CH 146

“Did I say something wrong?” Laura had an utterly dumbfounded expression, unable to process anything amiss at this time.

She looked at Joe, who was thumping his chest, choking so violently on his coffee that heaven and earth shook at his hacking. He waved at her without raising his head, giving her a shaky thumbs-up. 

Glancing at his flushed neck, out of breath from coughing, Laura didn’t put him on the spot, turning to look at Gu Yan instead.

Then, wisdom suddenly filled her. She saw the light. “Oh.”

This one utterance wasn’t enough. She dragged out the syllable, going “oh—”, impishly saying to Gu Yan, “Are you upset that I pinched his cheeks? That jealous? Why did I never know that you had such a side?”

Gu Yan initially wanted to say something, but upon hearing this, seemed to lose his patience, staring at Laura for a while. Eventually, with a paralysed expression, he nodded at her. “You’re right.” 

Lil’ Young Master Joe was about to hack his way into getting tuberculosis.

The esteemed Professor Yan’s face turned from blank to extremely complicated, as though he were biting his tongue. He seemed to be deliberating over how to word it to salve both sides.

Yet Laura, this hapless lass, not having had her fill from harrowing Gu Yan, turned her impish gaze onto him next.

“…”

Yan Suizhi endured the weight of this gaze in silence, slightly torn between laughter and tears.

“Now I’ve done it. My pinch left a red imprint on your face.” Laura, digging her own grave, added.

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Forget it. Haul her out to the firing squad. 

Yan Suizhi averted his gaze, giving up on saying anything more. In any case, the one who’d ultimately have to be put on suicide watch most certainly wouldn’t be him.

He calmly touched the side of his face, a gesture that, when done by him, actually contained not the least bit of embarrassment. It seemed closer to a casual action, suffused with an air of elegance and composure.

Then, he picked up the cup of coffee in front of him, silently sipped it, and said to Ms Laura, “For your own sake, I suggest that you forget this scene.”

There she’s done it, oh god, she’s totally done for. 

Finally suppressing his coughs, lil’ Young Master Joe was sprawled on the sofa, mimicking a dead dog, his chest undulating weakly like he was about to kick the bucket. He peeped at Yan Suizhi through squinted eyes, peeped at Laura, then as though stung by a hornet, dropped his gaze, wondering if it was too late to save a place for Miss Laura in the cemetery.

Yan Suizhi set down his cup of coffee. Seeing that Gu Yan was watching him out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t resist arching his brows, saying, “I feel like I’ve lost out a bit.”

With that, before the other could react, he reached out to pinch Gu Yan’s face. The corners of his lips ticked up in satisfaction. “There, that evens it out.”

Gu Yan, “???” 

Speaking of losing out, was there anyone here who had lost out more than him??

On the other hand, the ballsy Miss Laura, under the impression that she’d been fed a large serving of dog food, felt bloated. She sent Yan Suizhi a thumbs up, saying, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone with the guts to pinch him. You’ve broadened my horizons, brave warrior.”

“…”

True valiance always overlooked herself. 

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Young Master Joe was instantly revitalised. His gaze sharpened. He rigorously scrubbed his face before clicking on accept. “Hello? Did you get any results?” 

The person on the other end said, “Somewhat.”

“What do you mean by somewhat?”

The other end said, “I went through several systems, running some from the back to front and the others from the front to back through a precision search during the year that Lawyer Ke’s condition first acted up. I know that the wait is agonising, so I’m sending you the results from these first. That way, I won’t delay your progress. However…”

Joe’s mood took a turn hearing this. He sat on tenterhooks. “However what?” 

“I think that this screening method will still miss a lot; there are just too many ways for a bird to blend in.” The person on the other end of the comms attempted to explain, then gave up. “Nevermind. You’ll catch where I’m coming from when you see the results.”

“I know. So long as there are results, that’ll do.” Joe nodded. “I know for sure that there are many ways to fake it even without you having to tell me. But it’s still better than nothing at all. Whatever little bit of hits that come up are still hits.”

“It’s best if you can think so.” the other continued to convey. “I’m still screening the years before that and the recent years. Every time I’ll split it up and send it over to you every time I finish up a year. I won’t dial over each time, so make sure to keep on the lookout and be ready to accept it.”

Joe bluntly said, “Sure, I’ve always been on the lookout. Thanks.” 

Even though he was collected on the comms, after hanging up, he heaved a deep sigh.

“What did he say?” Gu Yan asked. Everyone’s eyes were on him.

This call completely sidetracked their previous conversation, and the focus fell back on the Sweeper.

Immediately after asking this question, Joe’s smart device chimed. 

“Here it is.” Joe stared at the interface that sprung out. “He said that he searched the port entry/exit data during the year that Ke Jin’s condition first acted up. There’s some stuff and he’s just sent it over. I…”

He gazed at the interface for a few seconds, exhaled, then clicked unzip.

A long row of data screenshots and dynamic photos lined up in order over the coffee table.

Joe set the screen to sharing mode. The files automatically started playing in a scrolling format. 

The data showed that in early January of that year, a consignment form for entry into De Carma showed a shipment of greyfinch, 300 in total, marked as fowl. The inspection was conducted via screening. The form indicated the poultry dealer was Eddie Watson.

Immediately following this entry, however, were images of the exact search results.

The image showed 300 greyfinches for consumption huddled together in a large birdcage, feathers flying about everywhere. The scene was extremely chaotic. But at one point, the search box circled one of the 300 birds.

A tail plume was revealed just at that moment, and it was clear from that that it was a herdingbird mixed in with the greyfinches. 

Everyone’s pupils’ constricted.

It was just as Joe’s friend had said. After seeing the results, they then discovered how truly difficult it was to check for herdingbirds. This image was a good example of that. If there were more birds and it was a bit more crowded, that herdingbird would have been completely concealed, making it difficult to sieve out even with precision search.

From this, it was evident that there would surely be many missing gaps.

Coming right after this image was another data screenshot. 

The data showed that on the day after the 300 greyfinches entered the port, someone came to pick up the shipment. The person who picked it up was, similarly, a poultry dealer, named Zhang Wendy.

“There’s nothing about Lee Connor…” Laura said.

“Keep looking,” Yan Suizhi reminded him.

Hearing this, Joe flipped to the next one. 

According to reason, herdingbirds shouldn’t be able to survive for long after a change in environment. This implied that since the herdingbird had entered, as long as the keeper didn’t want it to die in De Carma, it must have a corresponding record of its departure.

But there was none.

The next result after that was several months later, which meant that its exit was concealed well enough to escape the search.

The result that came several months later was in the middle of May, when an animal-themed circus troupe entered De Carma’s port. The troupe’s magic segment largely used the common greyfinch as part of their performance, as they were cheap and easy to procure. 

Once again, the herdingbird was mixed in with greyfinches to enter the port.

After passing the screening, they were brought into De Carma by the troupe, where it stopped to perform at several zones.

Similarly, there were no traces of Lee Connor amongst the members registered with the troupe.

“Have you checked Lee Connor’s travel history?” Yan Suizhi said. “It’s quite possible that he’s been using others to bring the bird in for him.” 

As luck would have it, Joe’s friend had thought of this scenario as well. After these two search results, he attached a copy of Lee Connor’s travel history through the port.

As expected, he had eight entries and exits during that period, two of which were near the two occasions that the herdingbird was sighted; one was only a day apart, whereas the other time was three days apart.

Joe’s expression turned ugly when he read this.

It was one thing to speculate, and quite another to see records attesting to this speculation. 

His fists were balled up; he was so close to slamming them on the coffee table—but glimpsing Ke Jin, dozing, out of his peripheral vision, he stopped himself in time, cursing vehemently under his breath instead.

Lee Connor was the Sweeper.

This speculation was essentially established.

But that wasn’t the important part. Rather, where he went after that, who he became, where he was now—these were of paramount importance. 

They’d been sifting through the results for so long not only to glimpse his appearance in the data a few more times, but because they wanted to see justice served against this person, who had been involved in the loss of many lives.

But lamentably…

The last result for that year was during the year-end, roughly around December. This time, it was neither an entry nor exit record, but a herdingbird found on the port’s surveillance, following the crowd for a short distance before resting on top of a metal gate post in the port.

It was difficult to ascertain who this bird was following through this footage. 

The silver lining worth celebrating was the efficiency of Joe’s friend.

About an hour afterwards, he sent over a new batch of results, with an accompanying message that said: Ran a search from both ends in the system. This is the most recent year, from January until now.

Full of hope, Joe opened the file, yet there was hardly anything inside—only one record and one image in total.

The mere sight of this miserable quantity caused Joe to collapse back into the sofa, sighing. 

Laura also tutted, clearly expressing her disappointment.

But after they clicked into it, they noticed something different.

This time, the herdingbird wasn’t mixed with a large flock of greyfinches, nor any overt attempts at concealment. It was simply and openly brought in by a man as a pet.

The name of the pet owner was Marcus Budd. 

The subsequent image captured Marcus Budd carrying the birdcage through the gates.

After the high-fidelity magnification, Marcus Budd’s visage was perfectly in view.

He was a man of average build. His features were unremarkable and without any notable characteristics. When walking down a road, he would be instantly submerged in a crowd; he was the classic John Doe.

“I’d never remember a face like that even if I saw it thrice,” Joe mumbled, frowning. “It’s got to be on purpose.” 

In the dynamic photo, Marcus Budd looked to be in an okay mood, always touching the side of his face and his neck, as though something felt unfamiliar or uncomfortable. However, he was very attentive to the bird’s emotions, opening the birdcage as soon as he was through the baggage check.

The herdingbird flapped its wings twice, flying out of the cage. It wheeled around him a few times, first stopping on his shoulder to nuzzle its head against his cheek, as though in greeting, then flew up and away.

Joe bit his tongue and watched to the end of the clip, then immediately began running a precision search of this John Doe face through the web.

Unfortunately, this man named Marcus Budd was extremely low profile in the public network. There was basically no information about him. 

“Just hold on,” Joe said, “wait for my friend to send us more, then I’ll collate it and send it over to my media friends.”

However, Laura said, “There’s really only so much those in media can get. At best, they can only go through published news coverage and stories pending their supervisor’s approval. But there’s still a lot of material that wouldn’t be published or aren’t intended for online dissemination that they won’t be able to look through.”

So Joe said, “Then I’ll ask someone in records administration…”

But he immediately refuted himself, frustrated, “But that also has its limitations.” 

On the contrary, Gu Yan suddenly recalled something and looked at Yan Suizhi. “Speaking of material that wasn’t published online… do you remember those two reporters?”

“Hersey and Bens?” Yan Suizhi nodded, understanding clearly. “I almost forgot about them. We received quite a bit from them last time at Tian Qin. Shall we give it a try?”