He went to the bathroom and splashed water on his face for several minutes.

After roughly making himself a bit more alert, he returned to his bedroom bed.

He opened his phone.

Opened WeChat.

Clicked into the Alice Apartment residents' group chat.

He discovered that Manager Xiao Zhang was no longer the group owner and wasn't even in the group anymore.

Moreover, he had quit being the manager without even a single group notification.

However, fortunately, Jiang Ran had added him on WeChat before.

He found Manager Xiao Zhang's WeChat account.

Sent a message:

[Xiao Zhang, didn't you say you were going on a business trip? Why did you suddenly resign?]

Then followed with a confused Panda Man emoji.

But there was no reply from the other side for a long time.

Exiting the chat interface with Manager Xiao Zhang.

Jiang Ran began casually browsing through other chats.

Eventually, he came across a six-person classmates' group.

Saw that Fatty had @ him about going to Qingfeng Mountain in neighboring Beicheng City for hiking in a week.

This wasn't really a big deal.

The main thing was, he discovered that his own account had already accepted the invitation on his behalf.

"The alternate personality's doing."

Jiang Ran didn't remember agreeing to this hiking thing.

But since the alternate personality had agreed, he couldn't refuse either, because it was done in his name.

"Sigh, still need to buy some mountaineering equipment..."

After reading the messages, Jiang Ran lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes.

He'd sober up a bit more first, then deal with it later!

...

Zhou Yan, Li Miguo, and Jimmy were currently in Nancheng City.

Li Miguo was driving one of Zhou Yan's family's Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUVs.

In the car, Zhou Yan sat in the passenger seat, while Jimmy was in the back.

The three of them were driving to a park to meet someone.

Soon, the car arrived at the park.

This park was quite large.

During this morning time slot, many people were doing morning exercises in the park.

The three of them walked to a very remote, greenery-surrounded pavilion deep within the park.

Under the pavilion, three people were already waiting.

All three were men.

Their ages were probably between 25 and 35.

Among the three, aside from the oldest one who wore glasses, the other two didn't wear glasses.

After Zhou Yan's group entered the pavilion.

Jimmy spoke first: "You must be the Three Tigers Detective Group, right?"

The oldest man wearing glasses nodded.

"My name is Big Tiger, and these beside me are Second Tiger and Third Tiger."

The man called Big Tiger introduced himself and the two men beside him.

Jimmy nodded.

These definitely weren't their real names, just codenames.

The codenames were probably arranged according to their ages.

Jimmy pointed at Zhou Yan: "This is the actual employer."

Zhou Yan nodded to the three men in greeting.

Then Jimmy continued:

"Our reason for contacting you is quite simple, as I mentioned on the phone."

"Zhou Yan's father and older brother both disappeared in that apartment called Alice."

"We previously hired the American detective Mike, and his conclusion was that both of them are dead. Someone in Alice Apartment is the murderer."

"So, our request in hiring you is: if they're alive, we want to see them;if they're dead, we want to see the bodies;if we can't find the bodies, we at least want to find the murderer."

After the three men finished listening, Big Tiger asked: "In that case, why didn't you have that Mike continue the investigation? If that American detective Mike is the Mike I'm thinking of, he's quite a famous detective in America. Although I've never met him, I've heard about his work."

Jimmy said: "He's that Mike, ranked among America's top ten detectives."

Then he sighed: "I don't want to hide this from you either. He stopped the investigation because he got scared, so he terminated it."

Zhou Yan listened, somewhat dissatisfied as she looked at Jimmy.

Saying something like that, aren't you afraid this so-called Three Tigers Detective Group might also dare not accept the commission, or might jack up their prices?

But it seemed Zhou Yan was worrying too much.

Big Tiger said calmly: "Even famous detectives indeed have their limits."

"Alright, we'll take this case."

"Your request is: if they're alive, we want to see them;if they're dead, we want to see the bodies;if we can't find the bodies, we at least want to find the murderer, right?"

Big Tiger looked at Zhou Yan, since she was the actual boss.

Zhou Yan nodded: "Exactly."

Big Tiger said: "You should already know our rates, right? One million Hua yuan per person, non-negotiable."

Zhou Yan said: "I understand."

Big Tiger said: "In that case, it's settled. Of course, please sign this agreement too!"

Big Tiger very professionally took out two copies of a pre-prepared agreement.

After Zhou Yan's side checked it and found no issues, she signed her name.

Afterward, Zhou Yan added: "By the way, aside from hiring you for the investigation, we've also hired other Hua Country detectives."

"Whoever finds the truth first will get a bonus!"

Second Tiger from the Three Tigers Detective Group asked: "How much is the bonus?"

Zhou Yan said: "One million Hua yuan."

Second Tiger smiled: "That's quite substantial."

Zhou Yan's group watched as the Three Tigers Detective Group left.

Zhou Yan said: "I hope these three don't disappoint me."

Then, the three of them also left this place, as they still needed to meet with other Hua Country detectives.

Of course, those detectives were all cheaper, smaller-scale detectives.

Anyway, Zhou Yan's idea was to cast a wide net.

...

The car the Three Tigers Detective Group drove belonged to Big Tiger.

It was an ordinary Volkswagen, not any luxury vehicle.

After Big Tiger got in the car, the other two also got in.

After all three were in the car, none of them spoke.

They drove all the way to a residential community.

This was an ordinary resettlement housing community.

Big Tiger had bought an apartment here.

The three of them entered that apartment.

This apartment didn't feel like a home at all.

It was being used as a storage space.

There were large amounts of clothing and various other items.

It was like a general store.

Very soon, in less than fifteen minutes.

The three men, who had originally been dressed in ordinary civilian clothes.

Transformed into three police officers.

Of course, they were fake police officers.

But their disguises were quite convincing.

Even if real police officers came up, unless they questioned them carefully, they probably wouldn't be able to tell.

Of course, aside from obtaining uniforms, the three also had their own pre-made fake police badges. They also gathered some other necessary items.

After finishing these preparations, the three drove straight to that Alice Apartment.

They parked the car some distance away from Alice Apartment, then approached the security booth.

They knocked on the security booth's glass.

When the glass window opened.

Revealing a young security guard's face inside.

Big Tiger directly pulled out his fake police badge, pressed it close to the security guard's face, and said with a serious expression:

"We're from the Nancheng City Public Security Bureau, here to specially investigate a case. Please open the door."

This young security guard was none other than Security Guard Xiao Xing.

Security Guard Xiao Xing opened the passageway.

Letting the three men enter.

After entering, the three briefly surveyed their surroundings.

The weather today was quite good.

The intense sunlight poured over the buildings before them, giving them vitality.

The three men squinted their eyes as they entered the Alice Apartment building.

After entering the building, Big Tiger looked around and went straight to the management office next to the entrance.

Inside the management office, the new manager Li Chong was scrolling through TikTok.

His TikTok feed was filled with videos of internet-famous beauties of various sizes.

He was watching with great interest.

Just then, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the desk in front of him.

He looked up and saw a large fist knocking on the desk before him.

Following that large hand, he saw black long sleeves.

He thought to himself, who wears long sleeves in the middle of summer?

But the more he looked, the more something seemed off.

Only when he saw the full picture did he suddenly understand.

"We're from the Nancheng City Public Security Bureau, here to investigate a case. We need your cooperation now."

Big Tiger's gaze was lowered, quite intimidating.