The incident that night was something Zhou Lan reflected on briefly, but he didn't dwell on it.
After all, his own life was the priority – rent, work, finding a partner…
So many things awaited his attention.
It wasn't until two days later, when two police officers, one stout and one thin, found Zhou Lan to inquire about that day's events, that Zhou Lan learned the injured person hadn't survived and had passed away.
"Alas…"
He sighed, but he wasn't overly surprised.
He had found the person already severely injured and lying on the ground, unsure how long they had been there.
"Mr. Zhou, could you tell us about your schedule that day?" the slightly stout officer asked.
Zhou Lan recalled and then said:
"I was on the night shift. I slept until about 2 PM, then got up, went downstairs to eat, took a walk outside, and stopped by the supermarket to buy some things…"
"Then at seven, I went to work, leaving from here and heading to a nearby branch office…"
Zhou Lan detailed his day, including the encounter with the injured person.
He didn't think much of it; after all, if someone died, an investigation was bound to happen.
Besides, the injuries on the victim didn't look like they were from an accident.
They definitely needed to find the perpetrator.
After half an hour of questions and answers, the thinner officer beside him asked to see his car.
Zhou Lan nodded and led them to his vehicle.
He also explained, "I'm on the night shift, so this car is used alternately by me and another colleague on the day shift."
The thin officer took some photos of the car and then suddenly asked,
"Have you washed this car in the last two days?"
Zhou Lan frowned. "No, it hasn't rained in the last two days, so it's not too dirty."
"Mm."
The thin officer gave a noncommittal reply. "Does your car have a dashcam?"
"I thought about it before, but I never bought one."
"Oh."
The thin officer nodded, exchanged a few words with the stout officer, and then bid farewell to Zhou Lan.
After the police left, a colleague approached him. "Zhou Lan, what's going on? What happened?"
"Nothing much,"
Zhou Lan shook his head and briefly recounted the day's events.
His colleague sighed, "Life is so unpredictable… But honestly, in the middle of the night, if it were me, I wouldn't dare get out of the car."
"It's really unlucky to encounter something like this."
"Zhou Lan, maybe you should buy some lucky charm?"
Zhou Lan turned, took out a rag, and wiped his car window. He said indifferently,
"I wouldn't say it's unlucky. If they could have been saved, it would have been saving a life."
It was just a matter of calling 120.
His colleague clicked his tongue. "You're really chill."
Zhou Lan turned back and teased,
"Actually, if you know of any good lucky charms, feel free to recommend one, haha. Like for finding a partner or for romance."
…
Seven days passed.
Everything was calm.
Zhou Lan continued his daily grind of working.
He thought the incident that night was long past, until one afternoon, he suddenly received a message from an unknown sender.
[Murderer, go die!]
Zhou Lan frowned. Was it a wrong number?
He blocked the sender.
When he went to work, he felt that his colleagues were looking at him strangely.
"What's going on?" he asked a colleague he usually interacted with.
The other person looked at him and retorted, "You don't know yet?"
"What should I know?"
"Never mind, see for yourself."
The colleague took out their phone and sent him two links.
Zhou Lan clicked on the first link, which was a text and image article.
It spoke of a hit-and-run incident.
It was accompanied by pictures of the victim and their injury assessment results.
It was simply shocking.
Such severe injuries could only be sustained from repeated impact.
The more Zhou Lan read, the more familiar it seemed.
When he checked the time and location, it was the same victim he had helped call 120 for.
Were they using the power of the internet to find the perpetrator?
But what did this have to do with him?
Zhou Lan continued reading, and when he reached the end of the article, he froze.
It felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water on a winter day, chilling him from head to toe.
It was a GIF.
The image quality wasn't very clear, as if taken by another vehicle passing by in a hurry.
On the road late at night, it was dark all around, with only the faint moonlight.
A large truck was stopped in the middle of the road, with the victim lying motionless in front of it.
The driver seemed to have just gotten out of the truck, holding a phone in one hand and an iron rod in the other, approaching the victim.
The posture, the movement, as if about to strike the person on the ground again.
Looking back at the description in the article, the multiple contusions on the body…
…
Zhou Lan held his phone, his body trembling slightly.
If he hadn't been the owner of the truck himself, he too might have connected the driver's actions with the victim's injuries.
He continued scrolling down, seeing that enthusiastic netizens had already analyzed everything thoroughly.
Some had even processed the video, extracting the truck's license plate number, the driver's attire, and facial features.
"Another hit-and-run, off to jail."
"Taking the picture, you're welcome."
"Holy crap, this is too vicious, repeatedly running them over, and then getting out to finish them off… terrifying."
"Murderers should go die!"
…
Looking at the righteous and angry comments, Zhou Lan clenched his fist by his side, his fingernails digging into his flesh.
He exited the article and clicked on the second link.
It was a short video.
The victim's wife, with swollen eyes, was holding her child and crying to the camera.
Later, it was edited with the victim's injury photos and the GIF of the driver getting out of the truck with an iron rod.
With just a few sentences, it ignited the viewers' anger.
The video had millions of likes and tens of thousands of comments.
"Running away after hitting someone is bad enough, but then to torture them repeatedly, I'm shaking with anger! This is societal scum!"
"Such violent tendencies must be investigated to the fullest!"
"Pity this orphan and widow, their future life will be difficult."
"I know this work uniform, it's from XX Company."
Many commenters identified the driver's company and analyzed the route taken.
Some even said they would find the driver's phone number and address…
…
"Zhou Lan, calm down. Didn't you say this had nothing to do with you?" the colleague who sent him the links advised.
Zhou Lan nodded and took two deep breaths.
Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang.
As soon as he answered, the person on the other end started cursing.
"People like you, why aren't you dead yet…"
Zhou Lan didn't listen further. He hung up and blocked the number.
"Please request leave for me!"
He said, then turned and walked out of the company.
Colleague: "Where are you going?"
"The police station!"
Zhou Lan found the two officers who had come to question him that day and demanded that they handle this matter.
"I was the one who called 120, how did I become the perpetrator? This is slander!"
"And I even recorded a video!"
He opened the video he had recorded at the time and placed it in front of the slightly stout officer.
In this day and age, people recorded videos even when helping an elderly person, so he naturally hadn't forgotten to record a video.
…