Chapter 97: Mysterious Invitation Letter (Part II)

A Decepticon's body can go without sleep for a long time. Perhaps because he had never rested so peacefully in the nearly two months he spent in the other world, Sun Cheng slept very soundly and deeply during his first sleep after returning to the real world, not waking up until the sun was high the next day.

Rubbing his eyes, he climbed out of bed. Without rushing to pick up his phone to check the time, Sun Cheng walked straight to the balcony, opened the window, and took a breath of fresh air.

After stretching his back for a while and feeling that the sleepiness had mostly dissipated, he turned and walked back into the room.

"Hanwei, report the situation..."

Picking up a water glass and walking to the water dispenser, Sun Cheng poured himself half a glass of water and asked while drinking.

As he asked, the ultra-thin laptop that had been sitting quietly on his computer desk suddenly twisted, quickly transforming into a fierce-looking alloy insect.

"Master, I hacked into the Nandu Police Bureau's household registration management center and confirmed that there are only three males with local household registration named Xiao Hong between the ages of twenty and thirty. After a more precise search, one of them currently works at the Jiangzhen Shipyard, license plate number Nandu L5234L. According to investigations, the vehicle's travel trajectory over the past half-month has been basically within Jiangzhen City, with no signs of returning to Nandu. This is his photo..."

It projected a photo of a man. Sun Cheng walked to the desk and sat down. After glancing twice and confirming it was not the Xiao Hong he knew, he looked at Hanwei and nodded in satisfaction. "Continue..."

"Understood, Master. The second man named Xiao Hong lives in the countryside of Chongao Qu and runs a grocery store..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Sun Cheng. "Not him. Go straight to the last one..."

"Yes!"

Having his introduction interrupted, Hanwei's expression was slightly dull, but there was not a hint of complaint.

It quickly continued to introduce the information about the third Xiao Hong. "The third Xiao Hong is 27 years old, the owner of the Nandu Baitong Investment Company. He has quite a few criminal records at the Nandu Police Bureau, totaling two counts of drunk driving, one count of drugged driving, four counts of fighting, and so on. This is his photo..."

Upon hearing the introduction, Sun Cheng already had a premonition, guessing that this Xiao Hong might be the one he knew. Once Hanwei projected his photo, he immediately confirmed it was indeed him.

"Finally found him!"

He sneered, shook the water glass in his hand, and ordered: "Hanwei, pull up more detailed information on him. I want his family situation, including his current address..."

"Xiao Hong comes from a single-parent family. His father is unknown. His mother is named Xiao Yan, 45 years old, originally from Xuanzhou, currently residing in Anqing, where she runs a furniture store..."

"That's it?"

Sun Cheng frowned. He had only received vague information regarding the family details of Xiao Hong that he most wanted to obtain.

"No, there is one more very important piece of information I haven't had time to report to you..." Hanwei seemed not to hear the dissatisfaction in his words and continued: "Just two hours ago, the police confirmed that Xiao Hong is dead. Along with him, several others belonging to Baitong Investment Company also died. The police have already opened a case and begun an investigation..."

"What?"

Sun Cheng's hand shook, and the water glass he was holding immediately fell into his lap, splashing him.

"Hiss..."

He hurriedly stood up, swept the disposable cup onto the floor, and while shaking the clothes wet with tea, walked toward the bedroom door, preparing to get a towel to wipe himself off.

Just as he reached the doorway and before he could reach out to grab a towel, Sun Cheng's gaze was suddenly drawn to a grayish-yellow object at his feet.

"Huh..."

He gave a light exclamation, discovering that a large envelope had appeared on the floor not far behind the door at some point.

Hurriedly bending down to pick it up, Sun Cheng held it in his hand and looked at it, only to find that both the front and back of the envelope were clean, with no stamps or any handwriting, but the flap was sealed with glue.

"How strange, sending me a letter without leaving any information. What does this mean?"

He squeezed the envelope; if he hadn't been able to feel that it was bulging with something inside, he would have thought it was someone's prank.

Because one hand was busy fumbling with the envelope, the wet clothes, having lost the tension from one side, quickly stuck to his skin again.

Stimulated by the damp moisture, Sun Cheng shivered and came back to his senses. He hurriedly grabbed a towel from the doorway, tucked the anonymous letter under his arm, and began wiping the water stains off his clothes.

"Hanwei, continue talking about Xiao Hong's murder case..."

Soon returning to his seat, he tossed the anonymous letter onto the desk and asked Hanwei again with a frown.

"Yes. Currently, the intelligence I have found is limited, mainly because the police haven't made much progress either. They have only temporarily defined this murder case as a revenge killing and have begun investigating in that direction..."

"Revenge killing?"

Sun Cheng frowned even more and asked: "Do you have photos of the crime scene?"

Hanwei didn't speak, directly projecting a set of dozens of photos in front of him, letting Sun Cheng look at them.

Perhaps because he had grown accustomed to seeing dead people in the other world, when faced with dozens of photos of corpses, Sun Cheng felt not the slightest discomfort; instead, he leaned in to look carefully.

This look was significant; his brows quickly knotted together.

Although it was very dark that night, his eyes were not so bad that he couldn't recognize someone's face when they were right in front of him.

So, after scanning them briefly, Sun Cheng quickly confirmed that all the victims in the photos were the people who had surrounded him in the alley that night, and not one more, not one less—they were all here.

"Good heavens, they all died by the blade, and all were killed with a single strike. The killer is truly ruthless..."

After carefully distinguishing the photos for a while, Sun Cheng quickly understood why the police had determined this was a revenge killing.

Every blade strike pierced the throat or heart; the perpetrator was clearly a ruthless character.

However, what puzzled him slightly was that this guy seemed to have a grudge against Xiao Hong as well. Not only did he deliver a fatal stab to the heart, but he also left more than a dozen knife wounds on his body—how else to describe such deep-seated hatred?

If the killer hadn't spared his face, Sun Cheng might not have even recognized that the owner of this corpse was Xiao Hong.

Puzzlement aside, regardless of who the killer was, Xiao Hong was dead, and he had died in his own home; this undoubtedly saved him a lot of trouble.

Immediately, he waved his hand to have Hanwei retract the projection, thought for a moment, and then ordered it again: "Keep an eye on this murder case. Remember to report to me if there are any new developments."

"Understood, Master!"

After receiving the new order, Hanwei replied in a dull tone and then transformed back into its ultra-thin laptop form, lying quietly on the computer desk in front of him like Frenzy, guarding his safety.

With one worry resolved, Sun Cheng's mood suddenly improved. He couldn't help but look at the anonymous letter on the desk, picked it up to fiddle with it for a while, and then tore open the seal with a 'rip'.

The next moment, he poured two golden invitation letters that emitted a faint rose fragrance out of the envelope.

PS:

Thanks to 'your_boom' for the generous support.