This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

A small restaurant nearby had a few simple home-style dishes laid out on its greasy table.

The private room was filled with smoke, creating a tense atmosphere.

Song Jianguo held half a cigarette between his fingers, taking puff after puff, his withered fingers shaking the ash off the cigarette and scattering it all over the ground.

He lowered his head, staring at the oil stains on the table, as if they held memories of ten years ago.

After a long while, his hoarse voice finally broke through the oppressive silence.

"Was it that internet cafe that had the incident? Hehe, I know you're upset, Xiaowen."

"But Daddy's useless, he can't do anything, he can't do anything!"

Song Jianguo gave a self-deprecating laugh, then looked at everyone, "It's no use. I couldn't control him when he was alive, let alone now."

"Do you think I don't want him to rest in peace? He's my son, my...son..."

Seeing that the other person seemed to be deeply remorseful, Zhang Chen had no choice but to interrupt, "Sir, we only heard about your son's situation from others. Could you tell me more about it?"

As he spoke, he offered her another cigarette.

There was a moment of silence.

"You've all been fooled."

Song Jianguo spoke again.

They all say it was an accident.

"That's what the police said, and that's what the internet cafe owner said too."

"But I don't believe it."

His voice began to tremble, carrying an inexplicable emotion.

"My son... I know him, he wouldn't be that careless."

Wang Xiaoer didn't urge him, but just quietly watched him and pushed a cup of tea to his side.

Song Jianguo took a sip, and the scalding hot tea seemed to give him a bit of strength.

"My husband and I had our child late in life, so we dote on Xiaowen."

It was as if Song Jianguo had opened the floodgates of memory, and those scenes that he had forcibly sealed away surged into his mind one after another.

"He liked going to internet cafes to play games, and my wife and I never stopped him. If we had known it would turn out like this, we shouldn't have..."

Deep regret was reflected in his cloudy eyes.

"A week before the accident, Xiaowen was like a completely different person."

"When he used to come home, he would always excitedly tell me about things in the game, such as what good stuff he got that day and what amazing friends he made."

"But during those days, he would come home and not say a word, locking himself in his room."

"When I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I can always hear him smashing things in the house, muttering the same few phrases over and over again."

Song Jianguo paused, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, as if imitating his son's voice at that moment.

"How could I have been robbed... Everything's gone! All my equipment is gone!... Someone must be sabotaging me on purpose..."

Song Jianguo sighed heavily, his face full of regret.

"Back then, his mother and I...sigh..."

"We don't know anything about games, we just think he's gone crazy from playing them, he's obsessed."

I also scolded him, saying that he didn't study properly and only knew how to play those useless things all day.

"He yelled at me, saying we didn't understand him at all, that it wasn't a game, it was his life's work!"

"We...had a huge argument about this."

At this point, Song Jianguo could no longer hold back and raised his sleeve to wipe his face hard.

"Looking back now, that was actually... the last time I spoke to him."

The private room was deathly silent, save for the old man's suppressed sobs.

Wang Xiaoer turned his head away, unable to bear watching any longer.

Zhang Chen offered Song Jianguo a cigarette, but Song Jianguo waved his hand away.

Zhang Chen lit it himself, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled the smoke.

"Sir, what exactly happened on the day of the incident?"

Song Jianguo's emotions calmed down slightly, and the sadness in his eyes was replaced by a cold hatred.

"The internet cafe owner came to me and said that Xiaowen got into a fight over a computer and accidentally fell down the stairs."

"Bullshit!"

A tremendous burst of anger erupted from the old man's gaunt body. He slammed his fist on the table, making the plates jump.

"I know my son's personality well! He never argues with anyone! He's a clean freak; he even brings his own keyboard, and he always uses the same spot to go online—he never goes anywhere else!"

"He was definitely pushed! It's murder! It's definitely murder!"

Song Jianguo's chest heaved violently, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"But I have no evidence... When the police arrived, the kid who pushed me was rich and powerful, and he had already bribed everyone."

"Everyone says it was an accident, that Xiaowen was careless."

"I don't believe it! I don't believe a single word of it!"

Zhang Chen's eyes were sharp as knives. He stubbed out his cigarette and leaned forward slightly.

"Sir, you just said that your son keeps saying 'My account was hacked'?"

He astutely grasped this crucial point that was obscured by sadness.

Song Jianguo nodded, lost in memories.

"Yes, it's because his account was hacked. He said all his hard work was gone."

Zhang Chen pressed further, "What exactly was this labor of love? Did he mention it?"

"He mentioned it!" Song Jianguo seemed to remember something, and his emotions became agitated again. "He said... he said he had been preparing for a competition for almost half a year, all for one thing! As long as he won the competition, he could exchange it for some kind of divine artifact."

"He said he had never told anyone about his game account, and even the equipment he prepared for the competition was kept separately in his account's inventory, so no one could steal it. But just a few days before the incident, that equipment vanished into thin air!"

"He said someone installed a virus on that computer, deliberately stole his account, and deleted his stuff, just to prevent him from winning the game!"

After listening, Zhang Chen closed his eyes.

In his mind, the venomous voice in the internet cafe, Song Jianguo's grief-stricken accusations, and all the scenes he had seen before, like countless fragments, were instantly pieced together.

A bold, almost complete guess quickly formed in his mind.

That was not a simple, temporary conflict.

It was a premeditated murder.

Perhaps Song Wen discovered something that day, or perhaps he caught the culprit who stole his account, which led to the heated argument between the two.

Perhaps the killer didn't initially intend to kill Song Wen, but he didn't expect that before accidentally pushing Song Wen down the stairs, he had already destroyed all of the other man's hopes and hard work!

This resentment is a hundred times more intense and a hundred times more powerful than simply dying from an accident!

No wonder the resentment is so strong!

Zhang Chen opened his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them.

He changed the subject abruptly, asking, "Sir, after the incident, are your son's belongings still there... especially the things he used at the internet cafe?"

This question seemed to ignite the last glimmer of light in Song Jianguo's eyes.

A glint of light appeared in his cloudy eyes, as if he were recalling a priceless treasure.

"exist!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was unusually firm.

"After the police returned my things, I didn't touch anything in his room."

"His most prized possession was a black gaming keyboard with colorful backlighting. I was afraid it would get dusty, so I wrapped it in a cloth and kept it under his bed."

"I always feel that...my son's scent is still on it."

After listening, Zhang Chen slowly stood up from his seat.

"Grandpa, take us to see that keyboard."

"I suspect the problem...lies in that area."