Chapter 146 - The New Online Celebrity
Chapter 146: The New Online Celebrity
Eh?
He knew about this too?
Xiang Wan looked at him and nodded her head. “Yes, I was so scared.”
Little Liu made a shocking expression and then gave her a thumbs up. “It’s fortunate that you’re quick-witted… Otherwise, you’ll be one of the victims…”
What did he mean? Could it be there were other victims last night?
“You’ve met a professional crime syndicate,” Little Liu said as he walked along, “recently, there have been many cases of blackmail where the crime syndicate intercepted user data by exploiting the vulnerabilities in various call-a-cab apps. Captain Bai was busy the whole morning and has solved this case…”
“Ah!”
The case had been solved?
She realized that by just taking a rest, everything was as though changed drastically?
Xiang Wan was a little taken aback. “So fast? You’re joking, right?…”
It was certainly incredible. “You’re not the only one who encountered this,” Little Liu told her affirmatively, “it was because the monetary amount involved were not big enough and that there were no serious consequences, so, it was not taken as seriously before. This crime syndicate has been very aggressive and it’s a source of their main income! This time, they are considered unlucky to have met Captain Bai.”
So there are crime syndicates like that? she thought.
This was too scary.
When she reached her desk, she switched on her laptop and surfed using Baidu.
She was shocked.
It turned out that the things she had encountered for the first time were not new at all.
There were people who shared some cases where people got on the wrong car they booked and were being taken to desolate areas and got blackmailed…
They were already considered very lucky as the swindler only wanted money. What was more horrible was the victim themselves going missing where their organs were removed to sell to the black market and so on.
There were all sorts of incidents in the internet that made Xiang Wan felt frightened.
“Goodness! Are swindlers nowadays this ‘capable’ now?”
Xiang Wan felt really blessed that she did not get on that black car last night. Looking at these cases alone was enough to get a chilly feeling in her spine.
“Yeah, I didn’t know that before,” said Xiang Wan, “now that I hear them talk about it, I’m scared out of my wits!” Little Liu looked at her, his eyes suddenly lit up. “But then again, Captain Bai is really concerned about this case. He has been busy with this case and didn’t rest at all. He even said that he must bust this crime syndicate for the society…”
As he said so, he gave a chuckle and hesitated before glancing at Xiang Wan.
“Teacher Xiang… Somehow I feel that Captain Bai is very concerned toward you?!”
“…”
Seeing how Little Liu’s eyes spell of gossip, Xiang Wan’s heart was actually filled with sweetness but her expression was very normal.
“If you’re the one who encountered this matter, Captain Bai will also do the same thing. Besides, I’m the female colleague in this team!”
Little Liu chuckled. “You’re right.”
After chit chatting for a little while more, both started to get busy with their own stuff.
About 10 minutes later, Xiang Wan’s mobile phone received a message.
“Come to the office for a while!”
Uh! Xiang Wan curled her lips upon the arrogant tone of the message. She lowered her head and took out a small mirror to neaten her hair. After which, she got up from her seat and fixed her attire before walking over.
“Captain Bai, you’re looking for me?” She knocked on the door politely while standing at the entrance.
Bai Muchuan met her gaze the moment he looked up at her as the door was wide open.
Xiang Wan saw his red eyes at that instant. She was stunned for a moment and suddenly felt a little heartache for him.
“Captain Bai, why didn’t you go rest for a while?”
“Come in and talk!” Bai Muchuan took a casual glance at her and added another sentence after a brief moment. “Close the door!”
Eh? Why do you want to close the door during the day?
Xiang Wan’s heart skipped a beat as she thought so and looked at him a little suspiciously.
Bai Muchuan got amused by her wary look and laughed as he rubbed his temples.
“Teacher Xiang, I don’t eat people!”
“…”
Xiang Wan pursed her lips a little shyly and closed the door gently before sitting in front of him. “I heard that you’ve been busy solving my case the whole morning?”
“Hm.” Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow. “Are you moved?”
Xiang Wan’s pupils moved and put on a half-smile. “A little…”
“Only a little?” Bai Muchuan’s face sank.
“How about… a lot,” Xiang Wan replied with a weak smile.
“How much is your ‘a lot’?”
“…”
She stared at him as she couldn’t answer that.
“You’re hateful! Can’t you talk about work?”
When a woman talked to a man in a coy tone and manner, it could actually stir a man’s heart.
There was a hint of a smile from Bai Muchuan’s eyes. “Alright! I got the surveillance footage from the security in your neighborhood and found the car number plate of that car. From there, we managed to track down the syndicate and hence, solved the case.”
“Detective Bai solved the case in just a few hours time! That’s really fast!”
Xiang Wan’s eyes lit up as though she had just heard it and looked at him with admiration and surprise.
“You’re really great.”
“Is Teacher Xiang complimenting me?”
“Of course.”
“Seems a little fake.”
“…”
This fellow! Xiang Wan did not know what kind of expression she should show.
She smiled helplessly before frowning as she asked him in a low tone, “Have you interrogated them? What’s the result?”
“It’s a shame!” Bai Muchuan knew what she was asking about. “As far as I know, they’re just a group of swindlers that has nothing to do with the case.”
If they were not related, that meant Xiang Wan was just unlucky to have met them at this critical juncture?
Her heart sank but she put on a smile. “You can’t say that it’s a shame since you’ve caught the swindlers anyway. Congratulations, Detective Bai, you’ve solved another case!”
Bai Muchuan did not say anything.
The office suddenly fell into silence.
Xiang Wan’s smile did not last for three seconds.
She looked at Bai Muchuan’s stern expression and rubbed her own face. “Why are you looking at me like this? Is there something on my face?”
Bai Muchuan did not show much emotion. “I can accept congratulations from others! But toward you, I don’t want to lie to myself.”
He paused for a brief moment and he started to look gloomy. “I don’t believe such coincidences, yet I have no choice but to accept them. The more it looked like a coincidence, the more I feel that our opponent is really strong.”
That swindler syndicate had made use of vulnerabilities in the software to intercept user data for blackmail and extortion purposes.
Yet that person could cleverly make use of this group of swindlers to do harm through the hands of another without getting found out.
How was this done?
If that person really existed—it was certainly a fearsome existence!
“Actually, I would get a little confused from time to time,” Xiang Wan said seriously after giving it a thought, “sometimes, I really feel that there’s someone behind all of these cases. Yet sometimes, I felt that we might have been overly suspicious. If we follow the logic without the presence of that person, the cases can still seem normal and reasonable enough.”
“You’re right!”
Bai Muchuan looked at her approvingly.
“That is why besides you, I’ve never told anyone about my suspicions.”
This was because every case actually had a reasonable closure.
Even though he had accounted to others about the cases, he could not account to himself.
“I’m a perfectionist to the cases I deal with. As long as there is a tiny doubt that did not make sense, in my heart, the case could not be considered closed.”
“I understand.” Xiang Wan fully admired and was in approval of his attitude and professionalism. Nevertheless, seeing how hard he worked and did not rest after staying up for one whole night, she really felt her heart aching for his man. “Well, humans are not made of iron. Can’t you go rest for a while then talk about work with me later?”
“I can’t!” he answered curtly with determination.
Xiang Wan rolled her eyes, speechless. “Why?”
Bai Muchuan looked at her coldly for a few seconds without replying to her. He extended his hand out to her.
“Come sit here—”
They were separated by a work desk.
There was only a chair over at his side, how was she going to sit over there?
Xiang Wan pondered for a while, got up from her seat, and pushed her chair over as well.
Bai Muchuan: “…”
Xiang Wan: “What’s up?”
Bai Muchuan wore a half-smile while looking at her perplexed expression. “Actually you can sit on my thighs.”
“!” Xiang Wan felt shy. “This is the office, be serious!”
“This woman can’t be teased!”
“… You’re teasing me?”
“Of course.”
“… Hurhurhurhur!”
Bai Muchuan felt her response amusing and held her hand. His gentle gaze on her was tender and mesmerizing. Xiang Wan was unable to reject that. She could only let him hold her hand in his palms—under that gentle gaze and warmth, she smiled quietly like a silly girl in love.
“Still smiling?” Bai Muchuan almost laughed out of frustration. “You don’t have anything to tell me?”
“What?” Xiang Wan was still in her trance, defeated by his good looks.
Bai Muchuan grunted coldly. “You’re pretending!”
“… I’m not pretending!” She answered honestly, “I really don’t know what you’re referring to!”
This woman is so silly that she’s really adorable, he thought.
Bai Muchuan puffed a long sigh. “So you’re going to stop updating your novel just like that?”
Oh, he’s talking about this.
Xiang Wan paused for a while and looked at him. She found herself suddenly at a loss of words.
“I’m talking to you.” Bai Muchuan pulled a long face. “You’ve decided?”
“Hm.” Xiang Wan lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze. “All of them don’t know about the situation, but you should know why I did that… Now that something like that has happened, what else can I do? If I’m being watched, I can’t be toying around with other people’s lives, right?” At this moment, she looked up to take a glance at him. “You understand me, right?”
Bai Muchuan looked calm and poised. “Isn’t it your wish to write a popular novel and become a popular or even become a legendary author one day?”
“Of course I want to!” Xiang Wan muttered and sounded a little grieved. “I don’t want to give up but I don’t have a choice.”
Bai Muchuan patted her on the head. “Sigh! What a pitiful idiot!”
“…”
She was being called as an idiot again.
But she started to get used to him calling her that, maybe because of the frequency.
Not only that, she even heard the heartache he had for her through his words. Maybe she really was an idiot after all?
Xiang Wan: “Bai Muchuan, I think I must have been possessed or something! Why did I feel happy although you’re scolding me?”
“…”
He was talking about the discontinuation, but she had to change the topic.
For such obvious behavior of trying to sneak her way through by changing the topic, of course, Bai Muchuan would not let her have her way.
“So what are your plans? Not writing ever again?” He raised an eyebrow. “This book has hundreds of thousands of words already. You’ve put in a lot of effort. Won’t you feel bitter about it?”
“It’s not just feeling bitter, but I’m really, really bitter about it!” Xiang Wan was truthful toward him. “Worse of all, the Chief Editor has said that if I discontinue this novel without a good reason, they would not recommend nor promote any of my works again.” She rolled her eyes and puffed a sigh. “Why am I so unlucky?”
“Rubbish!” Bai Muchuan snorted lightly. “You’re blessed to have met me. How can you be unlucky?”
“…”
What a narcissistic man!
“Is it because in order to meet you,” chuckled Xiang Wan. “That I’ve used up all of my luck? And that’s why I’m unlucky in other matters?”
“Sounds reasonable.” Bai Muchuan concurred by nodding his head without feeling the least bit embarrassed. “God has opened a door for you. If he doesn’t help you by closing a window, you’ll catch a cold!”
Pffft!
Only he would be able to think of such reasoning!
Xiang Wan could not help but feel amused.
“Thanks to you, my depressed mood has successfully ‘crumbled’!”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” Bai Muchuan stroked her face. “Little pitiful thing, you can continue to be depressed. My apologies.”
“Hahahaha! I really feel like beating you up!”
When the two of them were together, they had lots of things to talk about. The most important thing of all was the fact that they could communicate in a carefree manner. There were even times that Xiang Wan felt that the heavens had Bai Muchuan custom made for her. Looks aside, just his personality, his way of dealing with matters, as well as his behavior and attitude toward her were all perfect. She liked everything about him—there was nothing that she did not like.
Was this the typical “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”, or was a case of the “beholder” being blinded by love?
Xiang Wan did not dare to think deeper about it.
She loved the feeling that there was tacit understanding when she smiled at him.
As she liked him, she also felt a little uneasy.
She was worried about losing him.
“What are you thinking?” Bai Muchuan patted her head again.
Xiang Wan’s hair was thick and smooth. She had never dyed her hair before. Her long tresses seemed like midnight covering her head, and when coupled with her fair skin, she looked sweet and lovely. Bai Muchuan seemed to like the feeling of patting her head because of her hair.
“You’ve been writing novels for a long time, it’s also good to take a break.” He continued to pat her head as though it was not enough.
“You support my decision?” Xiang Wan felt surprised.
She had been blasted by Fang Yuanyuan the moment she woke up and had gotten over it. Now that she heard Bai Muchuan saying that, she couldn’t help but feel a little excited about it.
“Of course,” added Bai Muchuan, “I’ll support you in whatever you do.”
Xiang Wan pursed her lips tightly before giving a chuckle. “Thank you!”
“Don’t regard me as an outsider! Let me have my fill of pretending to be an understanding heartthrob?”
“…”
He is too funny! Xiang Wan thought. She had wanted to laugh but the moment she noticed the worry in his eyes, she pressed her lips and was unable to laugh anymore.
“Alright, I admit that I really do feel upset about it. I feel like all of a sudden, I have nothing left.”
“Silly girl! You still have me!” Bai Muchuan glared at her from the corner of his eyes, snorted two times, and looked unhappy. “Seems like this young master’s presence is not strong enough!”
“…”
Xiang Wan looked at him in a daze, her nose had a slight tingling sensation.
“Bai Muchuan.”
“What is it?”
“What if I tell you I feel like crying?”
Bai Muchuan looked at her and suddenly extended his arms to her with a smile.
“Come! My embrace will always belong to you!”
Awww! This is too sweet! Xiang Wan pursed her lips and felt a lump in her throat. For a moment, she did not know what to say. She seemed to try very hard to take a deep breath and embrace him.
“Thank you, Bai Muchuan!”
He chuckled as he hugged her steadily. His hand patted her back to offer her comfort as though she could rely on him without pressure. He was steady and could give her warmth. That really made her comfortable and feel at ease…
Maybe it had been too long that she had not experienced such sense of security. At that moment, Xiang Wan could not bear to leave his embrace.
To the extent that she began to look forward to an everlasting relationship…
…
On the National Day, the Criminal Investigation Unit of Hongjiang District busted a crime syndicate of swindlers and got commended on the internet for helping to maintain public order.
At the same time, the major news media also carried out timely reports on this matter.
Afternoon that day, several news media called up their office where they requested to do an interview with their Captain, Bai Muchuan, to understand the details of how they solved the case so as to promote more positive news in the internet.
Bai Muchuan rejected the interview requests.
However, as they really couldn’t stand the media’s persistence, the task landed on Tang Yuanchu instead.
When Xiang Wan asked him why he rejected the interviews, he explained that he was not a suitable choice when it had something to do with being in the limelight.
He expressed that what if he accidentally snatched the livelihood of those hot young studs? That might give rise to even more unstable elements in the society.
On the other hand, he was worried that he might shot to fame where there would be countless numbers of female fans calling him as their “husband”. That would be too scary!
Such an arrogant explanation sure fits Bai Muchuan’s character.
Xiang Wan felt like giving him a punch.
In the end, when Tang Yuanchu was being interviewed by the media, Bai Muchuan was sleeping inside their duty room for the entire afternoon. It was most unexpected that because he had chosen to keep a low profile, a new online celebrity was born.
—Tang Yuanchu.
The young rookie detective, who was not bad looking, was bashful when facing the cameras. His shy smile as well as his mischievous looking dimple and sunny disposition won the hearts of the netizens. The moment the media published the news, it went viral in the internet.
“The Appearance of the Most Handsome Detective”—that heading quickly elevated his status to an online celebrity.
There were numerous calls made to the hotline asking for Detective Tang, which frustrated the hotline team so much so that they felt like smashing the phone…
In their heads, Detective Tang was clearly not the most handsome detective! They were also good looking police officers!
Well, for Detective Tang, it was not a bed of roses for him to suddenly become an online celebrity.
Those he knew and those he was unfamiliar with messaged him relentlessly. He was initially glad about it, but within hours, he had closed all of his social media accounts.
His ex-girlfriend even sent a friend request to him. She told him that she had a lot of things to tell him. There were many things that she did not clear up with him. That also included the man who bought an expensive bag for her on her birthday… She even told him that, that man was actually her elder cousin.
“D*mn, women nowadays are too realistic.”
Tang Yuanchu told the other detectives.
However, as there was a tinge of satisfaction on his face, he got retorted instead.
“You rascal, you can finally hold your head high, huh? You can have fun but keep it low, don’t show off in such an ostentatious way!”
“Hold his head high? Nah! It’s just pure showing off!”
“Did you get back at your ex-girlfriend for dumping you?”
“Tch! Am I this kind of person?” Tang Yuanchu wore a serious expression. “I told her that I’ve already lost my chastity long ago and asked her not to disturb me anymore!”
“Hahahaha!”
All the colleagues commented that this joke could make them laugh for a year.
Of course, what made the team most delighted was that the Municipal Bureau rewarded them for busting a crime syndicate by approving a dinner entertainment expense which they could enjoy themselves tomorrow night.
After stopping the search for the corpse at Avenue of Stars last night around 10 o’clock, they had resumed the search during the day.
However, they still did not manage to find Mao Guigui’s body.
After a discussion, the final verdict was to cease the search at the river.
The next day morning, four of Mao Guigui’s family members came to the Criminal Investigation Unit.
After the family members identified the head and confirmed Mao Guigui’s death, they were devastated. They kept asking the police to help them find their daughter’s body.
Xie Hui and He Wencai were in-charge of comforting them as well as asking them individually about Mao Guigui’s social relationships.
Alas, Mao Guigui hardly talked to her family about her life, her friends, and everything else.
In the eyes of her family, Mao Guigui was akin to an unworldly little girl where her family was totally kept in the dark about what happened to her at school.
Xie Hui gave a simple account of Mao Guigui’s death to her family.
That also included the autopsy report they got from Cheng Zheng.
Cause of death was due to mechanical asphyxiation; the neck was cut by a chainsaw, and there was a faint strangle mark. He also told them they would try their best to solve the case.
Mao Guigui’s family kept inquiring about the suspects involved in her death. Xie Hui could only tell them that there were no conclusive evidence found so far. His reply somewhat frustrated the Mao Family that the seemingly most well-informed member of the family, Mao Guigui’s paternal cousin, mentioned Ye Lun.
In the internet, news of Mao Guigui’s death was being spread.
There were also various news about her and Ye Lun being spread as well.
Ye Lun’s celebrity status and the piece of scandalous news of him sleeping with his fans had determined him to be under scrutiny for everything he did.
At this point in time, the Mao Family was as though similar to a drowning man who could grab on to anything they could find. They felt that the police seemed to be covering up for Ye Lun intentionally. No matter how Xie Hui explained to them that there was no evidence that indicated Ye Lun had anything to do with that matter, they would not believe him…
Therefore, on Tang Yuanchu’s second day of being an online celebrity, the entire Criminal Investigation Unit had also become an online celebrity.
The Mao Family had posted on the internet, “attacking” the Criminal Investigation Unit that they had used a wide variety of complicated and confusing techniques that enabled Ye Lun to have nothing to do with Mao Guigui’s death. The moment this got posted, it caused a storm in the internet…
There were VIP accounts in Weibo who shared this post.
Suddenly, numerous “informers” appeared in the internet!
The situation had gone against one’s own will.
In this information age, when an incident received enough attention, it would attract the attention of the society.
At the same time, the 720 case and the case of the Fountain Goddess was once again mentioned alongside this “case of the female head without torso” and was being named as the “Three Major & Bizarre Cases of Jin City”…
…
In a metropolis with tens of millions of people, it was totally common for crimes to occur.
But after some “packaging” and “deliberate exaggeration”, the attention it garnered was not too good.
The Criminal Investigation Unit who had just received commendation was being pushed to the teeth of a storm once again. The Municipal Bureau called up Bai Muchuan personally to request him to quickly solve the “case of the female head without torso” so as to account to the society.
“Teacher Xiang, you can get off work now.”
When she heard Bai Muchuan’s voice, Xiang Wan was busy doing her profiling analysis.
She looked up and looked around her. “What about all of you?”
“We—” Bai Muchuan had a serious expression on his face. “Of course, we’re going for a happy session!”
“…”