“Sent by Meng Fushan?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“No idea. It’s an overseas number, so it’s mostly a scam…” Ji Xun said sluggishly.
Huo Ranyin cast a sidelong glance at Ji Xun.
“Alright, all joking aside,” Ji Xun said. “But does an anonymous text necessarily mean it was sent by Meng Fushan? There’s no logical basis for that either.”
“The text mentioned Chen Jiashu,” Huo Ranyin pointed out.
“Meng Fushan certainly knows about Chen Jiashu,” Ji Xun shrugged. “But Chen Jiashu isn’t exactly some top-secret figure. Meng Fushan isn’t the only one who knows about him.”
“Are you just being contrarian for the sake of it?”
“Officer Huo, don’t let prejudice cloud your judgment. Don’t always assume I’m shielding Meng Fushan—though I suppose it’s possible I might, I wouldn’t do it right under your nose in such a clumsy manner. You can question my stance, but at least have some faith in my IQ,” Ji Xun said. “Think about it carefully. I’ve encountered this exact format more than once, and you’ve seen it before too.”
Huo Ranyin knitted his brows for a moment, a sudden flash of insight striking his mind.
“The MP4 player.”
Ji Xun snapped his fingers. “Back when we were working on Tang Jinglong’s case, Tang Jinglong received a bouquet of flowers. A swarm of bees crawled out of those flowers, triggering his allergies, and among the bees was an MP4 player. There was a synthesized voice recording inside that MP4 player saying, ‘Trust me.’“
Huo Ranyin realized where Ji Xun’s train of thought was heading.
“You’re suggesting that the previous MP4 player and this current anonymous text were sent to you by the same person…”
“And the person who sent them to me is within the police force,” Ji Xun chimed in. “Otherwise, it’s impossible to explain how they knew about Tang Jinglong’s bee allergy, nor can it explain how they know we are currently focusing our investigation on Chen Jiashu.”
Ji Xun’s finger tapped on the word “Source” on the screen. He let out an intrigued smile.
“See? They are correcting our investigative approach.”
The white tiled surface of the countertop reflected the sky. As the distant mountains swallowed the last remaining afterglow of the setting sun, the maidenly blush on the white surface also reached its end, leaving behind nothing but a cold, stark pallor.
“Your analysis makes sense.” Within a brief span of time, Huo Ranyin had rapidly shifted his perspective. “But you’ve only analyzed the possibility of this text coming from within the police force; you haven’t ruled out the possibility that it was sent by Meng Fushan.”
“That’s what I was about to say next. My reason for ruling out Meng Fushan is very simple.” Ji Xun waved his phone. “Why would Meng Fushan send me a pointless text? He’s a man who acts with a specific purpose.”
“…You’ve never believed that Chen Jiashu is the source.”
“Of course not. Chen Jiashu might be involved, but he is absolutely not the source.”
“And your reason?”
“My sister.” The kitchen lights weren’t turned on. In the dim surroundings, the cold glow of the phone screen illuminated Ji Xun’s lowered face, casting a frosty shade over his features. “Ji Yu had a heart transplant when she was young, around the time she was seven years old.”
Ji Yu was born in ’92, so seven years old meant 1999.
“Chen Jiashu is in the pharmaceutical factory business and has smuggling channels. But he didn’t start out running pharmaceutical factories and smuggling from the very beginning. Chen Jiashu is a self-made man. Judging by the trajectory of how he amassed his fortune, during the ten-year period from age 25 to 32, he was entirely in the construction and real estate business. To put it bluntly, he gathered a bunch of thugs to pick fights, stir up brawls, and seize territory everywhere. Does a construction contractor truly have the energy and channels to cross over into the medical industry, manipulate heart sources, and buy off doctors?”
“Chen Jiashu…” Ji Xun spoke slowly, “doesn’t fit my image of this person.”
“In your imagination, what kind of person is he?” Huo Ranyin asked.
Ji Xun closed his eyes.
Everything turned pitch-black before him. Deep within the darkness, something resembling sludge surged and boiled, bursting with foul bubbles, forming the shape of a person he had never seen, yet had pondered over repeatedly for a very long time.
“He’s old,” Ji Xun said softly. “He probably has a head full of white hair, maybe an amiable demeanor, or perhaps he looks decrepit and old. But all of these are merely a layer of skin and mimicry—a facade put on to adapt to society and universal values. He is malicious. Far more malicious than in the past. He lacks the reckless impulse of youth, but has become increasingly calculating and shrewd. He possesses a vibrant spirit; whether awake or asleep, he is always thinking about how to maintain his criminal empire. The larger his domain grows, the more henchmen he gathers under his command. They aren’t just distributed across Ning City, but also in Qin City, and even more places we haven’t unearthed… The police think they’ve investigated everything, but what they’ve uncovered is merely the tip of the iceberg…”
Ji Xun opened his eyes. He said coldly, “He is not Chen Jiashu. I’m afraid Chen Jiashu isn’t even worthy of being him.”
“But all of that is a matter for later,” Ji Xun said. He lit up his darkened phone once more, allowing the text message from the overseas number to register in both their eyes again. “What I’m curious about right now is why this colleague of ours knows that Chen Jiashu isn’t the source.”
The lights in the room were switched on. The two walked from the kitchen into the living room.
“Who are you?”
“That is not important.”
Within a relatively short time, the other party replied.
They’re willing to communicate? Ji Xun was somewhat surprised. His fingers rapidly tapped across the keyboard, sending a new message.
“Why isn’t Chen Jiashu the source? Who is the source?”
“As for who the source is, that requires you to investigate. It is blatantly obvious that Chen Jiashu isn’t the source. Even if the case in Ning City can be pinned on him, what about Fu Baoxin’s case in Qin City?”
They even knew about Qin City. This pair of eyes hidden in the dark seemed to endlessly monitor his every word and action.
It was truly spine-chilling.
However, amidst the chilling dread, even more clues surfaced—so many that the faint suspicion in Ji Xun’s heart was beginning to settle into a certainty.
“The case of Fu Baoxin in Qin City can also be linked,” Ji Xun wrote. “The police found Chen Jiashu’s smuggled pharmaceuticals in the warehouse that exploded at the port.”
“If you keep investigating along this line of Chen Jiashu, you will regret it.”
“It’s plain to see that you are highly invested in this matter.”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“True. I am only concerned with the inside scoop you’re still hiding. It looks like you have channels of information that the police don’t possess.”
“When it is time for you to know, I will naturally tell you.”
“My apologies, but I think right now happens to be the time for you to tell me. After all, if you say nothing, the police have no way to investigate…” Ji Xun typed out the name: “Hu Yuan.”
Once this message was sent, a long silence ensued from the other side.
Huo Ranyin asked him, “Are you certain it’s her?”
Ji Xun tossed his phone aside. “Nine times out of ten. When Hu Yuan was just transferred here, it happened to be exactly when I was investigating Tang Jinglong, and that’s when the MP4 player appeared. Over in Qin City, Hu Yuan was present as well. Hu Kun had the Mazu statue in his possession, which is also inextricably linked to the profit chain of this organ trade. Hu Yuan is Hu Kun’s granddaughter and lived with him for a very long time. During her upbringing, she likely discovered quite a few things… many things that we don’t know and haven’t investigated yet.”
“Will she admit to it?”
“I think she will.” Ji Xun’s fingertip tapped the screen. “She seems even more anxious than we are.”
As if in response to Ji Xun’s words, the phone on the table lit up, and a new text message arrived.
This time, the text message read:
“Time, location.”
Hu Yuan was asking to meet them.
