Chapter 98: The Number List

Lü Yang rushed out the door. He dashed out of the residential area like a headless fly and reached the street. He watched the flow of people and vehicles on the street, feeling an urge to kill and even destroy the world. In the end, he forced himself to calm down.

“Where is Yi Ya?” Lü Yang closed his eyes and asked the Eerie Computer.

Of course, the Eerie Computer refused to answer such a question.

“Damn you!”

Lü Yang cursed loudly. He then took out the business card Zhou Ling had given him, found her number, and dialed it.

The line was busy.

Lü Yang dialed another number on her business card. This one wasn’t busy, but it took a while to connect.

“Zhou Ling?” Lü Yang first confirmed the identity of the person on the other end.

“Hello, Lü Yang. Have you thought of something to tell me?” Zhou Ling immediately recognized Lü Yang’s voice.

“Is Yi Ya with you?” Lü Yang cut straight to the point.

“Yi Ya? Your girlfriend? What happened to her?” Zhou Ling asked Lü Yang, sounding a bit surprised.

“What exactly do you want me to do? Are you using her to threaten me? This kind of trick is low-level, and the consequences are something you can’t possibly imagine or handle!” Lü Yang threatened Zhou Ling.

Last night, Zhou Ling and Liu Yin had come to Lü Yang’s place and threatened him with Yi Ya. Then, right after that, Yi Ya went missing. Lü Yang couldn’t rule out the possibility that they were behind it.

They also had a motive—pretending to be the Death Killer to kidnap Yi Ya and then forcing Lü Yang to cooperate with them.

“Calm down. Has Yi Ya been kidnapped? We wouldn’t do that. If we really wanted to, Director Liu and I wouldn’t have come to your place last night,” Zhou Ling quickly explained to Lü Yang.

Lü Yang only suspected Zhou Ling and Liu Yin. Lin Yin had mentioned on the phone that Yi Ya received a call around ten o’clock last night and left their place. At that time, Zhou Ling and Liu Yin were still in Lü Yang’s rented room, so it seemed they had no time to commit the crime.

However, they could have used their presence to keep Lü Yang occupied while arranging for subordinates to kidnap Yi Ya. For people from the State Security Bureau, mimicking an electronic voice wouldn’t be difficult.

The question was, where was Yi Ya when Lü Yang called her at eleven o’clock? From her behavior at the time, it didn’t seem like she had been kidnapped. Could it be that Yi Ya was forced to say those things?

Lü Yang’s primary suspect was the Death Killer, not Liu Yin and Zhou Ling. But he couldn’t completely rule out their involvement unless they provided convincing evidence.

Seeing that Lü Yang remained silent, Zhou Ling spoke again: “We’ll be staying in Guishe City for the next few days. If you need our help, I can have Director Liu set up a special task force to handle your case. With our status, we can easily access the resources of the Guishe City police.”

Zhou Ling’s words reminded Lü Yang that if she was willing to help, the chances of finding Yi Ya would indeed increase. She and Liu Yin were from the State Security Bureau, so it would be convenient for them to obtain information from the police. For example, they could find out who called Yi Ya last night or determine which communication base station Yi Ya was near when she answered Lü Yang’s calls last night and this morning. That would help trace her movements.

However, Lü Yang didn’t fully trust Zhou Ling and Liu Yin. He still couldn’t rule out the possibility that Yi Ya was in their hands. But even so, he needed to interact with them more to uncover clues and gather useful information.

Time was running out. It was the fourth day, and the Death Livestream might have already started, only temporarily blocked by the National Cyber Security Department. If Yi Ya was indeed in the hands of the Death Killer, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Alright, help me find Yi Ya, and I’ll do my best to help you find and capture the Death Killer,” Lü Yang proposed to Zhou Ling.

Lü Yang knew very well that if the Death Killer had possessed a Mysterious Tool for half a year, he would hardly stand a chance in a direct confrontation. But the State Security Bureau didn’t know this. For now, Lü Yang could only use this as leverage to negotiate with Zhou Ling. He didn’t believe the State Security Bureau would help him for nothing. Only by making them feel that Lü Yang was useful would they put more effort into finding Yi Ya.

“Great. Could you tell me more about Yi Ya’s disappearance?” Zhou Ling seemed very pleased that Lü Yang was willing to cooperate.

…

After some discussion, Zhou Ling agreed to help Lü Yang check the number that called Yi Ya last night, the area of the communication base station where Yi Ya’s mobile phone signal was located at eleven o’clock, and the base station coverage when Lü Yang called her this morning.

Half an hour later, Zhou Ling and Lü Yang met at a prearranged spot in a restaurant across from the communication building headquarters. Zhou Ling came in person and brought some of the query results. However, the mobile phone number on the list she gave Lü Yang shocked him.

The number that called Yi Ya around ten o’clock last night was actually Lü Yang’s mobile phone number!

In other words, that call was made from Lü Yang’s mobile phone!

No wonder Yi Ya left as soon as she received the call!

Lü Yang remembered that when he called Yi Ya at eleven o’clock, she had asked him if he had contacted her earlier, but then she said she must have remembered wrong.

The list also showed a record of Lü Yang’s number at eleven o’clock last night, but that call was indeed made by Lü Yang.

Lü Yang kept shaking his head… He knew this was impossible, absolutely impossible. His mobile phone hadn’t left his side last night, and when he checked his call history now, there was only the call to Yi Ya at eleven o’clock, with no record of a call around ten o’clock.

“Technically, we’ve ruled out the possibility of number spoofing. When Yi Ya received the call around ten o’clock last night, her mobile phone was still within the range of the base station covering Jing’an Residential Area… including when you called at eleven o’clock… We couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, but we’ve cordoned off the area covered by that base station and deployed personnel for a large-scale search… though it might be a bit late now,” Zhou Ling continued.

“Taking this case so seriously?” Lü Yang sneered.

“To be honest, Director Liu believes Yi Ya was likely kidnapped by the Death Killer. He has mobilized all available personnel and resources. Director Liu is personally leading the case, with multiple departments assisting. I’m coordinating the arrangements,” Zhou Ling explained to Lü Yang.

“Are you sure it was my mobile phone that called Yi Ya’s mobile phone around ten o’clock last night? There’s no mistake?” Lü Yang confirmed with Zhou Ling.

“No mistake.”

“Between ten and eleven o’clock last night, I was with you the whole time. Did you see me make any calls on my mobile phone?”

“No,” Zhou Ling shook her head.

Lü Yang fell silent and stared coldly at Zhou Ling. He became more convinced that the Death Killer must possess a Mysterious Domain tool like the Eerie Computer and used some method to clone his mobile phone card, imitating his voice to trick Yi Ya into going out, and then kidnapped her.

Whatever the reason, Liu Yin and Zhou Ling couldn’t escape responsibility in this matter. If they hadn’t come to see Lü Yang last night, the Death Killer wouldn’t have targeted him, and wouldn’t have thought to go after Yi Ya. This was undeniable.