Chapter 134
It was almost noon by the time Shen Shuyu returned home. Knowing he was home, Shen Yisi specifically called to ask if he wanted to come back to the main house for lunch. Shen Shuyu declined. Although the snow on the roads had mostly been cleared, going out was still somewhat dangerous, and the back-and-forth travel would waste a lot of time.
Shen Shuyu changed into comfortable loungewear and paced around his room, still worrying about Shen Xili’s problem. He had thought about it the whole way back but hadn’t come up with a suitable reason to tell Shen Xili.
It seemed he couldn’t tell Shen Xili after all.
Shen Shuyu sat on the sofa. Finding a solution for Shen Xili needed to happen as soon as possible. He remembered Shen Xili’s pale face from the pain last night and the scene from his dream.
The black bug.
Since the black bug was already inside Shen Xili’s body, it meant the dream was very likely a warning. Shen Shuyu leaned back. If war was unavoidable, then at the very least, he had to clear away the other obstacles before it arrived.
Shen Shuyu took a deep breath. It looked like he had to go tonight. The sooner it was solved, the sooner he could be at peace.
11:00 PM.
The System detected that Zhong had left wearing his work uniform. As soon as he was out, Shen Shuyu, having disguised his face, set off immediately.
The slums were some distance away. By the time Shen Shuyu arrived, the area was quite dark. Only a few households still had lights on; most people had already gone to sleep.
Shen Shuyu glanced at the watch on his wrist and spoke to the System: 【No problems ahead, right?】
【Don’t worry, Master! I’ve already hacked all the surveillance cameras. You won’t leave any traces after you pass!】 Dealing with surveillance cameras was a piece of cake for an AI like him.
Although the surveillance in the slums was generally more for show than function, it was better to have them disabled temporarily just to be safe.
Shen Shuyu was very satisfied. He walked with familiar steps toward the deepest part of the alley.
The corridor was quiet. Dim incandescent bulbs barely illuminated the hallway. With the experience from the daytime, he paid extra attention to objects on the ground to avoid accidentally knocking anything over.
He reached Zhong’s door without obstruction. He looked left and right, then inserted a prepared wire into the lock core. Fortunately, the lock was old, and he opened the door without any effort.
Shen Shuyu entered the room deftly. It was pitch dark inside. Not daring to turn on the lights, he took out a prepared flashlight from his pocket and surveyed the room.
The layout was the same as Wen Jiafei’s previous home—one bedroom, one living room—but Zhong’s home was much cruder and colder. Shen Shuyu looked at the object covered by a black cloth in the living room. He walked over and lifted the cloth. Even though he had mentally prepared himself with the System’s warning, his scalp still tingled when he actually saw it.
The transparent glass tank was densely packed with bugs.
Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but shallow his breathing. He lowered his head and shone the flashlight on them, observing for a while.
They looked very similar to the black bug inside Shen Xili’s body, except their color was currently lighter—a brownish hue—but they were still sanity-draining to look at.
Shen Shuyu watched for a moment, then put the black cloth back in place.
These bugs should all be larvae; they were useless.
He shone the flashlight beam toward the bedroom. Could he have hidden it in there?
Shen Shuyu walked lightly into the bedroom. There were very few items there too, almost everything visible at a glance, which saved Shen Shuyu a lot of unnecessary trouble.
After all, the System was currently controlling the surveillance in the slums and monitoring the main entrance. As soon as Zhong appeared, he would have to leave immediately.
Shen Shuyu searched the bedroom once; only the wardrobe remained unchecked.
He walked over and was just about to pull the wardrobe open when he heard the faint sound of a lock picking at the front door.
Zhong was back!?
Shen Shuyu immediately turned off the flashlight and hid behind the bedroom door.
What’s happening? Why didn’t the System report it?
Shen Shuyu held his breath and concentrated, listening carefully to the movements in the living room.
No, it didn’t seem like Zhong was back.
After the lock opened outside, there were no other sounds.
Did he hear it wrong?
Shen Shuyu frowned slightly. He put the flashlight back in his pocket and took out a military knife. Holding it in a reverse grip, he slowly leaned half his body out to look into the living room.
No one?
Before Shen Shuyu could gather his thoughts, he heard something cutting through the air. His body reacted faster than his brain; he took a step back. The person hiding against the wall also held a military knife.
Shen Shuyu steadied his breath and quickly stabbed forward with the knife, but was blocked by the other person’s short blade.
There was no room to think. Shen Shuyu lifted his leg to kick the other’s lower limbs, but the other person reacted extremely fast as well. The two exchanged blows back and forth, surprisingly evenly matched.
Mainly, both seemed to have reached a tacit understanding not to touch anything in the room, striving to keep everything exactly as it was.
And he didn’t know if it was an illusion, but Shen Shuyu felt the opponent’s fighting style was very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
But the combat didn’t give him much time to ponder where he had seen it. Seizing a one-second gap of hesitation from the opponent, he gripped his knife and stabbed viciously toward the neck.
“It’s me.”
Although the other person’s voice was muffled by a mask, it was still clearly recognizable.
Shen Shuyu’s exposed eyes widened slightly. He hurriedly retracted the knife, but because the movement was too urgent, he sliced his own cuff. Fortunately, he was wearing thick winter clothes, so he wasn’t injured.
Shen Shuyu put away the knife and looked over, seeing the person in front of him take off his hat and mask, revealing a familiar face.
It really was Shen Xili.
Shen Shuyu also pulled down his mask. He opened his mouth and asked, “Why are you here?”
“Why are you here?”
The two spoke in unison, then both fell into a brief silence. Finally, Shen Shuyu reacted first. He put away the knife and took out his flashlight. “Work first, talk later.”
After all, this wasn’t a good time or place to catch up.
Shen Xili thought the same. He hummed in agreement and took out a flashlight as well. He continued searching outside, while Shen Shuyu continued searching Zhong’s wardrobe inside.
The wardrobe only contained a few black clothes and thick work uniforms; the item he was looking for wasn’t there.
Shen Shuyu was thinking of looking elsewhere when the System in his brain suddenly came online again: 【Master, Zhong’s figure has been spotted. Time to go.】
He hurriedly restored the wardrobe to its original state, walked out, and said to Shen Xili, “Stop looking, let’s go.”
Shen Xili looked at him twice, didn’t ask why, carefully put the items back in place, and then followed Shen Shuyu out of Zhong’s room, one after the other.
【Master, don’t use the main door. There’s an 80% chance of running into him.】
Shen Shuyu paused. He looked at the window on the side and asked in a low voice, “Where did you come in from?”
Shen Xili jutted his chin toward the window. “Climbed in.”
That made things easy. Shen Shuyu opened the window again, and the two climbed out. Once the window was closed, it was as if no one had ever been there.
This was a very dirty and cluttered alleyway. The smell was awful, and the space wasn’t large; the two had to walk tightly against the wall to get through, but at least there was no danger of being discovered.
Shen Shuyu held his breath and walked for a while until they finally reached an open area.
Shen Shuyu took off his mask and took a deep breath of fresh air. Before he could inhale enough, Shen Xili pulled his mask back up. “Leave first.”
It would be dangerous if anyone saw their faces.
Shen Shuyu made an ‘OK’ gesture and followed Shen Xili all the way out of the slums.
Once they were out, Shen Shuyu could finally take off his mask. He casually tossed it into a roadside trash can, then took off his hat and ruffled his flattened hair.
He felt something cold drift onto his head. Shen Shuyu looked up and saw it had started snowing again.
Shen Xili had been watching him. Seeing him look up at the sky, he also looked up, then took off his mask and stuffed it into his pocket.
Thinking of something, he looked at Shen Shuyu’s torn cuff, where some cotton stuffing was poking out.
He reminded him, “Your clothes are torn.”
Shen Shuyu glanced at it, thinking he was worried about leaving evidence in the room. He explained, “Don’t worry, I was holding it while inside the room just now. I didn’t leave any fluff inside.”
This trip had yielded nothing except seeing that the other party was raising countless bugs. It seemed they would have to find another time to look again.
“Shen Shuyu.”
Shen Shuyu snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to look at Shen Xili.
Shen Xili stopped walking and lowered his eyes to meet his gaze. He asked, articulating every word, “Why did you appear there?”
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