Chapter 75 75 Suo Dafu
Tu Lanxun sat straight on the sofa. When Wen Chong took out his cell phone, he swiped back and the sound continued to come from his earphones.
But it wasn't Zhou Hu who was asking the question. It was Wen Chong's own voice. She said, "Hello, Miss Tu."
The voice was recorded in advance, and it was scary that Wen Chong could predict what to say to her.
If this headset is really as Wenchong said, and the second recording cannot be monitored normally, then it means that N cannot get in. Or if it gets in, it can only hear the recording of the first recording repeated.
"Hello, Miss Tu." Wen Chong's tone was calm but with a slight smile. He repeated it into his headset, then said, "Perhaps you've already tried the Grey Cave game simulator."
Tu Lanxun felt his heart skip a beat.
She didn't look at Wen Chong, nor at N. Wen Chong's gaze was also on the other corner of the room, but Tu Lanxun still heard Wen Chong's voice in her ears.
"I believe you've gained some initial understanding of the people around you," Wen Chong said into the headset. "I'm meeting with you this time to discuss cooperation."
Tu Lanxun thought to herself, she knew it.
It was really Wen Chong who put the game simulator there. She was targeted from the very beginning, and the other party also knew about N and the convenience store.
Wenchong is definitely not an ordinary police officer. She is a member of the department that specializes in handling incidents involving strange ghosts.
Wen Chong smiled in the recording and said, "You are now strangely coming into contact with a dangerous game. Although I don't know your reason for doing this, I can believe that you are not willing to do it, at least not at the beginning."
Tu Lanxun swallowed his saliva.
"We hope to cooperate with you and use your information about the ghosts gathered in the Lucheng Development Zone. However, we do not want you to betray them. Instead, we want to manage and protect them, and ultimately prevent the passive situation of strange invasions."
"Similarly, whether you agree or not, you are under our management and protection."
When this sentence was uttered, Wen Chong looked at Tu Lanxun nonchalantly, as if he had calculated the seconds.
Tu Lanxun shifted his posture naturally, without reacting. N remained standing near the bookshelf, his fingers fiddling with the spines of Li Ao's professional collection like a curious predator.
"Now let's talk about what we can provide for you." Wen Chong finally got to the point.
"First, as I just mentioned, we can provide specialized protection to prevent you from being harmed during your interactions with ghosts. However, the extent of the protection will, I'm sorry, be determined objectively based on the degree to which you open your heart to us."
"Secondly, we're not exactly a police department, but the investigative processes and details held by our dual-line agencies can be shared with you—a future informant or even a member of our team. You will enjoy a great deal of freedom outside the official ranks, and we allow and encourage you to use our resources to protect your ghost friends. I'm referring to the innocent ones."
"The third point is closely connected to the second, regarding the case you are currently investigating. If you are prepared to reject the first two points, we still hope that you can cooperate with us in investigating the current soul-organ theft case."
"Now, I'm done. You have a brief moment to think. After you take off your headphones, hand it back with your left hand to indicate agreement, or with your right hand to indicate refusal. I hope you can make the right choice."
Wen Chong's voice disappeared into the headphones.
Time is up.
Tu Lanxun wordlessly unplugged both earphones, gathered them in his palms, and then...
Wen Chong looked at her calmly, but she could read something else.
She chose to hand the headphones back with both hands.
Wen Chong suddenly smiled and took it casually: "It's a very confusing recording, isn't it?"
Tu Lanxun looked back and nodded slightly, neither dodging nor avoiding.
She hasn't decided yet.
The topic shifted to Zhou Hu, who, like Du Ziyuan, was now under police protection. The former was in protective custody, while the latter had been taken away by Wen Chong's men. No one knew where they were going, but they were safe.
"Speaking of Sonia, we recently found out the identity of the victim in a long-standing unsolved case," said Li Ao.
He pulled out a folder, pushed it toward Tu Lanxun, and said, "Combined with the clues you provided, our new progress matches up perfectly. Sonia was adopted. Her adoptive mother had a gambling addict brother named Suo Dafu, who died six years ago. It was murder."
That is Sonya's uncle.
The folder opened to reveal a photo of a man who looked shabby and languid, not a whit like Sonia. Next to it was a portrait of a middle-aged woman, similar in build and appearance to the man, but with a much cleaner and more subdued demeanor.
"Sonya's adoptive mother is Suo Fanhua, and her uncle is Suo Dafu," Li Ao briefly introduced. "Suo Fanhua currently works as a waitress at a wonton shop in the urban village. Suo Dafu disappeared in an underground gambling den about six years ago, and we recently found his body."
Tu Lanxun originally wanted to ask, since Sonia herself was a slightly popular idol, why did her adoptive mother still have to work in a wonton shop.
But combined with Suo Dafu's identity as a gambler, everything makes sense.
Maybe all the money that Sonya gave to her adoptive mother was taken away by Suo Dafu?
"So, if Sonia's ghost isn't with the rising tide of the blue sea, she might be with her adoptive mother?" Tu Lanxun's mind raced. "If we want to find her, we can start with Suo Fanhua."
Wen Chong's eyes showed a hint of admiration.
Tu Lanxun continued to read the documents. The cause of Suo Dafu's death was mechanical asphyxiation. His body was beheaded and his torso was thrown outside Lucheng. His skull was not found.
Until more than a month ago.
The headless and unidentified corpse in Group A of the Municipal Funeral Home suddenly had a bony head.
Wen Chong gave a number: "Suo Dafu died on March 16th, six years ago. It has been confirmed that the murderer had received clinical medical training."
I've seen this number painted blue on the corner of a freezer door.
She had put the skull back with her own hands.
It turned out that person was Suo Dafu.
This time, Tu Lanxun couldn't help but look at N's back. The other party still had his back to everyone, standing there silently, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
"According to Suo Fanhua, Suo Dafu left home in late February six years ago. Like every time he indulged in underground gambling, he would disappear for about a week and then emerge with a pile of debts."
Li Ao continued, "Suo Dafu has a straightforward personality but lacks a sense of responsibility. To put it bluntly, when his gambling addiction strikes, he loses his morals and becomes shameless. He often steals Suo Fanhua's money, but when he's at home, he cleans the house and buys meals for her. When Suoniya was little, he often picked her up from school. The neighbors have a mediocre reputation for him, but no one hates him either."
This is also the reason why Suo Fanhua never drove Suo Dafu away, and why Suo Niya was willing to turn a blind eye and give money to her adoptive mother and uncle.
But can a gambler control his addiction? Tu Lanxun has never heard of a news story about a gambler who didn't owe all his relatives and friends money, ultimately leaving his entire family destitute.
Li Ao explained: "We suspect that Suo Dafu has a suspicious source of income and is not completely unemployed."
Since he said so, he just wanted to find out something. Sure enough, when he turned to the next page, Tu Lanxun raised an eyebrow: "Warehouse security guard of Blue Ocean Transport Company?"
A considerable amount of money is transferred between Sodafo and Blue Ocean Transport Company every month.
This Blue Ocean Transport Company was owned by Hu Haisheng. Established before the collapse of Bi Hai Chao Sheng, it was a legitimate new business and a legal front for transnational smuggling.
Tu Lanxun was really shocked. Is there any person or ghost now who has nothing to do with Tianguo Group’s Deshi Hospital and those people N?
"Anything else?"
Li Ao nodded. After much hesitation, he finally walked to the window, lit a cigarette, and said, "We've discovered that before Suo Dafu's death, he had frequent private meetings with the person in charge of the Blue Ocean Transport Company. They once went to a KTV, and we found the barmaid who was there in the private room."
Tu Lanxun asked nervously, "How do you say that?"
Li Ao replied, "The waitress who served the wine pointed out that Suo Dafu had threatened the leader in charge, demanding that he report to his superiors and demand huge financial benefits for himself. Suo Dafu said he had important evidence that the operator of Blue Ocean Transport Company was suspected of murder."
Because the gossip was too shocking and hot, and Suo Dafu was not a scheming person, he did not wave away the waiter while speaking in his mind.
So the first half of this conversation was firmly imprinted in the waiter's memory.
Moreover, there was only a three-month difference between the time of Suo Dafu's death and the time of the closure of the Bi Hai Chao Sheng Rare Aquatic Products Viewing Center.
Is it all just a coincidence?
The sunlight outside the window gradually warmed, the morning rush hour was about to pass, and Li Ao's office door had already been knocked twice by police officers reporting on their work. It was time for Tu Lanxun to leave.
"Thank you for the information you provided." Li Ao said, and then handed Tu Lanxun a copy of the agreement.
The agreement is divided into two parts: confidentiality of the conversation and assisting in the investigation as an outside informant.
This one was about established procedures and had nothing to do with what Wen Chong was saying in his headphones. Tu Lanxun signed it readily.
The two sides shook hands and said goodbye. Wen Chong said to Tu Lanxun: "Don't be too tired. Remember to balance work and rest."
Tu Landun thought of the VR helmet again, and the great guy who was talking to her in the shooting game Yefang.
Tsk.
On the way back, the traffic was no longer congested, and there were green lights all the way. The green mountains and clear waters outside the Lucheng Development Zone were getting closer and closer.
"I have a feeling that Sonia is behind everything." Tu Lanxun tapped the brakes and waited for the first red light at the deserted intersection in the development zone. "It's a foregone conclusion that the Bi Hai Chao Sheng accident was related to her. Could Suo Dafu's death, and the extortion attempt before his death, also have been orchestrated by Sonia?"
After all, this lethal humpback whale merman always has a lot of evidence.
She is very smart and can accomplish many things without showing up and violating the Fourth Treaty.
"The key is, Suo Dafu was previously working at the Blue Ocean Transport Company's warehouse. How could that be such a coincidence? Someone must have given him evidence and told him to report it."
"Sonya is also a ruthless person. She directly pushed Suo Dafu to his death."
After a long silence, N finally spoke: "His death has something to do with me."
Tu Lanxun was stunned for a moment.
N didn't react and continued, "I met Suo Dafu six years ago. He was indeed a security guard at the Blue Ocean Warehouse. He was a bit of a thief, but he was okay."
Tu Lanxun didn't know what "okay" meant.
But N had indeed transported Suo Dafu's remains, and it seemed they had some kind of friendship. Recalling the dark look in N's eyes as he gazed at the skull, Tu Lanxun would rather interpret it as a debt than nostalgia.
owe.
She couldn't help but continue asking: "He...you didn't kill him, did you?"
If so, she would embrace the VR helmet tonight and further agree to Wenchong's invitation.
N neither nodded nor shook his head: "Yes and no. I am partially responsible for his murder, but the real culprit was Jiang Rui."
Jiang Rui, the black clinic doctor in "Gray City Cave", the golden mirror in the present world.
He is actually a living person?
The car had already parked in front of the convenience store. Tu Lanxun didn't bother to unbuckle his seatbelt for a long time. N said from the passenger seat, "Don't look at me like that. Six years ago, I hadn't received any formal medical training."
Like Mikhail, Jiang Rui is a top medical student who graduated from a professional school.
N learned to be a doctor after entering "Gray City Cave".
"I still don't understand how ghosts enter the game world." Tu Lanxun rolled down the car window slightly to let in some air. "Would you like to tell me about it?"
N's expression was a little hazy, and he said in a very disembodied voice, "It was extracted."
Tu Lanxun asked, "Does this mean there's a channel from the real world to the game world?"
N acquiesced, "When I woke up, I was in that game."
"Is it also the state of having just been hit by a car?"
"No." N lowered his eyes, "It's a five-year-old child."
From the time Nanxishan entered the game world, was renamed Doctor Nightingale (codename N), to his return to Earth, only six years passed in the real world.
But in reality, he had spent countless lives in the Gray Cave.
N said, "In the game, I looked the same as I do now, with a similar family background. I was an orphan from the slums of that virtual city."
Tu Lanxun suddenly realized that this might be the first time N opened his heart to someone else.
Five years old, an orphan, smart and able to read.
"In the game world, my life path after adolescence was quite different from reality. I successfully passed the entrance exam to the best medical university there and became a doctor in a hospital after graduation."
N spoke vaguely, but Tu Lanxun, who had experienced the Gray Cave firsthand, could hear more information.
"Do you remember every reincarnation?" Tu Lanxun asked.
Since this is a game world, there are players. As the core boss, N must have experienced every player's cycle, which means he has lived countless lives in the game.
“Yes.” N replied.
Tu Lanxun then asked, "Who are the players?"
N said, "I don't know, but they're not all from Earth. There are a lot of inexplicable energies and thoughts in the universe."
But no matter whether the player is an earthling, an alien or something else that is not human, their ending is terrible, and they end up being strangled by Doctor Nightingale.
"Have you ever been controlled by a program? It is the managers of the game world who make you do what they want." Tu Lanxun couldn't help but comfort him.
"No." Unfortunately, N denied it again, "I always knew what I was doing."
This is so annoying. Tu Lanxun cursed him in his heart. If he told everything directly, would he die again? This man sounded like he was guilty of a heinous crime, but strangely, there was no concrete evidence to prove him guilty.
Was he shrewd and selfish to the extreme, or was he just a panting wild cat beneath the mask? She subtly leaned towards the latter.
N said nothing more and got out of the car.
The convenience store's door plaque glowed faintly in the sunlight.
#
The convenience store has been doing good business recently, and the computer ghost is very busy scanning codes at the cashier. When she is busy, she likes to eat snacks. Since she is a ghost now, her health will not be affected by fat and trans fat, so the snack bags are piled up like a small mountain next to the cashier.
A chocolate ball was peeled and stuffed into the mouth of the kid in line.
"It's so nice here." The old lady ghost with the little ghost smiled, "We have been dead for a long time, and there is no place to buy candy to please the children."
The little ghost couldn't speak very well yet, and he watched the mixed-haired kitten hopping around. Lu Jiasui's son, Lu Kangkang, the cat who was squatting in the shop flipping through a comic book, ran over and tried to teach the little ghost to speak, but failed.
The computer ghost waved her hand and said, "Come and play often."
Tu Lanxun looked out the glass and saw that the streets around the convenience store were already crowded with people. Ghosts were standing in the sun in groups of three or four, and those who were walking by were talking to each other.
Now the third rule of convenience stores has changed: ghosts with internet access are not allowed to promote the existence of physical convenience stores on the Qinglan Ghost Forum.
Because there are not only Tu Lanxun and his group in the Qinglan Forum, but Hei Senlin and De Shi are also lurking in it.
Tu Lanxun finally realized the benefit of connecting with Wenchong. If someone really came online to cause trouble, Wenchong could really help the convenience store hold off for a while.
But she also didn't forget that the convenience store gang's survival to this day was inseparable from N's planning and protection, although most of the troubles came from N himself. But she also made money, didn't she?
The final successful transfer message appeared on Tu Lanxun's phone. All the money Ms. Tu Penglai owed had been paid off. From now on, she was a free woman, with every penny she earned hers.
The sound of the truck engine disappeared not far away. It was Tang Weining who came back from outside to replenish the goods, and Mikhail who followed him to watch the fun. Wu Long also ran over to move some things.
Wu Long has been in a dilemma these past two days. He often wants to reincarnate in the morning, but in the afternoon he can't bear to leave his friends. At night, when he is emotionally rich, he starts to beg everyone, mainly asking Mikhail to escort him back home.
Mikhail went with him twice, but never again, complaining, "This guy can watch his sister do homework all night long. What's so interesting about that?"
Everyone had a place to live near the convenience store, and the commercial apartment on the third floor had been sold by someone who painted a blue ox, planning to make a proper place to live. Living in a hotel all the time felt like a 24/7 part-time job.
Liu Maosheng suggested: "Why not connect the second and third floors?"
The computer ghost said: "This is illegal construction and private modification."
Liu Maosheng shrugged: "The Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau won't come to investigate."
This made sense, so Tu Lanxun organized everyone to join the vigorous illegal construction project. There was no need to hire a construction team. N and Mikhail were the main force. Bai Chao had experience in decoration. In addition, there was a guy in the expedition team who had been a foreman in his early years. With everyone working together, they finished the work very quickly.
Testing the strength, Mikhail stepped on the dirt-proof paper that covered the floor and used a hammer to pry open the small bucket of eco-friendly paint. "It's done. The stairs are built. All that's left is the paint."
The layout of the convenience store has been changed again. The first floor is the main retail area. The room that N originally converted from a warehouse on the first floor has been turned into a semi-open lounge with a screen projector. At night, when the curtains are drawn, it becomes an audio-visual tea-chair area.
The audio-visual tea-party area is connected to the kitchen sink, leaving a corner dedicated to N's favorite floor scrubber and a dishwasher that has been missing for a long time.
The entire second floor was converted into a warehouse and office area, with logistical shelves reaching from floor to ceiling, a reassuring sight. This was N's idea.
Tu Lanxun discovered that N not only enjoyed cleaning but also had a tendency to hoard and build nests. He kept everything immaculately clean and was happy to maintain the spaces he created. Even if a zombie siege occurred, the convenience store could still be self-sufficient and survive the aftermath.
A new staircase connects the second and third floors. Going up is an inner entrance door converted from a balcony. After unlocking the door, it is Tu Lanxun's private living space, with four bedrooms and two living rooms. Since Tu Lanxun and N are still within the range of 20.22 meters, this private space is semi-public for the time being.
They all have bed frames that match their mattresses, and their sleep quality has skyrocketed.
But painting the blue Xun feels weird.
Because before in the convenience store, everyone was sitting together happily, and there was nothing to worry about N squatting in the corner like a cat.
But now the two of them were in the same room, and once the door was locked it became an enclosed space. She always had a strange feeling that she and N were living under the same roof.
It was as if some vague boundary was established invisibly, not between her and N, but between the two of them in an area independent of the outside world.
After all, when she was drinking tea in the living room, she could hear the sound of a shower coming from the guest bathroom; when she jumped onto the bed in the bedroom, she would subconsciously wonder whether the sound would be heard by the neighbors.
So weird!
Tu Lanxun took off her old VR headset—she had given the new one she'd bought to Bai Xiaoju. She'd just logged in when she saw a friend request from Wen Chong, the man who had once inspired her, but he wasn't online. She accepted.
After losing two games, Tu Lanxun hugged his helmet in his arms and looked up at the ceiling.
This strange feeling reached its peak on the morning of the second day after check-in.
Tu Lanxun had just woken up, his hair was disheveled. He opened the bedroom door and heard the low hum of the range hood and the faint smell of fireworks outside.
N was standing in the morning light wearing an apron, her figure like a silhouette painted in the window. The sound of the pot and spatula colliding was extremely pleasant. Two fried eggs were already piled on the plate on the stove, and milk was foaming slightly in the pot, forming a thick layer of milk skin.
N said without turning back, "Come and eat."
The porridge was already served on the table, with pumpkin-crusted barbecued pork buns as the porridge side dish, and pickled cucumbers as a side dish.
Tu Lanxun was a little confused.
For more than 20 years since she was a child, Ms. Tu Penglai rarely had breakfast at home. Tu Lanxun's impression of the morning kitchen basically came from the nanny.
But the nanny was replaced every few years. The one who worked the longest worked for ten years. But that nanny rarely spoke. Either the meal was already set when Tu Lanxun came, or she would sit at the table waiting for the clatter in the kitchen.
And out of some professional ethics, no matter how she requested, Tu Lanxun was often the only one sitting at the table to eat.
The nanny would not come out of the kitchen with her shoulders level and legs long, wearing an apron around her waist, and place the dishes in front of Tu Lanxun neither lightly nor heavily, making a "dong" sound that was not loud enough to hear but felt like the heart was being hit.
The nanny didn't pull out the chair, and sat opposite Tu Lanxun as if it was her right, handing her two chopsticks with a napkin wrapped around her head.
The nanny's eyes, which were not broken, appeared blurry because they reflected a layer of warm and thick porridge oil.
If there is a second person in the space, the reflection of light will produce subtle changes, the field of vision will become darker or fuller, and the human retina will instinctively capture the movements of another living object, including the angle at which a spoon gently scrapes across a grain of rice. This is unavoidable.
It’s very strange, Tu Lanxun thought again, in such a big world, there is someone sitting opposite you, eating the food he cooked for you two.
If you don't eat, he will secretly raise his eyelids and glare at you.
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