Yang Yu was investigated again. The service station she belonged to submitted the information of the aid recipients to the Supervisory Bureau, and everyone had to wait at the station for the Supervisory Bureau's information check. Yang Yu was in a hurry to go home and cook. After her negotiations with the Supervisory Bureau personnel failed, and seeing that it was about to get dark, she had no choice but to go to the service station's public Communicator to call her son.

Yang Yu dialed several times, but no one at home answered. She was burning with anxiety. On a whim, she tried calling Chen Xiulian again.

"Xiao Chen!" As soon as the other end connected, Yang Yu said anxiously, "I bought some groceries at the entrance of our industrial park this morning and had him deliver them to the cafeteria. Do you think you could help me take them to my home after you get off work? And please tell my daughter-in-law that the Supervisory Bureau is checking information at our service station!"

Chen Xiulian's Communicator was severely damaged, and static could be heard during the call. She didn't answer for a long while. Yang Yu thought she hadn't heard and was about to repeat herself when she heard Chen Xiulian reply, "Okay, I'll go over after work."

"Ah, thank you so much!" Yang Yu brushed back her sweat-dampened hair.

Through the static, Chen Xiulian could hear the conversations near Yang Yu. The Supervisory Bureau staff were in the business office, while the service station's aid recipients were gathered in the hall, whispering and discussing the investigation.

Chen Xiulian didn't let Yang Yu hang up. She sat in her car, looking at the weighing station outside the window where vehicles came and went. She asked, "Is the Supervisory Bureau investigating a murder case?"

"It's exactly that murder case we saw a few days ago," Yang Yu grew fearful at the mention of the case. She covered her mouth and whispered, "One of the people inside was from Puli Residential Community. Punctual Cleaning told the Supervisory Bureau that the cleaning services for Puli Residential Community are a joint venture with our service station, so the Supervisory Bureau came to investigate."

Chen Xiulian was blocking the lane, and a car next to her started honking. She started the car and continued speaking as she turned the steering wheel, "What are they asking?"

"Technology is so advanced these days. I heard from the people who went in before me that you just have to stand in front of the desk, submit your ID number, and the system will automatically search and identify your information." Yang Yu recited the new words she had learned, then glanced at the office and said in an even lower voice, "What should I do, Xiao Chen? I'm so scared they'll find out about my son and his wife, neither of them have their residence permits yet! If they find out, will they go to jail?"

"Don't be afraid," Chen Xiulian parked the car in a corner and turned off the engine, "These things aren't that amazing..."

She wasn't very sure. She even wanted to tell Yang Yu to run.

But Chen Xiulian thought about the timing. She had not entered Puli Residential Community at the time of Li Jianhua's disappearance—there was no record of her. When she substituted for Yang Yu, it was to go to other residential communities. Her name wasn't on Punctual Cleaning's work schedule. It would be useless even if the Supervisory Bureau detained Yang Yu and investigated her a million times over.

These things weren't that amazing.

Chen Xiulian thought as she gripped the steering wheel. He Zhiguo had also cursed these systems, saying they were just a bunch of data codes, incapable of much technical analysis.

If systems had human rights, then this would be an era of dictatorship.

Liu Chen had said that in the chat room. He was resistant to the popularization of the system and objected to the system recording personal information. Chen Xiulian had never registered her personal information either. In the beginning, He Zhiguo had refused to take her to register, afraid she would go to the police once she got an ID number. Her current truck, house, and ID Communicator were all under He Zhiguo's name. Even her salary account at the steel plant was one He Zhiguo had used. She was an invisible person in the Docking Area.

"They're investigating a case, and you have nothing to do with it," Chen Xiulian looked at the clouds in the sky, which seemed to have been steeped in ink, squeezing out murky rain. She said, "They don't have time to look into those things. Just answer whatever they ask you. Is your son at home? I'm going to deliver the groceries."

......

Yan Junxun turned off the light and drew the curtains tight. He lay on the bed, closing his eyes and trying to sleep. In his ears was a sound effect like sinking into the deep sea. He needed this sound to help him sleep, just like Huo Qingjun needed the sound of rain.

Yan Junxun liked to be in a closed, dark world without any other noise. This allowed him to think faster. The little blackboard was in his head, and Yan Junxun swept it into a corner. He tried his best to relax his body, even pulling the blanket up higher.

But when a person closed their eyes, other images still appeared in their mind. They couldn't be blocked.

Yan Junxun looked out from the window of Liu Xincheng's room but couldn't see anything. His gaze was constantly blocked by those photos, which made him very uncomfortable. He didn't want to continue and tried to change the image of Liu Xincheng's room, but Liu Xincheng's face immediately appeared before his eyes without warning.

There was an animated image of Liu Xincheng's information being recorded. He turned his body, looking expressionlessly at the system camera.

Fuck.

The graffiti in Liu Xincheng's hallway magnified, and the red-painted word "Fuck" was superimposed on Liu Xincheng's face. He stared at Yan Junxun as if staring at the murderer.

Yan Junxun started to get agitated. He rolled over, burying his entire body in the soft quilt.

Don't look at me.

Yan Junxun thought.

I'm not the one who fucking did this.

Liu Xincheng was frozen in the frame, like an example photo in a PowerPoint presentation, and slid away emotionlessly. Li Jianhua didn't appear right after. Yan Junxun remembered the fish tank in his home. The light in the fish tank flickered on and off. Yan Junxun clearly remembered the pattern on the fish tank, including the rhythm of Shi Shanyan tapping on it at the time.

Those fish swam inside the glass, wagging their big, bright red tails. The light wasn't flashing quickly, but Yan Junxun hated it. It made him associate it with other things. After the murderer dismembered Li Jianhua, she had to clean up. She couldn't flush away the pieces of flesh. She had to gather them into several basins. When she poured water, the pieces of flesh were like fish, their wounds opening and closing, a patch of bright red exposed on the surface of the water.

Li Jianhua died last month, but the fish were still alive this month.

Yan Junxun didn't want to listen, but he still heard the "shua shua" sound of writing on the little blackboard.

The murderer remembered these fish. She had returned to Li Jianhua's home more than once. When was the most recent time? She couldn't go on the weekend, that would be too conspicuous; Li Jianhua had neighbors. She had to pick a time when no one was paying attention. She couldn't drive. She knew driving would require entering the underground garage again, and the ID number in her hand couldn't be used twice. That would be too obvious. She had to think of another way.

Yan Junxun thought of the fish tank, and also the scene of him and Shi Shanyan walking out of Li Jianhua's home.

Shi Shanyan stood in the elevator waving at the couple next door. Yan Junxun didn't look at them. His peripheral vision only caught the mountain bike by Li Jianhua's door, and the pair of very clean old sneakers.

Those definitely weren't Li Jianhua's. They belonged to someone else—perhaps the murderer.

She drove in to take Li Jianhua away, but she understood that the car couldn't come in twice, because not only would that leave a second record in the underground parking lot, it would also arouse suspicion from the property management who were familiar with Punctual Cleaning's vehicles. She rode a bicycle on subsequent trips, which allowed her to enter Puli Residential Community without going through the entry and exit checks again.

Her choice of a bicycle for transportation indicated that her workplace was nearby. She couldn't go on the weekends; she had to go during a break from work. But she didn't dare bring the bicycle home, because she had bought it. Bringing it back would scare her; she would be beaten for every cent she spent. She had developed a habit of being sneaky, just like how she couldn't bear to watch the sexual assault process.

The sound of writing on the blackboard grew dense, making Yan Junxun's breathing slightly disordered. He wanted to sit up and smoke a cigarette. If anyone could see Yan Junxun's blackboard, they would be shocked to find how chaotic the drawings were. The lines on the blackboard were completely disorderly, like yarn pawed by a cat, with no beginning or end in sight.

She had a habit of returning to the vicinity of the victim's home. She needed to repeatedly recall the memory to prove to herself that the victim was dead, truly dead. The reason she repeated her crimes was that her own pain hadn't stopped. That was terrible. She had to observe the area around the victim's home over and over again, like someone with OCD.

Yan Junxun sat up abruptly, yanking the earphones from his ears. He was covered in sweat, but the room temperature wasn't high. He was just—he was just like this.

"Call Jiang Lian," Yan Junxun shouted to Panda in a hoarse voice, "Ask him—"

As he thought of this, Yan Junxun remembered his Communicator was off. The only means of contact was with Shi Shanyan, and he had personally sent Shi Shanyan out the door.

Yan Junxun threw off the covers, "Wake up Little Orange Dragon!"

......

Chen Xiulian started the car, and its headlights lit up in the dark. She was very sensitive to time and had always been punctual.

Yang Yu's daughter-in-law ran out and said to Chen Xiulian by the car door, "Thank you, Sister Xiulian!"

"Her daughter-in-law has a big butt, good for bearing sons," He Zhiguo's voice whispered in Chen Xiulian's ear again, "You're useless, you can only give birth to a money-losing good."

"You're welcome." Chen Xiulian looked at Yang Yu's daughter-in-law. The girl, who had recently given birth, was very thin, with a plain face, and even the clothes draped over her shoulders were her mother-in-law's hand-me-downs.

How nice.

Chen Xiulian murmured to herself.

She was beaten just a few days after giving birth. She carried Qinqin home herself. He Zhiguo wanted to give her away, but she refused. She only had one child, like the moon in the sky, held in her arms and fed bit by bit from her own shriveled breasts. Qinqin was a good girl. Little girls were all quite good. She wore pigtails and sang to her.

Qinqin said, "Mom, don't cry."

"That son of a bitch is so lucky. His old mother works her ass off outside, while he acts like a master at home, with a young and pretty little wife to serve him." He Zhiguo smacked his lips; he always did that after drinking. "If I had a wife that pretty, I wouldn't bear to hit her. Who knows how that bastard got his hands on her? Maybe he did what I did, acted first and reported later."

He Zhiguo laughed in Chen Xiulian's ear. He had a bad voice; laughing too much would make it hoarse, and crying would also make it hoarse. Sometimes Chen Xiulian couldn't tell if He Zhiguo was crying or laughing when he was lying in the basement.

"The Diba side is very far, but he insisted on meeting a netizen..."

The time "clicked" into place.

Chen Xiulian was very happy. Her digital watch was very accurate. Her gas tank was full, and the basement was clean. She knew where Yang Yu's son was. He liked to play video games, and he wanted a good job. Chen Xiulian knew it all. She was all too familiar with the thoughts of these beasts.

No, Chen Xiulian corrected the error.

She was all too familiar with "He Zhiguo's" thoughts.

"It's alright, I'm familiar with that area, I can pick him up," Chen Xiulian turned her head, looked forward, and repeated to Yang Yu's daughter-in-law, "You're welcome."