Instant.

Ji Lin frowned slightly.

But almost imperceptibly, his brow smoothed out again, as if the frown had never happened.

However…

This completely instinctive reaction did not escape Lin Xian's observation.

He was doing it on purpose.

In fact, for a long time, he hadn't grasped any clues that showed Ji Lin and Zhou Duanyun had any substantial connection.

On the surface, they seemed like complete strangers, neither knowing the other.

Even though Lin Xian had always suspected them of being the same group… suspicion was suspicion, and without evidence, these guesses were untenable.

But now.

Even though Ji Lin reacted quickly, almost instantly.

He was still caught off guard.

That instant of disgust and impatience on his face undoubtedly confirmed one fact—

He knew Zhou Duanyun, and seemed to have some kind of involvement with him.

This was an unexpected gain…

Lin Xian's intention was just to bluff Ji Lin and see his reaction.

He hadn't held out much hope; it was just a test.

Heh.

Now, many things were clearer.

In front of Ji Lin, Lin Xian pressed the dial button—

After a long, silent ring.

A mechanical voice came from the phone:

"The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

Lin Xian hung up the phone:

"My classmate is a big entrepreneur and is usually very busy. Since the phone isn't going through, he's probably in an underground garage or elevator, right?"

"Or maybe he's abroad."

Ji Lin replied calmly:

"If he's abroad, and hasn't activated the corresponding service, you'll get the same message when you call him."

"I see."

That was a blind spot in Lin Xian's knowledge, but it didn't matter; he had already gotten what he wanted.

"Ji Lin, are you familiar with the name Zhou Duanyun?" Lin Xian began the second wave of probing.

"Familiar."

Ji Lin said casually:

"The chat logs extracted from Tang Xin's phone included Tang Xin's conversations with Zhou Duanyun. They were preparing a gift for you together. Of course I remember."

…

Lin Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

As expected, Ji Lin was still Ji Lin.

He had only shown a tiny slip, but quickly regained his usual wit and intelligence.

His answer was seamless, reasonable. And the speed of his reaction could only mean… he was worthy of being called a genius detective.

"If he's abroad, then my classmate probably won't be able to make it to your birthday party."

Lin Xian chuckled:

"That's a pity."

"There's nothing to regret."

Ji Lin shrugged:

"Do you have any other friends?"

"There's only one. I only have one friend in Donghai City. He works at a 4S store and is my childhood friend. Are you sure you want to invite him? He might eat your cake in two bites."

"Impossible."

Ji Lin shook his head:

"I ordered a three-layer cake. Even a hippo couldn't finish it in two bites."

Lin Xian recalled Gao Yang, who devoured shrimp shells at the MX company's celebration party…

Perhaps in some ways.

Gao Yang was more powerful than a hippo.

"Alright."

Lin Xian responded:

"I'll ask him then. My friend is easy to call. As long as there's good food, he's basically available anytime."

With that, Lin Xian went to the bathroom to wash his hands, picked up his clothes, and left.

Before closing the door, he glanced back at the festively decorated living room.

Bright.

Beautiful.

Colorful.

It was like a hymn of victory, but… he didn't know who it was going to be sung for.

"Goodbye, Ji Lin."

Lin Xian waved and closed the door.

Bang.

…

Night, ten o'clock. The redwood double doors were opened, then pushed closed by the old man's withered hand.

He hung his black felt hat on the coat rack at the door.

He looked up.

And was shocked to see the brightly lit, colorful, and twinkling living room:

"When I got out of the car, I wondered if the sun had risen in the west today, because you actually turned on the lights at night. But now it seems… things aren't as simple as the sun rising in the west…"

He turned his head and looked at Ji Lin, who was still sitting on the floor in his usual spot, half-reclining and admiring the room full of light pollution:

"Are you throwing a party?"

Ji Xinshui couldn't accept this scene. He had watched this child grow up, but now he knew him less and less.

"Happy birthday."

Ji Lin raised his hand and pointed to the large banner hanging above the TV, which had these two English words written on it in colorful letters—

happy birthday

"Not a party." Ji Lin closed his eyes:

"A birthday banquet."

Ji Xinshui understood and nodded slowly as if he had just realized something…

"I see, May 3rd is your birthday."

Immediately.

He smiled, looking at Ji Lin with admiration:

"Well done! Before I came, I wondered, with Lin Xian being so careful and cautious, what chance we had to expose him outdoors at 00:42… I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve! A birthday banquet is perfect. This way, we can accurately control the time he leaves here."

"But Ji Lin… you're still not smart enough."

Ji Xinshui, with his hands behind his back, looked at the streamers and ribbons covering the whole room, as if he were already in the midst of victory:

"If you were smart enough, you should have held your birthday party on the evening of May 2nd, so you could use a more reasonable and imperceptible reason to keep Lin Xian until after midnight to celebrate your birthday."

Heh.

Ji Lin chuckled softly.

Ji Xinshui never cared about what day his birthday was; he only cared about how to use the excuse of his birthday to kill Lin Xian, even if… May 2nd wasn't his birthday at all, he wouldn't care.

"Arrogance."

Ji Lin propped himself up from the floor and looked at Ji Xinshui:

"Will you give me a birthday present?"

"That's an interesting question." Ji Xinshui, with his hands behind his back, turned around and looked at Ji Lin sitting on the ground:

"I think… you're no longer a child who looks forward to birthday presents, right? As far as we're concerned, I think the letter of invitation to the Genius Club after we successfully kill Lin Xian at 00:42 will be the best birthday present for you!"

Ji Lin didn't say anything more.

He curled up his legs, stood up from the floor, and stretched:

"Arrogance, are you sure that after killing Lin Xian, you will receive an invitation from the Genius Club? Is that what the superior in the Genius Club promised you?"

"I'm not sure."

Ji Xinshui shook his head, then continued:

"But I think it's very close… because I found Lin Xian, the person who disrupted history, myself."

His withered eyes looked at Ji Lin and said slowly:

"Now that you've guessed a lot of things, I won't hide it from you anymore."

"The people I killed before, Xu Yun, Tang Xin, Pang Simai… etcetera, etcetera, I didn't know where they disrupted history. I was just following orders. That's why these people were killed so simply, because there was no possibility of killing the wrong person."

"But Lin Xian is different… I found him myself! That's a completely different meaning! I think the best way to prove our ability to the Genius Club… is to find a person who disrupts history, and then kill him!"

"You did a good job faking history. Although it sacrificed Gluttony and Greed… but it doesn't matter. They were meant to be sacrificed. I can easily replace the next Gluttony and Greed, just like their code names… All seven deadly sins of humanity come from desire. As long as they have desire, they will eventually become my chess pieces."

Ji Lin walked to the dining table and looked at the game of Ludo on it.

"Arrogance." He picked up a black piece and placed it on the table.

"Envy." He picked up a green piece and placed it next to the black one.

"Wrath." Red.

"Sloth." White.

"Greed." Yellow.

"Gluttony." Brown.

"Lust." Purple.

"You're right. All seven deadly sins come from the most primitive desires of mankind. As you said, desire will drive humans to become your chess pieces."

"But… you seem to have forgotten something."

Ji Lin looked up at Ji Xinshui and picked up the first black piece, placing it in front of the other pieces:

"Arrogance, you are also in desire, and you are recognized as the first of the seven deadly sins."

"Perhaps…"

"You are also a chess piece."

However…

Ji Xinshui smiled dismissively and shook his head:

"Ji Lin, you're thinking too much. You'll understand everything when you see the Genius Club invitation."

"The thing you need to consider most now is how to keep Lin Xian in this house until 00:42 on the night of May 3rd."

"From the start of your birthday party to the 00:42 time point is too long… If you can't find a reasonable reason and motive, it will 100% arouse Lin Xian's suspicion. He's not a fool. How can you guarantee that you can keep him here?"

Ji Lin sat down on the chair next to the dining table.

He pushed down the yellow and brown Ludo pieces, then looked up at Ji Xinshui:

"Remember what I told you at the beginning?"

"I asked you if you minded me deliberately revealing some of our information to that person who disrupted history, in order to catch him off guard. You said it was fine at the time."

"Of course it's fine." Ji Xinshui replied:

"For such a dying person, it doesn't matter if you say more, as long as you ensure that Lin Xian can die at 00:42."

Ji Lin nodded:

"Then you don't have to worry. I have a way to keep Lin Xian."

"Then I'll… wait and see this show." Ji Xinshui walked to the door, took off the black felt hat hanging there, and put it on his head:

"I'll find a good spot nearby to watch this performance."

…

At the same time, Chushanhe Manor, the reception hall.

Lin Xian and Chu Shanhe sat in chairs, with a hand-drawn sketch of the lakeside villa area in front of them.

Lin Xian pointed to the four circles marked in red pen on the manuscript:

"The locations of these four manhole covers are very important."

Chu Shanhe nodded:

"I've remembered them."

With that, he looked up:

"Ji Xinshui's entry information has also been found. He did return to the country. But there's no entry information for Zhou Duanyun… His last exit information was from Donghai City to Sakura Country. Subsequent itineraries can't be found."

Lin Xian leaned back, resting on the wooden chair back:

"That can't be helped. Although we all want to catch them all in one fell swoop, it's not up to us. But it's enough to catch Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui. The rest can come slowly. At least… even if Ji Xinshui isn't their core, he's an important figure among them."

Chu Shanhe also leaned back in his chair, quite worried:

"Lin Xian, there's one most critical issue that we have to consider now."

"You also know that under the laws of the Dragon Country, if a suspect only has suspicion, but there is no evidence to prove his crime, then we can only summon him for assistance in the investigation at most."

"This kind of investigation has a time limit. If there is no evidence directly related to the case, we must release him after a maximum detention of 24 hours. Of course, if there is evidence, even a little bit of related evidence, this time can be extended."

"But… according to your plan, I'm very worried about this."

Chu Shanhe crossed his arms and looked at Lin Xian:

"Ji Lin is a very smart person, not to mention that Ji Xinshui is also a very resourceful and powerful person. I was very surprised when you told me the names of these two people today. I never expected it to be them."

"Ji Xinshui's power is very large, and he also has a very high status in the national pharmaceutical and world medical fields. I think that with the cooperation of the two of them, as you said, they may have washed away their suspicions long ago."

"Even on the night of May 3rd, if a taxi driver hits you… putting aside everything else, even if we can really define this taxi driver as intentional murder, how can we prove that this matter is related to Ji Lin, Ji Xinshui, and Zhou Duanyun?"

"Just like the Sergeant Sam incident, I naturally believe what you said. Sergeant Sam is being directed by Ji Xinshui and Ji Lin behind the scenes. But it's useless for just the two of us to believe it out of thin air. Evidence is more important than anything else. Case solving and trials cannot be separated from evidence."

"So…"

Chu Shanhe paused and continued:

"If we arrest them, but all the evidence shows that the case has nothing to do with them, and they don't admit to any criminal facts within 24 hours, and all the clues and physical evidence prove that they are innocent…"

"What should we do then?"