CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER 67 [WHO ARE YOU]

Hmm, the meeting ended in the afternoon, and I didn’t get home until the evening.

Chapter 67: Who Are You

After Chen Nuo disassembled the showerhead, he scraped a bit of residue that resembled grease from inside it with a cotton swab.

"This substance is water-soluble. It was quietly smeared inside the showerhead. When hot water is used during a shower, it gradually dissolves the grease, which then washes over the body with the flow of water."

"What’s inside it?" asked Li Yingwan.

"A toxin, in small amounts," Chen Nuo said after a moment’s thought. "Because it’s a small amount of toxin, it won’t kill immediately."

"But still, if it’s a toxin, won’t someone be poisoned just by having it touch their skin?"

Chen Nuo said, "There are always some areas on human skin where the surface mucous membrane has minor, hard-to-notice damage. For instance, there can be self-inflicted scratches, abrasions from rubbing against something, hair follicle inflammation, or even pimples. It’s also possible for a little bit to get into the nostrils while showering, allowing the nasal mucous membrane to absorb it. There are many such factors."

Li Yingwan grew nervous and even more afraid. "Will Mom be okay, Oppa? You must have a way to save her, right?"

Chen Nuo thought for a while. "It shouldn’t be fatal for now. With this kind of toxin, at first, it causes symptoms similar to a severe cold, like dizziness, which is the effect of the toxin. One shower won’t be lethal, but if it happens several more times... you know."

Li Yingwan cried, "So what do we do now, Oppa?"

Chen Nuo said, his expression very calm, "For now, keep this a secret! Your mom’s secretary, whose background is unknown, can’t be trusted for the time being. However, your mother’s symptoms aren’t very severe yet. Under normal circumstances, she would sleep for a bit. As long as she doesn’t come into contact with the toxin again, she should recover gradually."

Seeing that Li Yingwan was still very anxious, Chen Nuo offered a solution.

"Go get a bucket of hot water and add some alkaline soap to it. Then give your mother a rinse to clean off any toxin that might have remained on the outer layer of her skin. During the rinse, be careful not to touch your mother’s body yourself."

In a low voice, Chen Nuo continued, "After that, get some chlorophyll or something similar—just ordinary oral detoxifying agents. Go buy some. When your mother wakes up, have her take it for a few days to help her body detox. Human bodies have their own detoxification functions. As long as she isn’t continuously exposed to the toxin, it will be like a regular illness, and she will slowly get better."

Alright, orally taking chlorophyll doesn’t really do much. It was just that Chen Nuo saw how distressed the long-legged girl was, and he said it to comfort her. Giving her something to do helped her calm down.

Saying that, Chen Nuo patted Li Yingwan’s shoulder and said firmly, "Don’t be scared. As long as I’m here, I won’t let anything happen to your mother."

After comforting the long-legged girl, Chen Nuo closed the curtains and said to Li Yingwan, "Remember not to let anyone know about rinsing your mother, especially her secretary. We have to stay vigilant for now."

"Then... who exactly is trying to harm my mother?" Li Yingwan’s face was full of fear—suddenly, she remembered Nam Gaori’s incident.

Chen Nuo gave a faint smile. "That... is what I’m here to resolve."

"But... how can we deceive the secretary?"

"Easy."

Chen Nuo had Li Yingwan pick up her phone and call the secretary. Then he had Li Yingwan send the secretary out to buy something.

What she needed to buy was specified by Chen Nuo: grilled chicken wings from a place on Yunnan Road in Jinling City.

Li Yingwan was puzzled. "Will sending her to buy grilled chicken wings really keep the secretary away for a long time? Is that place very far?"

It wasn’t actually that far, only about ten kilometers from here.

But that grilled chicken wing shop had just opened this year and boasted a chef with great skills. Plus, when grilling the wings, they would brush on a layer of their secret sauce, making the taste quite unique. Therefore, it had become a sensation in Jinling City this year, with booming business!

Especially in the evening, the queue was so long it felt like it could kill a person.

This small shop was originally on a very ordinary street with not many people around. Unexpectedly, its business exploded. Every evening, not only could customers be seen queuing up for a hundred meters, but many taxis would also park in front waiting for fares.

If all went as usual, following the course of history, the owner of this grilled chicken wing shop would become wealthy. They would expand and prosper within a year, buying a house and car. However, after becoming rich, the owner no longer wished to endure the hardships of working in the kitchen personally and opted to hire others instead. Although the shop expanded greatly, the decline in flavor led to a plummeting reputation. After a few years, it faded into obscurity, becoming another legend in the city’s culinary industry.

Actually, many city delicacies start out in grass-roots markets. As they grow larger, they often lose their unique character and eventually get phased out.

Hmm, in the current era, this was the peak business period for this grilled chicken wing restaurant.

Now, at this time of night, if the secretary were sent out to buy them... adding in the travel time, Chen Nuo would be willing to write his name backward if she could return within three to four hours!

Afterward, Chen Nuo instructed Li Yingwan to take care of Jiang Yingzi in the room while he himself went out.

Li Yingwan was scared. "Oppa... where are you going?"

"Just out for a walk," Chen Nuo said with a smile as he left.

And, by the way, to bury someone, he added in his mind.

Chen Nuo left the hotel. He didn’t ride his motorcycle but wandered the streets instead.

His target was clear; he headed west toward a building one street over from the hotel.

It was an office building, also the tallest building to the west of the hotel nearby.

From the estimated position, distance, and viewing angle, the office building was perfectly situated to overlook the bedroom of Li Yingwan’s suite in the hotel.

Since they had set up such a trap, using minute amounts of toxin in an attempt to slowly poison Jiang Yingzi, Chen Nuo could easily infer several things.

First, the person didn’t want to kill directly; there were obviously reservations. Or perhaps it was someone very confident who disliked crude methods and preferred to show off their prowess by employing such technical means.

Second, since they were using such a stealthy assassination method, the perpetrator would definitely need to hide in the shadows and constantly monitor the target. With such small amounts of poison, if Jiang Yingzi stopped bathing, changed rooms, or if any other mishap occurred, the assassination attempt could easily fail.

So, they would certainly be watching, ready to grasp the situation and even carry out a follow-up attack should anything unexpected arise.

The young man walked casually with his hands in his pockets, unhurried as he made his way, taking about seven or eight minutes.

On the way, he stopped at a small supermarket, bought a can of Coke, opened it, and drank as he walked.

By the time he reached the office building, he had just finished it.

He casually tossed the can into a trash bin and looked up at the office building.

From its height, the floors best suited to surveil Li Yingwan’s hotel room would be between the 8th and 10th floors. Any lower or higher would be inappropriate.

Before entering the office building, Chen Nuo took a stroll around its base. Hmm, no surveillance. After all, it was 2001, not twenty years later when cameras would cover every building on the street.

A few minutes later, when he returned to the entrance of the building, he was wearing a jacket he had acquired from somewhere. He had casually taken it from a nearby courier station.

Wearing the red uniform of some courier company, Chen Nuo put a baseball cap on his head and ambled into the building.

He didn’t take the elevator but directly entered the fire escape stairwell, heading upward.

First, he went to the 8th floor.

But upon reaching it, he found that the entire 8th floor had been opened up. Renovations were underway inside, with an assortment of construction materials strewn everywhere, and workers were still on site, applying baseboards. Hmm, glancing at the time, it was past eight.

Watching the construction workers laboriously hauling bricks...

In his heart, Chen Yanluo silently cheered, Keep it up, you hard workers!

Then, he turned and left. The eighth floor could be ruled out. A renovation site is bustling with people every day, so it would not be a likely place for the culprit to establish a surveillance point.

He went up to the 9th floor, which was also ruled out. The entire 9th floor was divided among three companies, with no vacant rooms.

Chen Nuo peered through the glass doors. All three companies still had people working overtime, and the lights were on inside.

Hmm, that could be ruled out as well.

Silently sending three seconds of sympathy to those still working overtime, Chen Nuo continued into the fire escape and headed to the 10th floor.

Emerging from the 10th-floor fire exit, Chen Nuo’s eyes narrowed.

The environment on the 10th floor was much more complex than the previous two. This level of the office building had been segmented into individual units.

Standing in the corridor, he could see some doors with plaques and lights on, while others were pitch dark.

Chen Nuo took a deep breath and slowly walked down the hallway.

He first approached one door. It had a company’s plaque, and through the door’s glass, he could see people working overtime inside, some hunched over their cubicles.

Keep it up, you hard workers, Chen Nuo silently wished them, then moved on.

The second room... Hmm, keep it up, you hard workers.

The third room... No one. And no door either; it was a bare-bones, unfinished unit. Because it lacked a door, it wasn’t suitable as a surveillance point. With people working on this level during the daytime and constant traffic in the hallways, anyone passing by could easily see inside. Not suitable.

Standing in front of the fourth room, Chen Nuo smiled.

The door was securely locked. No light showed through the cracks. A paper was stuck to it: For Rent! Phone XXXXXXXXXXX.

Judging from the staircase’s location, this room also had the perfect angle to the distant hotel. A perfect spot.

Chen Nuo exhaled, glanced down the corridor to ensure it was clear, then reached for the doorknob.

Though it was locked, Chen Yanluo gently twisted it. CLICK! The lock cylinder turned.

The lock opened!

As Chen Nuo pushed the door and entered the pitch-black room, he clearly saw a telescope set up next to the window!

Chen Nuo cautiously stepped forward.

He had only taken two steps when suddenly, a premonition struck him, and he instantly executed a tactical lean-back!

WHOOSH!

A flash of cold light skimmed past, almost grazing Chen Nuo’s nose!

The gleaming blade momentarily reflected in Chen Nuo’s eyes.

In the darkness, the attacker moved with incredible speed! After the first strike missed, Chen Nuo immediately twisted left, dodging a stab aimed at his waist. Simultaneously, he raised his left arm. THUD! The attacker’s kick landed on his forearm, and the assailant was forcefully repelled!

In less than five seconds from entering the room, they had clashed three times. After three ineffective attacks, the figure seemed intent on running toward the door.

But after only two steps, Chen Nuo, moving like a ghost, caught up to the figure and grabbed his sleeve.

BANG!

The figure was thrown back by Chen Nuo. After landing, he rolled to the window and quickly got to his feet.

By the light streaming through the window, Chen Nuo got a clear look at the attacker.

It was a man, his age unclear, with a very ordinary face, wearing a grey jacket—such features and clothing would make him completely inconspicuous on the street.

The man glared fiercely at Chen Nuo.

He raised his hand to look at it. Blood flowed from a deep cut on the back of his hand, already staining his sleeve red!

Chen Nuo smiled and showed his own hand. Between his fingers, he held a pop-top tab, thin and sharp, stained with blood.

The man gritted his teeth and asked in Korean, "Who are you?"

Chen Nuo was taken aback.

Oh! Speaking Korean, he thought. And with a slight accent from the Silla region. Clearly from the south, not the north.

Seeing Chen Nuo not responding, the man asked again, "Who the hell are you?!"

After a moment of thought, Chen Yanluo replied solemnly, "Jiang Hudoong!"

"..." The other party was momentarily startled, then cursed, "Fuck off!"

Chen Nuo nodded. "Hmm, rest in peace."