Genius Club.

Chapter 202 Seven Deadly Sins

moment.

Ji Lin frowned slightly.

But in an almost imperceptible moment, his brows relaxed again, as if the frown just now had never happened.

but……

This completely instinctive reaction did not escape Lin Xian's observation at all.

He did it on purpose.

In fact, for so long, he had not found any clues that Ji Lin and Zhou Duanyun had any substantial connection.

The two of them seemed to be complete strangers, both openly and secretly, and no one knew each other.

Although Lin Xian has always suspected that they are the same group of people...but suspicion is suspicion, without evidence, these speculations are untenable.

but now.

Even though Ji Lin reacted quickly, almost immediately.

But in the end, he was caught by himself.

His frown of disgust and impatience at that moment undoubtedly confirmed a fact—

[He knew Zhou Duanyun, and seemed to have had some connection with him.]

This is really an unexpected gain...

Lin Xian's original intention was just to trick Ji Lin and see his eye reaction.

I didn't have any expectations, I just wanted to give it a try.

Ah.

Now, many things become clearer.

In front of Ji Lin, Lin Xian pressed the dial button——

After a long silence.

A mechanical voice came from the phone:
"The number you dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

Lin Xian hung up the phone:

"My classmate is a big businessman and is usually very busy. Since the phone call doesn't work, maybe he is in the underground garage or the elevator?"

"It is also possible that he went abroad."

Ji Lin replied calmly:

"If he is abroad and has not activated the corresponding service, you will also get this message when you call his mobile phone."

"I see."

This is Lin Xian's blind spot in knowledge, but it doesn't matter, he has already got what he wanted.

"Ji Lin, are you familiar with the name Zhou Duanyun?" Lin Xian began the second wave of probing.

"Yes."

Ji Lin said casually:

"Among the chat records extracted from Tang Xin's phone at that time, there were chat records between Tang Xin and Zhou Duanyun. They both prepared a gift for you together. Of course I remember it."

……

Lin Xian let out a breath.

Sure enough, Ji Lin is still Ji Lin.

He only showed a little bit of flaws, but he quickly recovered to his normal wit and intelligence.

His answer was perfect and logical. And he was able to react so quickly. I can only say... He is indeed a genius mystery novelist.

"If I go abroad, then I, your classmate, probably won't be able to come to your birthday party."

Lin Xian chuckled:
“That’s such a pity.”

“It’s nothing to regret.”

Ji Lin spread his hands:
"Do you have any other friends?"

"Then there is only one. I actually only have one friend in Donghai City, who works in a 4S shop and is my childhood friend. Are you sure you want to invite him? He might be able to eat your cake in two bites."

"That's impossible."

Ji Lin shook his head:
"I ordered a three-layer cake. Even if Hippo comes, he can't finish it in two bites."

Lin Xian recalled Gao Yang eating Husai with a lobster shell at the MX company celebration banquet...

Maybe in a sense.

Gao Yang is more powerful than a hippopotamus.

"alright."

Lin Xian responded:

"I'll ask him when the time comes. This friend of mine is easy to get. As long as there's something delicious, he'll come whenever I call."

Say it.

Lin Xian went to the bathroom, washed his hands, picked up his clothes, and left.

Before closing the door, he took one last look back at the festively decorated living room.

Bright.

beautiful.

Colorful.

This sounds like a victory hymn, but... I don't know who it's being sung for.

"Goodbye, Ji Lin."

Lin Xian waved his hand and closed the door.

boom.

……

At ten o'clock at night, the mahogany double doors were opened and then pushed closed by the old man's dry hands.

He hung his black wool felt hat on a hanger by the door.

Looked up.

I was shocked at first glance at the brightly lit, colorful, and neat living room with flashing colored lights everywhere:

"When I got off the car just now, I was wondering if the sun rose from the west today. You were willing to turn on the lights at night. But now it seems... things don't seem to be as simple as the sun rising from the west..."

He turned his head and looked at Ji Lin, who was still sitting on the floor, half lying down and admiring the light pollution in the room:
"Are you going to hold a party?"

Ji Xinshui couldn't accept the scene before him. He had watched this child grow up since he was a child, but now he didn't recognize this child anymore.

"happy birthday."

Ji Lin raised his hand and pointed at the large banner hanging above the TV, on which were written these two English words in colorful fonts:

happy birthday
"It's not a party." Ji Lin closed his eyes:
"It's a birthday party." Ji Xinshui finally understood and nodded slowly as if he had suddenly realized something...

"I see. May 5rd is your birthday."

immediately.

He smiled and looked at Ji Lin with admiration:

"Well done! I was wondering before I came here. With Lin Xian being so cautious now, how could we have any chance to expose him outdoors... I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve! The birthday party is perfect. This way, we can accurately control the time when he leaves here."

"But Ji Lin... you're still not smart enough."

Ji Xinshui stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the colorful ribbons covering the entire room, as if he had already been in victory:
"If you are smart enough, you should hold your birthday party on the night of May 5nd, so that you can use a more reasonable and unnoticeable reason to keep Lin Xian until the early morning to celebrate your birthday."

Ha ha.

Ji Lin chuckled.

Ji Xinshui never cared about when his birthday was. He only cared about how to use his birthday as an excuse to kill Lin Xian. Even if... May 5nd was not his birthday at all, he didn't care.

"arrogant."

Ji Lin propped himself up from the floor and looked at Ji Xinshui:
"Will you give me a birthday present?"

"This is a really interesting question." Ji Xinshui put his hands behind his back, turned around, and looked at Ji Lin who was sitting on the ground:
"I think... you are no longer a child who is looking forward to birthday presents, right? For us, I think that after you successfully kill Lin Xian at 00:42, the invitation letter from the Genius Club will be the best birthday present for you!"

Ji Lin didn't say much.

He stood up from the floor with his legs folded, and stretched:
"Arrogant, are you sure that after you kill Lin Xian, you will receive an invitation to the Genius Club? Is it the invitation given to you by the upline in the Genius Club?"

"I am not sure."

Ji Xinshui shook his head and continued:
“But I think this is very close... [Because I found Lin Xian, the person who disturbed history, myself.]”

He looked at Ji Lin with his dry eyes and said slowly:
"At this point, you've guessed a lot of things, so I won't hide anything from you."

"Those people I killed before, Xu Yun, Tang Xin, Ponsmai... and so on, I actually had no idea how they had disrupted history. I was just following orders. That's why I killed them so easily because there was no possibility of killing the wrong person."

"But Lin Xian is different... I found him myself! This has a completely different meaning! I think the best way to prove our ability to the Genius Club... is to personally find someone who disrupts history and then kill him!"

"You did a great job falsifying history. Even though Greed and Gluttony were sacrificed... it doesn't matter. They were sacrificed. I can add another Greed and Gluttony at will, just like their code names... The seven deadly sins of humanity all come from desire. As long as they have desire, they will eventually become my pawns."

Ji Lin walked to the dining table and looked at the flying chess pieces placed on it.

"Arrogant." He picked up a black chess piece and placed it on the table.

"Jealous." He picked up a green chess piece and placed it next to the black one.

"Rage." Red.

"Laziness." White.

"Greed." Yellow.

"Gluttony." Brown.

"Lust." Purple.

"You are right. All seven deadly sins come from the most primitive desires of human beings. Just as you said, desires will tend to make humans your pawns."

"But...you seem to have forgotten one thing."

Ji Lin looked up at Ji Xinshui, picked up the first black chess piece, and placed it in front of the other chess pieces:

"Pride, you are also in the midst of desire, and desire is considered the first of the seven deadly sins."

"perhaps……"

"[You are also a pawn.]"

however……

Ji Xinshui smiled disapprovingly and shook his head:

"Ji Lin, you think too much. When you see the invitation letter from the Genius Club, you will understand everything."

"The most important thing you need to consider now is how to keep Lin Xian from leaving this room until 5:3 on the night of May 00rd."

"From your birthday party to 00:42, the time is really too long... If you can't find a reasonable reason and motive, it will 100% arouse Lin Xian's suspicion. He is not a fool, how can you guarantee that you can keep him?"

Ji Lin sat on a chair next to the dining table.

He pushed down the yellow and brown flying chess pieces, then looked up at Ji Xinshui:
"Do you remember what I told you at the beginning?"

"I asked you if you would mind if I deliberately leaked some of our intelligence to the person who disturbed history, so as to catch him. You said at the time that it was no problem."

"Of course no problem." Ji Xinshui replied:

"For a dying person like this, there's nothing wrong with saying more. We just need to make sure Lin Xian dies at 00:42."

Ji Lin nodded:
"Then you don't have to worry. I have a way to keep Lin Xian."

"Then I will... wait and see what happens." Ji Xinshui walked to the door, took down the black wool felt hat hanging on the wall, and put it on his head:

"I'll find a good spot nearby and watch the show."

……

At the same time, in Chu Shanhe Manor, reception room.

Lin Xian and Chu Shanhe sat on chairs with a hand-drawn sketch of the lakeside villa area in front of them.

Lin Xian pointed at the four circles marked in red on the manuscript paper:
"The location of these four manhole covers is very important."

Chu Shanhe nodded:

"I remember."

Then he raised his head:
"We have also found Ji Xinshui's entry information. He did return to China. But there is no entry information for Zhou Duanyun... His last exit information was from Donghai City to Sakura Country, and there is no subsequent itinerary."

Lin Xian leaned back and leaned against the back of the wooden chair:

"There's nothing we can do about it. Although we all want to catch them all in one fell swoop, it's not up to us to decide. But as long as we can catch Ji Lin and Ji Xinshui, it's enough. The rest can be dealt with slowly. At least... even if Ji Xinshui is not their core, he is still an important figure among them."

Chu Shanhe also leaned back in his chair, looking quite worried:
"Lin Xian, there is one most critical issue that we must consider now."

"You also know that under the laws of Dragon Country, if a suspect is only suspected but there is no evidence to prove that he has committed a crime, then the most we can do is to summon him and assist in the investigation."

"This kind of investigation has a time limit. If there is no evidence directly related to the case, the person can be detained for a maximum of 24 hours, and then he must be released. Of course, if there is evidence, even a little bit of relevant evidence, this time can be extended."

"But... based on your current plan, I am very worried about this."

Chu Shanhe crossed his arms and looked at Lin Xian:

"Ji Lin is a very smart person, not to mention that Ji Xinshui is also a very resourceful and powerful person. I was really surprised when you told me the names of these two people today. I never expected it to be them."

"Ji Xinshui's influence is huge, and he also holds a very high status in the national and world medical fields. I think with the cooperation of the two of them, as you said, they may have cleared themselves of suspicion a long time ago."

"Even if a taxi driver hit you on the night of May 5rd... Let's put aside other things. Even if we can really determine that the taxi driver committed premeditated murder, how can we prove that this incident has anything to do with Ji Lin, Ji Xinshui, Zhou Duanyun and others?"

"Just like what happened with Sergeant Sam, I naturally believe what you said. Behind Sergeant Sam are Ji Xinshui and Ji Lin who are in charge. But it's useless for the two of us to believe in it out of thin air. Evidence is more important than anything else, and solving a case and conducting a trial also require evidence."

"so……"

Chu Shanhe paused and continued:
"If we arrest them, but all the evidence shows that the case has nothing to do with them, and they do not admit any crime within 24 hours, and all the clues and evidence prove that they are innocent..."

"What should we do?"

(End of this chapter)