No strange things are allowed to evolve!

The implication is either that the friend is an evolved being who went out on his own, or that the friend possesses some value that makes it worthwhile for a high-level evolved being to go to such lengths.

But no matter what, they can't possibly be ordinary people.

“I have considered that,” Bai Lian said. “But I have already asked the bureau’s technicians to check. They can trace all of the victim’s activities, and there is nothing suspicious about it. At least, it doesn’t seem like that of an evolved being.”

"Is that so..." Consultant Liu pondered, "That is strange."

Jiang Shu remained silent. The more reasonable Liu Consultant's behavior seemed, the more unreasonable he felt, and he couldn't help but have doubts.

Could it be that it has nothing to do with the old man who doesn't fight?

If there is a connection, then what Consultant Liu should be doing now is not providing himself with ideas, but rather trying his best to cover it up or mislead himself and sever ties.

Looking at the open laptop on the table, Jiang Shu asked, "Have you checked the computer and phone?"

"I checked," Bai Lian said. "There was a password, but it was cracked by technicians. They looked through almost everything, from social media apps and emails to files on the computer, but they didn't find anything useful."

"Hmm..." Jiang Shu thought for a moment, then got up and closed the laptop.

"What do you mean?" Bai Lian asked, puzzled.

"It's not easy for dust to get in when it's closed, and it's quite troublesome to clean the screen and keyboard when they get dirty." Jiang Shu shook his head and said, "The technicians don't have very good habits."

"You're quite particular." Bai Lian didn't think much of it. "But you can't blame the technicians. An investigation should try to avoid disturbing the scene. If they didn't close the computer, it means it wasn't closed to begin with."

"Is that so?" Jiang Shu didn't say much, clapped his hands, and sincerely thanked Consultant Liu: "Alright, since even you haven't made any useful discoveries, then there really aren't any valuable clues. It's really too much trouble for you to come with me."

"You're too kind." Consultant Liu glanced at the time and said jokingly, "It's getting late. Why don't you treat me to a meal as a thank you?"

"It might not be convenient today. I need to spend some time with Auntie and comfort her. Also, today is a bit rushed. How about tomorrow? I'll prepare properly then," Jiang Shu said apologetically.

"Just kidding, don't take it seriously. You should spend some time with the old man. I'll be going now," Consultant Liu said with a smile.

Bai Lian thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll leave first. I need to go back and write a report."

Jiang Shu also said to her, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard work, it's all just work." Bai Lian waved her hand and sighed, "I just hope he's alright."

Jiang Shu saw the two of them to the door, and Aunt Wang came to see them off as well.

But she found it strange when she discovered that Jiang Shu hadn't followed them but had stayed behind.

"Aren't you going with them?"

Jiang Shu explained obediently, "I saw that you looked too haggard. You must not have eaten properly these past two days, let alone been in the mood to cook. So I thought I would stay and cook you a meal. Cheng Ji is my good brother. He is in trouble now, so I must take good care of you in his place to be worthy of him."

"You...sigh..." Aunt Wang was deeply moved, but couldn't say anything, only repeatedly saying, "Good child, good child..."

Next, Jiang Shu told the other person to rest well, and then went to the kitchen to get busy. Soon, a table full of delicious food was served.

Both of them consciously avoided talking about their friend's disappearance, treating it as a reunion, and Jiang Shu even tried her best to make the other person happy.

His efforts paid off. After the meal, Aunt Wang's condition improved, and she called the hospital again to inquire about her friend's father's condition.

Jiang Shu then went into his friend's room and turned on his computer.

It's best to close your laptop after use; that's a lesson my friend taught me.

The other person has mild obsessive-compulsive disorder. When he was in college, he had to close the computer after using it. Jiang Shu once joked with him, asking if he had to turn the screen back up after editing.

This has been the case for four years.

So if a friend disappears after using the computer, then it will definitely be closed.

If the computer is open, it means it went missing while in use, or at least that he was busy with something he hadn't finished.

See what he was busy with at the time; you might find something.

Chapter 136 A Terrifying Mystery

Since Jiang Shu stopped playing games and using computers for work, he hasn't used a computer for a long time.

However, this does not mean that he has little knowledge of computers.

On the contrary, he didn't use computers much because he already knew a certain level about them and found them uninteresting.

In terms of understanding computers, his research in this area even predates the collapse of his threshold.

Because that's what he studied in college.

Majored in programming, minored in modeling.

His graduation project back then, despite being only an undergraduate, resulted in a high-quality 3A eroge that made him famous throughout the college. However, because the content did not conform to public order and good morals, although he barely graduated, he was unable to make a fortune from this work.

His supervisor, who was guiding his graduation project, said to him earnestly, "If you ever go to jail, never say that I taught you your skills."

It has a feeling of Bodhi Patriarch admonishing Sun Wukong.

In short, Jiang Shu understands computers as well as farmers understand rice.

If it weren't for the fact that some things are really easy to break the law, and that Jiang Shu didn't like sitting in front of the computer all day staring at code and getting back pain, he would have already traded his health and enjoyment for financial freedom.

So even though he hadn't touched a computer for years, Jiang Shu quickly cracked his friend's password.

In reality, none of these can be considered cracking.

This guy has been using the same password since college, apparently it's his first love's birthday. Jiang Shu tried it and it unlocked.

He's a real romantic.

Upon turning on his computer, Jiang Shu didn't check the files. Instead, he went straight to the backend and looked at the code instructions to see what his friend had done on the computer during that time.

Then, Jiang Shu realized something was wrong.

The computer was connected to a video call at the time.

It was an online video on a social networking site, and because the webpage was browsed incognito, the technicians who were investigating earlier did not discover it.

The video started at around 11 p.m. and continued until after 1 a.m.

According to Bai Lian's description, his mother had just greeted him when he turned off the video call.

The computer was shut down immediately after the video ended, almost simultaneously.

Jiang Shu frowned.

So the time when the friend actually disappeared should be after 1 a.m.?

The person who took him away turned off the computer power, but didn't close it.

Thinking about it, Jiang Shu connected the webcam again. At that time, the computer was connected to video and the webcam was working, so even if his friend did not set it to allow recording, he might still be able to find the recording from the cache.

After all, the security of this protocol and settings is not high to begin with, and video leaks are not uncommon. Unless there is no camera or the computer is not connected to the internet, you can ignore this kind of setting.

Sure enough, it didn't take much effort for Jiang Shu to quickly retrieve the video recording from that time.

But what's puzzling is...

For two hours, except for the brief few seconds when the camera first started working, my friend never appeared in front of the lens again.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Shu had a guess.

Did he leave after the video call connected, and was the voice of his friend that Aunt Wang heard coming from the video?

"When his aunt and uncle went to bed around 10 PM, he was waiting for takeout..."

Jiang Shu pondered:

"So when he picked up the takeout, he had already left, so the electronic lock did not leave any record of being opened."

From this perspective... he doesn't seem to have been taken away by someone. At least he has some autonomy, since he can remotely control his computer and make his parents think he's at home.

So it's more like he's deliberately creating the illusion of disappearance.

However, when reviewing the surveillance footage, they went all the way back to when their friend returned home the night before, and confirmed that he wasn't filmed after that. So who was there to meet him, and who helped him avoid the surveillance cameras?

"Could it be that she swapped clothes with the delivery guy, then left first, while the delivery guy waited for a while before leaving, and then remotely shut down the computer after creating the illusion that she was still at home?"

Jiang Shu thought this guess was reasonable.

But what exactly made him have to do this?

Actually, it wouldn't be a problem to tell your parents that you'll be leaving for a while, right?

Did he want people to think he had disappeared in this bizarre way?

Is he trying to deliberately escalate the situation?

why?

Jiang Shu felt completely bewildered.

He noted down the video website's address, intending to check it later to see who was most likely responsible for meeting his friend. Then he continued to check his friend's computer activity logs.

Soon, he made another new discovery.

Lately, my friend seems to be using cloud storage a bit too much...

While it's possible to use cloud storage for work, using it during the day is one thing, but using it in the early hours of the morning is a bit much.

More importantly, it's the same file that's opened every time.

Jiang Shu was somewhat curious.

What kind of work is so appealing?

It's so captivating that people forget to eat and sleep. They watch it during the day while at work, and even after they get home, they still watch it. They'll get up at three or four in the morning to turn on their computer and watch it for an hour.

What masterpiece?

So, with a sense of awe, Jiang Shu switched back to the operating system and then skillfully rummaged through a bunch of hidden folders to find the cloud drive—

Since college, this guy has always been secretly watching, but Jiang Shu always manages to find him.

Jiang Shu never finds the films himself; he's just a haphazard porter.

After opening the last file by following the steps one by one, like Russian nesting dolls, Jiang Shu suddenly froze.

It doesn't contain video files ranging from a few minutes to several hours, but rather individual images and documents.

The pictures appear to have been taken with a mobile phone and are not very clear; they are mostly landscape photos taken in the wild.

At least that's what Jiang Shu thought at first glance.

But soon he realized that some of the scenes depicted in the photos looked familiar.

Jiang Shu's eyes suddenly widened, and her breathing became somewhat rapid.

"The wild cemetery outside Yunfu Temple..."

"what's the situation?"

Jiang Shu found it hard to believe.

After quickly browsing through the photos, Jiang Shu noticed that many of the scenes were not in Tancheng, suggesting that his friend had started recording them while still living elsewhere.

After confirming that there were no more places he had been to, Jiang Shu opened the document again.

What shocked him even more happened.

Each document contains detailed information about the incubator, with a level of detail comparable to firsthand information one could obtain from the strategy section of the Bureau of Different Systems.

And most importantly, these incubators all started as disaster sites.

As Jiang Shu looked through the document, he saw familiar content in the latest document.

[Hatchery Name: Auspicious Day]

Location: Tancheng, western suburbs, around Yunfu Temple

[Difficulty: Catastrophe Level or Higher]

[Details: Unknown]

[Reward: Unknown]

Status: Not yet completed

[Related Person: Abbot of Yunfu Temple]

[Note: Although the abbot of Yunfu Temple did not conquer the incubation site, he still received a significant upgrade that was enough to bring about a qualitative change, which is worth paying attention to.]

[Update 1: This hatchery has disappeared; it is unknown whether it has been compromised.]

[Update 2: The Bureau of Different Principles intervened, the Yunfu Temple incident was exposed, and Yunfu Temple disappeared.]

[Update 3: The abbot of Yunfu Temple has died, and the only remaining trace of the hatchery has been lost]