Xu had never personally experienced his friends, relatives, or those around him suddenly encountering something so life-threatening... and more importantly, a particularly heinous shooting. This feeling left Chen Xu feeling extremely bewildered and panicked... This wasn't cowardice, but a normal physiological reaction... After all, Chen Xu had never experienced any real hardships in his life, so it was inevitable that he would panic upon encountering something like this for the first time.
Don't laugh at Chen Xu for being weak, and don't laugh at him for experiencing so much in the virtual world yet still being like this, unable to withstand any storms.
But you have to understand that things in a virtual world are vastly different from reality. Even if it feels incredibly real, you've already internalized it as fake. And Chen Xu has always been the kind of person who would rather get hurt himself than see his friends suffer!
After all, he had just celebrated his first birthday. After all, he was still a teenager who hadn't truly weathered the harsh realities of life or experienced the pain of separation and death!
Chen Xu almost trembled as he typed out the text message, which he then sent to Guan Yi, Zhan Jing, Gao Xiaojie, and Qin Xiaoan, instructing them to notify Dong Qingjie. Everyone who saw the message was incredibly shocked, and their first reaction was to call immediately. However, Chen Xu was completely too weak to even speak, only managing to say, "Come to the hospital quickly. You'll know everything once you get there. Don't ask me anything now, because I don't know anything."
The surgery was still ongoing, and Chen Xu sat blankly at the door waiting. He would immediately stand up from his chair whenever he heard any movement. Although Captain Xu was with him, Chen Xu still felt incredibly lonely.
It wasn't just loneliness; Chen Xu clenched his fists tightly, his hands forming angry fists. He felt like a highly unstable powder keg, even a nuclear reactor, ready to explode, ready to vent!
Regardless of who did this, regardless of their identity or background!
Chen Xu swore in his heart that he would tear this guy to pieces, even if it meant searching high and low, he would find him!
The first to arrive was Guan Yi. When Guan Yi arrived, Chen Xu was just leaning against the wall, not sitting down, staring blankly at the red light above the operating room.
Guan Yi called out to him, and Chen Xu turned his head, revealing a smile that looked more like a grimace: "You're here."
"How is Wu Yuan? What did the doctor say? How did he get shot?"
Chen Xu shook his head: "Don't ask me, I don't know yet. The surgery has been going on for almost an hour, and we'll know the results soon."
Seeing Chen Xu's state, Guan Yi felt incredibly sorry for him. She knew what friends meant to Chen Xu, and she also knew the shock this incident had caused him. At that moment, she did something quite surprising.
Guan Yi opened his arms and gently embraced Chen Xu face to face, nestling her in his arms. The soft, fragrant body against his skin, the scent emanating from her hair and body, and the warmth of her sweet fragrance instantly relaxed Chen Xu's tense nerves.
"Don't worry. Everything will be alright," Guan Yi murmured, resting her head on Chen Xu's shoulder.
Chen Xu nodded and hugged her.
This hug contained nothing romantic. It was a gesture of mutual care and consideration between friends. This hug gradually calmed Chen Xu's surging blood, and the fear and anger in his heart lessened considerably. He felt a sense of peace and tranquility in the world.