Chapter 163
Chapter 163
Qiu Ziyu stared unblinkingly at the painting as though he could make it bloom under his gaze. Yet he still failed to discern any special meaning, leaving him deeply frustrated.
Seeing Nan Mu stubbornly seated before the painting, Qiu Ziyu finally decided that, no matter what, he needed to get something to eat first.
“A man needs food to function. You have to eat something if you want the energy to think.”
Nan Mu had no appetite whatsoever. He merely said dejectedly, “You go. I really don’t feel like eating.”
Unable to persuade him, Qiu Ziyu stood and headed out alone.
His legs had gone numb from sitting so long. He stretched his back as he walked between Nan Mu and the easel.
He was wearing a long trench coat that day. As he passed the easel, the coat accidentally snagged the painting and pulled it down.
Qiu Ziyu instinctively reached to catch it, but it was already too late. The painting crashed heavily to the floor, one corner breaking on impact.
Qiu Ziyu froze at the sight of the damaged painting.
He knew how much it meant to Nan Mu, and now he had actually broken it.
His face full of remorse, Qiu Ziyu crouched to pick it up and apologized over and over. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
Nan Mu was already in a troubled state, and his mood had been poor. Qiu Ziyu feared this might be the final straw that caused him to break down.
He kept apologizing almost pleadingly, but Nan Mu gave no response at all. Qiu Ziyu glanced at him cautiously and found Nan Mu sitting motionless, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Oh no. Had he made Nan Mu so furious that the man had gone numb? He didn’t even know how to get angry anymore!
Growing even more uneasy, Qiu Ziyu reached out, intending to offer a few words of comfort.
Before he could touch him, Nan Mu suddenly rose onto his knees, leaned forward, and reached out.
The movement startled Qiu Ziyu. He thought Nan Mu was so angry he meant to hit him. Silently, he swore that even if Nan Mu beat him, he would not fight back.
He was already preparing to cover his head and take the blows when Nan Mu shoved him out of the way and moved close to the easel.
Qiu Ziyu’s gaze followed Nan Mu’s hand. Embedded in the wooden support where the painting had rested was a small black box.
“What’s that?”
Qiu Ziyu stared at it in surprise.
Nan Mu pried the black box free from the wood. “A listening device.”
“A listening device?” Qiu Ziyu exclaimed. “Who had the nerve to plant one in your home?”
Nan Mu weighed the box in his palm.
He recognized it at a glance.
It did not belong to anyone else. It was his. He and Wen Miao had bought it to monitor Director Wu when they were trying to save Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin.
The black box was the receiver. It could transmit audio in real time, record it, and store the recordings.
It was as if a light had suddenly gone on. The mysteries clouding his mind cleared all at once.
At last, he understood why Wen Miao had made that gesture before her death-and what secret she had been trying to reveal to him.
…
Nan Mu turned on his phone’s Bluetooth and tried to connect to the black box, but no signal appeared.
“Could the battery be dead?” Qiu Ziyu asked curiously, fiddling with the box.
Nan Mu paused, took it back, and examined it. Then he went out for quite some time before returning with a toolbox.
He opened the toolbox, found a Phillips screwdriver that fit the black box, and carefully removed its rear cover.
Crouching beside him, Qiu Ziyu saw the exposed compartment. “Sure enough. The battery’s already a little corroded… Don’t tell me it’s been in there for ten years.”
The black box used a coin cell battery.
“Do you… have a spare coin cell around here?” Qiu Ziyu looked around the nearly empty study, clearly doubtful that the apartment contained much of anything.
Sure enough, Nan Mu answered bluntly, “No.”
Qiu Ziyu stood. “Then I’ll go buy one. Where are your car keys?”
His car keys?
Nan Mu’s hands paused. Then he pulled the keys from his pants pocket.
Qiu Ziyu reached for them, but Nan Mu drew his hand away.
Qiu Ziyu blinked. “What?”
“The key fob has a coin cell,” Nan Mu said evenly.
He removed the battery from the fob and installed it in the black box. The indicator light, dark until now, finally flickered to life with a yellow glow.
The tension in Nan Mu’s heart finally eased. Thankfully, the black box itself was undamaged. It appeared to still work.
He picked up his phone again, connected it to the box’s signal, and opened the audio playback function.
“Bzzzt-”
“Bzzzt-”
A burst of static filled the room. Nan Mu and Qiu Ziyu both held their breath and listened tensely.
A second later, a voice from the recording rang clearly throughout the study.
“Ahem. Hello? Nan Mu, can you hear me?”
The voice was sweet and clear, refreshing as cool spring water.
It was Wen Miao.
The moment Nan Mu heard her voice, the corners of his eyes slowly reddened.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a faint mist seemed to drift across his gaze, leaving him dazed and unfocused-as though he had passed through the dust of years and fallen into a distant memory.
===
“After you left, Wen Xin remained unconscious…”
“Wen Xin has been in danger time and again. He must have learned one of their secrets. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t woken up, so I have no way of finding out what it was…”
“A thief may plot for a thousand days, but no one can guard against a thief for a thousand days. I can’t stand by while Wen Xin and Wen Tangtang’s lives are placed in danger over and over. So I’ve decided to speak to him myself…”
“I know how dangerous this will be. But I promised you that I would never throw my life away…”
“I’ll carry this recording device with me. If I truly can’t escape my fate, then at the very least, this time I will uncover… the secret of our origins.”
“I don’t know whether you’ll understand my hint… But if you’re hearing this recording, then I suppose you found what I hid on the easel.”
“By this point, I hope you aren’t too angry… I haven’t treated my life like a game. I made this decision only after thinking it through carefully.”
“Didn’t you say we had seven chances? Think about it. Every time you return, you and I search desperately for the truth. Yet even after using so many of those chances, we still haven’t glimpsed the secret behind all of this…”
“What faster way is there to learn the truth than to ask the person involved?”
“He knows I’m about to die. Perhaps he’ll lower his guard and at least let me die knowing the truth?”