"Ji Xinshui?"

Lin Xian read the name aloud.

What a strange name.

"Ji Xinshui."

Chu Anqing repeated the name, her eyes widening:

"I know that name!"

"You've heard of him?"

"Yes!" Chu Anqing nodded affirmatively:

"I've heard my dad mention him before, his name is just so unique… I remember it clearly."

"My dad has always paid attention to the scientific field, and scientists, especially scientists in Donghai City, he basically knows them all."

Lin Xian was intrigued:

"Your dad also funded Ji Xinshui's research?"

Chu Anqing shook her head and smiled:

"No, he wouldn't."

"This Mr. Ji Xinshui is a very remarkable person! He doesn't need my dad's funding… he's probably richer than my dad."

Richer than Chu Shanhe?

Lin Xian blinked.

That's really something…

A person richer than Chu Shanhe would probably rank among the top in the country.

Of course, Lin Xian was just guessing. He didn't know how much money Chu Shanhe actually had; who knew which of the various rumors were true.

Seeing Lin Xian's interest, Chu Anqing continued:

"I remember my dad saying… this Ji Xinshui was also very frustrated when he was young. He wasn't well-received in the research field and was even ostracized and targeted by people at the Donghai University Research Institute."

"But later, it was like he suddenly had an epiphany. He successively published several weighty research results, gaining great fame in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and securing his position as the dean of the Donghai University Research Institute in one fell swoop."

…

So that's how it was.

It was a story of thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; don't bully a young man for being poor.

He had been ostracized academically before, similar to Xu Yun.

But later, he rose to prominence and directly secured the position of dean of the Research Institute. That was quite the satisfying protagonist arc.

"Then he must have been Xu Yun's mentor for a long time, most likely from graduate student, to doctoral student, all the way to researcher, Xu Yun was his student."

Lin Xian pondered:

"In that case, the two of them should have a very good relationship. In this graduation photo, the way he looks at Xu Yun is also very kind, it feels like he regards him as his own son."

Chu Anqing nodded:

"Now that you mention it, I also remember. When my dad talked to me about Xu Yun some time ago, he mentioned this old gentleman. The relationship between Xu Yun and him was indeed very good, like a father and teacher."

"And Professor Xu Yun's wife was introduced to him by this old Mr. Ji, she's his little niece… so Xu Yun's relationship with this old gentleman eventually went beyond just teacher and student, they even became relatives."

I see…

Lin Xian fell into thought as he listened to Chu Anqing's description.

It was obvious that Chu Shanhe and Xu Yun had a good relationship. He had funded Xu Yun for a full ten years, and Xu Yun was very grateful, so the two of them must have chatted a lot in private. Chu Anqing's information should be true and come from Xu Yun himself.

But there was still one question he couldn't figure out…

Since Xu Yun and Ji Xinshui had a relationship as good as father and son, why did they eventually break up over the hibernation research and have no contact for ten years?

Wasn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?

"Why did they break up in the end, even though they had such a good relationship?" Lin Xian asked directly.

Chu Anqing shook her head:

"I'm not too sure about that. My father only mentioned these things when he was chatting with me, I didn't ask in detail."

"I only know that later, this Mr. Ji Xinshui left Donghai University, it seems he went into business? Or maybe he went to do some research? I'm not too sure about that, but according to my dad, this old gentleman has a very high status and authority."

Lin Xian took out his phone and searched for Ji Xinshui's name.

He found a lot of news.

But most of them were from several years ago, the most recent piece of information was also from two years ago. Perhaps after getting old, this old Mr. Ji didn't show his face much.

Lin Xian casually clicked on a news item.

It was an international medical conference, and Ji Xinshui was sitting in the front row, in the middle, it seemed that his status was indeed not low.

He zoomed in on the photo.

At this time, Ji Xinshui was indeed much older than in the graduation album photo.

His hair was almost gone, and the remaining ring was all white. The wrinkles on his face had also increased a lot, the skin was very dry, and there were even some age spots.

Time waits for no man.

Compared to the appearance in the graduation photo, he was probably about 20 years older. Judging by appearance, Ji Xinshui was at least eighty years old now.

Then, recalling that Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui had the same last name, and that Ji Lin had said that Xu Yun was his sister's husband, and that he was adopted.

So, calculating it like that…

Weren't these people all just one big family?

The relationship was a bit messy, Lin Xian decided to sort out his thoughts when he got home.

He took a photo of the doctoral graduation photo with his phone, then said goodbye to Chu Anqing and returned home.

He took out a piece of paper and began to summarize the complex relationships between these people.

According to the known information, guessing according to the timeline… Lin Xian reasoned that the story between these people should be like this:

First of all, Ji Xinshui is a very successful, very powerful, and prestigious big shot, and he rose to prominence very suddenly, a typical protagonist arc. When he met Professor Xu Yun, he was already the dean of the Donghai University Research Institute (information from Chu Anqing).

Then, Ji Xinshui met the young Professor Xu Yun and took him as his protégé. It seemed that the two of them had a very good relationship, both as teacher and student and in private, as close as father and son. And Ji Xinshui also introduced his niece to Xu Yun as a partner, bringing the two together to marry and give birth to Xu Yiyi (information from Chu Anqing).

And under this little niece, there was also an adopted little boy named Ji Lin. Since Ji Lin called Xu Yun's wife "sister," then it should be that Xu Yun's wife's father, Ji Xinshui's biological brother, adopted him, so his last name was also the same as Ji Xinshui's (information from Ji Lin).

During this time, everyone's life was happy. Ji Xinshui and Xu Yun were as close as family, Xu Yun and Ji Xinshui's niece were loving, and even the young Ji Lin became friends with Xu Yun, listening to him tell stories and reading the books he brought (information from Ji Lin).

After that, changes happened one after another. Xu Yun's wife died of amniotic fluid embolism when giving birth to Xu Yiyi, leaving the world. But this event didn't seem to affect the relationship between Xu Yun and Ji Xinshui. The time when the two broke off relations should have been after Xu Yiyi fell off the slide at the age of four or five and became a vegetable. Xu Yun insisted on researching cryosleep technology, and the two parted ways because of this (information from Xu Yun).

Afterwards,

For ten years, everyone was like strangers, with no intersection, each living their own lives. Until he copied the manuscript from the future and gave it to Xu Yun, allowing him to overcome the cryosleep filling fluid, and also causing Xu Yun to die tragically in the street because of this (information from himself).

After Xu Yun's death, the situation became turbulent. Tang Xin came to Donghai City to conduct research at the invitation of Ji Xinshui. Ji Lin also came to Donghai to find the murderer in order to avenge Xu Yun. Huang Que also warned him that he was in a cat-and-mouse game, and Tang Xin also died in front of his eyes at 00:42. Zhou Duan Yun was very likely one of the murderers (information from himself).

*Click.*

Lin Xian closed the pen cap.

"The relationship between these people is roughly like this."

Lin Xian felt like his reasoning was stuck somewhere…

There were several places where the logic didn't make sense.

He had always suspected that Ji Xinshui and Zhou Duan Yun were related to Tang Xin's murder, but now it seemed that Xu Yun and Ji Xinshui were as close as father and son… If the same murderer killed Xu Yun and Tang Xin, could Ji Xinshui really bring himself to do it?

"Actually, it's not necessarily impossible."

Lin Xian suddenly felt that there was no point in looking for humanity in a murderer. Since he dared to kill a stranger for certain purposes, he would dare to kill his own relatives for greater benefits.

Although there is a saying that tigers don't eat their cubs, in real life… there are many cases of father-son feuds and brothers turning against each other.

Continuing to reason according to this logic…

If Ji Xinshui was indeed the murderer who killed Xu Yun, then Ji Lin came to Donghai shouting "revenge for Xu Yun," was that a case of hiding in plain sight, being kept in the dark, or pretending to be ignorant?

Lin Xian twirled the pen, thinking about this question for a long time.

He didn't think Ji Lin was such a stupid person.

He is a globally recognized genius detective, he has assisted the Dragon Country police in solving many overseas cases, and he has also helped the Donghai City Public Security Bureau solve many difficult and complicated cases in just a few days.

This kind of plot that only exists in detective comics is enough to prove that Ji Lin is a veritable genius detective.

"So… since even I, an ordinary person, can deduce to this point by finding clues and find out the suspicion of Ji Xinshui and Zhou Duan Yun."

"Then Ji Lin has such a high IQ, so much experience in handling cases, and is in the Donghai City Public Security Bureau where he can obtain a large amount of clue information… there is no reason why he can't find out the criminal suspicion of Ji Xinshui and Zhou Duan Yun!"

*Bang.*

Lin Xian directly slammed the pen on the table.

In an instant, everything became clear, like a sudden enlightenment.

Sure enough, he had always felt that something was wrong… Now that all the clues were gathered together, Lin Xian finally discovered the biggest blind spot in this whole incident –

With various clues being so obvious, Ji Lin not only didn't suspect Zhou Duan Yun and Ji Xinshui, he didn't even suspect that those chat logs might be fake, and even more unreasonably used those fake chat logs to test himself!

Lin Xian cursed inwardly, thankfully he had been careful this morning and didn't directly stand up to prove Tang Xin's innocence.

This was completely a trap!

This trap was too deep…

If all his reasoning was correct, then Tang Xin's death was also a link in this trap! The purpose was to lure himself, this big fish!

"It seems that it's not that the Donghai City police's investigation isn't effective."

Lin Xian calmed his emotions, sat back in his chair, and stared at the dark night sky outside the window:

"But someone is deliberately disrupting the direction of the investigation, relying on trust…"

"Crying 'thief!' while being the thief!'"