AITAMITB Chapter 88

“Sasaeng fans,” a type of individual referred to as fans but mostly unwillingly acknowledged by most fans.

Their love for celebrities is fanatical and cruel. Rather than saying it’s affection, it’s more like a pathological possessiveness.

Whether it’s Nie Fu or Zhao Xiaokui, both have more or less experienced harassment from this type of person.

Zhao Xiaokui is relatively better off. With fewer public appearances, it’s not easy for even legitimate fans to meet her once. Being a supernatural individual herself, no Sasaeng fan can approach her without being noticed, especially with Nightwalkers secretly guarding her. Any covert actions are automatically treated as threats to national interests and promptly dealt with, sparing her from any worries.

Nie Fu, on the other hand, has suffered more from their actions. Rising to fame early, he grew up as a generation’s idol right under the audience’s eyes. Even though he later gained abilities, produced notable works, and established a significant position in the entertainment industry, in the eyes of many early fans, he is still the same young idol who hasn’t grown up. They tend to treat him with a condescending attitude, always seeing him through the lens of an elder.

The fans who purely considered themselves his elders were relatively okay. The real concern lay with those fans who watched him grow, treating him as their possession. If Nie Fu made the slightest mistake or did something not to their liking, he would face a barrage of questions. Some even sought to possess him completely by attempting to ruin him.

Nie Fu and Guan Huimin had been married for many years but kept it secret, fearing exactly this kind of situation.

In the past, he had girlfriends. But fearing that outsiders couldn’t handle the pressure, he only dated within the industry. However, the outcomes were not pleasant. Younger actresses were bullied into leaving the industry due to depression, and older ones faced public backlash. Gradually, Nie Fu lost interest in dating. If it weren’t for meeting Guan Huimin, if it weren’t for her unwavering support, he never thought he could have a family.

And now, the only person standing by him through thick and thin was lost.

Zhao Xiaokui didn’t expect Gou Rixin to keep up with the times and knew about Sasaeng fans.

Lin Bai, long before hearing the term “sasaeng fans,” started tapping away on his tablet. Soon, screenshots of videos popped up, capturing frenzied faces.

Due to sasaeng fans, Nie Fu had moved multiple times and filed countless police reports. Originally from X City, he had settled in S City because the paparazzi there were too audacious, and the police were lenient toward their illegal activities. Unexpectedly, he encountered similar situations here.

Previously, the police were stuck in a deadlock because they couldn’t find a breakthrough. Regardless of how well-protected the neighborhoods were, the missing persons in the surveillance footage seemed to vanish into thin air, showing no signs of abnormality. Zhao Xiaokui’s discovery of sasaeng fans pointed to a possible direction.

Lin Bai showed Nie Fu the investigated photos and asked, “Do you know these people?”

Seeing the faces in the pictures, Nie Fu’s expression turned grim, but he nodded, “I know them. These people have come to my house, blocked me, chased my car, and even caused me to have a car accident.”

“It’s decided then. Let’s investigate these individuals first,” Zhang Hongyi made the decision, then turned to the others, “Let’s check the surveillance footage again. How can someone disappear into thin air? We should also review the surveillance footage from the previous missing persons cases. There might be some overlooked details.”

Many times, what ordinary police investigations couldn’t uncover wasn’t necessarily due to their lack of thoroughness or intentional negligence. It could be because their thinking was constrained, and they didn’t realize the potential of extraordinary abilities.

Sometimes within the Night Walkers organization, when they discovered the abilities of new supernaturals, they found it fantastical and beyond belief.

In the surveillance room, Zhao Xiaokui, Lin Bai, and Zhang Hongyi… each took a computer and sat down to scrutinize the footage.

The on-duty police officers, witnessing the trio’s demeanor while watching the surveillance, were close to dropping the noodles from their mouths in amazement.

He walked behind Zhao Xiaokui with his bowl of noodles, somewhat curious, and asked, “Can you guys actually see anything?”

Zhang Hongyi and Hong Ying were fine. Although they also applied an eightfold acceleration, they focused on a single frame, not constantly accelerating. In crowded scenes, they slowed down to carefully review. On the other hand, Lin Bai and Zhao Xiaokui were more extravagant. One opened four windows, and the other, even more exaggeratedly, opened nine windows, all at a speed of thirty-two times. To put it bluntly, the video looked like it was flickering.

The police officers got dizzy after watching for a while.

“Not bad,” Zhao Xiaokui said without blinking.

After about ten or twenty minutes, Lin Bai, feeling uncomfortable from the excessive strain, was rubbing his temples when suddenly he heard a crisp sound of keys being pressed, click—

“Captain Zhang, come take a look!” Zhao Xiaokui said.

Zhang Hongyi walked over, asking, “What did you find?”

The on-duty police officers were also curious about what they had discovered.

Zhao Xiaokui had already captured screenshots of the videos where she noticed something was off. At this moment, everyone gathered around, and she opened each one, displaying them for everyone to see. When looking at individual images, nothing seemed amiss, but when merged together, an anomaly became apparent.

“These are all people living near the victims. On the day the victims went missing or the following day, they all left their homes with a huge suitcase, claiming to be on business trips, visiting friends, or going on vacations. Since their behavior seemed normal, and there were no apparent abnormalities, we never considered them as suspects. But what if—what if these are the people who took the victims away?”

“In the discovered missing cases, it’s not hard to notice that all the victims are petite, attractive women, mostly with a height below 1.65 meters and a weight of around 40 kilograms. Given this height and weight, fitting into a large suitcase is not an issue.”

The police officers asked in confusion, “But why would these people kidnap the victims? Some of them don’t even know each other, just living in the same building. The motive doesn’t make sense.”

Zhao Xiaokui, Zhang Hongyi, and the others exchanged glances.

The fact that the police couldn’t find a motive for these people didn’t mean a motive couldn’t be found.

After expressing gratitude to the officers in the surveillance room, the group took copies of the images and videos, preparing for the next step of investigation.

“This cult is well-hidden. It was shut down once before due to enticing students to commit suicide, and now it has resurfaced.”

Back at the Night Walkers’ base, Zhang Hongyi brought out information related to the cult.

Zhao Xiaokui took the information and discovered that the cult was last exposed ten years ago.

At that time, she hadn’t even entered high school; she was still in junior high. Her family didn’t even have a computer, let alone the current trend of smartphones. If she wanted to go online, she would go to internet cafes and pay for computer usage. However, she had heard about the student suicide incident mentioned in the data when people chatted.

There was a forum where posts from student couples discussing suicide to escape the oppression from teachers and parents were frequent. When the police discovered it, four pairs of young couples had already committed suicide through methods such as charcoal burning and wrist-cutting. The forum was exposed when one couple, attempting to jump off a building, hesitated, and the male survivor revealed the forum when questioned about why they chose a suicide pact.

If not discovered early, who knows how many more couples would have fallen victim.

According to Night Walkers’ investigation, the male survivor who hesitated during the suicide attempt later awakened to extraordinary abilities and became an extraordinary person, even joining the Night Walkers and working at another city’s Night Walkers’ base.

“The four pairs of couples who committed suicide were all resolute, with one pair even drowning themselves using a basin from their home. This is not easy,” Hong Ying remarked. “The instinct for self-preservation in humans is powerful, and it’s challenging to die in this way unless external forces intervene.”

“Surely, the evil god must have exerted some interference on them, intensifying their determination to die,” Zhao Xiaokui pondered, “and the guy who awakened to extraordinary abilities, like me, probably managed to break free from the constraints imposed by the evil god.”

Gou Rixin was still in a dazed state, “What does all this have to do with capturing the evil god?”

Lin Bai couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “Haven’t you noticed the common point in all of this?”

Guo Rixin: “Huh?”

“Love,” Zhao Xiaokui put down the documents and looked at everyone, saying, “The young couples choosing suicide did so because their love was obstructed. That’s why they resorted to such a decisive way to pursue their love. However, in reality, we all know that very few couples reach the point of life and death together. There must be some external force interfering, making them unshakably believe in their love without any doubt.”

“The private fans of Nie Fu, in a certain sense, also love him, although this kind of love seems quite terrifying to us.”

“What kind of person dares to trample on everything, disregarding the legal risks?” Zhao Xiaokui continued, “Aside from capitalists, there are only those who are madly in love.”

“I think we have three investigation directions now. First, investigate the Sasaeng fans who have been tracking Nie Fu. See if there are any recent movements, as these people usually have twisted mentalities, both possessive and desiring to let the whole world know that the idol belongs to them. Lin Bai, you can focus on checking their social media platforms, looking for any uploaded photos of items related to Nie Fu or similar boastful statements. Second, investigate the neighbors of those victims. If they haven’t been hypnotized or brainwashed, or if they are not members of the cult themselves, we can focus on their recent experiences, especially if they’ve recently fallen into a love affair or encountered new people. Third, investigate the intersection between Nie Fu’s Sasaeng fans and the people carrying luggage in the video.” Zhao Xiaokui believed that this investigation direction was the easiest to yield results. “The fact that the private fan dared to enter Nie Fu’s house a second time indicates that she must still have contact with an intermediary.”
“At the same time, being madly in love also makes it easiest to reveal one’s true colors for love.”

---