Chapter Nine: Nangong Zhu

Nangong Zhu stepped into the elevator and made her way to the scene of the crime.

She lingered at the door for a long time, carefully examining the cracks in the panel. “The door was forcibly blasted open, but this security door is poorly made—the steel plate is so thin that it doesn't allow us to gauge the true extent of the Chopsticks Fiend’s strength. Only a fool would buy a door like this.”

She entered, gazing at the four internet celebrities.

Usually, the four influencers prided themselves on their beauty and never conceded to other women. Yet, for reasons unknown, standing before this tall woman with long legs and phoenix eyes, they involuntarily felt a chill run through their bodies.

“Who are you?” Nangong Zhu asked.

“We're streamers.” Zhizhi, the de facto leader among them, stepped forward.

“Streamers? Why are you here?” Nangong Zhu’s voice was icy. In truth, she was still somewhat puzzled by the profession, having spent most of her time in rigorous training and little on the internet. She knew almost nothing about the world of streaming.

“Qin invited us over for drinks,” Zhizhi explained.

Just then, a police officer nearby clarified the identities of Qin Yan and Zhizhi’s group.

Nangong Zhu nodded in understanding, casting a somewhat disdainful glance at the four influencers.

She casually examined Qin Yan’s body, then her gaze shifted immediately to Wang Tiecheng, especially noting the pistol at his side and the calluses on his hands. “These calluses make it obvious—he’s someone who handles guns regularly, a skilled marksman. Investigate, find out who he is.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The team went to work without delay.

Within fifteen minutes, Wang Tiecheng’s profile was sent to Nangong Zhu’s phone.

“A mercenary who fought in Africa, brought here this time by Qin Zhengtian as his son’s bodyguard, only to die at the hands of the Chopsticks Fiend.” Nangong Zhu pondered for a moment. “According to the intel, Wang Tiecheng was considered quite formidable on the African battlefield. His draw speed must have been fast—no less than a second. Let us imagine the scene.”

“Wang Tiecheng goes to draw his weapon, the Chopsticks Fiend immediately throws a chopstick. The result: Wang Tiecheng’s throat is pierced by the chopstick, a strike both faster and more terrifying than anticipated. Truly impressive.”

But there was no further evidence at the scene.

No fingerprints, no blood from the Chopsticks Fiend.

Yet Nangong Zhu was not about to give up. She narrowed her eyes in contemplation. “So far, the Chopsticks Fiend has committed four crimes: the murder of Ma Guosheng’s group, Lu Youwei’s group, the human trafficker incident, the juvenile offender case, and now this one. Typically, the earliest crimes are more likely to leave traces, while later ones, as the perpetrator grows more adept, become harder to crack.”

“First, we need to analyze the Ma Guosheng case—the Chopsticks Fiend’s first known crime. But perhaps there were earlier ones.” As she finished speaking, Nangong Zhu made a call. “Lingxi, send me all provincial case files involving murder by chopsticks.”

“No, send me all such cases nationwide. The Chopsticks Fiend may be operating across provinces.”

Meng Zhitan, Su Qiu, Lin Chen, and the others were merely county detectives, with limited authority. Requesting provincial records for chopstick-related murders would take ages, let alone nationwide files—an almost impossible task for a county-level team.

After all, who would pay attention to a county police force?

But Nangong Zhu’s status was different.

...

That night.

In a towering office building in Yangcheng, which appeared to be an ordinary business hub—its first fifteen floors occupied by various companies. However, from the sixteenth floor onward, it belonged to Special Operations Group C.

The elevators only reached the fifteenth floor. Only a hidden elevator, tucked away, could access the sixteenth and higher floors.

In an office on the eighteenth floor,

Nangong Zhu, a woman over one meter seventy in height, clad in black stockings with long legs and slightly narrowed phoenix eyes, radiated an imposing aura as she reviewed the stack of files that had just arrived.

These were case files from the past two years involving murders committed with chopsticks.

There were thirteen cases in total—not many.

“SD family of five annihilated...”

"HN sudden murder by a mentally ill suspect..."

"GX, elderly woman driven to desperation by poverty and stress, poisoned her disabled son and stabbed her grandson with chopsticks..."

"GD, robbery and murder by a black man; he used a knife, but after it was knocked away, he resorted to chopsticks."

Nangong Zhu flipped through each file, searching for any individuals who might connect these cases to the Chopsticks Fiend of N County.

Yet after reviewing all thirteen cases, she found nothing of value.

Evidently, the file concerning the death of the main ringleader of a pyramid scheme in Colorful Cloud Province had been deliberately concealed. The identity and motives of the person responsible for the cover-up remained unknown, but the act had successfully plugged the biggest loophole in Shen Ye’s case.

The reason was simple: as Nangong Zhu had said, the more practiced the perpetrator, the fewer flaws there would be in their later crimes. Shen Ye’s first and second crimes had indeed left some vulnerabilities.

Staring at the thirteen files, Nangong Zhu could not find any connection to the Chopsticks Fiend, and slammed her hand on the desk in frustration. “Damn it.”

After venting, she rubbed her temples and took a sip of the strong, bitter coffee beside her. “Has this trail gone cold? It seems I can only investigate among the suspects from the Ma Guosheng and Lu Youwei cases. The juvenile offender case stirred up online first, prompting the Chopsticks Fiend to intervene. It likely has nothing to do with the Fiend directly.”

There were more than two hundred suspects in the Ma Guosheng and Lu Youwei cases.

Shen Ye was among them.

But the files also noted, “Five days after the Lu Youwei incident, no gunshot wounds found, likely not the Chopsticks Fiend—suspect largely excluded.”

Looking at the mountain of paperwork, Nangong Zhu felt her mind spinning. She took a deep breath and gazed out at the night, its lights mostly extinguished. A look of determination flashed through her beautiful eyes.

“Chopsticks Fiend, the next time you strike, I will find you.”