Ever since the incident that night, Su Tang had called Jiao Zi countless times, but Jiao Zi didn't answer any of them and didn't reply to her WeChat messages. She had seemingly disappeared.
Although they weren't best friends yet, they were classmates who had gone through hardship together. Su Tang had been very worried about Jiao Zi for the past few days, but her master's watch was strict, and she herself had been grounded, so she hadn't seen Jiao Zi again.
Taking the elevator to the top floor, Jiao Zi's apartment door was the same as before. Su Tang looked at the door, feeling a little awkward.
"Don't be afraid, we're with you this time. What are you worried about?" Her master patted Su Tang's shoulder and comforted her.
Pressing the doorbell, the door opened quickly.
It was Liao Yuan who opened the door.
"We met this morning and saw each other again this afternoon. What a coincidence!" Ping An said with a smile.
"Knowing that Reporter Ping An was coming, I had to wait for you this afternoon to see you. Not only me, but Old Yang also told me to call him back!" Liao Yuan warmly welcomed Ping An and his group.
The familiar living room, the familiar Jiao Zi's parents, even the dog came to rub against Su Tang's feet. The only one missing was Jiao Zi.
"Uncle, Aunt, is Jiao Zi not home?" Su Tang asked.
"She is, she is, she's in her bedroom!" Yang Jie said with some sadness. "This child was frightened and hasn't been willing to come downstairs for a while. She stays in her bedroom every day!"
"Can I go see her?" Su Tang asked.
"Go, go!" Yang Jie even wiped away tears, while Liao Yuan remained indifferent.
Su Tang hurried upstairs to Jiao Zi's room.
The door was not closed. Su Tang pushed it open and saw Jiao Zi sitting on the bed in her pajamas, staring blankly.
"Jiao Zi?" Su Tang stood at the door and called out softly.
"Su Tang? Su Tang!" Jiao Zi looked at Su Tang standing before her in disbelief. After hesitating for two or three seconds, she suddenly jumped off the bed and hugged her.
"Su Tang, I missed you so much! I couldn't find you, I, I've been grounded, and my phone was confiscated!" Jiao Zi sobbed.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here to see you now!" Su Tang comforted her.
"Su Tang, if one day I find out I've become crazy, will you dislike me?" Jiao Zi suddenly asked.
"What? What happened! How could you become crazy?" Su Tang said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Really, really. Ever since the last incident, I've found that my dad seems more like my mom, and my mom seems more like my dad... I don't seem like their daughter, but like..." Jiao Zi's frightened expression made Su Tang's heart skip a beat.
"Like what?" Su Tang asked urgently.
"A hostage!" Jiao Zi whispered.
In the living room downstairs, Ping An was listening to Yang Jie recount his daughter's changes.
"I found that after that night, my Jiao Zi seemed to have been mentally traumatized, a little, a little..." Yang Jie stammered.
"A little mentally disturbed!" Liao Yuan finished her husband's sentence.
"That's impossible, right?" Ping An and Gao Xiaofei exchanged glances, saying in disbelief.
"Alas, who would want it to be! But, but! Sob sob!" Liao Yuan, who had been pretending to be calm, seemed unable to hold back any longer and burst into tears in her husband's arms.
"The child has been acting strange lately, insisting that I, her father, should be her mother, and her mother should be her father!" Yang Jie said helplessly.
"We suspect this child has delusional disorder. We've consulted a psychologist, and the doctor said it's some kind of trauma syndrome. She always feels like someone is trying to harm her!" Liao Yuan said. "These past few days, even we, her parents, have begun to doubt her. She insists we're holding her hostage—oh, last time, for safety, we did confiscate her phone and ground her—but, Reporter Ping An, can't we parents do that?"
Ping An looked at Liao Yuan with some embarrassment. In fact, he had also arbitrarily grounded Su Tang, but why didn't Su Tang have any sequelae? Or had the problem not yet manifested?
The living room downstairs fell into an awkward silence. The couple lowered their heads and said nothing. Ping An's mind was racing. Only Gao Xiaofei, holding a small notebook, was anxiously waiting to go upstairs to survey the scene. In his opinion, as long as the child wasn't physically ill, a beating would solve it. If that didn't work, two beatings would surely make her obedient. All this talk of sequelae and syndromes was nonsense...
For Jiao Zi, if everything could go back to how it was, she wouldn't complain even if she were beaten ten times. However, her clear eyes told her that she didn't have any symptoms. Although the encounter that night had scared her, she wasn't so traumatized that she couldn't recover from it.
"Su Tang, you know, a few days ago, I was sleeping alone in bed. I was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk or get out of bed. My dad came into my bedroom to see me, and I pretended to be asleep!" Jiao Zi said in a low voice. "I can be sure I wasn't asleep, I was pretending!"
"Mm! I believe you. And then?" Su Tang asked nervously.
"Then, then a bizarre scene unfolded—the me who was pretending to sleep on the bed clearly heard my dad crying and muttering: 'I'm sorry, my daughter, it's my fault as your mother for not taking good care of you...'" The summer heat was scorching, but Jiao Zi's bedroom had no air conditioning. Su Tang, however, felt a chill.
"At that time, I thought I misheard. When I continued to listen, my mom came upstairs. She whispered to my dad, 'Don't cry. I'll keep a close eye on this girl. We'll tie her to our side, whether she lives or dies, she's ours...'" Jiao Zi said. "I've never heard my mom speak in such a condescending tone. Where was her gentleness? Her thoughtfulness? Why did they change like this? Or was I not pretending to sleep then, but really asleep? Or even more so, was I really sick, mentally ill, with delusional disorder?"
Su Tang looked at the crying Jiao Zi, her mind blank. She couldn't figure out what had happened to Jiao Zi.
"Su Tang!" Just as Su Tang didn't know how to comfort Jiao Zi, Gao Xiaofei's voice came from downstairs.
"We're going up to survey the scene. Please have Jiao Zi step aside!" Ping An's voice also came from outside.
Hearing this, Jiao Zi obediently put on her coat, wiped her tears, and even nudged the dazed Su Tang, signaling her to reply.
"Got it! You guys come up!" Su Tang, seeing Jiao Zi's changed expression, replied hastily in surprise.
Jiao Zi's bedroom door opened, and Ping An, Gao Xiaofei, and Jiao Zi's parents filed in.
"Hello, Uncle Ping An. Hello, Captain Gao!" The well-behaved Jiao Zi, as if she had become a different person, greeted everyone with a smile.
"Jiao Zi, you go downstairs first. Uncle will be doing some things here," Liao Yuan said gently.
"No need, we'll be done soon," Ping An waved his hand, walked to Jiao Zi's side, looked at her carefully for a long time, and said slowly, "Moreover, I have some questions I'd like to ask her."
Opening the glass door, Ping An and Gao Xiaofei walked onto the balcony. After the incident, the Yang family had always followed the police's instructions and had not set foot on the balcony. At this moment, there was only a chalk outline on the balcony, marking the spot where the deceased had fallen.
"What did the forensic doctor say?" Ping An asked, looking at the outline on the ground and the photos taken by the police that day.
"She died from falling. She landed on her feet, with fractures in her legs and feet. Her organs had varying degrees of contusion and laceration. This is typical of a high-fall injury. She was essentially dead upon impact," Gao Xiaofei said. "Furthermore, according to the forensic doctor's inference, the deceased landed on her feet, which is different from typical suicides. Before death, she had an outstretched hand with fingers spread, indicating a strong will to survive."
"Can you determine how high she fell from? Can you confirm this is the primary scene?" Ping An squatted on the balcony floor, looking carefully at the outline.
"The forensic doctor estimates it to be around ten meters!" Gao Xiaofei said. "Based on the blood splatter, this is absolutely the primary scene!"
"What about this deceased, oh right, Wang Shun, what's his background?" Ping An asked.
"Wang Shun, male, 31 years old, sales representative for a wind power company, single, originally from Yunnan. He stayed here to work after graduating from university. He lived in apartment 19 of unit 4 in Building C across the street. He was reportedly the company's 'Sales Champion' and received a 100,000 yuan year-end bonus at the end of last year," Gao Xiaofei said.
"Young and promising!" Ping An said. "What were Wang Shun's height and weight?"
"Height 180 cm, weight 110 kg, a stick-like physique!" Gao Xiaofei pointed to the outline on the ground. "No wonder this outline looks like a tree."
"Don't joke about the deceased!" Ping An glared at Gao Xiaofei sternly.
After clarifying the basic information, Ping An stood by the balcony railing and looked at the surrounding scenery. The residential complex was located in a suburban area, with almost no tall buildings around. The view was expansive.
How could a normal man fall to his death on the top floor of a tall building? Did he fall from an airplane? Or from a drone? But a drone couldn't carry a hundred-jin person to the rooftop. Was he thrown from somewhere else using a swing-like device? That was also unrealistic!
"Have drones, hot air balloons, and aircraft been investigated?" Ping An asked.
"We've inquired. There's a military base a few kilometers away, and this area is a no-fly zone. Any aircraft that ventures deep will be detected by military radar," Gao Xiaofei said. "As for drones and hot air balloons? I've consulted experts. The largest drones on the market can carry up to 60 kilograms, but can only fly up to 15 meters high, such as agricultural drones. As for hot air balloons, don't even think about it. Such a large target, it's impossible not to be discovered."
"If that's the case, then how did Wang Shun die here?" Ping An asked.
"Use your wild imagination!" Gao Xiaofei shrugged.
"Get lost!" Ping An glared at Gao Xiaofei in annoyance and turned back into the room.
In the room, Jiao Zi and Su Tang sat on the bed, while Yang Jie and his wife sat on stools, quietly waiting for Ping An to return and ask questions.
"My first question is—" Ping An looked at Yang Jie and his wife and said, "Why didn't you move? After such an incident, you have the means. Why are you still living here?"
No one expected Ping An's first question to be this.
"There's been too much going on these past few days. I assume Reporter Ping An knows that my wife and I have important responsibilities at the company!" Yang Jie said.
"However, we're already arranging to rent a place in the complex!" Liao Yuan said.
"Why do you still want to live in this complex? Aren't you afraid? Or do you think the child isn't afraid?" Ping An continued to ask.
"This..." Yang Jie glanced at Liao Yuan and said, "To be frank, there's another room in this house which is my laboratory. Many of the equipment inside are inconvenient to move right now..."
"Oh!" Ping An nodded.
"That's all for today. There's nothing else to ask. We've learned what we need to know!" Ping An said. "However, I suggest you change Jiao Zi's room!"
After Ping An said this, Jiao Zi became visibly agitated and wanted to say something. She looked at Liao Yuan, then lowered her head.
"Master, I'll stay here with Jiao Zi. I won't go to the next location!" Su Tang said.
"Alright, I'll call you when we're done!" Ping An looked at Jiao Zi and left the room with Gao Xiaofei.
"Ping An, you clearly have a lot of questions, why didn't you ask?" Gao Xiaofei couldn't help but ask on the way to Zhang Ziteng's house, when they were out of earshot.
"That couple wasn't telling the truth. Asking them would be pointless," Ping An said. "With such a major incident happening at home, why not think about moving quickly? Why still live there? The child is almost scared silly, and instead of comforting her, they're talking nonsense."
"You mean, the couple is acting a bit abnormal?" Gao Xiaofei asked.
"Yes, abnormally so!" Ping An said. "Su Tang has already told me clearly about the situation that night. There's no need to ask anything. Let's go see Zhang Ziteng's house first!"
Unlike Yang Jie's house, after Zhang Ziteng's tragic death at home, his neighbors across the hall had hastily moved out within two days. The police suspected some unusual activity, but after investigating, they found that the neighbors were simply scared and there were no other issues.
"See, this is what normal people would do!" Ping An said to Gao Xiaofei, looking at the "For Rent at a Low Price" sign on the door of the neighbors' house across from Zhang Ziteng's.
After seeing off his master, Su Tang took Jiao Zi back to the bedroom.
"Your master is really good to you. I can tell he treats you like his own daughter!" Jiao Zi said enviously.
"What are you talking about? My master is only impressive in front of others. At home, I don't know how messy he is!" When it came to her master, Su Tang had a lot of grievances to pour out. "You don't know, my master never washes clothes. All the housework is done by my aunt. He's also very strict with me. Sometimes, when I'm in the right, he's extremely overbearing! If he glares, I have to obey unconditionally. He scolds me a hundred times a day. I can't show any skin when I dress, I'm not allowed to wear makeup to school, and when I go out at night, he watches me like the police watching a thief..."
Once she started complaining, Su Tang's words flowed like an opened floodgate, rambling on and on.
Jiao Zi, sitting beside her, listened attentively, her eyes full of envy.
"See, this is what a family looks like," Jiao Zi said with emotion after Su Tang finally stopped talking. "My parents are very good to me, but that kind of goodness is sometimes very polite. When they get angry with me, they try hard to suppress it... I actually look forward to them scolding me, but they never do! After what happened this time, I was terrified, but I didn't feel the sense of security they gave me... Su Tang, do you think I really have a problem?"
Looking at Jiao Zi's dejected appearance, Su Tang also felt that there was something strange about this home. Could it be, as Jiao Zi said, that the father wasn't like a father, and the mother wasn't like a mother? Oh, that would be too terrifying!
Compared to the horror in Jiao Zi's home, Zhang Ziteng's home seemed even more terrifying.
When Ping An and Gao Xiaofei entered Zhang Ziteng's house, a gust of cold wind hit them. How strange, all the windows in the house were closed, and it had been sealed since the incident. How could there be air circulation?
Ping An stood in the eerie room, suppressing a feeling of discomfort, and observed carefully.
The deceased had already been removed, but the telescope placed by the window remained in its original position. Ping An took out a pair of gloves from his backpack and carefully examined the telescope.
"This is not a professional telescope, at most it's an entry-level one," Gao Xiaofei said, watching Ping An fiddle with the telescope. "It can see about three to five hundred meters away."
"How much did this thing cost? Where was it bought? Have you found out?" Ping An asked.
"It was bought online. We checked Zhang Ziteng's bank transaction records and found that he bought it in March last year, oh, when he first moved in. It cost a few thousand yuan. We asked the online store owner to provide the order records sent to this city. The focus is on this complex. The owner said it would take a few more days. Once the records are out, we can probably find other peeping Toms based on the address!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"Other peeping Toms? There are others?" Ping An asked.
"Yes, Wang Shun's telescope is the same as Zhang Ziteng's. We checked their bank statements, and it was also bought from the same online store," Gao Xiaofei said. "On June 28th, the person who reported their phone being robbed said there were four robbers, so we infer that there were probably four or more peeping Toms..."
"A group of peeping Toms? How exciting!" Ping An said. "Not bad, your police investigation direction is quite accurate!"
Hearing Ping An's words, Gao Xiaofei felt as sweet as if he had eaten honey. Just as he was about to show off again, he noticed that Ping An had already moved to another room.
"What are you looking at?" The other room was a study. Gao Xiaofei followed Ping An in and found him staring intently at an ordinary desktop charger.
"Do phones still have desktop chargers nowadays?" Ping An asked without looking up.
"They don't, do they?" Gao Xiaofei also looked at the charger curiously.
"It doesn't look like it's for a phone, it looks more like a device like a walkie-talkie!" Ping An said after looking for a long time. "Why is there only a desktop charger and not the device? Did you not find it at the time?"
"No! This desktop charger was inconspicuous, so we didn't pay much attention to it at the time!" Gao Xiaofei looked dumbfounded. As soon as Ping An mentioned "walkie-talkie," his eyes lit up.
Ping An turned back and looked at Gao Xiaofei, who was beaming with joy. "Let's go to Wang Shun's house!"
Without delay, Ping An and Gao Xiaofei rushed to Wang Shun's house. First, they found the telescope in an equipment case near the window, then they searched the entire house. Sure enough, behind the TV in the living room, they found a desktop charger identical to the one from Zhang Ziteng's house.
"Good! I said we checked all of Zhang Ziteng and Wang Shun's communication devices and social software, and found no trace of communication between them, but they used walkie-talkies to communicate!" Gao Xiaofei exclaimed excitedly. "Ever since we found the same model of telescope at Wang Shun's house, we've been inferring that he and Zhang Ziteng were 'accomplices' in peeping, but we couldn't find any common ground between them. Now we've made progress!"
"It's just a desktop charger, don't get excited yet. The key is that the walkie-talkie wasn't found!" Ping An said. "Could it have been taken by the murderer?"
"You say, could the murderer of Zhang Ziteng and Wang Shun be the same person, and also a peeping Tom?" Gao Xiaofei inferred.
"Then why would he do that? Why not the murderer of Wang Huanan, who found these peeping Toms, kill them to silence them?" Ping An proposed a different perspective.
"I feel that the deaths of Zhang Ziteng and Wang Shun must be related to the murder of Wang Huanan!" Gao Xiaofei said. "The main inference of the task force is similar to yours—suspecting that the murderer of Wang Huanan killed them to silence them! But..."
"But if it was to silence them, after killing Zhang Ziteng and Wang Shun, why didn't they take the telescopes? Moreover, Zhang Ziteng's telescope was directly aimed at Wang Huanan's house. By doing so, they seemed to be afraid that others wouldn't know that their deaths were related to peeping and to Wang Huanan!" Ping An finished Gao Xiaofei's sentence. "As a result, only the walkie-talkie was missing from the deceased's house, but the telescope was intact. It seems the murderer didn't care if the police knew that the peeping Toms had peeped at things they shouldn't have!"
"Yes, yes, that's what I mean!" Gao Xiaofei nodded affirmatively.
"Then tell me, what is the relationship between the deaths of these people and Yang Jie and Liao Yuan's family?" Ping An suddenly asked.
"..." Gao Xiaofei was choked by Ping An's question.
"Xiao Fei, let me give you another piece of intelligence—just as Su Tang discovered Zhang Ziteng's death, we were returning downstairs when we noticed someone monitoring us with a telescope!" Ping An told Gao Xiaofei about the infrared rays he had noticed while driving home that day.
"I have a vague feeling that the person observing us at that time was probably the murderer, and also a peeping Tom!" Ping An said confidently.
After visiting several crime scenes, Ping An and Gao Xiaofei temporarily went to the property management security room for tea. Su Tang also rushed to join them after comforting Jiao Zi.
"Xiao Gao, don't rush to pour tea. Do you security guards have walkie-talkies?" As soon as they entered the security room, Ping An got straight to the point, asking to see the walkie-talkies.
"Yes, yes! The security guards use these to communicate during their daily patrols. Look, they're hanging behind you!" Xiao Gao, the son of the head of security, said enthusiastically.
Ping An turned his head and saw a row of walkie-talkies hanging on the wall behind him. Ping An casually picked one up and tried to turn it on, but he didn't know which channel he had tuned it to, and static came from the walkie-talkie.
"Let me have it. This thing needs to be tuned to the right channel. Its operating principle is similar to a radio." Gao Xiaofei, who often went on missions, operated it skillfully, and the walkie-talkie was tuned to a channel.
"There, now these walkie-talkies can be used!" Gao Xiaofei said.
"Do these walkie-talkies of yours use desktop chargers? Have you seen one like this?" Ping An took the walkie-talkie and played with it for a while, then took out the desktop charger he brought from Zhang Ziteng's house and said to Xiao Gao.
"This is an old model. We used this kind before. After I came, I bought a new batch! They are also desktop chargers, but not like this one," Xiao Gao said.
"Oh, what about the old batch?" Ping An asked.
"They're gone!" Xiao Gao said. "To be honest, I was 'air-dropped.' After I came, the former security captain was fired. That guy took all the valuables with him before he left, so I had to buy new ones after I arrived."
"Then how do you know they used this kind of desktop charger before?" Ping An asked.
"When I came, there was only one such desktop charger left in the cabinet where the walkie-talkies were kept. Look, it's still in the cabinet!" Xiao Gao opened a tin cabinet and took out a desktop charger, identical to the one in Ping An's hand.
"They're identical!" Ping An and Gao Xiaofei exchanged glances and continued to ask, "Then who was the former security captain? Where is he now?"
"His name is Shui Gang, he's my brother. What's wrong, Reporter Ping An?" A female voice suddenly came from outside the security room. As soon as she spoke, a female police officer in uniform appeared before them.