Chapter 31: Chapter 30: Wang Chao: I’m Going to Join My Uncle
Xu Huo awoke.
September 7th, 8:30 in the morning.
Xu Huo sat up in bed. He stared at his bedroom for a long while before finally letting out a deep breath.
In his dream, he had witnessed every critical moment of Sun Jian’s life.
He had seen him kill, seen him dissect and skin corpses, and seen how he had gone from an ordinary person to walking down this path.
The man had never been to school, yet he had built the prototype of his company in a short time.
Moreover, his early company was incredibly united, presenting a solid front to the outside world!
Why?
Because of crime!
He had used crime to rope in a few people from all corners of the country, all with different agendas, and bound them tightly together!
"Tsk, it’s a shame there was no information about the criminal network. Otherwise, it would’ve helped wrap things up."
Xu Huo muttered to himself before getting out of bed.
He quickly washed up, sat down at his computer desk, opened his writing software, and placed his hands on the keyboard, lost in thought.
’How should I write about this person, Sun Jian?’
’A pitiful man? Every pitiful person has their detestable side!’
He was indeed pitiful. His wife, his childhood friend, his coworkers—they all treated him like a cash cow, to be slaughtered and sold off at will like a pig.
But the things he did later were not pitiful in the slightest.
Murder, getting involved with shady forces, stealing corpses...
From a moral or legal standpoint, he was nothing but an animal!
But then again...
Every detestable person has their tragic side.
The contrast between the first and second halves of his life was staggering.
He was a man full of contradictions. His logic was rigid and seemingly upright, yet his actions were all done in the shadows.
After a long period of thought, Xu Huo finally started typing.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK...
The crisp sound of continuous, uninterrupted keystrokes echoed through the bedroom.
After a long while, it was twelve noon.
A brand-new manuscript was finished.
This time, Xu Huo didn’t schedule the post; he just clicked "publish."
Not long after it was published, the book’s comment section was gradually taken over by a few familiar IDs.
[White-Haired Black Swan: ? No way, dude, this case hit my doorstep. I live in Jiangdong District! Why are two cases in a row in Jiangdong District!?]
[Blowing Bubbles with Gum: Don’t be scared, OP. The author probably lives in Jiangdong District too. Go find him.]
[Yellow Big Haozi: Emm, I think the author really doesn’t need to kill people just to write a plot, he really doesn’t...]
[Passionate Big Cockroach: Is no one else gonna talk about the plot this time? Holy shit, how the hell did a Corpse Repository even get written into this!?]
[Madhouse: OP, calm down. It’s just a novel....]
The next second, a voice sounded in his ear, and a pale blue screen of light appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for composing the plotline ’Flesh Processing Plant.’ Calculating reward.]
[Reward calculation in progress...]
[This plotline had an immersion score of 80%. Reward granted: ’Fountain of Thoughts.’]
[Fountain of Thoughts: When you enter a state of deep thought, your mental agility is enhanced. Your associative thinking and sensitivity to clues are greatly increased!]
[Note: (Perhaps you should become an artist. Hmm, you’d best learn a speech skill.)]
Fountain of Thoughts—a comprehensive enhancement of mental agility.
As for being an artist...
’Learn a speech skill?’
Xu Huo’s eye twitched. "Should I grow a little mustache, then?"
"Or part my hair to the side?"
He chuckled, then glanced at his own status panel.
[Host: Xu Huo]
[Age: 23]
[Learned Skills: Killing Skill Level 5, Firearms Level 5, Parkour Level 5, Black Dragon Eighteen Hands Level 5, Boxing Level 5...]
(Note: The maximum level is Level 5)
[Composed Plotlines: ’Modern Jesus,’ ’Flesh Processing Plant’]
[Buffs: Wang Die’s Scent, Fountain of Thoughts]
[Achievements Unlocked: Blood-Handed Butcher, Bandit, Lawless Madman, Public Enemy of the Police, Unproven Crimes...]
He gave it a quick scan to get the gist of it, then got up and headed out.
It was already twelve noon. He grabbed a quick bite to eat.
Then, he prepared to head to the Criminal Investigation Division.
He wasn’t needed for the division’s cleanup work, but there was a hefty bonus waiting for him to collect.
He could have asked Chu Xi to bring it to him, but she had the day off, so Xu Huo decided not to bother her.
He expertly boarded the bus, following a familiar route.
He rode it all the way to the last stop, getting off at the entrance of the Criminal Investigation Division.
The officer on duty at the gate saw Xu Huo and let him through immediately.
After turning left and right in the office building without finding him, he finally located Li Jianye at the detention room.
For some reason, the number of people in the detention area had suddenly increased.
"They were brought in last night and this afternoon. All involved in cases, not a single one of them is clean."
Li Jianye was smoking. Seeing Xu Huo, he took a rather melancholic drag.
With the cigarette still in his mouth, he fumbled in his clothes and pulled out two rather thick file folders, handing them to him.
Xu Huo could tell how important the higher-ups considered this case just by the feel of it.
The two folders together contained at least a hundred thousand yuan!
"I suggest you look into the mines, too," Xu Huo said, placing the folders in the bag he carried and turning to look at Li Jianye.
"You’re talking about insurance fraud?"
Li Jianye asked, looking up.
Xu Huo nodded. It was fair to say that if it weren’t for the insurance fraud, Sun Jian most likely wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble. At worst, it would have just been a case sparked by him being cuckolded.
Unfortunately, the insurance fraud and the demolition—those two things directly established a new logic and order for his worldview!
"That stuff is tricky. It’s hard to investigate and impossible to eliminate."
Li Jianye sighed.
Insurance fraud in the mines was hard to stop. One moment of carelessness down in the pit and you could be killed, with no one to bear witness.
Besides, these people were clever. They would use the timing of demolitions or other events to fake an accidental death.
If they could install surveillance cameras in the pits, or use large machinery instead of manual digging with multiple people maintaining the machines, it could reduce incidents. But where would an ordinary mine get large machinery these days?
Surveillance cameras were even more impossible. There were barely any cameras on the roads!
"Sun Jian’s two coworkers back then likely ran into trouble with an insurance fraud scheme. I’ve already contacted the Municipal Bureau to conduct a thorough investigation of the mining area."
Li Jianye offered a temporary solution.
"The current method is to have workers go down into the mines in randomly assigned teams. We’re breaking up small groups of fellow townsmen or friends. The teams are randomized for every descent."
Xu Huo nodded, showing no sign of disagreement.
This method couldn’t eliminate the problem completely, but it could at least alleviate it.
There was no helping it. The mine bosses weren’t idiots; they would definitely use any method to prevent accidents. But even in his previous, much more developed life, insurance fraud cases still happened...
Just as their thoughts were racing, a figure burst into the detention room in a flurry.
"Captain Li! Captain Li!"
"I’m here, I’m here!"
A voice, clear and utterly foolish, rang out, echoing throughout the detention room.
That voice, that tone, that timbre...
Xu Huo froze. He slowly turned to look at the person before him, his expression growing strange.
The person in front of him faltered upon seeing him, then froze as well.
Their eyes met. You looked at me, and I looked at you. For a long moment, neither said a word.
"This kid nearly got skinned alive by his uncle these past two days. He can’t stay at the fish market anymore, and he doesn’t have much money on him, so the division figured we’d pay out his bonus early."
Li Jianye said with a laugh, pulling out another, much thinner envelope and handing it over.
Compared to Xu Huo’s, this one didn’t contain much money.
It was only a few thousand yuan, but in the year ’03, a few thousand was enough for a person to live on for several months!
Xu Huo wasn’t concerned about that. He was concerned about something else.
He looked Wang Chao up and down for a moment, then suddenly asked:
"Still starting up your business at the fish market?"
"Not anymore..." Wang Chao said with a sigh. His uncle had really given him a beating.
’It was clearly his uncle’s salted fish that got stolen by the old man, and then the old man repaid him, a bachelor, by giving him a corpse... Why did he get beaten for that!?’
Wang Chao wasn’t having it.
His uncle hit him twice more with a belt.
Wang Chao was having it.
"But..."
"I still have my other uncle!"
Wang Chao puffed out his chest again. "I’m ready."
"I’m going to go join my other uncle!"
’Other uncle?’
’This kid’s entrepreneurial spirit isn’t dead yet?’
A strange look appeared on Xu Huo’s face, his eyes gradually filled with suspicion.
’This kid couldn’t possibly...’
’...be that unlucky again, could he?’
"My other uncle will definitely welcome me!"
Wang Chao said smugly, "He dotes on me the most!"