I was fiddling with a 'human skin mask' in my room when Jiang Kexin knocked and came in. Seeing her expression was a bit off, I asked curiously, "What's up?"
"Hu Xiaoyu wants to know if you're a pervert or if you like her?"
"Neither. Why would I like her? I have a wife."
"Then why did you spend so much money buying her that kind of thing?"
I frowned helplessly. My thought was that since the girl was willing to accompany me on this dangerous venture, I might as well buy her the Tsunade transformation outfit she wanted. I hadn't expected it to lead to such a misunderstanding.
Jiang Kexin pouted. "Hu Xiaoyu's brain is waterlogged. She's an A-cup, so I can understand her wanting to transform into Tsunade. She said you must like her transformed appearance, and that's when I thought she was being ridiculous. What man likes a fake? Only girls who haven't experienced a man's touch would think that."
I was completely confused. "What A?"
"Cup size!"
What should have been a situation where the man benefited instead left me blushing furiously. I said awkwardly, "Let's just forget about it. If you have nothing else, don't get involved."
"How can we do that? We don't even know what the situation is with Sister Ying."
Hearing her say that, I put on the mask and asked Jiang Kexin, "What do you think?"
"The seam around the eyes is obviously fake!"
"The eyes need makeup. What about other aspects..."
"That's fake too!"
"What about from a distance?"
"You can't tell!"
"What if it's not someone you know?"
"You probably still can't tell."
"What if I were in the dim light of a nightclub?"
Jiang Kexin frowned. "It's convincing enough to pass for real. Wait, maybe we can find those few people. This 'human skin mask' cost fourteen or fifteen thousand, which isn't something ordinary people can afford. Plus, Hu Xiaoyu asked around the vendors. Even in Beijing, there aren't many shops that sell such realistic masks. They don't sell many in a month. If someone bought four at once, wouldn't the owner remember?"
Hearing Jiang Kexin say this, my eyes lit up. This girl actually had such an unknown side.
"You mean we can find these four people through this channel?"
"When you bought it, you swiped your card. If those four people also swiped their cards, then they're out of luck."
The children of rats will dig tunnels; this saying is absolutely true. Jiang Kexin is Wang Ren's daughter, and her mind is definitely extraordinary. Her method is called criminal profiling. Abroad, there's a specialized profession called a profiler. However, criminal profiling is much more complex than people imagine. Li Jiu also wrote in his sheepskin notebook that profiling requires multi-layered attribution, correlation, and speculation. He advised using it sparingly in strategic planning. This is because such guesswork is based on intuition formed over years of experience. If you don't have this ability, it's filled with errors and misinterpretations. Therefore, criminal profiling is at least 90% art and speculation, and the remaining 10% is science.
...
Regardless, I thought this was a feasible method. I had only proven that the four people were wearing masks. Jiang Kexin, however, thought of a way to find those four people through this channel.
I trusted her and relayed this method to Luo Bo. Luo Bo's information indicated that the mastermind who ordered those people to harm Yu Xiaoluo was a woman, but they didn't know what she looked like.
Since I provided this information, Luo Bo treated it as a clue for the case and passed it on to the criminal investigation team, with Captain Zhou of the criminal investigation team in charge of the investigation.
I was never quite clear on the distinction between the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Criminal Investigation Detachment. However, I understood one thing: the Criminal Investigation Bureau has a guiding role in major cases, and they can freeze bank deposits and even pursue criminals across borders. Although I had been to the Criminal Investigation Bureau many times, I was still unclear about the internal administrative structure.
For example, both Wang Zeyiy and Luo Bo were team leaders in a special task force, but Wang Zeyiy was a Police Superintendent, while Luo Bo was a Police Inspector. Furthermore, I knew that Luo Bo was a First-Class Police Inspector and Yu Xiaoluo was a Second-Class Police Inspector, but within the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Yu Xiaoluo clearly held a clerical position, and Luo Bo's authority should have been at the section chief level. As for Wang Zeyiy, he was truly powerful; he should have been a bureau-level official.
When Lin Han went missing, Director Wang Zeyiy had asked Captain Da Zhou from the Criminal Investigation Detachment to help me, and now Luo Bo had also entrusted Da Zhou. It seemed that in certain cases, the Criminal Investigation Bureau could not directly intervene.
However, Da Zhou was quite capable. There weren't many vendors in Beijing selling human skin masks. In Jiang Kexin's words, these people were truly unlucky. They bought four masks at once and paid by card. The police quickly found these four individuals through the card transaction information. These people frequented the Xizhimén area and were known troublemakers.
The person looking for them was Shi Ying, and they had identified this through profiling. However, neither Jiang Kexin nor I believed that Shi Ying was truly behind this. But based on the information we had obtained, Xizhimén had become a clue to finding Shi Ying.
"Sister Ying isn't a diligent person. She gets her manicures and skin treatments at nearby beauty salons. If we find where she gets her nails done, we might not be far from where she lives."
As Jiang Kexin spoke, she spread out a map and pointed to a street near Xizhimén. "There are many nail salons here, and they're quite famous. But Sister Ying definitely wouldn't be here."
"Why?"
"Beijing is quite large, and the circle of socialites isn't that big. If she bumped into someone she bought bags with here, it would be awkward. After all, Sister Ying's status is that of a mistress. She wouldn't want those gossips to know she lives nearby."
"If she avoids crowded areas, wouldn't that make her even harder to find?"
"Not necessarily. Besides beauty, women also need to eat. Sister Ying likes light meals, so she wouldn't travel too far to eat. Hangzhou cuisine or Cantonese cuisine would be good choices. If there's a beauty salon near the restaurant, that would be perfect. I know a good Hangzhou restaurant here, and it's not far from a beauty street, so there's a high probability of a beauty salon."
I knew that Jiang Kexin's judgment wasn't baseless; it was experience derived from her understanding of Shi Ying.
"Are there any luxury residences nearby?"
"Luxury residences?"
"Don't mistresses all live in luxury residences?"
"This is Xizhimén in Beijing. Wealthy businessmen from other regions wouldn't buy luxury residences here, just larger houses. Sister Ying has lived in a big house since she was young and dislikes dark corners. So, her house must be in a bright location. All-sun facing, new developments in Xizhimén, there shouldn't be many."
With the analysis mostly complete, Jiang Kexin took out a pen and circled two areas on the map. "These two neighborhoods, new developments, not many residents, bright sunlight, a Hangzhou restaurant nearby, and a trustworthy chain beauty salon. We might be able to get Sister Ying's address from their membership information."
"I'll contact Luo Bo right away."
Hearing me say this, Jiang Kexin stopped me and said sheepishly, "I'm just talking nonsense. I'm not even sure if this will actually work. Mom also said that criminal profiling is a last resort when there are no other options. Frankly, it's an art in criminal investigation."
I smiled. "If you're not sure, I'll go with you."
"Okay, let's go tomorrow."
"Not tomorrow. We've already wasted a day. If the Shi Ying we find is a fake, it means your Sister Ying is in danger."
"Then when do we go?"
"Now!"
We had just reached the doorway when we ran into Hu Xiaoyu. Seeing Hu Xiaoyu, I felt awkward. Jiang Kexin even covered her face. "Hu Xiaoyu, what are you doing?"
Hu Xiaoyu had put on the latex suit, mimicking Tsunade's figure. Tsunade's physique in the anime is indeed quite stunning, but on a real person, it looked a bit awkward.
"I just wanted Tang Nan to see if it fits."
Jiang Kexin was blunt. "You want to seduce him, don't you!" Hearing Jiang Kexin say this, Hu Xiaoyu's face turned red. "I don't."
"Alright, alright, Hu Xiaoyu, we're going to find Shi Ying. Do you want to come?"
"Yes, I drove here."
...
We drove towards the neighborhood Jiang Kexin had marked. Jiang Kexin sat in the passenger seat, and I sat in the back, watching Jiang Kexin appraise Hu Xiaoyu's exaggerated figure.
"Hu Xiaoyu, do you feel anything strange?"
"Yes, I felt something was a bit off while driving, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was."
"Isn't that strange enough? Your fake breasts are hitting the steering wheel."
"Jiang Kexin, if you don't want to sit, get out!"
...
We arrived nearby and found the beauty salon near the restaurant. The service staff was quite enthusiastic at first, but their attitude cooled down considerably when they heard we were looking for someone. They didn't want to provide useful information and just gave stock answers. However, I noticed one woman kept glancing at Hu Xiaoyu and then giving a subtle, disdainful smile. So, I bought two manicures and asked her to do them for me. Then I whispered a few words to Jiang Kexin.
Jiang Kexin and Hu Xiaoyu went to get their manicures. Soon, Jiang Kexin came out, holding an address. We called Hu Xiaoyu and left. Hu Xiaoyu was puzzled. "My nails aren't even done yet, why are we leaving?"
"Hu Xiaoyu, you've made a contribution. We've found Sister Ying."
"Me? What's going on?"