Divine Oracle [Transmigration] (ORACLE)
7:30 PM, No. 38 Youtong Road, two blocks away from the Special Investigation Bureau.
As the city lights began to glow, the night sky hadn't completely darkened yet. Street lamps lit up one by one, intertwining with the last remnants of sunset to form a richly colored oil painting.
Xu Xinxin lay prone on the concrete rooftop of the clinic, half his body bathed in the evening glow, quietly observing a mid-rise building through his high-powered scope.
The building stood diagonally across from the clinic - not too far, yet not too close either, about a five-minute walk away. Its exterior showed significant age, with low occupancy rates. Only scattered rooms had their lights on at this hour, while the entire third floor remained completely dark.
This building had once served as employee dormitories for a state-owned enterprise. After the industrial district reorganization, the factory relocated, leaving only this solitary employee building standing alone in the neighborhood.
Chu Mingyi had submitted a report to the bureau last year, hoping they would acquire this building to convert it into a branch office for the Special Investigation Bureau. This would both ensure the clinic's security and facilitate confidentiality. It wasn't until June this year that the bureau finally responded with two words: No budget.
Chu Mingyi's voice came through the comms: "I really should have bought it myself. These past two months dealing with Liu Cenning's case made me completely forget about it. Thinking about it now gives me chills."
"Still time," Xu Xinxin said. "After you buy it, can we each get a unit?"
Tian Li chuckled along, slightly easing the tense atmosphere in the comms. Song Si reached up to massage his perpetually furrowed brow.
"Yiming, report the situation."
"Roger," Yu Yiming said. "This is our neighborhood coverage area. I personally designed the camera surveillance points - no blind spots in public areas within two kilometers. According to records, Zhu Hongjia left home at 8 AM today and hasn't returned since. When he went out, he drove a Toyota, license plate XXXX. On his way to the parking lot, he wore sunglasses and used a mask to cover the mole on his face."
"Xin Xin?"
"Here," Xu Xinxin responded. "Unit 303 on the third floor shows no lights. The bedroom curtains aren't fully closed - I can see a corner of the bed inside. No signs of movement detected in the past thirty minutes."
Chu Mingyi wore no hat, dressed in casual clothes while carrying a bag of groceries, looking every bit like an office worker just returning from work.
"Does he have any cohabitants?"
"Negative," Yu Yiming's voice came through. "After analyzing surveillance, water, electricity, and gas records from the past month, there shouldn't be any cohabitants."
Chu Mingyi made an acknowledging sound, then asked finally: "Xin Xin, confirm one more time - are there any visual or firing range blind spots around Song Si's position?"
"One hundred percent certain," Xu Xinxin declared. "I've got Si Si covered - not a single mishap will occur."
Song Si, Yu Yiming, Tian Li, Lin Zheng: That sounds suspiciously like tempting fate.
Section Chief Chu said nothing more.
Song Si sat in the car at the street corner, hands on the steering wheel, watching as Chu Mingyi disappeared into the residential building's entrance.
He didn't take the elevator, instead climbing the stairs to the third floor. The sound of his light, rhythmic footsteps echoed in the voice channel. After a moment, the footsteps stopped. Chu Mingyi activated the projection, and the earring on his ear detached, transforming into an intelligent micro-camera that began transmitting real-time footage as evidence for law enforcement.
Before him was an ordinary door marked with the number 303 on a nameplate.
Chu Mingyi's gaze swept quickly across the entire hallway, and he tapped his thigh twice with his fingers. Soon, Yu Yiming said, "No electronic devices detected. Zhu Hongjia is so sensitive to surveillance—it's highly unlikely he'd install any in his own residence."
Chu Mingyi reached out and pressed the doorbell.
The doorbell was an old-fashioned type, ringing intermittently for two minutes. After waiting a while longer, no one came to answer.
Then, the entire department watched as their team leader pulled out a lockpick and, with practiced ease, picked the suspect's lock in under thirty seconds.
Song Si: ...Impressive.
He didn't open the door immediately. The camera flew in first, quickly establishing a 3D projection to confirm the room was empty.
Chu Mingyi drew his gun, entered the room, and gently closed the door behind him, relocking it.
It was a small apartment of about thirty square meters, with one bedroom and one living room. Everything was meticulously arranged—the floor, tabletops, kitchen, and bathroom were all spotless, giving off an eerie sense of being uninhabited, with an icy, unsettling dissonance permeating every corner.
Chu Mingyi put on gloves, removed his shoes at the entrance rug, stuffed them into a grocery bag used as a disguise, and stepped onto the floor in his socks.
Dissonant—this apartment had an indescribable sense of dissonance.
Song Si stared at the projection, still unable to pinpoint the source of his unease, while Chu Mingyi gazed at the living room and murmured softly, "He's obsessive-compulsive, a clean freak, and prefers even numbers."
Yu Yiming, who had a numerical obsession himself, immediately responded, "Yes. Everything in this room is in pairs—shoes in the shoe rack, chopsticks on the table, chairs, combs, mirrors... even the sofa is a paired set. My kind! No wonder he managed to evade all the cameras."
Chu Mingyi quietly surveyed the living room before stepping into the bedroom.
The bedroom curtains were drawn, plunging the room into near-total darkness. Chu Mingyi turned on his flashlight, illuminating a peculiar wall.
At first glance, it appeared to be a wall, but upon closer inspection, it was a large writing board. On it, the room's owner had densely pasted numerous clippings from newspapers and magazines, covering the surface from the bottom all the way up to near the ceiling.
The camera zoomed in, swiftly scanning the entire board into the archives. A cursory glance revealed that most of these clippings were directly or indirectly related to Ninghai Pharmaceutical:
"Ninghai Pharmaceutical yesterday released another low-cost anticancer drug, drawing widespread attention in the medical community. The press conference was packed, with the spokesperson claiming to be a creator of history..."
"A leukemia patient, once declared terminally ill by doctors, has lived healthily for six years post-diagnosis. Follow-up examinations show complete recovery, marking a medical miracle..."
"Massive fire at Ninghai Pharmaceutical headquarters! Thick smoke engulfed four blocks, the night sky glowing red with flames. The fire department mobilized the entire city's resources, yet the blaze remains uncontained..."
"Shocking fraud scandal exposed at Ninghai Pharmaceutical! Chairman Liu Cenning has been arrested and imprisoned, marking the end of the era for the special effects methotrexate..."
"I've exported all the medications this person prescribed during his tenure," Yu Yiming said. "He's an absolute Ninghai medicine fanatic, prescribing Ninghai drugs to every patient whether it matched their symptoms or not."
Chu Mingyi moved his flashlight away, scanning the rest of the room. The bedroom remained equally unremarkable - everything was in pairs, even the water glasses on the table...
The flashlight beam paused.
Two water glasses, but only one sheet of paper pressed beneath them.
This single sheet was the only odd-numbered item in the entire room.
Chu Mingyi walked over. The A4 paper was blank. He gently pulled it out and turned it over, revealing a long list of names.
Just then, Xu Xinxin suddenly spoke: "Chief, he's back! Driving in from the other intersection where Song Si is, estimated arrival in three minutes."
Chu Mingyi quickly photographed the list on the paper, turned it back over, and pressed it under the water glass exactly as before.
He looked around, confirming he hadn't disturbed any details in the room, then glanced at the bag in his hand. He walked to the living room and opened the refrigerator, intending to gift Zhu Hongjia some dinner ingredients—
The refrigerator was completely filled with Ninghai medicine.
Topical, oral, injectable - every type packed the entire refrigerator. Besides medicine, there wasn't even a single egg inside.
The camera swept across the refrigerator's interior. Xu Xinxin reported: "He's parked now, already out of the car and entering the building."
Chu Mingyi reacted quickly, closing the refrigerator door and shoving the bag in his hand under the bed.
Pressed for time, he didn't get a proper look, but a thought crossed his mind as he pushed it under - hopefully there's nothing unpleasant under the bed?
Fortunately, the bag slid in smoothly.
Given the abilities Zhu Hongjia had displayed, he probably wouldn't handle such things personally.
"He's taken the elevator, no more surveillance from here, estimated 35 seconds."
Chu Mingyi turned off his flashlight, stepped onto the table, vaulted onto the top of the wardrobe with one hand, and cocked his gun.
Two seconds later, the sound of a lock turning came from outside, and the lights switched on.
The hidden micro-camera in the corner of the ceiling clearly recorded the person entering.
The newcomer removed his coat, sunglasses, and mask in the entryway, revealing a gaunt face with a black mole on one cheek.
It was Zhu Hongjia, who had visited Hong Yi's home before his suicide.
His expression was cold, and he similarly didn't wear slippers, walking barefoot into the bedroom.
Click - the bedroom light turned on.
Chu Mingyi lay on top of the wardrobe, his gun aimed at Zhu Hongjia's vital spots.
Whatever remarkable special abilities Zhu Hongjia might possess, facing Chu Mingyi, he remained completely unaware. His first action upon entering the bedroom was to walk to the window, pull the curtain aside slightly, and look outside.
In the earpiece, Xu Xinxin said: "He's looking at the clinic. Shit."
Hearing this, Song Si opened the car door and stepped out. Now it was his turn to make an appearance.
Before the operation, Song Si reminded through the earpiece: "No swearing, Xiao Li isn't an adult yet." Mentally, at least.
Tian Li's focus was completely elsewhere, her voice tense as she said: "Brother Sisi, since I'm not there, you must be careful."
Song Si smiled slightly but didn't respond. With Xu Xinxin's gun above and Chu Mingyi's gun below, he only needed to walk into the clinic as usual - comparatively speaking, there was really no difficulty or danger involved.
In the room, Zhu Hongjia moved.
He walked to the table, took a pair of binoculars from the drawer, turned off the bedroom light again, pulled the curtains open wider this time, and aimed the binoculars toward the clinic.
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