Chapter 18: Live Stream
In the Peaceful Apartments, only one person fit that age range—the elderly man in the landlord's room who could barely afford to eat.
"Something's off. Based on the news, the apartment building owner should be an old man, but the landlord who greeted me was middle-aged." Chen Ge stood up, walked to the wall, and pressed his ear against it to eavesdrop.
On the other side of the wall, the TV volume was loud, playing nothing but meaningless commercials.
"If someone were watching TV normally, wouldn't they change the channel the moment an ad came on? But they've been listening to commercials for several minutes now." Chen Ge pressed his ear tighter against the wall. "I must be missing something."
He calmed down and replayed everything from start to finish: "After I entered the room, I heard the sound of a bowl shattering next door. Then the landlord started cursing the old man wildly, and after that, the TV volume suddenly went up... The old man is in a wheelchair and can't move. The one who turned up the volume must be the landlord, but why would he do that?"
Chen Ge narrowed his eyes, a thought forming in his mind: "Is the landlord abusing the old man? Using the TV volume to cover up the sounds of beating?"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed: "I just moved in, and right away there's the sound of a bowl breaking next door. The timing is too coincidental. Could the old man have deliberately knocked it over? After all, under normal circumstances, breaking a bowl isn't a big deal—the landlord had no reason to fly off the handle like that. Yes! He was scared, afraid the old man would catch my attention."
"But why is he scared? And why would the old man be seeking help?"
A flash of lightning struck in his mind, and Chen Ge recalled another detail: when the landlord was cursing the old man, he was so agitated that a few words of a foreign dialect slipped in.
"The old man's family are all from Hanjiang, but this landlord is an outsider. He probably doesn't have a close blood relation to the old man."
"Normally, an old man wouldn't hand over his property to an outsider, unless the limping man has taken over the nest and is holding the old man hostage! If that's the case, his real identity could be a greedy caregiver, a burglar who broke in, or even the murderer from a few years ago!"
The more he thought, the more terrifying it became!
Chen Ge clenched his fist: "No wonder he suddenly came to my door to eavesdrop—he's guilty as sin."
Sweat beaded on his forehead. Reasoning things out like this was still too much of a stretch for Chen Ge; he had no formal training in criminal investigation or logic, so he had to piece it together bit by bit.
"What should I do now? Rush next door and bash the landlord's head in with my tool hammer? No, that's too impulsive. If my reasoning is wrong, the consequences would be disastrous." Chen Ge paced around the room, tool hammer in one hand and a fruit knife stuffed in his pocket.
"Should I find a chance to confirm it again? No, what if I tip him off? The killer might have accomplices. I can't fight off multiple people with just my two fists. If they target me, I'll be in serious danger."
"Right now, I have no solid evidence—it's all just speculation. Besides, my main goal here is to find the culprit behind the four-year-old massacre..."
Chen Ge fell into distress again. After a while, the TV sound from the next room suddenly stopped, leaving an eerie silence.
"What's going on?" He quietly cracked open his door, crouched down, and peered through the gap under the neighbor's door. It was pitch black inside—even the lights were off.
"Going to bed at just past eight?" Chen Ge crouched at the landlord's door, tool hammer in hand. He suddenly realized how suspicious he must look, quickly glanced back to make sure no one was watching, then stuffed the hammer into his jacket and returned to his room.
"Relying solely on online news for guesses isn't reliable either. If only I had a professional to help me analyze this." Chen Ge lay on the bed and pulled out his phone. In his contact list, aside from Xu Wan, no one else seemed to have ever spoken to him.
"Living like this, I guess I'm pretty dedicated."
After thinking for a while, the only person he'd ever met who had any connection to criminal investigation was that unlucky kid who got scared unconscious—He Shan.
"A forensic pathologist would probably be better than me." He opened his short video personal page and saw dozens of private messages in the backend notifications.
He clicked one at random—it was from a studio manager on the platform, inviting him to join.
"Is this guy a talent scout?" Chen Ge had no time for it now. He buried himself in searching for He Shan's ID, not giving it a second thought.
But then, a moment later, the studio sent another message.
"Are you there? We've seen your video—it has great potential. Are you interested in collaborating with us?"
"We can get our big streamers to promote you and boost your exposure."
"It's hard to make it on your own. Almost all streamers on the platform band together. You should think about it."
"Are you there?"
One pop-up after another started to annoy Chen Ge. Here he was, locked in a battle of wits with a five-year-old murderous maniac, and he had no time for joining some studio. He replied bluntly: "Not here."
"Heh, young and cocky. Consider our studio. You just need to tag your short videos with our logo, and we'll provide you with the best channels to get more eyes on them."
"Sorry, I'm not interested right now." Chen Ge thought he was being polite enough. Anyone else in his situation would probably have cursed the guy out first, then blocked and reported him.
"Your short video has the potential to go viral, but you need to understand—it's just potential. The platform gets a million short video uploads daily. You're just one of the luckier ones. Modern people crave faster entertainment; they don't have the patience to wait. This world churns out new gimmicks and hot topics every second. If you don't manage it well, your video will be buried before long."
"Let's talk tomorrow. I'm busy right now." Chen Ge had already found He Shan's ID.
"Is there anything busier than making money? If you're really unwilling, we can try another collaboration—like buying your filming method..."
Chen Ge didn't waste words with him. He blocked the guy directly and sent a message to He Shan.
To his surprise, He Shan replied within a second: "Boss, I've been waiting for your new video!"
"Hold on a sec. I have a very important question to ask you." Chen Ge got He Shan's phone number, dialed it, and lowered his voice to tell him the whole story from start to finish.