Rainwater dripped steadily from the cracked concrete ceiling of the underground hospital parking lot.Cai Lang stood beside his car in silence.One hand rested against the roof absentmindedly while the other remained inside the pocket of his coat, fingers curled tightly around the small evidence bag Gu wen yao had just tested minutes earlier upstairs.The reopened wound beneath his bandages pulsed sharply every few breaths now, though he barely seemed aware of it anymore. The cut near his forehead had dried into a faint dark line against his skin, exhaustion visible beneath his eyes after nearly two sleepless days.Gu Wen Yao's words still echoed clearly in his head.
"It's similar."
"Very similar."
"But something about it is different."
Cai Lang lowered his gaze briefly toward the rainwater spreading slowly across the concrete beneath his shoes.His thoughts drifted again despite himself. Where
Suo ran asleep on the couch beneath dim apartment lights.Jun Wei arguing loudly over breakfast portions.Suo ran laughing softly under his breath while pretending to be annoyed. There were small domestic moments.Cai Lang closed his eyes briefly.
"No, Suo ran wouldn't poison someone."
"He wouldn't kill someone." Yet the plastic evidence bag hidden inside Suo ran's room refused to leave his mind.
His phone vibrated suddenly inside his coat pocket.Cai Lang opened his eyes.The screen lit up with Zheng rui's name.His expression sharpened slightly as he answered. "What?"
Zheng Rui didn't waste time."I found another connection."Cai Lang straightened slightly beside the car. "To what?" Zheng rui replied
"The repair company."Zheng Rui's voice sounded tired, strained from clearly working nonstop for hours. But beneath the exhaustion there was tension now too."I dug deeper into the surveillance servers tied to Once or Twice Car Service," Zheng rui continued quickly. "It's worse than we thought."
Cai Lang's eyes narrowed faintly. "How much worse?" "Illegal monitoring network."
Silence settled instantly between them.
Rainwater dripped steadily from overhead pipes nearby. "What kind of monitoring?" Cai Lang asked quietly.zheng rui replied
"Everything."Zheng Rui exhaled sharply through the phone."Private cameras,traffic systems,apartment security feeds and warehouse surveillance. Someone's been collecting footage from all over the city."
Cai Lang's jaw tightened slightly."That's impossible to maintain without protection."
"I know." Cai lang's voice remained low. "Police?" he asked after a second, eyes fixed somewhere distant. Zheng Rui exhaled quietly on the other side of the call. "Maybe." Cai Lang's jaw tightened faintly. "Government?" Another brief silence followed before Zheng Rui answered carefully, "Possibly." His grip around the phone tightened slightly as tension settled deeper into his chest.Zheng rui continued speaking before Cai Lang could respond again, his tone more serious now than before. "And Lu Zhen was investigating it before he died."
Cai Lang froze slightly at that. Rain echoed loudly through the parking entrance nearby while distant thunder rolled faintly above the city. "What?" he asked quietly at last. Zheng Rui's voice lowered. "I recovered fragments from his deleted files. Not complete records most of it was wiped but enough to understand what he was looking into." Cai Lang lowered his gaze slowly toward the wet concrete floor beneath him, his brows tightening faintly. "What did he find?" "Surveillance reroutes." Zheng Rui answered immediately. "Hidden network activity connected to the repair company, cameras from different districts redirecting footage through unauthorized servers, traffic systems warehouse cameras and Hospital feeds. Someone's been monitoring far more than they should legally have access to."
Cai Lang stayed silent, listening carefully while exhaustion pulled visibly at the edges of his expression. Zheng rui continued quietly, "The poison distribution wasn't isolated either. Lu Zhen believed it connected directly into the surveillance operation somehow. Money transfers, missing employees, erased identities… all tied together." Cai Lang's eyes darkened slightly beneath the dim lighting. "Meaning organized crime." "Bigger than that." Zheng Rui corrected grimly. "This level of cleanup doesn't happen without influence." Silence settled again between them.
Cai Lang leaned back lightly against the side of his car, fatigue finally becoming harder to hide now. The bandage beneath his shirt throbbed sharply where the wound had reopened earlier, but he barely noticed it anymore. His thoughts were elsewhere now. Lu Zhen investigating hidden surveillance systems before his death. (....)
Suo Ran secretly investigating his father's case. (...)
The poison found hidden inside Suo ran's room. None of it felt disconnected anymore.
(....)
And somehow that realization unsettled him more. "How long before someone notices you recovered the files?" Cai Lang asked quietly after a moment. Zheng Rui laughed once under his breath, though there was no humor in it at all. "Probably already happened." Cai Lang's expression hardened. Cai Lang closed his eyes briefly before rubbing a tired hand across his forehead. "Stop digging alone." he muttered quietly. Zheng Rui snorted softly. "You saying that while standing in a hospital parking lot half-bleeding after getting chased through a warehouse is honestly impressive." Cai Lang ignored the comment completely. "I'm serious." Zheng Rui went quiet for a second before answering more softly, "Yeah. I know."
Another silence followed.Then Zheng Rui spoke again, slower now. More careful. "There's something else." Cai Lang's eyes lifted immediately. Something in Zheng Rui's tone made unease crawl coldly through his chest before the words even came. "What?" he asked quietly.Zheng rui spoke again, voice noticeably lower now. "I recovered surveillance footage from your apartment network."
Cai Lang frowned immediately, exhaustion momentarily pushed aside by sudden alertness. "My apartment?" His expression sharpened visibly now. "Why were you pulling footage from my apartment system?"Zheng Rui stayed silent for half a second before replying carefully, "Because Lu Zhen died there." "That doesn't answer my question."
"I was tracing deleted feeds connected to the surveillance reroutes." Zheng Rui explained quietly. "Your apartment cameras were partially wiped remotely the same night."
Cai Lang straightened slowly away from the side of his car, eyes narrowing faintly beneath the dim parking lights. "And you decided to investigate without telling me first?" "I was trying to confirm something before dragging you into another problem." "That's not your decision to make."Zheng Rui sighed tiredly through the call. "You were already bleeding out in a warehouse three hours ago, Cai lang. Forgive me for prioritizing urgency over communication."
Cai Lang's jaw tightened slightly at that.
Rain continued echoing through the underground structure while silence settled heavily between them again.Then more quietly, Cai Lang asked, "What did you find?"
Zheng Rui hesitated.Cai Lang frowned faintly at once, exhaustion momentarily pushed aside by sudden alertness. "Related to Lu Zhen?" "Yes." Cai Lang straightened slightly away from the side of his car. "And?" Another pause followed then he said "I'm sending it now." Cai Lang's phone vibrated almost afterward. A new message appeared across the screen. Video file attached.Cai Lang lowered his gaze toward the screen. Zheng Rui spoke quietly again through the phone. "I haven't shown this to anyone else yet."
Cai Lang opened the file slowly. Static flickered briefly across the screen before grainy surveillance footage appeared. The camera angle showed the hallway outside the guest room in Cai lang's apartment the same room Lu zhen had been staying in before his death. The timestamp displayed late night hours beneath distorted gray footage while weak overhead lights cast long shadows across the corridor. Cai Lang watched silently, expression unreadable.At first,nothing happened.Hallway was empty. The footage crackled softly with static interference every few seconds.Then movement appeared near the edge of the frame.
Someone wearing dark clothes stepped quietly into view. Hood lowered slightly. Head tilted down enough to partially obscure the face. Cai Lang's fingers tightened immediately around the phone. The figure stopped outside Lu Zhen's guest room door for several long seconds without moving.
Then slowly the door opened. The figure stepped inside. The timestamp continued running silently in the corner of the screen. One minute,two then three minutes passed. Cai Lang stared at the footage without blinking now. Then fthe door opened again. The same figure exited the room quietly, head lowered slightly while moving faster this time down the hallway before disappearing completely from camera view. The footage ended then looped automatically from the beginning.
Cai Lang didn't move. Rainwater dripped steadily somewhere nearby inside the parking structure while distant thunder rolled faintly above the city. The screen replayed again. The figure entering Lu zhen's room shortly before his death.Cai lang recognized him immediately that person was suo ran. Silence swallowed the entire parking structure whole. Cai lang's breathing slowed strangely.
The footage replayed again across the phone screen in his hand. Suo ran pausing outside the guest room. Suo ran entering quietly. Suo ran leaving several minutes later. Cai lang's jaw tightened faintly as memories crashed violently through his mind one after another without warning. Suo ran asleep peacefully on the couch beneath soft morning light. Jun Wei laughing loudly at breakfast. Suo ran smiling faintly while arguing over food. The warmth inside the apartment back then. The normalcy. Then the image shifted again in his head. The poison hidden inside Suo Ran's room. Doctor Gu's serious expression. The surveillance footage now replaying endlessly across the screen. Cai Lang closed his eyes briefly. "…No!" he muttered almost soundlessly beneath his breath.
Zheng Rui stayed silent on the other side of the call,Cai Lang opened his eyes again slowly and replayed the video once more manually this time.Searching for anything that looked wrong. Anything that could explain it differently but the figure remained the same every time.Cai Lang spoke again after several long seconds, voice quieter than before. "How certain are you this footage wasn't altered?" Zheng rui answered immediately this time. "I checked twice." Cai lang's grip around the phone tightened harder. "And?" "No evidence of manipulation."
Cai Lang lowered his head slightly, exhaustion and tension finally becoming visible across his face now.His thoughts turned darker against his will. Why was Suo Ran there that night? What did Lu zhen say to him? Why did he hide the poison? But immediately another thought crashed against those suspicions just as hard. Suo ran wouldn't do this.Cai Lang closed his eyes briefly.Suo Ran…His jaw tightened faintly.
I want to believe you but this isn't helping me.
Zheng rui spoke carefully again. "Cai Lang." Cai lang didn't answer right away. His eyes remained fixed on the frozen image of Suo Ran standing outside Lu Zhen's room. Then quietly like he was asking himself more than anyone else"What are you involved in, Suo ran?"
Elsewhere accross city Inside the car, the atmosphere felt suffocatingly cramped now. Smoke still clung faintly to their clothes from the chaos earlier, and burned wiring from Lin yichen's overheated laptop balanced across the center console.Suo ran sat motionless in the passenger seat beside him, one arm resting against the door while rainwater slowly slid down the window near his shoulder. His expression remained frighteningly calm.
A faint bloodstain had dried near Suo Ran's sleeve where the informant grabbed him earlier before disappearing into the chaos. Smoke residue streaked faintly across the side of his neck beneath damp hair while his fingers rested loosely against something hidden in his hand. Then without saying anything, Suo ran pulled the damaged USB drive from his pocketThe small device looked terrible now. One side partially melted from heat exposure, scratches carved across the metal surface deeply enough to almost destroy the connector entirely."That survived?" Lin yichen asked quietly.Suo ran lowered his gaze toward it. "Barely."Lin Yichen reached for the drive slowly. "Give it to me."For a second, Suo ran didn't move then silently handed it over.
Lin Yichen immediately opened the laptop resting beside him and connected the damaged drive carefully. The screen flickered twice before recognizing corrupted external storage. A loading symbol spun slowly then an error message appeared. FILES CORRUPTED.
Lin yichen clicked his tongue softly beneath his breath. "Damn it."Suo ran's eyes narrowed slightly. "Can you recover anything?" "Maybe." The laptop fan whirred louder while Lin yichen manually bypassed damaged sectors one by one. Fragments of broken folders began appearing across the screen slowly, incomplete file names scattered between corrupted data blocks and unreadable symbols.Most of it was destroyed but not all.Lin yichen leaned forward slightly. "Wait."One surviving folder remained intact near the bottom of the screen. Folder name:
SR-17.
Both of them froze.Lin yichen opened the folder carefully.Several damaged files loaded slowly onto the screen.There were surveillance photos, some financial transfer records and fragments of old police reports.
Suo Ran's breathing shifted faintly beside him because mixed between the corrupted files were photographs of his father.Older than he remembered.Some taken secretly from a distance,some inside buildings and
some standing beside unidentified people whose faces had either been blurred intentionally or blacked out completely.
Lin Yichen's brows tightened immediately. "Why would someone archive this separately?"Suo ran didn't answer.His eyes remained fixed on the screen.Another image loaded partially before flickering violently from corruption damage.The photograph showed his father standing near the entrance of a building late at night speaking to someone whose face had been deliberately obscured by thick black distortion across the image but the location behind them remained visible and Suo Ran recognized it instantly.
His fingers tightened slowly against his knee.
Lin Yichen noticed immediately. " You know that place?"
Then very quietly he said "That's the police station."Lin yichen's expression hardened.Lin yichen leaned back slightly, jaw tightening faintly while staring at the damaged files across the screen. "So your father wasn't just being watched from outside." Suo ran's gaze darkened. "No."
Rainwater streaked slowly across the windshield while silence settled heavily between them again.Then suddenly laptop speakers crackled sharply.Both looked toward the screen instantly.An audio file had activated automatically.Static screamed briefly through the speakers before a distorted male voice emerged weakly beneath interference."If anything happens to me..."The audio cut abruptly.Lin yichen stared at the frozen screen.Suo ran didn't move at all.
The distorted voice echoed unpleasantly inside his head because even through the damaged recording.He recognized that voice was his father's.Lin Yichen lowered the volume slowly before speaking carefully. "That was him."Suo Ran said nothing.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen like he was trying to force the corrupted files to reveal more through sheer focus alone.Lin yichen continued checking timestamps manually then one surviving metadata line appeared.
Meeting Date: Same week as death report.
Lin Yichen's face darkened."Someone erased this deliberately."Still no response from Suo Ran.The laptop screen flickered again briefly before another corrupted image appeared for half a second.There was symbol.Old company insignia partially visible near the edge of the file then static swallowed it again.Lin yichen cursed quietly beneath his breath. "Damn it."But Suo Ran suddenly spoke."I've seen that symbol before."Lin Yichen looked at him immediately. "Where?"
Suo Ran's expression turned distant again.
Like old memories were surfacing faster than he could stop them now."At my father's funeral."
Lin Yichen stared at him carefully. "What?"
Suo Ran lowered his gaze slowly toward the damaged USB drive still connected to the laptop."There was a man standing near the cemetery gate," he murmured quietly. "Black umbrella,dark gloves. He kept watching the coffin the entire time."His voice remained calm."I remember the symbol on his car."
Lin yichen's chest tightened slightly. "And you never said anything?"Suo ran laughed once quietly beneath his breath."Who would've believed me?"