Liang Wan closed the documents and pinched her brow. She hadn’t memorized everything but had taken plenty of notes, copying down the names and ages of the young draftsmen, all of whom were only in their teens. She had also taken many photos. She knew it was impossible to memorize everything, but she felt that this information shouldn’t leave the room; the warning felt somewhat strange.
Liang Wan was very clever; she didn’t know if there was a surveillance system in this room. She discreetly glanced around with her peripheral vision but didn’t notice anything unusual. However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t one, as she wasn’t knowledgeable about such technology. Logically analyzing the warning that these documents couldn’t leave the room, she found the action itself meaningless. What would happen if she took the documents out? If they were indeed precious and couldn’t be carried with her, the other party could easily use copies.
Since these were all originals and there was this strange warning, it was likely that the warning had little to do with the documents themselves but was more about her. Most likely, the other party was testing whether she would obey. Of course, she wasn’t that obedient, but there was no need to make them lose confidence in her at this point.
After ensuring everything was in order, she carefully checked the dark room again before returning to her own room and sealing the wardrobe. This room made her feel uneasy. She waited for a moment but received no calls, so she left the room.
By this time, it was already bright outside. She had a cup of coffee at a roadside café before hailing a taxi. She was very clear about what she needed to do and knew where the breakthrough lay. Underestimating women would be the biggest mistake for you self-righteous men, Liang Wan thought. You think that world is under your control. It’s time for a woman to change the rules.
She glanced at her watch. It was an electronic watch that was counting down; she had specifically bought it for this purpose, capable of counting down 999 days. It was the longest countdown watch she could find. The first part of the number showed 54.
There were 54 days left. This watch represented the key phrase from that man’s nightmarish ramblings, which had been repeated the most. Since that day, she had gone from disbelief to belief, wasting too much time. From the moment she began to believe in this matter to her relentless efforts to become Li Zhu’s attending physician, to her first confrontation with Wu Xie, things hadn’t gone as smoothly as she had imagined. Now, only 54 days remained.
“Take me straight to the airport,” Liang Wan said to the driver, abandoning her idea of resting after a sleepless night. She hoped to gain a few more hours for this matter. The driver nodded, pressed the meter, and Liang Wan closed her eyes. She could sleep for two hours and quickly fell into slumber with a steam mask on.
The driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror and sighed softly.
Li Zhu arrived at Su Wan’s house and felt as if he were traversing through several different timelines. The door was so familiar and ordinary; he had entered and exited it more than once, and now it felt as if he were just passing by to play with Su Wan. Now that Su Wan was in the hospital, uncertain of life or death, his purpose for coming here felt quite strange.
Su Wan couldn’t give him the key, so he had to climb in from the side. He had done this many times before, often sneaking out in the middle of the night to play games at an internet café with Su Wan. He climbed in and, familiar with the surroundings, turned on the lights in the yard.
The loquat tree was right beneath Su Wan’s room. Seeing the loquat tree, Li Cu knew why Su Wan chose this spot; the ground beneath the tree was sandy. He dug around with his hands and quickly unearthed something beneath.
It was a tea canister, about the size of a cup. Li Cu opened it and poured out its contents, revealing a key. There was a label on the key, which had an address written on it.
He sat down on the ground and suddenly realized that this trick had also been used on Liang Wan. It seemed the other party was quite accustomed to using such tactics.
This was the first package, and it contained only a key?
He examined the address on the back of the key more closely. This address was far more impressive than Liang Wan’s; it was located in Inner Mongolia.
Bayan Har West Garden Street in Alashan League, it was a hotel room.
Li Cu stroked his chin, pondering why Su Wan would hide this key while leaving other strange items out in the open.
Su Wan was a person with a very normal way of thinking; there must be a reason for him to hide this key.
What could the reason be?
There was no reason; the key certainly wouldn’t strike Su Wan as strange. The only possibility was that Su Wan had been to this room.
This guy had money and an ID, so it was indeed possible. It would only take three days for a round trip from here.
Li Cu looked at the key again and noticed that the keychain attached to it was a bit odd; it resembled a peculiar prototype dagger. He fiddled with it and discovered that the key’s pendant was actually a USB drive.
He climbed through the big tree into Su Wan’s room, opened his computer, and plugged in the USB drive.
Inside was a video. Li Cu thought to himself, “What the hell,” and clicked on the video.
It was indeed a hotel room. At the very beginning of the video, he saw a person’s face, and Li Cu was stunned.
“Little Duck Pear, it’s Dad.”
The large face began to speak, and Li Cu covered his mouth; he saw his father in the video.
His father’s demeanor was off; he seemed quite nervous, something he had never shown in front of Li Cu before.
His father was holding the phone himself, and it was clear his hand was shaking badly.
“This may be the last message Dad ever gets to say to you in this world. I’m about to head to a place. I couldn’t bring this out with me, so I used this USB drive to make it more discreet, hoping it would work. Just a moment, Dad will secretly record something for you, and you need to keep this safe.”
Li Cu could see that his father was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed, and there was background noise in the distance, indicating there was more than one person in the room.
His father glanced behind him, seemingly afraid that the person in the background would come over and see him recording.
After confirming that no one was coming, his father continued, “If Dad doesn’t come back, you need to finish your studies. If you’re uncomfortable at your mom’s place, just stay by yourself. You’re grown up now, and I trust that you have your own thoughts. All of Dad’s savings are in the box under the bed; it should be enough for you to live until you’re an adult. You can’t go to the police; what Dad is doing is very dangerous and illegal.”
In the background, someone called out, and his father responded, continuing to speak urgently to him: “It’s inconvenient for Dad to talk. You need to live well. This step Dad is taking is not out of irresponsibility; it’s truly forced. Don’t try to figure out what exactly happened to Dad. Later, you must take good care of the things Dad records. Someone will pay a very high price for them.”
