A Windfall

"This is it."

"The house is huge. Are you living here alone?"

"I don't exactly live here. My daughter comes back when she's on vacation. I'm usually busy with business trips, so I stay in hotels all over the place."

"Do you have a regular hotel?"

"Two of them. Do you need to investigate this too?"

"Not for now. The villa here is fine too."

"So, the house is fine... "

"Mr. Zhang, we still need you to recall carefully what you did before you won the lottery."

"But I really can't remember. It's been five years..."

"Is there anyone who particularly likes you or dislikes you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"If you didn't do anything, maybe someone around you did. Curses, blessings, anything is possible. Do you know anyone like that?"

"I... I don't think so? I mean, my wife and family might mention me when they pray, but no one in my family is particularly devout. Maybe they'd light an incense stick at a temple when they visit on vacation. That wouldn't have any effect, would it?"

"That's not necessarily true."

"Ah... Then, then what should I do?"

"Have you heard of anyone going on vacation and visiting temples around that time?"

"No, no one went on vacation."

"Curses? Do you have any enemies?"

"I haven't offended anyone."

"We will continue to investigate your family and social relationships. Also, we will look into whether there are others who have had similar experiences to yours."

"Oh, then I'll trouble you."

"You're welcome."

June 20, 2010: Investigated the client's social circle; no suspicious targets found.

June 22, 2010: Investigated similar past incidents. Tentative targets: 137 wealthy individuals in Minqing City and the client's hometown, Fangshui City. Among them, 9 deaths: 4 from illness, 2 from car accidents, 1 from natural disaster, 1 homicide, 1 suicide.

Appendix: List of wealthy individuals, nine death reports.

June 25, 2010: Screened the list of wealthy individuals and found target Lin Yifan. He started doing business in 1995, became wealthy overnight in 1996, and opened a private machinery factory, which he continuously expanded. Lin Yifan's family, friends, and employees began to die off one after another starting in 1996. By 2003, Lin Yifan committed suicide by jumping into the Luoqu River on Binjiang Avenue, alone and with all his relatives and friends dead.

Appendix: Newspaper clippings, Lin Yifan's profile.

June 26, 2010: Contacted the client. Audio file 06620100626.wav.

"This is the result of our investigation. Mr. Zhang, do you know this Lin Yifan?"

"No, I don't. I saw his news back in '03. The newspapers reported a lot about him then. He was praised as a business genius who built himself up from nothing, and then died young. And it was so tragic... The newspapers you collected said all his family members died. Am I... am I going to be like him?"

"It appears so. If you don't know Lin Yifan and have never interacted with him, then we need to find commonalities between the two of you. This is Lin Yifan's life story. See if anything looks familiar."

"Hmm, this... Hiss-- No, I mean, besides us both being in Minqing City now, there's nothing overlapping. Our companies aren't in the same place..."

"What about social connections? Do you have any mutual friends?"

"This... No. I don't recognize anyone in this list."

"Alright. We will continue our investigation."

"Did the amulet react in any special way?"

"Ah? No. I've been wearing the amulet you gave me all the time, and there's nothing special."

"You've stopped interacting with people, haven't you?"

"This... This is impossible to completely stop, right? And many people are already my family and friends..."

"It's best to reduce contact. We can't figure out the pattern of these deaths yet. For safety, you should reduce such activities recently."

"I understand. I... I... I want to ask, was Lin Yifan really a suicide?"

"We can't be sure. It's possible he committed suicide because he couldn't bear it after his family and friends all died, as the newspapers reported. Or, it's possible that after they all died, it was his turn."

"Gasp! This... This, I, what do I do?"

"That's why we're asking you to stop. If this supernatural event has a selection criteria, we could make some arrangements. As it stands, it seems completely random. It doesn't use your proximity or relationship to choose victims, so it's hard for us to grasp."

"But as an experiment, we hope it has a standard. Please pause your money-making activities and your contact with others. Only maintain contact with us. We hope it will target us instead."

"Then you'll be!"

"You don't need to worry about our safety."

"I see... I understand."

June 30, 2010: Contacted Lin Yifan's former colleague, Sun Xiangbao. Audio file 06620100630.wav.

"Hello, Mr. Sun."

"Hello. I didn't expect that even after so many years since Lin Yifan's death, there would still be newspapers wanting to write about him."

"Mr. Lin's deeds are very inspiring. No matter how much time passes, people will remember him, and it can touch many."

"Heh, I suppose so."

"Could you tell us about Mr. Lin Yifan as you remember him?"

"As I remember him, he was just a pitiable man. When he died, reporters came to interview me, and I said just that. But it wasn't published. What was published in the papers, as you said, was 'inspiring.'"

"Does 'pitiable man' refer to his loss of friends and family?"

"No, it refers to the years he was in business. You outsiders don't know at all. I worked with him at the research institute back then. The salary wasn't much, but the benefits were good. We were living quite comfortably, and he really enjoyed the work. But in '94, his wife was diagnosed with a serious illness. I remember it was a tumor, and it required a lot of money for treatment. Their family used all their savings and borrowed money from everywhere, but it still wasn't enough."

"This point doesn't seem to have been reported in past news. However, we did find records of Mrs. Lin's medical treatment."

"He kept it from his wife."

"Kept it from Mrs. Lin?"

"Yes, he hid it from his wife, and from many others. Because the medical expenses were so huge, he was afraid his wife would actively give up treatment, so he didn't say anything. I only found out about it by chance."

"Mr. Lin started his business to raise funds for medical expenses?"

"That's right. He went into business, buying and selling. Because of that period, how should I put it... it was just right, the market was just right. He was a smart person, and he did make some money that way, but it all went into the bottomless pit of his wife's treatment. He didn't have much liquid cash, so he was always running around as a small vendor. Later, he made a huge profit, and only then did things stabilize, and he built his own factory."

"Do you know how that big profit-making deal came about?"

"Not very clearly. I only saw it on the news. He himself said it was like a pie falling from the sky. He was trading some goods, and it just happened to be spotted by a rich man who bought it for a high price."

"Previous interview records do indeed state this. You were still in contact with him at that time, weren't you? Did he reveal any information?"