Chapter 10 Curses for Programmers

Li Ang calmly put down his phone, without mentioning to the other party that Xia Junqiang was a suspect in another case. He just casually said,

"From his life experience, the mission target doesn't seem to have anything special about him. There's nothing obviously abnormal."

Tang Rannuo nodded and said, "This mission is set with a Phase One and a Phase Two, which indicates that the entire mission cycle is quite long.

"The objective of Phase One is to find out the cause of Xia Junqiang's death.

"Which means his death will involve another supernatural event.

"The Special Affairs Bureau is probably also investigating the mission target's death. We have to complete the mission before them and make sure we don't get caught by them."

Interacting with the Special Affairs Bureau was the most troublesome thing, especially for those lone wolf Wan Jia Xiong Meng players who didn't want to expose their true identities.

"Ah, Mao Mao's back."

Tang Rannuo looked towards the end of the path as if she had foreseen it.

A golden retriever was running over, carrying a flat cardboard box used for快递 (kuài dì - parcel delivery) in its mouth, wagging its tail madly all the way, looking extremely excited.

"Woof woof."

The golden retriever dropped the cardboard box in front of Tang Rannuo, turned around on its own, and squatted on the ground, looking at her with a flattering smile.

Li Ang clearly saw Xia Junqiang's name written on the courier number on the surface of the courier box.

"The mission target's parcel?"

Li Ang glanced at the courier box. "A Southeast Asian rubber lumbar pillow... It was delivered three days ago."

He could tell that the tape on the package box was cleanly cut open with a craft knife.

It was interesting that a programmer who was carefully unboxing a rubber lumbar pillow three days ago would go and murder someone.

"Good boy, Mao Mao."

Tang Rannuo praised casually, and seeing Li Ang's doubtful gaze, she explained, "The dog skin on him isn't ordinary.

"After putting it on, he can easily smell the scent of the deceased nearby,

"And find the relics left by the deceased during their lifetime based on the scent."

"So awesome?"

Li Ang was stunned for a moment, and gave the golden retriever a thumbs up. "Nice one, you're doing great."

The golden retriever barked "Woof woof" twice. After getting Tang Rannuo's nod of approval, it immediately stretched out two dog paws, frantically digging at the cardboard box, tearing it into pieces, and then eating it all.

Li Ang frowned and said, "This is?"

"It can obtain some memory fragments from the deceased's lifetime by eating the relics."

Tang Rannuo explained, "This ability is similar to psychic or divination, but the release process... will be quite strange."

Soon, Li Ang understood what she meant by strange.

After eating the entire courier box (including the transparent tape), the golden retriever lowered its body, lowered its head, and its throat wriggled, making vague gurgling sounds.

Suddenly, its head swung forward, and a mass of green water with a strong sour smell spewed out of its mouth.

The green water splashed on the ground, but instead of seeping into the soil along the gravel cracks in the cobblestone path,

It slowly gathered together like slime, forming a smooth, flawless green mirror that exuded a strange smell.

The golden retriever instantly slumped, lying on its side panting hard, its eyes narrowed, as if it would fall asleep at any moment.

Tang Rannuo completely ignored the pitiful appearance of the golden retriever, walked directly forward, and lightly covered her nose with her hand to block the smell. She took off her sunglasses and looked down at the green mirror.

Standing a little further away, Li Ang took out his Sony digital camcorder, adjusted the focus, and recorded the scene in the green mirror from a distance.

Ripples appeared in the green mirror, gradually revealing a reflection-like image.

The first scene was of the deceased, Xia Junqiang.

In the mirror, he was sitting at his bedroom computer desk, browsing the github website on his desktop computer, and frantically typing on the keyboard, as if entering something.

{github is a hosting platform for open source and private software projects and is a commonly used open source code library for programmers}

The scene suddenly changed. The next second, Xia Junqiang appeared in the bathroom of his rented house, his eyes behind his thick glasses were bloodshot, and his mouth wriggled and mumbled, as if whispering something.

Based on his lip movements, Li Ang judged that he was saying, "Die, all of you die!"

The mirror rippled again. Xia Junqiang typed a series of codes on the computer, suddenly stood up, grabbed the keys from the table, took a car to another residential area, and sneaked into a room through the fire escape.

Then, there was a series of blurred and quickly flashing memory silhouettes.

It was nothing more than Xia Junqiang taking a Western-style dining knife from the kitchen of a private house, using the knife to attack and kill a fat, middle-aged man in the private house, as well as a heavily made-up young woman who was with him.

The last scene was of Xia Junqiang walking back to his rented house in a daze, sitting upright at his computer desk, and reaching out to touch the screen.

Instantly, the screen turned pitch black, and a puff of green smoke rose from the computer case.

Xia Junqiang, as if he had been drained of all his blood, instantly turned into a skinny, dried-up corpse, his head tilted back, and his entire body slid to the ground along the slope of the chair.

The picture ended there. Tang Rannuo immediately took a few steps back to avoid the tiny green water that splashed up when the green mirror dissolved itself.

"That's the end of the psychic divination."

She turned her head and looked at Li Ang. "Did you find anything?"

"Well... how should I put it?"

Li Ang pressed a few buttons on the digital camera in his hand, saved the green water scene he had just recorded, and looked up at Tang Rannuo. "The dog food you provided to the dog is too soft, and the vomit is too clear.

"Next time you buy dog food, remember to eat it yourself for a while. If you think there's no problem, then give it to the dog."

"..."

The corner of Tang Rannuo's eye twitched, not knowing what kind of expression to make.

"In short, let's leave the neighborhood first. I probably know the reason for his death."

Li Ang chuckled and said casually, "By the way, did you bring a laptop?"

Tang Rannuo didn't know what the other party was up to, and frowned, "I only have a tablet."

"A tablet will do. Give it to me."

Li Ang nodded, and Tang Rannuo had no choice but to take out an almost brand-new tablet computer from her backpack, unlock it with a password, and hand it over.

Obviously, the tablet Tang Rannuo gave was not frequently used in daily life. There was no personal data inside, and it was probably only used with drones in script missions.

Li Ang took the tablet, swiped it a few times, and turned to leave.

Tang Rannuo hesitated for a moment, then used the dog leash to restrain the golden retriever again, followed behind Li Ang, and walked out of the Wanrong neighborhood.

The two entered a quiet coffee shop, ordered two cups of coffee, and chose a secluded corner to sit down.

Li Ang used a USB adapter cable to connect the digital camera to the tablet, took a sip of coffee, and swiped his fingers back and forth on the screen.

After a moment, he looked up and said to Tang Rannuo, "The mission target did indeed die from a supernatural event.

"To be precise, he died from an unknown curse targeting programmers."