My Dream Connects to 3000 Years in the Future

Xing Long was pursuing the murderer in the Nanyun Street case.

The impact of this case was atrocious. A family of three—daughter, mother, and grandmother—had been wiped out entirely.

Worse, the crime was only discovered after the fact, when a neighbor smelled the stench of the decomposing bodies and called the police.

Xing Long had gone through every piece of intel he could find, but he still couldn’t find a single break in the case. Based on the available information, it was highly probable that the murders were random. In other words, the killer likely had no connection whatsoever to the victims’ family!

This was the most difficult type of case to solve, bar none. Nanyun Street was relatively remote and didn’t have many security cameras. On top of that, several days had already passed.

Captain Xing was so stressed he felt like he was about to go bald.

It was at this moment that someone suddenly popped up, claiming to have intelligence on the case. Although he was a bit suspicious, he ultimately decided to meet them.

"This isn’t the killer’s first time," Chu Bamboo began, getting straight to the point. "His first real crime was eight years ago: the Li Family’s Mouth dismemberment case in Zhenhai City."

A bombshell right from the start.

Xing Long’s eyes went wide. For a moment, he thought he’d misheard.

"And in fact, the killer doesn’t choose his victims completely at random. He’s extremely twisted. He has a brutal desire to torture and kill young women, specifically those of middle and high school age. It’s not a sexual desire, mind you, which is why there’s no DNA evidence to be found, nothing to advance the investigation—he simply enjoys tormenting people."

"In both the Nanyun Street murder and the Li Family’s Mouth dismemberment case, the killer targeted high school girls on their way home from school. He waits for the right moment, then strikes."

This was all true.

It was all information that would be released through official channels after the case was solved in the future.

"The killer is also extremely cunning. Once he’s locked onto a target, he’ll observe them for several days to confirm there are no able-bodied men in the household, only vulnerable women, children, or the elderly. Only then will he commit... He also observes how well-connected the family is. If they have many friends and relatives who they contact frequently, he won’t make a move."

Chu Bamboo continued with an air of confidence. "He saves the middle or high school-aged girl for last. First, he’ll torture her family members or anyone else present, inflicting extreme psychological trauma on his primary victim. He doesn’t just want to torture them physically, but mentally as well."

"And before he begins, he usually uses various ploys to induce the parents to call their daughter out of school for a period of time. Combined with the fact that he targets socially isolated families, it makes the cases incredibly difficult to solve. There are no leads to follow."

"...Hold on. Just wait a second." Xing Long held up a hand. His mind was reeling. After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he stared blankly. "How do you know all this in such detail? What... What the hell are you...?"

’Is this... Is this even possible?!!’

No matter how he looked at it, this was all just too outrageous!

It sounded as if the man before him was recounting a story he’d made up himself.

’What’s the deal? Is the killer your buddy or something? Did he get drunk and brag about all this to you? How else could the intel be this detailed?!’

After a moment of thought, Xing Long steepled his fingers under his chin and stared sharply at Chu Bamboo. "Kid, you realize you’re acting incredibly suspicious, right?"

"Allow me to introduce myself." Chu Bamboo wore a calm smile. He obviously hadn’t come here on a whim, just to turn himself in. Long before entering the police station, he had prepared a plausible cover story.

"I’m a consultant and part-time general manager for Z Intelligence Co., Ltd.!" Although he wasn’t actually a general manager yet, he was sure that if the police really did go and ask, Zhao Shao would do him a solid and back him up.

"Our company recently developed a powerful AI that integrates and processes massive amounts of data. On a whim, I had it run an analysis on numerous current criminal cases..."

After a slight pause, Chu Bamboo continued, his expression unchanged. "And this was the conclusion it reached. Perhaps because the previous crime was eight years ago, or perhaps because it was in a different city, the police were unable to connect the two incidents."

"However, the family circumstances, the primary targets, the modus operandi, and even the methods of torture in both cases... they’re all practically identical. This was the AI’s conclusion. Based on the publicly available information, the probability that it’s the same killer is as high as ninety-two percent."

Chu Bamboo wasn’t joking.

He had actually run the analysis through Z, and Z had genuinely come to this exact conclusion.

In essence, Chu Bamboo was drawing the target around the arrow he had already shot, but Z was so powerful that it could actually make the lie hold up.

Xing Long remained skeptical.

"If you don’t believe me, feel free to bring up some other cases," Chu Bamboo said with a grin, raising his eyebrows. "After all, practice is the sole criterion for testing the Truth, isn’t it?"

Even if his dream tonight confirmed that revealing Z to the public would cause a massive uproar, leading him to conceal it in the future... it wouldn’t matter that he had done this.

Worst-case scenario, he could just have Zhao Shao release a neutered version of the AI specifically for crime-solving.

Besides, by establishing a connection with the police department, he would have more room to maneuver within the city when facing the potential infiltration of Golden Dawn’s forces in the future.

Yes, Chu Bamboo didn’t just want to save Lu Keke and her mother; this was also a bold gambit...

Siding directly with the state would lead to the "ruin" storyline. So... where was the critical juncture?