Chapter 38: Doubts Resurface, the Day Before the Incident.
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“It’s you!”
“Save me…”
Ma Jiao realized that the situation had turned against her. She flung her hair out and threw Chen Qianqian aside, then crawled across the ceiling, whipping her hair toward Zhou Mo.
Her hair lashed toward Zhou Mo’s face like a whip. Seeing the ferocity of the attack, Zhou Mo twisted aside and barely dodged it, but in doing so he gave up his position.
Taking advantage of the opening, Ma Jiao shot through the doorway. Zhou Mo immediately turned and chased after her, paying no attention to Chen Qianqian, who had been left sprawled on the floor, dizzy and disoriented.
Ma Jiao moved incredibly fast across the ceiling. Even her hair had become an extra set of limbs, helping her scuttle along at high speed.
It happened to be the time of the midday news broadcast, and people throughout the fourteenth floor of the television station were busy transporting equipment. When the frantic staff saw a disheveled female ghost crawling rapidly across the ceiling, they first fell into a brief silence. Then screams began echoing through the corridors.
The panicked crowd and scattered equipment became obstacles hindering Zhou Mo’s pursuit.
“Heh…”
“Running, are you?”
“Perfect. I was just looking for a chance to test my skills.”
When Zhou Mo saw the crowd blocking the way ahead, he did not slow down. Instead, he charged forward, braced one hand against a person’s shoulder, and vaulted over the obstacle in a forward somersault.
A group of workers pushing a camera completely blocked Zhou Mo’s path. Without hesitation, he planted one foot against the wall and performed an aerial side turn, slipping neatly around both the people and the equipment.
The obstacles not only failed to hinder Zhou Mo—they had become tools for him to show off.
His figure moved through the chaotic corridor like an elegant, agile cat. With the aid of his stunt-performer skills, Zhou Mo did not lose speed. Instead, he drew steadily closer to Ma Jiao.
With the midday news about to begin, Wang Jianghe, who had been resting, heard the screams and stepped into the corridor to see what was happening. The moment he opened the door, a white-clad woman with long hair cascading over her shoulders shot past him from the ceiling.
Wang Jianghe was so frightened that he shuddered and collapsed onto the floor. Yet perhaps because of the angle, he seemed to catch a glimpse of the female ghost’s face.
His lips moved in disbelief. Then he saw another agile figure racing after her.
It was unmistakably the detective who had arrived only a few hours earlier that day.
Could he really have solved the case that quickly?
Unfortunately, there was no one available to answer Wang Jianghe’s question. Ma Jiao and Zhou Mo had both darted into the emergency stairwell.
The instant Zhou Mo burst through the door, he saw the direction in which Ma Jiao was fleeing downward and could not help curling his lips into a smile.
“If you had run upward, I might not have had a way to deal with you. But since you chose to run downward, don’t blame me.”
Ma Jiao continued scurrying rapidly down the back of the staircase. Zhou Mo, however, used the smooth handrail to slide downward, flipping over to the opposite flight of stairs from time to time. His speed was many times greater than Ma Jiao’s.
After only five or six flips, Zhou Mo had already reached the spot directly beneath her.
He slid to the bottom of the railing, stamped down hard, and leaped high into the air. Grabbing Ma Jiao by the hair, he yanked her downward with all his strength.
Ma Jiao’s body slammed heavily into the floor. At the same time, Zhou Mo’s left hand reached behind him and produced a metal ring, which he snapped directly around her wrist.
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The sequence of movements had flowed together without the slightest pause. If someone had filmed it on a phone, the clip would probably have become an instant sensation online.
The metal ring suppressed the subconscious monster’s abilities. Ma Jiao’s hair quickly fell away, while the clothes on her body gradually returned to their original form. Her smooth, bald head gleamed beneath the dim lights.
Perhaps because the subconscious monster had been suppressed, Ma Jiao regained her sanity. Tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes as she sobbed, “I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t mean to…”
“It was all because of her that I became like this…”
“She ruined my life…”
Smack!
A loud slap struck Ma Jiao across the face. Her cheek visibly swelled.
With a smile on his face, Zhou Mo said softly, “Hello. Let’s save each other some time. I’ll ask the questions, and you’ll answer them.”
The slap completely stunned Ma Jiao. She curled up in the corner, trembling from head to toe.
She had only just developed the intent to kill and had been caught before she could do anything. This was the moment when her heart was at its most fragile.
Moreover, after the malice faded, Ma Jiao felt an indescribable terror deep within her as she looked at the young man. His eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, seemed like some kind of razor-sharp tool, fixed menacingly upon her head.
Her instinct for survival made Ma Jiao cover her mouth and nod repeatedly. Tears continued streaming down her face as she feared that saying the wrong thing might get her killed.
Zhou Mo took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement before asking, “Who is Sun Zhongwen? Where does he live? And what kind of work does he do?”
Ma Jiao lowered her trembling hands and hurriedly replied, “Sun Zhongwen is my voice-acting teacher and my lover. He does voice-over work for the Science and Education Channel. He’s quite famous in the industry. He lives at Number 137 in the Binhai Road villa district.”
Zhou Mo let out a long breath. It was as though he could see his own brain waving at him.
“Thank you. Could you go to sleep for a while?”
“Wha—what?”
Bang!
Ma Jiao’s head lolled to one side, and she fell into a deep, childlike sleep.
After a brief hesitation, Zhou Mo took out his phone and called Xia An.
…………………………
Xia An had been pacing back and forth through the technical department of the City Guard headquarters. She had spent nearly the entire day on this matter.
Click!
The door finally opened. A young man with dark circles under his eyes handed a hard drive to Xia An.
“Sis Xia, I managed to repair the surveillance footage. Don’t forget to buy me dinner.”
Xia An took the hard drive in delight. “You really fixed it? Did you recover all the data? Not bad, Little Liu!”
Little Liu awkwardly scratched his head. “I can’t say it was completely restored. The surveillance system belonged to Doctor Liu Tianyou and was protected by special encryption.”
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“On top of that, the hard drive had already been damaged. I could only use some brute-force methods to restore the video data from the day before the incident. The hard drive itself is basically ruined.”
Xia An sighed regretfully. “Only the day before? Never mind. That’s enough. I’m investigating the missing-data case anyway. Can I borrow your computer?”
Little Liu hurriedly nodded. “Sure. Come in and take a look.”
Little Liu found Xia An a private room where she could review the surveillance footage on her own.
Xia An took a deep breath and began carefully going through the limited footage at triple speed. The recordings were from the day before the incident—October 16.
About twenty minutes later, Xia An finally saw Liu Tianyou returning to the laboratory at around five in the afternoon. She was about to fast-forward when she noticed someone in a hooded sweatshirt following behind him.
She immediately focused, wanting to see the person’s face clearly. Unfortunately, every angle showed only a blurred visage.
After searching for a while, Xia An selected a frame and used the computer’s built-in image-restoration technology to reconstruct the indistinct face.
As the mosaic-like image repeatedly shrank and reformed, the computer tower beside her began to roar and hum. Unable to suppress the irritation and unease in her heart, Xia An lit a cigarette.
Just as the progress bar reached ninety percent, her phone suddenly rang. She answered and found that Zhou Mo was calling again.
After hesitating for a moment, she picked up. “What is it? I’m a little busy right now.”
Zhou Mo’s somewhat excited voice came through the phone. “I caught the culprit responsible for the subconscious monster at the television station. Could you send someone over to take custody of her? I’ve locked her in one of their break rooms. I have a few other things to take care of, so I won’t wait for you. Bye!”
With that, Zhou Mo hung up.
After a brief moment of stunned confusion, Xia An finally realized what he had said and jumped in shock.
What?
Was he serious?
He had solved another case?
Was this man really that absurdly lucky?
He had solved another case in less than half a day?
But Xia An quickly recovered and shouted angrily, “That bastard left the criminal at the scene and ran off? What could possibly be more important than bringing the culprit to justice?”
She was just about to call Zhang Huaian, who was still recovering from his injuries, and ask him to see what was going on when the computer finally fell silent.
She instinctively looked up.
The next moment, she froze.
The cigarette dangling from her lips dropped onto her trousers, but she did not notice.
Because the person whose face had been restored on the screen—
was Zhou Mo.
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