CH 93

When the esteemed Professor Yan, who was accustomed to moving about alone, took the initiative to haul someone along, with his eyes curved into crescents as well…

This worked better than any other method of coaxing. 

While there might be some who could refuse him, none of them were surnamed Gu.

So with this simple sentence, a certain someone not only swiped that cup of coffee back into their hands, but also smoothed the leaves of a mint essence.

The black market was much more active in the evening than it was in the day. After all, this time better suited these store owners’ biological clocks. Only in the night did their day truly start.

In the past, nefarious demons and snakes would come slithering out once night fell. But after the police kept an eye on this area for a while, this street had practically eaten into the farce they spun of being a regular retail street. 

Despite this, there were still some with a bolder streak who used the cover of the night to target pedestrians, shoving them all kinds of miscellaneous advertisements.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan collected five of such within walking less than a hundred metres down this street.

“Enrich your education, upgrade your skills, diversify your life…” The distinguished Lawyer Gu, who had never in his life come to this street before, was frowning as he eyed the flyers in his hands.

Yan Suizhi stuck a hand into his pocket, leisurely explaining, “Probably identity fraud.”

Gu Yan flipped to the next one. “…Foolproof, hassle-less, self-service trip.”

Yan Suizhi, “Illegal interstellar immigration?”

“…” A chilly breeze was picking up around Gu Yan. “Equipment maintenance.”

Yan Suizhi, “Unregistered equipment sales and modifications?” 

Gu Yan, “…Maximum privacy, health and safety insurance.”

“Anti-tracking and tracing from the system, I’m guessing.”

“…”

Expressionless, Lawyer Gu scoffed coldly, starting to emanate from cold air. 

With this glacial chill, no one dared to recklessly shove things at them anymore. After all, an adept eye for reading people was required to muck around on this street.

“It wasn’t like this the previous few times.” Yan Suizhi clicked his tongue, collecting the flyers that the two of them received and skimming through them.

What Gu Yan asked about wasn’t an exhaustive list. They touted a variety of services, with advertisements even claiming to have backdoor access to a special medicine that could treat the infection.

“Did any of the flyer distributors talk about beauty treatments?” Yan Suizhi asked while reading, even tangentially following the thought patterns of these flyers as he did. 

To an extent, genetic modification could be considered beautification.

“…” Gu Yan said, “No. There are plainclothes around here.”

He considered it then reminded, “Keep the two that touched upon the infection.”

Tjc Velhtl rwlifv. “Tbe gfjv ws wlcv.” 

Ktbrf akb oisfgr ybat ygbeuta eq ajgufafv agfjawfcar, yea atfs kfgf obg vloofgfca qegqbrfr. Ycf kjr obg lwweclrjalbc, ktfgfjr atf batfg kjr obg rqffvs gfmbnfgs ogbw fjgis-rajuf lcofmalbcr.

“Meii gfoecv lo la rtbkr cb nlrlyif foofmar lc akb vjsr…” Lf teoofv bea j ijeut. “Ktfs rjs atja jr lo la’r agef.”

Although nine times out of ten, such advertisements were full of bull, it couldn’t be ruled out that one in ten or so sentences might contain a bit of useful information. For example, while these two flyers didn’t appear related at a first glance, both had brought up a location. The manufacturing site: Helan Zone 5.

This could be a tacit understanding between the flyers, corroborating with each other to increase their credibility. 

Or perhaps there was something else at play.

After all, this infection was originally created by a clinic involved in genetic modification surgery.

An association, no matter how insignificant, was still an association.

“Helan Zone 5…” Gu Yan noticed this similarity as well. “I haven’t stayed in Helan since I was eight, so my knowledge of that region is limited. Are there pharmaceutical factories in Zone 5?” 

“I didn’t stay there for long either. I moved to De Carma very early on.” Yan Suizhi sounded like he was making idle chatter with him. “But I do happen to have some basic understanding of Zone 5. When I was young, I heard…”

He paused briefly as he spoke, as if subconsciously trying to avoid touching on personal matters. However, he soon realised who it was he was talking to and he laughed lightly, before continuing, “I heard my parents mention a few sentences about it. There once used to be a few pharmaceutical resource lines over there, but they got nipped long ago.”

Some of the precious drugs in the alliance had constituents that were derived from medicinal minerals. Incidentally, Helan was the stellar system with the most abundant medicinal mines.

However, medicinal mines were also graded. The alliance had a professional body that evaluated them, and many of the resource lines that were nipped had low competitiveness due to their low grade. 

“After my parents passed on, I stopped paying attention to them. I’m not too sure about what’s going on in Zone 5 now either; I’ll check for any relevant news later when I get back.”

Yan Suizhi raised his gaze after saying this and saw that Gu Yan was casting a heavy gaze on him, mayhaps because of the rare mention of his parents.

However, Gu Yan didn’t continue on this subject, nor did he ask more. He only listened attentively and nodded. “Alright.”

“So did you get me to accompany you here to collect these flyers?” Gu Yan asked levelly.  

Yan Suizhi could tell, naturally, that he was actually helping change the subject.

His expression was as it always was, cold and indifferent, yet it was also gentler and more considerate than anyone else’s.

“Gu Yan.”

“Mn.” 

Actually, Yan Suizhi thought, I don’t mind telling you about all this, including my parents, my personal life, as well as other interesting and uninteresting details of my past.

But the emergence of this thought surprised even himself. He thought that he would need a buffer period to slowly make Gu Yan an exception from those inherent habits he had to ward against outsiders.

And yet, he unexpectedly found that there was no need for that.

However, the subject was already changed. Bringing it up again now would be a bit too forced. Besides, they had time in the future; this could be a chat for another day. Yan Suizhi considered it and didn’t cast aside Gu Yan’s quiet attentiveness. He said, with mirth in his eyes, “I obviously didn’t coax you here to just read flyers.” 

Coaxed?

Gu Yan coolly shot him a sidelong glance.

“I’ve come by this street a few times and taken notice of an establishment, but it isn’t a place appropriate for me to enter alone,” said Yan Suizhi.

“What establishment?” 

Yan Suizhi lifted his chin. “Have you noticed that not many of the flyer distributors are still around?”

Gu Yan swept a glance around.

It really was so. Those people weren’t carrying many flyers in the first place. They distributed the flyers on the streets with beams on their faces, and not long later, each lazily dispersed.

But they didn’t return to their own stores. Among them, a significant portion lackadaisically swaggered off to one place. 

A rather unremarkable bar.

There was only one narrow doorway, crammed among a row of other storefronts, with two decorative lights hung there as if on an off-thought. They were bright and gaudy, perfectly blending in with the style of the entire street and not standing out in the slightest.

Even the store signage appeared worn down, the flashing letters on the verge of puttering out.

“Over Bar?” Gu Yan scanned it cursorily. 

“…”

Was there anyone who would pick such a name?

Yan Suizhi couldn’t resist, turning over to smile before saying with a straight face, “It’s okay, I didn’t notice it the first time either. Only after I walked closer did I see that it had an extra ‘L’ in front.”

Lover. 

Right…

“I assumed that it was a place catered to couples at first,” Yan Suizhi said, “and there are many bars and pubs along this street, so I didn’t pay attention to it. Until I discovered that the shopkeepers here seem particularly fond of going there.”

The black market wasn’t just a one or two year thing. Most of these stores had existed alongside each other and the shopkeepers pretty much knew each other. A trove of information was constantly being exchanged.

But there were many things that couldn’t be discussed out in the open, and there would frequently be an information hub or two for this hodgepodge of people from various backgrounds. 

“How would a group of people who are used to doing what they want react to being under extended police watch?” Yan Suizhi said.

Gu Yan understood. “Fed up and discontent.”

Those people had long walked the underbelly of society, becoming wily old birds that were too tough to chew. They, who could set their roots in this soil, were long beyond the state of panic and anxiety at the slightest whiff of trouble.

If they were really that easily startled, this street would have been deserted before the police came. 

Conversely, a majority of them hadn’t scampered off,  but instead even postured as law-abiding citizens bustling about. Did the police believe it?

Even the dead could tell that this was a sham.

Did they expect the police to fall for it?

It wasn’t as if they were dunces. 

In actuality, they carried this mentality: Can’t you guys quickly finish your investigation and beat it? Must you come to pick a fight? I’m almost out of business already, aren’t you sick of yourself yet?

When fed up and discontent, people needed an outlet to vent their frustrations. No one would just sit there and tremble in fear.

This was where Lover Bar came in. Why would the shopkeepers be particularly fond of going there? Because it was a place where they could let off steam whilst providing them a guise to exchange information.

What was the easiest topic to broach at this time? Obviously, it would be related to the clinic that did the genetic modification surgery; after all, this was the culprit that had landed them all in hot water. How could they not complain about it? 

If anyone could worm their way in, they would more or less hear word of it.

“But it isn’t easy to infiltrate a place like this.” Gu Yan instantly identified the crux of the issue.

Yan Suizhi nodded. “Naturally. The police aren’t idiots either; they would surely have tried to camouflage among them.”

A way to prevent police infiltration was to elevate the difficulty of disguise. While it wasn’t hard to put on the pretence as an individual, the difficulty lay in holding up the pretence when someone else was involved in the guise, and the more people involved, the easier it was to slip up. 

It was actually very difficult to pull off an act as romantic partners. Even real partners who showed the faintest inkling of out-of-place emotions would easily appear dodgy to others, let alone people who were faking it.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan calmly watched the crowd for a while. Apart from the shopkeepers who were already familiar with each other, all of the tenants and pedestrians really did enter this bar in pairs.

No wonder he said that it wasn’t appropriate for him to go alone…

“So do we go in now?” Gu Yan had a very straightforward nature; his feet were already making to set off in that direction. 

“Wait,” said Yan Suizhi.

“What is it?”

“Take a good look at the ambience of that bar. Don’t you think that you’re a little too… well-dressed?” Yan Suizhi smiled wryly, glancing at him.

Gu Yan studied himself, “…” 

He fell silent for a few seconds. Then, he smoothly loosened his tie and collar, took off his coat, and draped it over his arm. As he unbuttoned his cuffs, his eyes flickered to Yan Suizhi. “Will this do?”

Yan Suizhi admired him for a moment then said, “One more thing.”

As he spoke, he reached out to tousle Gu Yan’s hair. “That’ll do it.”