CH 53

Tian Qin wasn’t large, and was divided into different zones based on the different seasonal and temporal calendars. Although Zone 3, which Yaba Island was a part of, did not sound like a primary district, it was actually the capital of the entire Tian Qin system. It was also the most prosperous area. After all, it held holiday resorts famous across the entire stellar system.

Yan Suizhi’s only impression of Zone 3 was crowded, very crowded, and extraordinarily, exceedingly crowded. 

After exiting the port where the space shuttle was moored, he got caught in a rush of traffic on both the hover and surface roads, as well as in the traffic on the way to Zone 3.

“The roads are jammed again.” The taxi driver complained from the front seat. “At this hour, the people on the island would just have had their fill of fun and are all on their way back to Zone 3 or to the port.”

To preserve the atmosphere at Yaba Island, the resorts were extremely expensive. Most tourists would thus choose the more economical option of staying in Zone 3, heading to the island in the morning, then returning at night after appreciating the evening view.

This was what caused Zone 3 to be so overcrowded. 

“A jam in the morning, a jam in the afternoon, and another jam in the evening; life will be over before you know it.” The driver shook his head, saying.

A few case-related electronic pages were laid across Yan Suizhi’s lap. Without lifting his gaze, he smiled and said, “In traffic jams, seconds pass like hours. To be able to live so many years can also be considered a blessing.”

The driver was amused by his quip. “So you say.”

He glanced at Yan Suizhi in the rearview mirror, asking curiously, “Are you here on holiday alone?”

“Work.” Yan Suizhi answered concisely.

“You’re an office worker?”

The driver sounded a little surprised. At this, Yan Suizhi finally raised his eyes, seeming to find the driver’s words interesting as he asked, “Do I look very much like a student?”

“Yeah, your features do. But I get a different vibe when I talk to you.” The driver cackled, complimenting, “Either way, you’re a smart man. If you ask me, there can’t be a wiser decision than picking a man-operated taxi here.” 

God knows, if it weren’t for his status as an intern and having to report his travel expenses, Yan Suizhi would definitely have chosen an unmanned smart taxi.

Because he preferred the car to be quiet, lips zipped shut without anyone talking.

But when he really encountered such a chatty driver, he would still respond with a few words and a hint of laughter in his voice. No one could tell if he was really in the mood for conversation, or if he was just being polite.

“So what if it’s a smart car, you’ll be caught in this jam all the same. And smart taxis are expensive, it’d be too late to cry after a day in traffic,” said the driver. “Except for those on the platinum roads, everyone’s gonna be stuck here for a good couple of hours.” 

Yan Suizhi cast his gaze down again, scanning the page as he casually replied, “Even platinum roads can’t save us, we still have to cross the intersection ahead.”

This time, the driver was genuinely astonished. “How did you know?”

The platinum roads was actually a very old expression that came about several decades ago when the many transportation systems in galaxies were being upgraded. Orbital routes, including hover and surface roads, had to be abandoned and rebuilt. Some people with busier schedules were afraid of being caught in traffic jams and started to build additional roads for their private use.

At that time, those who were able to do so were only the rich and powerful. 

However, this frenzy lasted no longer than half a year before the alliance called a halt to it, fearing that the building of private roads would interfere with the mapping of public roads.

The private roads that had already been opened were not cordoned off and remained to the present. But due to their low frequency of use, few people had ever used them before, thus they were jokingly dubbed as ‘platinum roads’.

In reality, some of the platinum roads were still in use today, such as the route under Joe’s family name that was used to bring them to Yaba Island the last time. As long as one knew the unique road number and could pass the genetic encryption, changing the drive settings would be enough to grant them access.

Whereas some other platinum roads had gradually fallen into disuse. 

“I don’t think you were even born when platinum roads came out, no?”

The driver glanced at Yan Suizhi through the rearview mirror a few more times, giving him a lookover, saying in his mind, ‘Could I have picked up a kid from a rich family? But that can’t be, what kind of rich kid would call for such a taxi when leaving the house instead of indulging himself…’

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Can fingers be so beautiful?

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“…”

By the time the driver awkwardly put down his hands and looked back into the rearview mirror, he found that that passenger had already set his fingers down, his profile angled sideways as he looked out of the window at the unending stream of traffic. The summer sun of Zone 3 shone radiantly on his fair face, muting any facial expressions he had. 

He looked perfectly calm. However, unwittingly, the driver kept silent.

For some reason, he kept feeling that this passenger wasn’t in a good mood. He was afraid that he might have accidentally said something to upset him.

However, the driver soon realised that it was probably a trick of the light, because the passenger eventually looked away from the window and smiled at him, reminding, “The car in front of you has moved.”

The driver jolted, hastily drawing back his gaze to keep up. 

He blithely laughed, cracking a joke, “My mind wandered; I seriously thought for a moment that you were going to quote me a platinum road number.”

“3990131, try it.” Yan Suizhi recited a string of numbers out of nowhere.

The driver swore in his head. Did he really pick up a rich kid?! He was already inputting the numbers into the system when he heard the latter half of the sentence. “As for the encryption, I can’t do anything about it.”

The driver, “…” 

I almost fell for your bullshit.

The driver was about to glare at him through the rearview mirror, only to see a smile being directed at him. “Thank you for the hard work. Take your time, I’m not in a hurry.”

“…” The driver silently took back the almost-glare.

The cumbersome congestion on Tian Qin was something that Yan Suizhi had anticipated, so the appointment had been arranged for the next day. It was the truth; he really wasn’t in a hurry. 

Not failing to live up to expectations, the taxi took all afternoon to enter Zone 3, finally dropping Yan Suizhi off at the hotel. Before alighting, the warmhearted taxi driver scanned the surroundings, and he couldn’t help but remind him, “You’d best check out if there’s any other hotel you can stay at for the next few days. The people in this area are a little rowdy, it’d be safer to stay closer to the central if you’re alone.”

“Rowdy?” Yan Suizhi froze for a moment.

But this was a hotel booked for him by the legal assistant. It wasn’t too far off from the detention centre, which made it less of a hassle to make trips down to and fro.

“It’s the year-end,” the driver’s brows furrowed. “Anyway, keep an eye out on your bags and valuables when you’re on the road. There are always suchlike in crowded areas.” 

Yan Suizhi glanced down at himself, joking, “Unless they cut my finger, I probably have nothing much to lose.”

Apart from his smart device, he didn’t really have any valuables.

The taxi driver, “Your entire outfit doesn’t look cheap, if I’m being perfectly honest.”

Yan Suizhi, “…” 

But Yan Suizhi often forgot that he was a true-to-life crow’s mouth. To his great misfortune, this taxi driver might be one as well.

The combined effect of the two peas in a pod instantly displayed its potency…

At seven in the evening, Yan Suizhi went downstairs to buy something at a convenience store a short distance from the hotel when a few drunkards suddenly staggered out of the alleyway between the buildings next to him, stumbling straight towards him.

The strong reek of liquor was unpleasant; Yan Suizhi gave way to them. 

As he stepped to the side, his fingers bumped against something startling cold in this hot and humid summer night. When Yan Suizhi looked down, he saw a short knife in the hand of a man who had squeezed into the crowd next to him.

The blade of this knife was particularly thin and had a hooked tip. Where there was a crowd, he could take advantage of the thick crowd to slash and hook bags, and many items would fall into his clutches.

The other person possibly didn’t expect to be caught in the act so soon. He immediately twisted the blade, hooking it towards Yan Suizhi’s finger. The face shadowed under the brim of his hat was tight, and his mouth was curled menacingly, probably hoping to frighten off Yan Suizhi like this and take the chance to flee.

“Watch out!” A young lady nearby shouted. 

However, in the next second, Yan Suizhi had already caught the blade, easily twisting it.

“Hss—” The thug’s fingers were twisted as well, and along with it his posture, such that he was unable to use any force. Right then, Yan Suizhi accurately pinpointed his ulnar nerve, knocking it sharply.

“Wha— Fuck!”

How the hell did you use so much force?! 

The thug swore. His fingers instantly went numb and the thin knife clanged to the ground.

He shook off Yan Suizhi’s hand and was about to lunge for the knife when a high-heeled shoe with a thin heel suddenly flew over, whacking the thug in the face.

When Yan Suizhi saw the strength of the hit, he silently clicked his tongue.

The thug immediately covered his aching nose and cried out, tears streaming as he staggered backwards, knocking into a drunkard who had just come out of the alleyway earlier. 

The two of them, each bringing down the other, fell into a messy heap.

The drunkard was an obese man. He hazily used the thug as a meat cushion to prop up half his body. He stared at the thug’s face in bafflement for three seconds, then with a giant belch, puked.

“…”

The thug, who was just about to spring back up, choked on the stench and fell back down to the ground. 

Seeing that Yan Suizhi had evenly stepped on the knife and that the thug and drunkard had fallen into a heap again, some of the bystanders immediately called the police, while others beat the thug up.

Yan Suizhi borrowed a tissue from someone and bent down to pick up the knife.

“I never expected that someone with such a delicate face can actually fight.”

When Yan Suizhi stood back upright, he lifted his eyes and saw a young lady in a neat ponytail hobbling over to him, one leg standing taller than the other. She wore the high heel that had whacked the thug back on. 

“I can’t fight.” Yan Suizhi wrapped the knife in a tissue. “I only know how to pinch the ulnar nerve; it can barely get me by in emergencies.”

“You found it so accurately, I bet you must have practised it loads.” She gave Yan Suizhi a once-over.

Who would have the leisure to practise such a thing? Wasn’t it only a person with extraordinarily crap luck, often encountering such situations, who could thus pinch it to such precision?

But that young lady’s attention quickly shifted. Her gaze landed on Yan Suizhi’s hand and she softly exclaimed, “Hey, your finger’s bleeding. You must have got it when you caught the blade earlier; it’s not a small cut either.” 

Blasé, Yan Suizhi crooked his fingers. He said, “It’s just a scratch.”

The young lady immediately fished out a small box of band-aids from her bag and passed one to Yan Suizhi. “You scared me too; I can’t believe you actually dared to grab the knife directly when he pointed it at you. This can staunch the blood, just stick it on for now and take it off in a while.”

Yan Suizhi hadn’t intended to take the band-aid, but he noticed the line of blue text printed on the packaging—Hardymont Diving Club.

His client in this case, Chen Zhang, belonged to this diving club. 

Before, the first thing he did upon receiving the case file was to look up information on the diving club, trying to find out Chen Zhang’s history in the past years. But actual useable information about the club was scarce. After the incident happened, the club had likely gotten a whiff of the news and deleted all associations to Chen Zhang.

Yan Suizhi took the band-aid and smiled at the young lady. “Thank you.”

Several minutes later, the policeman responsible for this area arrived, tossing the thug and the drunkard into the car together.

Yan Suizhi and the women were also brought along to assist the investigation. 

A policeman in charge of registering their information came over and said, “Zhou Jialing? Ruan Ye? Can you provide me with an emergency contact number?”

The young lady named Zhou Jialing was slightly perplexed. “What do you need a number for?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much. You guys haven’t been in a police station over here before, right? This is just procedure. There are a lot more tourists and fewer locals here than other places, so there are special regulations,” the young policeman said.

Zhou Jialing gave it a thought, and gave a name and communication number. 

Yan Suizhi was slightly distracted, but he quickly recovered, giving an apologetic smile. “I don’t have anyone to fill in.”

The policeman froze. “Ah… My condolences. Do you have a significant other, or any friends? Or people that you contact on a more frequent basis from your address book will also do.”

Yan Suizhi contemplated briefly, then took a look at his address book. After a slight hesitation, he tapped into the one with the longest name and told the policeman the number.

Ten seconds later, the policeman who kept prattling on about procedure dialled the communication number of the emergency contact person on the spot. 

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Far away in the Redstone system, Gu Yan was in a hotel arranged by the review board and had just come out from a shower when he received a communication request. He glanced down:

Source: Tian Qin Zone 3

Category: Police Department Public Line 

And he immediately had a foreboding feeling…

“Hello, is this Mr Gu? We are just making a routine inquiry. Do you have a friend by the name of Ruan Ye in Tian Qin?”

As expected…

“Mn.” Gu Yan’s hand, rubbing a towel against his hair, stopped. “Did anything happen to him?” 

“Great, we’re just confirming his identity. It’s the year-end, many fugitives tend to make a break for it around this time. Thank you for your cooperation. Other than that, your friend, Ruan Ye, is at our police station now. A thug had cut his hand.”