For those who had resigned, the residential addresses they filled in were often inaccurate, or even completely fake.

Regarding these, Ying Haijun would call them one by one according to the mobile phone numbers they left behind.

He would ask a few questions using his identity as a criminal investigator to assess something.

Of course, his focus was still on the people who resigned around the time period when Xiao An's good friend committed suicide.

Among them, several had inaccurate residential addresses, and their phones couldn't be reached either.

There were even disconnected numbers.

Under normal circumstances, these few should be the focus of the investigation, but Ying Haijun didn't seem to plan on doing that at all.

Right now, the car was parked by the side of a road.

Ying Haijun's brows were furrowed as if someone owed him millions and couldn't be contacted.

Sitting in the driver's seat, staring at these employee rosters, visible white smoke actually seemed to slowly rise from his scalp, as if he was overusing his brain.

And Jiang Ran, from the very beginning, had been like a silent third-party observer, quietly watching Ying Haijun.

Finally, he spoke:

"You're investigating a serial killer, right? Like the protagonist serial killer in that Cherry Blossom Country TV drama 'Calamity'?"

The windows on both sides of the white car were half-open.

Cold wind blew in, exchanging the air inside the car.

Therefore, the atmosphere inside the car wasn't too oppressive or tense.

Yet, after these words, the atmosphere inside the car suddenly erupted like a volcano.

The volcano was Ying Haijun.

He stared at Jiang Ran with extreme shock, word by word: "You... do you know me?"

Jiang Ran spread his hands: "No, and have you ever seen me before?"

Ying Haijun: "I haven't seen you before, so I think you might know me, but I don't know you."

"Otherwise, from back then, you knew I used to be a criminal investigator but am not one now."

"And what I'm investigating."

"If you didn't know me, how could you possibly know these things about me?"

Ying Haijun's face was full of disbelief. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Jiang Ran casually turned his head away: "I already said, I can smell it. As for knowing what you're investigating, I'm a pretty smart person. Putting together the clues, I can guess a lot of things."

Ying Haijun shook his head: "I don't believe it. You definitely know me."

Jiang Ran said: "You don't believe that I really don't know you."

"The people around you back then probably also didn't believe that the serial killer you're searching for really exists, right?"

Ying Haijun froze abruptly.

These two sentences were like a knife straight to his heart.

Immediately after, he lowered his head and suddenly murmured to himself:

"Your earlier guess was right."

"Completely right."

"I really was a criminal investigator before. Once, I was following the team working on a case."

"Even though the team ultimately ruled it a suicide, I always felt it wasn't as simple as a suicide case."

"But at the time, I didn't think much about it, I just memorized that case."

"Later, I was sent by the bureau for an exchange study to a city in another province."

"There, I participated in another case."

"That case was also ultimately ruled a suicide."

"But, at that time, I felt this probably wasn't suicide either. It seemed very similar to that case I had firmly remembered before."

"Of course, there was no evidence proving it was homicide; all the evidence pointed to suicide."

"After that, I started paying attention to many so-called suicide cases."

"Later on, I, along with our criminal investigation team, was invited to participate in the investigation of a major case in another province."

"And during the investigation of that major case, I came into contact with a local suicide case that had occurred."

"As the saying goes, 'things should not happen more than three times.' I felt something might have gotten mixed in here."

"So, I told a few colleagues about these things I had noticed, exchanging ideas."

"They were initially interested too, but after some investigation, their conclusion to me was that they were suicide cases."

"There was no so-called serial killer you imagined."

"After all, serial killers committing crimes often have so-called common points."

"But the few cases I focused on had no common points at all."

"Even though some suicide cases had questionable reasons for suicide, they weren't unexplainable either."

Jiang Ran smiled at this point: "Heh, in that TV drama 'Calamity,' all the victims killed by that serial killer had a small section of their hair cut off and taken as a memento. That's also a common point. Yours probably really has no common points at all, right?"

Ying Haijun let out a long sigh: "Yes. So, after being dismissed by my colleagues, I also wondered if I was just overly tense."

"Or if my greed, my strong desire to solve a super big case and make myself famous nationwide and worldwide, was at play?"

"So, from then on, my enthusiasm for investigating this matter wasn't as intense as before."

"Until one time when I was looking for suspense crime dramas, I saw that Cherry Blossom Country's 'Calamity.'"

"It was after finishing this series that everything suddenly clicked for me."

"How similar was the female police officer's experience in this series to mine?"

"I immediately started re-investigating those few suicide cases I suspected with renewed focus."

"Just like the deceased at this gym this time."

"They really did have a common point: they died when they were in despair, just about to receive hope."

"I told my colleagues about this again and recommended they watch that Cherry Blossom Country series."

"But..."

Jiang Ran: "But what?"

Ying Haijun smiled bitterly: "Because of historical reasons, the hatred towards the Cherry Blossom Country is very strong here. So, when I recommended they watch a Cherry Blossom Country series, several of them said they wouldn't watch dramas from there. Of course, some still watched it."

"After watching it, they were also very surprised, especially comparing it with what I had investigated."

"But in the end, they still felt that a TV drama is just a TV drama."

"Even if it's very similar, it's still just speculation."

"And, it's too fantastical. Even if such a serial killer really existed, they couldn't possibly devote all their energy to this, right?"

"They have many cases to handle every day."

"So, I started investigating on my own, putting in effort. But my colleagues were right; I simply didn't have that much time available to allocate every day. So I resigned."

This time, it was finally Jiang Ran's turn to be taken aback: "So rash? Just for a serial killer whose very existence is uncertain, you resigned?"

Ying Haijun didn't make a sound.

Jiang Ran felt there was another reason behind his resignation, but since the other party didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't ask.

"Jiang Ran, can you provide me with some clues?"

Ying Haijun suddenly said.

Jiang Ran yawned: "Why would you think I can provide clues?"