Chapter 98: A Boat Ride on South Lake—Saving Others, Saving Oneself, Saving One’s Thoughts

The entire hall tensed up.

A police car in the dead of night always conjures some unpleasant associations...

What could have happened now?

Please, not another mutant spider homicide.

Could it be that old Ding still can't sleep at home?

The police car stopped at the villa’s gate. One person got out.

He waved goodbye to the driver inside, and the car turned around.

Ding Ruoshui sprang up and ran to the gate to open it for him personally...

Inside the hall, Ding Lizhong was standing, and Mrs. Ding rose as well, both wearing faces full of expectation...

Lin Xiaosu smiled gently: “Uncle, it’s nothing!”

Those three words again: nothing!

Ding Lizhong took a deep breath: “How can it just be ‘nothing’?”

“The mutant spider homicide case tonight has been solved. The culprit is He Yunfei from the Changsheng Group’s Scientific Research Department Two. The one who ordered him, almost certainly, is Huang Chengwang!”

“So it really was him!” Ding Lizhong said. “Has he been caught?”

“When the police arrived, he had already fled, heading to Fusang!” Lin Xiaosu said. “But it’s alright; the evidence chain is basically complete.”

Ding Lizhong closed his eyes lightly...

That closing of eyes represented the severance of decades-long friendship!

After a long while, he slowly sat down, gently lifted the teacup before him, and slowly raised his head: “Actually, when the first mutant homicide occurred, I wondered if someone had used some secret method to infiltrate the system. I checked it thoroughly but found no trace of intrusion. Now it seems his neutrino technology has advanced so far that he actually managed to break through the system defenses I set.”

“You’re mistaken!” Lin Xiaosu said. “He didn’t hack your system.”

“Didn’t hack it?” Ding Lizhong exclaimed. “Then how did he control it?”

“The spiders that killed weren’t the ones under your control but another batch!” Lin Xiaosu explained. “Huang Chengwang instructed He Yunfei to cultivate four mutant spiders in an underground secret chamber. These are the ones who committed the murders this time—and last time as well.”

“That can’t be...” Ding Lizhong shuddered all over. “After the last murder, the police found the victim’s genes on the claws of the spider I control, proving the true killer was indeed my spider.”

“That was framed! Someone had preemptively smeared the victim’s genetic material onto that spider’s leg.”

“Who?”

“Your deputy, Zhou Yibo!”

“Zhou Yibo! My own student, my project deputy, actually framed me? He...” Ding Lizhong became agitated, then exhaled deeply: “Has he been arrested?”

Lin Xiaosu shook his head gently: “You forgot to ask me who actually died tonight.”

Ding Lizhong’s eyes widened slowly: “It’s... him?”

“Yes! Zhou Yibo is dead, crushed under the spider’s leg! He was involved in this, so he was a liability. That’s why both He Yunfei and Huang Chengwang killed him—both to remove the risk and to frame you once more...”

Why would killing Zhou Yibo frame Ding Lizhong again?

Because Zhou Yibo was Ding Lizhong’s deputy.

The deputy is always close to the leader and more likely to uncover unknown secrets.

When the leader falls into crisis, killing the deputy who knows the secrets fits the logic of the crime...

If Lin Xiaosu hadn’t stepped in tonight and brought the case to light, Ding Lizhong would have been firmly branded as the murderer.

But he did.

The case was truly solved.

---

Not only was tonight’s murder unrelated to Ding Lizhong, even the one two months ago was finally cleared up.

The mutant spider that killed had no connection whatsoever with the three mutant spiders under his control.

Ding Lizhong’s lips trembled softly: “So, that means I... I am truly innocent?”

“Yes! Congratulations, uncle.”

A blush appeared on Ding Lizhong’s face: “Cai Cai, prepare some wine and dishes for us; I want to have a drink with Su’er!”

“Cai Cai” was Mrs. Ding’s nickname, never before used by Old Ding in front of outsiders.

But today, he said it.

Mrs. Ding happily ran off to prepare the food...

The servant sleeping on the first floor was actually awake—if the master wasn’t sleeping, she dared not rest. She hurried to the kitchen to prepare the dishes.

When the food was served, Ding Lizhong opened a bottle of wine. Lin Xiaosu glanced at the label, a bit stunned. Due to his detective knowledge, he was familiar with luxury goods and knew that the wine they were drinking wasn’t just wine—it was equivalent to buying a house in the county town...

But whatever, people were happy.

On his first night in the Ding household, Lin Xiaosu drank wine worth hundreds of thousands per bottle, slept on a bed worth who knows how much, gazing up at the rooftop whose cost was beyond calculation, experiencing the life of the wealthy.

In a short day, he completed Ding Ruoshui’s commission, even exceeding expectations.

Ruolan had already sent him a message.

The final payment of three hundred thousand had arrived.

This meant the case was closed perfectly.

---

The next morning, Lin Xiaosu got up and went to the rooftop.

This was one of the best viewing platforms for South Lake’s scenery. Early morning mist drifted over the lake, making it graceful and enchanting. Perhaps seeing it from the lakeside road on the other side, this villa would also be a beautiful sight.

“Hey!” a voice came from the stairs.

Lin Xiaosu turned his gaze and saw Ding Ruoshui.

Today, she wore a short skirt, a striking purple. Apart from the skirt, her skin was as white as snow.

“My mother asked Uncle Deng to prepare a boat. Today we’re going boating on the lake,” Ding Ruoshui said as she approached.

“Our deal seems done, and the play seems to be ending,” Lin Xiaosu said.

“There’s a serious problem,” Ding Ruoshui said.

“What?”

“My mother scolded me yesterday and gave me her most serious warning ever: don’t just use you and then dump you. If I have no conscience, she’ll cut off my allowance.”

“No way! Rich people have consciences?” Lin Xiaosu was surprised.

“Get lost! What do you mean rich people have no conscience? You have no conscience! My mother suffers because she has a daughter who’s not interested in men. Just yesterday she saw a glimmer of hope, but today you poured cold water on her. How could you? My mother even personally cooked the only dish she knows for you. I’ll tell you, apart from my father, no one else has ever eaten it…”

“You mean the ‘tomato stir-fried with tomato’ dish?”

“Yeah!”

“...Your father really ate it?” Lin Xiaosu said. “When the dish was served last night and when we left, I didn’t see him pick up his chopsticks.”

“You... you’re so snobbish!” Ding Ruoshui was annoyed. “It’s not about taste! It’s about ceremony! My mother made it herself. That’s the point. You can’t talk about taste with my mother...”

Lin Xiaosu rubbed his forehead, eyes drifting over South Lake below: “Alright, alright, I get it. Ceremony, huh? Fine. Today we’ll go boating and perform an XXX-rated scene right under their noses: ‘a lake of blue water as the pillow, lips and tongues entwined like silk’...”

Ding Ruoshui rolled her eyes: “Tch! I gave you the chance, and you didn’t dare use this trick.”

“Why not?”

“Because I gave you 400,000! If you try to take advantage, it changes the nature of things... You have to refund it!”

Damn! Lin Xiaosu fled in panic.

---

After breakfast, they boarded the boat.

The boat was small, electric-powered.

Lin Xiaosu steered the boat, speeding across South Lake.

Ding Ruoshui sat on the gunwale, her snow-white thighs meeting the emerald lake water, the splashing waves adding a sense of dynamism to South Lake.

On the rooftop, Mrs. Ding’s eyes were slits of laughter: “Xiaozhong, do you like this son-in-law?”

“I think... I think he’s a bit too clever.”

“Is being clever a bad thing? If he weren’t clever, you’d still be floundering in the mud! I warn you, you must like him! Like him immediately, or I’ll kill you!”

“Alright, alright... I like him, okay?” Ding Lizhong gave in directly. “I have to go to work today!”

“Huh? Old Li called you?” This Old Li was none other than Li Changsheng, chairman of Changsheng Group.

Ding Lizhong nodded lightly, his eyes sparkling...

With Huang Chengwang’s escape, the entire Scientific Research Department Two was in chaos. The police had arrested dozens of people yesterday, and that line was basically destroyed. This morning, Li Changsheng called him urgently to return to the company and finalize the research direction.

So, the research direction was once again under his control.

For a scientist, the greatest excitement was seeing a lifetime of effort turn into reality.

From today on, everything was normal.

The reason for this normalcy was that his daughter had found a boyfriend.

To be honest, the daughter finding a boyfriend itself was exciting, because she was so indifferent, almost not seeming like a person of this world. Matters of love and men seemed lighter than a leaf in autumn. Suddenly enlightened, she made his wife extremely excited, even initiating intimacy with him last night...

The people on the lake were carefree and spirited, fully releasing youthful charm.

The people on the rooftop watched happily, expressing parental affection.

However, not all onlookers viewed the boat on the lake with admiration or joy.

On the rooftop of a teahouse by the lake, under an umbrella, a beautiful woman held binoculars, staring grimly at the speeding boat on the lake.

Her name was Liu Qianxun.

Her father was Liu Yuanchang.

Yes, she was from Baiyangchong, Fengcheng. Her father and three brothers had all been ruined by Lin Xiaosu—not just ruined but severely injured, with their meridians destroyed.

For inheritors of ancient martial arts, this pain was worse than death.

It meant they could no longer freely roam the world with their ancient martial arts; they could barely even stand.

The Liu family once had everything: people, money, power, industry, connections. Who in the nearby towns didn’t envy them?

But now?

The industry was gone, their accounts frozen. Only one house remained, guarded by a woman whose mind had turned unstable, watching over four living corpses.

The gap was enormous, and Liu Qianxun’s hatred for Lin Xiaosu was equally immense.

That bastard had come to Jiangcheng!

Lin Xiaosu’s arrival in Jiangcheng was what Liu Qianxun had been longing for day and night, because she knew it was difficult to strike him in Fengcheng, but here in Jiangcheng—her home turf—she could easily torment him until he doubted his own life.

But yesterday, in just one day, because of his involvement, Huang Chengwang, the highly ranked actual head of research at Changsheng Group, was disgraced and fled abroad.

What did that mean?

It meant Lin Xiaosu was not without backing here in Jiangcheng!

At least the frolicking on the lake showed that Ding Lizhong, the third most important figure at Changsheng Group, was connected to him.