[Corner] replied again: "Fine, I take back what I just said. Then how can I see my nephew?"
"Complete the deal, and I'll send him back, of course."
"If you want to have the Police Bureau's [Scent Seeker] Sequence Users try to find him, I don't mind. But I hope you can bear the consequences."
"Are you threatening me?"
"It's just advice, not a threat. Oh, and I've already scheduled emails about your business. If my business isn't finished by this weekend, or if I die on my way to make the deal with you, a lot of your colleagues will find out about yours."
"Your colleagues' email addresses are easy to find. You know that."
The personal information of all Sequence Ability Management Bureau personnel was publicly available online, both to facilitate public oversight and to make it easier for people to contact them with inquiries.
"You! You're despicable!"
"What's wrong with that? I'm just protecting myself. Unless you were planning to kill me tomorrow all along."
"Hmph. The things going through your head are revolting!"
"Anything else?"
"One last condition. You must guarantee my nephew won't be hurt. Otherwise, I won't let you get away with it."
"Sure. I have a question too."
"Go ahead."
"Why keep such a stupid nephew around? If not for him, you would never have been exposed."
[Corner] didn't answer the question. His name turned gray.
Qin Siyang shrugged. "What a coldhearted section chief."
Still, he breathed a sigh of relief. He finally had a lead on getting his Sequence falsified. Once he met Qian Wendao tomorrow and worked out the details, everything would more or less be settled, and a new chapter of his life would begin.
"Suddenly, I feel a lot lighter."
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard Wang Defa shouting, "Officers, it's so late, and my internet cafe is about to close. What are you doing here again?!"
The police were conducting a surprise inspection?!
Wang Defa was loudly warning him, and Qin Siyang immediately understood.
He hurriedly cleared the browser history, then tried to open the surveillance feed.
Then he froze.
The surveillance screen was pitch-black!
Wang Defa had switched off the cameras!!
"Fuck! That cheapskate even has to save on this tiny bit of electricity!"
"I have no idea where the camera switch is!"
If the police suddenly discovered that the storeroom door was unlocked, came in to inspect it, and saw Qin Siyang staring blankly at a black screen, they would definitely suspect something!
While Qin Siyang was fretting, the very thing he feared most happened.
Someone pushed open the storeroom door, and it wasn't Wang Defa who walked in.
A silver-haired older man in plain clothes, with a scarf wrapped around his neck and a cigar between his lips, pushed the door open and entered.
When the silver-haired man saw Qin Siyang, his gaze turned appraising.
Qin Siyang met his eyes with a panicked expression.
He wasn't all that panicked inside, but he figured he looked like an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old boy. A boy that age ought to look frightened when someone suddenly barged in, so he put on that expression.
The storeroom fell silent for a moment. Only the footsteps outside and the faint crackling of the older man's burning cigar could be heard.
Before long, several more people came in, all wearing police uniforms.
"Inspector Olof, what brought you in here?"
"This storeroom was always shut before, but today it was open. So I came in to take a look and see if I might find something unexpected."
Olof?
Wasn't he the detective Roylena had warned me to watch out for?
For that woman to remark on how formidable his methods were, Olof certainly couldn't be any less capable than Qin Siyang.
An expert's skill showed the moment he made a move.
In that brief exchange of looks with Olof, Qin Siyang had already realized that the old man before him would be difficult to deal with. He hadn't expected him to be Olof.
An inspector leading a late-night raid on an internet cafe-was he investigating the three bodies in the alley? Or the theft of the God Remains? Or both?
Qin Siyang's heart sank for a moment. Then he sharpened his focus, ready to handle whatever came next.
Just then, Wang Defa squeezed in from behind and looked at Olof with an ingratiating smile. "Inspector, what are you investigating this time?"
"Don't move."
Olof didn't answer him. Instead, he issued the command to Qin Siyang.
Qin Siyang obediently took his hands off the mouse and keyboard, leaving a desktop with no programs running.
Olof walked up to Qin Siyang, looked at the desktop, then opened the browser. When he discovered that its history had been cleared, his gaze instantly sharpened.
"What are you doing sitting here?"
"Uh... I... I was..."
Qin Siyang stammered, but offered no answer.
Olof looked Qin Siyang over and noticed that his belt was undone.
"Were you watching porn?"
Qin Siyang immediately lowered his head, pretending he didn't dare meet Olof's eyes.
Undoing his belt was the only thing he could accomplish in such a short time. He wanted to create precisely this false impression, making Olof think he had deleted the history because he had been browsing porn sites.
"Do this storeroom and computer belong to you?"
Olof didn't pursue the matter of the porn. Instead, he posed another question.
Qin Siyang sensed trouble.
The old man really was difficult to handle. His act hadn't sidetracked Olof in the slightest; the inspector remained utterly objective and calm.
Qin Siyang said timidly, "N-no... This... this is Wang Defa's storeroom."
Wang Defa was briefly taken aback when Qin Siyang named him. He had assumed Qin Siyang would claim the storeroom was his own to get the police to leave.
But on second thought, that story would have too many holes. It would only give them something to use against him and arouse suspicion.
Where there was no need to lie, it was better to simply tell the truth.
Then Wang Defa stepped forward and said, "This storeroom is mine."
"Your storeroom? What is it used for?"
Wang Defa chuckled. "It's for... watching the surveillance feed."
"Surveillance?" Olof spotted the surveillance icon on the desktop and clicked it, only to find a black screen.
"Why is it black?"
"As you know, we're a small business. When nothing's happening, we switch off the cameras to save electricity and keep costs down. I know it's against the regulations, and I'll certainly reflect on that! It won't happen again!"
Olof still didn't follow Wang Defa's lead. He seemed unconcerned about Wang Defa's violation of the regulations.
And indeed, he was.
Wang Defa committed countless violations while running his internet cafe here. What was leaving the cameras off compared to those?
He cared about only one thing: whether the young man sitting before him had any connection to the theft of the God Remains.
Olof picked up the water cup on the desk, tapped his cigar ash into it, then took another couple of puffs.
Throughout the entire process, his eyes remained fixed on Qin Siyang. That gaze reminded Qin Siyang of how it had felt back home when the God outside his window stared at him.
As though he was about to be devoured.
Olof said nothing, yet Qin Siyang felt deeply suffocated in the dark storeroom.
Tiny beads of sweat had already appeared on Qin Siyang's forehead. He seemed somewhat frightened and guilty.
This time, he wasn't pretending.
Before you continue