Livestream

There was only one person in Ping An Apartment who fit that age description: the old man in the Landlord's room, who could barely even eat on his own.

"Something's not right. Based on the news, the owner of the Apartment Building should be an old man, but the Landlord who greeted me was middle-aged." Chen Ge stood up and went to the wall, pressing his ear against it to listen.

The TV on the other side of the wall was blaring, and all it was playing were meaningless commercials.

"If someone were watching TV normally, wouldn't they change the channel as soon as the ads came on? But they've been listening to commercials for several minutes now." Chen Ge pressed his ear to the wall. "I must be overlooking something."

He calmed himself and thought everything through from beginning to end. "After I entered the room, I heard a bowl smash next door. Right afterward, the Landlord started cursing the old man, and then the TV volume suddenly went up... The old man was in a wheelchair and couldn't move around. The one who turned up the volume had to be the Landlord, but why would he do that?"

Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as an idea came to him. "Could the Landlord be abusing the old man? Turning up the TV to cover the sound of beating him?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. "The moment I moved in, I heard a bowl smash next door. The timing was too convenient. Could the old man have broken it on purpose? After all, it was just a broken bowl. The Landlord had no reason to get that angry. Right! He was afraid—afraid the old man would attract my attention."

"But why was he afraid? And why was the old man seeking help?"

A flash of insight struck Chen Ge as he recalled another detail. When the Landlord had been cursing the old man, his anger had been so intense that a few words in a regional accent had slipped in.

"The old man's family is from Han Jiang, but the Landlord is from somewhere else. He probably isn't closely related to the old man."

"Normally, an old man wouldn't hand over his property to an outsider to manage. Unless the lame man had taken over the place and was holding the old man hostage! If that's true, then his real identity could be a greedy Caregiver, a burglar who broke in to steal, or even the Murderous Maniac from several years ago!"

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

Chen Ge clenched his fist. "No wonder he suddenly came to eavesdrop outside my room. He was feeling guilty."

Sweat beaded on his forehead. This kind of deduction was still too difficult for Chen Ge. He had never formally studied criminal investigation or logic, so he could only work things out step by step on his own.

"What should I do now? Charge next door and smash the Landlord to death with the Tool Hammer? No, that's too reckless. If I've got it wrong, the consequences will be unthinkable." Chen Ge held the Tool Hammer in one hand, with the Fruit Knife tucked into his pocket, and paced around the room.

"Should I find a chance to check again? No, that won't work either. What if I tip him off? The Killer might have accomplices. I'm no match for several people, and if they set their sights on me, I'll be in serious danger."

"I don't have any concrete evidence right now. It's all just speculation. Besides, my most important goal in coming here is to find the murderer from the Massacre Case four years ago..."

Chen Ge was troubled again. After a while, the TV next door abruptly went silent. The sudden quiet was frightening.

"What's going on?" He quietly opened his door, crouched down, and peered through the gap in the door to the next room. It was pitch-black inside. They'd even turned off the lights.

"Going to bed a little after eight?" Chen Ge crouched outside the Landlord's door with the Tool Hammer in hand. Then he realized how suspicious he must look and hurriedly glanced around. After making sure no one was there, he tucked the hammer against his chest and returned to his room.

"Online news isn't necessarily accurate enough to base deductions on. It'd be great if I had a professional to help me analyze this." Chen Ge lay on the bed and took out his phone. Apart from Xu Wan, he'd apparently never spoken to anyone else in his contacts.

"I've really committed to being a loner."

Chen Ge thought for a long time. Of everyone he'd ever met, the only person with any connection to criminal investigations was the unlucky kid who'd been scared unconscious—He Shan.

"A forensic pathologist should be better at this than me." He opened his short-video profile and, as soon as he logged in, saw a notification that he had dozens of private messages.

He tapped one at random. It was from the head of a studio on the platform, inviting him to join.

"Is this person some kind of talent scout?" Chen Ge didn't have time to look into it. He searched for He Shan's ID, not giving the matter any thought.

But then, a little while later, the studio sent him another message.

"Are you there? We watched your videos. You have a lot of potential. Would you be interested in working with us?"

"We can connect you with our top streamers to drive traffic to your account and increase your exposure."

"It's hard to make a name for yourself alone. Almost all the streamers on the platform work together in groups. Give it some thought."

"Are you there?"

One pop-up after another appeared, and Chen Ge was getting annoyed. He was busy matching wits with a murderous maniac from five years ago. How could he possibly have time to join some studio? He simply replied with two words: "Not here."

"Heh, you're young and hotheaded. Give our studio some thought. All you have to do is add our studio's logo to your short videos. We'll provide you with the best channels and help more people see your work."

"Sorry, I'm not interested right now." Chen Ge thought he'd been polite enough. In the same situation, someone else might have cursed him out before blocking him outright.

"Your short video has the potential to become a hit, but you need to understand that it's only a possibility. A million short videos are uploaded to the platform every day, and you're just one of the lucky ones. People today want entertainment faster. They don't have the patience to wait. Every moment, something more eye-catching and attention-grabbing appears in the world. If you don't manage your account properly, your video will soon be buried."

"Let's talk tomorrow. I'm busy right now." Chen Ge had already found He Shan's ID.

"What could possibly be more important than making money? If you really don't want to join us, we can work out another arrangement. For example, we could pay to buy your filming methods..."

Chen Ge didn't bother replying. He blocked the person and messaged He Shan.

To his surprise, He Shan replied in less than a second. "Boss, I've been waiting for you to post a new video!"

"Hold on a moment. I have something important to ask you." Chen Ge got He Shan's phone number, called him, and quietly explained everything that had happened from beginning to end.