Chapter 32
Shu Juan simply couldn't believe that these two would start dating in her car. She had heard of her students encountering such shameless young people before, but how could this happen to Qiao Yan? She felt like she was losing popularity.
"I forgot my terminal can't make calls anymore," Qiao Yan said as she got out of the car with the door open.
"What are you doing?" Shu Juan always spoke her mind, and she was even more outspoken when facing Qiao Yan.
"It's definitely not what you think." Qiao Yan was well familiar with the overly divergent thoughts in her mind. "How did you find this place?"
Shu Juan turned her head and pointed at Zhi Yayin, "First he said he knew you were in the old town, then you called him and he said you must be at home. So we followed you all the way here. Luckily, you are not so good at walking this time and you didn't run away."
"I made a phone call?" Qiao Yan repeated, "My terminal was hacked. If I hadn't left the old town, someone might have chased me there, so I just went back home."
Shu Juan nodded. "What are you going to do next?"
"I need to ask the school for leave to arrest them. We'll go directly to one of the nearby slaughterhouses." Qiao Yan held out his hand to Shu Juan. "Do you have any unused terminals?"
"You can buy it yourself." Shu Juan wanted to take one out, but then thought that this guy was just eating and drinking for free.
Qiao Yan kicked her, "What if it gets hacked again? It's a waste of money."
After the alarm sounded, the group finished dealing with things upstairs, got into their car, and headed to a nearby slaughterhouse.
Shu Juan didn't want to sit in the back row to begin with, and when she turned around and saw the two of them sitting on opposite sides, it was obvious they didn't get along and she felt very awkward, so she simply stopped turning her head to talk.
“I originally planned to go alone, but now that I’m back, I might as well strike while the iron is hot. I guess they didn’t expect us to know that Qu Song was a traitor.” Qiao Yan listened to the recording several times again. “Threatened me? Who threatened me back then?”
"That's a question for you to answer. Who threatened you?" Shu Juan refused to turn around.
I've met quite a few high-ranking officials back then, but the word "threat" isn't so easy to discern. Many people seem to be extending olive branches in a friendly manner, but in reality, you don't have much of a choice.
He wants to take advantage of you, but he portrays the little benefit he gives you as a huge gift, while the risks behind it are too great to bear. Who would want to get involved in such a mess?
Qiao Yan was probably not yet an adult at the time, having struggled through sandstorms and earned a reputation for being fierce and aloof in the army.
She politely declined everyone's "kindness" and avoided all those who had cultivated themselves into powerful beings. Many years later, Qiao Yan could only recall a few of them.
Even though she was already so cautious, some people still held a grudge. She glanced at Nan Ya Yin unconsciously; even his father had been approached, and they wanted him to kill her.
After going to such great lengths, even bribing Qu Song to blow up the airship, was it all just revenge for her not accepting the olive branch back then?
Qiao Yan felt a sharp pain in her head, and she gently rubbed her temples.
How could that be! She frowned; those ten lives were enough for him to die several times over!
"Do you have a headache?" Qiao Yan received a message from Nan Yayin on his terminal.
She turned her head and saw that he still had his back to her. Qiao Yan sighed helplessly, "Are you still angry?"
Nan Ya Yin didn't expect her to bring up the old matter again. Of course, he knew the basic physiological knowledge, but he was so angry that he couldn't remember it for a moment.
"Shut up!"
Qiao Yan's terminal beeped again, and after thinking it over, she apologized to him again, "I'm sorry."
"I didn't ask you to apologize! Besides, is that what I asked you?"
"Are you an apology machine? Were you born to apologize?"
Qiao Yan's terminal rang out cheerfully.
"Turn off the notification sound! It's already awkward enough, do you want Shu Juan to hear it too?"
Qiao Yan turned off the notification sound again.
"Do you have a headache?" Nan Yayin abruptly steered the conversation back to the topic.
Qiao Yan couldn't help but laugh when she saw those words, feeling like she had just been fluffed up and then turned around to rub against him.
"I've just been thinking too much, and it hurts a little, but it's nothing."
Nan Yayin hesitated for a moment, then deleted the message "I'm not worried about you" from the chat box.
He quietly turned his head to look at Qiao Yan, and they happened to meet eyes.
Nan Yayin was startled. The terminal fell to Qiao Yan's feet. He hesitated for a moment before bending down to pick it up and then placed it on top of her hand.
He had understood his own feelings and cleared up the previous misunderstandings. Although he still felt a little wronged, it did not stop his heart from beating like a butterfly.
Nan Yayin dared not look up, knowing that if she did, she would see her own reflection in those pupils.
You would see him looking ashamed and wanting to find a place to hide.
But the more he tried not to look, the more it itchd to see it; he felt that hand being pulled away from his own.
No.
He grabbed Qiao Yan's sleeve and pulled her hand down a little more. Qiao Yan was pulled down and leaned forward, almost touching the top of his head.
Shu Juan was sitting in front of them, and the two dared not make any big movements, for fear that she might suddenly turn around and cause some misunderstanding.
Logically, Nan Yayin should have let go now, and they should have sat back down as usual, but they remained stuck on one side of the car.
Qiao Yan suddenly worried that he would look up, worried that they would get too close, worried that their breaths would mingle in the dim corner.
She felt a strand of hair brush against the corner of her lips. She wanted to tell him to stop moving and quickly pull his hand back to sit down, but she just narrowed her eyes and said nothing.
She felt someone's fingers stroking her from her palm to her wrist. She didn't stop them, nor did she try to grab the fingers.
Qiao Yan had just noticed an eye that was still wet from tears when she heard Shu Juan say loudly, "We're here, we're here, get out of the car."
Qiao Yan suddenly realized that Nan Ya Yin had already sat back down, still with her back to him, and he could only see that his head was pressed against the car window.
What? Was she dreaming just now?
Qiao Yan couldn't ask him right now, so she smoothed out her cuffs and got out of the car.
This area used to be a slaughterhouse hub; in the past, half of the livestock in the new district were brought here for processing.
The slaughterhouse hasn't been completely emptied yet, so there are certain conditions. Also, if a pig is slaughtered here and stored for a period of time before being taken to the Lily of the Valley, the blood shouldn't have coagulated.
"How do we investigate?" Shu Juan asked her after looking around.
Qiao Yan pointed to the damaged camera above her head, "Please, check the surveillance footage."
"Hey! Are you treating me like a donkey?" Shu Juan really wanted to kick her to death. "Besides, this camera is so broken that the lens is gone. What's the point of using it? Do you think people are stupid enough to take pictures to commemorate doing bad things?"
“The surveillance cameras at Guangying’s place aren’t the kind that’s easy to break, otherwise such a large area would be a blind spot,” Qiao Yan said calmly. “And, I can pay more.”
"make a deal."
Nan Yayin got out of the car after a while. "Did Xiao Lu send you a message?"
"Not yet, it's probably not working properly yet." Qiao Yan smiled slightly. "Is Shuyin still in the lab building?"
“Yes.” Nan Yayin nodded. “She has always liked Xiaolu, and it’s not good to bring her along too late.”
Neither of them mentioned what had just happened, and the two tacitly avoided that little bit of ambiguity.
"Is the headache because of my heightened sensitivity?" The unfinished question on the terminal was finally uttered. "Is it almost time?"
Qiao Yan realized that she hadn't remembered this at all, and thinking about it, it was true. "I didn't even remember, so it might really be true."
"You don't even remember this?" Nan Yayin frowned at her. "You're a teacher, and with such a poor memory, I'm afraid you'll mislead your students."
Qiao Yan smiled and said, "Is it that serious? I go through it before class, so it shouldn't be wrong, right?"
That wasn't his focus, so Nan Yayin ignored her and walked straight toward Shu Juan, who was working.
"It really is just as the old sage said." Shu Juan called to the two of them, "Hey! There's a picture, come and take a look."
Just then, Xiao Lu sent her a lot of messages, all of them photos, each one of the sniper on the upper floor of Xuan Niao Park.
He completely covered himself up, only revealing his eyes looking through the scope. The photo showed him firing a gun. Xiao Lu took a very clear picture, and Qiao Yan could see the scar on his wrist.
It was that deliveryman from that day. Qiao Yan immediately thought about why he had come in two separate trips, and she couldn't help but think of some cruel consequences.
What would have happened to Nan Ya Yin if she hadn't gone back that day?
Wasn't she the target? Why target those around them, including the sniper who was targeting Nan Ya Yin, not her?
Qiao Yan felt a sharp, needle-like pain in her head again, and she quickly walked behind the screen.
Nan Yayin had already looked at it once. "This person, isn't this the delivery guy?"
"You've seen it?" Shu Juan rewound the video and zoomed in on the person in the corner. "Wow, the security cameras here are so broken, yet they can still record."
"We should thank these people for only damaging the lens. The Light and Shadow Studio considered the problem of not being able to record when the lens is damaged, so they made this model. However, this can only be used for security purposes." Qiao Yan leaned over to take a look.
The person in the video was still completely covered up. Nan Yayin asked in confusion, "That's strange. He even broke the surveillance camera, why is he still wrapped up so tightly? Isn't he hot?"
Shu Juan flipped through the videos, saying, "Maybe he's just the type who's incredibly meticulous. He looks rugged but is actually very sensitive. Otherwise, he could have easily fooled you all."
After hearing this, Qiao Yan opened a bunch of photos of Xiao Lu. He had almost no exposed skin. Apart from his eyes and the little bit of skin that was exposed when he put on his gloves, there was nothing else.
After hearing Nan Yayin's words, Qiao Yan also felt strange. Did he really need to hide it to this extent? Why didn't he pay more attention to his scars?
She flipped through those photos, and in the clearest front-facing photo, she saw something black peeking out from the part of him that was covered by his mask.
Is it a birthmark?
Qiao Yan tried to search again, staring at his face. There should have been no flaws, but in another photo she noticed that the dark skin was swollen and wrinkled, pushing up a small part of the mask.
Qiao Yan felt the face looked familiar, but couldn't be sure for a moment.
Is this a burn?
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