The black room, dimly lit, was oppressively suffocating.
ID card - 563743675
Four young women, their bodies adorned with "scar" makeup, danced to an eerie melody.
Their pale faces were expressionless, as if their writhing bodies were detached from them.
As the music reached its crescendo, the girls intensified their movements, and strips of "scars" fell like paper ribbons.
"Drip."
A drop of red liquid slid from one of the girls' bodies, yet she seemed unconcerned.
"Drip."
Another drop of red liquid fell from another girl, and she showed no reaction.
More and more red liquid dripped, until it covered all four girls.
When their twisting bodies could even fling the liquid outwards, red mist filled the room, as if in a room designed for murder, bloodthirsty everywhere.
The dance finally ended, and the four girls collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
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No applause was heard, no cheers.
Only the live stream, showing millions of viewers, and the "planes," "rockets," and "yachts" scrolling across the screen.
Though separated by the internet, such a seductive dance and suffocating mist assaulted the visual nerves of every viewer.
Another day of making a fortune.
The live stream ended. A person in black closed the laptop with satisfaction, took out a key, and opened the door to the room.
"That's enough, you can come out now."
From the darkness, a voice spoke.
But the girls lying on the floor seemed to be asleep.
"Dead again?" the person in black muttered to himself without expression.
A fly, attracted by some scent, buzzed its wings excitedly and flew towards the black room.
"Splat."
The fly was too greedy and didn't notice that the person in black was holding a fly swatter.
"Take them away, take them away!"
The person in black flicked the dead fly off the swatter, letting out a chilling scream.
In the room, a girl slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at the person in black before her and said one word, her voice filled with resentment, before closing her eyes forever.
"Demon..."
Hecheng City, March, a day of blooming spring.
"We don't care if your lover is cheating, please let us help you sweep away your inner unease."
"We don't care if your high school child is secretly dating, please let us help you sweep away your inner unease."
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"We don't care why you lent money to someone, please let us help you investigate why they aren't paying you back!"
"Life is full of troublesome things, let us help you break through them!"
"We don't just deal with troublesome things; we break through problems. We are professionals!"
.........
In the vibrant Flower Street, bustling with nightclubs, a milk tea shop recently opened.
A milk tea shop on "Nightclub Street"? What a joke. Who the hell came up with such an unharmonious idea?
This wasn't the end of it. Because not long after, a sign reading "Waittang Troubled Affairs Hall" was erected above the milk tea shop's signboard!
Waittang? Troubled Affairs? What kind of bizarre creatures dare to seek attention on Flower Street these days. A group of angry young men, after a round of drinks, decided to go to this milk tea shop to stir up some trouble! Isn't it about troubled affairs? Then let's bring some trouble to this shop!
The March weather was still a bit chilly.
With their chests bared wide, the group stormed into the milk tea shop with murderous intent.
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Smash the shop! What a show!
Some onlookers, carrying bags of sunflower seeds, squatted by the roadside, eavesdropping.
"Slap."
"Slap."
"Slap."
These were clearly several loud slaps. They've started fighting!
Onlookers are naturally unafraid of trouble.
Unfortunately, only three slaps could be heard from the tightly shut milk tea shop.
However, after a while, the group emerged, not only emerged but also excited and overjoyed, holding a handful of flyers.
"Hey, you onlookers, don't be afraid. I know what you look like. Get over here and treat your best friends to a cup of spring milk tea!" The one with the bare chest, his face marked with a large slap print, said angrily to the onlookers, "Why aren't you drinking? Go on, go have a cup!"
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There's no escaping now. Fine, let's go in! The first cup of spring milk tea!
Always watching the fun, today they were finally part of it. These guys, heads hanging low and unwillingly, entered the shop.
"Hello, welcome to Tangtang Milk Tea Shop. What flavor would you like?"
A fierce-looking burly man, wearing an awkward uniform, even flicking his wrist with a delicate gesture, enthusiastically greeted them.
"The milk tea is... not sweet... not sweet..."
Another burly man, busy adjusting the sound system, suddenly turned around and obsequiously said to the customers.
"Not sweet? Is it an alternative flavor?" someone asked.
"It's free!"
The burly man finally finished his sentence. Feeling it was a bit strenuous to speak, he stopped greeting them and went back to fiddling with the sound system.
"Hello, one original milk tea per person. Here's the money." The onlookers were just young kids who didn't have much money. After looking at the price list for a while, they pooled all the money they had, just enough for one cup each.
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"Don't block the way. Go sit over there and slurp." A burly man with a scar on his face, carrying a floor lamp, came down the stairs. Seeing that customers were blocking the path, he impatiently directed them.
"You two tidy up. The boss will be done with school soon and will be here!" Scarface, of course, was Da Shu, and the other two were Lao Yuan and Lao Fang.
"It's been a while since we've seen the boss. I miss her. It's a good opportunity for her to try the cucumber milk tea I developed." The one in charge of cooking seemed to be Lao Yuan.
Summer, summer, quietly passed, leaving little secrets...
The sound system was finally set up. Lao Fang hummed this old-fashioned song, sat on the sofa, and lazily lit a cigarette.
I can't forget you, I'll write you in my diary...
Outside the shop, this old-fashioned song successfully attracted the attention of the owners and thugs from several neighboring nightclubs.
"Damn! Is this retro?"
"Boss, the song from across the street is instantly lowering our class."
"Boss, I can't hold it in anymore, let me go smash it."
Original text from Ta-Read Novel.
It wasn't uncommon for people to cause trouble on Flower Street, but this kind of behavior was unprecedented.
The henchmen didn't know what was going on. The nightclub owners, who had been dragged by their collars by Da Shu, Lao Yuan, and Lao Fang last week to participate in the "opening ceremony," had nothing but bitter complaints.
"Get back here. Let them be. Smash the shop? Be careful you don't get blown back by their fart." See, this nightclub owner clearly had an unpleasant experience.
As it got dark, Su Tang, pulling Jiang Tingting along, finally appeared on Flower Street.
High school life, for 17-year-old Su Tang, was filled with endless, well, disappointment.
On the campus of a key high school, everyone was either a bookworm or a hypocrite who dared not look up but harbored lecherous thoughts. Su Tang was fed up with being a student, yet she was an excellent student. After a year of endless battles with her teachers, they finally gave up on her...
"Su Tang, I'm not like you. I have evening classes later. If you keep dragging me like this, I'll get in trouble." Looking at her watch, Jiang Tingting recited the mantra as usual.
"Nonsense! You wanted to come with me. What can I do?" Su Tang said with anticipation. "Master was watching me closely a few days ago. Fortunately, my aunt is pregnant, so he's not paying attention to me these days. That's why I dare to come to Flower Street. My 'Pòshì Táng' is renovated, and I'm eager to see it!"
One chasing, one being chased, the two young girls ran towards the milk tea shop.
Waittang Troubled Affairs Hall!
The five big characters, under the neon lights of the nightclub across the street – looking as eerie as possible!
Su Tang's mouth hung open, and she looked at the signboard with utter despair.
"Miss, come in for a cup of milk tea!" The bare-chested guy with the slap print on his face enthusiastically handed her a flyer.
"Su Tang, I have a sentence I want to say that I don't know if I should." Jiang Tingting stifled a laugh and said to Su Tang.
"Say it!" Su Tang had already resigned herself to it.
"Crooked, broken, hahahaha! Are you a junk collector?" Jiang Tingting finally burst into unrestrained laughter.
"Da Shu!" Su Tang cried without tears, completely unable to retort.
"Boss, you're here!" After many days, Da Shu, Lao Yuan, and Lao Fang eagerly came out to greet her.
"You... how did you do this? That's not the name I wanted!" Su Tang exploded.
"Let me see!" Seeing the boss's face turn red, Da Shu knew this was serious. He quickly took out his reading glasses and looked back at the signboard.
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"Oh my, how did this happen?" Da Shu slapped his forehead and looked at Lao Yuan.
"It wasn't me. I wasn't in charge of that. Lao Fang?" Lao Yuan then looked at Lao Fang.
"Yes, yes, yes, it's right!" Lao Fang pointed at the sign and said with effort, "Wai, Tang, Pò, Shì, Guǎn!"
"It's Pòshì Táng! Not Pòshì Guǎn! And why am I crooked?" Su Tang yelled, jumping up and down.
"I, I I I I I, I asked you, what what what sugar, what what what broken. How did you say it?" Lao Fang asked Da Shu.
"I said Su Tang Wāi (a regional accent) Táng, Pò, as in spirit?" Da Shu said, utterly confused.
"Yes, yes, yes, Wai Tang!" Lao Fang said innocently. "Pò, as in broken pear. You, you, you, you showed me a rotten pear to compare at the time."
"It's over." Su Tang suddenly asked Lao Fang with a glimmer of hope, "Is it registered?"
It turned out that Su Tang was not yet eighteen and could not register a company. If she asked her master, she would have a leg broken, so she could only register the company under Lao Fang's name.
"Where's the business license?" Su Tang asked with a cry.
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"Here, here, here you go!" Lao Fang cautiously handed it over.
"Wuwuwu, Waittang Troubled Affairs Hall, and the company nature is a cultural communication... wuwuwu, wasn't it supposed to be a commercial investigation?" Su Tang finally couldn't hold back her tears.
"That, the taxes are low!" Lao Fang said, uncharacteristically without stammering.
"Cultural Communication! Wuwuwuwuwu, Lao Fang, I'll make you recite crosstalk at the milk tea shop tomorrow, believe it or not!" Su Tang threw down the business license, wiped her tears, and walked away forlornly.
Jiang Tingting, suppressing her laughter, pointed at the three rough men with her finger, turned around, and quickly followed.
Da Shu, Lao Yuan, and Lao Fang looked at each other and sighed helplessly.
"We didn't want to," Da Shu said helplessly, watching Su Tang walk away.
Time returned to a week ago.
Da Shu, Lao Yuan, and Lao Fang excitedly took a stack of documents to the Administration for Industry and Commerce to register a company. The company name, as decided by the boss Su Tang long ago, was Pòshì Táng! Majestic and imposing!
As they passed a small alley, they suddenly saw a person sitting on a grand armchair, holding a long bow.
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The three naturally recognized the person before them and cautiously went up to greet him.
"Whoosh!" An arrow suddenly flew out, narrowly missing Da Shu's face.
"Whoosh!" Another arrow shot directly towards Lao Yuan's chubby face. Fortunately, the arrowhead was wrapped, or his life would have been lost.
"What is this?" Da Shu felt a sense of unease.
The person on the grand armchair remained silent, continuing to draw his bow and shoot various arrows with wrapped tips at the three of them.
The alley was narrow, so dodging was useless.
A few minutes later, the three burly men cautiously handed the documents to the person.
The person still did not speak, looked at the documents, made some changes, and then gracefully left.
At this time, the three were covered in bumps. They looked at the modified documents and were filled with despair.
Thus, Hecheng City Waittang Troubled Affairs Hall Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. was officially born!
As soon as the evening news ended, Su Tang, with a sullen face, returned home early.
Ping An was watching TV on the sofa. Seeing Su Tang return, he casually asked.
"Skipping evening self-study again?"
"So annoying, I don't want to go!" Su Tang muttered, then went upstairs with a wiggle of her hips as her master showed no intention of comforting her.
It had been more than two years since the Fengdian Company series of cases. In these two years, Hecheng City had enjoyed fair weather, with not even a single murder case. Ping An hadn't taken on any cases and had temporarily put aside his novel, resting for two years besides his work at the newspaper.
Two years, not long and not short, but for Ping An, it had brought significant changes. For example, concerning Su Tang's decision to open a detective agency, two years ago, Ping An would have beaten her up and used all his connections to strongly prevent it. But two years later, Ping An, now 35, had resorted to such a method.
As people age, changes inevitably occur. For example, Su Tang, in the prime of her rebellious phase, argued with her master every day. And Ping An, no longer easily angered, spoke less and lived a more disciplined life.
A year ago, Mei Qian and An Jing got married. Six months ago, the couple bought a new house in the river district and moved out, much to Ping An's reluctance.
The house remained unchanged, but the number of residents decreased. The RV was sold off cheaply by Ping An, who then prosaically bought a Volvo, which had good safety data. Hei Dou finally ended his undercover mission and became a criminal police captain under Gao Xiaofei. Gao Da and Sister Wu got back together, and with Ping An's investment, the elderly couple opened a steamed bun shop on Sports Street. Mei Qian was now Ping An's legal brother-in-law and continued to serve as the captain of the serious crimes unit under Qiao Yidan. An Jing finally closed her long-running training center and returned to her mother's company as the executive deputy general manager, now becoming the undisputed successor of An's International. Gao Xiaofei grew increasingly obese, firmly holding his position as the police chief of the river district, and in his spare time, lived a happy and unrestrained life with Fei Keqing. Fei Keqing finally became a director and, with the support of her capable assistant Ping An, was responsible for the newspaper group's app and electronic magazine new project. Now, almost simultaneously pregnant with An Jing, they instantly transformed from a group of women into soon-to-be mothers, leaving all matters to the unfortunate Ping An.
Everyone changed, but the only one who didn't was Ping An.
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If there were any changes, they did exist. For the past two years, Ping An had quit drinking and smoking, developed good habits of drinking tea and going to bed and waking up early, arriving at work on time and leaving on time. In his free time, apart from his battles of wits with Su Tang, he would go to the shooting club. Such a regular life worried those who cared about him.
At 35, was he really planning to be alone?
Lin Dang went to Huzhou, and for two years, there had been no news.
A night passed without incident. Ping An knew why Su Tang was unhappy, so he didn't pay much attention to it. After a good night's sleep, he woke up on time.
Fried eggs, barley porridge, shrimp dumplings, and a plate of pickles.
A sumptuous breakfast marked the start of another beautiful day.
The seventeen-year-old girl, slender and graceful, her petite figure already curvaceous. Smelling the aroma, Su Tang, with her hair disheveled, floated downstairs and unerringly headed for the dining table.
"Get lost! Go upstairs and put on long pants! You look ridiculous!" Ping An, who was cooking the porridge, glanced at Su Tang's dangling white legs and said sternly.
"I'm wearing safety shorts!" Su Tang said, her mouth full of dumplings.
"Still no. You're a young lady now, you need to have some decorum even at home," Ping An continued with a straight face.
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Seeing that her master was being persistent, Su Tang sighed and floated upstairs again.
It wasn't that Ping An's requirements were not strict. Last summer, Mei Qian and An Jing, who had just married, were still living at home. For a period, Ping An noticed Mei Qian acting mysteriously every day, hiding in his bedroom as soon as he got home and looking very serious during meals at the dining table.
Newly married, there shouldn't be any problems, right? As her older brother, Ping An, unusually, invited his brother-in-law for tea. After beating around the bush for a long time, Mei Qian finally blushing explained the reason.
It turned out the problem was with Su Tang.
Su Tang was naturally sensitive to heat. In the summer, she wore as little as possible, sometimes running around the house in a small tank top and shorts. Ping An and An Jing had always treated Su Tang like a child and hadn't thought about it. But Mei Qian was different. With two white legs parading in front of him every day, who could stand it?
To avoid suspicion and embarrassment, Mei Qian accelerated the process of buying a house and renovating it while hiding from Su Tang like a scaredy-cat.
"We're family, it's okay, no problem!" Ping An could only say this after understanding Mei Qian's awkwardness. But then, he issued a "clothing order" to Su Tang!
However, Mei Qian and An Jing eventually moved out. This spring, Su Tang reverted to her old ways. When ordinary people saw her white legs, they couldn't help but stare with more interest. But Ping An, seeing it, got a headache!
After meticulously sending Su Tang off, Ping An cleared the table, changed into a fitted suit, put on his glasses, combed his ear-length hair, and drove towards the newspaper office.
The newspaper office was still the same. "Old Reformer" had retired. Ping An, who had been steady and trouble-free, naturally became the "backbone" of the newspaper. If Fei Keqing hadn't been pregnant, he would have been the director of politics and current affairs. But now, the project Fei Keqing was in charge of was the newspaper's most profitable venture, and Ping An was the designated successor before Fei Keqing took leave for her pregnancy.
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Holding his teacup and striding purposefully, Ping An pushed up his glasses and walked out of the elevator into his office.
In the past two years, with the continuous development of self-media, traditional newspaper units had to invest in preparing their own apps to seek development. Currently, the newspaper company's most important app was the "Fashion Companion App Electronic Magazine" that Ping An was responsible for. As the acting director of this project, Ping An had to direct his four content officers to capture the latest, most fashionable, and most sensational hot topics around the clock, as well as send out their two editing and reporting teams to go to various news scenes for live reporting.
To be honest, letting Ping An take over this project was not Fei Keqing's personal favoritism, but rather a full consideration that as long as Ping An's mind didn't go astray, he could definitely continue to develop and expand the current platform.
Ping An had not disappointed the newspaper's hopes and had achieved considerable success.
The martial world was too lonely. News of Ping An's case-solving became less and less frequent, while gossip about a male fashion director at the newspaper who loved helping models choose swimsuits was rampant. However, Ping An, who had come to terms with many things, didn't care at all. He performed his work mechanically, like a robot every day.
Oh, I mentioned the martial world was too lonely, so there should be some commotion. Well, here it comes!
Near the end of the workday, Ping An suddenly received a call from the company's internal line.
"Director Ping, a citizen has come to the Party Office Group Work Department. Could you help receive them?" the lobby receptionist said via the internal line.
"Reception isn't the responsibility of the livelihood news, oh wait, now it's called the 'Riverland Alley' App work group?" Ping An asked, somewhat puzzled.
"That's right. The citizen insisted on being received by a social investigation reporter. I just checked with the Human Resources Center, and they said you are currently the only social investigation reporter in the company." The receptionist said cautiously.
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Social investigation reporter! Ha, over a decade ago, they were the "pillars" of the media industry. Weren't all sorts of corporate executives and influential figures exposed by these social investigation reporters? Honestly, it wasn't until the receptionist reminded him that Ping An suddenly remembered that he was indeed the last social investigation reporter at the newspaper company.
It had been a long time since he had participated in a social investigation. Upon hearing about it, he actually felt nostalgic.
Ping An thought for a moment and finally said to the receptionist, "Have the person come to my office. I'm reviewing a draft right now, and several reporters are waiting. I can't get away."
What could it be? Seeking justice? Complaining? Asking for help?
An ordinary reception unexpectedly caused a small ripple in Ping An's calm heart. He couldn't focus on the exquisite fashion supplement in his hand and actually looked forward to the person's arrival.
A few minutes later, a man wearing a baggy trench coat entered Ping An's office.
"Hello, I'm Ping An, a social investigation reporter. May I ask..." Ping An cordially invited the visitor in.
"Do you dare to expose it?" the visitor rudely interrupted Ping An's introduction, his expression stern.
"Can I ask what it is first?" Ping An, sensing trouble, finally perked up.
"I'm here to surrender," the man suddenly looked distressed and painfully unbuttoned his trench coat, revealing the bomb strapped to his body.
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"However, whether it's surrender or suicide depends on whether you dare to expose it!" The man placed one hand on the table and then, in front of Ping An, fiddled with the detonator in his hand.
"Rumble!"
Outside the window, the bright sunlight suddenly disappeared, and a spring thunderclap sounded in his ears!