“Xiao Xu, I’m seriously suspecting that you’ve installed a listening device in the station! How else are you supposed to be privy to all these new information that we’ve just found out!” Wang Meng stood up in shock and gave Xu Lan a slap on his back.

“Cough cough… That’s a crime. Since the files mentioned that Zhao Ran has a mother who remarried, logically we should look into it. Director General Hu, all the information we have pointed toward the woman who escaped from the mental asylum. Do you think you can get in touch with the mental asylum again and try to get some information on her? Any files or photos would do. What do you think?”

Xu Lan closed the files and fidgeted with his pen.

“Officer Xiao, what’s your opinion on this?” Instead of answering Xu Lan’s question, Hu Cheng directed the question at Xiao Feng.

When Baldie Chen was presiding at the office, he was wary of the task force as he did not want them to steal his thunder. As a result, he put on a show and never participated in the task force’s investigation. After taking over, Hu Cheng tried to do away with the culture fostered by Lao Chen and actively helped the task force in their search for leads. Under his leadership, the police station and the task force worked hand-in-hand to solve the 928 case.

“Personally, I admire Xu Lan’s investigative skills. However, I have a question in regard to this incident. Based on the files, I don’t see how Zhao Ran is connected to the incident. Why are we still on his tail and wasting our resources on him? On the other hand, we seem to disregard Lan Er’s hard work and the results of his investigation on the Sparrow Game?” Xiao Feng asked as he breathed out rings of smoke.

Hu Cheng tapped on the table twice with his tobacco pipe. He refilled the pipe with more tobacco leaves before smoking again. The table was cluttered with files relating to the Sparrow Game.

“Let’s stop investigating on mother Zhao, we should stop wasting time on Laos since it’s of negligible significance. As for the investigation on the Sparrow Game, we will need to have a further discussion considering how we acted prematurely the last time. Judging how our opponent has such strong counter-reconnaissance ability, I don’t think he will fall into our trap so easily,” Hu Cheng uttered through his yellow teeth.

“Officer Xiao, any news from Lan Er and Xie San?” Xu Lan held Xiao Feng’s opinion in high regard. He decided to stop obsessing over it after Xiao Feng voiced his queries.

“Don’t bother asking, there was barely anything. Lan Er was dragged into the subsystem of the Sparrow Game. He got closer to death than he was to the main perpetrator,” Wang Meng cursed.

“What? You guys made a subsystem? Aren’t you worried that you’ll scare the suspect off?” Xu Lan slammed his gel pen onto the table and roared. He squinted his eyes as he stared at Xiao Feng.

“When Lan Er first suggested this, I did not agree with him. However, when he presented the data to me, I chose to believe him.” Xiao Feng stubbed his cigarette and replied solemnly.

“What did the data say? Didn’t Meng Zi say that the plan failed?” Xu Lan sat straight and asked in anticipation noticing that there was something more to this.

“Lan Er combed through all of the information related to the Sparrow Game and he found out that the game is closely connected to a public health website. The website targeted the elderly and there were plenty of articles written on Pneumoconiosis. These articles are distributed through location-based SMS, directing them to the Sparrow Game’s website and prompting them to download the mobile application for the Sparrow Game forum. While the forum is full of treatment plans for Pneumoconiosis, there are also subtle hints directed at the patients, encouraging them to commit suicide.”

As the links were customized based on user information, the users were displayed with contents specially curated for them. The real forum link was only shown to those who fit into the criteria. If the users followed the instructions on the forum, they would end up having a nervous breakdown and chose to end their life. For those who did not fit into the criteria, they would end up at a normal management website. In that website, there were different tiers of management who would distribute death-related messages.

The latter website was a Plan B to throw the policemen off their investigation. After reading the horrifying posts in the forum, normal people would exit the forum out of fear. The only ones who would stay and read through all of the posts would be the police who were in the middle of their investigation.

Whether it was Xu Lan or Xie San, the suspect was monitoring their every moves on the website. This website was the perfect tool for the suspect to influence the decisions made by the police.

“… So all of the money I invested had gone to waste! Back then, I was surprised by how badly designed the website was and wondered how he manages to target the mining crowd.”

“Lan Er found the right link and felt an invisible pull toward the site. It was as though the site was magical. Lan Er went behind our back and continued to gather information on the site. In fact, he even shared his personal posts on the site,” Xiao Feng said.

“If he went behind all of you, how did you guys find out about this?” Xu Lan recalled that Wang Meng mentioned something about Lan Er losing his life. He knew that the story behind this was not going to be anything cheerful.

The room was shrouded in a depressing atmosphere and even the warmth from the sunshine could not dispel the gloominess. Those who were outside of the room envied how calm and collected the people in the room seemed, whereas those who were in the room envied the carefree and cheerful nature exhibited by those who were outside.

“We lost touch with Lan Er for about a week. As the files on their desk piled higher, Xie San broke into Lan Er’s room out of frustration…” Xiao Feng gulped and seemed really reluctant to recall the incident.

‘Bam!’ Xiao Feng threw a strong punch at the sofa, causing a crack to form on the surface of the leather sofa.

“Dang it! When we capture the b*stard, I’m going to skin him alive!” Wang Meng gritted his teeth and clenched his fist before shouting.

Sometime later, Xu Lan got in touch with Lan Er and was surprised to see that he was stick-thin. His ribs were protruding and he was constantly shivering under his blanket. The forbidden tune was played in every room, causing a great deal of confusion to his mind.

The house was filled with a damp and moldy scent. Objects were scattered everywhere— a broken porcelain bowl, a pillow with cuts on it, a blood-stained ashtray, a sharp Swiss Army knife… Consuming psychedelics, burning oneself with cigarettes, carving on one’s body, wrist cutting, he carried out all of the tasks detailed on the website.

This series of action caused severe damage to Lan Er’s psychological wellbeing. Lan Er attacked Xie San and scolded Xie San for stopping him from ascending to the heavens. Lan Er was still undergoing psychotherapy and Xie San stayed right by his side to prevent him from harming himself. This was why Xiao Feng suggested stopping the investigation on mother Zhao. They were short-handed.

“What about the subsystem?” Xu Lan noticed that Xiao Feng and Wang Meng did not feel like discussing what happened to Lan Er. He immediately diverted the topic.

“This is the other breakthrough about the Sparrow Game that I wanted to talk about,” Xiao Feng said with a deep frown. He hoped that this information would help the case as it was something that Lan Er put his life at risk for.