Upon hearing Gu Yanran’s words, Huo Shaoheng’s heart sank. Even Gu Yanran knew to make use of Gu Nianzhi to convince him. Did everyone know Gu Nianzhi’s importance to him?
She cannot be his weakness. He did not need one.
Huo Shaoheng shook his head nonchalantly and rejected Gu Yanran’s suggestion again. “Even if Nianzhi was your sister and even if your father was her father, would we have a reason to save your father?”
Gu Yanran frowned again. Why can’t this Huo Shaoheng be affected by anything at all?
He wouldn’t help no matter what; did she overestimate Gu Nianzhi’s importance in his heart? At that thought, Gu Yanran felt far more lighthearted than before. Even though she was still frowning, her tone revealed signs of happiness.
Blinking her eyes, smiling sweetly, and showing her dimples, she asked, “Mr. Huo, can’t you just take it as helping a friend? This is a life-and-death situation. You’re a soldier. Shouldn’t soldiers save the dead and help the injured?”
Huo Shaoheng smiled. “Saving the dead and helping the injured is the job of a doctor, not a soldier. I’ll take back my words. Miss Gu’s Chinese has to be improved upon. Please don’t use the wrong words again, lest your meaning not be brought across.” Huo Shaoheng stood up. “I’ll make a move first if Miss Gu has nothing else for me.”
Huo Shaoheng turned and left swiftly.
Gu Yanran remained in her seat, stunned. Her gaze was fixed on the back of Huo Shaoheng for a long time before she snapped back to reality.
…
Huo Shaoheng walked out of the seat steadily and met up with Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong in the hotel lobby. “Let’s go. Proceed as planned.”
They exited the hotel and hailed a cab. They told the driver that they would like to sightsee in Barbados, and got him to just drive around. They wanted to go to places with more people and nice scenery. They also promised the driver a handsome tip if he could bring them to such places.
The moment the driver heard that he could be a part-time tour guide and earn a good extra income, he was all smiles and agreed readily.
“May I know what interests the three of you, please? The beach, food, or… women and pharmaceutical things?” The driver turned around and questioned them enthusiastically, looking at the three of them like they were walking banks.
Huo Shaoheng wore his shades in the back seat on the right and remained silent. Yin Shixiong sat in the front passenger seat, smiled politely and said in heavily African-American accented English, “We would like to see landed properties. Can you bring us?”
“Landed properties?” The driver scratched his head. “There’re many landed properties in Barbados. Which type of landed properties would you like to see?” After thinking for a while, he said, “There are many bodyguards guarding these properties here. We wouldn’t be able to get in. You can only look at them from outside if you really want to take a look.”
Zhao Liangze sat in the back seat with Huo Shaoheng, but he took the seat on the left. “Oh?” he responded. “Is that the case? Then why would they need bodyguards? Barbados seems like a safe country to me.”
“Yes, it is safe.” The driver shrugged and continued matter-of-factly. “But you know, the richer you are, the more afraid of death you’d be, so they’d rather lock themselves in cages they have made for themselves.”
Everyone laughed at this statement. Suddenly, the car felt far friendlier than it had before.
Huo Shaoheng also began talking. “Actually… Barbados isn’t all that safe, is it? There was even a gunfight at the airport where your governor was welcoming some VIPs.”
“That’s the governor’s problem,” the driver said without a care. “How can normal, average citizens like us be met with anything exciting? I heard that it was similar to events that happened in movies…” The driver got excited at this point. He alternated between driving and turning around to talk. “It isn’t just the airport! The Gu mansion, as well! Do you know about the Gus?”
Huo Shaoheng’s fists tightened. “What about the Gus? We have no idea about them. We’re here to do business.”
“Ah, then it’s okay. Let me tell you—the Gus are the wealthiest family in our country. Other than being rich, they were also really passionate about charity work. Our largest hospital, our orphanage, and the largest charity organization, the food bank, were all initiated by them.” The driver grew agitated as he spoke and even honked the horn a couple of times.
Zhao Liangze was horrified at his driving ethics. With wide eyes, Zhao Liangze looked at him and shouted, “Bro! Please drive carefully! Don’t turn back anymore! We can hear you!”
“Don’t worry, my skills are top-notch!” The driver turned around again. However, this time, upon turning back to the wheel, he realized that he had almost driven into the opposite lane. Shocked, he turned his steering wheel back again, breaking out in cold sweat.
After this episode, the driver stopped turning around. However, he continued telling Huo Shaoheng and the guys about the charitable deeds by the Gus in Barbados. Other than starting up a hospital, an orphanage, and a food bank to provide three meals a day free of charge for the poor, they also donated to schools and invited famous doctors and professors from other countries to come to Barbados to lecture in their schools. Therefore, it was safe to say that the Gus contributed quite a huge extent to the country’s growth.
“But…” The driver sighed after he was done relating all the good deeds the Gus did. “Good people usually do not live long. Mr. Gu did so many good things but could not escape the aviation disaster. He was already a vegetable when he was sent back. And now, seven years have passed. He hasn’t woken up yet. I think he won’t be able to wake up for the rest of his life.”
“Oh? That’s really sad,” Yin Shixiong replied, encouraging the driver to talk further. “But their family was so well off. Surely they would be able to hire the best doctors? Mr. Gu should be able to wake up, shouldn’t he?”
“Everyone says that, too. But it has already been six to seven years. I doubt there’d be much hope.” The driver shrugged again and took a turn, entering a quiet side street.
Huo Shaoheng recognized immediately that this was the road to the Gu mansion. However, they were only halfway in when a policeman stopped them.
A policeman knocked on the window and told the driver, “It’s the scene of murder up ahead. You cannot go in further.”
The driver became agitated. “Sir, please, can we enter just for a little while? Just a look will do. These three gentlemen are here for business. They’re interested in mansions. Of course, I’d bring them to the biggest and grandest mansion in our country! But it’s a waste that we’re just one day too late. If not, we’d be able to visit properly!”
Huo Shaoheng and the guys had learned from the driver that before that Gu Xiangwen had met with the accident, and that he opened up their mansion to the public every week for the public to visit. Of course, he only opened up a part of the mansion; the area where the Gus live was not included. However, the area that he opened up had enough places and points of interest to take up an entire day for the people.
After Gu Xiangwen was involved in the accident, however, Gu Yanran had taken over the Gus and said that Gu Xiangwen needed peace for recovery. Therefore, she only opened up the mansion once a month for the public instead.
“…Yesterday was the day that the mansion was open to the public,” the driver said sadly. “No one expected something like that to happen. After this, the rich will never do anything like that again—opening their houses to the public for visiting. The Gus were the only wealthy family who were generous in the country all along. They did not behave like the other wealthy families, using a cage to separate themselves from the people, but instead shared their nice living environment by opening up their home for us to visit. But it’s this kind of family that has mishaps befall them.” He sighed. “Such poor things… The wealthy families will definitely hire even more bodyguards from now on, and it’s no wonder they’re doing that…”
Huo Shaoheng glanced at Yin Shixiong.
Yin Shixiong understood his hint. He took a roll of US dollars from his pocket. Pushing the stack of notes to the driver, he said, “Brother, please help us. Think of something. You made it sound so interesting that we really want to go in, but now we can’t. That’s too torturous…”
The driver held the roll of notes and realized that it was indeed an entire stack of US dollars. Feeling extremely happy, he opened his door and walked toward the police officer. He shook the officer’s hand and pushed three of the notes into his hand. “Sir, please help. We would only be entering for a little while. We’ll walk. We won’t drive in. Is that okay? They’re tourists, and they’d be helping our economy l! Mr. Gu wouldn’t have rejected them.”
The police officer took a swift look at the notes in his hand and realized they were worth half a month’s salary. He put away the money and looked around. “Then make it quick. I’ll keep a lookout here. What’s your contact number? I’ll give you a call once time’s up.”
“No problem! No problem at all!” The driver bowed and agreed readily. Returning to the car, he opened the door and told the three of them, “Come out, quick! The officer is kind enough to let us enter for a while. We have to make it quick, though.”
Nodding, Huo Shaoheng, Yin Shixiong, and Zhao Liangze alighted from the car. They pretended not to see the police officer. The police officer also did the same by looking the other way, allowing the cab driver to lead them into the mansion.
Huo Shaoheng had been here while chasing the masked sniper yesterday. It had been a nerve-wracking time, so he hadn’t been able to appreciate the scenery along the way. Since it was for the sake of visiting this time, so looked around carefully.
“…Mr. Huo, I finally understood why that island wasn’t shown on the map.” Zhao Liangze lowered his head and showed Huo Shaoheng the results on his device. “Gu Xiangwen must have fixed an anti-satellite detector on the island. He has one around here as well, but it isn’t strong, so it can only reflect phone calls around the vicinity and not satellite detection.”
Huo Shaoheng had suspected this long ago. He understood the concept of anti-detection, but if he were to make a device like that… Most likely, even his mother, Song Jinning, would not have been able to do it. Because other than having an extremely advanced knowledge of physics, the person had to possess advanced engineering skills.
If Gu Xiangwen really made these devices on his own, his workmanship would have surpassed the top engineer in the world.
People said that machines were smarter than humans, but the most advanced machines—microchips and smart devices—were all made by humans. Machines were not able to achieve such precision.
The three of them followed the driver to the main entrance of the mansion. There were still yellow cordons at the entrance, but they were not high. The driver could get past them by merely going over.
There weren’t any police officers at the entrance; it seemed like that officer was the only one on duty. Apparently, they felt that no extra security was needed since no one was living here anymore. Barbados was extremely short on police officers.
Huo Shaoheng looked at the yellow warning cordons and shook his head. He was speechless at how things were done here. The cordons were useless. He went over them with ease as well.
The three of them followed the driver into the living hall of the mansion and saw the chalk drawings marking the positions of the corpses before they’d been moved away. A solemn atmosphere filled the room.
They had the urge to remove their caps and mourn. However, upon touching their heads, they realized that they were not wearing any.
Yin Shixiong coughed and asked, “Where are the people here?”
“I heard that all of them died except for Mr. Gu and his daughter,” the driver said softly and looked around, seemingly afraid.
