CH 159

“Are you jealous?” Gu Yan asked quietly.

Yan Suizhi pointed at the smart device on his ring finger. That bastard thing had chosen a very unwelcome moment to vibrate—it really had the most impeccable timing. 

“It’s been buzzing so loudly. Aren’t you going to pick it up?”

Gu Yan arched his brow. “It can afford to wait for a word or two.”

Yan Suizhi, “What if it’s urgent?”

Having caught hold of the cat’s tail for once, Lawyer Gu was quite reluctant to let go. However, his smart device kept vibrating, and a certain someone’s eyes were watching him with mirth and mischief. 

It had to be on purpose.

Gu Yan slid him a look through narrowed eyes, but still picked up the comms request in the end.

“Yes?”

“Huh, you’re free?” The other end immediately asked as soon as the line connected, “Then why haven’t you responded all afternoon?”

On the comms was the friend who had helped him with regards to the smart device and the detection gate. Gu Yan had been at Devore Yves’ for the better part of the day, then later because Lin Yuan’s research lab was signal blocked, his friend wasn’t able to get in touch with him.

Gu Yan explained, “Sorry, I was a little tied up earlier.”

“Oh, doesn’t matter, that’s not important. I only called to ask if you’ve installed the little security-enhancement program from before on your smart device yet?”

Gu Yan, “Not yet.” 

“Thank god,” that friend said, “don’t install it first! Installing it would work against you instead.”

Gu Yan, “What do you mean?”

His friend on the other end lowered his voice enigmatically, saying, “I’ll send you a new program. Read the attached instruction manual; you’ll get it when you see it.”

“What is it?” After the call was disconnected, Yan Suizhi asked Gu Yan. 

Gu Yan shared the screen so he could see the caller. “Don’t know; he was being deliberately cryptic.”

While waiting for the other to send his message, Gu Yan went through the notifications that he’d missed in the afternoon. One of the notifications was marked in red, showing the results of the database search.

Gu Yan had swiped past it at first, but swiftly pulled back to that.

It was the search that he had run on his smart device before meeting Devore Yves. 

The search source was the red moles on the Sweeper’s nape and the black Spade tattoo on his wrist, and its range encompassed all the files within his smart device.

Gu Yan expanded the detailed information.

Yan Suizhi glanced at it and thereafter, pushed himself up from his lap. “There’s actually a result?”

The name of the source folder ended up being ‘Hersey’. 

Xe Tjc yijcxfv obg j yfja yfobgf gfwfwyfglcu. Ktfrf kfgf atf qtbabr atja tf tjv rjnfv j mbqs bo ogbw atf mjwfgjr bo atf akb gfqbgafgr, Dfcr jcv Lfgrfs, bc Kljc Hlc, mbwqglrlcu fnfgsatlcu atfs tjv rtba lc atf qjra ofk sfjgr.

Xe Tjc vlvc’a qijc ab ygbkrf joafg gfmflnlcu atfw. Coafg mtjculcu atf cjwf jcv rfcvlcu atfw ab Tjc Velhtl, tf tjv vfifafv atfw. Dea la kjrc’a j qfgwjcfca vfifaf jcv mbeiv ralii yf gfrabgfv klatlc atgff wbcatr lo cffvfv.

Little did anyone expect that this search would dig it out from his deleted files.

The target result was a video. 

The video was shot amidst an old residential community on the northern outskirts of the Knights District. Its walls were mottled with dirt, a style fifty years behind Fa Wang District. Most people who lived there were elderly.

Communities with a high elderly ratio tended to be livelier, for they would often gather in groups to sunbathe and chatter in the day, walking their dogs and teasing their cats. As such, there were many small shops and teahouses in the residential area.

The place to which the camera lens pointed was one of the apartment blocks.

A crowd of elderly men and women surrounded the entrance of the block, wagging their tongues. Armed men in Fa Wang District Police’s uniforms held back the crowd, bringing someone out of the building. 

The man had a head of frazzled hair, and his overly long fringe blocked his eyes.

He was being escorted by several officers. His head was bowed at first, but when he came out of the building he suddenly raised his head, revealing hideous burn scars on half of his face. He bared his teeth and snarled like a wild animal at the onlookers, causing the crowd to back away in fright.

A policeman rebuked him as a warning, but he laughed uproariously at the stunned crowd, and when his laughter eventually subsided, emitted a whimpering cry.

It could be discerned just from this short section that the man was of unsound mind. 

Gu Yan’s face darkened at the sight of this man.

“Ah,” Yan Suizhi softly uttered. “…He’d actually shot this.”

The name of this man was Carl Richard—the culprit behind the explosion case.

Based on information uncovered by the case, he had suffered severe burns due to a workplace accident, and was further fired by his company, losing him his social security. The resultant blow from this change completely broke his spirit,  knocking him certifiably off his rocker. 

Then, out of hatred for his former company, he blasted the hotel floor that the company boss and his manager stayed on.

For a very long period of time, Gu Yan had looked at this hideously unhinged face, the quiet in his office long-standing.

This had practically become a conditioned reflex, such that when he watched this video, he suddenly quietened down again.

Fortunately, the smart device’s search engine must have had a knack for reading expressions, in the nick of time cutting out a portion of the right-hand side of the video, automatically zooming in without pixelation. 

It was a breakfast place next to the building. It happened to be in the early morning when the police apprehended Carl Richard, and the seating outside the eatery was filled with people having their breakfasts, mostly elderly with young children as well as some office-goers.

Faces at every table were turned towards Carl Richard, with some even standing up, craning their necks to watch the fuss. Only a sparse handful who preferred minding their own business simply cast a brief glance or two over before going back to their breakfast.

The target marked by the box was among the latter.

It was a casually-dressed man drinking his porridge with his head lowered. As he never turned his head throughout this time, it was impossible to catch his visage. 

Upon finishing his porridge, he stood up, reaching out to grab an antibacterial paper napkin from the table to dab the corners of his lips.

At this action, the red search box split into two, honing on his nape and his wrist.

The red mole cluster and black Spade tattoo were clearly marked, perfect matches to the identifying features that the Sweeper possessed.

As he got up to leave, a well-meaning old man by the side tugged his sleeve. 

“What are they saying?” Yan Suizhi mumbled.

As luck would have it, the high-end cameras that Bens and Hersey used allowed for isolation adjustment. Gu Yan changed the mode; other sounds were instantly dampened, whereas the conversation between the old man and the Sweeper was abruptly amplified.

“You forgot to take your wine,” reminded the elderly, before adding affably, “Why have you bought wine this early in the morning?”

The Sweeper seemed to glance at the wine bottle on the table. “It’s not for me.” 

The old man wasn’t able to make sense of his words. “Huh? Not yours? But I saw you bring it.”

The Sweeper’s hand, resting loosely by his side, tapped his leg a few times, like an unconscious action made in thought.

He kept tapping for a while, then shrugged. “It’s not mine. It’s a farewell drink for a pathetic bug.”

With that, he folded the used paper napkin twice, threw it into the bin next to his table, and left without a look back. 

In this short video, that was the only trait relevant to the Sweeper. Apart from his mole cluster and tattoo, the only information gleaned was this minute little habit, which couldn’t even be fed into search engines as a search source.

But the appearance of the Sweeper in this video also definitively linked the Manson family to the explosion case. However, Devore Yves had also touched on this, so it wasn’t come as much of a surprise.

To sum it up, the content in this video was as bland as unseasoned chicken. Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi were both somewhat disappointed.

Fortunately, that friend of Gu Yan’s slid in with a message at this opportune moment, with a small program and a simple instruction manual attached. 

“What program is that? Can it restore my smart device database?” Yan Suizhi asked.

Gu Yan quickly skimmed the instruction manual, and the dark expression that clouded his face eased up some. “No, but it’s rather handy.”

“In what way?”

“As bait.” 

Yan Suizhi arched an eyebrow. “Bait?”

Gu Yan handed him the instruction manual. “He built a counter-capture program, which, when added into a smart device, would be able to catch traces of whoever is behind the attempts to break into the device if they don’t let up.”

Now, this could count as good news.

In fact, they knew even without counter-capture who was behind the remote interference on Yan Suizhi’s smart device. Likely again, the Manson brothers’ men. 

However, what they lacked now was not the truth but evidence—of any shape and size—that could point to the Manson brothers.

“This is probably the best news of tonight,” Gu Yan shook his smart device.

That friend, probably sensing their good mood, sent a comms request over at just the moment, and asked, preening, “Well, how’s it! Have you read the instruction manual yet?”

Yan Suizhi had already started to tinker with his smart device. 

Gu Yan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, replying, “Yes. I’m installing it now.”

“I’m telling you, not to brag, but it can analyse the signal of the other party within three attempts. Three attempts, max! Aren’t I super impressive?”

Gu Yan nodded. “Very impressive.”

“Just two words?” 

Gu Yan was momentarily rendered speechless. He added another word, “You’re very impressive.”

The other end, “…”

Yan Suizhi had installed the program on his smart device and was working the settings based on the instruction manual. Hearing this, he lifted his gaze to look at Gu Yan, and after Gu Yan hung up, he said with a faint smile, “I’ve never heard you praise your respected teacher a single time, yet praises of others roll so smoothly off your tongue.”

Gu Yan closed the call interface. “What do you want to hear?” 

“Minimum 500 words, 3 minutes of free presentation time. You may begin. Go on, I’ll listen.”

Gu Yan, “…”

Yan Suizhi waited patiently, and for a while the inside of the car was blanketed in silence.

The distinguished Lawyer Gu was steady and sharp-witted in the courthouses, yet at this time, his mouth suddenly turned clumsy. Words refused to come. 

“Can’t squeeze out even a single sentence?” The esteemed Professor Yan, done setting up the program, put away the hologram of his smart device and leaned back into his seat, teasing Gu Yan with his chin propped on a hand, “I suggest that you consider it carefully, else you won’t have a teacher tomorrow.”

Gu Yan, “…”

“You…” Gu Yan looked at him in exasperation for a long time, and at last, while deliberating, said impassively, “You carry yourself with exceptional poise no matter the occasion. But it’s almost always a sham.”

Yan Suizhi, “…” 

Gu Yan, “There isn’t much truth in your words; more of it is nonsense.”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Gu Yan, “Skilled at provoking anger and fussy to a fault. Easy to get close to, but that’s only on the surface. In truth, you’re stubborn, cold, and passive…”

The inside of the car was hushed while the night outside was dazzling; his voice, set against the blazing trail of lights, was as gentle and as calm as water. 

He paused, and then he said, “But I like that.”

Yan Suizhi stared at him for a while, then suddenly reached over to tug his tie, pulling him a few centimetres closer.

Mirth danced in his attractive eyes, and his gaze rested on Gu Yan’s lips. “Did you secretly eat some candy today? Let me have a taste.”