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墨書 Inktalez
In the Upper West City Bureau's Forensic Science Division, a woman with graying temples sat in front of a computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard, producing a rapid clicking sound. Mary typed with such speed that it resembled a master pianist performing, each keystroke creating what seemed like the most beautiful notes.
The detectives in the Forensic Science Division watched Mary intently as lines of code on the screen moved like a swarm of ants. Old Shao, after just half a minute of watching, felt dizzy and could no longer keep up. However, the others remained captivated, not even blinking.
Old Shao was somewhat of an internet novice and couldn't understand any of it, so he decided to take a break.
Mary's fingers raced across the keyboard, and finally, on the second night, she managed to trace the IP address of the suspect. This left the fifty-something Mary feeling physically drained; she was no longer the young Mary who could spend nights glued to a computer screen.
Even though she had found the IP address, it only revealed a location, and whether the suspect was still there remained uncertain.
However, upon learning this person's address, Old Shao wasted no time and personally led a team to that location. It was also in Shangxi City, which did not surprise Old Shao. The football head case had been witnessed by many, reported extensively in newspapers and media, and rumors circulated widely.
Old Shao had heard tales of headless female ghosts committing murder and stuffing heads into soccer balls—nonsense stories.
Yet having spent so much time in Upper West City, he recalled that Song You's torso had been found in a shoebox. However, they had yet to locate Song You's other arm. Yang Feiwen's death had been too sudden; she hadn't disclosed where she had disposed of Song You's body parts.
At that moment, Song You's arm could be hidden anywhere in Shangxi City by Yang Feiwen, quietly waiting to be discovered—or perhaps it would never be found at all. In such heat, that arm might have already turned to bone.
In the car, Old Shao often pondered what this hacker looked like. In his mind, hackers were never ordinary people; they were typically well-groomed individuals sipping coffee at their desks, effortlessly navigating the internet with charm. They were either suave or resembled Mary in her youth—simply dressed yet playful and cute, always running around with a laptop bag.
But when the detectives broke down the door and Old Shao faced this hacker, he had to revise his impression entirely.
The hacker stood about five feet seven inches tall but weighed roughly two hundred pounds. He sat behind a cluttered computer desk piled high with takeout boxes and numerous bottles of drinks stacked like a mountain, obscuring half of his body.
The entire room was a chaotic mess, as if it had never been cleaned in his lifetime.
The hefty man sat frozen in his chair upon seeing the swarm of detectives burst in. He appeared quite nervous, unable to meet their gazes directly. Sweat quickly beaded on his forehead as he grabbed a towel nearby to wipe his brow frantically; however, the sweat poured down like rain and showed no signs of stopping.
Old Shao noticed the fat man's nervousness. He waved his hands dismissively and said, "There's no need to be so tense; we're not here to arrest anyone. What's your name?"
However, the fat man remained silent, only wiping the sweat from his brow. Old Shao observed that the fat man's body was trembling slightly, a clear sign of fear. After a moment of thought, Old Shao couldn't figure out what the fat man was afraid of. It seemed that perhaps he had done something in the past, but now that they had found him, it would be easy to look up his information.
Old Shao asked several more questions, but the fat man continued to stay quiet, appearing meek and submissive.
"You all can leave for now," Old Shao instructed.
The police officers exchanged glances. They had rushed to respond to this assignment and naturally assumed that the person in front of them was dangerous. If they left Old Shao alone with the fat man, there might be unforeseen consequences.
Understanding their concerns, Old Shao explained again, "It's fine; I'm not here to arrest anyone."
Only then did the officers step outside.
Old Shao intended to approach the fat man for a thorough inquiry, but the place was so chaotic and littered with garbage that he had no space to stand comfortably. He had no choice but to remain where he was and ask, "Now that everyone has left, it's just you and me in this room. You can speak freely."
The fat man nodded timidly.
"Are you the hacker who infiltrated the Upper West City Bureau's system?"
To be honest, looking at this sweating individual with greasy hair who could barely muster a word made it hard for Old Shao to associate him with a decisive hacker. He resembled more of a reclusive young person often seen these days.
The fat man didn't dare meet Old Shao's gaze, nodding like a shy girl who felt jealous and awkward.
This fat man seemed excessively introverted. With a background in psychology, Old Shao noted that he appeared very afraid of interacting with others—more so than Yang Feiwen had been. At least Yang Feiwen could respond when asked a question, but this fat man seemed incapable of even producing a single coherent response.
"What's your name?" Old Shao asked again.
The chubby man remained silent, contemplating for a moment before handing over his identification card to Old Shao.
Old Shao took the ID and examined it, quickly learning the basic information about the chubby man. His name was Guan Deng, a local from Shangxi City. With the ID in hand, Old Shao could easily verify Guan Deng's identity. He passed the ID to Mary, instructing her to look up the rest of Guan Deng's information.
Guan Deng appeared quite tense, as if he were in Old Shao's home rather than his own.
Sighing, Old Shao continued, "Guan Deng, since you're from Shangxi City, you must be familiar with the Headless Football case. You would have noticed that this case is not particularly strange. At our most critical moment, you intercepted Song You's last phone call and managed to breach the bureau's system to send us the location of the murderer."
Old Shao looked at Guan Deng, who was bowing his head and wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Thanks to your help, we notified the local police station. The rain made the roads slippery; they couldn't drive too fast. Otherwise, they might have caught the murderer right on Dahuai Tree Street. You almost helped us catch him on the spot, which clearly shows you want us to apprehend him and are not just interested in hacking into our system."
"You want to help us, don't you?" Old Shao stated firmly.
Guan Deng stole a glance at Old Shao but remained silent, neither nodding nor shaking his head. This left Old Shao feeling helpless. Who would have thought that someone who fought fiercely online like a general would be so introverted in real life? Old Shao could tell that Guan Deng had some issues with social interaction.
After waiting for a moment, Guan Deng still said nothing. However, during that time, he seemed to calm down a bit and had stopped sweating.
Though Guan Deng remained silent, Mary's intel quickly came back: Guan Deng was from Shangxi City and came from a single-parent family. His father had abandoned him and his mother when he was very young and had not been seen since. His mother suffered from heart disease and passed away when Guan Deng was fifteen. From then on, he became an orphan, and there were no records of what he did afterward.
Guan Deng was known online as "The Boy." He had gained considerable fame for frequently exposing illegal businesses and doxxing criminals. However, this was merely notoriety.
The strangest thing about this boy was that there was almost no personal information available online about him. No one knew what he looked like or whether he was male or female; no one knew what skills he possessed. He was truly low-key. Nevertheless, this boy had never crossed any legal boundaries, so the government did not consider him a person of interest. According to Mary, his abilities were already quite advanced; if he continued for another decade or so, he would surely become a top-tier hacker in the world.
Mary, however, no longer wanted to make a fuss; otherwise, she would have liked to teach this hacker a lesson. Instead, she requested to bring Guan Deng back so she could take a look at him. It was only in the past two years that she had seen the boy active online. Many of the boy's fans speculated that he was a handsome young man.
Old Shao looked at the chubby figure before him. If those fans online were to see the boy's true appearance, their dreams might be shattered.
Old Shao certainly hoped that Guan Deng could be of use to him as a hacker; whether he liked it or not was secondary.
"Let's go." Old Shao finally started moving amidst the pile of junk. He grabbed Guan Deng's arm, trying to pull him up.
However, with Guan Deng weighing around two hundred pounds, even if Old Shao were younger than his sixty years, he might not have been able to lift him. Guan Deng, on the other hand, remained firmly seated in his chair, unwilling to budge.
With a strong tug, Old Shao found that Guan Deng didn't move at all and nearly stumbled himself.
After a moment of thought, Old Shao began to guess Guan Deng's mindset. Looking around the state of Guan Deng's home, filled with takeout containers, it was clear that he rarely ventured outside. Like Jiang He, Guan Deng was unkempt, and even more so; he didn't even clean his room. Old Shao noticed a blanket next to the chair, indicating that Guan Deng likely rested on the floor regularly.
Guan Deng had no friends and appeared to suffer from severe Social Anxiety Disorder.
"I wasn't a mother back then," Mary retorted.
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