The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 213 Lost Contact
Everyone helped Hao Weiwei's mother to a chair on the side.

"You two haven't been in contact before?" Qi Fei asked.

Hao Weiwei's mother said with tears streaming down her face, "It's all my fault. I didn't take good care of him when he was in college. Every time I called to ask, he would say that everything was fine. If I asked too many questions, he would get impatient. I thought he must be under a lot of pressure from studying, so I didn't dare to ask too many questions."

Our family is struggling financially, and the university he attends is far away, so I only accompanied him once when he started university. Later, I thought he was doing well, so I never went again.

It wasn't until all of his high school classmates who had gone away graduated and returned that I called him to ask when he was coming back. At first, he answered the phone and said he wanted to find a job in Nancheng, but after a few days, he stopped answering my calls.

When we went to the school to find the teachers, we learned that Weiwei had never graduated at all…

"You didn't know about this before?" Wu Shanqiu blinked and couldn't help but ask.

“My child is very obedient, just a little introverted. Who knew he would go astray in college?”

"What does 'learning to be bad' mean?" Qi Fei asked.

"He plays games, saying he's often unavailable, and when he does find someone, they're always at internet cafes. The teacher said he failed many subjects. What's even more infuriating is that the teacher said she contacted my parents, but I clearly haven't received any calls from the school."

Only after checking with the teacher did I discover that the child had given a fake number and had someone impersonate me!
When did he learn to lie?
Back then, I searched every internet cafe in Nancheng, but there was no trace of my son... You have no idea how I've gotten through these past two years. I've been posting missing person notices everywhere. Whenever I get a little bit of news, I run out to look for him, but every time I go, my hopes are dashed.

But I always thought my son was hiding somewhere safe and sound. Who knew, sob sob sob..." Hao Weiwei's mother started crying again as she spoke.
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"I looked into the details," Wu Shanqiu said, tapping her notebook in the Criminal Investigation Brigade office. "They said Hao Weiwei's parents divorced when he was very young, and he lived with his mother. He didn't do well on the college entrance exam. The university his mother mentioned was Nancheng Vocational Technical School. During his university years, he became addicted to video games. A few years ago, his online name 'Supreme One' was consistently in the top three on a game's leaderboard. He probably spent too much time playing games; they say he didn't even pass the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4). The school talked to him several times, but eventually, they couldn't contact him anymore."

Judging from what happened later, he was still in Nancheng, but he had run to Jiangbei. His mother couldn't find him in the urban area of ​​Nancheng.

We checked Hao Weiwei's bank account, and her income over the past two years has been very low. It mainly comes from selling game equipment and royalties from writing novels. Sometimes she earns a thousand yuan, sometimes only a few yuan or cents; her life has been quite frugal.

"Well, this person, in reality, has almost cut off contact with everyone, but online he interacts with a large number of people..." Qi Fei said after listening.

"Moreover, people who have had contact with Hao Weiwei in real life all describe him as taciturn, but after seeing his online behavior, I found him to be not only a social butterfly but also very domineering, the kind of person who will confront anyone he doesn't like. It's really strange." Just as Wu Shanqiu finished speaking, a "chirp" sound came from outside the office, which sounded like a bird chirping.

“There’s nothing strange about it…” Zhong Kui’s voice was as sweet as a peach. When it came to Qi Fei’s ears, he stood up from his seat. When he looked, Zhong Kui appeared in front of him in a light purple cheongsam. Unlike before, she had a baby bird on her shoulder, which was looking around with its big black eyes—the little myna bird that Xi He had given her.

"You really keep this bird?" Qi Fei pouted, clearly not very happy.

"Otherwise, should we release it on Zizai Mountain?" Zhong Kui's eyelashes fluttered, deliberately teasing Qi Fei with a self-righteous tone. "This bird is for Zhong Xiaoyu, not for you..." Qi Fei muttered, but he was timid in front of Zhong Kui, and his voice became softer at the last few words.

"Then..." Zhong Kui circled around Qi Fei, the sweet scent of perfume tickling his nose. She whispered in his ear in a seductive voice, "I'll give this body to Zhong Xiaoyu, so she can take care of Plato?"

Qi Fei suddenly remembered—she had even given the bird a name! How awful!

"Cough cough..." A deliberate dry cough came from not far away, and Liu Tong walked towards them with small steps. Yes, he walked with small strides and slowly, without any of the demeanor of a captain. "The work is already hard enough, don't make us single dogs suffer mentally." He walked between Qi Fei and Zhong Kui, and the little myna bird flapped its wings on Zhong Kui's shoulder, seemingly quite fond of this new human.

“Liu Tong, look, you told me to come, so I came.” Zhong Kui ruthlessly “betrayed” Liu Tong, “I received the news about the black donation box.”

Qi Fei glared at Liu Tong and mouthed, "Didn't I tell you not to bother her!"

Liu Tong, however, seemed not to understand Qi Fei's coded message and said to Zhong Kui with a smile, "Then what should we do? Now that you're not here, it feels like something is missing."

A fleeting, almost imperceptible chill crossed Zhong Kui's eyes, but she quickly smiled and said, "It feels pretty good to be needed~ I heard you encountered a cyborg this time?"

"Pfft..." Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but laugh out loud. Seeing the questioning look Zhong Kui gave her, she quickly waved her hand, "Sorry, I couldn't hold back with the cyborg thing..."

"What's wrong with cyborgs?" Zhong Kui didn't understand the joke.

"The killer claimed to be a cyber killer... not an cyborg..." Qi Fei explained from the side, "We estimate that this person and the deceased met online and probably had a conflict. We are now trying to contact those netizens who interacted with the deceased frequently online."

“Oh~ Investigating cyber connections?” Zhong Kui said immediately.

"Haha, Xiao Kui, you're really good at applying what you've learned, but it seems like no one has ever said that before..." Wu Shanqiu laughed again upon hearing this.

Just then, Qi Fei's phone rang. He answered it, listened to a few words, and immediately said, "What? Hao Weiwei's laptop's external hard drive was removed?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than several messages rang out in quick succession. It turned out that Hao Weiwei's phone, which was on Qi Fei's desk, had received a message.

When everyone gathered around to take a look, they found that the QQ group had exploded with activity.

The latest message they saw was: "Brother Zun, what's gotten into you? What are you saying?"