night

Using the excuse of taking a break, Old Mo and Zhang Yan exited the interrogation room.

Leaning by the window, Old Mo chain-smoked. Zhang Yan kept a distance of two or three body lengths from him to avoid secondhand smoke.

Normally, Zhang Yan would have long since gone up and pinched out his cigarette butt, citing personal health as the reason. Old Mo was not only her partner but also half her mentor.

"Old Mo, do you think he's truly foolish or just pretending?"

Through the lingering smoke, Old Mo's gaze was fixed blankly out the window. "I really can't be sure. This kid looks like a young tech fanatic, and he even has some patriotic sentiment in him. You weren't here just now; when he spoke about the hardships of delivery riders, even I was moved by him."

Lin Yuan was merely sketching a vivid picture based on his own experiences and observations.

But sometimes, what is most touching is the truth itself.

Old Mo shook his head repeatedly. "If I hadn't met this kid in a place like this, I would definitely consider him a good child, the kind who's a future successor."

"Ah? Is he really that exaggerated?"

"This kid is genuinely considering the delivery rider, a low-income group in society, in his words."

Although Lin Yuan often wavered between "benefiting the world" and "sweeping the snow from his own doorstep" in his daily life, at this critical juncture, he had to "benefit the world."

Lin Yuan could move Old Mo because Lin Yuan had genuinely considered the delivery rider group; he had truly worried about people like Da Zhang.

"But," Zhang Yan argued, "his actions are too suspicious. Every single one is borderline. He's like a loach, slipping through our hands, making it impossible for us to grasp him."

Old Mo wanted to light another cigarette but found the pack empty. "Sigh, that's why I can't figure this kid out.

There are too many unexplained suspicious points about him. How did he discover my disguise? He didn't even look at me directly."

Actually, Lin Yuan hadn't discovered him at all; he had merely discovered the camera. But from Old Mo's perspective, he clearly believed that Lin Yuan had first discovered him, then the camera. Otherwise, why would anyone walk directly towards a tissue box several tables away?

"So what do we do next?"

"It's difficult. What about the mentor and school leaders the kid mentioned that I asked you to investigate?"

"Didn't find any useful information."

"Then I'll submit the information for those two as co-suspects. It looks like I won't be sleeping tonight; if the materials aren't ready, your mentor will give me another scolding tomorrow morning."

"Old Mo, you're getting old. I'll handle the materials."

Old Mo glanced at Zhang Yan, then smiled. "So you think your mentor isn't scolding me badly enough?"

Zhang Yan pouted. "Then smoke less. Oh, and what about the person inside?"

"Make a makeshift bed for him, and arrange for people to take turns watching him."

"Still make a makeshift bed for him?"

"He's such a smart young man, yet he has a rare down-to-earth quality that's uncommon in your generation. Let him have a makeshift bed. But make sure to keep a close eye on him; don't let anything go wrong."

"What down-to-earth quality?"

So Old Mo asked the same question as Lin Yuan: "How much is the rent in Zijin City?"

"Uh, I've never rented a place."

Actually, Old Mo was concerned about more than just Lin Yuan being down-to-earth. It was that Lin Yuan was down-to-earth while also being an elite young man.

—

Lin Yuan's hands and feet were finally unbound. "Has my mentor come to pick me up?"

"No."

Lin Yuan received a few blankets and a quilt.

He accepted the fact that he would have to stay overnight here. The air conditioning was on, so it wasn't cold.

Lin Yuan was very concerned about Xia Ye at this moment. "Comrade, how is my girlfriend?"

The person guarding him did not answer. After he asked multiple times, the other party only said, "Please observe discipline."

Lin Yuan then found it difficult to ask further.

After about an hour, it was finally Zhang Yan who came in.

Zhang Yan was there to take over guarding Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan then bravely sat up and asked again, "My girlfriend is timid; can you tell me what happened to her?"

Zhang Yan replied, "She is quite timid. When I took her back just now, she cried the whole way."

"She's already gone back?"

"She's fine, so of course, we sent her back."

"What about the other one?"

"You're quite broad-minded." If not for the limitations of her duty, Zhang Yan really wanted to curse him as a "scumbag."

"I just asked casually."

"Do you think the other one can go back?"

Lin Yuan thought about it and agreed. How could someone like Song Xiaoxiao stand up to an investigation?

"Stop talking nonsense. If you're not planning to sleep, I'll handcuff you again."

Lin Yuan was about to lie down, but then he remembered something.

"You wouldn't happen to have investigated Song Xiaoxiao just because you arrested me, would you?"

"Are you going to sleep or not?"

"Little comrade, why did you install cameras to monitor me? Have you been watching me ever since the last incident?"

"First, don't call me 'little comrade'; I'm about your age. Second, this isn't interrogation time, don't try to trick information out of me."

"Can I call my girlfriend?"

"No."

"Then can you call her for me and tell her I'm fine?"

"No, that's not allowed either."

"Why are you spending so much effort on me? What is this all for?"

"If you say one more word, I'll apply for mandatory measures against you."

Seeing that the other party was unfriendly, Lin Yuan wisely shut up.

He looked up at the ceiling. He hadn't even joined the organization yet, but he had entered this kind of place twice.

He hadn't been dragged down by Song Xiaoxiao; it seemed he had, on the contrary, implicated her. But Song Xiaoxiao probably didn't even know it herself yet.

This world was truly bizarre.

Lin Yuan believed his mentor and Dean Li would get him out; they should receive notification by tomorrow, no matter what.

His only worry at this moment was Xia Ye. Could that girl sleep tonight?

His mind was full of questions, and Lin Yuan's eyes were wide open; he simply couldn't sleep.

"Do you want an eye mask?" Zhang Yan suddenly asked.

Because they were worried Lin Yuan might pull some trick, the lights in the space were naturally on.

"Ah? Then I'll take one."

"What scent do you want?"

"Anything is fine."

Lin Yuan put on the common self-heating steam eye mask. Judging by the scent he inhaled through his nose, it should be jasmine-scented.

"Thank you."

"If you really want to thank me, then confess honestly tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll let the teacher confess tomorrow."

Zhang Yan rolled her eyes, lowered her head, and flipped through a book she had casually borrowed from the reading room, too lazy to bother with him anymore.

Zhang Yan was willing to show kindness because she had heard Old Mo's words—the person in front of her seemed down-to-earth and had sentiment. Furthermore, if she were in such a brightly lit room, she wouldn't be able to sleep either.

Zhang Yan aimlessly flipped through the book, but the words on the pages clearly didn't capture her attention.

She unconsciously looked at the young man lying on the makeshift bed opposite her. He seemed to possess something she lacked. Because when Old Mo and the others looked at Zhang Yan, they often treated her like a novice young girl.

But when they looked at Lin Yuan, why was there so much struggle and thought? Even to the point of smoking so many cigarettes?