Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“No!” Zhao Yu answered with certainty. “I have thought about this before, but we have to take the issue of age into consideration. Even if this mysterious accomplice of Tao Xiang was younger than him, he would definitely be at least 60 years old by now. Even if he had wanted to commit such delicately planned murders, he might not be capable of it!”
“But…” Li Beini began, her eyes widening. “We can’t rule out that the mysterious accomplice is the mastermind! Even if he can’t do it himself, he can still hire someone else to do it for him!”
“That’s true,” Zhao Yu said, nodding. “But think about it, if this person and Tao Xiang had been working together for so many years, they should have earned a lot of money together. He is already of age, so what’s the reason he would be looking for the treasure again? Even if he found it, how would he spend it?”
“There are two possibilities!” Li Beini replied. “Firstly, it could be that this person still has a conscience and actually wanted to discover the treasure for the good of the country. The second is that he was held hostage! Someone discovered his secret and forced him to look for the treasure!”
“Hmm, if there really is such a mysterious accomplice…” Zhao Yu said, nodding again. “Then it is more likely the second possibility! If it was for the country’s interest, there was no way he would be killing people!”
“Yes, but…” Li Beini was facing a dilemma. “Senior, how are we supposed to find this person?”
“Tsch!” Zhao Yu pouted. “It’d be great if we could transfer Wu Xiumin over! He would be able to psychologically profile this mysterious accomplice. But, uhm, I guess I’ll give it a go…” Zhao Yu said, closing his eyes as he tried to recall the case. “I think… the fact that this person had access to so much top-secret information and was able to help Tao Xiang avoid police detection means that he is very likely in a high position within our system with a certain amount of authority ordinary staff would not have…”
“This person is similar to Tao Xiang’s age!” Zhao Yu continued. “Based on the era and a quick calculation, he is possibly slightly younger than Tao Xiang… He is very rich and has a prominent position… As for his character… he’s definitely the kind of person with very good rapport and excellent interpersonal relationships! He probably knows a lot of senior officials, businessmen, and wealthy people, and hangs out with them comfortably. He’s also probably pretty generous…”
“In addition, this person is extremely disciplined, nimble, and not that different than Tao Xiang, and, uhm…” At that point, Zhao Yu paused and tried his best to think. “Six years ago, in the period leading up to when Tao Xiang stole the Tamil Star, something might have happened that caused to Tao Xiang to instead use Li Fei as a partner…”
“Well, uhm, this seems like, uhm…” Li Beini hesitated after hearing the non-professional description Zhao Yu had just given.
“What’s wrong?” Zhao Yu asked, sounding sensitive. “If you have something to say then say it. Why are you hesitating?”
“Uhm, then I will say it…” Li Beini said nervously.
“Out with it!” Zhao Yu told her.
“That, uhm…” Li Beini said weakly, blinking. “Senior, did anything unusual happen to your father-in-law six years ago?”
“What the f*ck?!” Zhao Yu reached out to hit Li Beini. She quickly moved her hands to cover her face.
“Senior! This is just a guess, don’t take it to heart!” Li Beini urged Zhao Yu. “Your description really sounds like Miao Kun!”
“You…” Zhao Yu retracted his hands and rubbed his messy hair. He thought about it for a moment. The description he gave really did sound like his father-in-law; it was just like he was introducing Miao Kun!
But… Zhao Yu quickly dismissed the thought. What a joke! How could Miao Kun be the mysterious accomplice of Tao Xiang? Miao Kun was an overseas agent from the time Miao Ying was young, how could he be related to the thief king Tao Xiang? This was not a movie, so how could something that preposterous be reality? It was impossible! Impossible!
Zhao Yu shook his head and smiled bitterly. Whether it was related to his work or his private life, he did not think that this shocking speculation would be true! Even though the adventure system being active meant many impossible coincidences were actually possible, believing that his father-in-law had been Tao Xiang’s accomplice was too much of a stretch!
However, after thinking about how Zhao Yu had gotten caught in Li Jing and Xiao Hang’s scheme, Miao Kun’s subsequent odd reaction, and the deadline that had been set, he could not help but have his own suspicions. This all felt strange… God d*mn it! Zhao Yu thought as he let out a heavy sigh. This treasure case seemed odd right from the get-go. From the very beginning there had been odd occurrences. It felt as if these were indicative of something.
“Hey!” Li Beini suddenly pointed at what Zhao Yu had written about Tao Xiang on the whiteboard and sighed heavily. “No wonder people say that the mysterious Tamil Star is the stone of destiny! It’s this stone that changed the fate of the thief king himself! Senior, since you said that he didn’t participate in the gemstone theft, could he actually have found the treasure?”
Later that night, Zhao Yu was in his hotel room. This case was different from others and Zhao Yu knew that since the investigations had just begun, he needed to pace himself. Instead of working day and night, it was better to keep his mental state in check so that he would be able to think accurately and make the best judgment calls.
At that point, Zhao Yu was nervously waiting for it to become midnight. The Gen Dui hexagram he had started earlier that day had ended just before this. He had obtained a 213% completion rate and several tools as a reward.
Looking back at today’s encounter, Zhao Yu felt that he had been deeply affected by the hexagram, almost pulling the muscles in his lower back. Before this, he had thought that the Gen Dui hexagram represented the clues related to the treasure and he would be able to achieve an important breakthrough. In actuality, this dui hexagram didn’t have any returns, and it did not represent the treasure, but his own prize. It turned out that he received a 210,000-yuan bonus from the Criminal Department today for the Demon Case! This bonus had been in his account for a while, but Zhao Yu hadn’t realized until the end of the day since he had been busy.
He had also fought the Secret Services team earlier today and had obtained investigative authority over the treasure case. It would have felt more appropriate if it had been represented by a zhen hexagram, which meant something shocking. Or because he and Li Jing had developed a grudge, and he had fought with Xiao Hang, if he had seen a kan, li, or even gan hexagram, he would not have been surprised. However, the system had given him a gen hexagram, meaning toughness, which seemed unrelated to this case.
Zhao Yu thought seriously about the hexagram. After all, he had received the USB information from Special Services today. Perhaps the gen hexagram was referring to that? Or was the system not indicating that there would have been a battle today? Was it all just about self-meditation?
Hng… Zhao Yu first checked his watch and then checked the system in his brain. Just then, a new hexagram had begun opening in the distance and was close. He became inevitably tense, as he knew very well that this upcoming glimpse was important. It would determine the future direction of the investigation!
Based on his understanding of the system, Zhao Yu felt that the chance of gan or kun appearing in new hexagrams was very high! He didn’t know if he could handle whatever was coming. Suddenly, while waiting for the hexagram, his phone rang. Zhao Yu knew without picking it up that there was only one person who would call him at this time, and that was definitely the person closest to him. When he unlocked the phone, he realized he was right. It was Miao Ying. After receiving the deadline, Zhao Yu had told Miao Ying what had happened that day.
However, Miao Ying wasn’t as shocked as she had been before. She knew Zhao Yu’s character well, and that no matter where he went if he didn’t make a huge scene, he wouldn’t be Zhao Yu! On the phone, Miao Ying told Zhao Yu that she was stepping up her work so she would be able to reunite with him quickly. She was already arranging for staff to replace her and was ready to prepare Wu Xiumin and Zeng Ke to come over and help Zhao Yu.
When Miao Ying mentioned Wu Xiumin, Zhao Yu was reminded of the suspect profile he had written up by himself, and when he thought of this, he inevitably remembered the problem. Zhao Yu picked a suitable opportunity from the silences that arose between changes in topics and asked Miao Ying, “Miaomiao, there’s something I need to ask you. Did anything big happen in your family about six years ago?”
