Ever since arriving here, Huo Shaoheng had not met Reinitz with his natural appearance.
Huo Shaoheng was quiet for a moment, then said, “…This time it has something to do with him as well, so I will use my real identity.”
“It’s related to him?” Gu Nianzhi was shocked. “He worked at the charity for several years in the past, but he said it was because he needed to look for my father’s transcripts and letters and find the whereabouts of the data. How can these clinics have anything to do with him?”
Huo Shaoheng glanced at her, curling his lips into a smile. “Don’t get too excited. You will know right away.”
Gu Nianzhi noticed that Huo Shaoheng was full of confidence, so she also felt reassured. She returned to her room to wash off all the makeup and changed into a simple T-shirt and mini skirt before coming downstairs.
He Zhichu ran into her at the stairwell and asked nonchalantly, “Do you think that Huo Shao seems to know more details about the situation?”
Gu Nianzhi nodded and wasn’t hesitant to reply, “Well, what does Huo Shao do for work? It’s only understandable that he would know more than us.”
If Huo Shao knew less than them, that would mean there was an issue with his abilities.
Although Gu Nianzhi was already very confident about her relationship with Huo Shaoheng, she was even more assured about Huo Shaoheng’s day job.
She may suspect that Huo Shaoheng didn’t pay enough attention to her sometimes or treat her with enough importance, but she would never doubt Huo Shaoheng’s commitment to his job.
Huo Shaoheng so happened to walk around the corner carrying a super-thin notebook. He overheard what Gu Nianzhi said, and a trace of a smile appeared in his eyes.
“Nianzhi, Professor He, please come over here.” Huo Shaoheng opened the doors to the study.
He already had his subordinates conduct a thorough investigation of the room to eliminate pinhole cameras, invisible audio recorders, and all other sorts of surveillance equipment. He also had them set up counter-espionage equipment to make the entire study was completely secure and private.
Huo Shaoheng could only feel assured enough to show his real face in a place like this.
Gu Nianzhi and He Zhichu also followed him into the study.
Although it was in the middle of the day, the curtains inside the study were already drawn.
As soon as the noise-canceling and light-blocking drapes were drawn, the entire room was pitch black and void of light. They turned on the ceiling light.
The ceiling light in the study used LED light bulbs that were easy on the eyes. They were set into the ceiling and illuminated the room as bright as day.
A huge curved screen TV hung on the east wall of the study, nearly taking up half the wall.
The curved screen TV could connect to the computer, so Huo Shaoheng connected his laptop to the TV and gestured to Gu Nianzhi and He Zhichu. “Sit,” he said.
“This is my study.” He Zhichu frowned as he corrected Huo Shaoheng, then turned to Gu Nianzhi and said, “Sit.”
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
She and He Zhichu sat on two medieval-style carved chairs before the desk.
Soon afterward, Reinitz was brought in blindfolded.
Huo Shaoheng waved his hand to ask the man to leave. “Close the door.”
The personnel saluted Huo Shaoheng before turning to leave and closing the door. He then stood guard outside.
Huo Shaoheng said to He Zhichu, “Professor He, can you please remove the blindfold from Reinitz’s eyes?”
Gu Nianzhi was worried that He Zhichu wouldn’t want to listen to Huo Shaoheng’s orders, so she quickly replied, “Let me take it off.”
As she stood up, He Zhichu quickly grabbed onto her and said, “You can sit down, I will remove it.”
His expression was icy as he made his way before Reinitz and removed the blindfold around his eyes.
Reinitz rubbed his eyes and took some time getting accustomed to the lighting in the room.
He squinted his eyes and peered around.
Reinitz was still in disbelief because he heard Huo Shaoheng’s voice first.
Wasn’t he attending the Annual Warrior Competition in a certain country right now?!
How did he suddenly appear in this country instead?
When Reinitz’s blindfold was removed, and he was able to see Huo Shaoheng’s handsome and impeccable face for himself, he finally confirmed that the entire world, not just him, had been fooled by Huo Shaoheng…
Although he was feeling very indignant, he didn’t express it physically at all.
He pretended to not even see Huo Shaoheng and swept his eyes over him, allowing them to land on Gu Nianzhi, who was sitting diagonally from Huo Shaoheng.
Gu Nianzhi wore a well-fitting and simple navy cotton T-shirt, paired with a low-waisted blue and white striped skirt.
Navy was a color that suited her extremely well, accentuating the fairness of her skin and exquisite features.
Her eyes were a stark contrast of black and white. Because the white was too white and the black was too black, it made her eyes reflect a slight hint of dark blue.
Reinitz smiled at her and said gently, “Cereus, I haven’t seen you for a day, and you’ve already become even prettier.”
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
“Director Reinitz is too kind.” Huo Shaoheng acted like Reinitz was complimenting him, instead of Gu Nianzhi.
Sitting on the tall-backed chair behind the desk, Huo Shaoheng clasped his hands and rested them on the desk as he smiled, then reached out and said, “Please, have a seat.”
He pointed to a single person sofa in the corner of the room.
Reinitz still had shackles on his feet and hands, so it was difficult for him to move around.
He glanced at the sofa in the corner, then looked at where Gu Nianzhi was sitting and laughed. “No thanks, I’m fine sitting here.” As he spoke, he walked towards Gu Nianzhi. Folding his legs, he sat on the floorboards by her feet.
A thick Persian rug laid on top of the floorboards. It was simply designed with a geometric pattern and was very pleasing to the eye.
Huo Shaoheng didn’t mind at all since He Zhichu was sitting next to Gu Nianzhi. If Reinitz dared to do anything funny, Huo Shaoheng was willing to bet that He Zhichu would shoot Reinitz in the head…
As expected, He Zhichu didn’t even look up as he retorted dryly, “Hurry up and get started. I still need to go rest after you’re done talking.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded, then played the footage that their pinhole cameras had captured that day.
Because the computer was connected to the curved screen TV, it was also playing the footage at the same time.
Compared to Huo Shaoheng’s super-thin notebook, the TV was obviously a higher resolution.
Gu Nianzhi explained to Reinitz, “This was one of the clinics that my father mentioned. We went to two of them today. One was the Dass Fertility and Medical Clinic, which was the one that received the most donations from the charity. The other is the largest operation out of the four, Batti’s Fertility Aid Center.”
Reinitz had no idea what these people were planning to do, but he instantly perked up as soon as he heard that they went to two of the four mentioned clinics.
If he hadn’t been tricked by the two men in front of him, he would probably be in disguise and investigating the clinics himself right now.
The curved screen TV on the wall began playing the footage of what Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng heard and saw there this afternoon.
The video wasn’t very long, so Reinitz got confused from watching. He asked quizzically, “…That’s it? Why didn’t you continue investigating?”
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Didn’t these people like this idiom?
Could they mean to encourage other people to venture into a tiger’s den, so they could get a tiger cub captured for them?
Reinitz had only studied Chinese for six months, so he thought this language was far too difficult to master!
Huo Shaoheng used his mouse to pause the video and switched over to a different screen.
A folder appeared on the screen, entitled, “Account of Japan’s Secret Operation During World War II.”
Reinitz finally clamped his mouth shut when he saw this. He nervously watched the curved screen TV and waited for a long time, but Huo Shaoheng didn’t move. He asked without turning around, “…Why aren’t you opening this folder?”
“Before I open this folder, I want to ask you if you have any idea what kind of data you are pursuing?” Huo Shaoheng didn’t forget to squeeze any intelligence out of Reinitz at this point.
Reinitz didn’t even spare him a look as he stared at the screen and replied coolly, “Why are you asking me? Don’t you already know anyway?”
Huo Shaoheng nodded earnestly and said, “I understand now. It looks like my predictions were completely correct.”
The folder’s name indicated the contents he predicted.
Reinitz was prejudiced and assumed Huo Shaoheng already knew everything when he saw the folder. He inadvertently revealed his own trump card.
Gu Nianzhi turned around to make a heart sign with her fingers at Huo Shaoheng.
Reinitz looked up in shock and asked, “What did you say? This was only your prediction?!”
He turned around and pointed at the folder on the curved screen TV, asking, “…Don’t you have evidence right here?! How can you say it was only a prediction?!”
Huo Shaoheng’s smile grew wider. “When did I ever say I had evidence? This is only a folder, and the contents inside have yet to be filled.”
As he spoke, he opened the folder. There really wasn’t anything inside. It was completely empty.
He had been tricked!
Reinitz jerked his head around, glaring viciously at Huo Shaoheng. Although he wore handcuffs, he managed to give Huo Shaoheng the middle finger.
Huo Shaoheng’s smile faded as he used the mouse to open another folder and replied, “Please don’t be angry, Director Reinitz. What will you do later if you’re already so angry right now? Will you be so angry that you’ll jump off a building, or into a river?”
