Qiming Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Prologue

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Twelve o'clock midnight. There was no light, no lamps, only the long, endless night.

He turned off all the lights in the laboratory, locked the doors and windows, and held the only remaining key in his hand. This was the top floor; above it was the rooftop, leaving no other way out.

The air at midnight was terrifyingly still, and you could hear breathing, the sound of typing, and the hurried footsteps in the narrow corridor outside.

"Can't get out!" The first thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately hid in the corner.

Clutching his computer, he found his phone had lost signal and the computer couldn't connect to the internal network.

In the darkness, the only light came from the faint glow of the screen.

At this hour, no one was around except in the dormitory building; no one could save him. Now he had only two choices: open the door to let them in and fight against the group of people rushing in, or run to the rooftop and hope to find a place to hide.

The footsteps outside the door grew closer, matching the frantic rhythm of his heartbeat. As the laboratory door was smashed open, he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and without hesitation, typed the delete command in the last few seconds.

Then, gripping the knife in his hand tightly, he ran madly towards the rooftop without hesitation.

As he ran, he kept asking himself, would tomorrow or death come first? He had spent a lot of time constructing an independent soul similar to his own but had never imagined the day he would be replaced.

He closed his eyes, blade forward, waiting for the sunrise.

The wind came from afar, sweeping over mountains and rivers, bringing the night stars and moon.

Finally, it pierced through his ribs and flesh, covering the sound of sin hitting the ground.

—————

Nanpu University's School of Artificial Intelligence, 'The Application of Intelligent Recognition in Modern Criminal Investigation' lecture, speaker: Xu Chengyue.

Fifteen minutes after the lecture started, Gu Yunfeng finally arrived at classroom 111, discreetly sneaking in through the back door and looking around. An hour earlier, he received a call from Director Zhao of the Jinping Public Security Bureau, asking him to attend Professor Xu's lecture and invite Xu Chengyue to their criminal investigation team to familiarise himself with the environment and quickly start the upcoming cooperation project with the Third Public Security Bureau.

Gu Yunfeng knew nothing about this cooperation project and had no interest in the lecture content; he was simply obeying orders from his superior to welcome the university professor who would soon become their new colleague.

The lecture hall, which could accommodate hundreds, was packed, with many people even standing in the corners. Nanpu University was famous for its science and engineering programs, but at this moment, eighty per cent of the audience in this classroom were girls, a ridiculously imbalanced ratio. Gu Yunfeng had deliberately worn a hoodie, zipped up and with the hood on, trying to blend in as an ordinary student, but his 1.8-meter height made him stand out among the crowd of girls. Under the gaze of many eyes, he searched for a while before spotting Shu Pan and Wen Xin in the centre of the third row, blinking at him.

"Boss, you're finally here." Both had a look of relief on their faces. "In the time we waited for you, thirty-six beauties asked if this seat was taken." Shu Pan whispered with a pained expression, "If you had been any later, I wouldn't have been able to turn them down."

Shu Pan and Wen Xin were his subordinates. Shu Pan had graduated two years ago, a flippant and insincere talker even back then, and after two years in the criminal investigation team, he remained a flippant and insincere talker. Wen Xin was a newcomer who had just graduated this year and had been with the team for only a month. She was a short-haired girl, usually lively, but now she was silently gazing with admiration at the man on the stage.

"Alright, pay attention to the lecture." He waved his hand, "Otherwise, go stand in the corner and give your seat to the people."

He then looked up at the projector and happened to meet Xu Chengyue's gaze. The other party frowned, seemingly displeased with his tardiness.

This Professor Xu had just been promoted to associate professor at the end of last year at the age of twenty-eight. He had published five papers as the first author in SCI within two years, leading to his rapid promotion, making him the youngest associate professor at Nanpu University in nearly thirty years. During the evaluation period, he had become the centre of attention on campus, even appearing on the news and trending on Weibo twice. On the stage, he looked very serious, with delicate features and slender hands holding the book. Because he was thin, he appeared somewhat frail.

"In recent years, with the substantial improvement in the accuracy of intelligent recognition, artificial intelligence has been widely used in solving cases. In 2012, there was a sudden but significant breakthrough in the recognition of complex images by artificial intelligence. Now, this field has theoretically achieved 99.9% accuracy. In the field of natural language processing, the accuracy of recognising emotional tendencies has also reached this level. We can now precisely determine a person's emotions and preferences by analysing their micro-expressions and speech, providing the most accurate judgments for visits and subsequent interrogations in criminal investigations."

Xu Chengyue kept using examples to explain the overly academic issues, but it still sounded... pretty hard to understand. Gu Yunfeng didn't really pay attention to what he was saying. Facing forward, he pretended to listen to the lecture, but his eyes were fixed on a silver thermos on the lectern, occasionally raising his hand to glance at the time.

"And last year, Nanpu City fully integrated surveillance information. With just one identifiable facial photo of a suspect, all footage of them in surveillance can be retrieved in a short time, eliminating the need for human judgment and relying directly on intelligent identification."

Wen Xin sat upright, her face showing admiration, yet her mind was still blank. She nudged the drowsy Shu Pan with her elbow, "Why does the Municipal Bureau insist on assigning Professor Xu to our team?"

"Why? Because our team has a deputy leader but no leader." Shu Pan perked up a bit, glanced at Gu Yunfeng, and whispered, "They said this cooperation with the Third Public Security Bureau is to provide a frontline pilot for fully intelligent criminal investigation. If this project flourishes, we'll all be out of jobs."

"Who else in other teams would want to do something that snatches their livelihood?" He shook his head, looking at Captain Gu, who was pretending to listen to the lecture, and sighed deeply. Captain Gu, with top-notch professional skills and physical fitness, unfortunately, was too young to be promoted to a full-power position.

"What are you two talking about?" Gu Yunfeng seemed to guess what he was thinking and gave him a sideways glance, saying, "This is about keeping up with technological development and human progress, a lesson for your shallow lives."

Outside, the air conditioner hummed, blending with the incessant cicada chirps. In Nanpu City, summer was always cloudless, with sunlight pouring down. It was so hot that there were no birds, only aeroplanes.

Earlier this year, Nanpu University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Public Security's Third Institute – an urban intelligent criminal investigation system, internally referred to as the AI Detective. Xu Chengyue was one of the scientists sent from the AI laboratory, named the person in charge of this urban intelligent criminal investigation system. To gain a deep understanding of the procedures and details of criminal investigation, the Third Public Security Bureau insisted he join the frontline team to accumulate firsthand experience.

Gu Yunfeng's Jinping District criminal investigation team was designated by the Municipal Bureau to cooperate with Professor Xu as a frontline team. They were instructed to involve him in all cases, big or small, and provide thorough explanations.

He didn't mind this minor inconvenience; the professor was knowledgeable and surely bright. They were short-staffed lately, so having an extra free-lance labourer was quite useful.

Last night, Gu Yunfeng worked overtime until late and didn't sleep well. Taking advantage of a break, he quickly rested on the desk. He pulled his hood over his head, resting his head on his arms, and had just got comfortable when his phone and clothes started vibrating.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, but the screen went dark as soon as he saw the caller ID.

Dead again. This was probably the hundred and first time he forgot to charge his phone before going out.

Old Qin rarely called him. If he was looking for him now, it must be something important. He hesitated for a moment, then rummaged through Shu Pan's backpack from the desk next to him, found his newly purchased phone without a set password, and quickly dialled Old Qin's number.

"Hello, Xiao Shu? Where's Gu Yunfeng? Why didn't he answer my call?" The raspy voice of an uncle on the other end coughed incessantly after saying a few words, clearly from smoking too much.

"It's me, my phone is dead." Gu Yunfeng zipped up the backpack and returned it to the desk. The surroundings were noisy, so he covered his other ear with his hand, barely making out what the other person was saying.

The man on the other end grumbled a bit, then said they just received a report: a person was found in a trash can on Huanan Road.

"A trash can?" He was puzzled, "A real person? A dummy?"

Recently, they had received a similar report where someone claimed there was a person in the sewer, uncertain whether they were alive or dead. He rushed over with his team, only to find an inflatable doll. The most frustrating part was that the sewer was so narrow that anyone with common sense could see it couldn't fit a real person.

"Nonsense, of course it's a real person, a man, around forty or fifty years old, and he's already dead. A sanitation worker reported it," Old Qin said. "It's a pretty large trash can, big enough to fit both of us inside, and you could even swim in it if it were filled with water. I'm already at the scene. You all should come over."

"Alright, I'll send the two of them over first. I have something else to take care of."

Just after hanging up the phone, he saw Shu Pan staring at him with innocent eyes. Startled, he instinctively turned towards the lectern. Professor Xu was surrounded by a group of students, looking scholarly and elegant with his glasses on.

"Hey, Captain Gu, are we supposed to meet Professor Xu after this lecture?" Shu Pan asked eagerly after fetching a cup of water during the break. However, he soon noticed that the phone Gu Yunfeng was using looked very familiar.

He immediately realised it was the latest model he had queued for hours to buy at three in the morning. He had only unboxed it and touched it once; he hadn't even powered it on!

"Is your phone dead again? You can't always use mine..."

"No choice, it was an emergency," Gu Yunfeng said, slipping the phone into his pocket. "Oh, and I accidentally set up the fingerprint lock while using it. If you need to use it, you'll have to ask me to unlock it."

Ignoring Shu Pan's resentful look, he pulled out the backpack and shoved it into Shu Pan's hands. He truly hadn't meant to; the first step in setting up the phone was the fingerprint, and without thinking, he pressed his finger, only realising it afterwards.

"You don't need to listen to the rest of the lecture. You and Wen Xin head to Huanan Road; it's time to get to work."

"Now?"

"Right now." Sweating profusely, Gu Yunfeng rolled up his sleeves and nodded. "The Huanan Road police station just received a report: a male corpse was found in a trash can. You go first, I'll join you later." He shook Shu Pan's new phone, "I'll use yours for now. If anything comes up, I'll call Wen Xin."

He glanced at Shu Pan, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, and tossed him the car keys. "Looks like I'll have to meet Professor Xu alone."

Looking up at the lectern, Xu Chengyue, wearing black-framed glasses, carefully poured hot water with goji berries into an open bottle cap from his silver thermos, taking small sips while patiently answering questions from the students gathered around him.

The scene had an indescribable sense of joy.

When the lecture ended, it was already four in the afternoon. Gu Yunfeng sat in the front row, absentmindedly pretending to flip through a book, waiting for the classroom to gradually empty out. He felt conspicuous wandering around the school since, after all, he was a criminal police officer who had been in society for several years, so he tried his best to cover up the difference in temperament with the young college students next to him. Even Professor Xu, who was two years older, looked younger due to spending so much time in the school's laboratories.

The truth was, he just looked too mature, he thought to himself.

Adjusting his clothing and hood, he stood up and walked straight to Xu Chengyue, extending his left hand for a self-introduction. "Hello, Professor Xu, I'm–"

"Are you Captain Gu?"

He noticed Xu Chengyue was staring at his naturally hanging right hand with a piercing gaze. There was a not-too-deep scar across his palm, bisecting his lifeline.

"I am." Gu Yunfeng smiled, nodding, and opened his right hand, revealing the rather striking scar. "When I was a kid, I didn't behave, so my dad hit me."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Hello! I came across the audio drama for this novel the other day and thought it was really interesting. I looked around but didn't see it being translated by anyone, so I though I would start it.

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: June 21, 2024 by Angel

Edited: June 21, 2024 by Angel