Early the next morning, Di Zhen had a hasty breakfast nearby. The snacks in big cities weren't made with much care. They were nowhere near as authentic as the breakfast stalls in the alleys of Wu'an.
Then he went to a glass products store called Xingwang because there was a label of this store on the window glass of the first deceased.
There were all kinds of glass pieces in the fifty - square - meter store. The boss asked him if he was here to install windows or buy a chandelier. Di Zhen replied, "I'm doing some home renovation. I'm just looking around. I'll buy if I find something suitable."
"How big is your place, and what price range are you considering? All our glass here is directly from the manufacturer, and the quality is very reliable... This is crystal - colored glass, which is more suitable for indoor installation, especially in the bathroom; this is poly - crystal glass, which is strong and durable and can withstand a ten - level gale. A lot of people buy it."
No matter which kind of glass Di Zhen looked at, the boss would introduce it tirelessly, which made Di Zhen feel kinda awkward. He saw the same brown - tinted glass as in Wei Xiang's house, which was installed in a window frame as a display item. This was exactly what Di Zhen had come for, so he walked towards it.
The boss introduced enthusiastically, "This is electro - chromic glass."
"Electro - chromic? Can it change color?"
"Look..." The boss pressed a switch. After being energized, the molecular structure inside the glass changed, and it immediately became opaque.
So that's how it was. No wonder there were no curtains in Wei Xiang's house. The glass itself could serve as a curtain.
"Excuse me, if I cut it, will it break?"
"That depends on how you cut it."
"Dig a hole in it..." Di Zhen gestured with his hand.
"That won't affect it."
Di Zhen knocked on it and asked, "Are there any precautions for this glass?"
"Nothing. It's the same as ordinary glass."
"I'll take it!"
The boss beamed with joy. "What size do you want? Leave your address, and I'll have the workers deliver it to you later."
"Just this piece!"
Di Zhen also bought a glass cutter, plastic suction cups, and modeling clay, all of which he stuffed into his overcoat pockets. Then he left with a piece of glass in his arms.
As soon as he left, two policemen showed up at the door. One of them asked the boss, "Has anyone bought a glass cutter from you recently?"
"Uh, a young man just bought one. He also bought a piece of glass."
"What kind of glass?"
"This kind!"
One of the policemen looked at it and said to the other, "Isn't this the same kind of glass as in Wei Xiang's house?"
"Did he only buy one piece of glass?" the policeman asked the boss.
"Yes, just a small piece. I don't know what he's going to use it for."
The policeman took out his notebook. "What does he look like? Do you have surveillance here?"
Back at the hotel, Di Zhen put the glass on a chair, plugged it in, and pressed a button. Sure enough, the glass changed its color.
The glass at the scene of the crime was cut from the inside. Di Zhen speculated that there were some traces on the glass that were unfavorable to the murderer but couldn't be removed. So the murderer chose to cut off the whole piece of glass. This guy had a severe obsessive - compulsive disorder. After doing it at the first crime scene, he repeated the same move at subsequent scenes, which had turned into a special criminal signature.
What kind of traces couldn't be removed? Bloodstains, fingerprints, earprints? None of these seemed likely.
When Di Zhen looked through the hole at the opposite side, he came up with a hypothesis - laser!
He had read in the "Encyclopedia of Crime" that during the Cold War, a laser eavesdropping device was invented. By directing a laser beam at a glass and detecting the slight vibrations of the glass, the voices inside the room could be restored.
If there were laser etchings on the glass, it would mean that the murderer had been on the opposite side. If the police went to check there, he would be exposed. So he had to dispose of the glass!
Now all that was needed was an experiment to verify it.
Di Zhen took out the laser pointer he had just bought in the morning and fixed it on the floor with modeling clay so that the laser beam shone on the glass.
When the glass remained opaque, the laser couldn't pass through. The beam hit the outside of the glass, forming a red dot. He didn't know if it could cause etchings.
The laser itself carried heat. A high - power laser could burst a balloon, but the laser used for eavesdropping probably wasn't that strong.
He left the hotel temporarily to do something else and planned to come back at night to check the result...
...
Gao Weiguang had been in high spirits recently. There's a saying that a man has three great joys in life: getting a promotion, making a fortune, and losing his wife (in a rather callous way). His wife, Wang Yue, had been killed a few days ago!
When he first met Wang Yue, he was just an ordinary employee in the company. He was already in his thirties at that time, with most of his hair gone, looking shabby and having a bad appearance. Although Wang Yue was just an ordinary female worker in a spinning mill, she was young and good - looking. It was a great blessing for him to marry such a wife at that time.
After the beautiful newly - married period, all kinds of differences between them in terms of education, hobbies, and living habits began to surface.
Wang Yue had a heavy workload every day. When she got home, she was so exhausted that she just collapsed. As soon as she took off her shoes, that funky smell of her sweaty feet filled the whole room. Gao Weiguang, who was originally looking forward to some bedroom action, lost his mojo right away.
Wang Yue's greatest hobby was lying in bed, swiping through Douyin. Whenever she came across something funny, she'd pat Gao Weiguang on the back and share it with him. But Gao Weiguang just couldn't understand the appeal of those cheesy short skits.
He said, "Honey, how about going out for a big meal and watching a movie next time you're off work? There's a really popular disaster movie recently."
Wang Yue looked at him with disgust and said, "Is it another movie made by the Americans? American movies are just cultural garbage that poisons Chinese people. I really don't know what's so good about [b]Avengers: Endgame[/b] that we watched last time. I got so dizzy watching that 3D movie and couldn't even figure out what it was about!"
Gao Weiguang recalled their dating days when Wang Yue didn't react like this. He said, " [b]Avengers: Endgame[/b] is a science - fiction movie!"
"I just don't like it. It's too mind - boggling! It's better to watch [b]Love Apartment[/b]. It made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt!"
Gao Weiguang had never heard that [b]Avengers: Endgame[/b] was mind - boggling. He came up with another idea: "How about going to a hotel?"
"Why waste the money? We can sleep at home, can't we?"
"You're so busy on weekdays and fall asleep as soon as you get home. How long has it been since we had some action?"
"Come on, if you want to do it, just say it straight. We're a married couple, no need to beat around the bush. I'll go and take a shower and we'll do it in a bit."
"Um... forget it!" With such a matter - of - fact attitude, Gao Weiguang lost his interest right away.
There were many similar conversations. Sometimes he felt that he had married not a post - 90s girl but an old lady.
But Wang Yue did love him. When it got cold, she'd tell Gao Weiguang to wear long johns. In the morning, she'd make him plain noodles with lots of garlic. Gao Weiguang said he had a meeting with a client and couldn't eat garlic.
Feeling empty both physically and mentally, Gao Weiguang had an affair in the third year of his marriage. The other woman was a well - educated female client. Having an intimate relationship with an interesting soul was like soaring into the sky with passion.
Later, Gao Weiguang's sly boss left, and his good friend became the department head. Everything went smoothly for Gao Weiguang. He landed several big deals and got a year - end bonus of 400,000 yuan. He told Wang Yue it was only 100,000 yuan and "handed it all over". He spent the rest of the money on jewelry for his mistress.
After that, his friend got promoted, and with his abilities and connections, Gao Weiguang naturally took the position of department head. He was riding on a wave of success.
With a successful career and plenty of money, he indulged himself even more by having two consecutive affairs, countless one - night stands, and spending an incalculable amount of money on his mistresses. Anyway, he only spent a short time with Wang Yue at night, so it was easy for him to keep everything secret.
After experiencing other women, when he got home and saw a wife as unappealing as a soggy mess, he found it incredibly dull.
Once, Wang Yue rarely wanted to have some intimate time with him. Gao Weiguang said he was having his "period". This naive woman checked online and indeed found that men could have periods, so she believed him.