Big Fish on the Hook

During the afternoon electronic class, the professor released soporific sound waves on the screen. Wang Dali leaned listlessly on the desk and said, "Yang Zi, what's good about this lousy class? Look how few people attend? We're seniors already, still afraid of being called on?"

I glared at him. "What's with all the complaints? Can't you sleep like everyone else?"

"Humph, then I'll go to sleep. Wake me when class is over." After speaking, Wang Dali placed a book over his face and began to drift off.

I used my textbook as a cover while holding my phone, constantly flipping through private messages on Weibo.

Someone sent a private message saying they really admired me and asked if my family were police; someone was asking which dorm I lived in, wondering if we'd had class together before; someone suspected I was just hyping myself up and posed a bunch of professional questions to me; there was even a girl who sent me a cute photo of herself directly, asking if I wanted to be her boyfriend. I was actually a little tempted for a moment, but I heard from others that you can't take photos of girls at face value, especially the kind puckering their lips cutely - in real life they may just be dinosaurs!

No wonder they say people fear fame as pigs fear fatness. Going through over 300 private messages was truly exhausting, but I did make some discoveries. There was an account with a girl's avatar called "Little Bear Bear" that kept asking if I could reveal any updates on the case, or if I'd found the real murderer.

This person caught my attention, but I couldn't confirm if he was Deng Chao, so I tentatively told him that there had been major developments in the case.

Thirty seconds later, Little Bear Bear said, "Great detective, can you reveal to me what major developments there are?"

"I can't, that's confidential. You can read about it in the paper after we've caught the murderer," I replied privately.

"Then who is the murderer?"

"Hmm, I can't reveal that either."

"What's the harm in giving me a little hint? I'll tell you a secret too - I'm actually a girl in Deng Chao's class. I had a secret crush on him, and I was so surprised when he suddenly died."

I was suddenly excited - this person was definitely suspicious!

I typed out a response, but on second thought deleted it. If the other party was Deng Chao, I had to be careful and deliberate with every word and punctuation, and not let him suspect I was setting a trap.

Although we were separated by Weibo, the feeling was as tense as the scene in Infernal Affairs where Tony Leung and Andy Lau were trying to probe each other's identities over the phone. My palms were even sweating.

After thinking it over, I typed out and sent this response: "Alright, I'll give you a little hint. This morning I found a suicide note at the scene."

I waited about five minutes. During this time, I even wondered if the other party had sensed something. I desperately wanted to send another message but kept telling myself to stay calm!

I could imagine the other person doubting, thinking, and analyzing every word I sent.

Finally, he replied with a confused emoji, asking "A suicide note? Written by who?"

I almost cried out in excitement - I was 200% certain this was Deng Chao!

Because our earlier conversation had been about Deng Chao's death the whole time. A normal person would naturally assume it was Deng Chao's suicide note. But he had asked "Written by who?"

This inadvertently revealed that he knew the note wasn't Deng Chao's, because Deng Chao was still alive - he was Deng Chao!

I admit Deng Chao was a criminal mastermind, but every person has blind spots in their thinking, and that's how many criminals slip up.

For example, in the Case Breaker Chronicles there was a story of someone who killed his business partner in a rage, then returned to the victim's wife pretending to be clueless, calling out "Sister-in-law, is big brother home?" Later the interrogator Song Ci asked how he knew the victim wasn't home since he was already dead.

The criminal immediately confessed, a classic example of exploiting thought blind spots.

I was so excited my hands were shaking. I calmly replied, "Is that so? It's found in Zhang Kai's dorm, simply shocking. You'd never guess who the murderer is!"

"Oh? Could I see it?"

"I shouldn't, since I haven't handed it to the police yet!"

"Hmph, you're bluffing!"

Finally took the bait! I smiled coldly. I sent him a photo Little Bro had photoshopped to look like a letter that could easily pass for real.

Of course the photo only showed part of the letter, so the key info couldn't be seen, only that it was a suicide note from Zhang Kai.

After I sent the photo, the other side suddenly went silent, but I wasn't worried at all. I could even imagine Deng Chao's panic right now!

I casually sent: "What do you think, I didn't lie right? Oh, and don't spread this photo around, I'm handing it to the police first thing tomorrow morning."

The other replied: "Then could we meet tonight? I'm really concerned about this case, I want to know who the murderer is as soon as possible."

Just as I expected, he was ready to kill me. Time to set the trap. I said, "I can't tonight, I still have to keep investigating at the scene. *sigh* it's so tiring."

He sent back a cute emoji, encouraging, "Keep it up, hope you crack the case soon!"

"Thanks!" I replied.

I shook Wang Dali awake. Wang Dali complained, "I was just dreaming of a date with my goddess, why'd you have to wake me up?"

"Take a look at this." I handed him my phone.

Wang Dali rubbed his eyes and exclaimed, "Song Yang, nice going!"

"See, I was right!" I smiled smugly.

"Don't get cocky just because you started catching female fans. Trying to hook up with fans, tsk tsk..." Wang Dali said.

I almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He actually didn't see how important this conversation was. No wonder, from an outsider's perspective it just looked like I was bragging to a female fan about finding an important lead.

"This person is Deng Chao!" I reminded him.

"What? You're certain?" Wang Dali asked.

"100%!" I said confidently.

Wang Dali looked it over again and said, "So since you told him you're investigating the scene tonight, isn't he going to show up and kill you to keep you quiet?"

"That's exactly what I want, to lure him out!" I said.

"You're using yourself as bait, dang, you're playing with fire!" Wang Dali looked at me like I was crazy.

"Don't worry, I'll set up defenses all around. When the time comes, you come too," I said.

Wang Dali scratched his head and mumbled, "Uh...I was planning to review tonight..."

I glared at him fiercely. Of the 365 days in a year, besides the night before an exam, when had this guy ever studied? Such a lame excuse.

Under my withering stare, Wang Dali finally looked guilty and said, "It won't be dangerous right?"

"Deng Chao isn't some three-armed six-armed demon, there's no danger," I said.

Wang Dali said worriedly, "But, why did you say you're at the scene? That place is haunted!"

I reassured him, "We'll be fine, we're both guys. Plus look at our names, one is 'Yang' and one is 'Great Strength', very strong yang energy. What do we have to fear from female ghosts? It'll definitely be alright."

Wang Dali said despairingly, "Yang Zi, can I opt out..."

"No!" I stated firmly.

The end of class bell rang, and students who'd had their naps started heading out. I said to Wang Dali, "Let's go, while there's still time. We need to buy some stuff."

Just then Huang Xiaotao called me. I picked up and she urgently yelled, "Song Yang, you got it all wrong! The victim is Deng Chao!"