Everyone looked at me in surprise as I slowly explained, "The evidence we have right now is the ring, cigarette butt and the tire marks. Because the jewelry store’s system has been updated, we can’t prove that the ring belonged to Xu Zhipeng. Even if Lang Jun's DNA is on the cigarette butt, it can only prove that he was there that night but that alone doesn’t prove any relation to this case, and the same is true for the tire marks. Besides, all our current discussions are based on Ding Xu's statement and have no legal basis."

My remarks poured a bucket of cold water on these gung ho officers. This case was a challenge despite the information we had. We locked in on the suspects but were still a long way from solving the case.

Xiaotao took a deep breath, "In this case, let's stay put and locate Lang Jun first. We’ll slowly look for evidence related to the murder."

After the meeting, Xiaotao asked if I had anything, to which I replied, "There’s not much for me to do. I’ll go back to school and play some League of Legends and maybe take a nap later."

"Sigh, your life sounds so carefree,” said Xiaotao, her voice filled with envy. “I wish I could switch places with you."

"I’m just kidding,” I laughed. “Would I really leave you with all the work? I previously asked Lao Yao to go through Ding Xu’s chat records so he might have found something by now... "

At the thought of being molested by Lao Yao in every possible way, I almost dreaded going alone but it was too much to ask for Xiaotao’s company over such a small matter.

"Do you have any insight on this case?" asked Xiaotao.

"I still need something to tie it all together,” I explained. “I think we can start with Ding Xu."

"Didn't you just say his words have no legal basis?" she queried.

“That’s exactly why I'm trying to find some sort of correlation that will render his words admissible. Here’s what I think–maybe he was not possessed by a ghost at all, but was an eyewitness of the events from that year?"

After our brief conversation, we parted ways and I headed back to school. Dali had been missing all morning. I called him, hoping he could accompany me on my visit to Lao Yao’s dormitory. Being in a room alone with him was more tormenting than having my skin peeled.

Dali returned cheerfully, "Guess who I had breakfast with today!"

"Luo Youyou?"

“Bingo!” Dali burst out laughing. “I talked to her all morning... although our subject revolved around you. But at least we had a common topic."

"Damn it!” I frowned. “You didn't run your mouth off about me solving crimes, did you?"

Dali’s answer made me dizzy with exasperation. "Well, I only spoke the truth!"

"I've told you a million times. Don't talk about the cases!” I rebuked. “Can't you talk about poetry or something else?"

Dali's habit of gossiping annoyed me to no end. There were already many "legends" regarding my crime-solving circulating in school, such as me seducing a female killer and taking her virginity, or blocking a hostage from submachine gunshots, or taking drugs in order to break into a criminal syndicate.

No matter how strictly confidential the case was, word would eventually get out and people would always form speculations or create rumors. However, as a party to these rumors, I was obviously perturbed.

When we arrived at Lao Yao's dormitory, we saw him squatting on his chair like a monkey, engrossed in a game of PUBG. "Have you found anything?" I asked.

"I did but I’m not quite sure if it’s what you’re looking for," he drawled.

"Let me have a look!"

"Wait a minute,” Lao Yao waved his hand. “Watch me slaughter these sons of bitches!"

After saying that he pressed the F1 key and the whole screen exploded at once, killing his opponent in seconds. It turned out that this was a plugin to win the game that Lao Yao had written himself and was currently testing out. "So these plugins were created by cheats like you!" I condemned.

"We must use what we have learned to benefit society,” chuckled Lao Yao. “It’s essentially the same as what you’re doing. All right, you can see for yourself now!"

Lao Yao kept the chat records in a document. It was between Ding Xu and a girl named "Hannya.” The date of their chat was about two years ago; the last conversation was the day before the case occurred and the time coincided.

I quickly read through their conversation. In the beginning, the two talked about celebrities and delicious food. Later on, Hannya began to reveal her personal life. She said that she was taken care of by a rich "Domineering-gege,” whom she really liked. However, her identity meant that she would eventually betray him. Torn between her choices, the contradictions in her heart were revealed between the lines.

Hannya, who claimed to be Qiu Wanxia, explained that she would soon complete her task and leave her Domineering-gege. She was rather reluctant and wanted to come clean but Ding Xu advised her not to do anything foolish.

Ding Xu eventually expressed his hope to become her support and begged her not to participate in such dangerous situations again but Qiu Wanxia resolutely refused him.

In their last conversation, Qiu Wanxia wrote, "Goodbye!" Ding Xu sent many such messages–"Where are you? I’m going to look for you!"–but they all went unanswered.

I tried to picture the events that transpired afterwards. Qiu Wanxia probably confessed everything to Lang Jun who tortured her in anger and killed her. From Ding Xu's standpoint, this would’ve been the conclusion he arrived at.

"Can you pinpoint a person’s location from QQ?" I asked Lao Yao.

After a moment’s contemplation, Lao Yao nodded, "Yes, for the new version after 2014."

When I thanked him for the hard work, Lao Yao stopped me and hinted, "Just a thank you? Isn’t there any material reward?" He arched his eyebrows with an obscene look in his eyes.

"Sell me that plugin," I said.

“I didn’t know you played PUBG as well!” Lao Yao was pleasantly surprised. "I’ll give you a special price: 200 yuan!"

I paid him and received the plugin on the spot. Grabbing a U disk, I downloaded the plugin and sneered, "According to China’s internet laws, it’s illegal to develop and sell plugins. I’ve caught you red-handed. So tell me, do you still want a reward?"

Lao Yao stared wide-eyed at me, having never expected this move. "You’re evil!" he cried.

After all the flirting he’d done, I finally managed to get back at him. I left his dormitory feeling pleased with myself.

The chats between Ding Xu and Hannya proved that Ding Xu had been a bystander the entire time so what he stated was based on facts.

Xiaotao made good progress as well. When I arrived at the station in the afternoon, she had already found more important clues. It turned out that Lang Jun and Xu Zhipeng were business partners two years ago. Lang Jun held 40% of the company's shares while Xu Zhipeng owned 20%. Later on, Lang Jun suddenly gave up his shares to Xu Zhipeng. Interestingly enough, the contract was signed on the same day as the murder.

So far, we had a clear outline of the case. Xu Zhipeng sent a commercial spy to spy on Lang Jun two years ago and the girl fell in love with Lang Jun, confessing everything. After that, Lang Jun killed her in a fit of pique.

Xu Zhipeng then used the incident to blackmail and force Lang Jun to transfer his shares to him so Xu Zhipeng became the owner of the company.

However, there was still one thing that remained unexplained–the ring in the victim’s hand. My intuition told me that the presence of the ring was an element that might overturn everything.

"By the way, Xu Zhipeng is going to a charity dinner tonight,” said Xiaotao. “Shall we pay him another visit?"

As soon as I heard that it was a formal occasion, I felt a headache coming on. "Don’t we need an invitation or something?"

Xiaotao took out a letter of assistance signed by the director himself. "Do you think this ‘invitation’ holds enough weight?" she smiled.