CHAPTER 120: IS JING SHU THE ONE WHO TORTURED AND KILLED 5 PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY?

Su Meimei’s cellphone Big Data clearly displayed:

Jing Shu: 55 points. She has a villa with an outstanding mortgage and a car with an outstanding loan. On May 29, 2023, from 13:00 to 17:00, she stayed at the office building diagonally opposite the Ai Family Supermarket in the Development Zone. It was confirmed that on that day, five brutal murders occurred in the same residential complex, resulting in +30 points.

Jing An: 20 points, good credit assessment, works at a livestock breeding farm.

Su Lanzi: 10 points, good credit assessment, works at the Planting Management Department.

Although Big Data had only been officially in use for just half a month, the feedback was extremely accurate. 55 points represented a 55% crime rate. A score of 100 meant confirmation of criminal activity, while reaching 200 indicated the person had committed multiple robberies and murders.

It was reported that the current highest score belonged to the leader of Zhetian, who had reached 800 points, having committed numerous serious crimes.

Depending on the level of access, the completeness of the data one could view about a person also varied. It was said that those at the highest level could achieve round-the-clock surveillance of an individual, including web pages they browsed on their phone, photos they had taken, and apps they had used.

Cloud data would save all traces of a person, and Big Data would perform correlational analyses of local events. A person would have absolutely no secrets.

Her main responsibility was to confirm whether these high-scorers had indeed committed crimes.

As long as she reported them, professional interrogators would later employ unsavory methods of coercion to reconfirm their guilt.

"Hmph, even if you beg me then, I won’t forgive you."

Su Meimei seemed to have already envisioned Jing Shu and her family kneeling before her, begging for mercy.

Su Meimei haughtily instructed Wang Qiqi to kick out those confirmed dead from the group chat. What was originally a group of over a hundred people shrank to around 80 in the blink of an eye.

"@everyone, change your nickname to this format: Real Name + Block Number + Gender, so I can organize things easily. Wang Qiqi, please add all other residential complex members who haven’t joined the group."

The group fell silent for a while, eerily so. Likewise, no one followed Su Meimei’s formatting request; everyone pretended to be offline.

Even the usually good-natured Wang Qiqi remained silent.

You claim to be from the government, but you come in here bossing us around right off the bat. Now you’ve turned a chat group into your personal work group, and you expect us all to listen? Why should we?

While nibbling on a fresh carrot, Jing Shu watched the commotion in the group. Su Meimei’s taunting ability was quite something. Jing Shu almost envied people like her who had been courting death for so many years and yet weren’t dead.

Seeing that no one in the large group was paying her any attention, Su Meimei became furious. "What, are you all pretending not to see me when I speak? I told you to change your nicknames first, then report in. Don’t you understand?"

That’s when someone spoke up.

Zhang Bingbing’s Big Husband: "Why should we listen to you? You tell me to check in every day; are you going to provide meals? You even want to control what we do every day? Do I have to report to you every time I sleep with my wife?"

Zhang Bingbing’s Little Husband: "Exactly! Who do you think you are? The government isn’t managing anything these days! We’re out here every day digging for insects to trade for food, and it’s still just insects. Why isn’t the government distributing its food supplies?"

Su Meimei was livid. A new official usually makes a show of authority upon taking office, but hers had been questioned before it was even established. "@Wang Qiqi," she demanded, "what’s the deal with these two? What are their real names?"

She has the data; how could she not find these two? I’ll make them regret this!

Wang Qiqi said, "We don’t know what these two are called. They broke into Zhang Bingbing’s home and assaulted her. This caused Zhang Bingbing to suffer a mental breakdown and become pregnant. We wanted to drive these two away, but Zhang Bingbing, in her crazed state, vehemently disagreed."

Fat Girl No.25: "Those two are father and son! Beasts!"

"How could you allow such a thing to happen? These two men have definitely committed crimes! I’m reporting them immediately, and we’ll have them arrested. And you say I don’t have the authority to manage you?" Su Meimei spoke with an air of superiority.

Wang Qiqi then asked, "What about the madwoman, Zhang Bingbing? Who’s going to look after her? She’s pregnant, too. Or, as a government official, are you going to take care of Zhang Bingbing?"

Su Meimei instantly fell silent. She desperately wanted to say, "What does Zhang Bingbing’s life or death matter to me?" However, with so many people around, she knew that admitting such a thing could bring disastrous consequences if discovered.

"Fine, we’ll talk about these two men later. Who is Wang Dazhao? Are you here? You’ve been listed as a highly probable criminal. If you don’t speak up, I’ll report your information, and it will be officially recorded," Su Meimei said.

Silence returned to the group.

Jing Shu sneered. Luckily, she had arranged for Wang Dazhao to infiltrate the Armed Police system. Once he completed his current mission, he would be able to clear his name, rendering Su Meimei’s report useless.

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Wang Dazhao. Anyone who doesn’t reply will be recorded by default."

"Is Shi Zi here? Were you at the West Mountain murder scene on May 24? Zhu Fan, were you at Ai Family Supermarket committing robbery and murder on the night of May 15?"

"Luo Zhu, were you involved in bombing Ai Family Supermarket with Zhetian on May 29? If you don’t speak up, I’ll record you by default. From now on, you’ll be blacklisted and unable to buy anything, including water and food."

Su Meimei’s barrage of accusations immediately caused many people to come forward and apologize.

Jing Shu noticed that within two minutes, most of the nicknames in the group had been changed according to Su Meimei’s instructions. After all, in this era, "Sorry, I’m busy," was hardly a usable excuse.

Since there were very few organizations offering work, those who actually had jobs were considered quite remarkable. The vast majority of people stayed home in the 60°C heat, waiting for the temperature to drop around five or six in the afternoon before going out to catch insects for work points.

Fortunately, there were still two hours of electricity each day, though it was only enough to charge phones and provide light for a short while. Kitchen knives had been confiscated, natural gas was cut off, and food supplies were depleted. With nothing to cook, people were entirely dependent on the government for food and water.

So, everyone was wary of Su Meimei. The currently obtainable food and water were controlled by the government. If one were blacklisted, forget food—which one might still manage to catch and eat raw—what difference was there between being unable to get water and death itself?

This truly held everyone’s lifeline. Most people still didn’t understand the concept of Big Data. They only felt that Su Meimei must have access to some crucial information to be able to list such specifics. Even those who hadn’t done anything wrong feared she might pin a serious accusation on them.

The group immediately became lively. Several people chimed in, explaining their innocence regarding their actions on the days in question, quickly praising Su Meimei to the skies.

The power of a Conversation Commissioner in the Initial Stage of Apocalypse was evident.

Su Meimei’s vanity was greatly satisfied.

"What’s with the few of you who haven’t changed your nicknames? Sister Jing from the villa area? Oh, isn’t this Jing Shu? Five people from our residential complex went missing on May 29 and were later found tortured to death at Ai Family Supermarket. According to reports, you were at that location from 13:00 to 17:00 that day. You are highly suspected. Was it you, Jing Shu, who tortured and killed those five people from our complex?"