Chapter 16 Math Problems

Bang!!

Zhou Duanyun walked out of the house and slammed the sliding door shut with force.

After the loud crash, the flimsy sliding door bounced back halfway…

Zhou Duanyun strode away from the courtyard, his footsteps gradually fading into the distance.

The salty, humid evening breeze from Shikoku blew in, making Ji Lin feel that his clothes were a bit thin.

He stood up, walked to the door, and slowly closed the sliding door.

The clamorous wind was finally blocked outside, and the airflow in the whole house became gentle and quiet, leaving him alone, leaning against the wooden wall, lost in thought with his eyes closed.

Before contacting Gluttony just now.

He was almost 99% certain that Lin Xian was the one disrupting history.

Although there was no direct evidence, no ironclad proof… but unilateral determination was not a lawsuit, and did not require such rigorous proof.

There were too many suspicious points about Lin Xian, and if he wasn’t the one disrupting history, then many things wouldn’t make sense.

However, this unwavering probability had always been 99%.

Because Ji Lin still held a glimmer of hope in his heart…

Hoping that he was wrong.

Hoping that the truth was that minuscule 1%.

But he knew that such a small probability miracle would not happen.

From childhood to adulthood, he had never made a mistake in any math problem. From the day Pride told him that his parents were mathematicians, he buried himself in a sea of mathematical problems, constantly doing problems, doing problems, doing problems…

His favorite math game was Sudoku.

Doing Sudoku made him feel surrounded by numbers, just like the embrace of his parents, whom he had never remembered or felt.

He had always believed that he definitely had a talent for mathematical reasoning.

Countless facts had also proven this point.

At least in the game of Sudoku, no matter how complex the array, he had never made a mistake in a single problem; and in terms of speed, he was often faster than the world record.

The only Sudoku puzzle he couldn't solve…

Was the Sudoku puzzle in the "Mathematics Monthly, November 2022 issue" on his side job.

He still remembered that Sudoku puzzle.

Because of a printing error, the problem was wrong, so he couldn't solve it.

But obviously…

Lin Xian's question was not a trick question, and he had not made a mistake.

His appearance alone in a Ferrari at the scene of the crime tonight… was enough to show that he had foreseen Leon's death.

Earlier tonight, he had called the former colleagues of Xu Yun's special team to "inquire" about their deployment, asking which group Lin Xian was in.

Until near midnight, Lin Xian had been on standby in the office.

At that moment, he thought that perhaps he had really made a rare mistake.

Perhaps he had really wronged Lin Xian.

Unfortunately…

In the end, it proved that he had guessed the correct answer from the beginning.

Just like every math problem he had done before.

Boring.

And not challenging.

He opened his phone and clicked on the online shopping app.

Inside his shopping cart, he had collected many decorations, toys, streamers, and board games related to birthday parties…

He had never held a birthday party and didn't know what to do.

He could only imitate the way Chu Anqing's birthday party was arranged, and purchase decorations on the online shopping platform.

This was originally a task that could be given to a decorating company… entrusting professional matters to professional people would always be more efficient and effective.

But in the end, Ji Lin decided that he still wanted to do it all himself.

After all, this was his first birthday party.

Turning 22 and only now holding his first birthday party was indeed a bit late.

But for him, it was still fresh and even exciting.

“Sigh…”

Ji Lin sighed softly.

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring –

The phone rang again.

The caller ID was Pride.

Ji Lin pressed the answer button, and Ji Xinshui's slightly hoarse voice came through:

"Envy just called to tell me that he has confirmed the irrefutable evidence that Lin Xian is disrupting history."

"He's really quick to speak."

Ji Lin laughed:

"He can't wait for Lin Xian to die tomorrow. He's been holding a grudge since a small incident in high school… That's why I told you a long time ago that I don't like Envy. He's a person whose psychology is so distorted that he can't even be considered a person."

"Neither of you should talk about the other."

On the other end of the phone, Ji Xinshui was a little impatient. He had long been fed up with mediating the conflict between Ji Lin and Zhou Duanyun like a kindergarten teacher:

"Not everyone in this world can get along as friends. Although I told you to try to be friends with Envy, that was for work considerations. Now that the work has been resolved, your relationship doesn't matter."

"So, answer my question, Ji Lin. When are you going to kill Lin Xian?"

Ji Lin pursed his lips and fell silent.

"Ji Lin?"

On the other end of the phone, Ji Xinshui was very surprised:

"You don't have a plan in your mind yet? That's not like you… In the past, when I asked you when you were going to kill someone, you would have already set up a detailed plan. Don't tell me you haven't even thought about the time yet."

"May 3rd at night," Ji Lin said softly.

"That is, May 4th at 00:42."

Ji Xinshui thought for a moment:

"More than 20 days later… Well, Lin Xian's situation is indeed different from others and requires careful planning. Send me the planned location later as well. I want to witness his death with my own eyes at this important moment."

"You didn't have this kind of morbid interest before."

"Lin Xian is different from others…" Ji Xinshui chuckled.

"I found him myself… It's of extraordinary significance."

With that said, Ji Xinshui was about to hang up the phone.

"Pride."

Ji Lin called out to him:

"Don't you think May 3rd is a very special day?"

On the other end of the phone, Ji Xinshui hesitated for a moment:

"As far as I remember, it doesn't seem to be a holiday or anniversary. But perhaps… in the future, this day will be a day worth remembering for us."

Ji Lin chuckled and lowered his head:

"You're right."

…

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The speeding taxi and Ferrari rushed out of the city roads one after the other, arriving on the national highway in the suburbs.

The national highway at night was a demonic dance of semi-trailer trucks.

Unlike the previously empty city roads, the national highway didn't support idle cars, and each one was a king.

Speeding, overloading, license plates covered in dust, running checkpoints without stopping… were almost standard passive skills for these truck drivers.

No matter how strong a Ferrari was, it was a little brother in front of these semi-trailers weighing dozens of tons.

So Lin Xian had to slow down with the taxi, avoiding these big brothers of the road.

It seems…

Just as he had guessed before, perhaps those accident vehicles were able to disappear out of thin air because of these semi-trailers playing a "car vanishing act" with their cooperation.

The taxi in front weaved between the semi-trailers, as if searching for something.

Lin Xian wasn't in a hurry to chase. He took out his phone, ready to call Chu Shanhe –

Boom!!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly!

Flames soared into the sky in front!

A semi-trailer was directly overturned by the impact of the explosion! And the taxi in the traffic flow was blown more than ten meters high! Burning with raging fire, it broke into two halves and crashed into the irrigation ditch on the right side of the road!

Screech——————

Lin Xian hurriedly swerved, stopping the Ferrari in time at a safe distance to ensure safety.

Then, after confirming the safety of the oncoming traffic left and right, he parked the vehicle on the side of the road, turned on the hazard lights, and got out of the driver's seat…

A bomb?

Lin Xian smelled the familiar smell of gunpowder in the air…

He had smelled this smell many times in the bank in the first dream realm, all from Da Lian Mao's (Big Face Cat) C4 explosives.

Why did the taxi suddenly explode?

Could it be…

Was this also part of Ji Lin's initial plan?

Did they foresee that he would be lying in ambush here… or were they planning to kill the taxi driver to destroy the evidence?

Lin Xian didn't call Chu Shanhe again. There was no point now.

But this was only the first half of Lin Xian's plan, and the second half still needed Chu Shanhe's cooperation…

Not exposing his secret arrangement with Chu Shanhe was also a good thing for him, allowing him to have another trump card that hadn't been revealed when facing Ji Lin in the future.

Lin Xian ran down the irrigation ditch beside the national highway…

The taxi that had been chasing had been broken into two sections.

The rear half was burning fiercely in the ditch, while the front half was in the farmland a few meters away, emitting a faint smoke.

The windshield was shattered, and the body was blackened.

The driver, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and mask, was lying half his body out of the car window, prostrate on the ground, without a trace of life.

Lin Xian took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the driver.

He walked very slowly.

Not because he was worried that the driver would suddenly come back to life… After such a violent explosion, it would be a miracle if he could leave a complete corpse. Reality wasn't a Hollywood movie, and the possibility of him coming back to life was extremely small.

Lin Xian's breathing became rapid…

The black smoke from the burning gasoline, as well as the pervasive smell of gunpowder, made his nasal cavity very uncomfortable, as if he was breathing a mass of muddy silt, viscous and disgusting.

In the air, there also seemed to be a smell of burnt human flesh, and the protective mechanism engraved in his DNA made Lin Xian's scalp tingle uncontrollably, issuing the most instinctive warning.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Lin Xian got closer and closer to the driver's body lying on his back.

The sunglasses on the driver's face were crooked to one side, only the mask and hood still covered his face.

Looking at those broad arms… Comparing him to Zheng Chenghao, whom he had only seen this morning, the two were so similarly burly.

Zheng Chenghao.

Could it be you?

Lin Xian's mind was filled with Zheng Xiangyue's clean and pure smiling face:

"Brother isn't insensible. He's trying to protect me! He's a hero!"

"I want to ask you, brother, to bury me on the moon after I die!"

"Because brother said that Mom and Dad are there… I really want to see them."

"Brother always says that good is rewarded with good, and evil is rewarded with evil. This world is really like this!"

"I hope my brother… can earn a ticket to the moon."

…

Zheng Chenghao.

Is this the evil is rewarded with evil… that you told your sister?

Da.

Lin Xian walked to the driver's body and stopped.

He bent down, pinched the mask on the body's face, and tore it off –

On the dark skin, bloodstains dripped.

The lips were very thick, the nose was large, and the skin reflected the moonlight, exceptionally smooth, without a trace of scars.

In the hollow eyes, the pupils were dilated, and there were no signs of life.

"This is…"

Lin Xian's eyes widened.

This was a black person…

Not a citizen of Long Country, and even less the humble Zheng Chenghao with a scarred face!

Lin Xian suddenly turned his head.

Looking at the crowd slowly gathering on the national highway behind him…

He felt a sense of unease.

A very bad feeling.

If Huang Que (Oriole) went to the trouble of leading him to the hospital inpatient department, and the purpose was not to remind him that the murderer was Zheng Chenghao… then what did she want to express?

Could it be that he was wrong from the beginning?

The clue that Huang Que really wanted to hint at… was on Zheng Xiangyue?

…

"Thank you for riding, please keep your receipt."

On Bar Street, Zheng Chenghao tore off the receipt from the meter and handed it to the man in the passenger seat with both hands.

"Keep the change!"

The man dashingly slapped down a red bill, then put his arms around the two heavily made-up women in the back and walked into the brightly lit nightlife area, laughing loudly.

"Taxi! Over here, over here!"

The taxi business on Bar Street was very good. Just as the customers got out of the car, several lightly dressed, drunk young girls waved to Zheng Chenghao.

He waved back, then drove the taxi forward, and after the girls got in the car, he pressed the meter:

"Excuse me, where are you going?"

"Uncle! Go to Julu Road!"

The girl in the passenger seat, her face flushed and tipsy, smiled at Zheng Chenghao with a swaying and drunken look:

"Uncle! Are you going to rob a bank! You're covering up so tightly! Can you see clearly wearing sunglasses at night?"

Zheng Chenghao smiled slightly and nodded apologetically:

"There are too many vehicles with high beams on at night, so wearing sunglasses is safer."

"Oh! I didn't realize it, uncle! You have a nice physique!"

The girl in the car then noticed that the driver was very burly, with broad arms, bulging muscles, and extra strength!

At the same time, his shoulders were very wide. Overall, he was more fit than the coaches at the gym!

"I was always bullied when I was a kid, so I trained to protect my sister," Zheng Chenghao said gently.

"Ah, so it's to protect your sister!"

The girl in the passenger seat gave a thumbs up:

"Then you're really a good brother. I really envy your sister! You must spoil your sister a lot, right?"

"Of course."

Speaking of his sister, Zheng Chenghao's face was full of smiles:

"She is the meaning of my life, the entirety of my life."