Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 49

Chapter 49: Deeply Entangled

At nine in the evening, when the working class was resting, Shen Yiyi was sitting in front of her office, waiting for Lin Puping to issue an identification report.

She had no work on hand and was not on duty.

If it had been a month ago, Shen Yiyi would have gone to the Institute of Criminal Science to check on data or to solve the algorithm model problems of a scientific research project.

But recently, she wanted to be lazy.

Shen Yiyi leaned back in her chair, took out her phone, and opened social media.

Qin Luo.

As she thought of her, her fingers began to search involuntarily.

Qin Luo’s account popped up on the phone screen. She glanced at it. She had 4.26 million followers.

That’s not a small number of followers…

Shen Yiyi clicked on her profile picture. Qin Luo’s latest post was at 7:30 p.m., reminding her fans that she was on a live stream.

Qin Luo was on a live stream?

Shen Yiyi fumbled and clicked on the live stream.

On her phone, Qin Luo was sitting on a sofa, smiling and chatting with the host.

“Aesthetics has a framework, so I usually find a balance between fashion and function.”

The host nodded. “Yes, what suits you is the best.”

Qin Luo continued, “Every woman has the right to choose her own style, whether it’s pursuing trends or personal comfort. It shouldn’t be interfered with by any third party. Brands should also see the voice of the market now and strive to adapt to the changes and needs of female consumers. Just like underwear, it’s no longer a private matter to have suitable underwear. People will share…”

Qin Luo was surrounded by spotlights, sitting on the sofa in a casual outfit, her legs crossed, and wearing glasses as she spoke eloquently.

Shen Yiyi’s gaze was lost in the screen, and she didn’t even notice Lin Puping walking into the office with a document.

“Director, the report is ready.”

Shen Yiyi came back to her senses, reached out and turned the volume down to the lowest, and pointed to the desk. “Just put it here.”

“Then I’m off work.”

“Okay.” Shen Yiyi didn’t look away and waved her hand perfunctorily. “Go home early.”

What was the director looking at?
So seriously?

Lin Puping stood on his tiptoes and peered over the desk.

But the director’s phone had a privacy screen protector, so he couldn’t see anything. “Don’t forget the notice from the science and technology department that the backend system will be under maintenance this week.”

Shen Yiyi waved her hand. “I know. Close the door for me when you leave.”

Lin Puping left, and the office immediately became quiet again.

Shen Yiyi turned up the volume and propped her phone up on the desk. She took the identification report and flipped through a couple of pages, then her thoughts were interrupted by the live stream, and she had to close the file.

She leaned back in her chair and quietly looked at her phone.

Shen Yiyi couldn’t find a trace of Qin Luo in the talkative, elegant stranger on the electronic screen.

Compared to the Qin Luo who had had lunch with her yesterday, the woman on the screen at this moment was more like a… sculpture.

Like a giant object inserted into a conspicuous landmark. People could only admire her cold, true self from a distance, but no one was qualified to carve her.

This perspective made them seem so far apart.

Ever since the college entrance examination, Shen Yiyi had not actively paid attention to Qin Luo’s movements. She hadn’t cared which university Qin Luo had gotten into, in which city, what major she had studied, or what her job was after graduation.

Shen Yiyi had cleared her life’s system, deliberately blacklisting the two words “Qin Luo.”

She and Qin Luo had completely cut off contact, with no news of each other.

The year Qin Luo won an award in the literary world was the year she had just entered the provincial public security department to study for her master’s degree while working.

Shen Yiyi still remembered that time. She would go to the scene with her seniors during the day, collect data with her teacher at night, and dissect bodies until the early morning, so tired that her eyes would go black.

If it weren’t for Shen Qinwen sending Shen Yiyi a message to congratulate Qin Luo on her award, she would have probably forgotten who Qin Luo was.

Later, news of Qin Luo would often pop up in her Moments.

For example, Qin Luo had made the headlines of the Fengjiang news, had been awarded the title of honorary alumnus, or her former high school head teacher had congratulated her on the success of her new book in the class group chat, or a strange classmate had posted a photo with Qin Luo and a few hundred words of congratulations.

Shen Yiyi did not have Qin Luo’s contact information and could not express her congratulations on behalf of her father, let alone have the courage to say “congratulations” to her.

Congratulations on becoming a writer, congratulations on her meteoric rise, congratulations on escaping the stuffy summer heat of Fengjiang, no longer entangled in the noisy alleys and courtyards.

Congratulations on her life taking a leap forward.

This kind of Qin Luo was very good.

This kind of Qin Luo would draw a clear line with the past and would forget her seventeen-year-old classmate in the dilapidated high school.

At least this kind of Qin Luo, if she saw her again, would be proud. She would not hate her, would not question her.

The twenty-five-year-old Shen Yiyi did not feel reluctant, nor did she fantasize. She just felt a sense of loss.

The thirty-four-year-old Shen Yiyi’s fingers were swiping on the screen, the bullet screen was jumping wildly in front of her. She scrolled up.

Netizen: [Logos can’t even manage its own live stream, and now it’s lecturing in the brand’s live stream room.]
Passerby: [How is this lecturing? This is sharing!]
Passerby: [If you’re selling, then sell. Don’t try to add value, okay?]
Fan: [Even the loudest bell can’t wake up a sleeping pig.]
Brand fan: [Are you still selling underwear? Where can I get the coupon?]
Hater: [Does anyone still not know that Qin Luo is actually consuming the female community?]
Hater: [Sucking up to capital, not daring to say a single word about the brand’s problems.]
Fan: [Yes, yes, yes, you’ve said all the good and bad things in your typing, but you haven’t done a single thing.]

The argument between the netizens looked so boring…

Shen Yiyi switched out of the app, turned off the screen, and then threw her phone on the table.

She opened her computer, clicked on the virtual autopsy system, and prepared to analyze the data from the case. But the mouse stopped after a couple of circles.

Shen Yiyi rested her chin on her hand and stared blankly.

Those strangers didn’t know Qin Luo at all. On what basis could they criticize her?

At this thought, Shen Yiyi couldn’t help but open a web page and type three words on the keyboard: Logos.

Enter, search.

Then the screen was filled with results related to Logos.

Shen Yiyi then refined her search, using the wildcard * to fill in the blurry blanks and “” to specify the exact phrase.

[“Logos*Qin Luo” -screenwriter -movie]

As the research leader of the identification center, her search skills were naturally as fierce as a tiger.

Shen Yiyi scrolled down to extract information, quickly browsing through Qin Luo’s rise to fame and the business areas that Logos was involved in.

There were two keywords in the search results that appeared most frequently: “public welfare” and “reading group.”

She randomly clicked on two news reports and extracted key time points from the different batches of reports.

Then she followed the news reports about Logos and traced them down.

Well, Logos’s public welfare had been continuously implemented, and the local government’s policies had even given them preferential resources. But because of the uncoordinated distribution of Logos’s business, the support data was scattered and didn’t look very good.

But public welfare can’t just be looked at in the short term.

It’s the sustainable benefits that it affects that should be paid attention to.

Those netizens didn’t even verify the data. On what basis could they easily deny Qin Luo’s efforts?

Shen Yiyi angrily picked up her phone, wanting to open the live stream room to see what other crazy things those netizens could say.

But when she clicked on it, she found that the live stream was over.

Well, it was 10:30.

It was good that it was over. That way, Qin Luo could get off work early and rest early.

Shen Yiyi turned to face her computer and reopened the virtual control system. Watching Qin Luo’s live stream was just an interlude in her work. She tried her best to see herself as an old friend who had been silent for sixteen years.

Monday morning.

Lin Puping’s car drove into the art complex. Shen Yiyi got out of the passenger seat, opened the trunk, and took out her work case.

Lin Puping was supposed to be on leave today, but when he heard that Director Shen was coming to the production to teach and needed an assistant, he immediately volunteered to come along.

“I’ll get it.”

Shen Yiyi gestured with her chin at the big guy in the trunk of the police car. The case weighed at least twenty kilograms and was full of heavyweight guests for the corpse examination. “You still have to carry the big one.”

Lin Puping stuffed the egg pancake in his hand into his mouth, hoisted the case, and looked around.

He was nervous at the thought of seeing a celebrity in a bit…

Shen Yiyi closed the trunk and led him toward the training classroom.

“I’ve read this novel before.” Lin Puping was carrying the case with both hands and was panting after a few steps, but he still couldn’t help but share with the director. “I was a freshman in college at the time and thought this novel was too ridiculous. Later, in my sophomore year, I took a few psychiatry courses, and I was dumbfounded. Later, many of the girls in my class read this book and went to take criminal psychology as an elective.”

“I heard this book is very popular, all over Southeast Asia.” Lin Puping couldn’t help but laugh. “The Korean girls all say it’s some kind of female truth.”

“Director, you don’t go online, so you don’t know. The author of this book has been really unlucky these past two days. All kinds of scandals and collapses. She’s been cursed by the netizens.”

“If you can’t carry it…” Shen Yiyi stopped and pointed to the bottom of the case. “You can pull it. There are small wheels at the bottom of the case.”

…

Thud—

Lin Puping put the case on the ground, took a half step back, and looked at the bottom of the case… there were four very inconspicuous obtuse-angled wheels.

Lin Puping scratched his head. “I’ve been carrying this for so long, and you’re only telling me now…”

Shen Yiyi said nonchalantly, “I thought you knew.”

Only then did Lin Puping squat down and examine the case. He successfully pulled out a retractable handle from the side cover. “It’s really unreasonable to carry something so heavy.”

“Then why didn’t you think it was unreasonable when I asked you to carry it at first?” Shen Yiyi led the way with the case. “Isn’t dissection and examination all about pursuing the unreasonable? You should observe more and question more in the future. There’s no truth in this world. Only data is the truth.”

Lin Puping nodded honestly. “Yes, the director is right.”

Shen Yiyi led Lin Puping into the production building. After going up to the third floor, she pointed the way for him in the corridor.

“The conference room at the end of the corridor is the training room. You go and unpack the case first, lay a sterile cloth on the floor, and lay out the tools.”

“What about you?”

Shen Yiyi looked down. “I’ll be there after I wash my hands.”

Lin Puping immediately took the case and left after receiving his task. After Shen Yiyi went into the restroom, she heard his footsteps fade away, and then she immediately came out of the side door.

She stood by the window in the corridor and looked down at the parking lot.

Qin Luo’s car was not there. Was she not coming to the production today? She scanned the area again carefully. Liu Jia’s sports car was also not there…

Shen Yiyi took out her phone from her pocket and immediately opened social media.

She didn’t even have to search for Qin Luo…

The two large characters of Qin Luo were hanging in the most conspicuous spot on the screen.