Good and Evil Chapter 151: Jin Enpei's Resentful Gaze and an Unexpected Harvest

Confronted with these new points of suspicion, Xu Lang and Ning Yanyan subjected Su Jiayi to repeated questioning once again, hoping to extract even the faintest useful clue from her, most importantly, the full names of Manager Qiu and Director Wu.

However, no matter how Xu Lang and Ning Yanyan questioned or guided her, and even after calling in the psychologist Shu Yue to help, they still could not make Su Jiayi remember the names of these two individuals.

First of all, eleven whole years had passed, and Su Jiayi had long since blurred the memories of what happened back then. Secondly, Su Jiayi's position within the pyramid scheme organization had been relatively low, and she had remained oblivious to many important matters; otherwise, she would not have stayed in the pyramid scheme for four years without realizing it. Thirdly, Su Jiayi possessed a naturally scatterbrained personality, and it was already quite remarkable that she could remember this much now. Fourthly, ever since her family rescued her from the pyramid scheme, Su Jiayi had never contacted anyone from that circle again, and as for what happened afterward within the organization, she knew nothing.

With the investigation reaching this point, it once again hit a deadlock.

S City was so vast, and trying to find someone surnamed Qiu and someone surnamed Wu was undoubtedly like looking for a needle in a haystack. Moreover, this Manager Qiu and Director Wu were engaged in pyramid schemes—an activity strictly prohibited by the state and severely cracked down upon by the relevant authorities. Since they worked in this trade, they certainly would not appear publicly in the public eye. Furthermore, S City was a city densely populated by migrant workers, with a massive influx and outflow of people arriving and leaving every single day. Trying to locate two specific individuals amidst this sea of humanity was already extremely difficult. Besides, pyramid scheme operators frequently changed their residences; Xu Lang and the others were well aware of this fact, and Su Jiayi had also confirmed it. To make matters worse, eleven whole years had passed—these two people might have long since relocated, or perhaps they had ceased engaging in such illegal pyramid activities, or even been apprehended and dealt with by the authorities, currently serving time in prison. In short, the difficulty of finding the manager surnamed Qiu and the director surnamed Wu was unimaginably immense.

Despite the immense difficulty, the case still had to be investigated.

During the case analysis meeting, Xu Lang remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Since Su Jiayi mentioned that Manager Qiu and Director Wu were involved in pyramid schemes, it is highly likely they were once cracked down upon and handled by the relevant departments. We can check with the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office to review all archives of pyramid organizations over the past eleven years and see if we can find these two people."

Upon hearing Xu Lang's suggestion, everyone nodded in agreement. Since the case was deadlocked, this was their only remaining option. Consequently, Ning Yanyan dispatched people to the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office to conduct an investigation.

The Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office, as the name implies, was an office dedicated to cracking down on and handling pyramid schemes. It was a specialized department tasked with combating pyramid organizations, and generally a rather obscure and quiet unit.

When Zhao Hua and his team arrived at the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office and briefly explained the situation, the comrades there were extremely cooperative and immediately brought out all the archives from S City spanning the past eleven years, allowing Zhao Hua and his team to review them.

When Zhao Hua and the others looked at the mountain of dusty files piled up before them, their heads began to ache terribly. Putting aside everything else, just reading through these materials would take the few of them a very long time to barely finish. Although Zhao Hua and his team felt utterly miserable inside, harboring a strong impulse to curse aloud, they honestly sat down, began burning the midnight oil, and started reviewing the documents.

Following the police interrogation, Su Jiayi also returned to her former workplace to resume her duties.

During this period, Xu Lang did not show up at the Public Security Bureau. Investigating, gathering evidence, and reviewing old archive files were tasks best left to professionals; Xu Lang wouldn't be of much help even if he went, so he returned to the detective agency.

As the Lunar New Year was approaching, all kinds of cases were multiplying. Not only were the public security organs exceptionally busy, but Xu Lang's detective agency was also swamped. Debt collection cases, investigations into competitor companies' dark secrets, and even instances of supernatural occurrences happening in people's homes—with the growing fame of Lang's Detective Agency, the clients arriving grew more numerous by the day. During Xu Lang's absence, everyone in the agency had been extremely busy; Du Ziqiao was nowhere to be seen from dawn till dusk, and the same went for Ziche Hexun. The only ones holding down the fort at the agency were Jin Enpei and Liao Mei, the computer specialist.

Jin Enpei was attractive, eloquent, and possessed a silver tongue. Coupled with her background in psychology, she had always been responsible for the agency's reception duties. Liao Mei was a bespectacled boy who looked very scholarly. Although Liao Mei was not remarkably handsome, and due to his constant staring at the computer screen, severe myopia, and lack of sunlight, his skin was fairer than that of ordinary girls, his personality lived up to his name: he was an unadulterated master of charming women. Many young girls and even middle-aged women who visited the agency grew quite fond of this slightly geeky tech-savvy young man.

When Xu Lang appeared at the detective agency, Jin Enpei had just finished receiving a client who had come to handle business. After seeing the client off, Jin Enpei brewed a cup of tea and brought it into Xu Lang's office. Compared to others who favored coffee, Xu Lang still preferred tea; he loved the refreshing fragrance of tea leaves and their faint, lingering bitterness.

Jin Enpei placed the freshly brewed tea on Xu Lang's desk, sat down opposite him, and looked at him with an aggrieved expression, which gave Xu Lang—who was busy checking documents—a creepy sensation that sent chills down his spine.

For a man to be stared at by a stunning beauty with such a gaze would unnerve anyone. At first, Xu Lang didn't pay much attention and continued searching through his materials, his eyes fixed on the computer screen. However, ten minutes later, Jin Enpei was still sitting there without leaving. Xu Lang finally found it unbearable, raised his head, looked at Jin Enpei with a helpless expression, and asked, "What is it? Is something the matter?"

Jin Enpei first shook her head, then nodded. While fixing her aggrieved gaze on Xu Lang, she complained plaintively, "Brother Lang, please recruit a few more people. We simply can't hold out much longer."

Xu Lang had thought Jin Enpei was going to bring up some serious matter. Initially, he even wondered if Jin Enpei might have taken a fancy to him—a thought that made him feel both proud and troubled. Hearing her say this, while Xu Lang felt a wave of relief, he also felt a slight sense of disappointment. However, instead of dwelling on that emotion, he looked at Jin Enpei in puzzlement and asked, "Is the agency very busy right now?"

Jin Enpei nodded emphatically and said, "Busy, incredibly busy! There are countless clients coming in every day to handle business, and quite a few appointments made online as well. But our agency only has four and a half people in total; how are we supposed to handle all of this?"

"Four and a half? I know there are four: you, Liao Mei, Ziche Hexun, and Du Ziqiao. What is the half?" Xu Lang asked, somewhat perplexed.

"That half is naturally you, what else could it be?" Jin Enpei said, rolling her eyes dramatically.

When an ugly person rolls their eyes, it only invokes disgust and aversion. But when a beauty rolls her eyes, it is a completely different story. A pretty person looks good doing anything, and Jin Enpei was no exception. However, Xu Lang was not a particularly romantic or smooth-tempered man. He paid no heed to an action that, to ordinary men, would be infinitely alluring. With dark lines across his forehead and his mouth twitching, he said, "I am a complete, whole person. How did I become a mere half?"

"You hardly ever come to the agency. Whenever anything happens at the agency, we can only turn to Du Ziqiao. It's rare enough that you actually drop by the agency, but before you've even warmed your seat, you run off to assist the police with a case. Considering you just half a person is already being generous," Jin Enpei continued to complain.

Hearing Jin Enpei say this, Xu Lang rubbed his nose with a trace of embarrassment. Indeed, what Jin Enpei said was correct. Ever since Lang's Detective Agency opened for business, he had basically paid no attention to its operations. He didn't even know how much profit the agency had made or what cases it had taken on. The only three cases the agency accepted that Xu Lang personally handled were all murder cases, where the agency took the commission and the police handled the cleanup. Xu Lang himself felt rather ashamed. Since Jin Enpei had put it that way, Xu Lang thought for a moment and said, "As for recruiting people, ask Du Ziqiao and see what his opinion is. If he thinks we still need to hire staff, then go ahead and recruit people. In short, you all can handle it as you see fit."

Hearing Xu Lang's response, Jin Enpei realized that Xu Lang simply didn't want to deal with these administrative matters personally, so she pressed the issue no further. In truth, the reason she had looked at Xu Lang with such aggrieved eyes earlier was primarily because of what Xu Lang had done in Y City some time ago. Upon returning, she had not only been lectured by Du Ziqiao, but also given a few words of warning by Shu Yue. Although neither Du Ziqiao nor Shu Yue had used harsh words, Jin Enpei still felt wronged. She was merely a member of the detective agency, and Xu Lang was her superior and leader; she couldn't stop Xu Lang from doing whatever he wanted to do, which left her feeling somewhat saddened.

Jin Enpei's purpose in coming to see Xu Lang today was actually to ask him for a favor. She had joined Lang's Detective Agency for nearly half a year now, and although she and Xu Lang didn't cross paths very often, she was well aware of Xu Lang's past exploits—especially when she witnessed the scene where Xu Lang donated bone marrow to Dong Yihan, a moment that deeply moved her. Therefore, she had intended to ask for his help with a personal matter, something concerning herself.

After finishing his remarks, Xu Lang continued sitting in front of the computer to review his documents. After a while, noticing that Jin Enpei was still sitting opposite him with no intention of leaving, Xu Lang put down his mouse, raised his head, and asked, "What is it? Is there something else?"

Jin Enpei hesitated for a moment. She didn't know whether she should let Xu Lang know about that matter, how she should phrase it, or how to make it clear. In the end, after lingering in hesitation, she ultimately gave up. She lifted her head, shook it, and said, "Never mind. Let's wait until you finish investigating the case at hand."

With that, Jin Enpei left. At the time, Xu Lang didn't pay much attention to it, assuming Jin Enpei merely wanted to talk about her salary. However, what Xu Lang never anticipated was that shortly after the conclusion of Chen Zhi's case, and not long after the Lunar New Year had passed, Jin Enpei was brutally murdered. Moreover, her corpse had been dismembered, and the killer's modus operandi bore an uncanny resemblance to the method used to kill Xu Chan back then—extremely professional, clean, and efficient. What made it even harder for Xu Lang to accept was that the murderer had actually mailed one of Jin Enpei's hands directly to him.

Until the day she died, Jin Enpei never managed to find the answer she had been pursuing for all these years. As for the favor Jin Enpei had wanted to ask of Xu Lang, it was only discovered much later when Xu Lang was organizing her belongings and inadvertently came across her diary. Through the pages of that diary, Xu Lang finally learned Jin Enpei's secret, as well as the true purpose behind her joining his detective agency—all of which Xu Lang only came to understand a long time afterward.

————

Three days later, Zhao Hua and his team, holed up in the archive room of the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office without sleep or rest for three full days and nights, finally discovered a crucial clue amidst the mountain of documents.

Approximately nine years ago, the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office received a whistleblower hotline call. Someone reported that an individual was being illegally detained in a residential compound located in the western district of S City. Upon receiving this tip, the office immediately launched an investigation and operation.

Following a thorough inquiry and investigation, they verified that someone was indeed being detained inside that residential compound. The captive was a young man in his twenties named He Yuhua, a recent college graduate who had been searching for work when he was lured there by a relative and subsequently detained. Unlike Su Jiayi, He Yuhua realized the moment he stepped inside that this was no legitimate company, but a pyramid scheme. He immediately wanted to leave, but failed to do so and was locked up. The person who detained him was a man known as Manager Qiu.

After detaining He Yuhua, Manager Qiu instructed him to call his family and demand money to pay the membership fee. Of course, paying in cash wasn't mandatory; as long as he could rope in three other people, it would count as having paid his membership fee, and he would regain his freedom. At first, He Yuhua firmly refused and resisted strongly. After all, he was a well-educated individual and an intellectual who knew that pyramid schemes were nothing good—dragging someone into a pyramid scheme was tantamount to pushing them into a fiery pit, so he said no.

Initially, Manager Qiu attempted to persuade He Yuhua with smooth and pleasant words, but He Yuhua stubbornly refused to make the phone call. Consequently, Manager Qiu locked He Yuhua inside a sealed room and deprived him of food, hoping to use this tactic to force He Yuhua into submission.

Everything unfolded just as Manager Qiu had envisioned. After being starved for three consecutive days and nights, He Yuhua could no longer bear it and finally agreed to call his family. Upon receiving his agreement, Manager Qiu provided him with food and handed him a telephone to make the call.

To Manager Qiu's astonishment, after eating his fill and picking up the phone to call his family, He Yuhua initially followed the script Manager Qiu had given him, claiming that he had entered a company which required paying various miscellaneous fees now that he had started working, and since he had no money on him, he wanted his family to wire some funds over.

He Yuhua's parents were both schoolteachers and individuals with rich social experience and insight. Therefore, the moment they received He Yuhua's call, they sensed something was amiss. Since childhood, He Yuhua had always been a sensible boy who never proactively asked his parents for money. Furthermore, while in college, he had taken up a part-time job as a tutor to earn his own living expenses. Although they were teachers, they knew that while society had countless enterprises, they had never heard of any company requiring new employees to pay money upfront—and not just any small sum, but precisely thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three yuan, down to the exact change. No matter how they listened to it, it sounded like a scam.

In addition, they detected something wrong with the tone of He Yuhua's voice during the call, so they asked him if something was wrong. Just as He Yuhua was about to continue speaking, Manager Qiu stepped forward to snatch the phone away. Seizing a moment when Manager Qiu wasn't paying attention, He Yuhua shouted loudly into the phone for help, crying out that he was trapped inside a pyramid scheme organization and begging them to call the police to rescue him.

At that moment, Manager Qiu reacted, hastily wrestled the phone out of He Yuhua's grip, and hung up the call.

Fortunately, He Yuhua's shout had been extremely loud. Furthermore, it was daytime, and a neighbor on the same floor happened to overhear it. That person immediately dialed the police emergency number and notified the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office.

Simultaneously, upon receiving their son's frantic cry for help, He Yuhua's parents also immediately chose to report the incident to the police. Ultimately, through the joint efforts of the police and the comrades at the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office, they finally located He Yuhua and successfully rescued him.

As for the members of that pyramid scheme organization, the majority of them had already been transferred elsewhere, leaving behind only a few individuals who had crossed paths with He Yuhua. When these people were brought into the Anti-Pyramid Scheme Office, they maintained a unified fabricated story, claiming that they had merely invited He Yuhua over to hang out and had never detained him. Naturally, the police did not believe this rhetoric, but lacking sufficient evidence to prove otherwise, they ultimately subjected them to a round of criticism and education, detained them for a brief period, and let the matter rest. Once their detention period expired, the police escorted them back to their hometowns, which in a disguised form rescued them from the pyramid scheme organization as well.

The document Zhao Hua and his team uncovered was precisely the archived record regarding He Yuhua's illegal detention back then. The file recorded that Manager Qiu had gone by the alias Hu Xueming and claimed to be a native of F City. However, the individuals who accompanied Manager Qiu all insisted that Hu Xueming's surname was actually Qiu. As for his given name, none of them knew it; they only knew he was surnamed Qiu.

When Zhao Hua and his team read this, they felt extremely puzzled and perplexed. Was this Manager Qiu surnamed Qiu or Hu? Was he the very same Manager Qiu mentioned by Su Jiayi? Were the two names referring to the same person? To clear this up, the primary step was to locate this man who had called himself Hu Xueming.