Lu Jin blinked. He still wanted to play dumb.
“… What do you mean you want him dead? What does his death have to do with me?” Lu Jin’s line of sight drifted as he looked out of the car window at the night sky.
The streetlights drew a long, shining line under the night sky, guiding towards an unknown direction.
The corners of Huo Shaoheng’s mouth twitched, and he gripped the steering wheel tightly. He stepped on the accelerator abruptly and sped some distance forward before saying, “It’s none of your business. Why did you use a fake ID to stay next door to Ishihara Baisan? And in the middle of the night?”
Lu Jin laughed and said proudly, “Mr. Peter, you need evidence before you speak. Go to the Dunhill Hotel and check it out. If you can find my registration record, I lose. Even if you discover my fake ID, I lose!”
Huo Shaoheng also laughed and said lightly, “I don’t need to check the computer records. You left sufficient fingerprints and footprints in the room next to Ishihara Baisan. Just these two are enough for the police in the imperial capital to confirm your identity.”
Lu Jin was stunned for a moment and let out a long “Ah”. He said in frustration, “Damn! How could I forget this!”
“If you can remember this, I lose.” Huo Shaoheng imitated Lu Jin’s tone, “Your life has always been on the internet. You have paid more attention to removing your traces on the internet, but what about traces in your life? Don’t forget, what can really convict you are your traces in the real world.”
Therefore, not only did he spray the fire extinguisher, he also disarranged several uninhabited rooms to confuse the public.
“Convicted? !” Lu Jin did not buy it, and his expression darkened. “I didn’t do anything illegal! Why are you convicting me? !”
“Nothing illegal? Then why did you go to Ishihara Baisan’s room in the middle of the night? And after you checked in, he died. You claim that it had nothing to do with you?”
Huo Shaoheng tilted his head to look at him and said, “… Nianzhi already knows that you’re out at night. She has your location.”
“Huh? ! H-h-how would she know? ! Isn’t she sleeping at this time? !”
Lu Jin immediately turned off his engine as soon as Huo Shaoheng brought out Gu Nianzhi.
His eyes darted around as he started to conceive a “perfect” excuse to fool Gu Nianzhi.
Huo Shaoheng caught the way his eyes darted around. It was so similar to Gu Nianzhi’s mannerism that he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
The power of heredity was too strong..
After waiting for a while, Huo Shaoheng softened his tone and said, “Uncle Lu, please tell me the details so that we won’t be exposed in front of Nianzhi.”
He added, “You know that Nianzhi can detect the slightest mistake.”
Gu Nianzhi could even see through Huo Shangheng’s disguise. In Huo Shaoheng’s eyes, Gu Nianzhi was almost as adept at “reading expressions” as experts in his industry.
The idea that Lu Jin just came up with was like a fully inflated balloon pricked by a needle. The air had all escaped.
He leaned weakly against his seat and sighed deeply. “Of course I have my reasons. Also, I really didn’t kill him.”
“… You didn’t kill him, which means you didn’t physically kill him, right?” Huo Shaoheng looked ahead quietly and said lightly, “I didn’t kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me. I’m not completely free from responsibility, am I?”
“I’m just not responsible for any of it.” Lu Jin snorted. “He had a guilty conscience that I exposed. He lost face and committed seppuku.”
Huo Shaoheng recalled the condition of the corpse he had just seen. It really looked like he had committed seppuku.
The ground was covered in blood. If he wasn’t careful, he would have been stained.
Huo Shaoheng, with his agility and keen observation, avoided contamination. However, if Lu Jin had entered that room, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.
Huo Shaoheng quickly glanced at the sole of Lu Jin’s shoe.
Fortunately, the edge of the shoe was pure white, and there wasn’t a speck of blood on it.
Lu Jin must not have entered Ishihara Baisan’s room.
Huo Shaoheng felt relieved and relaxed.
“Then how did he die?” Huo Shaoheng finally asked. “It can’t be that you ordered him to die and he just committed seppuku, right?”
Lu Jin had a cynical look on his face. He said, “… more or less. I exposed the fact that he plagiarized my experiment design decades ago.”
Huo Shaoheng immediately thought of the small test tube and a few yellowed papers beside Ishihara Baisan’s body.
It was obvious that Ishihara Baisan cared about these two things, because the place where he had placed them had not been stained by blood at all.
Huo Shaoheng’s heart skipped a beat. He muttered to himself, and his fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel. After a while, he took out the small test tube and the yellowed papers, and said, “Uncle Lu, did you know? Ishihara Baisan did not die so easily. When he was dying, he left these two things in the best position by his side. They didn’t even get stained by the blood from his seppuku suicide.”
Lu Jin blinked. “You got these too?”
“Yes, what else would I have done? Leaving them there would be giving clues to someone with ulterior motives.” Huo Shaoheng flipped his hand and put the two things away. “What do you think would happen if someone with ulterior motives saw these two things?”
“What would they think?” Lu Jin understood and his face turned pale.
Huo Shaoheng enunciated each word clearly, “… will he think first that Gu Xiangwen is actually not dead?”
“F*ck! That’s too cunning! Ishihara Baisan went so far as to having a backup plan!” Lu Jin was absolutely furious, “This old fart! Turn the car around, I want him to die again!”
Of course, Huo Shaoheng did not listen to Lu Jin’s crazy words.
He calmly drove the car until Lu Jin was done throwing a tantrum, then comforted him. “Actually, it makes sense that he committed suicide after you exposed his plagiarism. The Japanese always try hard to keep up appearances .
“But he wasn’t willing to die just like that, so he tried to leave something behind. However, by doing so, he also gave us clues.” Huo Shaoheng glanced at Lu Jin, “That is, Ishihara Baisan wasn’t alone. He must have had an accomplice. He placed these clues next to his body to remind his accomplice that Gu Xiangwen isn’t dead. He found him.”
Lu Jin hadn’t expected Ishihara Baisan to try to trick him before his death. He gasped and looked at Huo Shaoheng with even more admiration, “Peter, you are indeed the Soviet KGB. You are even able to think of this! I think you are better than boss Lu!”
Huo Shaoheng, “…”
“But why did you pick today to expose him for plagiarizing your experiment design?” Huo Shaoheng changed the topic again. He would not let Lu Jin off so easily.
Huo Shaoheng discovered two suspicious points from today’s incident.
One, why did Lu Jin want to expose Ishihara Baisan now and incite him to commit suicide instead of attacking him when he found out that Ishihara Baisan had plagiarized him decades ago?
Two, Ishihara Baisan wasn’t alone. He had an accomplice. But why did he have an accomplice? Who was his accomplice? What were they working on together?
All the secrets should land on Lu Jin.
Huo Shaoheng continued to ask, “According to what you just said, that was decades ago. Why didn’t you expose it decades ago but only now?”
Lu Jin’s excitement faded away like the tides. He rubbed his forehead lazily and said, “Can’t I be happy?”
“I was too busy decades ago and didn’t have time to expose him. If he copied me, so be it. What else could he have done?”Lu Jin’s eyes flashed with a sly glint.
Huo Shaoheng happened to look up at the rearview mirror. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Lu Jin’s eyes and a barely discernible smile.
“What about a few decades later? You’re not busy anymore?” Huo Shaoheng asked with a faint smile.
“Yes, just finding something convenient to pass the time with, since I have nothing to do.” Lu Jin laughed dryly, he quickly said, “I’m joking, I’m joking. How could I bear to hit my precious daughter? Only teaching someone as shameless as Ishihara Baisan a lesson would not be a waste of time.”
“You still haven’t answered why you suddenly wanted to expose him decades later, and why you still wanted to do it on the first morning of the New Year.”
Huo Shaoheng was not someone who was easily fooled. He always managed to change the topic back to the original subject.
Lu Jin became a little anxious by his question and said angrily, “I don’t like him when he appears on the Spring Festival Gala, okay? What the hell! He plans to come to our country to conduct biological genetic research!”
“Oh? Are you jealous of his abilities?” Huo shaoheng said deliberately, “You can’t stand seeing people who weren’t as good as you in the past catch up to you now?”
Lu Jin opened his mouth and was about to say no, but suddenly, he was reminded of what he intended to do. He pursed his lips tightly and said, “Yes, I’m just jealous of his abilities. I can’t stand seeing him being celebrated and more capable than me, so it’s best that he dies.”
The corner of Huo Shaoheng’s eyes twitched imperceptibly.
Lu Yuan was right. Something was wrong with Lu Jin. Something was very wrong.
Huo Shaoheng just didn’t think that using a small test tube and a few yellowing experiment designs would be enough to provoke Ishihara Baisan to commit seppuku, which still wasn’t Lu Jin’s true objective.
What exactly was he trying to do?
