Chapter 33
Nan Yayin couldn't figure out anything from the surveillance footage, except that the deliveryman was pouring blood plasma onto the prosthetic leg. "Why did he bring a pig with him? Getting some pig blood from anywhere would be faster than slaughtering a pig himself."
This is an abandoned slaughterhouse; it only provides the space, not the pigs.
Qiao Yan was still thinking about burns. There were too many people who could be filtered out by associating snipers with burns, but she didn't have any such soldiers in her memory.
It was clearly a case of hiring a hitman.
Hearing Nan Yayin say this, she also felt strange. In the video, the deliveryman was carrying a pig, and after slaughtering it, he carried the pig into his car.
"His technique is very skilled," Shu Juan said. "Nowadays, pigs are slaughtered by machines. I doubt even a regular butcher could slaughter one so precisely and efficiently."
“He can kill people so easily, let alone pigs.” Qiao Yan watched the part with the man over and over again, and suddenly noticed a second person appearing. She pointed at the screen, “Did you guys see him just now?”
The two people were a bit too close to the screen, and it was just a hand that had probably accidentally entered the surveillance footage. Qiao Yan slowed down the video and watched it again. There was indeed someone next to the deliveryman, and only then did she notice that he would occasionally look up and follow someone's gaze.
"Do you think this person might be the one who hired someone to commit murder?" Shu Juan stroked his chin.
Qiao Yan felt that this person wouldn't show up so easily. He was obviously very cautious. Even such a small matter as the threatening letter showed that he had thought a lot about it. If he showed up so easily, she would feel that all her efforts had been in vain.
But he was clearly avoiding the surveillance cameras on the wall, even though they had already destroyed them.
Qiao Yan didn't answer Shu Juan. She put aside these preconceived notions that couldn't possibly determine who was behind the scenes and focused on watching the video.
“When we first met him, he seemed very outgoing,” Nan Yayin said. “Even though he was wearing a mask, we could tell he was smiling, and he greeted us all, and it seemed like he knew Qiao Yan.”
Shu Juan looked up at Qiao Yan and said, "Although not everyone knows her, it's not difficult for anyone to know who she is."
She wasn't referring to those honors; any one of Qiao Yan's "scandals" would be enough to make her famous, such as attempting to murder her own members. If this matter is resolved, and the people involved are brought to justice, she'll probably become famous again.
Qiao Yan nodded. "But what you said makes sense. He doesn't seem very outgoing in here. Either that's just a facade, or someone is threatening him."
“Yes, yes, to silence them.” Shu Juan said knowingly. “This is quite common. They cross the river and then destroy the bridge, then discard the millstone and kill the donkey. Isn’t this the same as in that recording? Your team member must have been killed to silence him as well.”
Qiao Yan smiled helplessly, "Then I guess the person behind this is the one who most wants to kill me. What a pity."
As the conversation progressed, Qiao Yan suddenly realized something was wrong, "That person wanted to kill me."
“He was going to kill me.” Qiao Yan repeated, emphasizing the word “I”.
Nan Yayin turned to look at her.
"Could it be that he's chasing after me now because he didn't kill me back then?" Qiao Yan frowned, trying to recall the cause and effect of this attempted murder.
Qiao Yan never thought that his teammates' families would have such great abilities as hiring snipers to assassinate them and plant explosives. At most, they wanted revenge and never thought of implicating completely unrelated people.
The idea of "better to kill the innocent than let one go" only made Qiao Yan wonder what his motive was for killing her. All she could think of now was the destruction of the spaceship, but she still didn't know who did it, and Qu Song was already dead.
"Then why didn't he attack back then?" Nan Ya Yin continued her thought. "Didn't you break a leg back then?"
"Because she had just been rescued then, and with all her past glories, who would dare to touch her?" Shu Juan smiled. "Aside from those on the internet who don't know the truth, probably very few people would..."
The three of them suddenly realized that perhaps this person was behind the online attacks against Qiao Yan over the past few years.
“Smear campaign, assassination, how much must this person hate you?” Shu Juan couldn’t understand. “If that’s really the case, then it doesn’t really have much to do with the families of the deceased, does it? He just wants to have a legitimate reason to do it.”
“Then I need to know what he did before this.” Qiao Yan sighed. “I didn’t care about these things before. Even if I knew, I would pretend not to know. Not knowing is the safest thing to do.”
"Give Sister Zhou a call," Shu Juan said. "She was demoted; she might know something."
"Didn't she voluntarily retire when she reached the appropriate age?"
Shu Juan chuckled, "That's possible. With a workaholic like her, who can work with her colleagues forever, she's just making things up. Only you would believe such a thing."
It was late at night, and Qiao Yan was worried about their safety. After saving the video, the group got back into the car. The more clues they had, the clearer things seemed to be. They weren't afraid of not being able to solve the problem anytime soon; as long as Qiao Yan was alive, they would make their move eventually.
Just getting to the laboratory building required two different vehicles; doing anything to ensure safety is the right thing to do.
When they arrived at their destination, the three of them finally relaxed. Shu Juan waved her hand and said, "Don't call me next time, just go by yourself."
She was fully aware of her physical limitations and had no intention of improving them; she was a researcher, not an athlete.
Qiao Yan watched Shu Juan leave, and then walked towards their room one after the other with Nan Ya Yin.
"Where's Shuyin?" Qiao Yan asked as she walked in.
Nan Yayin saw the little guy nestled on the sofa, and Xiao Lu, who had been repaired, was also sitting on the sofa.
"She's asleep." Nan Yayin checked the time. "It's already past midnight, and it'll be dawn soon."
Qiao Yan nodded and whispered, "Then you go to sleep first, I'll watch the surveillance footage for a while longer."
The rooms in the experimental building don't have extra beds, and Shu Juan wasn't "kind" enough to arrange a large room. Two fairly thick mattresses were enough for sleeping.
Actually, Nan Yayin couldn't fall asleep even if she wanted to. She was just lying on the made-up bed looking at the ceiling, and when she turned her head, she saw Qiao Yan on another mattress leaning against the wall looking at the screen.
Nan Yayin looked at him from the side for a while, but the more she looked, the less she could sleep, so she simply sat up. Qiao Yan heard the sound, turned his head to look at her, and asked softly, "Did you disturb me?"
He didn't answer, got out of bed, pushed his mattress towards Qiao Yan, and lay back down. "I'll watch it with you, I can't sleep."
Qiao Yan glanced down at Nan Ya Yin, and seeing him look up, asked, "No?"
“Okay.” Qiao Yan smiled and moved the terminal toward him. “Look, I found a ring on the person who was hiding here.”
"A ring? How did you see that?"
Qiao Yan zoomed in on the video, "The video flashed for a second."
Nan Ya Yin looked at the spot she was pointing to and indeed saw a glimmer of light, which flashed quickly and disappeared in an instant. "How did you see that?"
“Because someone offered me a chance before, but I refused.” Qiao Yan recalled the person’s appearance. “He was wearing a lot of rings, and his intention was that if I agreed, he would give me one of them.”
"Give a ring?" Nan Yayin frowned. "Do you win someone over like you're proposing marriage?"
“Only he would do that,” Qiao Yan said helplessly. “I had always treated it as a joke and let it go before.”
"Why is he trying to win you over?" Nan Yayin asked, leaning closer.
Qiao Yan thought for a moment, "I can't remember the specifics, but it was something like I was asked to apply for funding to go to high-risk planets but actually go to low-risk planets."
“He wants money,” Nan Yayin said with certainty.
Qiao Yan nodded, "He also plans to split the profits 30/70 with me, 30% for me and 70% for him."
She had never seen anyone negotiate like this before, and even if Qiao Yan was the kind of person who was greedy for money, she probably wouldn't be happy to stand on his side.
"Could it be him?" Nan Yayin didn't know what Qiao Yan had encountered before.
“I hope it’s him.” Qiao Yan looked at it again. “That way I can catch him immediately, and no one will die for no reason.”
Qiao Yan had watched the video countless times; she just couldn't stop.
We must find that deliveryman after daybreak. Once we find him, we can at least find out who is outside the surveillance camera.
She rubbed her eyes and heard steady breathing beside her; Nan Yayin had fallen asleep sometime earlier.
Qiao Yan thought she had to clean things up.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
