Chapter 175 Start Telling Me The Truth

"Okay, we'll talk more about it later. Didn't you want to do something about the laptop? I'm thinking of smashing it with the fire-extinguisher in the corridor."

At her words, Jingwei gave a tired chuckle, lifting his head to smile at her. Xue Ning felt that anxious knot in her heart ease when she saw it. He could still smile! Surely things weren't that terrible.

"Let's save that for the worst case scenario," Jingwei said as he reluctantly let go of Xue Ning's addictive hold to sit back down on the chair, ready to fix his mess. Hopefully, he wasn't too late - although, it would serve him right if he was! That was just what he was like before, wasn't he, too late, too slow, too -

"Jingwei," Xue Ning's voice cut through the fog in his mind, like a lighthouse guiding him on a dark stormy night. "Get to work. Or I'll get the fire extinguisher."

"Yes Madam," Jingwei said, finally putting his shaking fingers back where they belonged, on his laptop keys. He hurriedly did his best to wipe his laptop free of sensitive information. Things like his credit card details, bank account details were of course important, but he knew from personal experience that every tiny detail that he could get his hands on was dangerous for everyone around him.

So he wiped everything. From his video browsing history, to his search history, all his chats… years of history just went down the drain, just like that. Of course, company documents and information were also gone (thankfully, he wasn't in charge of much, and his brother definitely had backups).

Wei Yan, Ming Guang and Xue Ning could only watch in silence. None of them knew what to say in this situation, except perhaps to exclaim 'what the fuck', but they weren't that heartless to do it now, when Jingwei was apparently burning years of memories away.

Finally, he stopped and powered the laptop shut, removing the hard disk and the battery.

"Do I still need to get the fire extinguisher?" Xue Ning asked, because Jingwei was just silently staring at his hands. He jolted at her words, giving her a wan smile.

"Maybe? Or anything that can crush this hard disk into irreparable smithereens."

"Ah." Xue Ning looked around his house. "I'm guessing the wine bottles then."

"Definitely not!" Jingwei hurriedly exclaimed, sounding more like his normal self. "Wei Yan, go get the fire extinguisher. We're going to destroy this."

"And then you will tell all of us what just happened." Ming Guang demanded, as though he was in charge.

Jingewei froze at Ming Guang's words, but then he gave a shaky nod. Everyone around him deserved to know what happened before, and why he had nearly gone to pieces just now.

Xue Ning was still looking at him with worried eyes, even if she was trying to hide it. He really didn't deserve her.

"Okay… okay." He repeated more firmly. It was time to stop running away from his past.

Wei Yan hurriedly got the fire extinguisher, and Jingwei wasted no time in destroying the hard disk, forcefully slamming the fire extinguisher against it repeatedly until it cracked and shattered into many tiny pieces.

Xue Ning couldn't even enjoy the flex of his muscles as he lifted the fire extinguisher to destroy it! Her mind was rapidly thinking about what happened earlier.

This was what she knew:

Firstly, Sun Jingwei had someone that wanted to destroy him and his family, and they would stop at nothing, including murder, to ensure that it happened.

Secondly, that said person was most likely Sun Jingwei's old friend, some man called Wu Shang Jing. If it wasn't him, then it was related to him.

Thirdly, that said person wasn't working alone. He apparently had spies in the police department, and god knows where else!

Fourthly, Jingwei was apparently some sort of super hacker in the past, and now he was out of practice. Was his old friend/enemy part of his hacking circle? Was that why Jingwei was so shocked when he failed to hack into Zhou Yu's website?

She had too many questions and too few answers. Goosebumps were beginning to appear on her arms - she had an ominous feeling that all that happened so far was just an appetizer, and the true storm hadn't hit them yet.

Xue Ning shook her head, reminding herself to not panic first. If Jingwei was already losing his mind, she had to be the calmer and more rational one for a change!

"Okay, now that this hard drive is broken into so many pieces that no one can piece it back together, you'd better tell us everything." Xue Ning said, dragging him to his sofa so he can sit down.

Jingwei sighed and leaned back, tilted his head backwards. How was he supposed to start?

Then he met the knowing eyes of his mother's portrait behind him. Jingwei suddenly found himself missing her even more than before. If she were here, perhaps he wouldn't feel so anxious and alone.

"Jingwei?" Xue Ning prompted, grabbing his hand to hold. It felt cold and clammy, very unlike the furnace she was used to. Still, she squeezed it tightly, hoping to calm him down.

Jingwei was startled. What was he thinking? Of course he wasn't alone! He mentally scolded himself for behaving in such an uncool manner. He stopped slumping against the sofa, and proceeded to sit up properly.

Ming Guang, Wei Yan and Xue Ning blinked at the surprising change in his behaviour.

"Well, this story is going to be long." Jingwei began, taking a deep breath. "But from what happened just now, with the… cat meme, I can say with at least 99% certainty that Wu Shang Jing is alive and out to kill me. Or destroy me and everyone I love. Come to think of it, the latter option is more his style."

"That's… cheerful," Xue Ning said, "But who is Wu Shang Jing in the first place? Why does he want to destroy everything you love? What did you even do to him?"

At her question, Jingwei's lips opened, and began telling his story.