Chapter 70: The Otaku

Qi Fei heard this and immediately said: "In other words, he might have died of illness?"

Xiao Tao nodded: "Very likely."

"It seems we are not looking for a living person who went missing six years ago, but a missing dead person!" Qi Fei stood up from his chair, "Let's go, go check the police report records!"

Throughout the year, there are many records of missing persons, and many living people go missing, but looking for missing dead people is indeed very easy.

Checking six years ago, sure enough, someone reported that their father's corpse was missing. When seeing the name of the reporter, Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu said in unison: "It's actually him?"

I saw the reporter's name was Luo Yang, and the registered address was: Room 102, Guiyue Apartment, Nancheng—that's right, that strange young man.

They vaguely remembered that the mysterious video mentioned that the owner of Room 102 died of cancer a few years ago, which perfectly matched Xiao Tao's judgment of the skeleton.

The door to Room 102 was also knocked open.

If they hadn't called Luo Yang in advance to tell him that his missing father's remains had been found, he might not have opened the door even if he died.

It could be seen that Luo Yang's facial features were not bad, but his hair looked unwashed and his beard unshaved. The whole person felt messy, as if he hadn't taken a bath for several days.

Compared with the well-organized He Zhixin family next door, this Room 102 could only be described as a garbage warehouse.

Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu felt that there was no place to put their feet.

Everywhere were packaging boxes of junk food like instant noodles and potato chips, scattered around a computer all over the house.

It seems he is undoubtedly an otaku.

"You, you said, the bone just found on the fourth floor is my dad's? Isn't it said to be Old Yu?" Luo Yang's speech was a bit stuttering. It could be seen that it was not nervousness, but rather the unaccustomedness of not talking to people for too long.

"One of the purposes of coming today is to collect your samples for DNA comparison with the skeleton. From the situation we have mastered, it is very likely to be your father," Qi Fei said.

After Luo Yang heard this, he didn't know what to do for a while, as if many thoughts were flooding into his mind, muttering: "So the person who stole my dad's remains is Old Yu? How could he do this..."

"Help us recall how your dad's remains were lost?" Qi Fei took out his notebook and asked.

Luo Yang scratched his messy hair, his eyes a bit blank: "My dad died of cancer, you all know that, right? My mom died early, and it was just me and my dad at home before. We didn't have any relatives in Nancheng. When he left, I was just a middle school student. The funeral arrangements were all helped by the neighbors in this building. The most enthusiastic one was Old Yu. He was recognized as a good person in this building because he was always alone, with no worries, and had plenty of time. As long as anyone had something to do, he was the first to rush up to help. The incident with the Lin family on the third floor before was handled by him leading everyone. My dad died in the hospital, and the funeral home car was also contacted by Old Yu. I remember I got on the hearse with him at that time, and he comforted me, saying that if I had difficulties in the future, I could tell him, and just treat him as a father. I was quite moved at that time. We both knew that my dad was dead, and this house might be reclaimed. Old Yu also said that if I really had nowhere to go, I could live in his house.

The night before the funeral, we had to keep vigil. The neighbors said they would take turns helping to keep vigil. You know, according to the customs of Nancheng, my dad's remains were covered with a white cloth on his face. Originally, no one discovered that my dad's remains were missing, because I was too sad when my dad was pushed in for cremation and wanted to see my dad one last time. Regardless of everyone's obstruction, I went up and lifted the white cloth, only to find that it was a paper figure, the kind of paper-tied dummy burned for the dead, wearing my dad's clothes and lying there.

My head went 'buzz' at that time, and I asked everywhere where my dad's remains were, but no one knew. Moreover, Old Yu didn't come to the funeral that day, but what use could Old Yu stealing my dad's remains have? So Old Yu's disappearance and my dad's remains being lost were not connected.

Auntie Xiaozhen asked if the funeral home lost my dad and used a paper figure to fool us, and even helped argue with the funeral home. The funeral home just wouldn't admit it, so I called the police, but after investigating a circle, I didn't find anything. I was just a middle school student without parents at that time, isolated and helpless, thinking that even if I found them back, what would happen? My dad wouldn't come back to life, so it was left unsettled..." Luo Yang didn't have much sadness while speaking, just a bit depressed.

"In other words, your dad's remains and Old Yu disappeared at the same time?" Qi Fei asked.

"Yes... But why did Old Yu do this? Obviously, he was still helping to inquire about selling the house at that time."

"Hm? You mean selling Guiyue Apartment?" Wu Shanqiu became interested after hearing this.

"Yes, ever since my dad knew he had cancer, he had the idea of selling the house. He knew I couldn't inherit this house, so he wanted to leave me a sum of money. At that time, he was too sick, so he entrusted Old Yu to go to the company to ask. At that time, Old Yu often came to my house to discuss with my dad what to do, and also discussed with other neighbors whether to sell the house. Who knew that before this matter was discussed, my dad was gone," Luo Yang sighed when he said this, "I became an unregistered resident after that. I don't know how long I can live in this house..."

"You don't have a job now, right?" Qi Fei looked at the situation and asked Luo Yang, and he often came to investigate the case during this period, but he never saw Luo Yang go out.

Luo Yang said helplessly: "My dad didn't leave me anything except this house without a property deed. Shortly after he passed away, I dropped out of school because I couldn't afford tuition. Where can someone like me with no money and no connections find a job?"

Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but ask sympathetically: "Then without income, how did you survive these years?"

"I don't have anything to do usually; I just play games and help people level up online to earn some pocket money. Fortunately, Uncle He next door sees that I'm pitiful and will help out from time to time. The water and electricity bills in this building are shared, and Uncle He has been helping to pay my share. If it weren't for Uncle He, I definitely wouldn't have survived."

Qi Fei sighed in his heart. Looking at this messy house, he said: "This is not a long-term solution. Don't you have any long-term plans?"

"I don't have any thoughts; just live one day at a time..." He scratched his body, seemingly itchy because he hadn't taken a bath for too long.

However, Qi Fei's gaze at this time fell on his computer... ===== CHAPTER 71 =====