"Bai Jie is my university roommate. Of course I'm very familiar with him," Chen Zhang said, dejected.
"Mhm. That said, you two must have been on fairly good terms, right?" Liu Wei spoke in a casual, conversational tone.
Chen Zhang nodded. "However, regrettably... he went missing two months ago."
"Missing... Do you think he's still alive?" Liu Wei suddenly asked.
Chen Zhang froze on the spot, unsure how to answer.
Two seconds later, he replied with some hesitation: "I don't know. But I hope... that one day he can come back."
"That's not all, is it? You believe he's still alive. Am I right?" Liu Wei suddenly said.
Chen Zhang's heart jolted in shock. He stared at Liu Wei, putting on a bewildered expression. "I don't understand what you mean."
"Right now there's no sign of him alive or dead. Whether he can reappear or not... honestly, I'm not so sure either."
"Oh, is that so?"
Liu Wei took a sip of coffee, then spoke a sentence that made Chen Zhang's hair stand on end:
"But then how do you explain the fact that he contacted you after his disappearance?"
"..."
"..."
Silence...
A long, drawn-out silence.
A muffled boom resounded—an explosion within Chen Zhang's mind.
Beneath a calm and quiet exterior, doubt, worry, and panic churned within Chen Zhang's heart, stirring up wave after turbulent wave.
How?!
What was Liu Wei saying? Did he know that Bai Jie had contacted me?
Chen Zhang didn't realize that his current reactions and the rapidly churning thoughts behind his eyes had already exposed him.
"Brother Wei, are you saying that Bai Jie... contacted me after going missing?"
After a few seconds of silence, Chen Zhang finally looked at Liu Wei with an expression full of confusion.
His demeanor was perfectly natural—the portions of puzzlement and shock, just right.
However, Liu Wei merely shook his head. "Chen Zhang, there's no need to keep up the act any longer."
"Last night, I already received a classified file from the Secret Keeping Bureau. It contains the text message records between you and Bai Jie after his disappearance."
Ignoring Chen Zhang's stiffened expression, Liu Wei set down his coffee, stood up, and continued speaking on his own:
"The Criminal Investigation Department has completed its investigation. That Bai Jie stole a mobile phone from a resident of the Beicheng Huayuan Residential Complex and used that number to contact you."
"In his messages, he proved his identity and urged you not to involve yourself in the student disappearances, and not to expose the fact that he was still alive."
Chen Zhang's pupils violently contracted, as if struck by intense light.
"But afterward, that number was deactivated, and Bai Jie never contacted you again."
"You must be very confused, right?"
"If he was still alive, why didn't he show himself? And why forbid you from revealing that he was alive?"
Liu Wei sighed and slowly said, "This point is still under investigation."
"But based on what we currently know, the most likely explanation is... by that point, he had already been contaminated by the anomaly... but dared not make it public, so all he could do was contact you. This would also explain how he managed to break into a high-end residential home alone to commit theft."
Chen Zhang's lips moved, his voice slightly hoarse: "You... how do you know all this? Those text messages... I clearly deleted them..."
"Could it be... because I joined Gaia Technology, and the company reviewed all my private data?!"
Chen Zhang's voice suddenly rose as he reached this point.
He was somewhat worried that now, with the matter exposed, he had no idea what consequences it might bring to Bai Jie. After all, Bai Jie had urged him countless times not to let news of his survival spread.
Liu Wei shook his head. "No. Gaia Technology does not violate employees' privacy rights through the onboarding process. To be precise, the classified file I received was sent by the Criminal Investigation Department."
"As for how the Criminal Investigation Department discovered all this—I inquired, and it's because they received an anonymous tip-off email yesterday. It stated that Bai Jie had been contaminated by the anomaly brought by the meteorite, and attached the information data of the contact between you and Bai Jie. That tip-off email held a very high level of credibility in the authorities' eyes."
"A tip-off?! An email?!"
Could a third party have known that I'd been in contact with Bai Jie?! Who?!
Chen Zhang's face was covered in thick bewilderment. He gritted his teeth tightly, knowing he was far from calm right now—but he could no longer control himself.
Liu Wei waved his hand, signaling the other to calm down. "Keep listening to what I have to say next."
"Although I don't know Bai Jie's reasons for acting that way, or whether he was really contaminated by the anomaly..."
"I can basically tell you right now..."
"Bai Jie—he's already dead!"
"What did you say?!"
Chen Zhang shot to his feet, staring at Liu Wei in utter disbelief.
"Impossible!"
"Since you know he was able to contact me, that proves he was alive!"
Liu Wei's gaze didn't waver. With a trace of regret, he said: "Not long ago, there was a fire on the back mountain of Xingchuan University. You remember that, right?"
"Of course I remember. What about it?"
Chen Zhang's expression was anxious. He suddenly felt afraid to hear what Liu Wei would say next.
"In that fire... aside from three male corpses, an additional severed body part was also discovered—belonging to none of those three. And after comparison against the genetic database, that severed limb was confirmed to be Bai Jie's! It was just never made public."
"No..."
Chen Zhang's face turned deathly pale. His lips trembled slightly. He didn't know what to say.
Liu Wei went on, speaking to himself.
"In your heart, you should also be clear about this: since among the early Xingchuan University disappearances, including He Jun, Long Xiaofeng, and A Xiao, not a single one survived... naturally, Bai Jie's chances were slim to none."
"All the more so now that his severed body part has been found..."
"That's why he suddenly stopped contacting you. Not because he didn't want to—but because he couldn't..."
"Then..." Chen Zhang's voice was hoarse. "How did Bai Jie... die?"
Liu Wei couldn't bear to face Chen Zhang. He turned and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the core commercial district skyline of Yongan City. Drawing a heavy breath, he slowly exhaled that horrifying piece of information:
"The Secret Keeping Bureau speculates... that Bai Jie was killed by none other than Nyx."
Chen Zhang immediately said, "'Nyx'? What basis is there for concluding that demon spider killed Bai Jie?"
"At the time Bai Jie took the initiative to contact you, 'Nyx' was coincidentally also hiding within the Beicheng Huayuan Residential Complex. And after 'Nyx' fled that place, Bai Jie never contacted you again. Is that correct?"
Chen Zhang was dazed, his eyes rimmed red. He recalled how, ever since he'd told Bai Jie about He Jun's disappearance, Bai Jie had never replied with a single message...
"How... how could this be..." Chen Zhang covered his face with both hands, unable to accept such an outcome.
Liu Wei spoke slowly: "Regarding Bai Jie sending you those text messages, there are currently two possible inferences:
"First, at the time he sent the messages, Bai Jie—having been contaminated by the anomaly—likely only dared to hide within a hidden room in Zheng Yueling's home. After Zheng Yueling died, he fled, only to ultimately be devoured by 'Nyx.' That's why Bai Jie stopped contacting you.
"Based on the pattern of Yongan City's series of incidents, along with the Secret Keeping Bureau's empirical investigations, Nyx has a motive to absorb a range of anomalous properties. It's not surprising that Bai Jie, contaminated by the anomaly, would be targeted by it.
"Second, the one who sent you messages was never Bai Jie at all—it was 'Nyx,' which had already eaten Bai Jie. Bai Jie was already dead by then, and Nyx absorbed Bai Jie's memories, enabling it to converse with you. Of course, this possibility is extremely low, and Nyx would have had no reason to seek you out.
"So the first scenario is the most likely."
Chen Zhang still hadn't recovered. He remained silent, his mind a tangled mess.
"My condolences," Liu Wei walked back to Chen Zhang's side and patted his shoulder. "There's one more very important thing."
"The phone number that contacted you—before its deactivation, the signal from its last use was located at..."
"The back mountain of Xingchuan University."
"Both the Secret Keeping Bureau and the Criminal Investigation Department believe that since it was also the place where Bai Jie's severed limb was found, it is suspected to be the site where Nyx devoured Bai Jie."