59: Chapter 59 Yan Yu's Pursuit - Su Chen's Route Map

Dali Ancient City.

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

Sunlight was blocked by the clouds of Cangshan Mountain, and a cool breeze blew across the bluestone slab road.

Yan Yu carried a backpack, and her feet had developed blisters.

Brother Cai and A-Li followed behind, and the three of them had already visited more than seventy bars, inns, and musical instrument shops in a row.

"This is the last street," Brother Cai unscrewed his mineral water bottle, "after we finish asking, we'll change places."

Yan Yu nodded and pushed open the door of a quiet bar at the corner of the street named "Ragged Radio".

There was no music playing in the shop. The owner was a middle-aged man with a full beard, holding a soldering iron behind the counter to repair an old-fashioned power amplifier, covered in sweat.

Yan Yu walked over and placed the group photo of thirteen people and Su Chen's individual screenshot on the glass counter.

"Boss, have you seen this person?"

The bearded boss looked up, his gaze falling on the screen.

After looking for three seconds, he put down the soldering iron in his hand.

"Seen him," the boss picked up a towel and wiped the rosin off his hands, "four days ago, on a heavy rainy day."

Yan Yu's breath hitched.

A-Li suddenly leaned forward.

"Did he sing?" Yan Yu stared closely into the boss's eyes.

"He didn't sing," the boss pointed to the disassembled power amplifier on the table, "the audio wiring in the shop short-circuited that day. This guy came in to escape the rain and watched me fiddle with it for half an hour without fixing it. He borrowed a Phillips screwdriver and a pair of electrician's pliers from me."

The boss pulled out a cigarette pack and lit one.

"He knows circuits," the boss exhaled a smoke ring, "disassembling the motherboard, rewiring, testing capacitors. His movements were very skilled, and there were thick calluses on his fingers. In less than twenty minutes, the sound system was working. I poured him a glass of the most expensive liquor in the shop as a thank-you gift."

"Did he drink it?" A-Li asked.

"No," the boss shook his head, "he asked for a cup of warm water. After drinking it, he adjusted his hat and left."

The boss pulled open a drawer and flipped out a crumpled menu order form.

The back had several complex circuit sketches drawn on it.

"He drew this backup anti-short-circuit diagram for me. His handwriting is quite nice, with a strong skeletal structure." The boss handed the order form over.

Yan Yu took the menu order form. On it were a few lines outlined in a black pen, and a note written in the lower right corner: "Pay attention to the negative pole grounding."

The handwriting was vigorous and upright.

"Thanks, boss." Yan Yu took a photo of the menu to keep, turned around, and ran out of the quiet bar.

...

For the next three whole days.

Yan Yu and the other two drove that Buick business car, tracking all the way north along G214 National Highway.

From Dali, they tracked all the way to Lijiang.

Every visit felt like piecing together a shattered puzzle.

The people along the way gave completely different yet surprisingly consistent answers.

In the middle section of G214 National Highway, a dilapidated auto repair shop.

The repairman, covered in engine oil, looked at the photo and slapped his thigh.

"I recognize him! It happened ten days ago. I had a second-hand Jetta with an abnormal transmission noise, and I couldn't find the problem. This brother passed by, listened to the engine sound for five minutes, crawled right into the pit, and helped me adjust the gear clearance. He even knows how to fix cars! I asked him to stay for a bowl of noodles, but he waved his hand, carried an old bag, and walked further along the highway."

Lijiang Ancient City, Sifang Street Square.

Several young Street Dance performers with dyed hair and oversized T-shirts gathered around a mobile phone.

The leading boy saw the photo clearly and shouted excitedly.

"This is Brother Chen! It's definitely him!"

The boy pointed to the open space in the middle of the square.

"Half a month ago, we were rehearsing a Popping routine here. The captain couldn't get the vibration rhythm of that syncopation right no matter what. This tall guy watched from the side for a while, walked over, and said three sentences."

The boy gestured the movements.

"He said, for chest isolation, don't use brute force, use breathing. He gave a personal demonstration." The boy swallowed, "Just one fixed-point movement. I swear, I've never seen such a clean and neat vibration in my life! It directly convinced our captain! The captain wanted to add him on WeChat to become his apprentice, but he didn't agree, only saying to practice basic skills more in the future."

Lijiang North Gate, a small family-run diner.

The plump proprietress looked at the photo, her eye sockets turning red.

"He's a good young man. He came five days ago and ordered a bowl of plain rice noodles. He didn't rush to leave after eating, and saw my youngest son fiddling with a children's toy guitar. He walked over, picked up that plastic guitar, and actually played a very nice tune. He coaxed my youngest son to sleep before leaving."

...

On the fourth night.

The Buick business car parked by the roadside in the suburbs of Lijiang.

Outside the car window, the silhouette of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain loomed faintly in the moonlight.

Yan Yu sat in the back row and opened her laptop.

She dragged all the recordings, photos, and short videos collected over the past few days into a single document.

She opened a high-definition map of Yunnan Province.

She clicked the mouse.

Using red marker points, she connected the coordinates where Su Chen had appeared one after another.

Kunming underground passage.

Dali Buyu Inn.

Dali roadside musical instrument store.

Dali bar street firewood room.

G214 National Highway auto repair shop.

Lijiang Sifang Street Square.

Lijiang family-run diner.

A red line wound its way across the map.

That was the route map of a solitary wanderer.

Yan Yu's fingers typed on the keyboard.

She attached this organized route map and all visiting evidence with a long article and clicked send.

Weibo, Douyin, and Bilibili.

All three platforms updated simultaneously.

Title: "The Traces Passed by the Wind — Searching for the S.C. Route Map."

Fifteen minutes later.

Magic City.

The online viewer count in Wang Wenjian's live broadcast room had stabilized at 350,000.

Ever since Lu Han made his public stance, the enthusiasm across the entire internet to search for Su Chen not only did not subside, but was completely ignited.

"Brothers! Sister Yan Yu posted a new update!"

Wang Wenjian directly switched screens and projected that post onto the public screen.

There were no passionate accusations, nor gorgeous rhetoric.

It was all accounts from ordinary people at the bottom of society.

The circuit diagram drawn while repairing the power amplifier, the oral recording of dance guidance on Sifang Street, and the interview video of the diner proprietress.

The live broadcast room fell silent.

350,000 netizens stared fixedly at the map connected by red lines on the screen.

The corners of Wang Wenjian's eyes were red, and his voice trembled.

"This is what Koreans call a 'typist'."

Wang Wenjian clicked on the close-up of the hand-drawn circuit diagram.

"He understands music theory, can repair cars, can connect wires, and a casual guidance can make a Street Dance captain want to become his apprentice. He can even play a lullaby with a child's toy guitar."

The bullet chats flooded the screen.

[I cried watching this. I really cried.]

[He alone covered half of the Hallyu music library, yet on G214 National Highway, he helped people crawl into drainage ditches to repair chassis.]

[He is like a gust of wind; wherever he goes, he leaves warmth and talent. When people want to offer him alcohol, he only asks for a glass of plain water.]

[This is not some down-and-out Trainee at all. This is a sweeping monk cultivating in the mortal world!]

[He wasn't defeated; he just loved this world in a different way.]

[Why! This kind of all-around genius, this kind of person whose bones exude kindness, why should he be forced to wander on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau!]

[...]

The anger and heartache on the internet reached their peak at this moment.

Slapping chaebols in the face could no longer satisfy the emotions of netizens.

Everyone wanted a thorough explanation.

On the Weibo hot search list, new entries were climbing at a terrifying speed.

#What Did Su Chen Do Wrong##Exposing the Truth Behind SM Entertainment Firing Him Five Years Ago##Give Su Chen Justice#

All the focus converged on that stormy night five years ago.

Capital's betrayal after crossing the bridge always needs an excuse.

Even if it was an unwarranted charge, a trigger event must have definitely happened back then.

Whose cake did he end up moving to be wiped out so thoroughly and ruthlessly?

...

Seoul.

Two o'clock in the morning.

The SM Entertainment building was brightly lit.

The sound of keyboard clicking from the PR department echoed into a mess.

Kim Young-min sat at the head of the conference room, his face haggard.

Lu Han's live broadcast statements and the continuously fermenting route map on the Chinese internet caused the company's stock price to suffer another setback.

"Suppress it. Continue buying press releases!" Kim Young-min's throat was dry and hoarse, "No matter what, we cannot let the real reason for his firing back then see the light of day."

"President Kim, the gap on the Chinese side can no longer be plugged," the PR director wiped his sweat.

"If you can't plug China, stabilize the domestic public opinion in South Korea!" Kim Young-min slapped the table fiercely, "As long as we don't admit our mistake in our own country, the copyright lawsuit can be dragged out!"

Just as Kim Young-min was giving orders.

The technician sitting in the corner responsible for monitoring overseas network public opinion suddenly gasped.

"President Kim..." the technician's voice trembled.

"What is it!"

The technician trembling with his hands projected the computer screen onto the large screen in the conference room.

That was Naver Theqoo, the largest overseas star-chasing forum in South Korea and even the entire Asia.

At the top of the homepage, a long article without any paid internet troll traces, but forcibly tagged with a red [Explosive] label by the administrator, had just refreshed.

The title was machine-translated and published simultaneously in three languages: Korean, English, and Chinese.

Every single word exuded a bloody weight.

"I am a Korean Trainee from Class A five years ago. The night S.C. was driven away, I was right behind the door. Today, I am returning the truth of the blacklisting to him."