"It's right here."
"That's a big house. Do you live here alone?"
"I wouldn't say I live here. My daughter only comes here when she's on vacation. I'm busy traveling for work most of the time, so I stay in hotels wherever I go."
"Are there any hotels you stay at regularly?"
"Two of them. Do you need to investigate those too?"
"Not for now. This villa checks out as well."
"So, there's nothing wrong with the house..."
"Mr. Zhang, I still need you to think carefully about what you did before winning the lottery."
"But I really can't remember. It's been five years..."
"Was there anyone who especially liked or hated you?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"If you didn't do anything yourself, then maybe someone around you did. It could have been a curse or a prayer for blessings. Do you know anyone like that?"
"I... I don't think so? I mean, my wife and family might mention me when they pray for blessings, but no one in my family is particularly religious, either Buddhist or Taoist. They might visit a temple when traveling and casually burn a stick of incense. That wouldn't work, would it?"
"Not necessarily."
"Ah... Then, then what should I do?"
"Did you hear of anyone going on a trip or visiting a temple around that time?"
"No, no one went on a trip."
"What about curses? Do you have any enemies?"
"I haven't offended anyone."
"We'll continue investigating your family and social relationships. We'll also look into whether anyone else has had the same experience as you."
"Oh, then I'll leave it to you."
"Don't mention it."
June 20, 2010. Investigated the client's social circle. No suspicious individuals found.
June 22, 2010. Investigated similar cases from previous years. Tentatively identified 137 wealthy businesspeople in People's Celebration City and the client's hometown, Fangshui City. Nine were deceased: four from illness, two in car accidents, one in a natural disaster, one murdered, and one by suicide.
Attachment: One list of wealthy businesspeople and nine death reports.
June 25, 2010. Screened the list of wealthy businesspeople and found a target, Lin Yifan. He went into business in 1995 and became rich overnight in 1996, establishing a private machinery factory that continued to expand. Starting in 1996, deaths among Lin Yifan's family, friends, and employees occurred one after another. In 2003, Lin Yifan jumped into the Luoqu River from Riverside Avenue and died by suicide, alone, with all his friends and family gone.
Attachment: Newspaper clippings and one file on Lin Yifan.
June 26, 2010. Contacted the client. Audio file 06620100626.wav.
"These are the results of our investigation. Mr. Zhang, did you know this Lin Yifan?"
"No, I didn't. I read about him in the news. Back then—in 2003—the papers ran a lot of stories about him. He'd made his way up from nothing and was hailed as some kind of business genius, then he died young. And it was so tragic... These are the papers you collected, right? They say his whole family died. I... I'm going to end up like him, aren't I?"
"That's how it looks at the moment. If you didn't know Lin Yifan and never had any contact with him, then we'll have to look for things you have in common. Here's a record of his life. Take a look and see whether anything seems familiar."
"Hmm, this... Tsk—no. I mean, apart from the fact that we're both in People's Celebration City now, there isn't much overlap. Our companies aren't even in the same area..."
"What about your social circles? Do you have any friends in common?"
"This... No, not that I can see. I don't know any of these people."
"All right. We'll continue investigating."
"Has the amulet reacted to anything?"
"Huh? No. I've been wearing the amulet you gave me the whole time. Nothing unusual has happened."
"You've stopped socializing, right?"
"Well... I can't stop completely, can I? A lot of those people are already family and friends..."
"It would be best to limit your contact with them. We haven't figured out the pattern behind these deaths yet. To be safe, you should reduce any activities that might be related for the time being."
"I understand. I... I... I wanted to ask, did Lin Yifan really kill himself?"
"We can't be sure. Maybe, as the newspaper reports said, he couldn't bear it after all his family and friends had died, so he took his own life. Or maybe, after everyone else was gone, it was his turn."
"God! Th-this... What... What should I do?"
"That's why we told you to stop the related activities. If this supernatural incident had a selection criterion, we could make arrangements. From what we've seen so far, it seems completely random. How close you are to someone doesn't determine whether they're chosen, which makes it hard for us to predict."
"But as an experiment, we hope there is a criterion. We're asking you to stop trying to make money and avoid contact with other people, staying in touch only with us, in the hope that it will turn its attention to us."
"But then you'd—!"
"You don't need to worry about our safety."
"I see... I understand."
June 30, 2010. Contacted Sun Xiangbao, a former colleague of Lin Yifan. Audio file 06620100630.wav.
"Hello, Mr. Sun."
"Hello. I never thought that, so many years after Lin Yifan died, a newspaper would still want to write about him."
"Mr. Lin's story is inspiring. No matter how many years pass, people will remember him, and his story can still move many people."
"Heh, I suppose."
"Could you tell us what you remember about Mr. Lin?"
"I remember him as a poor soul. When he died, a reporter came to interview me, and that's what I said. It never made it into the paper, though. The things they printed were, as you said, 'inspiring.'"
"Do you mean he was a poor soul because he lost his friends and family?"
"No. I mean the years he spent in business. You outsiders have no idea. He and I worked at a research institute back then. The pay wasn't great, but the benefits were good, and life was pretty comfortable. He liked that job too. But in 1994, his wife was diagnosed with a serious illness. I remember it was a tumor, and treating it would cost a lot. His family spent all their savings and borrowed money from everyone they could, but it still wasn't enough."
"I don't think that was ever mentioned in the old news reports. But we did find records of Mrs. Lin's treatment."
"He kept it from his wife."
"He didn't tell Mrs. Lin?"
"Right. He hid it from his wife and from a lot of other people. The medical bills were so high that he was afraid she'd give up treatment, so he didn't tell her anything. I only found out by chance."
"Did Mr. Lin go into business to raise money for her treatment?"
"Yes. He went into business, buying and selling goods. The timing was just right, you know—the market was just right. He was smart, and he did make a little money, but it all went into the bottomless pit of his wife's treatment. He didn't have much cash on hand, so he kept traveling around as a small-time trader. Later, he made a big score, and that was when he finally settled down and built his own factory."
"Do you know what that big deal was?"
"Not really. I only read in the news that he'd said it was like a windfall from heaven. He'd been trading in some goods, and a rich man happened to take an interest in them and bought them for a lot of money."
"That's what the old interview records say. He was still in touch with you then, wasn't he? Did he ever mention any details?"