"David? Over here."
The following afternoon, at Li's Big Skewers.
Shi Qiang, dressed in plain clothes, waved at David, who was checking his navigation on the roadside, signaling that he had already secured a table. David nodded and followed the staff member on duty into the barbecue restaurant.
The interior was filled with a heavy nostalgic style. The deliberately polished wooden walls bore brownish-yellow weathered marks, resembling rock faces on a Gobi desert plateau after being scoured by a sandstorm.
Shi Qiang had reserved a private booth on the second floor. David pushed the door open and saw Shi Qiang squatting on the floor, using a corkscrew to open a bottle of red wine.
"Brother, I wasn't sure what you liked to drink."
Seeing David arrive, Shi Qiang looked up and poured two bottles of red wine into a large glass decanter.
"I got you a bit of everything—white, red, and yellow."
Following the direction of Shi Qiang's finger, David's eye twitched at the sight of three crates of Tsingtao draft beer stacked in the corner, along with two bottles of canned white liquor (baijiu) of an unrecognizable brand.
"You've spent quite a bit," David said, cupping his hands in a respectful gesture.
"Don't mention it, we're brothers."
After David sat down, Shi Qiang poured him a large glass of red wine while pouring himself a large glass of white liquor. He raised his glass just as a knock came from the food runner at the door.
The food arrived quickly. The restaurant's signature was Northern-style large meat skewers; David wasn't sure if they were Northeast-style or Russian-style, but the color of the meat and the sauce was vibrant. To balance the grease, each skewer was accompanied by two sticks of green peppers, onions, and other vegetables. Two large bowls of salad were placed before them.
Once the waiter confirmed the order and informed them of the fruit and dessert buffet outside, they left. The two men in the booth looked at each other until Shi Qiang finally spoke.
"You don't seem curious at all about how I knew you were in Yenching."
David didn't answer, simply watching Shi Qiang. He knew that Shi Qiang's urgent summons right after arriving in Yenching wasn't just for a simple catch-up.
"The higher-ups sent me to Yenching to investigate some cases, and I happened to come across your file, so I came to ask you about the situation," Shi Qiang explained. He drained his glass in one go and pulled a document bag from his backpack. "The seal has already been torn off by me."
Shi Qiang signaled for David to open it.
"What is the case about?"
David had some suspicions. When he saw the files for Yang Dong, Ding Yi, and others inside the bag, he understood completely.
"It's about a recent string of serial murders targeting our country's scientists..." Shi Qiang's voice was low, and he sighed. "To be honest, even with my twenty-plus years of experience in criminal investigation, this whole thing has been bizarre from start to finish."
David picked up the documents one by one. In addition to Ding Yi and Yang Dong, he saw the file for Wang Miao, the protagonist of the first Three-Body book. Their files were at the very top and in color, but they only made up about a third of the dozen or so documents. As he flipped further down, the rest were invariably in black and white.
David looked at the cause of death written on these documents, which occupied more than two-thirds of the file bag.
"Suicide."
"All of them were suicides?"
David put on a look of surprise. In reality, his shock wasn't entirely faked. The speed at which the Trisolarans were moving far exceeded his expectations. It was only October, at least two or three months before the main plot was supposed to begin. What lay before him was evidence that the scientific community was being nearly wiped out.
He had to move faster.
"Yes, all suicides," Shi Qiang answered, his eyes fixed on David's. "Bizarre, right? These are top talents the country spent huge sums to cultivate. They enjoy the highest social security and benefits, and theoretically, they should stay in their ivory towers forever doing their research without a care in the world. Even if someone really developed a mental illness, they would receive the most timely treatment from local medical institutions."
"But unfortunately, there were no signs before they killed themselves. Regarding the reason for their suicides, we can only speculate now whether they joined some underground cult."
Shi Qiang shook his head, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag.
"And Yang Dong?" David asked. He was actually curious how the authorities had identified the Trisolaran assassination list.
"That girl is also on the hit list." Shi Qiang crushed out his cigarette and flicked the butt into the ashtray. "And according to the patterns we've decoded so far, her priority is the highest among these..." Shi Qiang pulled a few colored document sheets from the bag. "The highest among all of them."
Shi Qiang paused and looked at David, who remained silent.
"According to my investigation, your only purpose for coming to Yenching seems to be to find her... Is she your girlfriend?" Shi Qiang asked. There was no teasing in his tone; his expression was serious and his voice solemn.
"Something like that, though she said we have to buy a house near Yenching University before the relationship is official," David nodded, shamelessly admitting it.
"Ha... girls these days really have high standards. But she is a catch—a Yenching University graduate. If my daughter could... sigh..." Hearing David openly admit to the relationship, Shi Qiang looked relieved. "Then I'm at ease. I was a bit hesitant about dragging you into this bizarre mess."
"If there's anything I can do to help, just say it," David said, also draining his glass. "Even if you hadn't come to me, knowing this was happening to Yang Dong, I wouldn't be able to stay out of it."
"Good brother." Shi Qiang took a deep breath. "I knew I didn't misjudge you."
Shi Qiang gripped David's hand. The old detective's hand was covered in calluses from years of handling firearms.
"I'll tell you the truth: I snuck these documents out of the command center privately."
"..."
David's expression didn't change, but he thought to himself: That's typical of you.
"Even though the investigation team refuses to let us police into the core of their probe, based on my experience, I can tell at a glance that their direction has been wrong from the start." Shi Qiang shook his head with conviction. "No matter how bizarre the things they are tracking are, at the end of the day, you need real-world operations to kill that many scientists."
"What do you mean?" David asked.
"Regardless of who the real culprit is, I'm certain there are people in this country working in the shadows," Shi Qiang said firmly. "I need your help, David. I need to know what those scientists saw or heard before they died, where they went, and what those currently on the enemy's hit list are doing every single moment of the day."