Chapter 98: Nanhu Cruise, Saving Others, Saving Oneself, Saving Minds

A palpable tension filled the hall.

A police car in the dead of night rarely bodes well…

What’s happened now? Please, not another alien spider murder case.

Could it be that our Lao Ding can’t even sleep peacefully at home? The police car stopped in front of the villa, and one person got out.

He waved goodbye to the driver inside, and the police car turned around.

Ding Ruoshui practically leaped to her feet, rushing to the door to open it for him herself…

Inside the hall, Ding Lizhong stood, his wife at his side, both their faces etched with anticipation…

Lin Xiaosu offered a gentle smile. "Uncle, it’s alright now!"

Those three words again, it’s alright now!

Ding Lizhong took a deep breath. "How ‘alright’ are we talking?"

"The alien spider murder case from tonight is solved. The culprit is He Yunfei from ChangSheng Group’s Research Department II. The one who ordered him to do it was, without a doubt, Huang Chengwang!"

"I knew it!" Ding Lizhong exclaimed. "Has he been arrested?"

"He fled before the police arrived, heading to Fusang Country," Lin Xiaosu said. "But it doesn’t matter. The chain of evidence is almost complete."

Ding Lizhong’s eyes closed briefly…

That single blink represented decades of friendship, now severed for good!

After a long silence, he slowly sat down, slowly lifted the tea cup in front of him, and slowly looked up. "Actually, after the first alien murder case, I wondered if someone was using some secret method to infiltrate the system. I even checked the system for traces, but found nothing. It seems his neutrino technology has come far enough to actually bypass my system’s defenses."

"You’re mistaken," Lin Xiaosu said. "He didn’t infiltrate your system."

"He didn’t?" Ding Lizhong was shocked. "Then how did he control it?"

"The spiders that killed weren’t the spiders you controlled. They were a different batch entirely!" Lin Xiaosu explained. "Huang Chengwang ordered He Yunfei to breed four alien spiders in a secret underground chamber. They were the ones who killed, both this time and last time."

"That’s not right…" Ding Lizhong was stunned. "After the last murder, the police found the victim’s gene on the claws of the spider I controlled. That proves the real killer was my spider."

"That was a frame-up! Someone smeared the victim’s genetic material onto the spider’s leg beforehand."

"Who?"

"Your deputy, Zhou Yibo!"

"Zhou Yibo! A student I personally mentored, my project’s deputy… He framed me?" Ding Lizhong was agitated, finally letting out a long breath. "Has he been arrested?"

Lin Xiaosu shook his head gently. "You forgot to ask me who died tonight."

Ding Lizhong’s eyes slowly widened. "Was it… him?"

"Yes! Zhou Yibo is dead, killed by the spider’s leg! He was involved in this whole affair, which made him a liability. So He Yunfei, and probably Huang Chengwang as well, killed Zhou Yibo, partly to eliminate the threat, and partly to frame you again…"

Why would killing Zhou Yibo implicate Ding Lizhong? Because Zhou Yibo was Ding Lizhong’s deputy.

A deputy is always closer to the leader, more likely to discover the leader’s hidden secrets.

When that leader falls into trouble, killing the deputy who knows his secrets fits the profile…

If Lin Xiaosu hadn’t stepped in tonight to solve the murder case completely, Ding Lizhong would have been irrevocably condemned as a murderer.

But he did step in.

And the case was truly solved.

Not only was Ding Lizhong innocent in tonight’s murder, but the truth about the murder two months ago was also revealed.

The alien spiders that killed had nothing to do with the three alien spiders he controlled.

Ding Lizhong’s lips trembled slightly. "So, I… I’m truly innocent?"

"Yes! Congratulations, Uncle."

A flush rose on Ding Lizhong’s face. "Cai Cai, prepare some wine and snacks for us. I’m going to have a drink with Xiao Su!"

"Cai Cai" was Ding’s mother’s childhood name; the upstanding Ding Lizhong never called her that in front of outsiders.

But today, he did.

Ding’s mother happily rushed off to prepare the food and wine…

The maid sleeping on the first floor hadn’t actually been sleeping. She didn’t dare sleep while her employers were still awake. Sure enough, she was needed. She quickly went into the kitchen to prepare the snacks and dishes.

With the food and wine on the table, Ding Lizhong opened a bottle of wine. Lin Xiaosu was slightly stunned by the label; thanks to his detective knowledge, he had some knowledge of luxury goods, and he knew that they weren’t just drinking wine, but an entire apartment in the county town…

But it didn’t matter. They were happy.

On his first night at the Ding’s residence, Lin Xiaosu drank wine worth hundreds of thousands, slept on a bed worth who-knows-how-many-thousands, and gazed at a ceiling worth countless thousands per square meter, experiencing the life of the wealthy.

In just one day, he had completed Ding Ruoshui’s commission, even exceeding expectations.

Ruolan had already sent him a message.

The final payment of three hundred thousand had already been deposited into his account.

Meaning this investigation had come to a successful conclusion.

The next morning, Lin Xiaosu got up and went to the rooftop.

This was the best viewing platform for the Nanhu scenery, or at least one of them. In the morning mist, Nanhu was graceful and charming. After today, seeing Nanhu again might bring a different perspective. Looking back at this villa from the lakeside road, it was also a scenic view, wasn’t it?

"Hi!" A voice came from the stairway.

Lin Xiaosu turned to see Ding Ruoshui.

Today she was wearing a short, vibrant purple dress, and aside from that dress, every part of her was as white as snow.

"My mom had Uncle Deng prepare a cruise. We’re going on a lake tour today," Ding Ruoshui said, walking over.

"Our transaction seems to be complete. It seems like the play should be over," Lin Xiaosu said.

"There’s a somewhat serious problem," Ding Ruoshui said.

"What is it?"

"My mom lectured me yesterday, giving me her most serious warning in history. She said I’m not allowed to use you and then dump you. If I don’t have a conscience, she’ll cut off my allowance."

"No way? Do rich people even talk about conscience?" Lin Xiaosu was surprised.

"Get out! What do you mean rich people don’t have a conscience? You’re the one without a conscience! How pitiful is it that I’m such a celibate daughter? We finally gave her a little bit of hope yesterday, and today you pour a basin of water on her, cooling her heart completely. How can you bear to do that? My mom even personally cooked her only dish for you. I’m telling you, other than my dad, no one else has ever eaten it…"

"Are you talking about that plate of ‘tomato scrambled with tomato’?"

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"Yeah!"

"… Has your dad really eaten it?" Lin Xiaosu asked. "That plate looked the same when it was brought up and when it was taken away. I didn’t see your dad touch it."

"You… you’re just snobbish!" Ding Ruoshui said annoyedly. "Is it about the taste of the food? It’s about the ritual! My mom made it herself, that’s the main point. Don’t talk to my mom about taste…"

Lin Xiaosu put his hand to his forehead, his eyes wandering across the Nanhu below. "Alright, alright, I understand what you mean. It’s about the ritual, right? Fine, we’ll go on a lake tour today, and act out a scene of ‘a lake of blue water as our pillow, lips and tongues intertwined, eyes full of longing’ right under their noses…"

Ding Ruoshui rolled her eyes at him. "Tch! I’ll give you the chance, but you wouldn’t dare to do it."

"Why not?"

"Because of the 400,000 I gave you! If you dare to take advantage of me, the nature of things changes… You’ll have to refund the money!"

Damn it! Lin Xiaosu fled in panic.

After breakfast, they got on the cruise ship.

The cruise ship wasn’t large; it was propelled by an electric motor.

Lin Xiaosu drove the boat, speeding along Nanhu.

Ding Ruoshui sat on the edge of the boat, her snowy white thighs in close encounter with the emerald green lake water. The splashing waves added a sense of dynamism to Nanhu.

On the rooftop, Ding’s mother smiled so wide that her eyes narrowed into slits. "Xiao Zhong, do you like this son-in-law?"

"I think… I think he’s a little too smart."

"Is being smart a bad thing? If he wasn’t smart, you’d still be struggling in the mud! I’m warning you, you have to like him! Like him immediately! If you dare to not like him, I’ll kill you!"

"Alright, alright… I like him, okay?" Ding Lizhong compromised immediately. "I should go to work today!"

"Ah? Did Lao Li call you?" This Lao Li was of course Li Changsheng, the chairman of ChangSheng Group.

Ding Lizhong nodded gently, his eyes gleaming…

With Huang Chengwang’s escape, the entire Research Department II was in chaos. The police had already arrested dozens of people yesterday, and that line of investigation was essentially dead. Li Changsheng had called him early this morning, urging him to return to work immediately and set the research direction.

In that case, the research direction would once again return to his control.

For a scientist, the greatest source of excitement was seeing their life’s work turn into reality.

From today onwards, everything would be normal again.

The reason for everything returning to normal was because his daughter had found a boyfriend.

To be honest, the fact that his daughter had found a boyfriend was in itself an exciting thing, because his daughter was too withdrawn, so withdrawn that she didn’t seem like someone from this world. For her, matters of love seemed less important than a leaf in autumn. This sudden awakening had made his wife extremely excited. She had even taken the initiative to make love to him last night…

The people on the lake were carefree and unrestrained, fully expressing their youthful spirit.

The people on the rooftop watched happily, expressing the feelings of parents.

However, not all observers looked at the cruise ship on the lake with expressions of admiration and joy.

On the rooftop of a tea house by the lake, under a parasol, a beautiful woman held a telescope, staring at the cruise ship speeding around the lake, her face gloomy and resentful.

Her name was Liu Qianxun.

Her father’s name was Liu Yuanchang.

That’s right, she was from Baiyangchong in Feng City. Her father and her three brothers had been ruined by Lin Xiaosu, not in an ordinary sense, but with heavy blows, destroying their meridians completely.

For an ancient martial arts successor, this was a pain even more unbearable than death.

Because it meant that from then on, not only could they not roam the world with ancient martial arts, they couldn’t even stand up.

The entire Liu family used to have people, money, power, industries, and connections. Who in the surrounding villages didn’t envy them?

And now? The industries were gone, the money in the accounts was frozen, and they only had one house, a woman whose mental state had become unstable, guarding four living corpses.

How great was this fall? That’s how great Liu Qianxun’s hatred for Lin Xiaosu was.

That bastard had actually come to Jiangcheng! Lin Xiaosu coming to Jiangcheng was what Liu Qianxun had been waiting for day and night, because she knew it would be difficult to attack him in Feng City. But as long as he came to Jiangcheng, he would be in her territory, and she could easily torment him until he doubted his existence.

But yesterday, in just one day, because of his involvement, Huang Chengwang, the high-ranking and powerful actual head of research at ChangSheng Group, had been discredited and fled overseas.

What did this mean? It meant that he wasn’t without a foundation in Jiangcheng! At least, the frolicking on the lake indicated that Ding Lizhong, the number three figure in ChangSheng Group, was hooked up with him.

(End of Chapter)