novelhk Chapter 21 I Know Whose Box Is
Chapter 21 I Know Whose Box Is
"I know whose box this is."
A meticulous researcher!
Everyone stared at him in shock.
The research enthusiast took a deep breath, as if using all his strength to speak, to reveal a secret.
He said it with difficulty:
"It's...my father's."
These words, though spoken softly, struck the tense air in the room like a heavy hammer blow.
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked; it was completely unexpected!
Their gazes instantly focused on the middle-aged man who had been cowering in the corner.
The flashlight beams crisscrossed, casting shifting shadows on his face.
His timid face now displayed a strange expression.
Li Kai suddenly stepped forward, almost grabbing the meticulous scholar by the collar:
"What did you say?! Your father?! This box belongs to your father?! Who is your father?! What does he have to do with this?!"
The live stream chat exploded again, and this time, it was unexpected once more:
"Holy crap! A plot twist?!"
"This meticulous researcher is the key figure?!"
"His father? Could he be the murderer?!"
"It's chilling to think about! He was pretending to be scared the whole time!"
"He was just analyzing it; it turns out he was someone in the know!"
"Hurry up and tell me! I'm so impatient!"
The meticulous scholar adjusted his glasses, which had slipped off his nose.
"My name is Wu Wenbin, and my father, Wu Guodong," his voice calmed down, "was a surveyor, a technician. He graduated from a geological school in the 1980s and was assigned to the municipal surveying institute. Later, he went into business and took on his own jobs. His footprints can be found in almost every old street, old factory area, and undeveloped plot of land in the city."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the camphor wood chest on the ground, then looking at the mottled walls of the room, as if recalling an old worker who used to do odd jobs back in the day.
"His specialty was surveying for demolition teams. He'd take any job as long as he got paid. He was accurate, quick to produce drawings, and tight-lipped. I remember from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, that was the period of the fastest urban expansion and the most intensive demolitions. Anpingli was one of the places he frequented."
Li Kai's hands were trembling. "So? He's been here? He knows my sister?"
Wu Wenbin shook his head: "I'm not sure if he knew Li Wan. But he definitely came to this building, to this room. Because..." He pointed to the camphor wood chest, "I saw this chest at home when I was a child. It was always on the top shelf of my father's study, covered with a plastic sheet. He wouldn't let me touch it, saying it contained work documents. It wasn't until after he passed away, when I was sorting through his belongings, that I discovered the chest was missing. I asked my mother, and she said that before my father died, he suddenly took the chest away one day and never brought it back."
"When did he die?" the shadow asked.
"Five days ago. I had a sudden heart attack," Wu Wenbin replied.
"Five days ago... another person died!"
"So this box was moved here five days ago?" Lin Qian analyzed. "Who moved it? Your father himself, or... someone else?"
"I don't know," Wu Wenbin said honestly. "My father passed away very suddenly, without leaving any words. But I remember that in the period before he died, his mental state was very bad. He suffered from insomnia and anxiety, and often got up in the middle of the night to smoke and stare blankly out the window. Once, when I got up in the middle of the night, I heard him muttering to himself in the study, saying things like 'retribution,' 'unpayable debts,' and 'that girl's eyes'... At the time, I thought he was under a lot of work pressure and didn't think much of it."
"Retribution? That girl's eyes?" Li Kai's voice was hoarse. "The 'girl' you're talking about, is she my sister?!"
"I don't know." Wu Wenbin shook his head again. "But tonight, when I saw that pink hair clip, heard Cheng Tan talk about his nightmare, saw these tools... and this box... I couldn't help but make the connection."
He took a deep breath, as if making a firm decision: "After my father passed away, I organized his work notes and drawings. He was a very meticulous person; he kept records of every transaction, including the time, location, client, and payment. In the work records from the year Li Wan's case occurred, I found something... unusual."
Everyone held their breath.
"That year, he took on at least four surveying jobs in the Anpingli area, spanning from the beginning to the end of the year. But one job was very special." Wu Wenbin took out a notebook carefully wrapped in a plastic file bag from his old-looking canvas bag.
The notebook has a hard cover, and the cover is worn.
He opened the notebook, found a page, and shone his flashlight on it.
A page of handwritten notes, the handwriting messy:
「8月15日。安平里7号楼及周边地块地形测绘。委託方：拆迁公司张经理。特殊要求：精确测量7号楼403室室内尺寸及结构，重点标注墙体厚度、管道走向、地面高程变化点。加急，双倍费用。已收定金。」
Below the notes, there was a small note with a few lines of handwritten text. The handwriting was different from the notes, indicating a more hurried handwriting:
"Zhang instructed: 1. Only measure 403, nothing else; 2. Only one set of drawings, destroy the manuscript; 3. Don't ask why, don't tell anyone; 4. Extra thanks upon completion. Something felt off, but the money was high. Remember: When entering, notice the shadow behind the bathroom door on the right (?), and a strange noise from the floor tiles in the southeast corner (hollow?). The homeowner (female, Li) was present throughout the measurement, seemed nervous, and repeatedly asked about the purpose of the measurement. I explained the demolition assessment standards and procedures, but she seemed doubtful. The work was completed at 4 PM, the drawings were handed over, and the final payment was collected. She was very satisfied, but her eyes were evasive. Don't mention this matter again."
This record, like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, stirred up towering waves.
"August 15th..." Li Kai's fingers trembled as he traced the date. "My sister had the accident on September 3rd... less than twenty days before her death!"
"Someone hired someone to precisely measure your sister's room less than twenty days before she died?" Lin Qian's voice was chilling. "The measurements focused on wall thickness, pipe routing, and changes in floor elevation... This doesn't sound like a typical demolition assessment; it sounds more like..."
"It's like they're looking for something," the shadow interjected, "or perhaps they're checking if certain 'conditions' are suitable for doing something."
"There's a strange noise coming from the floor tiles in the southeast corner," Cheng Tan murmured repeatedly. "Empty? Could it be referring to this secret room?"
Wu Wenbin turned to the next page, which contained several folded, yellowed drawings. He carefully unfolded one of them.
A hand-drawn floor plan of Room 403, with precise scale and detailed annotations.
On the drawings, in addition to the usual dimensions, several locations were highlighted in red: behind the bathroom door (marked "Shadow? Suspected observation hole?"), in the center of the room (marked "Abnormal floor echo, investigation recommended"), and... in the southeast corner of the floor tiles, where a prominent question mark was drawn, with the following written next to it:
"A cavity? Depth unknown, further exploration is recommended."
This picture is strikingly similar to the simple "layout diagram" that Lin Qian just found in the cookie box, especially in the marking of the key points!
“My father never mentioned this measurement again,” Wu Wenbin said, “but in his diary after his death—which was written in a very cryptic way, as if he was afraid people would see it—I came across a passage.”
He then took out an even smaller softcover notebook from the file folder, opened it, and read aloud:
"I dreamt about it again. That room, that girl. She asked me, 'Master Wu, you're measuring so carefully, are you going to demolish my house?' I said yes. She asked again, 'After it's demolished, will I still be able to find my things?' I didn't know how to answer. She looked at me one last time, and that look... I can't forget it. Did I do something wrong? I was just measuring according to the contract, doing my job for the money. Zhang later gave me hush money, saying the project was canceled and the data had been destroyed. But I secretly kept a backup. Why? I don't know. Maybe it was because of that girl's look, maybe it was because... When I left that afternoon, I saw several men loitering downstairs, their eyes were fierce. They glanced at me, and I quickly left. Now that I think about it, that girl might have... Sigh, what a tragedy."
The diary ends here.
The following pages were torn out.