"Pushing it onto me?" Chen Ge figured that Jia Ming must have felt threatened by him, which was why he was resorting to such underhanded tactics to smear his name.
"Just keep your eyes open. We have the situation under control. Besides, with the relationship between us, a few words aren't going to drive a wedge." Captain Yan's words put Chen Ge's mind at ease. "Don't get involved with the Eastern Suburb matter anymore. Leave it to us."
After speaking, perhaps still not entirely reassured, Captain Yan added one more instruction: "I've arranged for a specialist to take over. Just wait for our good news."
Chen Ge nodded in agreement, but his mind was already planning tonight's operation.
Huang Ling was innocent. Having her live with that devil made Chen Ge uneasy — who knew what extreme measures the other party might resort to.
The police car pulled out of the residential complex and had traveled only a few hundred meters when Tian Lei's voice suddenly crackled through the walkie-talkie.
"Captain Yan, I just checked with the colleague on duty at the local police station and made a rather disturbing discovery."
"Go ahead."
"Nine years ago, Jia Ming was working at the Taian Insurance Company. At the time, he was brought into the Dongcheng police station over a dispute with a client. That client happened to be one of the three major shareholders of the Mingyang Residential Complex — Jiang Long." Tian Lei's tone was odd, completely different from before. "A few years later, the car Jiang Long was driving collided head-on with the last bus on Route 104 one night, and Jiang Long died on impact. I mentioned this to you earlier — he was the second investor in the Mingyang complex to die in a car accident."
"But what does that have to do with Jia Ming?"
"Let me finish. Here's the coincidence: a few years later, Jia Ming was also in a car accident — the same Route 104 bus. After we reviewed the surveillance footage, we found that Jia Ming deliberately crashed into the Route 104 bus, and the point of impact was exactly the same as where Jiang Long had collided!" Tian Lei's voice grew louder and louder, as though he had stumbled onto something truly significant.
"So you're saying Jia Ming is genuinely mentally unstable?" Li Zheng hadn't caught the deeper implication.
"I don't know about that. What I do know is that after Xiao Qing checked the household registration records, the address listed for Jiang Long — the second-largest shareholder of the Mingyang complex — had been changed to Room 104 of the Mingyang Residential Complex. And the original registered occupant of that room was Jia Ming."
"Someone altered Jiang Long's household registration records?"
"Who would bother modifying the records of a dead person? Besides, he's already dead — why would anyone care where he's listed as living?"
Neither Tian Lei nor Li Zheng could make sense of it. Of everyone present, only Chen Ge, who was gazing out the window, had a sharp gleam flash across his eyes.
Jiang Long's registered address had mysteriously become the same as Jia Ming's. This was very likely a sign that the ghost who had swapped places with Jia Ming and fled off the Route 104 bus was none other than — Jiang Long. He had replaced Jia Ming, becoming the new master of Room 104.
"Jiang Long collided with the Route 104 bus. Normally, you might chalk that up to a simple accident — Jiang Long died in the crash, his soul was detained, and he tried to use Jia Ming as a substitute to take his place in death." That would be the reasoning of an ordinary person. But Chen Ge, having been through numerous trial missions on the Black Phone, thought far more comprehensively than the average person. He never let a single clue slip by.
"All three investors who backed the construction of the Mingyang Residential Complex ended up dead. If every single one was just an accident, that would be far too convenient. More likely, this was something that had been planned well in advance." Chen Ge grew increasingly curious. "Why did Jiang Long specifically target Jia Ming? Was there something special about Jia Ming? Or was he simply unlucky enough to have purchased Room 104?"
The gap between Jiang Long and Jia Ming in terms of status and position was enormous. Chen Ge genuinely couldn't fathom why Jiang Long had chosen Jia Ming of all people.
"Room 104? Someone accessed the household registration archives? Stop the car!"
Captain Yan had been silent throughout. He rarely voiced his own opinions, but once he did, there was no room for further discussion — only execution was expected. "Tian Lei, come drive Chen Ge back to New Century Paradise. Li Zheng and I are going to check out that Room 104 tonight."