Crazy Detective

Zzz… zzz…

After a whole night of thinking, Zhao Yu had laid down on the sofa at daybreak and finally fell asleep. Cui Lizhu couldn’t bear the fatigue either and fell asleep leaning on Zhao Yu’s shoulder. It’d be easy to misunderstand the relationship between the two if an outsider had seen them.

As the sun rose to its peak, rays of light filtered in through the small gaps between the trees and rested on Zhao Yu’s face. A warm breeze blew, and the leaves rustled. Birds were alive with song in the trees. It was a crisp, pleasant song that only made their sleep better. However, their dreams were cut short when the phone began to ring.

O’ hero, chase after my dream with me… Zhao Yu’s phone rang with his all too familiar ringtone. With a yawn, he woke up and raised his arm. Cui Lizhu, who had been lying on his shoulder, fell into his arms. He tried to push her but to no avail. She clung onto his neck and continued sleeping.

Zhao Yu pouted and attempted to reach for his phone, but it was too far. With Cui Lizhu in his arms, he couldn’t move. Desperate, he attempted to make use of his flexibility and bent over, exerting a huge amount of effort to reach for the phone. As he had just awoken, he didn’t bother looking at the caller ID and answered the phone.

“Small Zhao!” It was Fengshan’s Zhang Jingfeng. “The people that you asked me to investigate… they’re all dead!”

“Wait, what?!” Zhao Yu asked, shocked. Zhao Yu shot up and Cui Lizhu fell to the floor, rolling a couple of times. Fortunately for her, there was a thick layer of carpet beneath her to break her fall.

“What’s up, man?” Cui Lizhu complained, rubbing her eyes. “Is a little sleep too much to ask for?”

“Say that again?” Zhao Yu asked Zhang Jingfeng. He could not care less about Cui Lizhu at this point. He had asked Zhang Jingfeng to help find any details on the people on Tao Xiang’s list of names. Zhang Jingfeng was an expert at finding people. Besides, everyone in the Special Investigation Team was busy and Zhao Yu didn’t want to trouble them.

When Zhao Yu had sent Zhang Jingfeng the message, it was still dark out and he had not rushed him. Who would have expected that a reformed Zhang Jingfeng was so committed to his job that it took no time at all to find the data Zhao Yu had requested.

“It’s true, they’re all dead! And…” Zhang Jingfeng said mysteriously. “There’s something strange about it…”

“When did they die?” Zhao Yu asked.

“Throughout the past year,” Zhang Jingfeng answered. “All of them died from a heart attack!”

“This…” Zhao Yu understood what Zhang Jingfeng was implying. For five people to die in such a short time, and all of the same cause, could not be a mere coincidence!

“What? Who died?” Cui Lizhu asked, hurriedly rubbing her eyes and climbing up from the floor as she realized the intensity of the situation.

“Lil Zhao! Did you stumble upon another huge case again? These five people are not young, so their records stated they died a natural death. There are no case files and no autopsy reports. I checked briefly and it seems all five of them stayed in different cities, had different occupations, and were from different age groups. It seemed like they had no interactions with each other!”

“F*ck!” Zhao Yu cursed under his breath. He never thought that Tao Xiang’s list would include dead people. Five people on the same list dying of heart attack was an obvious problem.

“Eh? Lil Zhao, that’s not team leader Miao next to you, right?” Zhang Jingfeng asked out of curiosity after he heard Cui Lizhu speaking.

“Old Zhang!” Zhao Yu said, trying to change the topic. “These five people’s data, does it match with the message I sent you?”

“It’s a match!” Zhang Jingfeng answered. “All of them were knowledgeable and had a good reputation in the area. Especially the last guy, Yuan Juncheng. He was the previous head of the Dong Bei museum and even the chairman of the Dong Bei historical research society!” Zhao Yu nodded. Tao Xiang had already recorded this in the notebook.

“I’ll send you the details now. Lil Zhao, any time you need my help just let me know, I’ll be happy to go over and help. With a genius detective like you beside me, I’ll never need to go hungry!” Zhang Jingfeng said.

“Don’t worry!” Zhao Yu replied. In his heart, he understood now why Zhang was so proactive. “Do you not trust me, the genius Zhao Yu? I will never forget my brothers no matter how famous I get! If I ever need you, I’ll let you know!”

“Okay…” Zhang Jingfeng said, happily hanging up. After the phone call, Zhao Yu stared at Cui Lizhu. She quietly stared back at him and a silence fell over the two. It was almost a minute before anyone spoke.

“Is someone else looking for these people? Why are they all dead?” Cui Lizhu asked.

“Maybe… or to be more precise, someone else is looking for the treasure!” Zhao Yu said. “If the five people on the list were murdered, then this has escalated past a simple treasure hunt. I think we should report this to the Special Investigations Team.” After saying his piece, Zhao Yu looked at the phrase in the system. The diagram reflected ‘Kun Dui’. How accurate! The moment a ‘Kun’ appeared, someone would die. Except this time, there were five deaths.

“If they were heart attacks, then how can it be murder? Would they kill over a treasure? Do these five people know something?” Cui Lizhu asked, shaking her head.

“Oh sh*t!” Zhao Yu said. Stumbling into the office, he quickly opened Tao Xiang’s notebook and flipped to the page with the list of names.

“Wh… what’s wrong?” Cui Lizhu asked as she saw Zhao Yu panicking.

“We investigated the five people who were not crossed out!” Zhao Yu said, panting. “There are also people who are crossed out, don’t tell me these people also…”

“It can’t be…” Cui Lizhu said, shaking her head. She felt sick. “Don’t tell me all the people on this list died from unnatural causes?! This… this went from zero to one hundred really quickly!”