Chapter 82: The Liu Family Still Has Someone

With Lin Xiaosu around, even the most complicated case could usually be wrapped up in a single trip; he would sort out the whole thread for you with crystal clarity.

Even when Lin Xiaosu was not there, Miao Ruolan and Zhou Xi could handle things quickly. Their professional skill might not have been as miraculous as Lin Xiaosu’s, but they were by no means amateurs.

Miao Ruolan had followed Lin Xiaosu on several major cases, and she had developed an extraordinary intuition for the crucial points of any investigation. Add to that her steadfast belief in following the great detective Lin and her earnest study of field investigation and criminal investigation, and her foundation had become remarkably solid.

As for Zhou Xi, she had studied law. On the legal issues involved in a case, she was absolutely an expert. The two of them working together made the whole business flow like a river in spring.

So it is said: what one knows well is never difficult.

So it is said: those who are truly professional are born to live at ease.

Although there was no shortage of cases at the Phoenix City Detective Office, there was no sign of frantic busyness.

Miao Ruolan and Zhou Xi even had time to practice driving.

Lin Xiaosu would occasionally accompany a client on the road, then come back to the library to read. He handled cases like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, and he read the same way too. No matter how thick the book, it never stayed in his hands for more than an hour; given half a day, he could clear half a bookshelf.

Thus ten-odd days passed.

It was already late June.

As usual, Lin Xiaosu was reading in the library. This time he had picked up a book on botany. He had seen a great many botany texts in Dragon Abyss One Hundred and One, but books written by different publishers and research teams emphasized different things.

This one was finished as well.

When Lin Xiaosu returned the book to the shelf, his gaze lingered for a moment in a reading room opposite him. There had once been someone there, but now there was no one.

That person was named Ding Ruoshui.

Her father was named Ding Lizhong.

Her father had been one of the three founders of the Everlife Group, specializing in bioengineering and possessing astonishing insight into chip control.

Someone like Ding Ruoshui, in theory, should never have appeared in Fengcheng, this remote little county town. Her stage in life ought to have been Jiangcheng, or even the capital.

And yet she had come anyway. She had read in the library, crossed paths with Lin Xiaosu, even given him a painting. When she left, Lin Xiaosu had used reverse temporal tracing to witness her uncanny ability: she had killed a troublesome mosquito with a single strand of hair.

Miao Ruolan had once said, from the perspective of ancient martial arts, that this was the work of immortals.

What, exactly, had been her purpose in drawing close to him?

That was a question Lin Xiaosu had wondered about from a very early time.

He stepped out of the library and returned to the detective office.

Only one person was there: Zhou Xi.

“Where’s Ruolan?”

“Ruolan went to take her driving test. She said she’s definitely passing today.” Zhou Xi poured him a cup of tea. “Ruolan learns to drive really fast.”

“And you?”

“I’m much dumber than she is. The instructor even scolded me yesterday…” Zhou Xi said. “Does practicing ancient martial arts make your brain cells extra lively too?”

“What, you want to learn ancient martial arts too?”

“Hey, tell Ruolan for me and see if she’s willing to teach me…” Zhou Xi’s eyes lit up.

“You can ask her yourself. There are no such strict taboos. I asked her to teach me back then too, and the moment I brought it up she agreed.”

“Who can compare with you? In her eyes, who are you?” Zhou Xi gave him a glance, and there was something meaningful in it.

“Oh!” From the entrance to the detective office suddenly came a voice. “Another little beauty has appeared.”

Zhou Xi gave a light hop like a rabbit, and when she turned around she saw a beautiful policewoman coming in.

Zhou Mei.

Zhou Mei had not come for more than ten days.

“Officer Zhou!” Zhou Xi brought her a cup of tea.

Zhou Mei was surprised. “You know me?”

Zhou Xi smiled faintly. “We met ten days ago, at White Poplar Ridge, in the Liu family villa.”

Zhou Mei widened her eyes. “So it was you, Zhou Xi! Detective Lin, your office really is a place blessed by fortune. In just ten days, you’ve turned a haggard peasant girl into a blossoming flower.”

Indeed, the Zhou Xi of that day and the Zhou Xi of today seemed like two entirely different people.

Back then she had been pale, unkempt, her eyes bloodshot, on the verge of collapse.

Today she was fresh and bright, beautiful and radiant, youthful and lovely, like a flower just beginning to bloom.

If Zhou Xi had not revealed her identity directly and mentioned that night’s meeting, Zhou Mei truly would not have recognized her on the street.

Lin Xiaosu smiled. “Hurry up and quit that lousy job of yours. Come work for me, and I’ll turn you into a flower too.”

Zhou Mei shot him a sidelong look. “I’m already a flower. I need you to raise me?”

“Fine, fine. You’re a flower. Then may I ask what this flower has come here for today?”

“To take a look upstairs.” Zhou Mei carried her teacup and went upstairs.

Lin Xiaosu understood what she meant and followed.

Zhou Mei went upstairs and opened Miao Ruolan’s room.

Then, a moment later, she opened another room, where there were also signs that someone had been living there.

Lin Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry. “I say, every time you come, you inspect the rooms first. What is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m the landlady! A landlady has every right to express grave concern over promiscuous chaos in her rental property…”

“The landlady doesn’t have that power, does she?”

“Why not? Maybe not with others, but with people who practice ancient martial arts, it has to be different!” Zhou Mei said. “I only just found out that when someone practicing ancient martial arts makes too much noise, it can damage the load-bearing structure of a house. That’s for one martial artist alone. If you and Miao Ruolan make a racket in the middle of the night, what then...”

Covering his face, Lin Xiaosu went into his own room.

Good heavens, the two of them making a racket and damaging the house’s load-bearing structure…

Just how fierce would that have to be?

The door closed. Zhou Mei sat down on the chair beside the desk.

Lin Xiaosu sat on the bed.

The relaxed ease on both their faces vanished.

Zhou Mei began, “I came today to tell you a few things, about the Dale Company and the Liu family.”

“Go on.”

“Dale Company’s boss, Du Lifeng, is dead.”

This should have been a thunderclap.

For this was something no one in all of Fengcheng’s civilian circles knew.

But Lin Xiaosu merely frowned slightly. “When did he die?”

“He was fine when he got into the car. Ten miles later, he suddenly died. A chip was implanted in his brain, and the chip exploded, killing him.”

Just as expected.

In truth, Lin Xiaosu had already guessed it.

He, and Nightfall as well, had not arranged in advance for the police to jam the signal, because it was impossible to jam it at all. If he had been sent at once into a sealed room equipped with special devices, there might still have been a slim chance—through a contest with the other side’s hacker—of buying time for an interrogation. But once he was on the road, there was no way. The signal could not be blocked. As soon as the other side learned he had been captured, it could trigger self-detonation immediately, and not even immortals could stop it.

Zhou Mei went on to explain.

There was indeed a problem with Dale Company’s project, and it had already been comprehensively suspended.

However, once the real mastermind died, the others knew nothing about the project.

“But there was a gain too!”

Lin Xiaosu looked up. “What?”

“The final link in the Fengcheng kidnapping cases has been connected!” Zhou Mei said. “Do you remember the child kidnapping case you first got involved in? There were engineered humans involved later on. The investigation has now confirmed that the engineered human was acting on the orders of Dongzi, Du Lifeng’s driver. Behind them was a terrorist organization specialized in kidnapping children of outstanding aptitude, raising them from an early age and training them into assassins for the organization. Those assassins are key pieces in the Blood Spear Plan. The foreign organization intends to use these children taken from the Great Xia and turn them into blood spears to pierce Great Xia’s defenses!”

In truth, Lin Xiaosu had long since guessed all of this.

But he still showed appropriate surprise.

Zhou Mei said, “I have to say, the point you seized from the vast crowd was seized with uncanny precision! Du Lifeng’s driver, that man called Dongzi, tied two major cases together all by himself!”

Lin Xiaosu nodded lightly. “That’s what you call a detective’s eye.”

“I can praise you, but you can’t praise yourself.”

“I understand the principle, but if you never praise me, what am I supposed to do?”

Zhou Mei burst out laughing. “I just can’t stand that smug little expression of yours. I have to knock you down a peg! Among the three kidnapped children in Fengcheng, we rescued one on the spot, and the other two were taken. One of them was a child named Liu Chao, and for some reason he ended up tangling with you.”

“Liu Chao! He’s from the Liu family, isn’t he?”

“Yes. He’s Liu Yuanchang’s fourth son. By now he must have already been taken into the secret training base of the Nine-Headed Serpent. If he ever comes out in the future and learns that his father and his three brothers were all ruined by your hand…” Zhou Mei did not continue. She only looked at him quietly.

Lin Xiaosu said, “He was ten when he went missing, right?”

“Yes. A ten-year-old child is, in truth, no longer really a child. He already understands things.”

“That’s fine. I’m not afraid he understands things. I’m only afraid he doesn’t.”

This topic was important, but it was only briefly mentioned, because there was something Zhou Mei did not know, while Lin Xiaosu did. The child named Liu Chao had already been freed from the Nine-Headed Serpent’s control in the Ant Nest on Cloud Terrace Mountain. Lin Xiaosu himself had rescued him.

He was not in the Nine-Headed Serpent’s secret base now. He was in Dragon Abyss!

Within Dragon Abyss’s framework, he was classified as a “pathbreaker.”

His future destination was “Curved Dragon.”

If he truly understood things, then he would know that Lin Xiaosu was not his enemy, but rather his benefactor.

And if his heart truly came to hold the greater duty of country and family, he would also know that his former home, his father, and his three elder brothers had brought their fate upon themselves.

Zhou Mei nodded gently. “He’s only ten for now. Even if he has any connection with you, it will be many years from now. Let’s talk about something more urgent. The Liu family has more than four sons. They also have a daughter named Liu Qianxun. She’s currently at the Everlife Group, and her relationship with the upper echelons there is very delicate.”

“Oh? Delicate how?” Lin Xiaosu became interested.

Anything related to the Everlife Group drew his interest.

“The chairman of the Everlife Group, Li Changsheng, has three sons and one daughter. His daughter is named Li Ziyi. She and Liu Qianxun were university classmates and close friends. After graduation, Liu Qianxun joined the Everlife Group. She is basically Li Ziyi’s assistant, and also serves as her bodyguard. On top of that, there are rumors that Li Changsheng’s third son has been wildly pursuing this Miss Qianxun.”

“The daughter of the Everlife Group’s chairman is her best friend, and she’s also the object of pursuit for the group’s heir. This girl has quite a bit of maneuvering room,” Lin Xiaosu said admiringly.

“That’s right. As a descendant of ancient martial arts, she naturally has her own weight. With all these powerful connections backing her, her influence is probably beyond your imagination,” Zhou Mei said. “That’s the real purpose of my coming today: to give you a warning.”

“What about the Liu family’s people… how are they?”

Zhou Mei shook her head lightly. “When you made your move, you should have known the outcome. For someone who looks so refined and courteous, your hand is really ruthless…”