Hints at GL - Chapter 40

Chapter 40

King’s College London

By the time Zhong Ning and Su Yuan reached the top floor of the Business School, Alex and Carl had already been waiting for a long while.

They were sitting facing the door. Alex was anxiously tapping the table, and the moment he saw them, he hurriedly stood up. “I heard you were summoned. Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked about the police station immediately.

“Mhm, it should be fine,” Su Yuan said, rubbing her forehead as she pulled out a chair and sat down wearily. “They just suspect it was someone who visited the shop that day, so they brought us in for questioning.”

The murder had nothing to do with them, so naturally, suspicion wouldn’t fall on their heads.

“However, one of the police officers was quite strange today,” Zhong Ning leaned against Su Yuan’s chair, recounting the words of the female officer, Freda, who had seen them out. “She said this case might have been done by a ghost.”

Carl’s attention was drawn. He asked coldly, “A ghost? She said a ghost did it?”

They had all read the full news report by now, so they naturally and unerringly suspected Theo. But it was strange that the police would say something like that—had they sensed something already?

“I don’t understand, actually…” Zhong Ning thought for a moment and mentioned another detail. “We heard them say today that the CCTV records in the shop were wiped. To be precise, only that specific day was cleared, both upstairs and downstairs.”

“Why?” At this point, Su Yuan suddenly frowned and asked, “I’ve been wondering all day, why would the killer wipe the shop’s CCTV records?”

Alex took a breath and answered as if it were obvious, “Maybe he was caught on camera?”

Before the words had even settled, Carl gave him a blunt eye-roll. “Caught on camera? Did you even read the news?”

Alex, questioned by such a skeptical tone, hesitated and stammered, “Of course I did. Does it matter?”

Carl was simply too lazy to talk to him further. He opened the news link on the table and zoomed in on a line for him to see. “Read this line for yourself again: ‘But strangely, they both claimed that throughout the entire process of the crime, they heard nothing and saw nothing.’“

“‘By the time they noticed, it was only because they found the shop door smashed. Upon checking, they found the couple on the ground, seemingly attacked only minutes prior. But from start to finish, neither saw the figure of the killer.'”

Carl said coldly, “This is clearly the work of a Time-Stopper. What would he be afraid of being caught on camera for?”

Su Yuan nodded. She completely agreed with Carl’s logic. “Assuming it really was Theo, he could have stopped time in a place without surveillance, walked in, killed them, and walked out. He wouldn’t have been caught anywhere, so there’s no need to take the risk of wiping records.”

Zhong Ning thought about it, that did seem to be the case.

Su Yuan knit her brows. “But it’s not absolute. Unless…”

“Unless… the footage he wanted to hide wasn’t of the murder itself?” Zhong Ning seemed to understand, following Su Yuan’s train of thought with a light frown. “So, it’s possible he also visited that shop on the same day?”

Su Yuan reached out to put an arm around her waist and nodded. “Mhm. I think that’s more logical.”

“So, after you found the shop address yesterday, did you email Theo right away?” Alex asked. “And how did he reply then?”

“Yes, I emailed him as soon as I found it,” Zhong Ning said, a sudden wave of guilt washing over her. If she hadn’t been so impatient, perhaps this wouldn’t have happened. “And… he said he didn’t know them.”

“It’s not your fault,” Su Yuan looked up at Zhong Ning and comforted her softly. “We were just afraid of wasting time and wanted to gather more information before meeting the owner. No one expected it to turn out like this.”

Her comfort made Zhong Ning feel a bit better, but Carl didn’t care for their sentimental moment. He interrupted coldly, “Who installed the surveillance in the shop?”

The question was sudden. Su Yuan thought for a bit. “I heard each shop installs their own. Because antique shops are a special case, they have even more cameras. But the street surveillance is installed by the local council.”

“So the killer might have deleted the shop footage because it was easy to access, whereas the street surveillance is government-controlled and he didn’t know how to delete it,” Carl analyzed thoughtfully. “So if Theo really went there, the police will find him sooner or later.”

Alex interjected, “Did you call him? Can’t you reach him personally?”

“Mhm. Right now Theo isn’t answering his phone, and the emails are being handled by his manager. I don’t know what’s going on,” Zhong Ning frowned. She brought up her previous dream again. “Actually, before going to the antique passage, I saw that Theo was no longer in the dream. I’m actually starting to suspect him…”

Zhong Ning paused. Since morning, she had wanted to ask if Theo had also been harmed, but the current situation was clearly more complicated, so she swallowed her words. “So… what should we do next?”

In the end, should the hypnosis continue? If they kept searching, would it lead to even worse results? They couldn’t figure it out, but more importantly…

“Actually, the hypnosis doesn’t need to stop. Regardless of whether it was him or someone else, you can simply choose not to tell anyone in the future,” Alex said solemnly. “But how can we guarantee the safety of the next person? And the most crucial question: how do you guarantee the safety of the two of you?”

“What’s the point of discussing safety? If you want to survive the hands of a Time-Stopper, it’s basically impossible.” Carl’s cold gaze swept across the room. “Even if you had an ability like mine to detect traces of his power usage, so what? That’s a matter of nanoseconds. What could you possibly do?”

“…” His words were too despairing to refute. Zhong Ning’s heart sank to the bottom.

“But I don’t think you need to worry for now,” Carl pivoted. “This is very fishy. Logically, if he really wanted to kill all the superhumans, striking now is far too early. If everyone starts guarding themselves, how is he going to get the rest of the names on the list?”

Su Yuan nodded. “I think so too.”

“So they’re like Schrödinger’s cats right now. Once they continue the hypnosis, their lives are at risk. But if they don’t, they’ll never know if they’re dead or alive,” Alex said, frowning.

At this point, Carl suddenly proposed a bold idea. “No, I think they can do the hypnosis one more time.” He paused, looking directly into Zhong Ning’s eyes. “And then use the next person as bait to find the killer. That would be best.”

Zhong Ning was shocked by Carl’s suggestion. “Is that… really okay?”

Carl frowned at her. “Do you want to die, or can you think of a better way?”

Zhong Ning understood the logic, but Carl’s plan didn’t seem foolproof either. She vaguely felt there was something they hadn’t considered thoroughly.

Then, Su Yuan stepped in to help her. “Let’s not rush the hypnosis. Zhong Ning, let’s visit Jacky’s house one more time in the next couple of days. I want to hear his thoughts.”

Although Jacky had clearly stated he wouldn’t get involved in their business and was only responsible for the hypnosis, it seemed there was no better plan than to talk to him.

“Okay…” Zhong Ning agreed.

Speaking of Jacky, she suddenly remembered the note that had been pressed into her hand last time, telling her to find him alone and not tell anyone… She still didn’t understand that sentence. Why did she have to keep it from Su Yuan?

“What is it?” Su Yuan asked softly, seeing her dazed expression.

“Nothing…” Zhong Ning ultimately didn’t voice that secret.

Dulwich Village

A black taxi pulled up at the curb. A figure in a thin coat stood before the villa. Zhong Ning stood at Jacky’s doorstep, her heart pounding with a strong sense of guilt.

Zhong Ning didn’t know if what she was doing was right. But when she called Jacky privately, he mentioned that because it involved her psychological trauma, it wasn’t convenient for Su Yuan to know. She had almost instinctively lied to Su Yuan.

“A classmate is coming to London tomorrow, I have to spend the day with her,”—for the sake of this lie, Zhong Ning hadn’t even gone home with Su Yuan the night before.

Perhaps it was because of the non-stop, heart-stopping events of the past few days that Zhong Ning herself was at a loss.

“…” Finally, she plucked up the courage to ring the doorbell.

Soon, Jacky opened the door. He looked slightly taken aback. “Eh, Zhong Ning, didn’t you get the text?” He stopped puting on his jacket and said apologetically, “I’m truly sorry, but I have an urgent matter and must go out now. I might only be free tomorrow.”

Zhong Ning felt a wave of disappointment. How could this be?

“How about I drive you back? I’m sorry for making you come all this way for nothing.” Jacky reached for his car keys and made a gesture.

Just then, a familiar voice came from inside the house. “You forgot your tie, Dad…”

Then, a woman walked out holding a dark red tie. She was wearing a black skirt that stopped above her knees; her bare, slender legs made her look even taller.

Zhong Ning and the woman locked eyes. Both were stunned.

“Yo, isn’t this Su Yuan’s little girlfriend?” Ruan Mu smiled very happily.

Zhong Ning felt her head explode with a loud buzz. For a long while, she couldn’t react to what had just happened. What did Ruan Mu just call Jacky… Dad?

“What’s your… relationship?” Zhong Ning’s face was stiff. Jacky was actually Ruan Mu’s father… Why had so much time passed without Su Yuan mentioning this to her even once?

Ruan Mu handed over the tie. Looking at them now, the two did indeed share a resemblance.

Seeing Zhong Ning’s expression, Ruan Mu’s smile deepened. She draped her slender arm over Jacky’s shoulder. “His name is Ruan Qi. This is my home. What other relationship do you think we could have?”