Fifty-nine feathers
After several days of questioning and investigation by the police, they sorted out the information of all those who attended the ball. Among them, only a few belonged to the vampire clan, and the rest were basically ordinary people who were brought in to make up the numbers.
"Pah--" Liao Xihe threw the documents heavily on the table, crossed his arms and said angrily, "What are these people? Why are they joining in the fun for no reason?"
Not only was manpower wasted, but a lot of time was also wasted, and in the end, I still didn’t get what I wanted.
Yao Qingluan was startled and looked over from beside a thick pile of confession materials containing about a hundred people.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Liao Xihe admitted that he was impulsive and quickly bowed to apologize.
Su Mo witnessed the whole process and said calmly, "Just pay me. Here..." He handed the information in his hand to Liao Xihe, "At least a four-digit reward, and all you have to do is eat, drink and have fun. Who wouldn't go?"
"And it's just for one night."
"What does the person behind this want? Does he have money to burn?" Liao Xihe still couldn't believe it. The other party spent so much money on such a big event. It couldn't be that they were just spending money for fun. There must be some purpose for it to be reasonable.
Having said that, several people looked at Ye Linghan at the same time. There was no other intention, just a simple invitation to participate in the discussion.
After feeling the burning gazes, Ye Linghan slowly raised his head and responded to each one with a polite smile.
"Perhaps he can take advantage of the chaos to get the banned book, but I'm just guessing. I'm more curious about what's so attractive about me that makes so many people want me."
"Maybe it's your personal charm." Su Mo joked.
"The charm of lust?" Ye Linghan asked himself.
"Pfft..." Su Mo and a few others couldn't help laughing.
"It seems that Mr. Yin from your family needs to take some rest." Yao Qingluan covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes curved into crescent shapes as she smiled.
Ye Linghan was no longer surprised by their teasing and accepted it with pleasure.
Looking at the monotonous and worthless confession materials, with occasional small episodes of casual chat, makes people feel a little relaxed.
"There's a certain type of criminal who arrogantly believes their creations are unique, so they'll pretend to accidentally reveal their true identity to provoke the police or their pursuers. However, these flaws aren't enough to be tracked down. Do you think this person's behavior could be a disguised provocation?"
After listening to what Ye Linghan said, the few people were silent for a few seconds, and then Su Mo opened his mouth to ask a question.
"So it can be considered a personal quirk?"
Ye Linghan raised an eyebrow. "That's not entirely wrong." He paused. "Besides, he achieved his goal. I suspect our ultimate goal is to get rid of Li Si. And with all the good and bad people around, it's a perfect cover. Not to mention this time, just based on the previous few times, it's possible that this was also one of the ways CLY-20 was spread."
"Oh right." Liao Xihe seemed to be inspired. "After listening to you, it suddenly occurred to me, is the whereabouts of No. 14 who took the photo of Li Si?"
They were now looking through the information of some unimportant people and did not seem to see any clues about important people.
Ye Linghan shook his head. "No, he got away. But we suspect he's just a small fry. It seems someone is secretly protecting him."
The clever thing about this matter is that everyone wore masks, which prevented them from seeing each other's faces from the very beginning. By the time a real problem arose, they would most likely have already replaced one another and run away.
"Since the buyer ran away, what about the seller?" Su Mo suddenly had an idea.
Ye Linghan simply shook his head. "Yin Chen had someone check yesterday, but they couldn't find any information about the seller. Even Yin Chen couldn't find anything, so it's clear that his identity is not ordinary."
Everyone fell into deep thought again.
Ever since he returned home that night, a doubt has always existed in Ye Linghan's mind, which is why Yinster suddenly appeared in that room that day, and why No. 14 happened to enter his room.
Even though he said at the time that he heard that Yin Chen was coming and wanted to help, Yin Chen later took the initiative to confess that he had not told anyone else about his going to the dance, so it was very puzzling where Yin Ster got the information from.
Combining the clues learned before, all those who followed orders said that there was someone above them who gave orders, and that the person was powerful enough to make those people obey his orders. Between Yin Chen and Yin Si Te, he was more inclined to the latter, and everything was directed and acted by him.
Once the seeds of doubt are planted, it is difficult for them not to take root and sprout.
"Did we miss someone?" Ye Linghan spoke slowly with a serious expression.
Everyone looked at him.
"Yinster." He slowly uttered three words.
Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard this. The name of the second young master of the Yin family was both familiar and unfamiliar in their minds. It was not that no one had doubted it, but they all tacitly understood and did not dare to doubt it.
But the matter was of great importance, so they decided to go to Yinster to find out the situation. However, they were afraid that too many people would go and cause unnecessary trouble, so only Ye Linghan and Su Mo came forward to investigate, while the remaining two people continued to stay in the Investigation Bureau to organize the information.
Ye Linghan got the news from Yin Chen that Yin Si Te had not been to the company for the past few days, but was recuperating at home, and Yin Chen also forced them to go with him on the grounds that he was afraid that the two of them would be in danger.
Yinster's house is located in a very remote area. It would be difficult to find it without someone to lead the way. Maybe he likes quietness, so he chose a place where he would not be disturbed.
"Ding Dong--" the doorbell rang.
"Why are you here?" The moment the door opened, Ye Linghan and Zhao Tang's eyes met, and his eyes suddenly widened. He had been working non-stop during this period and had never contacted the other party, so he always thought that Zhao Tang was in the Research Department these days, but he didn't expect that he was at Yinster's house.
"Tangtang, who is that?" At the moment of distraction, Yinster's voice came from the inner room.
Ye Linghan was shocked again. He pointed at Zhao Tang and then at the room, mouthing, "What's going on with you two?"
Zhao Tang understood and quickly waved his hand, signaling Ye Linghan to drop the topic. He then called out softly into the room, "It's Xiao Ye, Brother Mo and President Yin are here."
He did not follow the system of the blood clan, so he only called Yin Chen "Mr. Yin" instead of "Young Master".
Zhao Tang stepped aside and let the three people into the house. Yin Si Te also hurried out after hearing who was coming.
He saw Yin Chen following behind the two of them, so he quickly stepped forward and asked respectfully, "Brother, why are you here?"
Yin Chen raised his chin and pointed at Ye Linghan, "I came here with them."
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but when Yin Chen finished saying this, Ye Linghan seemed to see a hint of loneliness in Yin Si’s eyes, but this expression disappeared immediately without a trace.
"Then please sit down."
Yinster asked a few people to sit down and was about to pour them some water when Zhao Tang came over.
"Let me do it, you go and rest."
He nodded and acquiesced to this practice without much hesitation.
Afterwards, Zhao Tang and Ye Linghan also sat together tacitly.
Ye Linghan turned his head to look at Zhao Tang. He was in a hurry when he entered the room and didn't look closely. This time, when he was closer, he saw that Zhao Tang's lips were a little swollen and the corners of his mouth were red. He felt a little sour inexplicably in his heart.
He could not have a blessing attitude towards the purpose of his visit.
"You..." he asked softly, pointing to the corner of his mouth with his hand.
The other party just smiled faintly, nodded without denying it, then picked up the water cup and took a sip, trying to cover it up.
Ye Linghan did not continue to ask, but only looked at Yin Ster, "That..."
He blurted out to call him "Second Young Master", but then he remembered that there was a jealous person beside him, so he quickly stopped himself from speaking out of turn.
"Would it be convenient for us to take a look at your house?"
Yinster didn't seem to care at all and said with a smile, "Of course no problem, go ahead."
As he spoke, he made a gesture of invitation.
Ye Linghan whispered in Su Mo's ear, "Zhao Tang and I will go take a look first. I'll leave this place to you."
Su Mo nodded, "Well, go ahead."
Ye Linghan finished speaking and patted Zhao Tang's leg gently. "I'm going to take a look at another room, but I need someone to accompany me. Come with me."
"Okay." Zhao Tang nodded, understanding that he wanted to get him away to talk alone. After all, there were a lot of people here, and it would have a bad impact if he spoke out.
The two stood up and left the living room.
It was already noon, the floor-to-ceiling windows were bright, and the sunlight shone into the house, making it warm and comfortable.
The room structure is that of an independent small duplex, which gives a sense of contrast that it doesn't seem like a place where someone of Yinster's status would live, but at least it doesn't appear cold and dull because of the emptiness.
The master bedroom and study were on the second floor. Zhao Tang took Ye Linghan and avoided the living room, and went to the study on the second floor with ease. Fortunately, the sound insulation was quite good, and after closing the door, they could hardly hear the conversation downstairs.
"Are you asking about my relationship with him?"
Zhao Tang guessed that he couldn't avoid it and that this would happen sooner or later, so he chose to take the initiative. He knew that Ye Linghan cared about him, so he did not hide it and chose to confess.
"Hmm." There was some worry on Ye Linghan's face, but he didn't dare to tell him their inferences. Even though it was just a guess, he was afraid that there would always be a chance of something going wrong.
Zhao Tang stared at Ye Linghan, not knowing how to start speaking, and even found it difficult to say. He had a very vague idea of his emotional journey with Yin Te. It could be said that it was a spur of the moment feeling, with no preparation at all. It was just a quick glance before, and he could not forget him in his heart.
He didn't know whether this was right or wrong, but he knew that this was the first person he fell in love with.
"We have no relationship, we are just ordinary friends." He said this with great calmness.
Ye Linghan remained silent for a long moment, his gaze fixed on the corner of the other person's lips. He slowly spoke, "Then you..."
Zhao Tang did not deny it. "Yes, it's what you thought. We... kissed."
I don’t know if he was deliberately suppressing the emotions in his heart. For a moment, Ye Linghan seemed to have a vision of his former self. He didn’t dare to say love easily, but he was proud and unwilling to be nameless and without status.
He didn't know Yinster very well, but he knew Zhao Tang. He wanted to persuade the person in front of him to turn back from the wrong path, but he couldn't see a love standing in front of Zhao Tang and stop him from pursuing it. Even though it was difficult for two people to fall in love with each other, how easy was it to find someone you loved in such a vast sea of people?
Seeing Ye Linghan remain silent, Zhao Tang muttered to herself, "I know he doesn't love me. He only kissed me out of passion..."
Suddenly, he shook his head, "There's not even any love..."
"I also know that he has someone in his heart, but because he can't get her, he uses me as a diversion."
As Zhao Tang spoke, he lowered his head and his shoulders shook violently, as if he was crying.
His voice trembled, "But I still fell willingly..."
Ye Linghan's eyes were filled with heartache. He walked forward and hugged Zhao Tang. He didn't know how to comfort him, so he just patted his back again and again.
The two seem to be in similar situations, but in fact they are very different. He and Yin Chen have always had a crush on each other, but they have never taken that step.
But Zhao Tang is different from Yin Si Te. One-sided crush is too difficult to have a result, and he is afraid that every word of comfort he says will sound like showing off.
"Is it worth it?" he asked.
Zhao Tang sniffed and nodded slightly, "Maybe it's not worth it in the eyes of others, but because I like it, it's worth it."
He didn't want the people downstairs to notice, so he cried very restrainedly, only sobbing quietly.
With Ye Linghan's comfort, Zhao Tang's emotions gradually calmed down. He pushed away the person in front of him and turned to walk towards the bookcase.
"What's wrong?" Ye Linghan asked.
Zhao Tang didn't explain, but calmly and purposefully took a book from the bookshelf and handed it to Ye Linghan.
The latter took it hesitantly, looked at the person in front of him in confusion, then lowered his head to look at the book in his hand and opened it.
It looks no different from an ordinary book.
Seeing that the other party seemed not to understand, Zhao Tang pulled the book out of Ye Linghan's hand and peeled off the cover under his gaze. There was no clue at the moment, but it became clear in an instant. On the book after peeling off the cover, the words "Li Si" were clearly written.
Ye Linghan suddenly raised his head and opened his thin lips slightly, but Zhao Tang was faster. He raised his hand and quickly covered the other person's mouth, signaling him not to call for help.
The clue came too suddenly, and Ye Linghan was a little slow to react for a while. It turned out that it was just a guess, but he didn't expect that this Li Si was really in Yin Si's hands.
He never expected that this evidence would be handed over by Zhao Tang himself.
This is tantamount to sending your lover to the execution ground yourself.
"I discovered this by accident when I was staying at his house these few days."
Seeing that Ye Linghan's emotions had stabilized, Zhao Tang slowly let go of his hand.
"Why do you also suspect it was him?" Ye Linghan was a little puzzled about this. Their suspicion was due to the fact that all the evidence pointed to Yin Ster, but Zhao Tang was not involved from beginning to end, and did not understand the connection of many evidences and clues, so he was very surprised how the other party made the inference.
"I guessed it when I sent him back that day." Zhao Tang suddenly smiled bitterly. "Others may not understand, but you should understand. I'm not as weak as others appear. In our line of work, we always have to have some investigative awareness. He was seriously injured that day, but after returning, he locked himself in the study for a long time. So when he fell asleep, I went to the study to secretly check, and I didn't expect to find this."
"But he probably doesn't know that I discovered this. He was sleeping very soundly that day and he wasn't awake when I got back, so don't worry, I'll be fine."
Zhao Tang was afraid that Ye Linghan would take her away from Yin Ster, so he explained to prove that his situation was relatively safe.
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