Notebook

"Is this the person who took the photos secretly that you mentioned?"

Yingying gave a simple analysis of the data. "Ronan, sixteen years old, entered Zhi Xing Institute on September 1 this year. His entrance scores were average, and the evaluations from his elementary and middle school teachers had no particular highlights. He seems very ordinary."

Xie Junping cared about only one thing. "So he's unlikely to be some kind of paparazzo?"

Yingying did not answer directly and continued analyzing the data. "What's more noteworthy is that his guardian is listed as his aunt. As for his parents, I looked into it. His mother died during childbirth, while his father disappeared very early on. Strange. Do people still die in childbirth these days?"

"You mean..."

"His upbringing was rather unusual, so his personality may be somewhat strange. We need further observation. Now, grant me access to your vehicle permissions and turn on all the surveillance systems. I want to observe him in real time."

Xie Junping did so immediately. Not long after the data sync was established, Ronan's figure appeared at the top of the elevated roadway slope, jogging at a steady pace.

Dawn had only just begun to break, and the distant figure was very blurry. Fortunately, the Phantom speeder's surveillance system had undergone professional modifications and possessed strong detection and counter-detection capabilities. Xie Junping had only discovered he was being secretly photographed because the vehicle's Smart Brain had automatically issued a warning.

Through the surveillance system, Xie Junping observed the secret photographer's every move, but could not make much of it for the moment.

Yingying, on the other hand, had already reached a preliminary conclusion. "Congratulations, Yang Gu. We can basically determine that he isn't targeting you specifically."

"Huh?"

"Did you hear his breathing?"

The surveillance system's powerful soundwave collection and filtering functions could fully reproduce even a target's whisper from fifty meters away. The clear breathing of a morning runner was no exception.

"Uh, that 'buzzz' sound is him panting?"

"Sounds like a bee, doesn't it? It should be a special Breathing Method, along with a special way of enunciating. Its exact effects are unclear. Maybe it has no effect at all—his lung capacity is only a little better than an ordinary person's. But he's extremely focused. Look at his eyes, that light in them... Tsk, tsk. Would a secret photographer with ulterior motives work out so hard after committing a crime?"

Xie Junping's tension finally eased, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

But in the next moment, Ronan, who was descending from the highest point of the elevated roadway, abruptly shifted his gaze. From the image transmitted by the surveillance system, it seemed as though he had looked straight at him.

The one-way film blocked the view from outside, so no one should have been able to see inside the car. Yet Xie Junping still jumped in fright.

"He noticed us?"

"Your Phantom is far too conspicuous. Besides, he's much more sensitive than In Imagination."

Yingying seemed intrigued as well. "He definitely noticed something, but his expression barely changed. He isn't the type to wear his emotions on his face. People like that generally have a lot on their minds and tend to be calculating. Yet he can remain focused, so his willpower should be above average. Oh, speaking of willpower, I just made a very interesting discovery. Want to hear it?"

Xie Junping watched Ronan draw closer step by step, still agonizing over how to deal with him. How could he be in the mood to hear this?

But Yingying did not care and continued on her own.

"According to the school records, Ronan's home address is Blue Bay Community in He Wu District, nearly forty kilometers in a straight line from Zhi Xing Institute. Taking low-altitude public transit or the subway, of course, wouldn't be far. But running here? That's a marathon every single day! Judging from his lung capacity, breathing pattern, and Muscle Structure, one run would practically strip a layer off him. If he does this every day... Oh my, that's quite the self-torture."

"Fuck!" Just imagining the expenditure made Xie Junping's scalp tingle.

Yingying continued her assessment. "Based on the above, generally speaking, he is not impulsive. Under the premise that the situation is unclear, he won't rush into making a decision. But if you give him a bad impression or make him feel threatened, the consequences will be hard to predict... Get out of the car now."

"Huh?"

"Did you come here just to watch him run past? Come on, doesn't that make it obvious you have 'ideas' about him? Get out and talk to him. Don't you always call yourself a 'socialite'? Or is 'Yang Gu' your only trait?"

He knew it was provocation, but no man would willingly slap himself in the face before a woman. Xie Junping took a deep breath, then patted his face to shake off as much of his hangover haze as possible. Only then did he open the Phantom's butterfly door and step outside.

This time, he truly came face-to-face with Ronan.

The two were about forty meters apart. Xie Junping put on the poise he had displayed during the Student Union election and waved at Ronan from afar in greeting.

Through the built-in earpiece, Yingying's voice seemed to sound from deep inside his head. "Very good. You look almost human. Listen, don't put on those airs. Your current image is that of a shameless, degenerate, but fairly straightforward playboy. And be more honest. He's much smarter than you think."

Xie Junping truly felt as though he had returned to campaign season. Once again, with an adviser's step-by-step prompts, he was crafting his image before a voter. Fortunately, Yingying's demands were not difficult. They were practically his true nature.

He saw Ronan slow down ahead. His eyes looked directly at him, his expression still showing little change, and he made no move to respond. He was impossible to read.

Xie Junping decided to take the initiative and walked forward a few steps. "Sorry, classmate. I'd like to talk with you."

When the distance between them shrank to less than ten meters, Ronan finally nodded in greeting. "Senior Xie."

Xie Junping's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he reflexively asked, "You know me?"

Yingying's dissatisfied voice sounded. "Why are you panicking?"

Almost at the same moment, Ronan answered, "On the twenty-fourth, I attended the club introduction seminar hosted by you, Senior."

"Oh, right. There was indeed such a thing."

Xie Junping cursed himself for being so pathetic, then reorganized his words and knowingly asked, "What's your name, junior?"

"Ronan."

"All right, Junior Ronan. Sorry for interrupting your morning run. But there's something I need your help with. Yes, that embarrassing incident just now. I'm not exactly fit to be seen right now... Shall we talk in the car?"

Yingying gave a quiet compliment. "Nice use of self-deprecation."

Ronan thought for a moment and did not refuse.

Ronan got into the car and took the front passenger seat. He placed his notebook on his lap and sat upright, looking like nothing more than a proper, honest student.

Seeing that Ronan was cooperative, Xie Junping quietly sighed in relief and got back into the car as well.

Following Yingying's instructions, he did not close the door, avoiding the psychological suggestion created by an enclosed space. Then he took a bottle of sports drink from the miniature refrigerator in the back seat and handed it over. "Rehydrate a little."

"Thank you, Senior." Ronan remained polite yet distant. He accepted the drink but did not open it.

Yingying's prompting voice cut in again. "Idiot, stop beating around the bush. People like him think fast and have a lot of ideas. It'll be troublesome if he misjudges your intentions. You were too vague earlier. What embarrassing incident? Give him the time and place directly!"

Xie Junping hurriedly got to the point. "Junior, forgive my presumptuousness, but I'd like to ask: about ten minutes ago, around five o'clock, were you at the moving walkway of the Eastbound Twin Building?"

Ronan held the cold drink bottle in his hand and answered simply, "Yes, Senior."

"Uh, did you see me come out of the nightclub?"

"I did."

Xie Junping slapped his forehead, putting on an extremely annoyed expression. Five parts of it were acting, three parts venting, and the remaining two parts were waiting for Yingying's instructions.

Yingying did not disappoint him. Her instructions came quickly. "He didn't deliberately seize the initiative. You ask, he answers. There's a strong possibility that he lacks social skills, but he doesn't seem immature. He probably cares a great deal about his personal image. Most people like this respond better to soft approaches than hard ones, but don't bring up money directly."

Xie Junping understood instantly and immediately gave a bitter smile. "Junior, as your senior, I've really embarrassed myself today. There's nothing I can say in my defense after something like this, but this is a critical period for me..."

He brought up his bid to receive the Honorary Association's Elder Medal, then pressed his palms together and bowed toward Ronan a few times. Half exaggerated and half sincere, he said:

"I know it's not very decent of me to say this, but could you turn a blind eye and let me off this once, Junior? My reputation doesn't matter much, but that medal is truly, truly important to me!"

Xie Junping's performance this time could absolutely be called masterful. Not only did he humble himself, but he also kept a trace of that cheap, roguish playboy grin on his face. It highlighted his Thick-Skinned nature while indirectly defusing the seriousness of the situation, avoiding any stimulation of Ronan's potential greed that might cause greater trouble.

Ronan remained calm throughout. "You don't need to do this, Senior. I'm not a gossip, and I wouldn't talk behind someone's back."

"Uh, I trust you, Junior, but this is the information age. Photos and videos and such aren't exactly safe..."

"I didn't take any pictures. I only thought that scene was rather unusual, so I made a quick sketch as a memento."

As he spoke, Ronan opened his notebook, activated its Imitation Paper Soft Screen, and showed Xie Junping what he had just drawn.

Seeing the blurred lines and shadows, Xie Junping relaxed slightly.

Just as he was about to speak again, Yingying suddenly said, "Get the notebook into your hands."

The other side spoke so quickly that Xie Junping almost heard the word as "snatch." He immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

Xie Junping froze for two seconds before thinking of an excuse. "Junior, carrying around a notebook like this all day seems inconvenient. Does it have some special purpose?"

Xie Junping was speaking the truth. Ronan's loose-leaf notebook bound a soft screen together with traditional paper. With the soft screen, the traditional pages seemed useless. But if he wanted to use traditional pages, then the soft screen was equally superfluous.

As he spoke, he extended a hand and put on a curious, investigative look. Inside, however, he was somewhat nervous, afraid Ronan would get angry and complicate matters.

Ronan was quite open about it and handed him the loose-leaf notebook. "This type of notebook was very popular during the Third War. During wartime, or out in the wilderness, there weren't charging facilities everywhere, so electronic products could easily become useless scrap. At times like that, traditional paper and pen were more reliable than electronics. When supplies were plentiful, though, it could also improve efficiency quickly. The soft screen could be moved and replaced at any time, and the cost wasn't high."

"Huh, a product from the Third War... They still make these after all these decades?"

Ronan smiled, softening the contours of his face. "My Grandfather liked this kind of notebook the most back then. He bought more than a thousand in one go. The one I use now is one of them. My Grandfather also made at least several hundred similar notebooks, every one filled to the brim. But most of them are no longer available for me to read."

"Wow, so it's an antique." Xie Junping flipped through it casually and saw that most of the notebook was still blank. Only some pages contained formulas, numbers, and simple diagrams that looked like they had been jotted down casually. He could not tell their purpose in a short time.

Xie Junping's attention was mainly on the soft screen. The drawing Software was still open. As he swiped a finger, switching from page to page, he casually asked:

"Is the soft screen from fifty years ago too? This drawing software looks pretty unfamiliar."

"No, I... bought it later."

Even without Yingying's reminder, Xie Junping could tell Ronan had changed his wording at the last moment.

But soon, image after image caught his attention.

In browsing mode, Xie Junping saw many drawings with scenes similar to the one that had depicted him earlier, both on and off campus. There were classrooms, streets, even bars, nightclubs, and parties. Displayed one after another, they formed a rich panorama of human lives.

Xie Junping was somewhat stunned. As a well-educated second-generation rich kid, he possessed at least some basic appreciation for art.

Although every sketch was quite rough, and some did not even include any background, Xie Junping knew these places well. Through the tension and curves of the figures' lines, he could always understand what location, what scene, and what people were being depicted...

Well, the last part was too exaggerated. What he meant was that from these sketches, he could see the powerful body language expressed by the human outlines in those moments.

To put it mystically, he could see focus, excitement, decadence, madness... Those rough lines portrayed the atmosphere of the depicted scenes, the emotions of the crowds within them, even each individual's attitude.

The lines Ronan had drawn with the Electronic Pen possessed an unmistakable sharpness, as though they tore through the surface of the image and pointed directly at some hidden truth deep within people's hearts.

Xie Junping inexplicably broke out in a sweat. Fuck, did This Old Man just discover a new Picasso?

When he flipped to the final page and saw the sketch that used him as a model, Xie Junping actually blanked out. It was only Yingying's voice that startled him awake.

"When he spoke about the notebook and his grandfather, he was clearly rather excited. I just looked up some information and found something very interesting... Idiot, flip back a few pages. You've been 'spacing out' for too long. Be careful he doesn't misunderstand."

You're the one talking to me! Xie Junping cursed Yingying a hundred times inside, but still had to obey her like a puppet on strings.

Yingying's voice continued. "His grandfather was named Luo Yuandao. He used to be a researcher, without any achievements worth mentioning. However, in the year eighty-three, thirteen years ago, someone accused him of traveling deep into the wilderness during the Third War and for a period afterward, cooperating with drifter factions to privately conduct live human experiments..."

Holy shit!

Xie Junping's finger trembled as it swiped the screen. Perhaps because he had a guilty conscience, he kept feeling that Ronan was staring at him. But it was not a suitable time to speak, so he could only force himself to keep going.