Cheng Cheng and the Cicada
Chapter 15 Confrontation
But since Xu Yun's passing, he had encountered far too many people of all types.
Not only in his work, with countless contacts with designers, industry insiders, and various commercial clients, but also in his personal life, attending class reunions and seeing many old classmates; not to mention the many people he had only met once…
From this perspective alone, he really couldn't tell who was deliberately approaching him and who was being genuine.
"I should consider it from a different angle."
Lin Xian closed his eyes…
The current situation of this hide-and-seek game was very unfavorable for him. According to Huang Que, he was in plain sight, while the enemy was lurking in the shadows.
It's easy to dodge an open attack, but hard to guard against a hidden arrow. How many successful cases are there of guarding against a thief for a thousand days?
"To survive this cat-and-mouse game, I must catch the other party before they catch me."
This was a game against time.
Lin Xian opened his eyes…
"Whoever exposes themselves first, dies."
…
Donghai City suburbs.
In a perpetually dim villa, the lights were on brightly, a rare sight.
Ji Lin was poring over printed manuscripts that covered the entire room. These were all official materials released by Donghai University… all the data collected from Xu Yun's laboratory.
Because Xu Yun's death was so sudden, these manuscripts were very disorganized, of all kinds. Donghai University simply didn't sort them and directly released all the photos according to Professor Xu Yun's will.
And what Ji Lin had printed out were all the manuscripts with handwritten marks.
Next to the table was the Rhine cat doll that Lin Xian had signed.
The signature on it had been traced, enlarged.
There were not only Chinese characters, but also English, numbers, and punctuation marks.
Handwriting comparison is a very important part of criminal investigation. Everyone's writing habits are unique.
The pressure of vertical and horizontal strokes, the direction of number turns, the joining and lifting of English writing, the order of strokes… professionals can easily judge whether the handwriting comes from the same person with just a few words.
In some ways, handwriting is like a fingerprint, a person's anti-counterfeiting trademark, which cannot be perfectly forged.
Ji Lin looked at the last manuscript on the table with half-closed eyes.
Carefully staring at every symbol and stroke on it…
Finally.
He casually threw the paper in his hand on the floor.
Then he put his hands together behind his head, leaned back into the messy papers behind him, and stared intently at the gorgeous crystal chandelier on the roof.
*Drip.*
A cell phone, buried somewhere, emitted a soft notification sound.
Ji Lin dug out the phone, following the sound.
It was a message from "Jealousy":
"He's back in Donghai."
Ji Lin tapped a few times on the number pad:
"Let's begin."
…
In the following days, Lin Xian finally finished all the work that had piled up since the start of the training class.
Some was his own, and some was entrusted by Zhao Yingjun.
Living one day as a monk and striking the bell one day, since he was Zhao Yingjun's part-time secretary, he had to do his job well for the day.
It had to be said that Zhao Yingjun trusted him very much.
Whether it was in terms of company secrets or business experience, she was simply telling him everything she knew. She actively shared many things with Lin Xian, which, to be honest, had benefited Lin Xian a lot.
Every industry is like a different mountain.
For Lin Xian, who had never been in contact with high-level business operations, Zhao Yingjun's experience and guidance could be called the Nine Yin Manual. Nowhere else would anyone impart these true skills so readily.
Even a master teaching a disciple would hold something back, let alone in the cutthroat business world?
So, in this regard, Lin Xian was also very grateful to Zhao Yingjun.
In fact, this knowledge of business operations was very important for Lin Xian's current situation.
He had already considered it.
Liu Feng's research should be very expensive, especially with his promise to build him a laboratory. Relying solely on copyright fees and authorization fees would definitely not be enough.
He would eventually leave X Company and find a way to make a lot of money, so that Liu Feng could have enough capital to fully research the cosmological constant 42.
Lin Xian was eager to know what the cosmological constant was and what 42 was.
It was a pity… Liu Feng couldn't figure these things out now either.
The big-faced cat's father in 600 years also spent more than ten years researching based on Liu Feng's work before calculating 42. Lin Xian didn't expect Liu Feng to research anything in a short time.
But it would definitely be better sooner rather than later.
The sooner he understood the truth and secrets of 42, the sooner he would master the most powerful weapon against the Genius Club, and only then could he crack all the mysteries while protecting himself.
But…
Earning a lot of money to sponsor Liu Feng must be placed after finding the murderer who killed Xu Yun, eliminating hidden enemies and dangers.
Professor Xu Yun's tragic death was still vivid in his mind.
He didn't dare to act rashly at the moment. Not only could he not suddenly become rich, but he also couldn't copy anything from his dreams to make money. This was undoubtedly the most dangerous behavior at the moment.
Therefore, Lin Xian set a strict three-step plan for himself -
1. Before the danger is eliminated, the murderer who killed Xu Yun is found, and his cat-and-mouse game ends, he will honestly stay in X Company, neither rewriting history nor copying things from his dreams, waiting for the enemy to expose themselves.
2. Once he discovers clues about the murderer who killed Xu Yun and discovers that "cat," he will immediately take action to eliminate them and bring them to justice, eliminating his crisis.
3. After confirming that all crises are eliminated and he has a certain degree of self-protection ability, he will start using the resources in his dreams to make a lot of money, and then build the best and most advanced laboratory for Liu Feng, so that he can fully conduct research on the cosmological constant 42.
This was stable enough.
At this time.
On the 22nd floor of X Company, in Zhao Yingjun's office, Lin Xian stood behind Zhao Yingjun, listening to her explain the details on the document while taking notes in his black notebook.
He was studying very seriously.
He was treating it as laying the foundation for his future entrepreneurship, otherwise even if he could copy things from his dreams, he might end up being reduced to someone else's leek in the treacherous sea of commerce.
"Lin Xian, you're improving so fast."
Zhao Yingjun turned around, looked up at Lin Xian, who was taking notes behind her, and smiled:
"In just a few days, I can confidently hand over many things to you to handle."
"It's mainly because you guide me well." Lin Xian closed his notebook and looked at Zhao Yingjun:
"Are you satisfied with how the office is organized?"
"Very satisfied."
Zhao Yingjun admired the neat desk and the orderly file racks next to it:
"My office has never been so tidy. Sure enough, the work environment is very important. I feel great sitting here every day."
Lin Xian looked at the sofa next to the cabinet on the side of the wall…
That night, the woman who claimed to be Huang Que was sitting there.
Lin Xian was still very puzzled as to how she entered this office.
Unfortunately, Zhao Yingjun paid great attention to her privacy, and there were no surveillance cameras installed on the entire 22nd floor, so how Huang Que entered was still a mystery.
Zhao Yingjun had stated very definitely that only the two of them knew the password to this code lock door… but obviously, Huang Que must also know it.
This was very puzzling.
Was Huang Que also a cryptography expert… or did Huang Que know the password from somewhere else?
Logically speaking, a cautious person like Zhao Yingjun would never leak the password.
But Huang Que, this woman, was really strange.
The Law of Time and Space he had summarized had also never been spoken to anyone, yet she knew it. So from this point of view… it wasn't strange that she knew Zhao Yingjun's password.
Could this guy have some kind of superpower?
Mind reading?
Clairvoyance?
Although Lin Xian had been mentally prepared to know that the members of the Genius Club were definitely not ordinary people… but superpowers were a bit too much.
This wasn't the Avengers, where did so many fancy things come from.
…
The next day.
Gao Yang called and said that he had managed to find an evening when both Zhou Duanyun and Tang Xin had time:
"It's time for the Donghai Gang to get together! The class reunion is just to welcome those two. Now that you're back, don't delay it."
Lin Xian also replied in agreement, it was something they had agreed on a long time ago.
In the evening.
Gao Yang chose a good Hunan restaurant. It wasn't a high-end place, just some home-style dishes, and there were also small private rooms, suitable for their small gatherings and chats.
Tang Xin was still dressed beautifully, and Zhou Duanyun was still wearing a suit and leather shoes.
Compared to these two… Lin Xian and Gao Yang felt like little brothers holding umbrellas for the crooked-mouthed dragon king. Gao Yang took the opportunity to mutter in Lin Xian's ear:
"What are these two doing… It's just a casual meal, why are they so formal? Are they going to have afternoon tea with the Queen?"
"Maybe the suit is Zhou Duanyun's true form." Lin Xian replied in a low voice.
The four people chatted happily in the small private room.
Whether intentionally or deliberately, Gao Yang took the lead and pulled Zhou Duanyun to sit together, so Tang Xin could only sit next to Lin Xian.
Between clinking glasses, Zhou Duanyun was very happy. He drank a lot of wine and told everyone about his experiences over the years.
He was admitted to a good university, but dropped out to start a business, which grew bigger and bigger, like a protagonist in a rags-to-riches story.
"So what are you mainly doing now?" Gao Yang asked curiously.
"I'm involved in a little bit of everything." Zhou Duanyun said with a smile.
"You didn't come to take graduation photos after graduating from high school… Many people said you won the lottery. Is it true?" After a few drinks, Gao Yang also started gossiping.
Zhou Duanyun picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, wiping his mouth:
"We're all classmates, so I won't hide it from you here. I was lucky at the time and won the lottery. I used the lottery money to start my family and gradually got to where I am now."
"Envy!" Gao Yang raised his wine glass and clinked glasses with Zhou Duanyun:
"Let us also share your luck!"
"Yes, give us some luck too!" Tang Xin also raised her wine glass with a smile, and everyone drank together.
"What is Tang Xin doing now?" Zhou Duanyun looked at her.
"I work at the Donghai Revival Pharmaceutical Research Institute." Tang Xin replied truthfully.
"Oh."
Zhou Duanyun suddenly realized and laughed:
"I know your boss!"
"Really?" Tang Xin said with a smile:
"That's a big shot… He was also Professor Xu Yun's mentor! You actually know him! Are you on good terms?"
"It's okay, I've dealt with him a few times in business, but I don't like him as a person." Zhou Duanyun said bluntly:
"He's too self-righteous."
"Then I don't know." Tang Xin spread her hands:
"I think he's quite nice."
"If he's a nice person… why did he abandon Xu Yun in the first place?" Lin Xian interjected.
Lin Xian knew how hard Xu Yun's life had been these years, so he really didn't have a good impression of this mentor.
"You seem to have quite a bit of resentment towards this old gentleman, Lin Xian." Tang Xin turned her head to look at Lin Xian:
"Were you and Professor Xu Yun on good terms privately? You also blamed him for Professor Xu Yun's matter at the previous class reunion."
"It's okay, Xu Yun is also a teacher at Donghai University. Although he didn't teach me… our company had business dealings with him, so we also met a few times privately."
Lin Xian looked at the white light reflected in the wine glass:
"Professor Xu Yun also has a vegetative daughter lying in the hospital. Sometimes I feel sorry for him when I think about it."
*Bang!*
Gao Yang punched the table:
"Speaking of this, I get angry! It's already after the New Year, and the two murderers who killed Xu Yun haven't been caught yet!"
Gao Yang was obviously drunk and cursed angrily:
"These people are really bastards! I despise these people who murder scientists the most! If you have the ability, go kill those real bad guys, why kill a miserable scientist? These people can't be sentenced to death cheaply when they are caught! They should be skinned alive!"
After cursing, he snorted coldly and looked at the three people around him:
"What do you say! Isn't that right!"