CH 145

Actually, even without Yan Suizhi having to say it, Gu Yan also knew that the handwriting wouldn’t produce any matches.

Otherwise, the Wine City government would have been the first to look up the other party’s identity. After all, many civil servants during that term had succumbed to the temptation of misuse of funds, not to mention others who were implicated in the damage. 

There would always be those who carried a vendetta over this.

From the looks of it now, the anonymous sponsors had quite some foresight to have concealed their identities so well.

“Show these to Joe when we get back,” Yan Suizhi said. “Maybe he’ll have other means.”

“Mn.” 

While handwriting comparison wasn’t too difficult for Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan, with Joe’s wide connections, they might be able to dredge up some other information.

As the two of them walked along the river, light from street lamps cast behind them pulled their shadows infinitely longer.

Gu Yan suddenly spoke. “Is this the reason that you don’t like Wine City?”

Yan Suizhi blanked. “What?”

“Your parents.” Gu Yan put away the hologram. “They donated so much money to Wine City only for it to come to this.”

It was clearly money offered in kindness, yet it was squandered on a dark and dirty place.

Yan Suizhi shook his head. “No, actually. I can’t blame the whole of Wine City for the irresponsibility of some.”

Gu Yan, “Then why?” 

Yan Suizhi considered it, before professing solemnly, “Because it seriously reeks.”

Gu Yan, “…”

“Do you have any idea how much psychological reconstruction someone with an acute sense of smell needs to do to stand on a planet as pungent as this? 

After nitpicking from top to bottom, high and low, Yan Suizhi continued, “Thankfully, you picked this road, which is clean to say the least. If it was any other, I might’ve crazily made a break for the hotel and dragged you with me.” 

“…”

Gu Yan took a moment to visualise it based on his description. The imagery was intoxicating.

“Vlcmf sbe vlrilxf Qlcf Jlas rb wemt, kts vb sbe cfnfg obgufa ab vbcjaf ab atlr jgfj?”

Pc ageat, la kjr wbgf atjc pera xffqlcu la lc wlcv. Tjc Velhtl fnfc rffwfv ab rtbk ojnbeglalrw obg Jibev Lfgy Qfiojgf Lbwf, cba ojlilcu ab yfdefjat la j rtjgf bo tlr klii vfrqlaf lar afwqbgjgs mibregf. 

Gu Yan imagined it. Twenty-year-old Yan Suizhi pinching his nose with a strained expression, yet insistently dashing towards the welfare home over here—it was quite an… interesting scene to behold.

“It isn’t a crime to stink,” Yan Suizhi said. “Moreover, if you spend a bit more time chatting with the director, you’d find out that the name Cloud Herb came from my parents and the other anonymous party. He told me about it when I first went to the welfare home. When the institution first took off, he had received congratulatory emails from both parties, and after discussing it briefly in passing, eventually adopted this name.”

Even though cloud herb was called a herb, it was actually a flower. It was unremarkable as a young sprout, but it had a high survival rate and could be transplanted and moved around without any issues. When it matured, each flower in full bloom was edged with smoky gold, like sun-kissed frills of flowing clouds at rosy dawn, radiant beyond compare.

In the language of flowers, it symbolised everlasting hope. 

—

At the end of this meandering footpath along the river was the riverbank in front of the hotel.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan coincidentally bumped into Laura there during their stroll.

She seemed to have just gotten down from her ride. Her luggage was set on the ground next to her. “Eh? Why are you outside? Where’s Joe and Ke Jin?” 

“They’re in the hotel,” Gu Yan said. “You arrived so soon? I thought you’d reach close to midnight.”

Laura had just opened her mouth to reply when her gaze landed on their hands.

She appeared frightened out of her wits, blinking for forever, and was finally unable to keep her nature from her school days from making a comeback. She swore, completely shaken, “Sweet mother of god—”

Yan Suizhi casually consoled, “I don’t dare to claim this honour.” 

Laura, “…”

Gu Yan, “…”

He had a migraine.

“We’ll talk upstairs.” Gu Yan said impatiently. He went over with Yan Suizhi, bringing Laura’s luggage and bags up. 

Young Master Joe always had a penchant for booking large villas or full-floor suites when travelling with friends. He liked the feeling of sharing a living room and kitchen under the same roof. If unable to, there’d at least be a connecting corridor between the rooms.

In his words, this was the result of his childhood home being too big and empty, with too few people occupying it.

So, the hotel this time was still styled like a villa. Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi were arranged to stay on the second floor and Laura on the third.

Upon going in, Laura’s attention was diverted by Joe and Ke Jin. She walked up to them and wrapped her two friends in a comforting embrace. 

“I never thought that it’d actually turn out like this,” Laura said. “Have you looked into it?”

Ke Jin was confused by the hug. Though the atmosphere in Kitty Bell’s house raised his mood, he was still trapped in some sort of cocoon, at a loss as to why he was being hugged and patted.

After Laura pulled away, he contemplated it on the spot for a moment, but, unable to figure it out, he turned around and walked straight to a corner of the living room, finding a small sofa to nestle on, quietly gazing at the floor lamp.

When he sat, the others followed him over, taking their seats on sofas. 

Wine City’s relatively basic electronic butler beeped twice, automatically fetching a few glasses of hot coffee.

Laura and the rest of them, who had been dealing with evidence of various cases for years, were more sensitive about such gadgets. They weren’t very fond of electronic butlers as it was hard to ascertain if someone had embedded surveillance or wiretaps in them.

Joe habitually shut down the electronic butler, then said to Laura, “I’ve got quite a number of friends to look into it. There should be some results coming in over the next few days, so we can only wait for now. By the way, how did you turn up so quickly?”

Prompted by the question, Laura held up a finger, saying mysteriously, “Because I hitched a ride on a very special freight shuttle.” 

“What do you mean?”

“To cut to the chase,” Laura said, “After you called, I wanted to get here asap, so I contacted a friend I had in interstellar shipping. He was always able to contact a private space shuttle at the right time to give me a ride. But today… guess what? De Carma’s private transport routes have all been secretly commandeered.”

“Commandeered?” Joe queried. “But there wasn’t any news of that when I was contacting people who work in ports all afternoon.”

“It happened just tonight. There weren’t any issues when I contacted my friend at first either, but when I reached the port, I was told that there were some last-minute changes.” Laura said, “Normally, for a port as big as De Carma’s, there would be private space shuttles coming in and out every day, right? But there was not a single one tonight. Isn’t that weird?” 

“Yeah.”

“Right? That’s what I thought too,” Laura said. “By chance, I caught wind in the afternoon that the Cliffs had a fleet of heavyweight freight shuttles entering the port. When I put it together with what you told me about Ke Jin, my conspiracy theorist brain started buzzing. When I got through the gates, I pulled a little trick and entered the side for private use.”

“And then?”

“And then I found out that there were actually shuttles docking and leaving the port.” Laura said, “I considered it. There was clearly movement, yet they told the public there was none; what else could it be but something being kept on the down low? So, I simply snuck onto one of the flights departing for Wine City.” 

“You—what?” The three people listening to her asked almost in unison.

“Snuck onto one of the flights,” Laura said, “don’t you have faith in my skills?”

Gu Yan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Miss Laura, do you know what danger means?”

Joe wiped his face. “Since when has she ever.” 

Laura, “Tch. Why are you guys being such downers?”

“How did you think we’d react then? Praise you for having guts?” Joe’s whole face ached. He glared at Laura for a long time, before saying in disappointment, “Forget it. I can’t out-glare you. Carry on.”

With that, Laura spoke contentedly, “The shuttle I boarded was the common private space shuttle from the outside, but inside… you know, travelling on freight shuttles feels completely different from travelling on regular passenger shuttles. So, I could tell the moment it started. This was a freight shuttle with a fake shell. There were many people on board and they also didn’t seem to know each other, or I couldn’t have mixed in. During the flight, several people were constantly on their comms, confirming the flight trajectory, arrival timing, and suchlike. They even mentioned what they were transporting.”

“What was it?” Joe said, “Private space shuttles don’t have a large hull. A freight space shuttle still has to put on a semblance of one even if there’s a shell over it, so what large item could possibly they fit on-board?” 

“Which is why what they were transporting wasn’t anything large.” Laura said, “I analysed from what I observed en-route—the items they were transporting are likely placed with the shuttle’s cooling cores. They used the measure word ‘stick’, and even dropped some terms like physiological reactions and storage at low temperatures in association with those ‘sticks’. It made me think of injectable drugs and suchlike.”

Joe’s brows furrowed. “For medical use again? Then could it be related to the Mansons? Both are medical supplies being shipped on the same day—can it really be coincidence? The goods that Cliff helped them ship in broad daylight are for medical use.”

“Exactly!” Laura said. “Here’s the clincher. When we touched down at Wine City, they unloaded a shipment. I saw that they were stored in customised secure crates, about ten of them. Also, one of the Cliffs’ freight shuttles pulled in at this time, docking together. And the most coincidental thing was that the medical-use secure crates that Cliff was openly shipping were exactly the same as those from the private transport I took.”

The best advantage of the Cliffs’ freight transport was that their goods didn’t need to be fully screened. There would only be random spot checks. 

If those private shipments were mixed amongst public shipments, as long as they ensured that spot-checks were only conducted on the public portion, then the whole shipment would be deemed to have passed.

“You get it, right!” Finishing her story, Laura added, “It was quite a hassle getting past the gates. I didn’t dare to dial over to you guys lest there was a signal interceptor or whatnot. Now you know why I came over without a word or letting you guys pick me up?”

Unafraid of death, this fearless lady even sounded faintly smug.

Gazing at his former student, Yan Suizhi was finally unable to restrain himself, “It’s really a miracle that you’re sitting here alive.” 

Laura was seated beside him. Hearing this, she immediately arched her eyebrows at him. Then, she put forth the aura of a ‘big sister’, reaching over to pinch Yan Suizhi’s cheek. “Hey, little intern, it doesn’t matter if you get abducted by the ice block, but don’t learn that acerbic mouth of his.”

When she withdrew her hand, she found that Ice Block Gu Yan had turned a rather speechless look on her.

How should she put it… it was like he was walking over her grave.

The one with the biggest reaction was Joe. 

This young master had just drunk a mouthful of coffee, and for some baffling reason, spurted it all over the ground.