Chapter 68: Returning to Yu

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No one is omnipotent; as people age, their energy inevitably wanes, and this was precisely what Yang Tang could exploit. He had picked out a few individuals from the concise personnel introductions at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and was slowly analyzing them.

At last, Yang Tang selected one among them—a man holding a relatively high position, whose mind remained sharp despite his age. His name was Wu Yaxi, already past the age of fifty, yet he often logged in to chat with others, occasionally sneaking off to pilfer virtual vegetables or take selfies.

Yang Tang had chosen Wu Yaxi for a simple reason: his high rank at the Bureau meant he needed to remember at least two passwords at all times, and these passwords had to be changed every month. Adding in his personal accounts, selfie blogs, even Baidu Tieba logins—he had a variety of passwords, at least seven or eight, possibly even more than ten. It wasn’t easy for anyone, let alone someone over fifty, to remember them all perfectly; even young people in their twenties would struggle.

For this reason, Yang Tang believed Wu Yaxi must have some pattern for memorizing his passwords. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly keep so many straight. In other words, as long as Yang Tang could collect most of Wu Yaxi’s passwords and analyze the underlying pattern, it wouldn’t be difficult to deduce his other passwords at the Bureau.

Compared to the firewalls guarding the Bureau’s case database and top-secret records, it was considerably easier to hack databases managing accounts, or those like the Baidu Tieba account database.

Yang Tang barely needed to hack at all—he simply followed the threads online and traced them directly to Wu Yaxi’s home, where his little grandson and daughter-in-law happened to be online. The daughter-in-law was using Wu Yaxi’s computer. Perfect. Since the Wu household was sharing one internet connection split by a router, Yang Tang simply planted his packet-sniffing program on the grandson’s computer, unnoticed and utterly secure. The browsing history showed the boy frequently visited adult sites; the system was already riddled with trojans—a few more wouldn’t make a difference.

In truth, whether at the Bureau or Wu Yaxi’s home, Yang Tang, as king of hackers, could have used brute force to obtain the information he wanted. But such actions would draw greater attention, risking far more than he could gain, perhaps even costing him dearly. So he preferred a slower, more cautious approach, hoping for a smoother infiltration of the case database.

Of course, with any illegal activity, there’s always a risk of exposure—the question is only whether the risk is high or low. Yang Tang reviewed his previous actions, found no flaws, and then packed up his notebook and returned to the hotel.

Coincidentally, He Jianni and Fang Yuhua returned a little before Yang Tang. Seeing Yang’s parents packing their luggage, they cornered Yang Tang and asked, “You’re leaving?”

“Obviously, there’s less than ten days left before my final mock exam.”

“Ah, right!” Fang Yuhua, who had hoped to find an excuse to keep Yang Tang’s family a few more days, lost her nerve at this. “In that case, you’d better hurry back. The college entrance exam is more important! Should I help you book tickets?”

“I’ve already booked four tickets for the five o’clock high-speed train,” Yang Tang replied.

“High-speed train? That’s not ideal.” Fang Yuhua took the liberty to say, “Let me book you plane tickets instead. It’ll be faster!”

Yang Tang shook his head. “No need—I don’t like flying.”

“What? You’re afraid of flying?” Fang Yuhua seemed to discover a new continent. “Heh, I’m not laughing at you, but from your resume, it seems you’ve never left Mist City before this trip?”

Fang Yuhua had long since checked his background—Yang Tang knew this. But he hadn’t expected her to dig so deeply, accidentally poking holes in the “lies” of his past life. He could only shamelessly retort, “What’s wrong with not liking planes?”

Seeing this, Fang Yuhua conceded, “Fine, do as you please!” If Lord Fang had been present, his eyes would surely have popped out at the scene. “I’ll have someone take you to the station, at least.”

Yang Tang neither confirmed nor denied, as if everything was perfectly reasonable. Fang Yuhua couldn’t help but jab at him, “I find you really hard to communicate with!”

Yang Tang smiled slightly. “Is that so? I’d say the feeling is mutual.”

Fang Yuhua: “…”

He Jianni quickly stepped in, “Yuhua, you promised me you wouldn’t argue with Tang Tang anymore.”

“But he—”

“He didn’t say anything, but still annoyed you?”

“Hmph, forget it, I’m so frustrated.” Fang Yuhua stamped her foot, intending to seek comfort from Yang’s mother, when her phone rang. She pulled it out, glanced at it, and answered, “Hello, who is it?”

“Boss, it’s me, Shuai Kun!”

“Shuai Kun?” Fang Yuhua recalled the name, moving away from He Jianni to a corner. “What do you want?”

“It’s not that I want anything, boss. You asked someone to find me for help investigating a guy named Yang Tang, and said I could call this number once I had something.”

“Oh, now I remember! Yes, that’s right.” Fang Yuhua finally recalled the matter. “What did you find?”

“I managed to get some intel from the Bureau. Yang Tang’s case isn’t big, but it’s not insignificant either. The key is—”

“Don’t beat around the bush, give me the juicy details. If you have something big, I’ll pay you twenty percent more.”

“Thank you, boss. I definitely have juicy info. On the day before the Flower Festival opened, after Yang Tang left the Flower Tower, he didn’t return to the hotel or go anywhere else. Instead, he went straight to the nearby commercial street, and at the fish stall in the farmers’ market, bought a bunch of fishing rod sections!”

“Fishing rod sections? Isn’t that just a hollow tube, thick at one end, thin at the other? What would he want with those?” Fang Yuhua asked, puzzled.

“Yang Tang isn’t ordinary. He bought only the tip sections, which are hollow at one end and have the other end for tying fishing line.” Shuai Kun’s voice took on a strange note of fear. “But those inconspicuous things, half an hour later, were all plunged into the bodies of the robbers who infiltrated the Flower Tower—everyone struck died instantly!”

“What?!” Fang Yuhua exclaimed, drawing curious glances from guests in the hotel lobby. “There was no news coverage of the Flower Tower incident, but I heard the military-police squad stormed the building. If Yang Tang killed with fishing rod sections—”

“Boss, that’s the most bizarre part. According to my investigation, when the military-police entered the building, Yang Tang wasn’t inside.”

“Then how could fishing rod sections kill anyone?” Fang Yuhua was baffled.

“I heard it was a ‘cold arrow’—the fishing rod sections flew in from outside the building, piercing a robber’s skull as if weightless, then another, and another… The scene was chilling to even imagine!”

“‘Cold arrow’!” Fang Yuhua shuddered violently, glancing at He Jianni in the distance. She remembered He Jianni had told her Yang Tang was skilled in archery. “Did anyone see Yang Tang using fishing rod sections as arrows to kill the robbers?”

“No one saw it!” Shuai Kun said, not without regret. “But precisely because no one witnessed it, it makes Yang Tang even more terrifying!”

“If no one saw it, how can you prove it was Yang Tang who launched the cold arrows?”

“Oh, boss, don’t forget those fishing rod sections used as arrows. According to forensic analysis, the ones that killed the robbers matched the batch sold by the fish stall owner. And as luck would have it, that afternoon, the stall owner had poor business and only sold that batch. Of course, based on the Bureau’s recent interrogation records, Yang Tang claimed he threw the fishing rod sections into a roadside trash can after buying them—who knows who picked them up!”

Hearing this, Fang Yuhua recognized it as a typical “Yang-style fabrication,” and couldn’t help but smile. “That’s a marvelous excuse, isn’t it? All right, that’s enough for today. I’ll have Uncle Zhong send you the balance.”

“Thank you for your generosity, boss!”

“By the way, Shuai Kun, keep this to yourself. If you spread it—”

“I understand, boss. I won’t gossip!”

“That’s best.”

Having learned this little-known side of Yang Tang, Fang Yuhua didn’t press for more. But when lunchtime came, her gaze at Yang Tang was markedly different.

That afternoon, after she’d sent the group to the train station, Fang Yuhua’s look at Yang Tang grew ever more peculiar. At last, as they passed through security, she quietly asked him, “Don’t you want to tell me something about the Flower Tower?”

Yang Tang continued to play dumb. “Flower Tower? What about it?”

“Obviously, the fish stall owner!” Fang Yuhua abruptly revealed the secret, feeling a rush of satisfaction. “Do I need to be even clearer?”

Yang Tang’s pupils contracted like a cat’s, his expression suddenly cold and hostile as he stared at Fang Yuhua. “I always suspected the Bureau couldn’t be trusted, but I didn’t think they’d be this unreliable!”

Fang Yuhua was genuinely startled by his unfriendly demeanor, quickly explaining, “It’s not the Bureau’s fault—I asked someone—”

“Enough!” Yang Tang gestured for her to stop. “If the people you find can dig up my secrets, so can those hired by others. I meant to retire and watch the rain in peace, but who knew the storm was brewing!”

Hearing this, Fang Yuhua’s expression subtly changed. “Tang Tang, I—”

“No more words. Go back now. We have to board.”

More than ten hours later, at six in the morning, Mist City North Station.

Yang Tang’s family, along with He Jianni, finally returned to their familiar mountain city.