Chapter 105: Replication Experiment 29
Apart from Zhuang Ningyu and Yi Ke, the participants in yesterday’s online meeting were all high-ranking officials from the Order Maintenance Departments of the Capital and Jincheng. Shocked as they were, their seniority and experience dictated that they wouldn’t just run around with loudspeakers spreading gossip the moment the meeting ended. Therefore, this romance remained wrapped in a trembling, semi-transparent water film—although it would break with a single poke, the issue was that no one was poking it. So, facing the large, imposing group of colleagues currently at the door, a touch of clear bewilderment appeared on their faces when they saw Captain Zhuang appearing at Little Yi’s home dressed in a comfortable cashmere set.
Yes, even though within just a few days, Zhuang Ningyu had performed a series of glorious feats in front of his colleagues and the entire city—disregarding his own safety to dive from a high-rise to grab a rope, refusing to let go even when exposed to a sniper’s line of sight, kneeling weakly beside the shot Yi Ke unable to stand, needing high-strength sedatives just to sleep for barely two hours due to extreme emotional tension after arriving at the hospital, and climbing out a window wordlessly to solo kill Kyaw when Yi Ke was in critical condition—a series of events worthy of twenty episodes in a romance drama… his colleagues still hadn’t grasped the greatest truth in the world!
Yi Ke stepped aside to invite everyone in and asked Qing Gang in confusion, “Why do you look so nervous?”
Could I not be nervous?! Qing Gang’s mood at this moment was extremely complicated. On one hand, he felt that Captain Zhuang and Little Yi actually looked quite compatible—a talented man and a handsome man—so maybe he should immediately offer his sincere blessings for a hundred years of harmony to this new couple. On the other hand, he felt no, no, no, this kind of thing was fundamentally immoral. Although they were happy and sweet right now, hidden behind this sweetness was a pitiful, helpless, deceived Little Yi’s wife kept in the dark! Gang, oh Gang, where is the justice you have struggled to uphold?!
Yi Ke patted Zhuang Ningyu’s waist and asked softly, “Where is the juice we just bought?”
Zhuang Ningyu went to get it from the refrigerator. As he turned around, the sunlight spilled onto him, unbelievably gentle.
The colleagues on the sofa looked at each other, their brains temporarily unable to process the scene of “Little Yi actually asking Captain Zhuang to get juice,” which seemed like something generated by a crazy AI. When has Captain Zhuang ever done such menial work? Isn’t he the Emperor?! But Captain Zhuang actually went? Two minutes later, Zhuang Ningyu walked out of the kitchen holding seven or eight bottles of juice in one hand and a mug in the other—and that mug was clearly a matching couple’s set with the one Yi Ke was currently drinking from!
From the corner, a wise man’s hesitant, slightly probing, yet irrepressibly gossipy voice finally sounded: “Captain Zhuang, you and Little Yi…”
Yi Ke finished the sentence for her with a friendly attitude: “We are dating.”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!” Amidst the excitement or shock of the other colleagues, Qing Gang coughed alone with earth-shattering force, blocking out the sun and moon. But the others couldn’t care less about him for the moment; let him cough. Everyone was deeply immersed in the wonderful and fantastical journey of realizing that Little Yi’s wife is actually Captain Zhuang and couldn’t extricate themselves. If Little Yi’s wife was Captain Zhuang, then the dreamy persona capable of crying stars suddenly became reasonable and realistic—because that was Captain Zhuang! The world was chaotic, hearts were restless, and the only one pondering deeply was Qing Gang. His coughing came to an abrupt halt upon hearing the eleven words “Little Yi, your wife is actually Captain Zhuang,” and fireworks instantly exploded in his mind!
Little Yi’s wife is Captain Zhuang?
So that heavy moral burden that tormented me, making it hard to breathe every time I thought about it, never truly existed? Another truth of the world was unveiled. After comprehending this point, a wave of numbing heat instantly flowed through his limbs and bones. He slowly sat up straight, looking at the sunlight spilling in from the window, and a poet-like sigh welled up in his heart: Ah, this scorching, beautiful, dizzying light!
A noisy voice sounded in his ear again: “Holy shit, Brother Qing, why are you crying?”
Qing Gang wiped his burning cheeks, like a benevolent old father, and took a bite of the sweet and delicious palace pastry with joy.
I’m fine. You guys keep talking.
Because the interrogation of Ah Kun and Kyaw hadn’t ended yet, and Zhuang Ningyu hadn’t recovered physically, the luxurious feast that should logically follow the public announcement of their relationship was scheduled by Yi Ke for after the overseas mission ended.
The colleagues didn’t stay at the house for long; they still had an internal operation meeting to attend later. After the living room quieted down again, Zhuang Ningyu tapped the writing tablet with a bang-bang sound to discuss: Do you think Qing Gang broke up with Zhong Mu? Or had a fight?
Yi Ke felt this analysis made a lot of sense because only those who had suffered emotional trauma would shed tears over someone else’s love life.
Qing Gang lay on his steering wheel and sneezed more than ten times in a row.
Zhong Mu sat in the back seat, ignoring him. She was still reviewing the entire process of events, trying to analyze how exactly she had been led astray by this person all the way into a ditch. This top student, who had straight A’s in school and nearly a perfect score in “Clue Tracking and Truth Deconstruction,” doubted her professional abilities for the first time in her life. The colleague sitting next to her silently pressed against the car window, thinking with slight horror: What’s wrong with Sister Zhong? Why is she suddenly full of murderous aura? We’re going on a business trip the day after tomorrow; do we really have to enter work mode so early? I’m so scared!
Zhuang Ningyu threw the empty drink bottles from the guests into the trash can and poked Yi Ke’s shoulder, indicating that his phone on the sofa was vibrating. The caller ID showed the fixed internal line of the investigation team. Zhuang Ningyu also leaned in close to the receiver—
“Brother Yi, Elder Zhong asked me to tell you that the two killers have cracked.”
Or to be precise, Ah Kun had cracked. As for Kyaw, having been beaten by Zhuang Ningyu to the point where his face was still unrecognizable and lying in the hospital wrapped like a mummy, no one knew if he had suffered mental trauma, but he couldn’t speak human language, only howl at the top of his lungs.
Chinese law adopted the principle of territorial jurisdiction; specific sentencing had nothing to do with nationality and depended only on the nature, circumstances, and social harm of the crime. Just the two shots fired by the pair from the opposite building that day were enough to border on the death penalty. Ah Kun understood that if he wanted to live, the only way left was to perform meritorious service to atone for his crimes, so it didn’t take long for him to choose leniency through confession.
According to his confession, the two didn’t know who the employer behind the scenes was. Both parties had been communicating through the dark web, and the payment settlement used international cryptocurrency. The offer was high, with the requirement: “If Wei Liying refuses to jump, then kill her, and kill anyone who attempts to rescue her.”
Ah Kun’s electronic key had indeed recently received a deposit of cryptocurrency, but the amount wasn’t large. Ah Kun’s explanation for this was “it’s just an advance payment.” Once the task was completed, whether Wei Liying jumped voluntarily or was shot, the employer would pay the remaining seventy percent within three days.
“You don’t even know who the other party is; aren’t you afraid he’ll run?” the investigator asked.
Ah Kun answered in stiff Chinese: “Not afraid. We, worked together before.”
What followed was entirely in Burmese, translated simultaneously by the interpreter: “This employer was introduced by a friend. I accepted a task from him five years ago; he is very trustworthy. I have done work for him four times in total, and payments were always timely. This is the fifth time.”
“Were the previous four times also killings?”
“No. Killed too, but not for the sake of killing.”
The four missions took place in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia, all to settle local gangs. Such things were common in lawless places, and Ah Kun provided corresponding transfer records, which didn’t look like lies.
“If Wei Liying refuses to jump, then kill her, and kill anyone who attempts to rescue her.” At home, Zhuang Ningyu flipped through this sentence in the data, looking up at Yi Ke.
The opponent wanted Wei Liying dead, and not a quiet death, but a death with great fanfare.
Yi Ke sat at the other end of the sofa, reaching out to pull him into his chest. He had already seen the flyers Wei Liying was holding. The text was explosive, the headlines sensational, all rumors targeting Zhuang Ningyu regarding that failed mission and beyond—from style to ability, from career to family, every item fabricated with a beginning and end, even including Photoshopped blurry photos that looked very real. If it hadn’t rained heavily that day, allowing these flyers to scatter all over the sky as she wished, it would have been another kind of “great fanfare,” and the whole matter would have been even more tumultuous.
Zhuang Ningyu handed the writing tablet to him: What if she had succeeded?
If she had succeeded—Wei Liying fell to her death, or Wei Liying was shot and the team members rescuing her were also shot, with flyers drifting all over the street—then undoubtedly, the entire Jincheng, and even the whole country, would start discussing this sensational and horrifying case. As the primary person involved, Zhuang Ningyu would definitely be suspended from work to undergo organizational investigation at home, even if only to appease social sentiment.
Reputation damaged, work suspended.
Yi Ke frowned. “They don’t want you to continue working?”
And Zhuang Ningyu’s originally scheduled upcoming work, which could be known with just a little inquiry, was definitely to follow the Jincheng Order Maintenance Department to the Sea of Wandering.
In other words, the reason the opponent staged such a big show was to stop him from going to the waters of Country G to rescue Fu Han.
Zhuang Ningyu mouthed: “Fu Dong?”
The two people from the Universal Love & Benevolence Charity, Jin Yi and Fang Han, still insisted they knew nothing. Jin Yi maintained that he was just helping the mother of his daughter’s kindergarten classmate, while Fang Han insisted she was simply doing work for her boss. After multiple treatments in the hospital, Wei Liying finally woke up slowly. She first thought she was dead, but soon remembered the events of that day and the flyers that hadn’t scattered at all, hatred lighting up her eyes once more.
“What did Fang Han say to you?” Zhong Pinghe sat by her hospital bed.
Wei Liying didn’t answer, only cursing continuously.
“Who gave you those flyers?” Zhong Pinghe continued to ask.
Wei Liying continued her endless profanities and even tried to lunge at him, only to be pulled back by the handcuffs.
“Logically speaking, you haven’t ‘avenged’ your daughter yet, so you shouldn’t be committing suicide. Including some time ago, you even participated in the factory’s fitness association.” Zhong Pinghe ignored her filthy language and continued, “Going from being full of desire for life to deciding on suicide has only two possibilities. First, you have let go of hatred and lost the support to live on—this is obviously impossible. Then only the second possibility remains: you believed Fang Han’s instigation, thinking that as long as you died, you could drag the ‘enemy’ who witnessed your death into a Rule Zone dominated by you, carrying out your revenge plan as a powerful monster. Am I right?”
Wei Liying gasped violently, as if her secret thoughts had been hit. I was clearly about to succeed! Just jumping down would have been success! I could have seen my daughter in the Rule Zone, could have killed that captain who caused her death! The scene from years ago resurfaced before her eyes. She used almost all her strength to scream curses. The sound traveled outside the ward. Yi Ke’s expression was dark as he grabbed Zhuang Ningyu’s hand and pulled him all the way into the elevator.
The two had come to the hospital for a re-examination. Passing by the ward, they happened to encounter the investigation team questioning her and stopped to listen for a while. But Yi Ke regretted it now. Knowing what kind of person Wei Liying was, they should have detoured earlier; why stay there? Back in the car, he didn’t start the engine immediately but turned sideways to pull Zhuang Ningyu into his arms. After hugging for a while, feeling the center console and gear stick were in the way, he simply scooped the person entirely into the driver’s seat. This SUV had a very spacious interior; with the seat moved back, there was more than enough room for two people. Zhuang Ningyu straddled Yi Ke, patting his face to indicate he was fine.
Yi Ke said, “I’m not fine.”
Zhuang Ningyu lowered his head and planted a comforting kiss on his lips, with a trace of sweetness on his tongue.
Yi Ke still didn’t speak.
So Zhuang Ningyu started unbuttoning his own shirt.
Yi Ke: “Wifey, wifey, what are you doing? Stop! There are cameras everywhere here!”
Zhuang Ningyu shook his head. None.
Indeed, there were none; the car was parked in a blind spot. However, Yi Ke still held his hand without letting go: “The doctor said you can’t be stimulated.”
Zhuang Ningyu typed on his black-and-white senior phone: Won’t be stimulating.
No, it can’t be unstimulating. If this kind of thing isn’t stimulating, doesn’t that mean there’s a problem with my professional ability?! Yi Ke helped him button his shirt back up. Before finishing, he didn’t forget to kiss him first—fragrant, and getting hard.
Zhuang Ningyu had only intended to coax him a little and hadn’t thought about actually doing anything untoward here. Feeling the hardness poking him, he immediately used both hands and feet to crawl toward the passenger seat, but Yi Ke grabbed him: “Where are you running? I said we won’t do it. Sit still, let me button you up first.”
Zhuang Ningyu cautiously scooted his body backward, sitting on his lap. Yi Ke tidied his clothes for him, lecturing as he did so: “Before you recover, we won’t do it. Don’t tease me.”
Looking down, Zhuang Ningyu poked it with a finger.
Yi Ke was resolute: “I said no means no.”
Zhuang Ningyu patted his shoulder and returned to the passenger seat himself. You said it yourself.
Yi Ke took a deep breath and started the car with a heart full of lotus flowers—very Zen, very calm.
Very good, today’s Gong-Virtue is also preserved!
