Chapter 977: Stealthy Substitute

When she heard that she was mistaken, Tao Yueyue felt a little disappointment in her heart, but Xu Xiaodong comforted her in a low voice, "This kind of thing is normal. If you don't exclude the wrong ones, how can you catch the right one?"

Be that as it may, Tao Yueyue was still very unwilling to accept this. She had hoped that she could win honour and be praised by Chen Shi.

Chen Shi projected a photo onto the white screen. The photo was of an unprepossessing middle-aged man who was balding slightly and wore glasses. The wrinkles at the corners of his mouth made him seem a little unapproachable.

Chen Shi said, "Zou Lei was formerly a manager in Hai Guoyang’s company. When Chen Anhe first joined the company, she worked in Zou Lei's department. According to other colleagues and Zou Lei himself, the two were a couple for a while."

Then he presented Chen Anhe’s photo. Compared to Zou Lei, Chen Anhe was much more pleasing to the eye. She was a slim and fair intellectual beauty. Tao Yueyue was reminded of Gu You, but when Chen Anhe was compared with Gu You, something was still missing. It was probably the feminine tenderness that seeped out from deep inside her bones. This was also the trait Tao Yueyue admired most in Gu You. She was really feminine.

Chen Shi went on to say, "Although I did not verify this with Chen Anhe, according to my understanding of her, she chooses her partner through life functions. She very much believes in this. Zou Lei should only have been one of the people selected by her. In the end, the two failed to stay together, indicating that Chen Anhe didn’t settle on him. However, Zou Lei kept brooding over this matter, especially after Chen Anhe became Hai Guoyang’s wife. At the same time, Zou Lei was suspended because of a business error. Zou Lei harbored a grudge, and at one point he posted a lot of negative comments about the company on the Internet.

"During his period of unemployment, Zou Lei lived in dire poverty, and then the observer of humanity found him..."

Someone raised his hand and asked, "Is the observer of humanity that he mentioned Hai Guoyang?"

Chen Shi shook his head. "He didn't specify the name of the observer of humanity. When the transcriber asked him whether the observer was a ‘he’ or a ‘she’,[1] Zou Lei said that he didn't know. This attitude is very suspicious."

There was whispering below with some people speculating whether the observer of humanity could be Chen Anhe.

"The observer of humanity provided him with financial assistance. Since then, Zou Lei never wrote negative comments about the company again. He was trained as an executor, but he didn’t work long before he was dismissed. In order to prove himself, Zou Lei started to look for some 'real villains', killed them by injecting poison into them, and left life functions on their bodies." Chen Shi raised a finger to remind everyone to pay attention, "In essence, Zou Lei was an out-of-control executor. His acts let the observer of humanity appear in our field of vision. Do you think Zou Lei is helping them, or harming them?"

There was another burst of discussion. Everyone insisted on their own opinions. Tao Yueyue said, "If he wanted to harm the observer of humanity, he would have come out to testify and tell us the name of that person. I think he is trying to prove himself!"

"You’ve understood well!" Chen Shi smiled. "Zou Lei does not recognize the observer of humanity to a certain extent. He thinks he can do better. He is proving himself to someone. Based on this, I think the observer of humanity is Hai Guoyang, and Chen Anhe is just the person behind the scenes... In addition, the aloof Hai Guoyang doesn't know about Zou Lei, this botched impersonator!"

Having said that, Chen Shi changed to another photo. This time it was actually Hao Yunlai, who had been arrested yesterday.

Everyone was also confused. Chen Shi said calmly, "Hao Yunlai, male, 46 years old, single and unemployed. He had been ordered to resign by Hai Guoyang because of embezzlement of public funds. Hao Yunlai was friends with Zou Lei in the company. Yesterday, our first interrogation found that this uncle also had something on him. Every weekend, Hao Yunlai would wear a coat and go to the park with a syringe. Whenever he saw couples getting intimate, he would stealthily jab someone’s body with the syringe. Before the other party could respond, he would immediately run away. Perhaps after being single for a long time, he felt envious whenever he saw couples in love, and this mentality of wreaking revenge against society arose."

"Did the syringes he used have viruses?" someone asked.

"According to his own confession, he had picked up the syringes from hospital trash. It isn’t clear whether there were viruses, but I let Old Peng have a look at them. It turned out that after being disposed of for a long time, any viruses had died long ago. At most, the victim would get an infection or fever."

"Throw this kind of scum into the detention center."

"No, no!" Chen Shi smiled. "Hao Yunlai has another purpose. I will release Hao Yunlai and send people to monitor him. You have to treat him as a copycat criminal. Discuss it in the WeChat group, and repeatedly mention his name!"

People started discussing fervently because the police officers didn't quite understand the purpose of this.

Xu Xiaodong asked, "Captain, are you planning entrapment?"

Chen Shi smiled, "How can this be entrapment? We’re discussing it in the group chat we set up ourselves and we didn't disclose it to the public. Unless..." He paused meaningfully, "The company who released the software can freely view our chat content!"

Tao Yueyue said, "I get it! Use Hao Yunlai as bait to let the observer of humanity come out and get rid of him. The observer of humanity is proud and aloof. He will not tolerate the appearance of copycat criminals and will most likely take action."

Xu Xiaodong was a little puzzled. "Why not just use Zou Lei as bait?"

"Stupid, we have to release the wrong information. If the other party bites this bait, it can prove that their company is peeking at the private chats of its users."

Xu Xiaodong scratched his head, still a little bit confused.

Chen Shi said, "The observer of humanity will probably only send executors to eliminate him. This is still unable to draw the person himself out, but if he acts, it proves that they are peeping at users’ private chats. Using this as an excuse, we will be able to justify entering his company for an investigation! Of course, I don’t play around with human lives. I will send ten people to protect Hao Yunlai secretly to ensure that he is within our sight every single second, especially when he crosses the road. You must protect him at close range. Hao Yun Lai must not meet with a mishap!"

"Captain, what if the observer of humanity isn’t fooled?"

"If he isn’t fooled, everyone will have been busy for nothing! Now that the observer of humanity has ceased his activities, we must make him take action so that his flaws will be exposed. The worst possible result of this operation is that everyone might be busy for nothing, and the best possible result is being able to prove that their company is fishy. We will shut down all the IT products they sell, take drastic measures and blind the observer of humanity!"

"So how long do you want to protect him secretly for?"

"Twenty-two days! The observer of humanity predicts that we will give up after 22 days. That is to say, he will restart the executors’ missions after 22 days. Who wants to participate in this mission?"

Everyone stopped talking. After all, it was hard work. Then Xu Xiaodong stood up and said, "I'll go! Keeping watch is my forte!"

"What about the others?" Chen Shi smiled and looked down. "No one took the initiative to volunteer, so I’ll just pick randomly!"

Tao Yueyue prayed in her heart that she would not be chosen, but who would have imagined that the first name Chen Shi uttered was hers. Tao Yueyue said unhappily, “This kind of work can be done by anyone. I don’t want to go. I want to Investigate the case!"

"You came for an internship, but you’re still picking and choosing? It will be you!"

Tao Yueyue sat down dejectedly, thinking that it was really difficult to be a police officer, and that she really wanted to go back to school!

1. The pronouns “he” and “she” are pronounced the same way in Chinese. ☜