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墨書 Inktalez
The next day, Juan Juan got me a new phone card and bought a new phone. My previous Nokia had been in use for nearly ten years, and this was already the third phone I had replaced during my time with the Special Investigation Team. The first one I broke myself, and the second one got water damaged. I stared blankly at the new phone, unsure of how long it would last.
Old Wang was already immersed in a tense investigation early in the morning, following leads to find commonalities among the three individuals and the Killer. The members of the Special Investigation Team were only instructed not to leave the city, but there were no restrictions on our freedom. From this perspective, the Police Department still granted us considerable leeway.
When I left the old lady's house yesterday, I had already assigned Mary a task to locate information about Wang Chaoyang. Based on yesterday's analysis, if the Killer was indeed Wang Chaoyang, then he must have changed significantly—at least he was no longer that thin, small figure.
At the same time, we needed to hurry and find out who had stolen my police badge and phone card at the party. There were over forty attendees at the gathering, plus hotel staff who could come and go, making it at least a hundred people involved. Without the support of the Police Department, relying solely on the four of us made this workload quite overwhelming.
However, taking action was certainly better than sitting around complaining. We quickly divided tasks: Mary was responsible for finding information online about those who attended the party and staff members, while Yan Junde and Juan Juan would approach them one by one. I would take Mary to search for Wang Chaoyang.
In 1967, an American social psychologist proposed a theory called "six degrees of separation," which suggests that any two strangers can be connected through "friends of friends" with a maximum of five intermediaries.
This concept is intriguing; put simply, it means "this is a friend I met at Bathhouse who is my uncle's nephew's classmate's father's colleague."
In other words, we can connect with anyone in the world through five people, regardless of their nationality or skin color. This may apply to ordinary people, but it is not realistic for criminals who have severed ties even with their families.
However, my task was not to directly find Wang Chaoyang but rather to locate his family to determine whether the Killer was indeed Wang Chaoyang and then trace his whereabouts. Analyzing this further indicated that we might need to leave Jing City since we couldn't confirm whether Wang Chaoyang's family was still in Jing City.
With the internet available, achieving these six degrees became easier. After a day of searching, Mary had established a basic range of leads. We previously obtained a list of students from Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau's cohort; Mary compiled their online information together. Using hacking techniques, she pinpointed their spending information and emails to identify key terms.
Of course, this is not considered good behavior; technology is a double-edged sword depending on who wields it. During this process, Mary discovered that one person had been in contact with Wang Chaoyang's parents; the email dated back over a year ago, and this person still resided in Jing City.
We drove to find this individual who lived on the eastern side of Jing City. He was fifty years old and had previously worked as an accountant alongside Wang Chaoyang's parents at a financial company. This Old Accountant informed us that about seventeen or eighteen years ago, after Wang Chaoyang transferred from Yucai Primary School, he moved far away from the city center.
As colleagues for over ten years, they maintained regular contact but had spoken less frequently in recent years. A year ago, they had agreed on a specific date for their next colleague reunion; however, neither attended nor responded when contacted later—thus severing communication.
Nevertheless, we obtained their new address from this Old Accountant; however, given how much time had passed, we were uncertain if they still lived there. The address was on the outskirts of Jing City and far from where Yucai Primary School used to be located. When we arrived at that place, we found that the house had changed owners.
We discovered that the homeowner had not changed in decades; it seemed that Wang Chaoyang's family had been renting rather than buying property. We approached the landlord for information; upon realizing we were not there to view properties but rather investigating, he appeared quite impatient. When Mary presented her police badge, he reluctantly began searching through his ledger.
The landlord told us that about fifteen years ago, Wang Chaoyang and his family had already left Jing City. The Old Accountant only knew their address but had no idea which elementary school Wang Chaoyang transferred to. The information found on the police department's internal network was limited to Yucai Primary School, indicating that Wang Chaoyang did not register a formal record when he attended school later on.
However, the landlord provided the name of the school where Wang Chaoyang studied.
The former Old Principal had already retired, and we found him in the garden. He told us that he still vividly remembered Wang Chaoyang as a student because he excelled academically and was often the top of his class. After graduating from elementary school, Wang Chaoyang did not continue his education but instead self-studied at home. About three years later, he went abroad.
"Wang Chaoyang was a good student," the Old Principal said. "And I don't just mean academically; more importantly, he even called me to wish me well on my birthday..."
This was a significant breakthrough, and I quickly asked, "Principal, when is your birthday? When did he call you?"
The Old Principal stroked his beard and smiled. "It's quite a coincidence; it was just recently, about a month ago. He said he had just returned to the country and was currently looking for a job in Yuzhou City. Now he's the general manager of a large subsidiary of Kunpeng Group. I heard he studied for his MBA in the United States!"
"A subsidiary of Kunpeng Group?" I could hardly believe my ears. Being a native of Yuzhou City, I had certainly heard of Kunpeng Group. When I was in Junior High School, I heard that a relative's child got into that company, and it felt like they had turned their life around overnight.
After all this time, Wang Chaoyang turned out to be the general manager of a major company in my own city?
I immediately asked Mary to look up the general manager of Kunpeng Group's Yuzhou City branch and discovered that this person was named Ja. The photo showed a striking resemblance to the child from back then, making it almost certain that this person was indeed Wang Chaoyang. However, to meet Wang Chaoyang in person, we would need to find a way to leave Jing City for Yuzhou City. Naturally, we couldn't drive our own car at this point, but then I suddenly thought of someone who could help us travel quickly between the two cities.
I promptly found Zhao Mingkun and borrowed one of the sports cars from her garage. Zhao Mingkun disdainfully tossed me the keys and said, "Now you owe me a favor..."
I ignored Zhao Mingkun and hopped into the car without hesitation. Although it couldn't match the speed of a Bugatti Veyron, its performance was more than adequate. I drove the sports car straight to Yuzhou City and reached my destination in less than an hour. Mary arranged to meet Wang Chaoyang under her identity as part of the Special Investigation Team.
The moment we saw Wang Chaoyang, both Mary and I were stunned. This was the same child from years ago; his features were unmistakable. After all our searching, we had been going in circles within our own community. Of course, it was also because he had changed his nationality and name; otherwise, we wouldn't have struggled so much.
Sitting in Wang Chaoyang's office, we delicately recounted the story from back then. Wang Chaoyang chuckled self-deprecatingly before sharing what happened afterward.
Initially, doctors said he might have lost his ability to conceive, but that was based on Jing City's medical standards. During this time, Wang Chaoyang's parents never gave up searching for treatment options. So while their son self-studied at home, they sought out good doctors. Eventually, they learned that treatment might be possible in America and moved there fifteen years ago. That’s how Wang Chaoyang was easily cured before he became a man.
Wang Chaoyang had always harbored feelings about that incident, yet he never spoke of it, nor did he seek revenge. He simply considered it a moment when he was too young to understand, dismissing it as a nightmare. Of course, now that Wang Chaoyang had become the general manager of a branch company and was seen as a winner in the eyes of many, he would never stoop to such actions.
I knew my question was somewhat intrusive, but I couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't you speak much in class back then?"
Wang Chaoyang remained silent for a long time before finally responding, "People are inherently different. Some are naturally extroverted, while others are introverted. Those outgoing kids are often inexplicably liked by everyone. I, however, did not belong to that group."
"When I saw relatives, it wasn't fear; I just didn't want to talk to them. In the eyes of adults, that made me seem afraid," Wang Chaoyang explained. "Over time, I began to see myself as a weak person, someone useless. The more I stayed silent, the more they bullied me, and the less I wanted to speak. It became a vicious cycle."
I nodded in understanding.
Wang Chaoyang continued, "So my personality has been solitary since childhood. Especially after that incident, I often had nightmares. But those dark days have passed. I've never spoken about that incident with anyone; I don't know how you in the police found out or what you intend to do with that information. If you had asked me ten years ago, I certainly wouldn't have answered."
"But," Wang Chaoyang smiled at us and said, "a person can only truly love themselves by facing their reality—both strengths and weaknesses. Acceptance of one's true self is essential because I've come to realize that some people are participants in the world while others are mere observers."
"I am one of the latter," Wang Chaoyang stated. "Even though some call it Autism—a term I learned while in America."
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