"Enough, Ji Lin."

The old man slowly opened his eyes and twisted his neck.

"Let go of my neck."

He removed Ji Lin's hand from his neck and stood up.

He didn't speak.

Instead, he walked with polished leather shoes to the floor-to-ceiling window that occupied the entire wall, staring at the thick, opaque curtains, looking at the patterns of silk thread, and said in a low voice:

"I don't want our relationship to be like this, full of deceit and infighting."

"Me neither."

Ji Lin put his hands in his pockets.

"So, you can just tell me the answer? How could I betray you? Over the years… we have long been in the same boat."

"Besides, I was raised by you. Even if we have our own purposes… we have worked so hard together over the years to obtain an invitation to the Genius Club. Isn't that worth your trust?"

"Or… would revealing the truth affect our chances of receiving an invitation to the Genius Club?"

…

There was a long silence.

The old man turned around, put his hands behind his back, and looked at Ji Lin.

"I'm not sure. But… I can't gamble."

He paused, swallowed, and continued.

"You're smart, Ji Lin, you're a genius. But even so, you can't guess everything in this world… Even geniuses make mistakes, geniuses can't understand everything, and geniuses can't solve every problem. You must believe what I say—"

"What we are doing is not wrong. Everything we do is correct."

Ji Lin snorted softly.

"So… we're partners in justice?"

"Only children always talk about justice and evil."

"What do adults talk about?"

"Belief."

The old man's eyes were firm.

"It depends on what you believe in."

"Then I still prefer children." Ji Lin sat back in the old man's chair and crossed his legs.

"Belief… sounds very hypocritical."

"But no one can be a child forever, Ji Lin."

Ji Lin turned his head and looked at the warm fireplace.

"If what you say is true, and killing these people who disrupt history is correct, then what they did was wrong?"

"They weren't wrong either."

The old man took off the black felt hat from his head and placed it on the newspaper on the nearby dining table.

The front page of that newspaper was a portrait of Xu Yun.

Xu Yun in the photo was very young and smiling happily.

The old man covered the photo with his hat and sighed.

"So… letting them die at 00:42 is the greatest respect for them."

"What exactly is 00:42?" Ji Lin shook his leg.

"Or rather, what is 42? Why are you so obsessed with this number?"

"You can try to find the answer, Ji Lin."

The old man looked down at him.

"Perhaps… that is the real key to joining the Genius Club."

Having said that.

The old man pulled out a chair from under the dining table and sat down again.

"Can we start working now, Ji Lin? I think… you should have already found the rat, right?"

Ji Lin nodded.

"Strictly speaking, I can only say that I have identified the first person to investigate, after all, we don't have enough evidence to prove that he is indeed disrupting history."

"That's right, we must find absolute evidence. We must never kill any innocent person by mistake. Once we kill anyone by mistake… the Genius Club will forever reject us." The old man lowered his head and looked at the newspaper on the dining table, covered by the felt hat.

"Those two cars… you handled them very well. The police haven't found them yet."

"They will never find them." Ji Lin exhaled.

"It's not a rare technique. If they've seen the movie *The Fast and the Furious*, they might be able to guess how those two cars were transported."

"It's a pity… it's too late now. Besides, it doesn't matter even if they find them, with you here, 90% of things can be solved."

"But I still have a suggestion."

Ji Lin fiddled with his fingernails and continued.

"Every goose leaves its mark. If similar cases gradually increase, it will definitely attract the attention of some individuals. It hasn't attracted attention yet, just because the number of samples is not large enough… especially in China, Xu Yun is only the first person we killed."

"Are you sure you can't slightly change the way you kill people? I won't ask you to change the time, it seems that you must kill them within 60 seconds between 00:42 and 00:43… but can the way you kill people be something other than a car accident in the future?"

"No."

The old man shook his head without hesitation.

"It must be a car accident."

"So you are still a copycat killer."

"Say what you want, Ji Lin, I won't fall for it again."

"One last question."

He raised his head and looked at the old man in the moonlight by the window.

"How exactly do we prove that someone is definitely disrupting history? According to you, we don't have the original history to refer to."

"That's also a question you need to consider, Ji Lin."

The old man said.

"This person is different from those who disrupted history in the past… Those people in the past should have been passively disrupting history, but this person… I think his purpose in disrupting history is active. We don't know what his purpose is, and we don't know why he wants to disrupt history."

"Of course, the most difficult thing is how to prove that this person has indeed disrupted history. That's the most difficult part. But I believe you will have a way, maybe you already have a way."

"You're really good at being a hands-off manager."

Ji Lin didn't deny it. After so many years together, the two knew each other too well.

"But I may have to actively leak some information to him… about us, about the Genius Club… you shouldn't mind that, right?"

"It doesn't matter."

The old man replied.

"As long as we can prove that he is indeed disrupting history, even if there are some sacrifices, it is acceptable. But you must pay attention, we can be sacrificed, but we must never accidentally injure other innocent people, this is crucial."

"I'm too lazy to complain about your contradictory values." Ji Lin stretched.

"This battle is really difficult… although it looks like we are in the dark and he is in the light, and we have all the advantages."

"But in reality, there are too many crooked rules we need to follow. Not only do we have to find a way to prove that he is indeed disrupting history, but also avoid him discovering our purpose… otherwise, we might be the ones who die."

"If that person really has the ability to disrupt history, perhaps killing us is not a difficult task for him. And once we start investigating, he will eventually become aware of our actions and will inevitably begin to hide himself… we are catching him, and he is catching us."

"I believe in you, Ji Lin."

The old man was confident.

"You are the smartest person I have ever met. That person who disrupts history may have some special abilities that we can't understand, but… he definitely doesn't have a mind as smart as yours, and may not even have any sense of crisis at all."

"So… we have no reason to lose this game of cat and mouse."

"You're too optimistic and arrogant."

Ji Lin walked back to his original position and lay down, lying in the messy pile of magazines.

He rested his head on his palm, turned his head, and looked at the Rhine cat doll placed on the nearby stack of books.

"I've already made it very clear, this cat and mouse game is mutual."

"So you can also understand that in this hide-and-seek game between us and this person who disrupts history, whoever exposes their identity and exposes their intentions first… dies."

The Rhine cat in front of him had a smiling and cute expression. The dumpling head and cheongsam dress made her very lively and beautiful.

"I still like playing games."

Ji Lin reached out and pinched the Rhine cat's ear, tilting it in the air, staring at its swaying eyes.

"In this game of cat and mouse…"

"Who is the mouse, and who is the cat?"