"Is this a formal interrogation?" Lin Xian asked.

To be honest...

This was also a misstep that Lin Xian had always felt he made.

If he hadn't accepted Professor Xu Yun's authorization back then, his current situation would probably be much better.

Although it wasn't a matter of committing crimes or something that needed to be explained, but... if Professor Xu Yun were alive, everything would be fine. The problem was that he was dead, making it really difficult to explain the authorization for this chemical substance.

The truth was, he had exchanged a manuscript of hibernation filling fluid from the future for this authorization.

And once this truth was revealed, it would almost certainly lead to a deadly disaster.

This was the only reason Lin Xian could think of for being involved in the "cat and mouse game."

He had thought about it countless times these days...

If only he hadn't accepted that authorization back then.

But hindsight was useless, and besides, he had been in frequent contact with Xu Yun during the time before his death, so even without this authorization, he might not have been able to clear himself of suspicion.

Fortunately, Xu Yun had already disposed of his manuscript, which saved him from being exposed.

"Of course not," Ji Lin said with a slight smile.

"If you have any unspeakable secrets, you certainly don't have to answer. This is your privacy and your right."

"I must admit that this matter cannot be used as criminal suspicion or as evidence, so even the Donghai City police cannot make things difficult for you or force you to answer. You also have the right to refuse to answer."

"Just treat my question as a casual chat between friends. It's not compliant, but it's reasonable, just like how I made an exception to let you see those evidences about Tang Xin... Tang Xin is very important to you, and Xu Yun is also very important to me, so in order to find the murderer who killed him... I don't want to miss any meaningful information."

...

Ji Lin's words were very euphemistic, but also very clear.

He was simply telling Lin Xian that if he wanted to see those unreleased materials about Tang Xin, he had to tell him the answer to this question.

This wasn't a formal interrogation, just an non-compliant private deal.

Lin Xian actually understood this very well.

He hadn't committed a crime and wasn't a suspect, so naturally he didn't need to explain Professor Xu Yun's authorization. No one could ask him to do so.

But he wasn't afraid to explain either.

He had long thought about his own "flaw," so naturally... he had already come up with a response strategy.

"Actually, I really don't want to talk about it," Lin Xian said, turning his head away and pretending to be embarrassed.

"To be honest, the reason isn't very honorable. I haven't told anyone about it until now. This can be considered a secret between Professor Xu Yun and me."

Ji Lin narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin Xian, waiting for his answer...

"Since Xu Yun is your brother-in-law, you must know about Xu Yiyi, right?" Lin Xian asked.

Ji Lin nodded.

Of course he knew.

It was because of Xu Yiyi's accident that caused her to become a vegetable that Ao Man broke up with Xu Yun, and he had never seen Xu Yun again since then, nor had he seen this first friend in his life.

"Professor Xu Yun never intended to hibernate with Xu Yiyi in the first place," Lin Xian began to tell half-truths and half-lies, which was the safest and most difficult way to lie.

"One is that he didn't want to lose his memories of Xu Yiyi, and the other is that he wanted to devote the rest of his energy to the follow-up research on the hibernation pod. So, this faces a problem..."

"When Xu Yiyi wakes up in the future, Professor Xu Yun will definitely have passed away. And at that time, no matter what her actual age is, Xu Yiyi's mind will only be that of a four- or five-year-old girl... At that time, she will be all alone with no relatives, and Professor Xu Yun was very worried, so he asked me for a favor."

"Professor Xu Yun hopes that I can take care of Xu Yiyi after she wakes up from hibernation, at least to help her in life. Although future medical technology can cure her vegetative state, her childish mentality still needs someone to guide."

"I didn't agree at the time, because no one knows how far into the future Xu Yiyi will have to hibernate before she can wake up and be cured. If it's decades, I can still wait, but if she has to hibernate for hundreds of years, wouldn't I have to hibernate with Xu Yiyi in the future? So I didn't want to at first and directly refused."

"But later... I won't hide it from you, Professor Xu Yun sincerely entrusted me with the task and gave me the authorization for free. It was reasonable and reasonable for me to agree to this matter. So you can say that I am greedy for money, but that's also the fact. I think the reward offered by Professor Xu Yun is high enough, so high that I am willing to take the risk of hibernating with Xu Yiyi."

...

This lie was something Lin Xian had prepared long ago.

He knew that someone would ask himself this question sooner or later, so he had to think of a perfect reason.

Entrusting himself to take care of Xu Yiyi was indeed brought up by Xu Yun, and it was indeed Xu Yun's idea. This in itself was a fact.

As for the chemical substance authorization, the real reason was a secret that only he and Xu Yun knew. Now that the dead can't testify, he naturally could combine the authorization and taking care of Xu Yiyi to create a plausible and reasonable explanation.

"I see," Ji Lin replied immediately.

"No wonder... so that's what happened. Actually, I don't think this is anything embarrassing. It's an equal exchange in itself. There are still many unresolved side effects of hibernation technology. The risk you are willing to take is also worthy of the benefits brought by the authorization."

"But... Xu Yun really trusts you to entrust such an important daughter to you. Were you two teacher and student at the university?"

"Not really," Lin Xian said frankly.

"I only had a few contacts with Professor Xu Yun because of the company's business. I think his trust in me is related to our boss. When other companies were vying to ask him for authorization, our company gave up out of respect for him. Perhaps this is what made him have a good impression of me."

Lin Xian was telling the complete truth in this regard, because these things could be investigated with a little effort, and lying here would be tantamount to deceiving himself and confessing without being forced.

Ji Lin nodded and said nothing more.

He looked at his watch.

"It's time for me to go back to the Donghai City Public Security Bureau. Want to come along? I can take you to see those evidences of Tang Xin's case, as I promised you just now."

Lin Xian nodded, went out, and got into Ji Lin's car.

Everything was going much smoother than Lin Xian had expected. Whether it was getting in touch with Ji Lin, or lying about his deal with Xu Yun, or going to the police station to see the evidence in Tang Xin's case... everything was developing exactly as he had imagined.

[Smooth]

Lin Xian couldn't help but recall what Tang Xin had said...

"I don't know why everything is going so smoothly, whether it's coming to audition for the orchestra or the subsequent rehearsals to join the formal team and become the principal violinist. Even I find it incredible."

In the car, the driver was driving silently, and Lin Xian and Ji Lin were chatting on and off, but Lin Xian was thinking about what he had experienced today and what Tang Xin had experienced back then.

He couldn't see where he had gone wrong.

But...

What if everything he had experienced was like what Tang Xin had experienced, and was all [designed]?

From the fact that a death was artificially created at 00:42, it was not difficult to see that the murderers were a group of people who were very good at designing, laying out, hiding plans in everyday life, and even disguising chance as inevitability...

Their plans were very meticulous, and it was difficult to realize that you were in the game until the last moment.

So...

Lin Xian looked at Ji Lin, who was sitting next to him, without changing his expression.

Could it be...

That he himself now.

Was also in their plan?

If he was indeed in the game now, then what kind of role did Ji Lin play?

Now, Lin Xian felt like he was on high alert all the time.

He could foresee that danger was very close to him... but he didn't know where the enemy was hiding.

He began to close his eyes and think, combining Tang Xin's incident with his current situation.

He believed.

If this series of cases were committed by the same murderer, then the methods must have similarities.

Suddenly!

Lin Xian discovered a blind spot!

It seemed that whether it was Tang Xin or himself... they were all passively falling into the traps arranged by the murderers on the basis of believing that they were [active].

Tang Xin seemed to have chosen Donghai on her own initiative, but in fact it was because of the invitation of Xu Yun's mentor; she seemed to have joined the symphony orchestra on her own initiative, but the cause was also a colleague's introduction; she seemed to have taken the initiative to give him gifts, but that was also in collusion with Zhou Duanyun.

Everything... was being pushed and arranged behind the scenes.

So.

What about himself?

Was he also like Tang Xin, hooked? Entered the game?

Ji Lin's car had already turned into the Donghai City Public Security Bureau, and the gate of the parking lot rose and fell, like a guillotine that had been chopped off.

...

In the temporary office of the Xu Yun Special Investigation Team.

Ji Lin pushed a stack of sorted materials in front of Lin Xian.

"These chat records are the evidence we extracted from Tang Xin's mobile phone... You can't take photos or take them out. You can look at them here as you like."