Good and Evil Chapter 98: The Third Party, Unraveling the Mystery, New Suspicions

By September 25, three days had passed since the time of the crime.

During those three days, the teams sent out to investigate had gradually returned, bringing back more and more information. Yet the case had only grown increasingly complicated. Tian Yang’s parents had also arrived at the Public Security Bureau to identify the body.

The elderly couple nearly fainted when they saw Tian Yang’s corpse in the morgue. Once they had regained their composure, they told the police that the deceased was indeed Tian Yang.

That afternoon, everyone from the Second Criminal Investigation Unit gathered in the conference room and held another case-analysis meeting.

This meeting differed from the previous one. As Xu Lang and the others delved deeper into the lives of Tian Yang and Duan Yiling, they discovered that the case was becoming ever more complex and bizarre.

They began with Tian Yang.

According to the investigation, Tian Yang was a native of S City with an urban household registration, while Duan Yiling came from a suburban area on the outskirts of S City, a place that was half urban and half rural. The university the two had attended was not in S City, nor was it the nationally renowned S University. Instead, they had studied at a second-rate university.

According to their classmates, alumni, and teachers, they had begun dating while at university. No one knew when they had started or how they had met. People only knew that they had publicly become a couple during their third year. When they got together, both Duan Yiling’s classmates and roommates and Tian Yang’s classmates and roommates had found it unbelievable. They had studied different majors and, ordinarily, no one had ever seen them interact. Yet somehow, the two had ended up together. It was a major point of suspicion.

The answer, however, was found in their QQ chat history. Everything was just as Xu Lang had previously learned: they had met through QQ during their first year and had first begun their relationship online. Strictly speaking, theirs had been an online romance. They met for the first time during the second half of their second year, formally confirming their relationship in the real world only then. It was not until their third year that they announced their romance to those around them.

Through interviews and inquiries, the police learned that Duan Yiling and Tian Yang had been each other’s first loves. Many people could attest to this. Duan Yiling was a delicate, refined-looking girl, resembling a noblewoman from ancient times. Tian Yang, meanwhile, was quiet and shy—the sort of young man who blushed easily when speaking to women. In society, few girls would ordinarily choose to date a man with such a temperament. But when it came to marriage, many women would choose precisely such a man, because a man of that nature inspired an inexplicable sense of security.

The two began living together after graduation. They rented Room 502 in Unit Three of Mingwan Residential Complex on Fangxi Road in the western district of the city. The residential complex’s management office and their landlord could confirm this. The couple often went to and from work together, and residents frequently saw them walking or shopping side by side.

But a year earlier, after Duan Yiling died unexpectedly in a traffic accident, the residents of Mingwan no longer saw the delicate-looking girl. They saw only Tian Yang continuing to go to and return from work every day as usual.

According to the residents, when Tian Yang and Duan Yiling had first moved in, they went to work, returned home, took walks, and went shopping together every day, always laughing and chatting. They had never seemed to quarrel or bicker—at least, that was what their neighbors said. Whether they had conflicts in private was unknown.

Before Duan Yiling’s death, the young couple would smile before even speaking whenever they encountered anyone, giving people the impression that they were exceptionally polite. After Duan Yiling died, however, the smile vanished from Tian Yang’s face. Even when he encountered residents and greeted them with a smile, anyone could see how forced it was.

The residents knew something of Duan Yiling’s death. They all felt sorry for the young woman who had been on the verge of becoming a bride, and they sympathized deeply with Tian Yang. Whenever they encountered him, they took extra care to show concern and would initiate a few words of conversation with the somewhat bashful young man.

This was where something strange emerged in the case.

According to the investigation into Tian Yang’s company, as well as accounts from his relatives and friends, Tian Yang had disappeared one month after Duan Yiling’s death. He had neither returned home nor gone to work, as if he had vanished from the face of the earth.

Yet according to the residents of Mingwan, after Tian Yang moved into the complex two years earlier, he had never left. Every day, they saw him going to work and returning home as usual. The contradiction was deeply puzzling.

If only one or two people had said this, perhaps they had simply remembered incorrectly. But Tian Yang’s parents, relatives, and friends had all said that they had not seen him after Duan Yiling’s death. Even his colleagues and supervisors at work said they had not seen him. That could not all be mistaken.

And yet the residents of Mingwan insisted that, until the day Tian Yang died, they had seen him going to and returning from work every day.

So what had happened?

Beginning one month after Duan Yiling’s death, Tian Yang had neither gone home nor gone to work, yet he had continued living in Mingwan, appearing before people every day. Why?

That was Tian Yang. Now they turned to Duan Yiling.

Duan Yiling looked delicate, but she was inwardly strong. She was highly capable at her work. Not long after graduating and joining the company, she had negotiated several business deals. Although the deals were not especially large, she had outperformed many veteran employees who had been with the company for one or two years. Her supervisors therefore valued her greatly.

At work, Duan Yiling was gentle and amiable. She could exchange a few words with anyone and maintained a comfortable distance from everyone. She had never quarreled with anyone or fallen out with a colleague. Thus, although she was a newcomer who had won the favor of her superiors, she had never had any conflict with the other employees. Her former supervisors and colleagues unanimously confirmed this.

Everyone at the company knew that Duan Yiling had a boyfriend, but no one had ever seen him, and no one knew his name. Before the accident, several female colleagues who were close to Duan Yiling learned that she was going to get married. They were sincerely happy for her.

Duan Yiling had even privately asked them for advice about which bridal studio would be best for wedding photographs. But no one had expected that, not long after they heard the news of her impending marriage, Duan Yiling would die in a traffic accident. Her colleagues were left grieving at the tragedy and lamenting the unpredictability of life.

When the police visited Duan Yiling’s former company, they uncovered two leads.

The first was that someone named Tang Linyi had joined the company at the same time as Duan Yiling. Not only had he entered the company with her, he had also been her classmate—and, in fact, her classmate in the same homeroom. One month earlier, he had suddenly resigned and had since disappeared.

Tang Linyi was a handsome young man, around 177 centimeters tall, with an excellent physique. He was extremely outgoing. As soon as he joined the company, he quickly became friendly with everyone. He could talk to anyone, was easygoing, and often invited his colleagues out to eat, always insisting on paying the bill.

The male employees often treated him like a brother, while the women also found him easy to talk to. Several of the female employees developed feelings for him and had even quarreled among themselves because of it. Yet Tang Linyi had never been intimate with any of them. His relationships with them had remained those of ordinary friends and simple colleagues.

This disappointed the women greatly. It was also why Tang Linyi was so popular with the male employees. There were relatively few women in the company, and only a handful were attractive. Since Tang Linyi clearly had no intention of competing for them, the other men still had a chance.

At first, everyone assumed that Duan Yiling’s boyfriend was Tang Linyi. The suspicion was perfectly understandable.

For one thing, Duan Yiling and Tang Linyi had been classmates in the same homeroom and had joined the company together. For another, even their names seemed interestingly matched. The girl was called Duan Yiling, and the boy Tang Linyi. The final syllables of their names sounded alike despite being written differently. Simply hearing their names made them seem well suited.

At the time, the girls who liked Tang Linyi had privately asked Duan Yiling whether the two of them were dating. Duan Yiling had flatly denied it. The male employees had asked Tang Linyi similar questions, but he had looked utterly bewildered and astonished. Clearly, he and Duan Yiling were not romantically involved, and the matter had eventually been dropped.

The second lead was that one month after Duan Yiling’s accidental death, a man named Tian Yang joined the company.

As mentioned earlier, Tian Yang was quiet and shy, and he blushed easily. His arrival had no particular impact on the company. Everyone simply regarded him as another new employee. No one had imagined that this man named Tian Yang was Duan Yiling’s boyfriend.

When the first lead emerged, the moment the police heard Tang Linyi’s name, they thought of Duan Yiling. They therefore followed the lead and began investigating Tang Linyi. The investigation revealed a number of suspicious points.

First, it was true that Tang Linyi and Duan Yiling had been classmates in the same homeroom, but they had only become acquainted at university. Before university, Tang Linyi and Tian Yang had always been classmates. They had been in the same class during elementary school. Although they had been in different classes in middle school, they had attended the same school, and the same had been true in high school.

Second, although Tang Linyi and Duan Yiling had been classmates, they had not interacted much. Their only real connection was Tian Yang. After Tian Yang and Duan Yiling began dating, Tang Linyi had acted as the matchmaker between them.

Third, Tang Linyi and Duan Yiling had entered the same company at the same time, but they still had little interaction there. To outsiders, their relationship seemed to be nothing more than that of classmates and colleagues—ordinary friends, at most.

Fourth, Tian Yang had entered the company where Duan Yiling had worked because Tang Linyi had recommended him. One month earlier, Tang Linyi and Tian Yang had resigned at the same time. After resigning, Tian Yang returned to his original company, while Tang Linyi’s whereabouts became unknown. He had neither gone home nor found another job, as if he had vanished from the world.

While investigating Duan Yiling’s former company, the police unexpectedly discovered that, after taking unpaid leave from his original company, Tian Yang had gone to work at Duan Yiling’s workplace.

They then wondered whether Tang Linyi might also have gone to work at Tian Yang’s company after resigning. With this thought in mind, they went to investigate Tian Yang’s workplace.

Unfortunately, Tang Linyi had never worked there.

The investigation into Tang Linyi could go no further.

The second lead, however, explained several questions that had previously puzzled Xu Lang and the others.

First, one month after Duan Yiling’s death, Tian Yang had suddenly vanished from the sight of everyone who knew him. He had not truly disappeared. He had gone to work at Duan Yiling’s former company.

Second, Xu Lang and the others had previously been unable to understand why Tian Yang’s movements after Duan Yiling’s death seemed so contradictory. Now, the contradiction had been resolved.

Tian Yang had taken six months of leave from his original company, claiming that he was going away to study. In plain terms, he had taken unpaid leave. In reality, he had gone to work at Duan Yiling’s former company.

Since he had gone to work for another company, he naturally could not let the people at his original company know. Thus, it was perfectly normal that his former colleagues knew nothing about it. The residents’ reports that he had continued living according to his old routine until his death also made sense.

The old questions had been answered, but new ones had emerged.

First, why had Tian Yang taken leave and unpaid status at his original company in order to work at Duan Yiling’s former company? What had he intended to accomplish?

Second, why had Tian Yang resigned from that company one month earlier and returned to his original workplace? Why had he died mysteriously soon after returning?

Third, what exactly was the relationship among Tian Yang, Duan Yiling, and Tang Linyi? Was Tian Yang’s death connected to Tang Linyi? If so, what role had Tang Linyi played? If not, why had he introduced Tian Yang to his own company? And why had he resigned at the same time as Tian Yang?

According to Tang Linyi’s supervisor, Tang Linyi had performed very well during his two years at the company. The senior management had been preparing to promote him to a junior management position. Why, then, had he chosen to resign at that particular moment?

And where had Tang Linyi gone after resigning? Had he disappeared, or had he died? If he had disappeared, where was he now? If he was dead, where was his body? Had Tian Yang killed him?

Of the three, Duan Yiling had died unexpectedly a year earlier, while Tian Yang had died in his room only a few days ago. Although the scene looked like murder, it also resembled suicide. The only one still alive—or possibly still alive—was Tang Linyi.

Once they found him, many of the mysteries could be solved. Therefore, the immediate priority was to locate Tang Linyi.

As the saying went, if someone was alive, one had to see the person; if dead, one had to see the corpse. This was not ancient times. It was the information age. It was impossible for a person to vanish completely from everyone’s sight.

After all, a living person had to eat, drink, sleep, and attend to the necessities of life. None of those needs could be cut off entirely—unless he had gone into seclusion in the wilderness. But even that seemed impossible. Tang Linyi was an urban resident who had always lived in a major city. How could he endure an isolated life cut off from society?

And even if he could adapt to such an environment, there was nowhere in S City suitable for it.

If a person could truly disappear without a trace, there was only one possible conclusion: he was already dead.

Aside from the suspicions surrounding Duan Yiling, Tian Yang, and Tang Linyi, there were still several unanswered questions.

First, what was the explanation for Duan Yiling’s QQ account coming back to life after her death? Who was controlling it? What was the meaning of the updates on Tian Yang’s QQ account and the tampered photographs in his online space?

Had Tian Yang been responsible for these strange events? If so, why had he done it? If not, then who had? Could it have been Tang Linyi? And if Tang Linyi had done it, why?

Second, what exactly did the two repeatedly appearing words “Frozen” and “So cold” mean? Who had been using Duan Yiling’s QQ account—Tian Yang or Tang Linyi? If it had been neither of them, then who was it?

Third, what had the unsent message in Tian Yang’s chat window with Jin Enpei meant? “He’s here. I know who he is now. He is…” Who did “he” refer to? Was it Tang Linyi? If so, did that mean Tang Linyi had killed Tian Yang? If not, then whom did the message refer to?

Fourth, who had taken the photograph Tian Yang received shortly before his death—the one that had clearly been taken by someone else? Who was that person? Was it Tang Linyi? And was the photograph connected to Tian Yang’s death?

Fifth, why had Tian Yang sought out Xu Lang’s Langge Detective Agency? If the QQ messages from Tian Yang, along with the messages Duan Yiling had supposedly sent to him, had all been an act staged by Tian Yang, why had he done it? And why had he contacted a detective agency? Had it merely been for amusement?

Sixth, why were there signs that a woman had lived in the bathroom and bedroom of Room 502, Tian Yang’s home?

This was one of the case’s greatest mysteries. First, Duan Yiling had been dead for a year. Second, residents of Mingwan had stated that no woman had entered Room 502 after Duan Yiling’s death. So how could there be signs of a woman living in Tian Yang’s home?

Most notably, there were sanitary pads in the bathroom. A man had no use for women’s sanitary products.

Seventh, and most crucially, had Tian Yang committed suicide, or had he been murdered?

The scene showed no sign that anyone other than Tian Yang had been there. At first glance, it looked like suicide. Of course, it was also possible that the killer possessed highly developed counter-investigative instincts and had carefully cleaned up the scene after killing Tian Yang, which was why the police had found no clues.

After listing all the suspicions, the investigators had to resolve them one by one.

Thus, under Ning Yanran’s arrangements, the Second Criminal Investigation Unit began investigating every outstanding question. The most important task of all was to find the missing Tang Linyi.

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