205: Chapter 205 The High Ground of IQ and the Low Ground of Physiology

Lin Zhou practically sprinted all the way out of that private hospital where his dignity had been shattered into pieces.

The car door slammed shut, sealing off the outside world.

He sat in the driver's seat, both hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands bulged.

The scenes from the consultation and examination rooms just now were like a damned high-definition videotape rewinding and playing back in his mind; every detail was so clear it was driving him crazy.

Su Wanqing's face—dignified and professional on the surface, but with eyes full of mischief.

That little nurse Lin Xi's undisguised laughter, as crisp as if she were putting him through a session of torture.

And his own posture, so humiliating he wanted to die on the spot.

"Argh—"

He finally couldn't hold it in, burying his face in the steering wheel and squeezing out a low growl of extreme suppression from deep in his throat.

A total humiliation!

He, Lin Zhou, a man who had built a nation out of nothing in the deserts of Africa, stirred up storms at the United Nations, and made Wall Street giants and international mercenaries eat dirt, had actually stumbled so badly in a tiny proctology department.

And he had fallen at the hands of two women he'd met once before—no, more than once.

After calming down, Lin Zhou started the car, but he didn't drive off immediately.

He leaned back against the seat, his chaotic thoughts slowly settling as a different emotion floated to the surface.

Something wasn't right.

Everything about this situation felt off.

The first encounter on the beach in Hainan could be written off as a coincidence.

The second reunion at the hotel bar could also be explained as fate.

But the third time, when he was bundled up tightly, had randomly selected a hospital, and registered for the most embarrassing department possible, he just happened to run into the two of them again? The probability of such a coincidence was simply too low.

So low it was no different from a pre-arranged script.

His daily itinerary was comparable to a state secret, with most of his time spent moving between the headquarters in the Beijing Suburbs and several core locations.

During his rare vacation, he went to Hainan.

When he felt unwell, he came to the hospital.

Every single time, he just happened to have a "chance encounter" with them.

Who exactly were these two women?

He was no longer an ordinary person who could walk down the street without anyone giving him a second glance.

His every move influenced the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars and complex international relations.

The more Lin Zhou thought about it, the more his scalp tingled.

He pulled out his encrypted phone and dialed Jack's line.

"Lord." Jack's voice was as steady as a machine.

"Check two people for me." Lin Zhou's voice was a bit hoarse as he rattled off Su Wanqing and Lin Xi's names, along with their hospital information. "I want every piece of data on them from birth to now. Family background, education, social circles, and... all their movements over the last three months. Let's see who these two really are and if they have an agenda."

"Understood." Jack didn't ask a single question, responding crisply.

"Also," Lin Zhou paused and added, "check our internal security network for any vulnerabilities or external infiltration. Especially regarding the confidentiality of my personal itinerary."

"I will perform a top-level internal audit immediately." Jack's response made Lin Zhou feel slightly more at ease.

Hanging up the phone, Lin Zhou drove away.

He didn't return to headquarters. Instead, he found a pharmacy and, acting like a thief, bought several tubes of hemorrhoid cream that were said to be particularly effective, then checked into a hotel.

In his current state, he absolutely didn't have the face to see Qin Yue, Chen Yuan, and the others.

For the next two days, Lin Zhou handled official business remotely while waiting for news from Jack.

Thanks to the ointment, the pain in that unspeakable area had eased, but the faint discomfort was still like a nail driven in there, constantly reminding him of how complete his social death had been.

On the third evening, Jack's call came through.

"Lord, the preliminary investigation results are in." Jack's tone was somewhat hesitant.

"Speak."

"Su Wanqing, thirty years old, graduated with an eight-year doctoral degree from Capital Medical University. She's an attending physician who transferred from cardiothoracic surgery to proctology. She is highly regarded in the industry and has published several high-level papers. Her father is a retired professor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and her mother is a middle school teacher. Her family background is clean, with no suspicious points."

"Lin Xi, twenty-four years old, graduated from Capital Nursing College. She is Su Wanqing's regular partner. Her parents are ordinary wage earners, and her social circle is simple. Aside from an interest in clubbing and traveling, no abnormalities were found."

Jack continued, "I retrieved their communication and spending records for the past three months and sent people to track their movements, including the trip to Hainan. From all the data, they appear to be two ordinary urban women with comfortable lives who enjoy traveling. They have no connections to any intelligence organizations."

“As for the internal audit,” Jack’s tone lowered slightly, “the 'heimdall' system found no traces of intrusion. Aside from us core personnel, there are no signs that your recent itinerary was leaked.”

Lin Zhou remained silent after listening.

The fact that there were no problems was, in itself, the biggest problem.

Was Jack's intelligence system too green and not digging deep enough? Or was the opposition's level so high that they left no traces at all?

"Keep digging," Lin Zhou said calmly. "Raise the investigation level to the maximum. I don't believe there are this many coincidences in the world."

"Yes, sir."

After ending the call, Lin Zhou stood before the hotel's floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the night view of Beijing.

Despite the brilliant lights filling his vision, he felt empty inside.

The discomfort of being watched without being able to catch a shadow—of feeling like every step in his life was calculated without finding the source—made him feel uneasy all over.

Just then, that familiar burning pain flared up again from below, dragging him from his profound power-play deductions back to his pathetic reality.

He let out a long sigh and turned toward the bathroom, resigned to his fate.

Forget it; no matter how big the world's problems were, he had to resolve his own 'burning emergency' first.

Just as he was preparing for another round of the ointment ceremony, an encrypted communication request from Qin Yue popped up.

Lin Zhou looked at Qin Yue's tense face on the screen; something big was about to happen.

He composed himself and connected the video.

"Lord, an official diplomatic note has arrived from Washington." Qin Yue opened with a businesslike tone. "The United States of America formally invites you, in your capacity as a head of state, to pay a state visit to the United States and sign a joint communiqué establishing formal diplomatic relations between our two countries."