Chapter 48
The day passed without incident. After confirming the identity of the suspect who threw the paint, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. To make things easier, Iris booked a room at this hotel. The accommodations were naturally worse than hers at ULO, but it was manageable for two days.
Having been frightened by Shu Ziming earlier that morning, Iris was confident he would be safe for at least the afternoon, so she went back to school after lunch. With her gone, Zhuang Zhuoyuan felt much more at ease, but the thought of Iris constantly flirting with danger these past two days kept his brows furrowed.
Inside the parking lot, Xie Jiaxing, who was on standby, saw Zhuang Zhuoyuan's distress and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him: "Don't worry, our whole group is here, and Iris has her bodyguards protecting her. Didn't you say before that her fighting skills have improved? Triple protection, relax, everything will be fine."
"I—" Zhuang Zhuoyuan choked up as soon as he started to speak; there was no point in saying anything more now. He looked away and sighed, remaining silent for a few seconds before finally revealing, "Iris is pregnant!"
"What is it?" Xie Jiaxing didn't react for a moment.
"There's a baby!"
Xie Jiaxing finally understood where Zhuang Zhuoyuan's anger came from.
No sooner had the grumpy Sir finished speaking than Iris, the protagonist of their conversation, reappeared in their line of sight with Derek. They headed straight for the vehicle and climbed into the back seat with a clear objective. Derek released a retractable flying device with suction cups and four claws, which Iris attempted to control, first stopping it on the roof of their car.
“Hello, honey, Ah Xing, Liang Sir said we can go with your car.”
She seemed relaxed, but Zhuang Zhuoyuan was far from at ease: "What are you planning to do this time? Iris, didn't Dr. Pun assign you any homework? Or Dr. Koo? I remember he's stricter."
“We have two weeks to finish it.” Iris leaned forward, climbed onto Zhuang Zhuoyuan’s arm, and called out sweetly again, “Husband…”
Xie Jiaxing hesitated whether he should switch seats with her temporarily.
"Don't be angry, okay? Tomorrow, as soon as I finish testing these devices, I'll leave immediately." She even reached out her hand to pinky swear with Zhuang Zhuoyuan. Xie Jiaxing saw this and stepped back to the side.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan did not agree immediately. He knew she was good at playing word games and wanted to confirm beforehand exactly how much new equipment she had received from Edward.
Iris pointed upwards: "M016 is one, then there are a few 009s, and an experimental in-vivo tracker. When we get back, we'll see which of Ah Li and Ah Guang is willing to try it. I'll have Doctor implant it for him."
Before saying whether it was good or bad, Zhuang Zhuoyuan stated upfront: "We haven't received any order to take you out to do experiments."
“Of course it’s not a private car,” Iris said, not wanting to put Zhuang Zhuoyuan in a difficult position. “Jacob loves going out at night, he’ll definitely be out tonight. I’m just here to hitch a ride with you guys.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan pondered for a moment, then finally nodded: "Then be a good boy and go home as soon as you've finished tomorrow."
"Great!" Iris cheered, her eyes crinkling with laughter, and hugged his neck, giving him a kiss. "Honey, I finally have something I can do to help you!"
Xie Jiaxing had already determined what he should do—open the car door and get out. He should be under the car, not inside.
Surprisingly, Shu Ziming didn't head to a bar or private club after leaving home; instead, he drove directly to a restaurant. Zhuang Zhuoyuan and his group parked outside, watching the person's every move through the glass. It turned out that Shu Ziming had arranged to meet none other than Ding Huihui and another flight attendant, who had left the airport with him that day.
Watching the three of them chatting and laughing, Zhuang Zhuoyuan subconsciously frowned. Xie Jiaxing glanced over and wanted to make a joke, but then realized Iris was in the back seat, so he silently shut his mouth. Unexpectedly, Iris spoke up. She saw the change in Zhuang Zhuoyuan's expression in the rearview mirror, thought for a moment, and wisely didn't get jealous. Instead, she comforted him, saying, "Jacob is a jerk, that's true, but if you just want to date him or have a one-night stand without considering marriage, then it's not a big problem. Huihui is a single adult; she should be able to make her own decisions."
Derek, who was moving the M016 from the roof of Shu Ziming's car to the trunk of his, suddenly nudged her: "Miss, have you ever watched 'Romance in the Rain'? Mengping, who went to the nightclub, wouldn't listen to He Shuhuan's advice and insisted on hanging out with a bunch of hooligans. In the end, she was raped, and He Shuhuan blamed Lu Yiping, who had advised him to leave. Ah, Lu Yiping's words were probably similar to what you said. Mengping, she's an adult."
An awkward silence fell over the car, but at least everyone's minds cleared a bit. Derek grinned crookedly: "I told you, distance makes the heart grow fonder."
"Shut up!" Iris warned, issuing her final warning about the pay cut.
After leaving the restaurant, Shu Ziming drove off with only Ding Huihui. Zhuang Zhuoyuan followed, but lost track of his target at a red light at an intersection. They had already installed a tracker under Shu Ziming's car, so when they turned on their phones, a flashing red dot immediately displayed Shu Ziming's real-time location. Iris's M016 was more advanced; its display showed the scenery along the way from multiple angles and also recorded sounds from inside and outside the car. However, it was quite noisy on the road, and to clearly hear what the people inside the car were doing or saying, they would have to wait until they got back and used professional software to separate the audio tracks and perform noise reduction.
But once Shu Ziming reached the mountaintop and the car stopped, the sounds inside became increasingly clear. At first, it was normal conversation, but gradually, some soft, panting sounds began to emerge. Derek deliberately turned the volume up a little; although he didn't have a steady girlfriend, he was all too familiar with similar sounds: "Kiss, kiss! We'd better drive slower and not disturb their romance."
"Let's wait and see," Xie Jiaxing said first. Because of Derek's earlier words, he figured Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Iris would be too embarrassed to speak up again. It was best if they didn't offer any further opinions.
On a romantic starry night, a French kiss was fine, but when it came to taking it any further, Ding Huihui just wanted to refuse. How could Shu Ziming let his hard-won prey escape? Besides, how many women who were willing to go up the mountain with him didn't want to get into his bed? He took Ding Huihui's rejection as a bit of fun, and with a little force, his large hand had already slipped inside her clothes and grasped her full breasts.
"No!" Ding Huihui reacted strongly, and the people in the car behind finally realized something was wrong. Zhuang Zhuoyuan quickly turned on the headlights, and the bright light made Shu Ziming finally stop.
"What the fuck!" He angrily straightened his clothes, wanting to get out of the car and cause trouble, but Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Xie Jiaxing had already quickly arrived in front of him. "Are you guys insane?" he cursed.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan ignored her and opened the car door, urging Ding Huihui to get out. He was only acting out of friendship and a police officer's duty, but Ding Huihui's eyes lit up again at his actions. How could anyone so easily forget their feelings?
"Ah Yuan!" She happily followed him to their SUV, only to find Iris sitting inside. Her smile froze on her face, and she managed to utter a "Hi" with difficulty.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan opened the car door, and Iris got out from the other side. He was about to discuss something with her, but the words he was about to say stopped when she did: "BB?"
“I’m going to Jacob’s car.” Iris said succinctly, but a smile immediately appeared when she turned to Shu Ziming: “Jacob, we haven’t gone for a drive yet, how about I take you for a night tour of Hong Kong?”
“One for one, of course.” Seeing Iris’s non-threatening smile today, Shu Ziming was naturally happy. Besides, it would be more prestigious for him to say that the girl was taking the initiative: “But just you and me?”
“Okay.” Iris took her bag, and Zhuang Zhuoyuan walked around to stop her. His hand tightened on her wrist, his gaze wanting to hold her completely: “BB, don’t go.”
“How can we handle this if we don’t go? There are still two nights and one day left. Jacob isn’t someone you can easily control.” She tried to push his hand away, but Zhuang Zhuoyuan only held on tighter: “Wife, you can’t.”
"Don't worry, he won't dare do anything to me." Shu Ziming was already showing impatience. He came over himself and forcefully pulled Zhuang Zhuoyuan away. To prevent Iris from falling, Zhuang Zhuoyuan had to let go during the struggle. He just watched as his baby was taken away.
“Iris!” he called out to her for the first time.
Iris merely glanced back and said, "Let go, Jacob."
"Why should we care about him?" Shu Ziming sneered.
Iris emphasized, "Let go, Jacob!"
“Alright.” With his hands raised and his usual nonchalant attitude, Jacob returned to his driver’s seat and leaned over to fasten Iris’s seatbelt. “Where do you want to go, Babe?”
Iris turned her head and glared at him.
"Fine, fine. If you're in a bad mood, let's go for a drive on the beach. But you'll have to bear with it a bit; these tagalongs behind us are especially annoying." Shu Ziming smirked, glancing at Zhuang Zhuoyuan and the others already in the car: "Or, how about we have a 'Fast and Furious' chase with him?"
He was eager to try, but Iris didn't want to take the risk; in fact, she had a better way.
As they approached another traffic light, Shu Ziming deliberately slowed down. Seeing this, Zhuang Zhuoyuan realized he was trying to shake them off again. His heart leaped into his throat, his knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. Xie Jiaxing reassured him, "Zhuoyuan, don't worry, we have GPS to track him."
However, the moment the sports car sped across the intersection, the red dot on the GPS system disappeared, and the controller screen, which had been displaying the image, went completely black. Zhuang Zhuoyuan slammed on the brakes, completely ignoring Ding Huihui's screams. His emotions were unusually unstable; he practically grabbed Derek by the collar as he spoke, "Where did they go?"
“I don’t know. I think you’re the one who’s closer to the lady, not me.” Derek ignored his question, broke free, opened the car door and got out. “I can’t stand the perfume in this car. I’ll have someone pick me up later. You can take this lady home first.”
"Stop!" Zhuang Zhuoyuan got out of the car, and Xie Jiaxing, who was reporting the situation, saw that things were getting out of control and hurriedly followed.
"Ah Xing, what's wrong?" Zhan Hantao repeated his question after hearing the commotion on the other end of the line. Xie Jiaxing pulled the two people who were about to fight apart and stood between them before he had a chance to report to Zhan Hantao: "Zhan Sir, Iris has gone with Shu Ziming. Now all the tracking devices on their car are out of order, and we don't know their whereabouts."
Hearing this, Chong Cheuk-wah also became nervous: "Where's Derek? Derek isn't with Iris?"
Xie Jiaxing glanced at Zhuang Zhuoyuan: "We took Ding Huihui from Shu Ziming's car. Shu Ziming demanded a one-for-one exchange, so Derek didn't get in the car."
“Sir Zhan,” Su Wenqiang looked up from his computer screen and reported, “the tracker malfunction is likely due to interference from the signal jammer.”
“Ah Yuan!” Zhuang Zhuohua suddenly remembered the mutual location tracking between Iris and his phone. “Ah Xing, have Ah Yuan check his phone and see if he can locate Iris.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan had already tried, even making phone calls, but to no avail. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't be so anxious. "Derek, tell me quickly, where is Iris going?" He knew a signal jammer wouldn't appear in the car for no reason; Iris was deliberately trying to shake them off.
Derek's reply was full of rejection: "Our actions only need to be reported to Inspector Leung. You don't need to worry about Miss."
“Those are my wife and children!” Zhuang Zhuoyuan roared at him.
Derek stepped back to avoid a physical confrontation. But his mouth remained open: "So what? You're not protecting her."
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