Chapter 89 Aftermath and Rifts
After Huo Shen left with the USB drive, Su Yan was the only one left in the study, and there was dead silence.
The air seemed to still linger with the smell of gunpowder from the fierce confrontation just now, as well as the cold and oppressive aura of Huo Shen.
Su Yan sat on the carpet for a long time, until his legs went numb, and then he struggled to stand. His body was exhausted, but his mind was unusually clear, even with a sense of excitement after being overstimulated. He recalled Huo Shen's last lookâanger, embarrassment, pain, and a hint of hesitation he had never seen in this powerful man before...
The word "guilt" clearly hit the most hidden wound in Huo Shen's heart.
Su Yan didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse for him. He had torn through Huo Shen's carefully maintained facade, revealing the decay and pain within. This might save him temporarily, as Huo Shen needed to understand how much he knew and what the "initial sequence" and "melody" mentioned in the recording were. But at the same time, he might completely enrage the lion, leading to even more frenzied revenge.
Over the next few days, the atmosphere in the apartment dropped to freezing point.
Huo Shen didn't reappear. Chen Mo still followed him like a shadow, but his attitude seemed even more silent than before, even with a subtle scrutiny. The servants also acted more cautiously, as if afraid of touching some invisible taboo.
Su Yan was placed under house arrest in the bedroom and living room area. The access rights to the study seemed to have been remotely modified, and his black card could no longer open the heavy wooden door.
He was like a chess piece that was temporarily put aside, hanging in mid-air, with no idea when or where it would fall.
He repeatedly recalled the contents of the recording. The "initial sequence," the "promised melody," the tampered core data of "Prometheus"... These clues were like scattered puzzle pieces, but he lacked the most crucial pieces, unable to piece together the complete truth.
Ah Xiao's voice, that despair and final warning, was deeply imprinted in his mind. It was not the tone of a person who had died accidentally, but the final message left by someone who knew he was about to be "cleaned up."
Huo Shen...how much did he know? Was he angry because of Xiao's betrayal (if that could be considered betrayal), or was he guilty for not being able to protect him? Or was it both?
Two days later, late one night, Su Yan was awakened by a faint noise outside his bedroom. He held his breath and listened. It seemed to be the crisp sound of glass colliding, coming from the living room.
He hesitated for a moment, got out of bed quietly, walked barefoot to the door quietly, and opened it a crack.
A single dim wall lamp lit the living room. Huo Shen sat alone on the sofa, his back facing him, appearing unusually lonely. On the coffee table before him sat a nearly empty bottle of whiskey and a crystal glass. He didn't drink, but sat quietly, gazing out the window at the dark night, his hand unconsciously stroking the USB drive containing the recording.
The moonlight outlined the cold and hard lines of his profile, which at this moment was inexplicably tinged with a layer of desolation.
Su Yan had never seen Huo Shen like this before. Stripped of his usual coldness and dominance, he now looked more like an ordinary person trapped in the cage of the past.
Was it because of that recording? Was it because the truth Ah Xiao had left behind was once again bloodily revealed before him?
Su Yan was hesitating whether to return to the room, but Huo Shen seemed to have eyes on his back and spoke in a low and hoarse voice, breaking the silence:
"What are you standing there for?"
Su Yan's body stiffened. Knowing he couldn't hide, he gently pushed the door open and walked out.
Huo Shen didn't turn around, still looking out the window, his voice full of fatigue and a hint of alcohol: "Come here."
Su Yan approached hesitantly and stopped a few steps away from him.
Huo Shen finally turned his head slowly and looked at him. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was a blue stubble on his chin. He looked depressed, but the sharpness in his eyes had not completely disappeared.
"You're curious, aren't you?" Huo Shen pulled the corners of his mouth, his smile bitter and cold. "You're curious about Xiao, curious about how he died, and curious about what kind of person I am."
Su Yan remained silent and did not deny it.
Huo Shen raised his head and drank the remaining wine in the glass. The spicy taste made him frown slightly. He put down the glass, and his eyes became deep again.
"Ah Xiao... he's like a ray of light," Huo Shen's voice was soft, as if lost in distant memories. "Smart, clean, and possessing an almost obsessive love for technology. The original concept for 'Prometheus' stemmed from his wild and imaginative ideas."
There was a kind of almost gentle nostalgia in his tone that Su Yan had never heard before.
"But I underestimated human greed and overestimated my own control." Huo Shen's tone suddenly turned cold, with a chill that penetrated his bones. "Zhou Mingchen and the people behind him want more than just the wealth brought by technology. They want absolute control and the elimination of all destabilizing factors. Ah Xiao... he discovered something and tried to stop it. He... became the destabilizing factor that needed to be eliminated."
He clenched the USB drive in his hand until his knuckles turned white.
"And I, bewildered by their smokescreen and immersed in the expansion of my business, ignored his distress signals..." Huo Shen's voice dropped, filled with deep remorse and pain. "By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late. They had created a perfect 'accident'."
Su Yan listened quietly, his heart tightening slightly. He could sense the heavy, unresolved regret in Huo Shen's words. This regret, fermented over the years, turned into a paranoid desire for control and an almost pathological distrust of the outside world.
"That recording was the last thing he left me." Huo Shen raised his eyes and looked at Su Yan with a complicated look. "He encrypted it with the most private 'melody' between us and hid it in a place no one would expect. He was gambling, gambling that I could find it, gambling that I could understand his warning."
"But you haven't cracked it yet?" Su Yan couldn't help but ask.
Huo Shen shook his head, a hint of self-mockery on his face: "I've tried many methods, but I never thought that the 'key' would be placed right in front of me." He looked at Su Yan with an indescribable emotion in his eyes, "It was you... who found it."
These words were like a stone thrown into the lake of silence between the two people.
Su Yan looked at him, seeing the vulnerability and honesty revealed by this usually strong man. He suddenly understood that Huo Shen's "interest" in him was not just due to his appearance similar to Xiao, but also due to a certain trait of his - perhaps the calmness that allowed him to survive in desperate situations, or perhaps the courage to peer into the abyss - which, by chance, touched upon the knot in Huo Shen's heart, the knot concerning Xiao.
"The 'initial sequence' and 'melody' mentioned in that recording..." Su Yan asked tentatively.
Huo Shen's eyes suddenly became sharp, and the fragility he had felt just a moment ago seemed like an illusion. He stood up, his tall figure once again bringing a sense of oppression.
"This isn't something you should pursue." His tone returned to its usual coldness. "The more you know, the faster you die. You should understand this principle."
He walked in front of Su Yan and stopped, his alcoholic breath brushing against Su Yan's hair.
"You've opened my scars, Su Yan." Huo Shen's voice was low and dangerous. "I will remember this account. Until you prove your greater value, or... pay a sufficient price."
He stretched out his hand, and his fingertips gently brushed across the long-faded mark on Su Yan's neck where he had been threatened by the syringe. His movements were creepy and intimate.
"Now, go back to bed."
After saying that, he stopped looking at Su Yan and turned to walk towards his bedroom.
Su Yan stood there, and the cold touch of his fingertips seemed to still linger on the side of his neck.
Huo Shen's honesty was limited, but his warning was clear.
The relationship between them entered a more complicated and dangerous stage because of this uncovered past.
Cracks have appeared and trust remains elusive.
But Su Yan knew that he seemed to have an invisible chip in his hand - the secret about the "initial sequence" and "melody", and his identity as the only "cracker".
He looked at the closed door of Huo Shen's bedroom, his eyes gradually becoming firm.
He must make good use of this bargaining chip and find a way out of this quagmire full of crises and secrets.
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