Chapter 107: Replication Experiment 31 (End)
The instruction A’Kun and Kyaw received from their employer was “Kill Wei Liying, and kill anyone attempting to rescue Wei Liying.” Based on this alone, Zhuang Ningyu felt the mastermind was unlikely to be Fu Han. Moreover, the timing didn’t match. When A’Kun received this order, Fu Han was already trapped in the Sea of Wandering and logically shouldn’t have been able to communicate with the outside world.
“I work for Jin Yi, and Jin Yi works for Fu Han,” Fang Han confessed expressionlessly. “A while ago, Jin Yi gave me a task to provoke Wei Liying. I had to provoke her into madness again over what happened years ago, making it as big a scene as possible. In short, I had to find ways to muddy the waters and create a new round of public opinion, forcing the Order Maintenance Department to reopen the investigation into your Captain Zhuang for dereliction of duty under pressure. Jin Yi even prepared a large batch of internet water armies specifically for this; the talking points were all ready. You can check anytime.”
“Is that so?” In the adjacent interrogation room, investigators asked Jin Yi.
Jin Yi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Faced with the testimony placed before him, a drop of sweat slid down his forehead. He hadn’t expected Fang Han to confess so quickly. He had to reconsider his best strategy for handling the interrogation. After a moment, Jin Yi sat up straight, put away his previously slightly exaggerated performance, and spoke cooperatively.
“Comrade, I really never thought about attacking state officials, especially not Mr. Yi’s most valued youngest son. Neither President Fu nor I would possibly—or even need to—offend Yi Guodong. I just asked Fang Han to find a way to blow up the Wei Liying incident. She suggested the most sensational effect would be for Wei Liying to jump off a building holding flyers accusing your Captain Zhuang, and I just…”
“You just agreed?”
“Sigh, a moment of folly, a moment of folly.”
Jin Yi offered a few unconvincing excuses, but in his heart, he knew he hadn’t been foolish; he simply didn’t regard Wei Liying’s life as a life. She was just a tool—there was no life or death, only useful or useless. Besides, based on her past actions, perhaps her death would please his boss even more.
“As for the specific content of the flyers, I wasn’t clear on it and didn’t see them beforehand. Fang Han has been with me for many years and has always been reliable; I never needed to ask about details. Moreover, when she was doing things for President Fu, she didn’t actually need my approval for everything. We were more like colleagues. So for this Wei Liying incident, she only informed me of two time points: first, that she had successfully contacted Wei Liying, and second, that Wei Liying would jump on a certain day and time. As for why killers were sniping from the opposite building that day, it really had nothing to do with me.”
“Why provoke Wei Liying to jump?”
“To keep your Captain Zhuang in Jincheng and prevent him from going to Country G for the rescue.” This answer matched Fang Han’s.
“Was keeping Captain Zhuang in Jincheng your idea or Fu Han’s idea? When did he contact you?”
“President Fu didn’t contact me. He really lost contact as soon as he entered the white fog zone. Provoking Wei Liying was entirely my idea.”
According to Jin Yi’s confession, Fu Han had discovered long ago that Fu Dong and the organization behind him had been researching and manufacturing Rule Zones in international waters. He said, “So President Fu specifically instructed that if he were ever trapped in a Rule Zone, especially one in international waters, I must do everything possible to stop your Captain Zhuang from participating in the rescue. As for why, President Fu didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. But one thing I can confirm is that President Fu has always been protecting Captain Zhuang’s reputation online, so his obstruction definitely isn’t out of malice but due to other difficulties.”
“Instigating Wei Liying to jump off a building with flyers counts as protecting our Captain Zhuang’s reputation?”
“It was an expedient measure. After all, my primary task was to stop him from entering the Rule Zone first.” Jin Yi asked for a glass of water, gulped down more than half, and continued, “Using the Wei Liying incident was the easiest method I could think of in a short time. At least it wouldn’t cause substantial harm to Captain Zhuang… at most temporarily damage his reputation. But after the storm passes, you guys would definitely issue a clarification announcement, and I would also organize the water army to scrub the internet. Public opinion can be easily turned around.”
After the interrogation, Jin Yi pressed his fingerprint on the confession to confirm it and emphasized again, “Throughout the whole process, I really only thought about letting Wei Liying have an accident. I absolutely didn’t plan to hurt Little Mr. Yi and Captain Zhuang, especially Captain Zhuang. Didn’t I make such a big fanfare just so he couldn’t participate in the rescue without getting physically hurt? How could I possibly hire killers to kill him?”
The investigator nodded. “Alright, let’s stop here for this inquiry. Boss Jin, return to the detention center and await further legal proceedings. We will notify you of the case progress in accordance with the law.”
While being escorted down the corridor by police, Jin Yi glanced sideways at the adjacent interrogation room. Through the one-way glass, he couldn’t actually see anything, but he still felt an inexplicable chill—not out of fear of Fang Han herself, but due to the sudden disappearance of his sense of security. He truly knew nothing about the killer incident and had absolutely no idea when Fang Han had become an abyss wearing human skin.
Thinking about it further, he was even somewhat grateful to the Order Maintenance Department for arresting him in time. After all, a gun muzzle was hidden in the darkness, and he hadn’t noticed it at all before.
“The current situation is that both Jin Yi and Fang Han are willing to admit to the Wei Liying incident while denying involvement with the killers.” In the apartment, Yi Ke kicked his long legs and slid his computer chair dashingly to his wife. “Of the four collaborations prior to this incident confessed by A’Kun, Grandpa has already investigated two. One involved local gangs colluding with police to kidnap employees after failed extortion, and the other was a convoy robbery where the employer hired A’Kun and Kyaw to solve the trouble. The overseas trading firms involved in these two incidents are one related to Fu Han and one related to Fu Han’s friend. The results for the other two aren’t out yet, but they’re likely similar.”
Now, at least it could be confirmed that the payer was indeed Fu Han’s account.
“The problem is that Jin Yi can use this account, and so can Fang Han,” Yi Ke said. “When transferring money to A’Kun, the account used an encrypted virtual IP, making the location unconfirmable. So currently, the two are passing the buck.”
Zhuang Ningyu typed on the computer: “I want to see the flyer.”
Yi Ke: “Why?”
Zhuang Ningyu: “Give it to me quickly!!!!!!!!!!”
Yi Ke: “…Okay, okay, giving it to you. Stop! No more exclamation marks.”
Zhuang Ningyu lifted his finger from the keyboard, ending the noisy screen flooding.
Yi Ke handed him his phone. The content of the flyer was indeed unsightly, as mentioned before. Even if Jin Yi’s requirement was to blow things up, the rumors attacking Zhuang Ningyu’s private life were excessively over the line, the malice practically overflowing blatantly. Zhuang Ningyu continued typing: “Fang Han hates me, or rather, she loathes me extremely.”
Yi Ke nodded; Grandpa had said the same on the phone just now. There was a slight difference between rumors meant to cause a scene and rumors filled with hostility; it was easy to distinguish. But Zhuang Ningyu and Fang Han had never met before, and she couldn’t possibly loathe Zhuang Ningyu out of sympathy for Wei Liying. So the only intersection left was Fu Han, who was related to both parties.
Zhuang Ningyu continued typing: “She likes Fu Han.”
“Then this ‘like’ isn’t worth much,” Yi Ke commented. “She confessed as soon as she was asked.”
Zhuang Ningyu typed rapidly: “Because she doesn’t like him anymore, or rather, not that much.”
“The reason?” Yi Ke asked.
Zhuang Ningyu pointed at himself—Because of my existence.
Yi Ke: “…” Although reasonable, no. I want to kiss wifey first.
Zhuang Ningyu now understood and adapted to his various sudden behaviors. He sat still and even actively puckered his lips. After coaxing him, he continued typing: “But there’s a high probability Fu Han doesn’t know she likes him. Otherwise, given Fu Han’s personality, he absolutely wouldn’t allow Fang Han to stay by his side.”
Yi Ke: How do you still understand Fu Han so well? No, I need another kiss.
This time Zhuang Ningyu didn’t indulge him. Maintaining his sitting posture, he flew a single leg out and stepped on Yi Ke’s chest. As for why he didn’t slap him, it was because his hands needed to type.
But Yi Ke thought: Wifey kicked off his mushroom slipper before kicking me; he truly loves me!
Then he grabbed that slender ankle, moved the foot from his chest to his shoulder, and placed it there. Put it here, put it here.
Zhuang Ningyu: “?”
The next moment, Yi Ke moved like the wind, catching the cotton cushion flying towards him. He tucked it nicely behind his precious wife’s back on the chair, put the leg back, and finally smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles on the pajama pants. “You mean, the reason Fang Han chose to stay by Fu Han’s side initially was that she liked him, but Fu Han didn’t see her at all. Long-term neglect turned her love into hate, allowing her to be poached by Fu Han’s rivals, like Fu Dong?”
Zhuang Ningyu nodded. Fang Han and Ni Ruiling had similar personalities. When such people encountered someone they liked, they would initially do everything to build the other’s goodwill towards them. But once they discovered they couldn’t get what they wanted, their primal rage would be triggered, leading to revenge—including but not limited to creating public opinion traps, emotional strangulation, and resource destruction. Commonly known as “if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it.”
Especially since Fu Han, while ignoring Fang Han, was passionately pursuing another relationship, and even this mission was purely to protect that relationship. Zhuang Ningyu pointed to the flyer. This way, the overflowing malice on the flyer has an explanation. Jin Yi might have only wanted to create some moderately sized rumors that spread widely but could be whitewashed later. But Fang Han obviously didn’t plan that way; well-versed in public opinion, she only wanted to turn the dirty water into indelible black asphalt to vent her inner anger.
Yi Ke clicked his tongue. “Truly despicable.”
A day later, Ye Jiaoyue led the action team members onto a plane flying from Jincheng to the capital, planning to rendezvous with colleagues there before flying together to Country G.
In the interrogation room, Fang Han still sat in the chair with a cold expression. Zhong Pinghe stood before her holding a teacup, looking at her for a long time before suddenly asking, “You must hate Ningyu very much, right?”
Fang Han jerked her head up to meet his gaze.
Zhong Pinghe nodded. “You don’t need to explain; I completely understand.”
Saying this, he placed a laptop not far from Fang Han. “We found these things in your home: cufflinks, a man’s shirt stained with red wine, a tie, a pen, and even a tissue used to wipe a mouth. There’s a lipstick mark next to the oil stain on the tissue; did you imprint that later?”
Fang Han’s face went from flushed red to snow-white. She never thought these people would find the safe hidden in the mezzanine of her basement. Her privacy was stripped bare without reservation; all her humble adoration was documented. Humble—she truly loathed this word. But facing Fu Han, she couldn’t help but be humble. And just when she had finally overcome the psychological barrier and accepted her humbleness, another person constantly reminded her that her humbleness was actually worthless.
“The investigation team will announce these items to the public during the work process, expected within this week,” Zhong Pinghe said. “Although you can apply for non-disclosure, I won’t approve it because the case hasn’t been closed. Therefore, I have the authority to solicit more relevant clues from society using this.”
Fang Han clenched her hands tightly, her bright red nails snapping silently in her palms.
“Only by confessing now do you have a chance to strive for a suspended sentence and privacy privileges. Conversely, your sentence will likely be maximum, and all secrets will be revealed—not just these things in the safe, but also the mobile hard drive you smashed and threw into the community garbage station. We’ve found that too.” Zhong Pinghe put down his teacup and sat back in his chair. “Fang Han, your handler doesn’t seem to intend to save you. Based on my years of experience, you were likely just briefly used by him. Or do you actually know it’s exploitation, but after giving up on Fu Han, you’ve quickly developed a secret crush on this handler, so you’d rather sacrifice your future to keep his secret?”
“I didn’t!” Fang Han flew into a rage, as if suffering a great humiliation.
“If not, then not. It’s just my speculation,” Zhong Pinghe said. “Don’t worry, speculations won’t be written in official notices. However, I will go to relevant forums to discuss possibilities anonymously with netizens to solve the case as soon as possible.”
Listening to his words, Fang Han unconsciously rubbed her palms back and forth on the table. Her palms, cut by her nails, quickly became bloody under the harsh friction, but she didn’t notice, merely repeating the action mechanically. Her gaze constantly fell on the computer screen and then moved away as if burned. Finally, after five minutes, her voice trembled and rasped, sounding like a female ghost who had just crawled out of the ground: “Zhou Lishan.”
“Zhou Lishan. He was the one who sought me out.”
Zhou Lishan was one of the assistants to Fu Dong’s deputy.
But on the day Wei Liying jumped and Jin Yi and Fang Han were controlled by police, he had returned to his hometown.
Hearing the report, Zhong Pinghe’s brow twitched, secretly thinking they might be a step too late.
Sure enough, the police didn’t find anyone at Zhou Lishan’s hometown.
Two days later, a bloated corpse floated up downstream in the Jin River.
Fu Dong naturally knew “absolutely nothing” about this. As for the deputy, he stated that Zhou Lishan was habitually fond of gambling and women, had offended a big brother in the underworld, and seemingly borrowed bad debts, so being silenced wasn’t surprising. The explanation was watertight, even backed by witnesses and physical evidence.
“Comrades, I’m truly sorry today for not being able to provide you with any strong clues. If there’s anything else in the future, feel free to find me anytime.” The deputy general manager saw the investigators to the main gate.
“Rest assured, General Manager Liu.” Zhong Pinghe glanced at the resplendent Fu Group building under the setting sun and smiled. “We will likely visit this place many more times.”
The Huaguo Rule Rescue Team had arrived in Country G and was about to enter the Rule Zone.
Zhuang Ningyu lay on the sofa, flipping through photos sent by Qing Gang and listening to voice messages mixed with the whistling sea breeze. Yi Ke came out of the kitchen with a plate of cut fruit and took the tablet away. “Alright, your working hours for today end here.”
He forked a piece of watermelon and fed it to him. Zhuang Ningyu bit off half, and holding Yi Ke’s collar with one hand, fed the other half to him. The refreshing sweetness burst between their lips and teeth. Yi Ke didn’t even need to look; he grabbed Zhuang Ningyu’s hand reaching for the tablet and bit punitively on those wet lips: “Behave.”
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t behave. Instead, he exerted force with his hand, pulling the person completely down onto the sofa. He flipped over to straddle Yi Ke’s lower abdomen, feet stepping on either side of his body, arms resting on his knees, staring unblinkingly at Yi Ke for nearly two minutes.
Yi Ke asked sincerely, “How many words did you say roughly this time?”
Zhuang Ningyu gestured casually in the air. About two thousand.
Recently, he had become too lazy to use lip-reading, writing, or typing. He only wanted to communicate with the world through eye contact. And Yi Ke, relying on his super-high IQ, super-strong comprehension, and super-full love for his wife, often turned difficult questions into free points. For example, “Okay, not wearing this one, wearing that one,” or “Can’t not eat tomatoes, just one bite, after one bite I’ll let you eat eggs,” and “Watch computer for five more minutes then you really have to sleep”—precise and straight to the point!
But now, it had actually developed to over two thousand words. Clearly, his wife couldn’t be spoiled too much. Yi Ke cleared his throat and suddenly poked the soft flesh on his waist.
Zhuang Ningyu dodged to the side and was caught by a laughing Yi Ke. The extra-large sofa was perfect for two people to roll around hugging. Five minutes later, Zhuang Ningyu leaned in his arms, contentedly continuing to check messages on the tablet. In the short video, Qing Gang was chatting with a European burly man named Edouard, a Frenchman and Fu Han’s friend, who was also leading the rescue for Fu Han this time. Edouard himself was a strong Evolver. Zhuang Ningyu had dealt with him a few times before. His impression was that this guy cared greatly about appearances, marinated fragrantly in old French fashionable history, priding himself on “elegance like the Seine River water,” wishing he could pull out a handkerchief anytime, anywhere to wipe his beautiful handmade leather shoes with dew. So seeing the bearded, frantic vagrant image in the video suddenly, Zhuang Ningyu almost didn’t recognize him.
It seemed Fu Han was indeed hard to rescue.
“Do you think the Rule Zone was created by Fu Dong?” Yi Ke hugged him tighter, casually rubbing his belly.
Zhuang Ningyu hesitated and shook his head. Based on Fu Han’s preparations, he might have thought so, but… it was hard to say. If the Rule Zone were truly Fu Dong’s handiwork, he should have been fully prepared from its inception. Yet considering the current development, it didn’t seem so, because a while ago Fu Dong was racking his brains to get “The Enigma” into the white fog zone. When overt methods failed, he sneakily tried covertly, only to be discovered and stopped in time by his father, who scolded his eldest son harshly over the phone.
After thinking for a while, he turned to look at Yi Ke.
Yi Ke refused flatly: “No.”
Zhuang Ningyu turned back, presenting the back of his head to him, and continued looking at the tablet.
Yi Ke thought for a moment: “…Wifey, when you looked at me just now, you wanted to ask if I could go to Country G, not if we could kiss, right?”
Zhuang Ningyu extended a finger and wagged it slowly in mid-air. Guess.
Yi Ke didn’t want to guess, but he didn’t want to miss any benefits either. So relying on his strength, he forcibly carried the person into the bathroom and very innocently helped him shower, expressionless the whole time like a professional foam-and-rinse worker! It was Zhuang Ningyu who, seeing Yi Ke’s sexy shirt clinging tightly to his body after getting wet, had slightly improper thoughts. Unexpectedly, Yi Ke quickly noticed and sternly stopped him: Wifey, why are you not following medical advice again? You must stay calm!
Zhuang Ningyu: Want to call the police and dispatch myself.
An hour later, the two nestled in the fragrant duvet reading a few pages of a book. Yi Ke lowered his head to kiss his hair whorl. “Sleep?”
Zhuang Ningyu yawned and shrank down, suddenly burrowing entirely under the quilt.
Yi Ke: “Wifey, wifey, wifey, what are you doing!”
While screaming, he panic-strickenly fished the person out with lightning speed.
Zhuang Ningyu held a silk eye mask he just found, looking at him bafflingly.
Yi Ke: “…”
Too late. That momentary romantic fantasy just now had already added icing on the cake to an already wealthy family.
Yi Ke slowly tidied the quilt and slid in silently, like a handsome merman who had lost all strength and means.
Zhuang Ningyu choked on his own saliva, turning to lean on the bedside table, his shoulders shaking.
Yi Ke pulled the quilt higher, covering his entire face this time.
The world instantly plunged into darkness.
And in this darkness, he waited for a kiss.
“Don’t.” Yi Ke’s voice was wet, hoarse, and very soft, carrying a trace of residual embarrassment and a hundred million percent affection. He hugged the person who voluntarily burrowed into his arms tightly, rubbing cherishingly against those honey-soft lips before getting up to go to the bathroom.
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t move on the bed, only burying his face in the pillow, limbs relaxed, lying softly.
Breathing in the pleasant scent of roses.
Tomorrow is the weekend, he thought.
Perhaps we can really not work.
