Skills future

[ilikeoldchangke]

This is new.
4 different headlines on the same date.

I’m not sure what this means but I reckon it meant whatever happens could go 4 ways depending on what I do, or maybe, just maybe, I can do something that will totally remove all 4 headlines from the newspaper.

There’s no way for me to know for sure.

I stuck the 4 different headlines on the wall like before and I read through the articles in detail.

Taking a step back, I folded my arms with my marker in hand as I tried to make sense of what is happening and if there is any connection between the 4 articles.


I could feel excitement coursing through my veins as I devoured the information presented to me.
Publication date for the newspaper is dated for Thursday, 27th Dec 2018. The incidents all happened one day before on the 26th.

It’s 21st now, which means I have 5 days before it occurs.
I can’t tell if there is a connection between the series of incident. If there is, I will need to find it.
I read through the articles and noted down the names of the people involved, the location where the incident happened and the time when it happened.

From there I can slowly analyse the data.



Headline 1

A student at NUS, Spencer, fell victim to a sex for credit scam, losing his savings of $8000 over a period of 3 days. He first contacted this pretty babe online who is offering sex for $150. He went to a 7-11 shop in Hougang in the morning of 24th and bought $150 worth of Alipay credits. After sending the redemption code to the scammer, they demanded more. Spencer spent a total of $500 on credits before he realised he was getting scammed.
He wanted to stop but the scammers have his phone number. They threatened to expose his attempt to engage a sex worker on the internet and publish his details online. Spencer bought credits worth a total of $8000 between 24-26th December, sending them all to the scammer.
Despite having his savings wiped out, Spencer was still getting threats from the scammer who wanted more. Faced with the threat of getting exposed and too embarrassed to ask for help or go to the police, Spencer committed suicide after leaving a note for his parents on the afternoon of 26/12. No foul play has been suspected.


Headline 2

32 year old financial consultant Francis, drove his vehicle up a kerb along a stretch of popular eatery along upper serangoon road. Heavily intoxicated, Francis drove his rented BMW up a kerb and killed 60 year old Tan Shau Kun who was having supper with his friends on the morning of 26/12.
3 of Tan’s friends are injured and sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. 2 of them has been discharge and the last one is warded for a broken leg.
Tan was pronounced dead on the scene by the paramedics. Francis has been arrested for negligence & drink driving. Investigations are ongoing.


Headline 3

A pimp for a brothel in Geylang was found dead on the evening of 26/12 at a shopping mall. Chua, an operator for a brothel located along Geylang Lorong 18 was found with a single stab wound to the stomach in the men’s bathroom located on level 3 of Heartland mall.
He was discovered by a cleaner doing his rounds at 9.00pm.
Chua was having dinner and drinks inside the mall with friends and they did not realise he went missing after heading to the bathroom. They assumed he left and they continued drinking.
The murder weapon has been found discarded in a bin by the carpark and investigations are ongoing.


Headline 4

An elderly man fell down the stairs while trying to give chase to a lingerie thief.
59 year old semi-retired Cab driver Alvin Choo fell down the stairs in the evening of 26/12 while trying to chase down a serial lingerie thief. The estate Alvin has been staying in for close to 2 decades has been hit with a spad of missing shoes and lingerie in recent months. Many neighbours have reported missing heels and ladies footwear apart from their underwear.
Alvin just completed his shift around 11.30pm and he discovered the lingerie thief trying to make off with some clothing from his laundry rack along the corridor.
Mr Choo gave chase and while struggling with the thief, he accidentally fell down a flight of stairs, hitting his head on a parked bicycle. He is survived by daughter and wife. Police have established the identity of the lingerie thief through swift investigations, however the suspect did not return home after the incident. The police spokesman has declined further comments on an ongoing investigation.



4 different headlines and they appeared to be isolated incidents.

There is a common denominator for all 4 incidents, and they all happened within the town of Hougang.
I printed a google map of the town and base on the description, roughly plotted the location of each incident.
The suicide, the accident, the murder and the fall, all of which resulted in death. 4 person died.

Taking a step back, it suddenly dawned on me that if I did nothing, at least one of these people will die. This is if I assume that actions of mine will start off chain reaction that affects others. 4 articles published on the same date could mean that if I save 1, the 2nd one will die, if I saved 2, the 3rd will die and so on.

There is a chance that if I save one of them , I might inevitably set off the events that killed the other 3.

However, if I don’t do anything, there is also a chance that all 4 will die. There’s no way for me to know.

I calmed myself down and tried to put things in perspective.
The victims are all within close vicinity of each other, the events happened within hours of each other.

I might just be able to stop them all. If I succeed, I would have saved 4 person.
The timing of each incident is different, I can see they are a few hours apart. That’s good news for me because it means they don’t all happen at the same time.

They are sequential.

4 different headlines, with different time of occurrence, I will take this as if I stop one from happening, it would trigger the other incident, thereby taking on the headline of the day, replacing the one I stopped.


However, if I can stop all 4 from happening, kill it in the cradle. None of these articles will appear on the newspaper.

That is the most plausible theory I can come up with.

I pasted a post it note on Article 1, Spencer.

This is the easy one.

Why ?

Well, I know his face, I know the location, I know the day when it all started.
I just need to stop Spencer from making the 1st purchase of the Alipay credit to stop the scam.

No scam, no threats by the scammer, no suicide.
This 1st case can be a warmup.


Base on the timing, the murder of the pimp, Chua, is the next to happen. I know how Chua looks like, which mall he goes to and which toilet he was found dead.
I might just be able to stop the murder if I’m there.

It’s dumb I know, putting myself in harm’s way for someone I don’t even know but I can’t help it.
Besides, if there are other people in the toilet, how are you going to stab the guy ? Surely you would think twice no ? I would think between Chua and me, 2 adults would surely be enough to stop the murderer.

Why would you commit a crime in full view of another person?

Or perhaps I can stop Chua from going into the bathroom. I mean, getting him to pee or shit all over himself is better than he end up dead right ? Maybe I can lock the bathroom or choke it.

Next would be the accident by the drunk driver. Francis. I can’t stop a moving car, I only know the direction which he is coming from. There was no mention of when Francis was drinking either. If not, I could have stopped him at his drinking hole.

However, I can clear the people having supper by the side of the road I guess.

I just need a way to convince the guest seated along the side of the road to move. Hell, I have 200000 from the lottery, I can book the whole fucking shop if I want to.

Maybe fill each table up with food and tell the operator I’m honouring the dead or something.
It’s doable.

Definitely doable.

Last would be the lingerie thief.

I know the block of flats where the incident happened but I don’t know which unit or which level it happened. However, there are several photos of the scene. All I need to do, is to take the pictures, head down to site and find it. The old locked bicycle that Alvin hit his head against is a dead giveaway.
If I can find that bicycle along the stair landing, I would be able to find the spot where he died.

I will then camp there and wait for either the thief to appear, or Alvin to start chasing. I’ll just need to be near the staircase when it happened to stop him from falling or hitting the parked bike.

I went through the articles again and going through my preliminary plan to see if I miss something out.
So far so good. It seems pretty straight forward. I’m on leave the entire week too, which gives me the time to prepare myself and walk the ground.

It can be done.

It’s exciting no matter how I look at it. If I pull it off, I’m going to save 4 lives and a few broken families.



22nd December 2018
Saturday

I took a cab to Hougang, starting with the block where Spencer stays.
Block 23 sits at the junction of Upper Serangoon road and Hougang Aveue 3.

Walking to the convenient stall, I went in and took my time browsing the drinks in the fridge. This is where Spencer bought the prepaid credits for the scammer.

I paid for a bottle of coffee and left the shop.

[ilikeoldchangke]

Under the block, there is a coffee shop, a clinic among other sundry shops.
A distant away, I could see a warning sign put up by the police, warning residents about sex for credit scams. Apparently, it’s not obvious enough for Spencer to see it.


I walked up and down the entire length of the block, looking at the multiple cameras as I thought of how to let Spencer know he is being scammed. Suddenly, I was hit with a great idea.


What better example to give others, than an example of myself being scammed?
Exactly.

I looked at my phone and around the vicinity.

All I needed to do, is pretend I was getting scammed, maybe get into a heated argument with the imaginary scammer on my end of the line. As long as I am within Spencer’s earshot, he will surely pay attention to me.

And if he still goes ahead and gets cheated when he sees me going through the same thing, I will probably just go ahead and slap some sense into him or something.

I took down some notes and it’s settled for Spencer’s situation.

Next, the pimp. I took a short bus ride to heartland mall and made my way up to level 3. This mall’s bathroom layout is a bit peculiar. There are men and ladies bathroom on the ground floor, but only ladies on level 2 and only men’s on level 3.

While the bathroom on level one is always crowded, the one on level 3 is practically empty. I mean, who wants to take the escalator up to level 3 to take a piss unless you happen to be near right?

Standing at the atrium, I could see it’s a sleepy neighbourhood mall. Some retirees are milling about, enjoying the free air conditioning. From bookshops to banks, the small mall has everything you could possibly need.

I entered the bathroom on level 3 and it’s not very big compared to what you see nowadays at the bigger newer malls.

The article says Chua died with a single stab wound in the 1st cubicle.

The toilet has a stale smell but otherwise still pretty clean. There is a small storage cabinet in the toilet. I opened it to see the usual cleaning products, some plastic aprons, some tongs for picking up rubbish and rubber gloves drying from the previous round of cleaning.

There is also a large bag of jumbo toilet rolls.

I walked out of the bathroom, trying put myself in the shoes of the assailant.
Where would I go ? Where would I run to ?

Heading into the fire exit staircase is the quickest route. It takes you down to level one right away and the camera along the corridor leading to the toilet will be the only one that I would pass through.


I took the route down and I could see the staircase is a frequent spot for the smokers who work in the mall. The steps are littered with cigarette butts and there is a stale smell of 2nd smoke in the air.

Retracing my steps up, i tried to make sense of the attack. There is a high chance that they know each other. The odds of someone stabbing a random guy in a toilet is just so darn low. Maybe it’s a personal feud or something.

I loitered around level 3, taking a couple of rounds around the atrium. There are eateries and restaurant on level 2. Trying to stop a potential murder on my own is just plain dumb, I need help.

My phone rang and I saw that it was Sam.

“hello?”

“Jerry ah Jerry… this time Jelly already la.” he said in an exasperated voice.

“why why why ? why you everytime talk like that Uncle Sam ? “ I asked.
“you went on leave never say earlier, who is going to sign off on my work completion ? end of the year boss, I need to pay bonus, I need to pay my workers. Brother…. Die la brother…”

“Oh shit…” I replied, suddenly remembering I left work in a hurry.

I was supposed to sign off the job completion and pass the document to my colleague who will then hand it over to Sam after he is done.

“How how? , die la brother. How like that ? When you coming back ? “

Looking at the restaurant, and the café, then back at the toilet, I was struck with an idea.

“Sam, I tell you what. You still left a bit not done right ? “

“housekeeping only, almost there. I can chope chope finish in 2, 3 days max.” He said.

“Sam, ok, calm down. You go ahead and finish the work. It’s ending on the 24th right.? “

“yes. Confirm I will wrap up on 24th.”

“Ok, good. you 26th, free or not, come meet me. I buy you dinner. I sign off and settle all your claims. I confirm you within 2 weeks get paid.”

“Zhun bo ? Chinese New year coming leh brother. Cash flow tight ah..”

“Yah la, yah la, you don’t loso (naggy) la , 26th Dinner. At. Errr… Kovan. Heartland mall. I buy you Korean BBQ.” I said while looking at the Korean restaurant on level 2.


The article mentioned Chua was eating and drinking. Among the restaurants I passed through, the Korean BBQ restaurant is the one that has the highest chance of hosting a dinner and drinks crowd.

There are no male toilets on level 2, with the restaurant entrance located closer to the upriding escalator to level 3 compared to the down riding one, chances are men who eat there will take the escalator up to level 3 to use the bathroom, instead of going down to level 1.


“Hougang ah ? steady la, I stay near there. What time ? “

“5.30pm”

“Ok. On ah, don’t fly me aeroplane ar (don’t play me out). Uncle old already…cannot take aeroplane… “

“I’ll see you on the 26th Sam.”


Sam is a bit taller than me but with the body of heavyweight boxer that let his body go out of control. He has a pudgy face that always seemed to be full of stubbles no matter how much he shaves.

His shirt is always those oversized tops with printed faces of wrestling legends from Hulk Hogan to Ultimate warrior.

On his left arm, there is an incomplete tattoo of a dragon. I asked him about the story once, and he told me he was doing it halfway when he was young but a fight broke out in the tattoo parlour. Everyone ran and by the time he came back, police are all over the scene. Being an underage smoker, with contraband cigarettes on himself, he quickly bolted. When he tried to get the tattoo finished, he realised the artist went to jail for some drug offences.


So the tattoo was left incomplete. Instead of a dragon, it looks like a snake with 5 claws.

With a couple of other tattoos, the usual gold chain and the Hokkien speak, Sam is the typical 50 year old boss uncle you see at coffee shops drinking beer after a long day of slogging under the sun.
Despite the menacing look on his face when he frown, he is actually a very nice person. He looks like a bear sometimes when he slouches his shoulder.
With a small business, a wife 20 years younger than him from Vietnam that looks like a super model, I actually envy Sam sometimes.

In particular the super model wife part. She’s not a mail order bride by the way, she was an employee in his company doing administrative stuff and someone along the way, she got promoted from admin to lady boss.

Anyway, with Sam beside me, I think if we were to appear in the bathroom alongside Chua. It’s unlikely that the assailant will go through with what he want to do.


I feel safer thinking about it already.

Next, I made my way to the eatery diagonally across the road from where the mall is. The coffee shop along the busy main road serves nasi lemak and chicken hotpot among other things. It’s a popular joint for dinner and supper.

I observed the big junction for a few minutes and the car that Francis will be driving could come from a few directions. There’s no way of knowing because the papers did not reveal the details.


I walked over to the coffee shop. I have been here for supper before many years ago with friends.

A walkway of less than 2 metres separates the busy road from the closest diner.
Recalling the picture from the article, I knew Francis hit the table right by the electrical junction boxes, pinning Tan against it while sending other diners flying in the vicinity.

Tan and friends are having chicken hotpot when the incident happened.
I walked up to the stall and asked if I could block book the shop for a party on the evening of 26th.

“Sorry, we already have a few tables books that night.” The staff said.

“Anyway we can work around ? I’m willing to pay.”

“Brother, here we do mostly regulars. I cannot cancel regular’s table for one off booking.” He checked his booklet and told me he can give me a table for 8 if I want to go ahead with the booking.


“Ok, but can I choose my seat ? “

The staff laughed.

“No, all taken, I can set up your table for you by there if you like.” He pointed to a pathway beside a cluster of trees.

I told him to let me think about it.


Crap.

I guess I just have to find a way to get everyone out of their seat. The 1st idea which came into my mind was to get a water truck and spray everyone, the same one we use to water the plants during dry season, but that will probably cost me my job and put me in jail for a few days.

Taking the foot path up and down a few times, I tried to think of ways to stop the car from ramming up the kerb. I saw a man sitting at the coffee shop drinking alone. His shirt is torn and dirty, he looked like he has not have a shower for a long time.

[ilikeoldchangke]

No one paid much attention to him until he vomited right onto the foot path.

A lady quickly gave him a wide berth and covered her nose, shaking her head in disgust.

As I got closer, the noxious smell hit me. The acidic smell of stomach bile and puke. It made me want to vomit as well.

Before I could deal with the retching reflex, I turned and looked at the puddle of vomit.

That could work.

I mean imagine having your supper and someone projectile vomit onto your table. Surely you would get up and start running won’t you ?

Yes. Vomit.

Vomit could work.

The hard part is timing the vomit.

I mean I could always do it early. Sure I’ll make a mess and maybe get on some nerves. There will be angry people about but I guess if I offered to pay for the diners including a all you can eat hotpot as an apology, I’m sure those rattled nerves will be soothed in no time.

It’s not fool proof but it’s what I could think of. It’s worth an attempt.

Finally I made my way to the block of flats where the lingerie theft took place.

Block 15, Hougang Avenue 3.

I took the staircase of all 4 cores and I found the locked bicycle that hit Alvin.
It’s old, rusty and appears to be discarded. The frames are broken on some parts. I checked the lock and the chain, those appear to be sturdy. You will need a mechanical saw to break them. Someone probably locked the bike here, lost the key and forgot all about it.


There are quite a few sharp parts and I have an idea to mitigate the damage should Alvin fall again or if I fail to stop him in time.

I’m going to go to the bookshop and load up on bubble warp, and tape.

Then I’m going to come back here and fucking tape up and bubble wrap the bicycle. If Alvin should fall again, the bubbled wrapped discarded bike should not hurt him as much.


As I walked to the bus stop, I was feeling quite happy with myself.
After paying for the stationaries, I decided to use the bathroom at the mall before I head over to bubble wrap the bicycle.

I used the urinal and turned around to look at the empty bathroom. It was then I realised there is a cleaning card located behind the door of the bathroom.

All public restrooms in malls have a cleaning schedule and the cleaner are supposed update and sign off after they clean the toilet. It’s a way of monitoring the cleanliness of the toilet.

I squeezed my bladder to quickly empty my pee, eager to take a look at the card.

Why ?


The card has the cleaner’s schedule broken down into hours depending on how frequent they need to clean the toilet.

Some are hourly, some are bi hourly depending on how crowded the malls are on different days.
The article states that the cleaner discovered Chua’s body at 9pm.

If I can find out what time is the previous clean, I can effectively narrow down the time of the attack to between that time, and 9pm.

I washed my hands and walked excitedly to the door.


I read the card behind it’s plastic holder and I could feel the expression on my face change.

The cleaning frequency on weekday evenings are done bi-hourly and the last cleanup is scheduled at 7.30pm.

Thereafter, the cleaner, working a 12 hour shift will need to be here again at 7.30am to clean up the toilet before the mall starts operating.

The article clearly says the cleaner discovered the body at 9pm.
Before I could ask myself why the cleaner would still be around at 9pm when he ends work after the 7.30pm final clean, I saw the name on the card.

The name of the cleaner is clearly stated on all the cards in the bathroom.

“Tan Shau Kun”

He was the one that would have been killed in the accident by Francis and his BMW.

“oh…” I mumbled under my breath.

Right about then, the door opened, bringing me face to face with Tan Shau Kun.

………………………………….

[coxx]

Excellent update TS, big thanks!

[driedlemon3]

Amazingly engaging story! Thanks TS, waiting for the next episode

[blueant]

Like this story, shall camp for more updates

[FlatTop]

Eagerly waiting for the next update.

[Immunities]

Originally Posted by blueant

Like this story, shall camp for more updates

Same here too

[xishan]

Originally Posted by driedlemon3

Amazingly engaging story! Thanks TS, waiting for the next episode

Yes very nice share

[crappytoot]

TS can publish this as a book already. Amazing story!

[firstprize8989]

Very well written story. Please continue bro TS.

[lowhc]

Bro ilock, don't forget that at Sammy, we are all illos (I love lots of sex).

Thanks for the nice story.

[Gegenpressing]

Support a great thread. Look forward to next update!!

[ailestriker]

Didnt know there's another story!! Support support!!!

[georgie1994]

is hard to find such eating habit nowadays as life is busy