Shi Shanyan was a hunter skilled at setting traps. He knew what could interfere with Yan Junxun. At this moment, he didn't care why Yan Junxun wanted the Communicator; he only wanted Yan Junxun to walk in, to walk into his territory.

The Supervisory Bureau system tactlessly interjected, "Please do not enter 01AE86's room. If you require assistance, the system can serve you."

"Contact Jiang Lian," Yan Junxun said, taking a few steps back. "I'm looking for him."

Shi Shanyan watched his prey leave from right before his eyes and thought with regret that perhaps he should have smashed these cameras before his shower.

"Contact failed," the Supervisory Bureau system replied after attempting to dial. "The indoor system is rejecting the call."

"Call again," Yan Junxun had already turned to go downstairs. "Keep calling until he wakes up."

The Supervisory Bureau system thoughtfully brightened the corridor lights for Yan Junxun. As Yan Junxun pressed the elevator button, his thoughts raced like a river bursting its banks. He didn't care about Shi Shanyan; he only cared about why the killer would put the bicycle at Li Jianhua's doorstep.

The elevators in the Segregation Zone also had to go through layers of checks. The wait was too long, so long that Yan Junxun became anxious after just a few seconds. He didn't know why he was anxious either.

"Contact has failed again," the Supervisory Bureau system suggested. "Perhaps you could go look for him."

Yan Junxun's thoughts were interrupted by the system's voice. He looked at the closed elevator doors, wanting to just drop it. What did this have to do with him? He had already done what he was supposed to do. He wasn't cut out for investigating cases in the first place; he had said so long ago. He should leave this world to the righteous Supervisory Bureau and go home to sleep.

But why would the killer put the bicycle at Li Jianhua's doorstep?

She might have cleaned her shoes because they had some obvious location marker on them, like if she had stepped in dog poop while riding, and there happened to be only one square near Puli where people walked dogs. But Yan Junxun didn't understand why she would also put the bicycle back.

Shi Shanyan got dressed quickly, but he didn't fix his hair. He stood next to Yan Junxun in a good mood, whistling. The whistling was intermittent, making it impossible for Yan Junxun to continue thinking.

"If you can shut up," Yan Junxun said, turning his head, "I'll pretend I don't know where you've hidden the Communicator."

Shi Shanyan whistled a defiant tune at him.

"Did the cold shower make you stupid?" Yan Junxun tried to talk about something else, to stop obsessing over the bicycle, but he didn't know how to subtly change the subject. His harsh tone sounded just like a response to Shi Shanyan's provocation.

"You're so fierce," Shi Shanyan said as if teasing a cat, raising a finger to point at his own head. "We've been waiting for the elevator for so long, and Jiang Lian isn't answering his phone. Why don't we play a game? Guess what I was doing in the shower?"

"All you could have been doing is showering," Yan Junxun said, pressing the elevator button again, "and committing intracranial sexual harassment."

"So you know so clearly," Shi Shanyan laughed, not surprised. "Do you think a person can still maintain normal physiological needs under second-by-second surveillance?"

Yan Junxun's concept of "sex" was very vague. His upbringing was special, so special that an ordinary person could hardly imagine it. He would process problems like a system, but he wouldn't feel shy about this particular issue like an ordinary person. He treated it as a noun, just like "killing" or "mission"—nouns that held no romantic connotations for him.

"That would depend on the person's sense of shame," Yan Junxun said, seriously mulling over the question. "Although the restraining power of a sense of shame has its limits."

A normal person's normal needs are restricted by being "watched." A sense of shame can provide restraint for a certain period, but what about after a long time? Once you get used to being "watched," you gradually accept that you have no privacy, and the sense of shame can disappear along with it.

"You spent four years under second-by-second surveillance," Yan Junxun's gaze swept upwards, where there was still a system camera. He asked Shi Shanyan, "Do you still have normal needs?"

Shi Shanyan cooperatively leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Who knows if it's normal or not? I always like to think about exciting things."

Yan Junxun retracted his gaze and met Shi Shanyan's eyes. He studied Shi Shanyan for a moment before saying with certainty, "You wouldn't resolve your physiological problems on camera."

Being monitored meant being controlled, and Shi Shanyan wouldn't like that feeling; he preferred to be the one watching others. Yan Junxun felt he was that kind of person—someone with little restraint over himself, yet who possessed an abnormal level of self-control in certain aspects. Therefore, whether it was the second-by-second surveillance or the Black Panther re-test, they were all just harmless little games to him.

Shi Shanyan was very pleased. Yan Junxun's gaze was like a small tentacle, caressing Shi Shanyan's cheeks and body, carefully searching for the subtle traces of madness within him. Shi Shanyan wanted Yan Junxun to probe deeper, to touch his dark side sooner. He politely restrained himself and praised, "You're so clever."

The elevator finally arrived.

Jiang Lian remained unreachable. Yan Junxun even suspected that Jiang Lian had been drinking tonight; otherwise, according to his usual habits, he would have answered his Communicator long ago.

Yan Junxun wanted to tell Jiang Lian that the killer worked near Puli Residential Community, that she moved within this area, and that she rode a ridiculous mountain bike. She loitered around the victim's residence; that was her psychological mission. The floor number jumped to "8," and Yan Junxun once again thought of Li Jianhua's home.

"The surveillance cameras in Puli Residential Community were broken that week. The property management report said it was a system malfunction that caused all the community's surveillance monitors to become scrambled. They were only fixed half a month later." When Jiang Lian gave him the information, he added, "But in this kind of community, not quite new and not quite old, some residents want to install indoor systems while others don't. It makes the wiring in the community a mess. Cameras can only be installed in the elevators, the underground parking lot, and at the entrances of the apartment buildings. There's nothing more than that."

If the killer was still active in Li Jianhua's home afterward, then even if she avoided the cameras in the underground parking lot, she would still have to pass the cameras at the building entrance. She had to act natural, as if she were coming home. But she didn't want the surveillance to know which floor she was going to, so she could only take the stairwell, which had no cameras.

When Yan Junxun went to Li Jianhua's home, the door to the stairwell was open.

But why did she have to leave the bicycle there?

Chen Xiulian stopped the car and flashed her headlights at Yang Yu's son, who was standing at the entrance of Diba Residential Community, signaling for him to come over. Her car's interior light was off, and sitting inside, her face couldn't be seen clearly. The tools she had prepared were beside her. She was already proficient at first making her target lower their guard, and then making them faint.

The ID Communicator suddenly rang. Chen Xiulian didn't want to answer; she thought it was He Zhiguo calling. She stared at "He Zhiguo" walking towards the car, silently chanting numbers in her mind. She had to chant numbers, or she would lose track of time. But tonight, the Communicator was unusually persistent. She didn't want the ringing to scare off Yang Yu's son.

Chen Xiulian answered. A sharp crackle of static pricked her ear. She thought she would hear He Zhiguo's roar, but instead, it was a strange voice.

"Hellooo—" A voice changer distorted the other person's voice. He said, "Kill him and you'll go to jail immediately. Why not try a different game? I guarantee the Supervisory Bureau won't catch you."

Chen Xiulian suspected she had misheard.

The person on the other end cleared their throat and said mysteriously, "You can call me 'Snow in May.'"