Night fell, and it poured with rain. Inside the Hechuan District Public Security Bureau by the river, the interrogation work regarding the events that occurred in the Wind Power Community the previous night had been going on for eighteen hours.
"That's all for now, Master Shuigang. You can go back. We'll contact you if anything comes up!" The door of the interrogation room opened, and a police officer, rubbing his eyes, saw Shuigang out.
"Cooperating with the police is the duty of all citizens!" Shuigang said with a smile, "You're the ones who are working the hardest!"
"We hope so..." The old police officer took the teacup but didn't drink it immediately. He frowned and carefully read Shuigang's interrogation record.
"Master, is there any problem? Everything Shuigang said checks out!" The officer asked curiously, seeing the old police officer frowning.
"It's too coincidental, and everything matches up, as if it were arranged in advance!" The old police officer shook his head and said to the officer beside him, "Left the community at 7:30, went to Old Hua's house opposite the south gate of the community to work. Get me Hua's record – what's his name again? Ah, Hua Jiren's record!"
Hearing his master's command, the officer beside him quickly found Hua Jiren's record from a stack of interrogation transcripts. "Because of rheumatism, he was lying in bed. At 7:40 in the afternoon, Shuigang, who had made an appointment, arrived and worked on fifteen parts in the outer room. I don't know when he left because they were too familiar with each other, so I went to sleep first!"
"Let's see Shuigang's – when he left the community, he chatted with the gatekeeper for a while. He arrived at Old Hua's shop around 8 o'clock. He first went inside to say hello, then worked on the parts in the outer room. He returned after 12 AM. On his way back, he had to help the security guard at the side gate of the community carry a bundle of steel pipes, the kind used for simple sunshades. The security guard had ordered them from Old Hua earlier. Carrying the steel pipes, he took a detour to the side gate. Before entering, he greeted the security guard. After entering, he placed the steel pipes at the door of the security room, then went back along the south side of Building B, and encountered..."
"Master, is there a problem?" the officer asked in a low voice.
"Send a copy of Shuigang's and Old Hua's records to the director and Captain Cheng. Also, tell Captain Cheng that old Yu Tou said to find a way to let that turtle, Ping'an, take a look. I think there's something wrong!" the old police officer said, tapping the table.
The lights in the Riverside District Public Security Bureau were bright, as if they were preparing to work through the night. At the foot of Lake Mountain, Ping'an was playing the guitar and singing, a rare sight.
However, his singing was too jarring, and it failed to attract anyone. Heidou hung a white cloth on the door of the RV and projected a movie. Those who didn't want to be subjected to Ping'an's singing were now sitting around the campfire, drinking juice and watching the movie.
"The lamb chops aren't great, and the singing god isn't great either. Oh, what are you going to do!" Ping'an sang for a while, seeing no one paying attention to him, he muttered to himself for a long time, put away his guitar, and quietly joined them.
"Boss, Captain Cheng just sent a message. Before dark, they searched around the lake and found some suspicious footprints in the eight o'clock direction. Besides footprints, there were also cane marks. It's likely a disabled person! Other than that, there's nothing else." Seeing Ping'an approach, Heidou silently came behind Ping'an and reported in a low voice, "Also, while you were sleeping this afternoon, another commercial vehicle arrived at the campsite. It looks like they're here for camping too. Currently, besides us, there are three other groups in this area. I just took a look. The two groups closest to the foot of the mountain are three students from the Academy of Fine Arts, sketching. They drive a Jinbei van. The other group is from the district flood control office. They don't have an RV, only a pickup truck. It looks like they're on shift rotation. They even came to borrow hot water from us just now. The remaining one is that commercial vehicle. No one has gotten out since it parked there. Captain Gao also noticed it and just told me—"
"Hmm? What did he say?" Ping'an asked, frowning.
"He said, he said they're here for night calls! Don't worry about it!" Heidou said sheepishly.
"Cough, cough, if that's the case, among the four groups, we are the most like campers, right?" Ping'an asked.
"Yes, especially after you started singing, we look even more like campers!" Heidou made a rare joke.
"Alright, what about the people across the way!" Ping'an's old face flushed, and he continued to ask.
"Besides the leader, Cheng Jian, the others work in eight-hour shifts. Two vehicles, eight people!" Heidou said.
"You brought signal jamming devices, night vision goggles, and the like, right?" Ping'an asked.
"We did!" Heidou said.
Ping'an didn't speak further. He looked down at the time on his phone and realized it was almost 9:30. After thinking for a moment, he reached out and tugged at Fei Keqing.
Fei Keqing looked back at Ping'an and nodded subtly.
"Alright, it's too cold at night, and the wind is strong!" Fei Keqing suddenly stood up forcefully, grabbed Su Tang and Jiao Zi's hands, and said, "Girls, back to the RVs. You two go take a bath, you got rained on during the day. After you're clean, you can continue watching in the RVs!"
"Godmother, it's not even ten o'clock yet!" Su Tang, who was engrossed in the movie, clearly didn't want to go back to the RV, but she was still pulled into the RV by Fei Keqing.
"I'll sleep in the RV with the girls tonight. The three of you can do as you please outside!" Fei Keqing said lightly before closing the door.
"Hey, you're closing the door already. At least let me wash up too! Don't you have plenty of water and electricity?" Gao Xiaofei deliberately patted the car door.
"You can wash tomorrow. The RV is full of girls, is it appropriate for you to come up!" Fei Keqing's loud voice shouted, and it seemed quite lively inside the RV—"Su Tang, go heat a pot of water. Jiao Zi, you go first. Auntie will scrub your back. You don't know, this rainwater is full of bacteria, it'll be itchy to death if you don't scrub! What are you embarrassed about, hurry and undress!"
The girls went into the RV, and the people outside became somewhat dejected. The rain outside the canopy became heavier, and it was chillingly cold inside the canopy. A gust of wind blew from the lake, passing through the canopy and chilling the people sitting inside to the bone.
"Heidou, bring that leftover lamb and grill it. It's too cold, and we have no food. It'll be a tough night!" Ping'an took a sip of hot water from his cup, his hands trembling as he spoke to Heidou.
"Alright, tell me, what exactly are you planning!" Gao Xiaofei took out a pullover from his backpack, didn't put it on, and just draped it over himself.
"Do you know when I was most scared last night?" Ping'an asked.
"When was that? I was almost killed by Spider-Man! I wasn't scared!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"That's different. Facing each other, that doesn't count!" Ping'an said, "When I accidentally discovered the peeping Tom on the opposite building, I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat!"
"Oh!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"When did he start peeping at us? Or rather, when did he start monitoring us! What's his purpose? Did he know before?" Ping'an asked.
"You always find these weird things!" Gao Xiaofei felt a bit uneasy after hearing Ping'an's words. He reached for the pistol at his waist, checked it, and put it back.
"You brought your weapon!" Ping'an quietly watched Gao Xiaofei fiddling with his pistol in the firelight.
"When you called me, I knew you were up to no good again!" Gao Xiaofei said, "Finding this godforsaken place, which looks like it has access everywhere but is actually like a sealed room – what are you having Fei Keqing look for on Jiao Zi?"
"You figured it out?" Ping'an looked at Gao Xiaofei in surprise, then suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly. Of course, Gao Xiaofei's intelligence was not lower than his own; people were just misled by his honest appearance.
"Fei Keqing, someone with such洁癖 (obsessive cleanliness), scrubbing Su Tang's back, I believe it. Scrubbing Jiao Zi, whom she met for the first time? How could she bring herself to do it?" Gao Xiaofei said.
"The unknown forces outside have harassed Jiao Zi several times. If they wanted to kill her, they would have done it long ago. Unless Jiao Zi has something they want!" Ping'an took the lamb skewers handed by Heidou and placed them on the iron rack of the campfire to slowly roast.
"I understand that, but what about Lake Mountain? It's too obvious! There are several wind turbines of the wind power company on this mountain. During the initial investigation yesterday, I already found the photo of the giant drone you hid in your phone. I know that drone is specially made, used by the wind power company to inspect wind turbines. The company's maintenance department only has two, and they've always been there!"
"Hmm? Do the police have any new information?" Ping'an squinted at Gao Xiaofei.
"I can't stand seeing you like this. If you have something hidden, we have to tell you what we know!" Gao Xiaofei said discontentedly, "Although the two active duty units are here, the only prototype unit is missing! Based on the pair of mechanical claws Liu Kedou took back, it was from that prototype unit!"
"Where was it lost? How was it lost?" Ping'an asked, frowning.
"Lai Xiang and the others are investigating. They'll tell me if anything comes up!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"What do you think about what happened between the night before yesterday and the early morning yesterday?" Ping'an asked.
"It feels a bit like a mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," Gao Xiaofei took a few lamb skewers from Ping'an, gave some to Heidou, and then took a big bite.
"Continue," Ping'an listened intently without eating.
"I feel that the shadowy figure, Spider-Man, oh, the young man named Han Xiao, and the drone, these three might not know about each other, or at least one of them knows the actions of the other one or the other two," Gao Xiaofei said a string of tongue twisters, then took a sip of hot water and continued, "If we analyze their objectives, the drone was looking for Jiao Zi. The floors Spider-Man climbed included both the deceased Wang Huan'an and Jiao Zi. The shadowy figure peeping from the opposite building might be Spider-Man's helper—helping him monitor and direct his actions from afar. However, we found no communication devices on Han Xiao's body, so we ruled out the possibility of cooperation between Han Xiao and the shadowy figure. From the fact that the shadowy figure risked being caught to kill Han Xiao, the shadowy figure's prey was most likely Han Xiao."
"Continue," Ping'an nodded seriously.
"Han Xiao's ultimate goal in climbing the floors in danger couldn't have been Jiao Zi or Wang Huan'an, because he had other ways to get there. There was no need for such an extreme and dangerous method," Gao Xiaofei said, "Ping'an, think about it, what's the point of climbing the floors?"
"Could it be the drone?" Ping'an said.
"Is it impossible?" Gao Xiaofei said with some excitement, "Almost as soon as the drone appeared, Han Xiao appeared outside my window. Moreover, after examining Han Xiao's belongings, we found a small fishing net in his pocket. I don't need to tell you what that's for, right!"
"Han Xiao wanted to catch the drone? Why?" Ping'an asked.
"Don't interrupt—I'll tell you, we thoroughly inspected Building B yesterday and found 25 climbing spikes on the entire building, and several bundles of rope hidden on the air conditioners outside the building. This is not the work of a single day; it means Han Xiao had been preparing for many days!"
"Any other discoveries?" Ping'an asked.
"Yesterday afternoon, a resident on the 15th floor of Unit 1 of Building B reported that someone had entered their home. This family had been away for the past few days. After we went to their house, we found traces of someone climbing out the window on the balcony, indicating that Han Xiao exited from this resident's home." Gao Xiaofei said, "Furthermore, according to our investigation, Han Xiao has been working for an air conditioning company since the summer vacation, specifically responsible for installing air conditioners in the Wind Power Community. The rest, you probably know!"
Han Xiao was a member of the peeping gang and participated in the rape of Wang Huan'an. But what was the connection between the peeping gang and the drone? Was the shadowy figure the killer of the peeping gang? But why did he kill the peeping gang? Was there a case within a case? Did the peeping gang discover something else while peeping at Wang Huan'an?
"Are there any other characteristics of Han Xiao?" Ping'an asked.
"He was sunny, humorous, and had good grades at school, a scholarship recipient. Several female classmates explicitly liked him; he was filial and obedient at home, working part-time early on; he loved extreme sports, skateboarding, rock climbing, tightrope walking, hehe, and he was quite kind-hearted, often participating in some public welfare activities..." Gao Xiaofei said, "In short, he was the kind of 'child from someone else's family'."
"Such an excellent child, why would he associate with Zhang Ziteng, Wang Shun, and that group?" Ping'an muttered to himself.
"Alas! On the chain of evidence, there is no evidence to prove that the four of them knew each other and formed a peeping gang in a de facto sense!" Gao Xiaofei disliked Ping'an's imprecise thinking. Although logically and inferentially it could be determined, without evidence, nothing was convincing.
The pleasant discussion ended here. The two, unable to agree, fell silent. Heidou, long accustomed to this, took out his phone and played Snake boredly. From the RV, Su Tang's cries of pain from being scrubbed were heard intermittently.
"Splash!" The RV door opened, and Fei Keqing came out, sweating.
"You guessed right. Jiao Zi has a shallow row of neat needle marks, from the tailbone to the left waist, along the cervical spine from top to bottom, indicating injection or extraction. It hasn't been too long, within a month at most." Fei Keqing said with a serious expression, speaking quietly to Ping'an and the others.
"Anything else?" Ping'an asked.
"Everything is normal. Her body looks very healthy, not like she's sick!" Fei Keqing said.
"Everyone has scars, it's not a big deal, but that row of needle marks—could it be related to Jiao Zi's recent neurasthenia and auditory hallucinations?" Ping'an said.
"I know a neurologist. I can arrange an examination," Fei Keqing said after thinking for a moment, "Should we notify Jiao Zi's parents?"
"Not for now. By the way, you might not know, Jiao Zi is adopted; she is not the biological child of Yang Jie and Liao Yuan." Ping'an said, "This information seems very important now, because I discovered someone is maliciously concealing this news."
"Password 563743675"
"How dramatic! Could all of this be related to Jiao Zi's background?" Fei Keqing suddenly became excited.
"I can't say. We have limited time. Please contact that expert. I want to have a comprehensive examination of Jiao Zi before this camping trip ends," Ping'an said, "Regarding Jiao Zi, apart from her background, it's better to tell the truth about other things. That girl is not as foolishly sweet as she appears; she's quite cunning."
The campfire flames grew smaller and smaller. Fei Keqing had gone to rest in the RV. Heidou volunteered to keep watch, but Ping'an kicked him into a tent. Then he stuffed the unwilling Gao Xiaofei into another tent. Ping'an himself got into another tent.
"The surveillance cameras in the RV are all on. If we don't sleep, will they dare to act?" Ping'an said quietly to the tent.
The night grew deeper, and the rain gradually lessened.
The tall Lake Mountain, at this moment, resembled an isolated island, shrouded in mist and rain, making it impossible to see the outside clearly. The outside night couldn't see the inside clearly.
Just past 1 AM, the quiet lake surface was suddenly stirred by a small vortex from a high-pressure airflow. A huge drone, flashing a red signal light, flew close to the lake water, quietly heading towards the campsite at the foot of Lake Mountain.
In the tent, Ping'an's snores rose and fell, while Heidou and Gao Xiaofei in the adjacent tent simultaneously opened their eyes. The sensitive Heidou had even put his hand into his gun holster.
"Quietly, reach into the next tent and get the surveillance laptop—and, Heidou, you're touching my gun!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"Hehe, my apologies, Brother Fei!" Heidou quietly extended an arm and forcefully pushed Ping'an, who was sleeping in another tent.
"What?" Ping'an slept very lightly and woke up when pushed.
"There's movement outside!" Heidou said cautiously.
"Riiiiip!" A sound of tent fabric being pulled open came, and Ping'an quietly squeezed into the adjacent tent from his own.
"It actually appeared! Don't turn on the lights, cover yourself with a blanket, and pretend to be asleep!" Ping'an signaled Heidou, who was about to turn on the flashlight, "Notify the guys across the shore to prepare for the capture! The person isn't important, but this thing has cast a huge shadow on me. We must take it down tonight!"
Through the surveillance footage on the laptop, Ping'an and the others discovered that a drone was quietly circling in the 12 o'clock direction of their campsite.
"How far is this thing from us? How far can the jamming gun reach?" Ping'an asked.
"If this drone is on the 5.8g frequency, combined with the rainy weather, eight hundred meters is no problem!" Heidou said, "The drone is very vigilant, and it's only about five hundred meters away from us now!"
"This isn't Jiao Zi's house. What is the drone planning to do? Flip my RV?" Ping'an said with a hint of amusement.
"They don't know that, maybe they think Jiao Zi is in the tent!" Gao Xiaofei said, "Knowing this is a trap, and still coming to join the fun, I'll take this big thing!"
At the same time, Cheng Jian, who had received Heidou's signal, also began a full-scale operation, mobilizing all forces deployed around the lake. After finding the drone operator, they would coordinate with Heidou.
"Password 563743675"
"Are we being too obvious? This drone actually dares to come!" Seeing the prey approaching, Ping'an felt uneasy. He suddenly said to Heidou, "Notify Cheng Jian and ask the wind power company if they sent out any drones to inspect wind turbines tonight! Could the one outside be a machine from their company!"
"Got it!" Heidou agreed and quickly lowered his head to send a text message.
"No, that's not right!" Gao Xiaofei, who had been watching the monitor, suddenly said to Ping'an, "This drone doesn't have big claws, but look at its front end, there's a cone-shaped object like a horn. What is that? Is the drone wearing a mask?"
"Let me see!" Ping'an's unease grew, and he took the laptop to look.
Outside the tent, the huge drone had actually not taken any further action, merely flying in circles around the RV where Ping'an was located.
"It's flying so openly?" Ping'an grinned and asked Heidou beside him, "Is it provocative?"
"It doesn't seem like it. It looks like it's trying to convey some information to us?" Heidou said thoughtfully after watching for a long time.
"Conveying? Information? A horn?" In a flash of inspiration, Ping'an suddenly thought of a possibility—"Heidou, Xiaofei! It's bad, hurry up and act! Shoot down the drone for me, shoot it down now!"
In the tent, the three big men scrambled out in a panic, but the tent opening was too small, only one could get out at a time. These three men pushed and pulled, and it took a long time for them to get out.
The commotion in the tent finally woke up the people in the RV.
"Splash!" The RV door opened, and Fei Keqing, wrapped in a blanket, walked out cautiously. Behind her, Su Tang and Jiao Zi also nervously held hands and peered out.
"The drone is here! Drive back!" Ping'an, who had already managed to crawl halfway out, shouted, no longer caring about concealment.
"I'll go see what that drone that's been bullying me three times looks like!" Upon hearing that the drone was here, Jiao Zi, who had been hiding at the innermost part of the RV, suddenly let go of Su Tang's hand and rushed out from under the canopy, completely exposed to the drone's surveillance view.
"Pull Jiao Zi back!" Ping'an shouted desperately. Fei Keqing, who had just realized what was happening, quickly ran out.
But it was too late!
The moment the drone spotted Jiao Zi, it stopped moving and circled brazenly in the air. A strong beam of light shot down from the drone, illuminating Jiao Zi.
"Yang Jiao, you are adopted, your current adoptive parents are trying to kill you!"
"Yang Jiao, you are adopted, your current adoptive parents are trying to kill you!"
"Yang Jiao, you are adopted, your current adoptive parents are trying to kill you!"
...
"Tower Read~ Novel App, completely open source The drone's loudspeaker began to broadcast! Although it was only one sentence, it was enough! Because this one sentence was enough to push Jiao Zi into the abyss! This sentence was played repeatedly. Jiao Zi heard it, Fei Keqing, who had run out, heard it, Ping'an, who had crawled out of the tent, heard it, and Cheng Jian, who had rushed over from the opposite bank to provide support, heard it... Kuai Shu Ge The commercial vehicle, which had been silent all day, finally had someone come out. Zhan Dou, with an excited expression, walked up to Ping'an, holding his phone and filming. "So this is the real inside story! Ping'an, do you know that 12 hours ago, the chairman of the Wind Power Group, Liao Yuan's father, officially transferred some of his shares to Jiao Zi through his legal department. Tsk tsk! No wonder! What case, what case, it's all about money. The adoptive parents are forcing their adopted daughter to go crazy for money and shares! Are they controlling the shares with guardianship? Hahaha! So dirty! So dirty!" Zhan Dou was very excited. Ping'an remained indifferent, looking at Jiao Zi in the rain, and sighed. "Well, you're Zhan Dou, the one who wrote articles slandering me?" Gao Xiaofei took a few steps forward, grabbed Zhan Dou's collar, and before he could speak, landed a heavy punch to his face.