Chapter 88

Chapter 88

“Wait, wait. Let’s go through this again.” Qiu Ziyu pressed a hand to his aching head. “I’ll lay out the sequence of events. Tell me if I’ve got it right.”

Qiu Ziyu took a moment to organize his thoughts, then said slowly, “Based on the evidence we have so far, the mysterious person’s first target was Gu Zhishu. For reasons unknown, they concealed Gu Zhishu’s true condition and fabricated a new illness.”

Nan Mu nodded, then added, “Back then, everyone at the hospital said Doctor Liu and the others took Gu Zhishu’s case very seriously. They were working day and night on it… Doesn’t that prove Gu Zhishu’s illness… seemed to be something very important to them?”

Nan Mu suddenly thought of Su Yu, and of that altered medical report. A chill shot through his heart, and he said with difficulty, “No! Maybe they didn’t conceal Gu Zhishu’s true condition. Maybe they created it!”

Many things he hadn’t been able to make sense of before now came rushing together like a breached dam, clearing every point of confusion.

Why had Gu Zhishu’s father said that before Gu Zhishu’s surgery, although his physical exam showed Brain Diseases, he hadn’t actually felt unwell? Why had Gu Zhishu’s “condition relapsed” so soon after the operation, leaving him with splitting headaches…?

Gu Zhishu hadn’t been sick. Just like Su Yu, someone had forged a medical report saying he was ill…

He had been implanted with an “illness”!

A gust of cold wind blew in through the window. Qiu Ziyu shivered instinctively and rubbed his exposed arms. “So Su Yu is actually a second Gu Zhishu? Before this, Gu Zhishu, just like Su Yu, had a medical report forged to say he had a disease… Was it because Gu Zhishu realized midway that his condition might have been ‘misdiagnosed’ that this mysterious person set their sights on Su Yu, planning to create a second ‘Gu Zhishu’? But why Su Yu? Since the mysterious person chose Su Yu, there’s no way someone with their capabilities wouldn’t do a simple background check on him, right? Then they must have known about the relationship between Gu Zhishu and Su Yu. If the same illness happened to two friends, all Su Yu and Gu Zhishu had to do was ask around, and the whole thing could easily be exposed.”

Of course it would be exposed. In fact, the very fact that Gu Zhishu had sent Su Yu to Yu Jingtong’s father for a follow-up proved Gu Zhishu had already begun to suspect Su Yu’s “medical report.”

There was no way this mysterious person could not have anticipated that. And yet, even so, why had they still chosen Su Yu as the target?

Unless…

“The process by which they choose their targets isn’t random. The target has to meet some unknown condition.”

…

At some point, the sky outside the window had darkened. Heavy storm clouds covered the heavens, and a bolt of lightning split down from the thick clouds, cleaving the distant sky in two.

A storm was coming.

After a moment of silence, Qiu Ziyu couldn’t help throwing out a string of questions. “Who do you think this mysterious person is? A doctor? A scientist? Someone doing biological research? Why go out of their way to make people sick? And then there’s the missing Su Yu… I checked his spending records before. For the past ten years, he hasn’t had a single electronic transaction… If nothing unexpected happened, Su Yu has probably already fallen into their hands.”

“Biological research.”

Nan Mu lowered his lashes slightly. Once again, he thought of the business card he had seen in Lin Zhengfeng’s room-the one belonging to Huangfu Junsheng.

Wisdom Biotech Company and biological research…

Wasn’t that too much of a coincidence?

But now, there was still one final question he hadn’t figured out.

If it really was Huangfu Junsheng doing this for some kind of research… then he had chosen Gu Zhishu first, and Su Yu second…
Was Wen Miao the third target he had chosen?

But there was still one problem with that.

They had created a “brain disorder” for Gu Zhishu. Although they had failed to fool Su Yu in the early stages, the goal had still been to manufacture a brain disorder for him. But when it came to Wen Miao…

Why had it turned into making Lin Zhengfeng ride a motorcycle that day to kill someone?

That didn’t fit their theory that the killer’s goal was research.

Or perhaps Su Yu and Gu Zhishu were the real targets, while Wen Miao was merely an unexpected exception? Had Wen Miao stumbled upon some part of his plan?

Nan Mu recalled the lost, bewildered look on Wen Miao’s face when she learned that Gu Zhishu’s brain disorder had been a “misdiagnosis,” and when she heard about Su Yu.

Her reaction didn’t look like that of someone who knew anything at all.

“Stop guessing!” Qiu Ziyu felt as if his head was about to explode. He stood up and rubbed his wrist. “If we can’t figure it out, I’ll just investigate him directly. If he really is connected to this, I refuse to believe he can leave absolutely no trace behind.”

At that, Nan Mu smiled. The corner of his lips curved into a mocking arc, while the depths of his pitch-black eyes remained ice-cold. “Before you have concrete evidence, I suggest you don’t make a move against him lightly.”

Qiu Ziyu, who had just gotten to his feet, turned to look at him in surprise and asked, puzzled, “Why?”

“You can’t touch him.” After a moment, Nan Mu spoke in an even tone, as if the matter had nothing to do with him at all.

Qiu Ziyu raised an eyebrow and looked at Nan Mu in astonishment, almost as if he no longer recognized him. After all, in Qiu Ziyu’s eyes, Nan Mu cared deeply about anything related to Wen Miao. The fact that Nan Mu had not immediately leaped out of bed to investigate personally, and was instead pouring cold water on him, was extremely abnormal.

Qiu Ziyu was unconvinced. “As long as someone has committed a crime, there is no one I, Qiu Ziyu, can’t touch.”

Nan Mu lifted his eyes and swept a heavy gaze over Qiu Ziyu.

Just that one look, with the warning and admonition within it, made Qiu Ziyu’s spine go taut.

“Don’t underestimate Huangfu Junsheng. What he controls is not merely the commercial lifeline of City A… More than twenty years ago, he was already able to fish Lin Zhengfeng out of the police station. What about now?” Nan Mu’s dark, somber pupils sent a chill through Qiu Ziyu’s heart. “Don’t act rashly. Otherwise… the first person forced off the chessboard will only be you.”

A torrential downpour suddenly began outside the window, the rain striking the glass with dull, heavy thuds. Qiu Ziyu walked over in a few steps and shut the window. Through the glass, he saw the young branches outside whipped crooked by the gale, swaying helplessly amid the wind and rain.

“Then… are we just supposed to stand by and watch, and do nothing?”

Qiu Ziyu’s voice was rough. He knew Nan Mu would not say such things without reason, and Nan Mu was right. If the mysterious person truly was Huangfu Junsheng, then that meant as early as twenty years ago, he had already possessed enough influence within the police to turn the clouds and rain at will.

And if Qiu Ziyu wanted to investigate Huangfu Junsheng through proper channels, he would have to apply through his superiors. Given Huangfu Junsheng’s status in City A, the approval process for investigating him would certainly be anything but simple.

If he acted rashly now, not only might he fail to find any clues, but he could also alert the enemy.

But he was still unwilling to just stand there and watch a possible lead sit right in front of him while he was unable to touch it.

“There’s no need to rush.” Nan Mu’s voice was cold and calm. “Let me meet him first.”

Qiu Ziyu turned back and saw Nan Mu in the hospital room dimmed by the dark clouds blotting out the sun. He looked like a lion lying in wait within the darkness, waiting for his prey to reveal a flaw so he could deliver the fatal strike.