Ch49 - Search (1/2)
The movie started, so they began watching it. After it finished, Yu Hao was about to suggest returning to college to study when Zhou Sheng sat down in the flower cafe instead. He ordered two drinks, and asked as he sat opposite Yu Hao, “Do you have VPN?”
Yu Hao said, “I’ll buy one now ba.”
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Zhou Sheng, “Here, open it first. Log in to my account; I’ve registered an account on Facebook before, but it’s too troublesome to breach the wall, so I didn’t use it. Your English is good, search ‘Takin’ and ‘Columbia University’ and see if you can find his Facebook or blog.”
There are hardly any secrets in the Internet age. Ryuusei’s name was relatively unique. Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng each began searching, starting with ‘Chen Yekai’ and ‘Columbia University’. Yu Hao asked, “Is this considered internet stalking? I really don’t feel good about this……”
Zhou Sheng’s mouth twitched, “Then do you want to watch another movie? You don’t mind if he dies?”
Yu Hao, “That’s still a bit……okay let’s just search ba.”
Zhou Sheng said, “I’m the one who asked you to search, so isn’t it fine if you just blame it all on me. Or I can search on my own and send you a screenshot once I find something? Then you can help me translate?”
Yu Hao, “Of course we should bear the responsibility together. I just think that……you won’t be able to find the information you want.”
Zhou Sheng, “That’s it then, what are you wasting time for? Just look for it first, okay?”
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Yu Hao was just afraid of finding Chen Yekai’s……the thought had just occurred to him when it popped up: on the account of an overseas student, he came across a photo of Chen Yekai’s naked body……but fortunately, it was only the upper half.
Yu Hao held his forehead with one hand. Zhou Sheng said, “Let me see? Take it easy, it’s at a swimming pool. He’s wearing swimming trunks, the photo was secretly taken.”
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng searched for awhile. There were quite a few sneak shots of Chen Yekai, and one of them was a group photo with a few girls at a party.
“Look at the comments.” Zhou Sheng said, “Search the comments.”
This was from almost four and a half years ago, and it was posted on Thanksgiving. Yu Hao searched through several comments, but never saw ‘Takin’ or someone he suspected as ‘Takin’, but he did find Chen Yekai’s account.
“Look at Kaikai’s.” Zhou Sheng said.
Chen Yekai’s Facebook was almost empty, with only one post:
“Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter,
In sleep a king, but waking no such matter.”
Zhou Sheng, “What does it mean?”
“Thus, the time in which I had you was like a fleeting dream; while I was asleep, I thought I was a king, but when I woke up, I found that was not the case.” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng, “It’s quite poetic.”
Yu Hao, “Shakespeare’s original text.”
Zhou Sheng, “I meant the translation is very good……”
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Yu Hao, “It was translated by Gu Zhengkun Laoshi.”
Zhou Sheng, “Okay shut up ba, continue searching.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao searched through Chen Yekai’s close friends. He didn’t have many of them, but he did have a lot of fans, yet not one of them was Nakagawa Ryuusei. Zhou Sheng continued, “Login to my Twitter to check.”
Yu Hao downloaded Twitter and logged in to Zhou Sheng’s account. He accessed Chen Yekai’s Twitter through his Facebook page, but all the content on his Twitter had been completely purged. Their sleuthing trail thus came to a dead end.
Zhou Sheng refused to give up, “Search ‘Nicky’ and ‘Takin’ as keywords, what about the cached versions of the webpage?”
Yu Hao had already searched through all that could be searched. Zhou Sheng said, “Check Ryuusei’s name in katakana. His name in katakana plus ‘Takin’, ‘Nicky’, try all possible combinations. Wait, see if Kaikai has any other nicknames? What about his email prefixes and domain names?”
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Yu Hao, “Oh yeah!”
Yu Hao returned to Chen Yekai’s Twitter and Facebook and found the prefix of his domain name, and managed to find the domain name ‘Nick_0928’. He used this and added ‘Takin’, as well as Ryuusei’s katakana name as search combinations.
Yu Hao found a picture on Google.
It was the one he saw before — the photo Ryuusei and Chen Yekai had taken together below Iguazu Falls.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Itbe Vtfcu, “……”
Te Ljb, “……”
Pc atf fcv, atlr qtbab kjr ralii vlrmbnfgfv ys Itbe Vtfcu.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
“Tbe’gf cba regqglrfv?” Itbe Vtfcu’r jaafcalbc tjr jikjsr yffc obmerfv bc atf kflgvfra vfajlir, “Eseerfl kbgf atja rtlga yfobgf!”
“P’w nfgs regqglrfv!” Te Ljb rjlv, “P’w reqfg regqglrfv.”
“Xbbuif lwjuf rfjgmt.” Itbe Vtfcu mbcalcefv.
Yu Hao used google image search, and now they finally found it; Nakagawa Ryuusei’s Facebook. He didn’t even have a single close friend, and existed alone in the clamour of the lively Internet. Just like a solitary island isolated from the world, with no routes that can reach it.
On this lonely island, there were only two posts. One was the photo he took with Chen Yekai under Iguazu Falls, captioned with a Japanese sentence. Yu Hao copied it into an online translator, and learned that it meant “Beginning”.
The other post was password-protected. The title was in Chinese, and its title read “End”. A photo of a curtain with sunlight shining upon it was attached.
Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng sat opposite each other in silence. Zhou Sheng quietly looked at Ryuusei’s Facebook.
“Want to go and take a look?” Yu Hao asked.
Zhou Sheng put his phone down, “Forget it.”
“I guessed as much.” Yu Hao said, “That’s why from the beginning, I thought that you might not find what you were looking for.”
Zhou Sheng was completely exhausted. He looked at the sun through the french windows.
Yu Hao said, “He came to this world and left in the end. He felt completely disconnected from the world, and didn’t want to leave behind a single trace when he left. The only thing he wanted to convey, was his……farewell to his lover. He had a very calm frame of mind……”
“Don’t say anymore.” Zhou Sheng answered irritably, “I don’t want to hear you recall whatever because you can empathise with him.”
Yu Hao fell silent. Actually, he did have the same mindset before: this world was so noisy and lively, yet he was just a lonesome island. But eventually, Zhou Sheng opened up a route, and became the ship that sailed towards this island, and his world gradually became more and more vibrant.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.
Zhou Sheng tore up five or six packets of sugar in a row and poured them all into Yu Hao’s cup of coffee, then added several packets of sugar to his own as well. He began stirring it before saying, “Here, cheers! If there are good feelings between us, then down it in one shot!”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao had no choice but to tap his cup against Zhou Sheng’s and finish his coffee, “It’s too sweet, I can’t stand it.”
Yu Hao’s throat was practically on fire and it throbbed painfully. Zhou Sheng said, “Let’s go back ba.”
“What’s next? What should we do?” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng shrugged, “This is bad, even General doesn’t know ah——”
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng suspiciously, yet the corners of Zhou Sheng’s mouth slowly began to curve upwards. Yu Hao keenly took notice of this instant when Zhou Sheng seemed like he had had something up his sleeve……
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“You must have thought of something!” Yu Hao said, “Tell me!”
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng expectantly, and Zhou Sheng laughed.
“Aren’t you quite clever?” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll test you. The clue is this letter. Think about it ba, if you can figure it out, I’ll cook a delicious meal for you later.”
Yu Hao was immediately distracted, “What will you cook?”
Zhou Sheng looked at his watch, “I’ll give you ten minutes. When it’s 5pm, we’ll eat at the college’s canteen.”
Yu Hao immediately said, “No! Let me think about it……letter, letter……”
“Uh huh?” Zhou Sheng leaned lazily against the back of his chair.
Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.