Upon hearing Tang Ranno's instructions, the golden retriever woofed twice and began sniffing the ground, making its way towards the entrance of the Wan-Rong Community.
The Wan-Rong Community had just changed its property management, and the access control device at the entrance was still under repair. The two players walked openly into the community, posing as an ordinary resident couple walking their dog, and headed towards the building where the incident occurred.
The duo blended into the crowd of onlookers. Tang Ranno quietly unleashed the dog, letting the golden retriever run off. As it ran, the dog tilted its mouth, shaking its head as if dancing to some strange music, then darted into a trash heap at the back of the community and began digging furiously.
Li Ang raised an eyebrow and softly remarked, "What is it doing?"
Tang Ranno smiled and said, "It's using its skill. You'll find out in a moment."
Li Ang nodded, then suddenly had a thought and reminded her, "Walking a dog without a leash is like being walked by the dog. Aren't you going to stand by the garbage pile with it for a while?"
"..."
A muscle twitched at the corner of Tang Ranno's eye, but her pretty face, hidden behind sunglasses, remained expressionless. She pretended not to have heard Li Ang's words, acting like an ordinary community resident, curiously peering inside the police cordon and listening attentively, trying to glean information from the onlookers' chatter.
The deceased, Xia Junqiang, had been living in a rented apartment, and his landlord happened to be among the onlookers. According to the landlord, Xia Junqiang had signed the rental contract about half a year ago and seemed very honest and hardworking. Apparently, he was a reserved and unsociable freelancer who made a living by writing programs.
Neighbors described Xia Junqiang as a homebody who only went out on Saturdays and Sundays. He rarely had friends or relatives visit, and he usually only left his apartment to pick up takeout food or buy daily necessities at the supermarket. Just a few days ago, some had seen him picking up a package at the community's parcel locker. Then, unexpectedly, he died under mysterious circumstances... and the cause of death was unknown.
The community residents, unaware that Xia Junqiang was a suspected murderer, were casually gossiping. They discussed how contemporary young people often stayed up late, paid no attention to their health, and were thus at risk of sudden death at any time.
The landlord was also sighing constantly, complaining in a low voice that the apartment would be difficult to rent out now that someone had died in it. Even if he found a tenant, the rent would have to be significantly reduced.
None of this chatter seemed valuable. Li Ang shook his head. He noticed that the official criminal investigators seemed to still be inspecting the scene upstairs, with no intention of coming down.
Based on what he'd heard at Wang Congshan's home, Xia Junqiang's bizarre death had likely attracted investigators from the Special Affairs Bureau, who were now upstairs assisting Yin City's criminal investigators.
Li Ang had no intention of making direct contact with the Special Affairs Bureau. Even through a Vest, it would be too risky...
Sensing something, he turned his head and saw Tang Ranno give him a meaningful look. He immediately understood, left the crowd, and joined her on a small path at the edge of the community.
"What's the situation?"
Li Ang spread his hands and said, "Right now, we can't directly get information on Xia Junqiang's body. I suggest we go to the stairwell of another building and use a compact telescope to get a clear view of Xia Junqiang's rented apartment."
"Let's wait a bit. Mao Mao hasn't come back yet." Tang Ranno shook her head, raised her phone, and looked calmly at Li Ang. "By the way, I have Xia Junqiang's personal information here. Want to see it?"
"No need, I've got it already." Li Ang chuckled, pulled out the disposable smartphone for his Vest, and quickly swiped through the screen, browsing.
To find out the cause of death for the programmer, Xia Junqiang, one naturally first needed to know his social connections. The best way to ascertain social relationships was to purchase resident information.
In the age of digital information, people have, on an objective level, effectively lost their right to personal privacy. Registering for apps requires a phone number; online purchases need bank card information and a detailed address; entering internet cafes, boarding high-speed trains, or checking into hotels all require facial recognition and ID card verification.
Name, gender, phone number, address, education, travel records, hotel records, text message records, online purchase history, driver's license information, bank card information, current location... All this information is stored by various corporations and network operators.
In theory, this information is dispersed and shouldn't be leaked, but the enormous demand from the gray-market industry has given rise to information brokers. The debt collection industry needs debtors' phone numbers, addresses, and contact lists; fraud rings need vast amounts of citizens' personal information; real estate agents need information on prospective buyers...
Demand creates profit, and profit breeds industry.
Companies controlling private information sell citizen data from their systems to information brokers, who then build massive databases and sell them to inquiring customers. This database is so vast, complex, intricate, and all-encompassing that it can even offer customized services for clients willing to pay the price.
For a fee of several hundred to a few thousand yuan, and with just a mobile phone number, all information on the phone number's owner can be provided within hours. Household registration, hotel records, criminal records, ID card travel history, employment history, education history, mobile phone location, phone bill records, payment app transaction records, property deeds, marriage certificates, birth certificates...
In the era of digital information, everyone is transparent.
Even before high school, Li Ang knew about this giant database system operating in the gray area and had used it to conduct a few small experiments.
Earlier, while in the taxi, he had used his Vest's disposable, anti-tracking smartphone to enter Xia Junqiang's name and community name into the information brokers' database. He ultimately obtained Xia Junqiang's citizen information. The entire database system was hosted on the dark web; the process from query to purchase was fully automated, requiring no human intervention, only a transfer of funds (using a Digital Currency similar to Bitcoin) to the system's backend.
He had known most of Xia Junqiang's information for a while but hadn't told Tang Ranno for two reasons. First, to test if she knew how to find personal data and see if she was astute. Second, to intimidate and threaten her—Li Ang already knew Tang Ranno's address and name. Even if she was currently using a Vest identity that she could discard at any time, the longer a Vest was used, the higher the chance of a slip-up, and thus the greater the possibility of uncovering her true identity.
Presumably, Tang Ranno told him she had found Xia Junqiang's citizen information for the same reason: both could threaten to expose the other's real identity.
Unfortunately for her, Li Ang, having acted first, had already altered his appearance and hidden his tracks, giving him a natural advantage in concealing his identity.
Setting aside the players' scheming and infighting for the moment, Li Ang ignored the subtle change in Tang Ranno's expression, swiped through his phone, and quickly reviewed all of Xia Junqiang's information, piecing together his life's trajectory.
Male, 29, from Handong. Parents divorced. Raised by his father, a freight truck driver; average family background. Excellent grades since childhood. Father passed away during high school. Attended university in Yin City, computer science major; won awards with his team in the ACM-ICPC. No hotel records (indicating he had always been single). Fell seriously ill during his senior year of college. After recovering, joined a small to medium-sized internet company as a developer. Worked there for 6 years, then was fired by his superior. Currently a freelancer, supporting himself with his programming skills and past savings.
Undoubtedly, the Xia Junqiang described in the files seemed harmless and possessed substantial savings in his bank account. He had no apparent reason or motive to commit armed robbery with a knife.
Unless… he knew the two deceased…
Li Ang furrowed his brows, realizing that the case was not as straightforward as it seemed.