Chapter 00008: Investigation
# Investigation
Chapter 8
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 8: Investigation
Perhaps there were some clues to be found.
But Ji Jue discovered nothing.
After carefully taking photos of the scene and doing a thorough investigation, something that the police had completely overlooked, Ji Jue helplessly found only a few lines of fading footprints in the dust.
Yet, he couldn’t tell who had left them.
Were they male or female? Tall or short? Did they have any distinctive features? Everything was a complete mystery.
Opening a textbook to learn from scratch was obviously too late.
Fortunately, there were other ways.
Ji Jue placed his palm on the old computer.
He willed it to awaken.
“—Wake up!”
After several attempts, he finally felt something stirring within.
An invisible hand took control, forcibly starting the overloaded power, following Ji Jue’s will.
It bypassed the burnt-out circuits, performing some repairs, and then… the screen lit up again!
Skillfully, he opened the shop's surveillance footage, adjusting the time.
Two figures appeared on the screen, entering through the back door.
It was as if they had planned it all, but rather than ransacking the cash register or cabinets, they turned to explore other areas of the shop.
It was as if they were looking for something else entirely.
Then, they encountered Mother Lu, who was awakened.
Like a crazed bear, she shouted with fury, not caring for any code of honor, and swung a wrench, smashing it into one of the intruder’s heads.
Blood splattered out, even landing on her, perhaps the reason behind her unusual agility.
If it had been an ordinary person, they would likely have been knocked out or suffered a concussion.
But… what if the intruders were not ordinary?
In the footage, the person on the floor jerked a couple of times before straightening like a puppet on strings, then crawled up in a strange posture, easily grabbing Mother Lu by the arm and wresting the wrench away from her to strike her head and face.
The second attacker seemed to gently restrain Mother Lu, effortlessly overpowering her.
Ji Jue watched as Mother Lu struggled repeatedly on the screen, fighting back, getting up, and then crashing down again, until she finally lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.
His expression gradually faded, and the anger that welled up inside him drifted away, leaving only the sound of the old computer case gasping violently, shouting in agony.
The footage suddenly froze.
In her struggle, Mother Lu pulled off one attacker’s mask, revealing a scarred face, a bushy beard, and eyes that looked distinctly abnormal, reminiscent of the old man who had attacked him in madness.
The color red.
Although the degree of transformation in these individuals seemed less than that of the old man, Ji Jue felt an unsettling sense of malnourishment from the old man.
These two were not driven to madness by hunger, but their physiques went far beyond that of regular humans.
Quickly, the footage ended.
After searching for a long time and finding nothing, the two became frantic, smashing things around them in frustration.
Ultimately, unwilling to make a trip for nothing, they laboriously dragged Mother Lu, heading towards the back door.
Ji Jue walked over to the back door and watched the remaining traces on the ground gradually vanish outside.
The rain washed away any evidence of tire tracks.
He looked up at the telephone pole above… the camera that had long since fallen into disrepair showed no signs of life.
The data cable extending from its body had completely aged over many years.
It seemed no one had cared for it in over a decade.
Throughout these years, the monitoring equipment in Cliff City had been replaced time and again, yet none had ever been installed in the chaotic makeshift constructions of the northern district.
It was long forgotten.
“Who says there can’t be footage from useless surveillance cameras?” Ji Jue stared at the telephone pole, muttering softly.
After pulling out a ladder from the storage room, he climbed up the wall.
In the light rain, no one noticed the figure that seemed to be repairing the rooftop.
Then, Ji Jue took a wire cutter from his pocket.
“This will determine their fate.”
Grinding his teeth and putting on a pair of flimsy safety gloves, he discerned the camera's cables before cutting without hesitation. “Here goes nothing, superpowers!”
With a snap, a sharp sound suddenly burst forth from the severed cable, followed by a faint hum that gradually become clearer.
It was as if the noise was traveling from a thousand miles away to his very side, yet it was still too far away!
Ji Jue thought for a moment, took off the gloves, and pinched the cable with his fingers, amplifying the sound again, but it still wasn't enough… Until he made a firm decision and bit down on the data cable with his teeth.
In that instant, it felt as if his soul had left his body, rushing through the lifeless cable and pouring into the empty surveillance camera.
It reignited the extinguished spark!
Suddenly, the red flashing light on the camera lit up.
“Damaged, repair needed, thank you.”
A consciousness that resembled a human emerged from the mechanics, its voice intermittent, soft and feeble. “What can I do for you?”
Incredibly intelligent, Ji Jue thought.
He conveyed to the camera the scene he had witnessed, “Right under your nose, a break-in occurred. Help me out; I only want to know where those two went.”
The camera was silent.
Then it shook.
It was as if it had overloaded; electric sparks shot out from the seams, and a deafening roar exploded within the connection.
“Damn it! Any evil will ultimately be brought to justice!!!!”
Boom! A torrent of images rushed in from the other end of the cable, indescribable chaos spilling forth from the camera, overwhelming Ji Jue's mind like a hammer striking his forehead.
Suddenly, everything went black.
From the darkness emerged a sense of rapture.
Could it really work?!
Not just that, but if he could disregard accessories, models, data protocols, and every condition merely by biting down on the data line, wouldn’t it be enough to hold two memory sticks in his mouth when calculating the differential equations of kinetic systems?
Endless possibilities lay ahead!
He wouldn’t have to fear complex power dynamics anymore!
No, wait.
If it could really work, he could simply wave his hand and let the computer do the calculations for him…
But as those disorganized thoughts faded, Ji Jue was already immersed in the images being transmitted to him, unsure of how many years of footage had been stored inside that camera.
It came in snippets, lacking focus, until finally, it froze.
In the murkiness, a white van was parked at the roadside in the night, an older model from the Coast Automobile Plant, worn and scratched like any black taxi from the northern district, mixed cargo, convenient and cheap to run.
In the brief moment when the headlights shone, the license plate appeared in the frame, but it was too blurry.
“Voltage irregularities, neglected maintenance, abandoned. Not captured, no number.” The camera seemed disappointed, stuttering: “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”
“No, it’s enough already.” Ji Jue let go, satisfied, patting the camera gently. “When I get back, I’ll help you get a big upgrade, buddy.”
“You’re welcome.”
The camera replied one last time, and as Ji Jue’s connection faded, it fell silent again.
Ji Jue stood on the wall, watching the van drive away, along with the distant traffic lights, slowly exhaling a breath of white mist.
No license plate, nothing to regret.
Nowadays, when people engage in crimes and dark dealings, how could there not be some unlicensed vehicles?
Experience taught one how to avoid trouble.
But who said that without a license plate, one couldn’t trace the vehicle?
In a city like Cliff City, filled with thousands of white vans, how would he possibly find a car without a license plate?
The answer was simple: just ask.
Standing beneath the streetlight, Ji Jue looked up at the camera. “Hey, I need to ask something. Was there a white van that passed by your area yesterday at five in the morning? Something like this. Uh, yeah, that’s it. Thanks!”
“No problem, bro.”
The camera excitedly twisted its head, as if waving goodbye. “Come play again next time!”
“I didn’t see it; check further up?”
“It went left, but at around eight this morning, it went south.”
“There’s a dashcam in the vehicle; ask about it, it will definitely help!”
“Heading north.”
“... Just a little further, yeah, a bit more forwards, then turn right.”
...
As one of the nineteen central cities in the federation, Cliff City sprawls over seventy-two hundred square kilometers, divided into seven districts.
Statistically, it has a permanent population of over twenty-six million; in reality, counting the unregistered residents and smugglers, it could easily exceed thirty million.
However, to inquire about this thirty million one by one and locate a single vehicle over seventy-two hundred square kilometers would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
There would always be times when people weren’t paying attention, didn’t see, didn’t think of it, or didn’t plan to cooperate.
But machines didn’t hesitate.
If something existed, it existed; if it wasn’t seen, it wasn’t seen.
In the entire northern district, besides the official surveillance on the main roads, there were countless cameras in factories, companies, nightclubs, apartments, villas, even convenience stores, and tea houses, not to mention the dashcams in every vehicle.
A multitude of cameras hid like stars in the darkness, constantly observing the small pieces of land in front of them, faithfully logging every change to their hard drives for retrieval.
If you asked, they would answer.
Free exchange of information, nothing held back.
More loyal than dogs.
In just six hours, Ji Jue had charted the progress of that white van, estimating its general direction and specifics.
Even the final location!
In fact, the entire process took less than twenty minutes in total.
The remaining time was spent waiting for his spiritual energy to recover while devouring every edible thing he could find by the roadside.
At six in the afternoon, in the northern district, at a bustling roadside eatery echoing with the sounds of card games, Ji Jue leaned by the window, fixated on the white van parked at the street, waiting for its elusive driver to reveal themselves.
He casually glanced down, stuffed dumplings and rice rolls into his mouth, as if he were a starving ghost.
Hunger consumed him, an extreme longing.
With the depletion and recovery of his spiritual energy, his body craved sustenance.
Large amounts of high-calorie food were swiftly draining Ji Jue's meager savings.
Even then, he felt dizzy, ears ringing, and his complexion had turned as pale as a ghost.
The repercussions of spiritual energy deficiency, coupled with the unrefined mastery of his abilities being used at such high frequency, made it impossible to keep up.
The only advantage was that what was once sporadic in his sensory resonance was now somewhat reliable when he focused hard, making it easier to activate.
Yet, the more proficient he became, the more he sensed the struggle and dissonance.
It was like a child driving a large vehicle.
While it looked and felt exhilarating on the surface, it was incredibly tiring, and if he wasn’t careful, he could easily be overwhelmed, leading to a depletion of spiritual energy.
Had it not been for the small boost of spiritual energy he harvested from that old man earlier in the morning, Ji Jue might have already collapsed.
“The chosen one…?”
Recalling the words from the watch’s strange system, Ji Jue couldn’t help but mumble to himself.
(End of Chapter)