Fang Tian sat dazed in his chair for a good few minutes before he finally accepted the fact that the laptop he'd just bought had honorably given its life.
This wasn't a system crash or a virus, the kind of thing you fix by reinstalling. The whole screen had been cut in two —— as an Information Technology student at Qingkong, he understood perfectly well that a physical attack lay far beyond their repair abilities.
"Lin Jiu?"
He asked tentatively, to make sure the next thing struck by a physical attack wouldn't be his neck.
This time Lin Jiu gave no response. The dorm fell into deathly silence.
Then the dorm door was kicked open, and a flashlight beam landed on Fang Tian's face. He instinctively shielded his eyes with a hand, and only after a moment realized it was Feng Xi who had burst in.
Feng Xi held a flashlight in her left hand and a pistol in her right, her wary gaze sweeping back and forth across the room. It was another good while before she lowered the muzzle and asked, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, but our good friend, the warmhearted citizen Laptop, gave its life in glory."
"I know."
Fang Tian's upbeat attitude left Feng Xi a little speechless. Given the special nature of the case, the Fourth Division had Fang Tian under round-the-clock surveillance, so the moment the colleague on monitoring duty reported sparks and lightning in his dorm, she'd rushed straight over.
Seeing Fang Tian still able to joke with her, Feng Xi felt speechless and, at the same time, quietly relieved.
She shut the dorm door, holstered her sidearm, and put on a stern face. "Didn't I warn you not to do anything unnecessary? If Lin Jiu can cut open your laptop, she can just as easily cut open your throat."
Three years had passed since the disappearance; they knew nothing of Lin Jiu's current state, and couldn't rule out that over those three years she'd gradually become a vengeful wraith brimming with resentment. In his statement, Fang Tian had mentioned the Lin Jiu he'd seen in his dream, and from his description she'd already begun showing early signs of aberration.
"Your task is only to find out where Lin Jiu is now. Investigating the case is our work."
"But haven't I just found us a breakthrough?"
"A breakthrough?"
Feng Xi gave a cold snort, face grim. "You mean having Lin Jiu walk you back through the case?"
"Surely no one knows what happened that night three years ago better than Lin Jiu does?"
"And it never occurred to you why, back at the station, I specifically told you not to do anything unnecessary?"
As she spoke, Feng Xi glanced at the slain laptop. It was proof enough that Lin Jiu had already turned aggressive like an aberrant creature — only she seemed to retain a thread of reason, having left no corpse behind in the Qingkong dorm. "Since you know nothing, I'll make an exception and give you a lesson: questioning a victim about the course of a case is indeed the most direct and effective method. But it comes with severe side effects.
"For instance, every time the victim relives the events, their emotions grow extremely unstable, sometimes turning violently aggressive. That's exactly why every such questioning must be done in a controlled environment, to ensure the questioner's safety — all the more so with Lin Jiu, who, unlike an ordinary victim, has already shown signs of aberration. Her aggression and destructive power far exceed an ordinary ghost's."
It was precisely for this reason that, on her way over, Feng Xi had braced for the worst — for Fang Tian's corpse. Even in the Fourth Division, no one would shut themselves in a room and question Lin Jiu without any protective measures whatsoever.
"There's a thing like that?"
After Feng Xi's machine-gun explanation, Fang Tian couldn't help feeling a chill of after-the-fact fear.
What Feng Xi didn't know, though, was that Lin Jiu hadn't moved against him out of his good luck, but because right before the game he'd casually brewed her a cup of "jasmine tea." Fang Tian had thought the Calming Tea Leaves were just for a laugh — who'd have guessed a mere F-rank item would have this kind of effect?
His heart was full of regret — not over the recklessness of sharing a room with Lin Jiu, but that, had he known, he'd have brewed her the other packet of tea to keep the effect topped up.
Lin Jiu had, in the end, demonstrated the method of escaping the puppet's pursuit, but before she could explain the principle the tea wore off, and along with the computer's demise, Lin Jiu had become something of a Riddler herself.
Why had Lin Jiu left "Cat Whisper Café" after a flurry of actions at the computer screen?
Fang Tian was utterly stumped.
"Scared now?"
Seeing Fang Tian's expression shift between light and shadow, Feng Xi assumed her warning had taken effect. "Out with it. What did you and Lin Jiu talk about?"
"On the day she vanished, Lin Jiu ran into a puppet monster at 'Cat Whisper Internet Café.'"
At that, Feng Xi sat down at once at the desk, took out the notebook she always carried, and recorded the four words "puppet monster."
It was a new piece of intelligence the Qingkong police had gained in three years; before this, no one had ever mentioned a puppet monster.
"Describe the monster in detail."
"It was a bit like a scarecrow, its body made of gears and metal. It didn't look like a living person."
"Is this puppet monster what killed Lin Jiu?"
"Can't say for sure yet. Lin Jiu said she got away at the time. I didn't get to ask what happened next — my computer blew up."
"......I see. Any other leads?"
"The attendant at 'Cat Whisper Café.' I think he's a prime suspect."
The gel pen poised over the notebook paused. Feng Xi didn't immediately record Fang Tian's new lead. She turned and studied him gravely. "Is the source reliable?"
Unlike the never-before-mentioned "puppet monster," after Lin Jiu's disappearance both the owner of "Cat Whisper Café" and the attendant on duty that day had been investigated several times — but three years ago, both motive and timeline had cleared them of suspicion.
Their biggest obstacle now was time, too. Tracking down a café attendant from three years ago would take no small amount of resources; even the Fourth Division would have to give the bureau a reasonable justification.
"At the very least, the attendant never mentioned the 'puppet monster' to you."
"But none of the other patrons there that night mentioned it either."
"In the game Lin Jiu invited me into, though, the attendant definitely saw that monster — and tipped it off when Lin Jiu tried to escape."
"What did you say!?"
Feng Xi suddenly raised her voice, giving Fang Tian a start. But she didn't seem inclined to leave him much time to think, pressing on in an even more urgent tone, "You're saying Lin Jiu also believes the attendant was an accomplice?"
"Probably."
Almost the instant Fang Tian gave his affirmative, Feng Xi had her phone to her ear. "Hello, it's Feng Xi. I need you to immediately find me the personal details of the attendant on duty the night Lin Jiu disappeared three years ago at 'Cat Whisper Café' — including his current address...... Yes, make it fast. Save the full report for when I'm back!"