Mr Manson, Mr Manson?
The officer in charge of the questioning called him twice in a row, and the one taking care of the recording spoke sharply. Mr Manson, would you please cooperate with us and put down the ss for a moment?
With the sharpness of his tone, it was as if he was saying if you dont put that ss down, Im going to swing the bottle at your head! Of course, it only projected such an image; no one would talk to the young master of a conglomerate in such a tone outside of extenuating circumstances.
Even if there was a good chance that this young master probably wouldnt be the sessor to the empire.
George Manson snapped back to attention. He jiggled the empty wine ss in his hand.
The officer stared at his fingers, frowning slightly. For some reason, the young masters hand that was holding onto the ss was trembling.
George Manson put the ss down and rubbed his fingers together. Finally, he spoke the first sentence since entering the room, Stop looking already. Drinking too much would cause my fingers to go a little wonky.
Despite the alcohol bottles littered across the floor, he still didnt look drunk. His speech wasnt overly loud. Neither was hecking in logic, nor inexplicably excited and dizzy. It was clear that this young master had probably been brought up bathed in wine. To him, this quantity was nothing.
Are you sure that youre doing okay? the police stared at his fingers, frowning, If need be, we can get a doctor
Its fine, George Manson cut in. Hurry up and ask whatever it is you have to ask. I want to go to sleep after this is done.
Okay then. The officer nodded. This wasnt their first time encountering people uncooperative with their investigation. Regardless, duty called, so they put up with it.
He nced at the list of questions that Chief Kane had highlighted for them and picked a few simple ones to start and get the ball rolling, allowing George Manson to step into the rhythm of the questioning before moving on to the main eventthe dive.
Jason Charles diving suit waster confirmed to have been worn by Mr Zhao Zemu, the officer said, did any of you notice it before the dive?
George Manson, No. It wasnt just me, I think none of them had noticed, either. We were preupied with putting on our own diving suits to hurry into the water and have a st. We put on whatever we picked up. No one expected that they would wear the wrong ones.
Is there any disagreement between Mr Jason Charles and Mr Zhao Zemu?
George Manson said, I dont know. But Jason Charles is a rather unconventionalwyer. He rarely shows a pushy side, hes a little of the sort who can get along with anyone. It wouldnt be easy for him to get into conflict with anyone. Besides, those two dont have many chances to interact.
Then what about between Mr Ke Jin and Mr Jason Charles?
George Manson looked at the officers somewhat speechlessly. Are you trying to use a normal persons thought process to exin the behaviour of a patient?
Alright.
The officer mumbled to himself for a moment before finally tackling the elephant in the room. After the incident, your reactions and mood started to turn quite erratic.
George Mansons gaze slid down, moving his fingers slightly. Have I been erratic?
Yes. Although youve been cooperative in answering our questions, your emotions have been a little the officer weighed his words, you seem a littlecklustre. Whys that?
At this, George Manson went silent for a long time.
Just when the officer thought that he was going to obstinately stay silent to the end, he wearily loosened his tongue. It isnt much, really. Its just that I had been in a diving ident before. And this time, the sea snakesing first for me reminded me of that experience.
What kind of ident? the officer probed.
Imperceptibly, George Mansons teeth clenched and, just as quickly, unclenched.
What type of ident was it? It was already an incident of many years ago.
He didnt think that he had a bad memory, but when he thought back on it now, it was hard to pinpoint exactly how many years it had been.
He couldnt even remember the details of the ident. Only vague fragments, as if the memories were deliberately hiding from him, not letting him catch hold of them. Or perhaps, somewhere in his subconscious, he preferred to forget that incident.
It should have been at a holiday resort in De Carma. He was still studying back then. Was it in middle school? In any case, he was still quite young.
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In the end, those bodyguards really left him be, letting him dive alone.
At that time, he was even proud that his words carried enough authority to make people listen to whatever he said.
Now that he thought back on it, he really was aplete idiot.
George Manson kept silent for a while, then said to the officers, A simple mistake. I forgot to check my diving gear. The regtor was a little old and the O-ring was so deformed that something went wrong with the sealing.
He couldnt recall concrete details of that day. He only recalled that he had dived really deep before discovering that the bite of his regtor was leaking. Too much gas was pouring into his mouth and nasal passages beyond his control.
The officer, Im sorry. Were youter saved by the instructor?
George Manson shook his head, No.
He couldnt control it, and he couldnt save himself. As he struggled in the seawater, he then realised that he wasnt apanied by a buddy or an instructor. He was at a depth that only veteran divers would enter, where normal people could never get to.
In other words, no amount of struggling would have helped
The officers finger on the recording device twitched. Huh? Then
George Mansons finger stroked the rim of the wine ss. He slowly said, A stranger saved me.
The man had fished him out of the deep abyss and even seemed to have adjusted his regtor for him. But at that time, he waspletely driven by terror. He clutched a deaths grip on the other like his only lifeline, probably giving the other man a first-hand taste of teetering on the verge of drowning.
In the confusion, I didnt even get a good look at him. I only remember that the fingers, grabbing onto me, were fair George Manson looked transfixed in the memory. Very fair. It should have been a young man. His fingers were long and slender, yet they were strong. And he was very calm.
He paused for a moment before repeating, almost dazedly. Very, very calm.
Later, he tried looking into it. The diving gear in that resort bay waspartmentalised, and he would randomly take any of the four pieces of gear from the VIP 6 locker whenever he went diving. Coincidentally, the person who saved him was also using gear from the VIP 6 locker. His regtor had been tampered with as welllikewise, a deformed O-ring causing the same sealing problem.
That was to say, the other man had probably run into the same problem he had underwater, and had difficulty breathing due to air leaking from the mouthpiece. Yet, the other was evidently much moreposed than him. Not only was he able to deal with the unexpected problem, but he had also saved him, bringing them both back ashore.
Hearing this, the officer praised, You met a good man.
George Manson didnt immediately reply. After a while, he nodded. Yeah. A good man.
It was just that this good samaritan was a little unique.
At that time, George Manson was only in his teens, thus had limited power to find out the identity of his saviour.
But even many yearster, when he finally was able to pour more resources to look into it, he was never able to find any usable information. He once suspected that either the trail had gone stale, or someone was intentionally keeping him in the dark.
Ultimately, his attitude and mood towards this changed with the passage of time, and he left it without conclusion.
Was it just a normal ident, then? the officer asked.
Quite the opposite, in fact. It wasnt any sort of coincidence at all. Half a year after that incident, he inadvertently discovered that the person who had tampered with his diving equipment in the first ce was very likely to be one of the several brothers in his own family.
All the equipment in the VIP 6 locker had been tampered with. Taking any random set could have led to an ident.
And his saviour had been implicated by him.
Learning this had plunged George Manson into the depths of decadence for some time. He was afraid of his own shadow and unable to trust anyone. He began to fool around with badpany like Glenn, doing all kinds of stupid things and saying all kinds of shit. He surrounded himself with debauchery and spent three hundred days a year drunk like his life was no longer his, wilfully ying with fire and flirting with death.
Some people would stay away from diving after such an experience, but he didnt. Like greeting an inevitability, he grew all the more obsessed with the feeling of near-death from a deep dive.
Everyone said that he went quite insane in those years.
Before, he still had a few he could consider friends, such as Joe, Zhao Zemu, and a few other coursemates from outside this circle.
But after that, his real friends slowly drifted to be superficial friends, leaving only mutually beneficial rtionships and false pretences.
When people talked about them now, they only remembered them as being fake friends. No longer did anyone remember the rashness and impulsiveness of youth when they were willing to risk it all for each other.
Mr Manson? The officer was a little gloomy that the subject of their questioning was prone to spacing out and difficult to call to attention.
Sorry, I instinctively started mulling over who my saviour could have been. After saying this, George Manson answered the officers earlier question. Youre asking if its an ordinary ident? Yeah, of course. It was my own negligence.
The officer, You still havent found out who your saviour is until now?
George Manson nodded. Yeah. Somehow, even though I dont have any specific impression of him, Im always convinced that hes young. After all, having ess to the equipment from the VIP 6 locker must mean that they are also from a rich family, or maybe a promising young man? But other than that, Ive got nothing.
Meanwhile, the police were also asking Yan Suizhi rted questions in a room on the third floor of a vi near themp pine forest.
Your diving skills are good, but you sat on the beach the whole afternoon without going down to dive. You also said that you havent been diving for many years, why is that?
No money, Yan Suizhi said with exceptional candour.
The officer,
To further y into his persona, he waved the smart device on his finger and added with a helpless smile, Im a broke student. I used to have a safety in the past, but its gone now.
The officer recalled the information from his asset card and was deeply sympathetic.
This intern wasnt on their priority list for questioning, either. After all, he was brought in at thest minute and had minimal interaction with the people here; they were both strangers to each other. Even if the change of Jason Charles diving suit turned out to be deliberate, it wouldnt have anything that could be linked with him.
When it boiled down to it, there wasnt any motive to be found.
As the officer flipped through Chief Kanes list of questions, Yan Suizhis gaze flitted past the balcony to the beach.
By the main gates to the vipound at the end of the beach, a few maintenance staff were crouched on a low hill, busy with trying to fix the detection gates. Yan Suizhi looked in their direction, a little distracted.
In actuality, his thoughts had been adrift throughout the questioning, merely that the officers were unable to tell.
He reyed the scene of him passing through the detection gate in his mind, wiggling out several suspicious points like mud dredged up when pulling out a carrot, each linking to the next. Details that he had once heedlessly skipped past eventually weaving into several threads of logic
Each thread had its own possibility to hold ground, so he had to sieve through them.
After the officer finished going through the list, he looked up and smiled at him, saying, Great. Mr Ruan Ye, we dont have any other questions. Thank you for your cooperation.
Yan Suizhi stood up and walked them out.
The police questioning of everyone presentsted about two hours, the shortest being Yan Suizhi and the longest being Ke Jin.
By the time Chief Kane was finally ready to leave with a photonputer full of the questioning records, the sky had already darkened. It was long past dinner hour.
Well need topile everyones records in order to determine the nature of this incident. Kane said, Until the results of the profiling are out, I will have a small team guarding the vipound. There may also be some ess restrictions today and tomorrow, but I promise that Ill give you all an answer by tomorrow afternoon at thetest.
Several of the guests, whose time had been held up, let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that it could be resolved by tomorrow.
As for Glenn, that idiot childhood friend of Joes who thought his genes were worth gold, vowed, From past experience, anything that the police can determine the nature of within a day or two cant be anything serious. This means that todays questioning held no surprises. Trust me, Im hundred-percent sure that this incident was just an ident. The police must think so too.
And this pampered yboys addiction to gambling reared its head after a couple days of restraint. He swaggered around the hall, asking people to ce bets, but was politely turned down by the majority. His lips twisted, mumbling, Damned boring tightwads. Now that Manson is down, theres not a single fun person to be around.
Fucking hell, I can feel drunk just by sharing the same air as him. Joe winked at Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi, then asked the kitchen to serve the prepared meal. In order to amodate the police efforts, he didnt let them serve strong liquor, only a few bottles of dessert wine to prevent people from getting overly intoxicated.
Everyone had been through a lot today, and each seemed slightly out of sorts. The meal was exceptionally quiet. Whenever anyone talked, their voices would be kept muted.
As Joe put thest strip of chicken breast in his mouth, he jabbed Gu Yan next to him with his elbow.
Hm? Gu Yan made a low sound of inquiry, for him to quickly get out with whatever it was.
Why do I feel like your intern keeps looking at you? Joe furtively whispered in a low voice, What did you do? Or does he want to do something with you?
Gu Yan choked on his steak, frowning and drinking some wine. Do you know why you failed the psychology minor exam thrice in a row?
Joe massaged his chest as if he had been knifed, grumbling, But he really nced over at you many times. And youre never someone who meddles in someone elses affairs, yet youve already minded him a good many times today. Its all just really sus to me.
Gu Yan didnt answer. His slender fingers held the ss stem, his expression mild as he swirled the pale amber wine at the bottom of the ss. His lowered gaze fell on the wine.
After another moment, he then finished thest sip. He replied in a low voice, Is that so?
He didnt immediately verify for himself what Joe said, but unhurriedly finished his dinner and wiped the corners of his mouth. Only then did he, under the cover of the scintiting lights of the dining room, gaze towards Yan Suizhi across the table, faintly averting his gaze before Yan Suizhi looked up.
Somehow, Joe felt that something about this atmosphere seemed off.
He couldnt quite put his finger to how exactly so. Either way, he felt inexplicably nervous sitting between them.
As dinner waste, the guests returned to their respective vis eventer. Lampflies were already dancing around themp pine forest.
Yan Suizhi hung his coat in the wardrobe in his room. Wearing a simple attire of shirt and long pants, leaned against the doorframe to the balcony with his arms folded. There were two white lights shining from a certain corner of the beach, and the maintenance staff were still wrangling with the detection gates.
From afar, those two starlike specks of light reflecteda luminous sheen in his dark eyes.
He watched them for a while, then looked away and turned around, going to knock on Gu Yans door opposite.
Barely any timeter, the door opened. Gu Yan pressed a hand against the doorframe, his gaze surveying him once. Without asking the reason for which he came, he nodded and said mildly, Come in.
It was already some time since they returned, yet his shirt wasnt even unbuttoned. He didnt seem to be resting, more as if he was turning over something in his mind.
Yan Suizhi caught sight of themp pine forest outside his balcony straightaway. His eyebrows raised. As expected, the view is better on your side.
Did youe here to borrow the balcony for the view? Gu Yan, who had poured a ss of water, lifted his gaze towards him.
Pretty much. Yan Suizhi paused before adding, And to discuss something with you, in passing.
A smart device buzzed at the tail-end of his words. Gu Yan, holding two sses of water, didnt have any hands free to get an earpiece, so he tapped his little finger against the ss to directly connect the call.
As the call sessfully connected, a hologram automatically popped up and the other partysmunication number was disyed on the screen. A voice rang out in the room
Gu? Are you busy? I noticed that you didnt reply me all day, I just want to ask, was the program I gave you to interfere with the detection gate any help with the case?
The other party spoke too fast for anyone to cover up. He was invigorated, and the words were pronounced with extraordinary rity. It was impossible to mishear it even if anyone wanted to.
At this, while passing the ss to Yan Suizhi, Gu Yans hand slipped. The ss leisurely cruised to the ground.
With a crash, cold water sshed all over the floor.