Chapter Eighty-Eight: I Am a Private Detective

I told them to inform Zhou Sheng’s father that I had a way to find the killer. As expected, they could not make the decision themselves and went inside to report to Zhou Sheng’s parents. Before long, the door opened. A middle-aged man with slightly graying hair stood before me, his eyes red and swollen, clearly having just cried.

The moment he spoke, he asked who I was. Zhou Sheng’s father had a hoarse voice. I said it was inconvenient to talk there, and that I needed to go inside. He studied me from head to toe and hesitated. I gave a cold laugh, took the little ghost by the hand, and turned to leave. As expected, Zhou Sheng’s father grew anxious and called me back.

I got into the hotel room as I wished. It was spacious, with a sofa, and Zhou Sheng’s mother was sitting there, still crying. After I sat down, Zhou Sheng’s father asked again who I was. I did not hesitate. I told him I was a private detective from the harbor district.

He asked my name, and I told him directly. He shook his head and said he had never heard of it.

“Mr. Zhou, I’ve been in Capital City for many years. It’s only natural that you haven’t heard of me,” I said with a smile. “I’m sure you’ve already heard that this case is rather strange. You should know the police can’t be trusted.”

He had brought so many private detectives precisely because he did not trust the police in Capital City. He nodded and asked, “You’re so young. How do I know you’re reliable?”

I did not change expression. “The system on the mainland is different from the harbor district. The detectives you brought won’t be able to work freely here. I have enough connections in Capital City, and even the police have my people. If you trust me, I’ll help you. If you don’t, I’ll leave now.”

Zhou Sheng’s father thought for a while and asked how much I wanted. I waved it off and said he could give me whatever he thought appropriate after the matter was settled. I also said that since he was a businessman with some standing, he surely would not care about a little money. Perhaps that line worked. Zhou Sheng’s father agreed, and asked how I intended to investigate.

Very smoothly, I began questioning Zhou Sheng’s father. Whatever the police did not yet know, he told me first.

Just as the police had already found out, Zhou Sheng was good for nothing and had dropped out of school early. His father, busy with business, had never really disciplined him either. Yet after Zhou Sheng came of age, he showed not the slightest interest in his father’s enterprise, which had long troubled the older man.

At first, Zhou Sheng’s father would still beat and scold him, but later he had completely accepted the truth: Zhou Sheng was simply hopeless. So after that, he stopped paying much attention to him. Their family had enough money for Zhou Sheng to squander through several lifetimes. Zhou Sheng’s parents truly had not known he had come to Capital City this time.

His father told me that both he and Zhou Sheng’s mother were businessmen and usually extremely busy, while Zhou Sheng had moved out long ago to live on his own. He often went out to play, and it was perfectly normal for them not to hear from him for ten days or half a month. Counting the days, Zhou Sheng really had not contacted them for about ten days.

Just the night before, Zhou Sheng’s mother had even remarked that Zhou Sheng had not called them. So she called him, but no one answered. Not long after, they received a call from the police and hurried to Capital City. By that reckoning, when Zhou Sheng first arrived in Capital City, he had still been in contact with his parents.

But whether he was afraid of being scolded or feared worrying them, Zhou Sheng had not told his parents he had come to Capital City. When she said this, Zhou Sheng’s mother could not help crying again. That had been the last time Zhou Sheng spoke with them. According to them, his tone at the time had still sounded perfectly normal, cheerful and joking.

When I saw Zhou Sheng, he was not in that state. I was afraid that after coming to Capital City, something had happened to him and dealt him a blow, which was why he had become the way he was.

I asked Zhou Sheng’s parents whether he had shown any unusual behavior lately. They thought for a while but could not come up with anything.

I discovered that because Zhou Sheng’s parents had rarely spent time with him, they actually knew very little about him. Under my repeated probing, they finally remembered something. They told me that about two months ago, Zhou Sheng had suddenly told his father that he wanted to learn business.

It was rather absurd. In Zhou Sheng’s father’s eyes, Zhou Sheng’s sudden ambition was itself abnormal, which showed just how utterly idle and useless Zhou Sheng usually was. More than that, for that entire month afterward, Zhou Sheng had indeed been trying to learn how to do business. Thinking back, his father said that from that time on, Zhou Sheng had almost stopped going out to loaf around with his worthless friends.

But that situation lasted only a month. One day, Zhou Sheng suddenly vanished again. His father called him, and Zhou Sheng answered cheerfully, saying he had grown tired from studying and wanted to go have some fun and rest for a while. Zhou Sheng’s father was somewhat angry, but later he did not take it to heart, because he was already used to it.

What Zhou Sheng’s father had not expected was that Zhou Sheng would actually come to Capital City alone. Zhou Sheng had arrived in Capital City exactly one month ago.

I was reluctant to believe that a wastrel like Zhou Sheng had suddenly felt an urge to learn business on a whim. I suspected there was something else behind it.

“Anything else unusual?” I asked, turning my gaze to Zhou Sheng’s mother. Women tended to be more observant. Sure enough, she mentioned something that had happened long ago, though she said she did not know whether it counted as strange. Zhou Sheng’s father had already forgotten the incident she described.

It had happened at the dining table in a restaurant, the three of them eating together, about a year earlier.

While they were eating, Zhou Sheng suddenly asked them what kind of daughter-in-law they preferred.

Zhou Sheng’s mother remembered clearly why she had found it strange: Zhou Sheng was used to living freely, so by rights he should not have been thinking about marriage so early. Besides, at that time, he was still very young.

With this reminder, Zhou Sheng’s father also remembered. “I said she should be well matched in status.”

Zhou Sheng’s mother nodded. “And you also said she had to come from a respectable family.”

Zhou Sheng had entered society very early, and it was only natural that he had encountered many women from that world. Such a woman would never have been allowed through the Zhou family’s door. I asked whether Zhou Sheng had reacted afterward. Zhou Sheng’s mother shook her head and said she could not quite remember. In her impression, he had not shown any unusual reaction.

They told me quite a few more things, but nothing seemed especially strange. I told Zhou Sheng’s parents to wait patiently and not to use their own private detectives for the moment, so as not to draw the attention of the Capital City police. The systems were different; harbor-district detectives investigating here could easily run afoul of the police’s authority.

Zhou Sheng’s father seemed at the end of his rope and agreed. I told him not to mention me to the police, and he agreed to that too.

When I left with the little ghost, Zhou Sheng’s father even personally escorted me to the elevator.

When we got back to Luo Feng’s home, Luo Feng had already gone to sleep.

Thinking about the clues Zhou Sheng’s parents had given me, I gradually drifted off as well. Half-conscious, I heard a thunderous sound, and then a searing pain pierced my chest. I jerked awake and saw the little ghost holding a gun in her hand, while a large pool of blood had already poured from my chest.

The little ghost was crying, tears falling nonstop. She had bitten her lips until they were split open. Over and over, she was apologizing to me, and my consciousness slowly blurred away.

When I opened my eyes again, my whole body was drenched in cold sweat. It was another dream, the same dream. I had already dreamed it twice.

The little ghost had not awakened yet. She lay beside me, breathing evenly. Looking at her, I suddenly felt uneasy. Dreams come from the heart, and I did not know why I had dreamed twice in a row that she had shot me. Just as I was staring at her, the little ghost suddenly opened her eyes.

Our gazes met, and my heart tightened at once.

“Brother Fang Han,” the little ghost called softly.

I let out a breath, patted her head, and climbed out of bed.

Dawn was only just breaking when I received a call from Wang Yazhuo. She asked to meet, saying she had news about Xuan Yi.

After arranging a place, I took the little ghost and went out. Wang Yazhuo had chosen a quiet coffee shop. There were very few coffee shops in all of Capital City, so I found it easily.

By the time I met Wang Yazhuo, day had just fully broken.