Chapter 43: Possessiveness Aroused
A subtle wariness rose in Yun Sheng’s heart.
"Major General Zhou." She gave a slight nod. "Is there something I can help you with? The training session is about to begin, so this isn’t the best time."
Zhou Lin didn’t seem surprised by her reaction. He lowered his voice and said, "It’s about something that happened last night. There are too many eyes and ears here; it’s not a good place to talk."
He turned to the side, pointing toward a relatively secluded corner at the end of the corridor that led to an internal emergency corridor.
The lighting was dimmer there, far from the main stream of people.
"Can we go over there? It will only take a few minutes."
Yun Sheng frowned more deeply.
’I can’t believe Zhou Lin came to find me himself.’
’For someone of his status to show up in person, this can’t be a trivial matter.’
’Trying to put him off might work for now, but he would surely find another, perhaps more troublesome, way to approach her later. That would only put her at a disadvantage.’
’It’s better to face this head-on and see what he’s really after.’
She glanced at the unnaturally quiet puppy by her feet, and her heart settled a little.
Just as Si Jin had said, aside from Bai Ye, not even an S-Class Sentinel like Zhou Lin had sensed its presence.
This gave her a bit more confidence.
"...All right. But it really can’t take long." She nodded.
"I understand," Zhou Lin replied, turning and heading for the corner first.
Yun Sheng followed behind him, keeping her distance.
Once they reached the dim corner, Zhou Lin stopped and turned around. His gaze landed on Yun Sheng’s face again, sharper and more direct than before.
"We don’t have much time, so I’ll get straight to the point," he said succinctly. "The Chen Family came to me. They want to know what happened with Chen Hao’s disappearance last night. I owe them a favor, so I agreed to help."
With a flick of his wrist...
A miniature holoscreen materialized above his palm, displaying a photo of a young, fashionably dressed man with a somewhat frivolous expression.
"His name is Chen Hao. Do you know him?" Zhou Lin’s eyes were locked on Yun Sheng.
Yun Sheng leaned in for a closer look. She studied the photo, her expression thoughtful, before shaking her head with a hint of uncertainty.
"He looks... a little familiar? When I got back to my complex last night, I saw a figure lingering near the entrance. He looked pretty drunk... but it was too dark, and I was in a hurry to get home, so I didn’t dare take a good look. I just went around him and left. I don’t know if that was him. What... what happened to him?"
"He’s missing." Zhou Lin shut off the projection, his voice turning colder. "It happened last night, near the entrance to Xinglan Garden, at around eleven o’clock. Based on the public hovercar’s trip log and the time you swiped your citizen’s card, you should have been arriving back at the complex right at that moment."
A flicker of surprise crossed Yun Sheng’s face.
"Missing? Right at... the complex entrance? Oh my god... I—I really wasn’t paying attention last night. I just thought he was drunk and kind of creepy, so I hurried away. I really didn’t see a thing!"
Her reaction was natural, a mix of the panic and innocence of someone unwittingly dragged into a serious incident.
Zhou Lin watched her quietly, as if trying to find a crack in her facade by studying every minute change in her expression.
"Chen Hao was at a party with friends in Xinglan Garden last night. When he left, he specifically told his friends he was going to the complex entrance to wait for you. Security cameras only caught him at the edge of the greenbelt near the main gate, which is a blind spot. After that, he never appeared on camera at any of the exits.
"The time you returned home coincides perfectly with the time he entered that blind spot. Yun Sheng, no matter how you explain it, you’re the prime suspect."
Yun Sheng’s heart began to beat a little faster, but she forced herself to remain calm. Her face showed the hurt and confusion of someone being baselessly accused.
"Major General Zhou, this... this has to be a coincidence, right? I don’t even know him. He was drunk at the entrance, so I was scared and avoided him. That’s a perfectly normal reaction.
"Am I really a suspect just because I happened to get home at that specific time? If the cameras didn’t see anything else, couldn’t that mean he left on his own through another route, or... something else happened to him?"
She turned the question back on him, highlighting the illogical leap in his accusation.
Zhou Lin didn’t immediately retort. His eyes simply narrowed, his gaze calculating.
"You’re very calm, and your reasoning is sound. That’s good. But reality isn’t always reasonable, nor does it rely solely on evidence. The Chen Family needs answers. If I can’t give them any, they’ll likely choose to... pay you a personal visit."
’A personal visit?’
Yun Sheng’s heart clenched. That meant more direct, uncontrollable danger.
She lifted her head, her gaze resolute. Her voice wasn’t loud, but every word was firm and clear.
"Major General Zhou, if the Chen Family is convinced I did something, then please tell them to present their evidence. If they have no evidence and intend to act against me based on mere speculation and coincidence—or even resort to private methods... I don’t think the Lin Family will simply stand by and watch."
She played the Lin Family card, both for self-protection and as a test.
’Let’s see his attitude toward the Lin Family, and where he really stands on this.’
Zhou Lin watched her, silent for a moment. Something subtle flickered in his sharp eyes.
Finally, he nodded.
"The Lin Family certainly carries weight," he acknowledged, but then his tone shifted. "But it’s easy to dodge a spear in the open, much harder to guard against an arrow in the dark. Remember, you’re relatively safe within the Tower’s jurisdiction. Be extremely cautious once you leave. If you run into an emergency you can’t handle..."
Zhou Lin paused, then suddenly pulled a card made of a peculiar material from an inner pocket of his uniform and held it out to her.
"You can contact me."
Yun Sheng froze for a second, taking the card out of reflex.
The card was printed with Zhou Lin’s name and rank, along with a private comms number and an encrypted holobrain account.
Once she’d taken the card, Zhou Lin said no more. He turned crisply and strode out of the dim corner, his figure quickly melting into the light and the crowd at the far end of the hallway.
He left Yun Sheng standing there alone, clutching the unexpected card. Her brow was furrowed, her mind racing with suspicion.
’What was that all about with Zhou Lin?’
’He seemed to be pressuring me on behalf of the Chen Family, but it felt more like... he was leaking information, even giving me some kind of warning, a protective gesture?’
’And that "You can contact me" was so ambiguous. It’s impossible to guess his true intentions.’
’I can’t figure him out.’
At her feet, the puppy’s deep blue eyes glanced at her silently before turning toward the direction where Zhou Lin had disappeared. Deep within them, a faint light seemed to shimmer.
「Meanwhile」
In a coffee shop in the commercial building across from the Tower, a still-disguised Si Jin was lounging by the window in a large armchair, an espresso on the table before him.
He picked up the coffee, took a sip, the bitter liquid sliding down his throat.
"Zhou Lin... he’s really overreaching."
He murmured, his voice so soft only he could hear it, but his eyes churned with a dangerous, inviolable possessiveness.
"Trying to steal someone from me? Let’s see if you have what it takes."