Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng’s slim and powerful fingers paused on the cursor for a moment before continuously pressing the rewind button. After doing this several times, he finally discovered where the tiny beam of golden light was coming from.
Actually, the beam of golden light wasn’t too visible. It only appeared very briefly, so most people wouldn’t have noticed it, even if they watched the footage scene by scene. But this kind of tiny detail was no match for the Special Operations Forces personnel who had endured intense professional night-vision training.
He hadn’t noticed it before, because he hadn’t paid close attention to what happened outside the hospital room. After all, the fist fight had occurred inside the hospital room. What happened outside of the hospital room was only a little interlude…
Everyone’s initial thought was that someone had committed the crime amidst the chaos. Of course, they later discovered that wasn’t the case. The surveillance footage inside the hospital room proved that it really had been an accident; the crucial step on the power supply cable had been made by the doctor making rounds. He had attempted to break up the fight. The had also investigated the doctor countless times, but he had no motive.
When Gu Nianzhi’s idea shattered Huo Shaoheng’s logic, his focus immediately shifted from inside the hospital room to outside it. The situation was similar to dominoes. They had only focused on the last few dominoes, but the actual cause was from the shock from an external force on the first domino.
Huo Shaoheng’s gaze paused on the brief flash of golden light. With his finger on the cursor, he gradually enlarged the golden bit of light until he finally discovered that the beam of golden light was none other than a tiny gold coin. It was a very pure gold color and looked like the color of yellow gold.
For thousands of years, gold has been used as an item for equivalent exchange of goods. People tend to naturally take a look whenever they see something gold-colored. This has nearly become a conditioned reflex in the human mind. In other words, it was the gold coin that had suddenly rolled down to the bottom corner of the video that had caused the subsequent series of events.
“So this coin was the ‘trigger?’ No.” Huo Shaoheng shook his head. The person throwing the coin must be the real trigger, but no matter how he replayed the footage, he still couldn’t see the person throwing the coin.
It looked like the person had made ample preparations; he had keenly chosen the surveillance camera’s blind spot and had stood there to throw a coin and subsequently change the lives of many people.
Huo Shaoheng silently watched the footage and copied that portion of the video.
…
Gu Nianzhi waited downstairs for a long time, but Huo Shaoheng didn’t come downstairs to have dinner with her. She was starving, but she refused to eat alone.
The orderly came over to check several times before he finally couldn’t take it anymore and went upstairs to knock on Huo Shaoheng’s door. “Chief, Miss Gu is waiting for you to go downstairs for dinner.”
Huo Shaoheng stiffened. He replied to the communicator, “Have her eat first.”
“We already told her that, but Miss Gu refuses. She’s still waiting for you.” The orderly outside scratched his head helplessly.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at the files on his computer to see that he was almost done. He logged out and shut his computer off before getting up to say, “I’ll come down right away.”
The orderly began to smile and happily shouted, “Roger, Chief!” Then he quickly went downstairs to tell Gu Nianzhi. “The Chief will be coming downstairs right way. Do you want us to serve the food?”
Gu Nianzhi quickly nodded. “Hurry up! I’m about to pass out!”
Huo Shaoehng had just walked into the dining room and was taking the military cap off his head to hang on the wall hook as he said, “Eat alone if you’re hungry. Why are you being so polite with me?”
Gu Nianzhi blinked. “Would you come downstairs for dinner if I didn’t do that?”
She had learned a long time ago that she could only use the trick of “not eating unless he ate too” on someone like him. Otherwise, the “incredibly busy” Great Chief Huo would only eat once every three days and wouldn’t nourish himself at all.
“So it’s my fault?” Huo Shaoheng somehow wasn’t angry at all, despite being “tricked and talked back to” by Gu Nianzhi. Instead, his expression was extremely warm.
However, the orderlies on the sidelines had long grown accustomed to this. They all asked Miss Gu to help whenever they ran into an issue they couldn’t solve. The Chief really didn’t have to eat when he got busy with work, so the orderlies were very helpless, too!
The dishes were all served, and Huo Shaoheng waved his hand to dismiss the orderlies. He and Gu Nianzhi were the only ones left in the dining room.
A crystal chandelier hung above the long dining table and cast the room in brilliant light. Huo Shaheng looked at the scenery and felt as though a lifetime had passed.
Gu Nianzhi cocked her head and used her knife to cut her steak. She didn’t even look up as she replied, “Of course it’s not your fault. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have threatened and baited the Great Chief Huo.”
Her words were very sweet, but Huo Shaoheng didn’t have an ounce of remorse as he glanced at her. He leaned over to whisper very quietly in her ear, “… When did you ever bait me. Why didn’t I know about it?”
“How could I ever dare to? I was only saying that. Don’t take it seriously.” Gu Nianzhi curled her curvy lips and raised her glass of juice. “Huo Shao, I toast you.”
“… I don’t drink alcohol.” Huo Shaoheng didn’t fall for her trick and looked down to carefully cut the steak before him as he said, “Once Big Xiong gets ahold of the B University surveillance footage, let’s watch it together?”
Gu Nianzhi nodded and took a big gulp of coconut juice. It was her favorite juice at the moment. When she was young, she loved to drink mango juice. Later on, she realized it was bad for her teeth, so she only drank orange juice and watermelon juice from then on. Now she was obsessed with coconut juice. Huo Shaoheng always had coconut juice prepared there, so it was always fresh.
The pair didn’t speak again, and quietly finished eating dinner. The orderlies noticed they had finished eating, so they came in to clear the table and serve a cup of tea to each of them.
Gu Nianzhi asked for Biluochun, while Huo Shaoheng had Pu’er. Before they finished their cups of tea, Yin Shixiong had already returned from B University.
“Huo Shao. Nianzhi. Did you just finish dinner? I didn’t even eat yet.” He didn’t pretend to be polite and began to chat as he sat down. “What’s for dinner tonight?” Yin Shixiong asked the orderly. “I could eat a whole cow.”
The orderly was a rookie soldier who had just enlisted that year. He smiled. “That’s perfect. We have steak tonight. How would Colonel Yin like it cooked?”
“… Medium well.” Yin Shixiong snapped his fingers and turned around to look at Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng. “You’ve already finished eating? You don’t want any dessert?”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head and urged him, “Hurry up, Brother Xiong. I can’t wait anymore.”
Huo Shaoheng stood up. “Nianzhi, let’s go upstairs first. Big Xiong, come up yourself once you’re done eating.”
“Okay!” Yin Shixiong waved his hands. “Suit yourselves. I eat very quickly.”
Gu Nianzhi also stood up and giggled at Yin Shixiong. “Brother Xiong, don’t eat too fast. Be careful not to choke.”
Yin Shixiong glared at her, but Gu Nianzhi had already turned around. She quickly followed Huo Shaoheng outside.
Yin Shixiong looked at them harmoniously walking side by side and suddenly smiled. Rubbing his head, he took out his phone and sent a message to Ma Qiqi.
“My Dear Brother Xiong” Qiqi, Nianzhi and Huo Shao seemed to have reconciled…
After sending the text, he put away his phone and began to quickly gulp down his food.
…
Huo Shaoheng took Gu Nianzhi to his room on the second floor and had her sit at his desk. He showed her the hospital surveillance footage from earlier.
“Nianzhi, watch this. Is there a trigger in this video?”
Gu Nianzhi only took one look to know it was the hospital where Gu Yanran’s father had passed away.
“…This accident was suspicious too? So he didn’t pass away because of his bad luck?” Gu Nianzhi curiously played the surveillance footage and began to watch intently from the beginning.
Huo Shaoheng sat beside her and watched the surveillance footage again.
In the same area where Huo Shaoheng noticed the golden light, Gu Nianzhi also clicked “pause.” She muttered, “… What is this?” Her long and soft fingers continuously clicked on the cursor to quickly magnify the target, just like Huo Shaoheng had.
“A gold coin? Am I seeing this right? This is a murder caused by a gold coin?” Gu Nianzhi began to laugh.
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “You see, the subsequent actions of the people changed when this gold coin appeared. It developed toward the death of Gu Yanran’s father.”
Gu Nianzhi dragged the progress bar of the video but discovered that she couldn’t see the person throwing the coin no matter how she dragged it.
“You won’t be able to see it. This person must’ve checked the locations of surveillance cameras in the hospital. They happened to stand right in the camera’s blind spot.”
Huo Shaoheng leaned back in his seat and raised his arms back to cradle the back of his head. He casually crossed his long legs and appeared very relaxed and carefree.
Gu Nianzhi pouted. Propping her cheek on her palm, she watched the surveillance footage continue playing and replied calmly, “If the person hiding in the surveillance camera’s blind spot is the one throwing the gold coin, then it’s evident they’re very arrogant and think they’re god. God threw a dice to create the world, and this person is throwing a coin to control another person’s life just so he can enjoy the thrill of controlling the world.”
Huo Shaoheng nodded slowly. “Makes sense. We can imagine that a person devising this method to kill someone must not only be arrogant but stubborn.”
As they spoke, Yin Shixiong came up stairs. He placed the surveillance footage from B University into Huo Shaoheng’s hand.
Huo Shaoheng took the USB drive and plugged it into the computer so he could watch it with Gu Nianzhi and Yin Shixiong.
The first surveillance footage was from when Gu Nianzhi had nearly been hit by a bicycle. The surveillance camera in that location was on a telephone pole close by, but it didn’t directly face the path where the accident occurred, so the perspective was a bit skewed. Even so, at the same time, the three of them all saw a small gold coin rolling into the video frame from a certain direction.
Gu Nianzhi instantly hit pause and glanced at Huo Shaoheng. “So it was a gold coin again.”
Huo Shaoheng patted her shoulder to calm her down. “It’s okay. Let’s keep watching.”
He already had a hunch that the incidents were related. The tiny gold coin had finally linked them all together.
But just like the hospital surveillance footage, this video didn’t capture the person throwing the coin, either, which meant the person throwing the gold coin had chosen to be in the camera’s blind spot once again.
Gu Nianzhi watched the angle and direction that the gold coin rolled in, then silently recalled the situation. She had a thought and immediately remembered the handsome young man in the black double-breasted uniform. If she recalled correctly, the young man had been standing in the position that was in the same direction from where the coin happened to roll from.
Huo Shaoheng had already begun to play the second surveillance footage. It was from when Gu Nianzhi had fallen at school yesterday and nearly ended up with hemiplegia.
In the footage, the snowflakes danced, and the layer of snow on the ground grew thick. The gleam from the snow was almost blinding. There weren’t many people on the road, so the snow on the ground was clearly recorded, so when the tiny gold coin appeared on the snow-covered ground, Gu Nianzhi didn’t hesitate to hit pause.
“We don’t need to watch anymore. It must be the same person,” Gu Nianzhi declared solemnly.
