Chapter 22 Part 4

Brother Wei's usual job was to find people. Although his methods were different from traditional investigation, he had developed his own system over the years—brute force searching. Even if the person was dead, he'd dig three feet deep to dig up your ashes.

Lu Yan: "Looks a lot like him."

Brother Wei: "Let's go! You go contact Brother Xiao, we'll stake him out tonight!"

Xiao Heng was still on duty at the internet cafe.

He had already smoked three cigarettes because the red-haired head in front of him was crying and wailing.

Zhai Zhuangzhi clung to the front desk and said, "Boss, what kind of life are you living now!"

"Are you participating in 'X-Change' or something!"

"That building you're living in is a condemned building! A condemned building! What if it collapses one day when it rains!"

"Come stay at my place! What are you eating? Granny Li's takeout? What is this stuff?"

"..."

The more Zhai Zhuangzhi spoke, the more suffocated he felt. It had taken him a while to find this place. When he came in and saw the internet cafe's environment, he was completely stunned. To the left of the entrance was an elementary school student, barely tall enough to reach the mouse, playing games. It was simply run-down and unbelievable.

Zhai Zhuangzhi finally let out a wail, "Boss!"

Xiao Heng said, "What are you yelling about? Aren't you annoying?"

Zhai Zhuangzhi was very agitated. He started to climb over the front desk, trying to pull him out. "If you're my brother, you'll come with me!"

"..."

Someone was calling for the admin.

Those high school students who had asked if it was safe had been skipping their evening self-study sessions to come here every few days ever since that first time.

One of them shouted, "Admin, the computer's frozen!"

Xiao Heng: "Turn it off and on again."

"It won't turn off!"

Xiao Heng stood up, interrupting Zhai Zhuangzhi. "Wait a minute."

Lu Yan walked to the entrance of the Black Internet Cafe, lifted the black curtain, and upon entering, saw a head of dazzlingly bright red hair. The red-haired guy was in a wild posture, one foot propped on the front desk, his butt sticking high in the air.

"What are you looking at!"

"Red Hair, looking for Xiao Heng?" Lu Yan remembered him; this guy was present the first two times he'd met the young master.

Zhai Zhuangzhi retracted his foot. "Who are you calling Red Hair!"

Zhai Zhuangzhi didn't know Lu Yan well, and Lu Yan looked just like the Lower District residents he had seen on his way here. He didn't really feel like getting close; there was a strange sense of distance.

As Zhai Zhuangzhi thought this, he glanced sideways at Lu Yan again. The man next to him looked roguish, like a thug, very streetwise. Of course, that wasn't very objective, since you couldn't find someone with his looks among thugs...

Lu Yan leaned against the front desk and shot him a sideways glance. "What are you looking at?"

Zhai Zhuangzhi: "...I'm not looking at you!"

After a moment, Zhai Zhuangzhi couldn't help but ask, "Our boss, has he been doing okay lately?"

Lu Yan thought for a moment and said, "Pretty miserable."

Zhai Zhuangzhi choked. "Then, can you help me talk some sense into him? Our boss's father never cherished him and his mother never loved him since he was a child. All he had left was money, and now he doesn't even have that..."

The two of them watched Xiao Heng fix the computer as they talked.

Xiao Heng sat down at the high school student's station and found that none of the buttons responded.

It wasn't an ordinary crash.

"What did you just do?"

The high school student blushed, fidgeting and refusing to say.

Xiao Heng had little patience. "What did you do?"

Only then did the high school student say, his neck red, "I, I was browsing a sex education website!"

Xiao Heng: "..."

Lu Yan: "..."

That's a nice way of saying you were browsing porn.

Lu Yan watched Xiao Heng place his hands on the keyboard. His speed was incredible.

Lu Yan thought,

'Does he have a few extra fingers?'

Lu Yan noticed that Zhai Zhuangzhi, who had been blabbering non-stop on the side, quietly shut his mouth when Xiao Heng started typing.

A few minutes later.

The computer returned to the screen it was on before it crashed. The sex education pictures were displayed brazenly on the monitor, making a strong impact.

...

This internet cafe admin job really wasn't easy.

Fixing computers was one thing, but to be faced with a full screen of porn after fixing it... how many times did he have to go through that kind of stimulation in one night?

There was no ripple in Xiao Heng's eyes. He stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the side and gave the seat back to the high school student.

"What are you here for?" Xiao Heng said, walking over to Lu Yan.

Lu Yan was concise. "There's an operation tonight."

Xiao Heng was surprised.

Surprised that after all these days, Brother Wei still hadn't given up. His eyelids drooped as he asked, "Are there clues?"

"Yeah."

After Lu Yan's "yeah," he felt their conversation sounded a lot like some kind of underground organization meeting up offline.

The way Zhai Zhuangzhi was looking at them from the side was off.

Zhai Zhuangzhi: "What are you guys going to do???"

Before leaving, Lu Yan lifted the black curtain, looked back, and said in a tone of one going bravely to their death, "Save the world."

It was time for Xiao Heng's shift to end. He picked up his cigarettes and lighter and also headed out. "Yeah, save the world."

Zhai Zhuangzhi had a bewildered expression.

This world must have gone crazy!

Xiao Heng lifted the black curtain. Before walking out, he paused and called out to him, "Old Three." In their little group of rich second-generation kids, Zhai Zhuangzhi was the youngest, ranked third.

"That old bastard isn't at the point where he can control me yet," Xiao Heng said, taking a deep breath. "It's... it's my own problem. Alright, you can go back now."

Zhai Zhuangzhi asked him what Xiao Qishan had said to make him so distraught.

Actually, Xiao Heng didn't have much of an impression of that day anymore.

What was said?

It was just the same old curses back and forth.

He had never held any expectations for Xiao Qishan or his so-called mother. He was just...

Xiao Heng waved his hand again and said without looking back, "I'm leaving."

Zhai Zhuangzhi stood in place, the noisy, crude, and clamorous sounds of the internet cafe filling his ears.

But through these sounds, through that black curtain, he seemed to see the Xiao Heng from a few years ago—the teenager who spent his high school days holed up in the computer room, coding.

These past few years, Xiao Heng had partied too hard with them. He had forgotten that Xiao Heng was different from their group of rich second-generation kids who did nothing but eat, drink, and play. He had been different since back then.

On the way back to the Seventh District.

Lu Yan had a longer walk than Xiao Heng, so he was squatting on the curb waiting for him. "That red-haired brother of yours is not bad, chasing you all the way here."

"What did he say to you?"

"Oh, he asked me to talk some sense into you."

An expected answer.

Xiao Heng was silent for a moment before saying, "Don't mind him."

As if anyone was happy to meddle.

"I wasn't planning on talking sense into you either," Lu Yan said with a smile, tossing a pebble he was holding. "Do I look like I have nothing better to do?"

The pebble hit the iron pole on the other side.