CH 4

A few days later.

Shenhai City.

The explosive rhythm was deafening, the spotlights swept across the dance floor, and the intoxicated crowd shouted with the DJ.

The Ace of Spades-like fountain flowed champagne down the tower layer by layer, shining with glamorous brilliance, and groups of champagne girls burst into screams.

The applause almost turned the whole nightclub upside down: “Brother is awesome!” “Brother Zhao is awesome!”

…

With a bang, Zhao Jun slammed the empty wine bottle down, put his arms around a handsome drinking boy beside him, crossed his legs and said: “I heard that ever since the surname Shen has come to Shenhai from City B, all your evolutionaries in Shenhai have been kept as birds in cages by him. Are they so suffocated?”

A group of well-dressed friends gathered in the booth, and one of them smiled wryly: “It’s not that I said, brother Zhao, of course your home is in City B, you can do whatever you want, but you should be careful in Shenhai’s territory. You have never seen Shen Zhuo’s methods…”

The people around agreed with each other in concern, and Zhao Jun said, “Hey” when he saw this: “You guys are worthless, that guy surnamed Shen was not so crazy in City B back then. Why did Shenhai put you under control when he came!”

This group of people looked at each other, and the one who spoke before became curious: “Brother Zhao, don’t you know the details?”

It’s true that everyone had drunk too much. Normally, this group of people would never dare to chew the roots of their tongue behind their backs. Zhao Jun laughed out loud and waved his hands: “What don’t you know about this? The one surnamed Shen was an academic in his early years, and he worked as the director of the Central Research Institute, specializing in human experiments on evolutionaries. There is no evolutionary who does not hate him. If it wasn’t for Fu Chen’s cover, he would have been killed ten thousand times already…”

“Fu Chen?” Someone reacted drunkenly, “Wasn’t this person the boss of the Central Supervision Office at that time? Why is he covering up for the surname Shen?”

Zhao Jun snorted, with undisguised teasing and obscenity in his eyes, he leaned forward and lowered his voice:

“What do you think, why?”

This group of people are all having a good time. They were quiet for two seconds, and then they all burst into laughter tacitly.

The young boy in Zhao Jun’s arms moved uneasily and raised his chin with one hand, trying to cover the ear-stud monitoring microphone seemingly inadvertently, but was secretly held down by another hostess.

The two looked at each other while pouring wine, and each other’s faces were obviously blue.

“Brother Zhao.” The girl was obviously more capable, and she forced a charming smile: “Why are you talking about those frustrating people? Come on, help sister throw the dice…”

“That’s not right.” At this time, someone from the other side of the booth approached curiously, “Didn’t Fu Chen die long ago? I vaguely heard that he was killed by Shen Zhuo’s own hands?”

The accompanied “wine girl” was so agitated that she almost broke off her nail art abruptly.

Zhao Jun shook the whiskey glass, with his thighs crossed, and said, “Don’t be ridiculous, is there really a normal person with the surname Shen? He hates evolutionaries. He’s just a psychopath who likes to tame people into dogs. Those who can’t be tamed will be killed by him, and it is useless to even take out his heart and lungs to lick it!”

As he said that, he laughed to himself: “—I’m surprised, I’m just wondering what that one with the surname Shen looks like, that he can hook Fu Chen on his poisonous tree?”

There was roaring laughter all around.

Shen Zhuo is extremely low-key and rarely shows his face in public. No one here has seen him with their own eyes, but there are rumors about his beautiful face in the upper class circles, and everyone is skeptical about it.

“Maybe the one surnamed Shen is good at playing?” “That’s for sure!” “Who knows what’s going on in private, hahaha…”

The face of the young boy accompanying the drinks was pale. If you look carefully, you will find that his pupils are trembling. One hand was tightly covering the stud earring, but it was completely useless.

Obscenities were clearly transmitted through the monitoring microphone to a command car not far from the door of the nightclub, in the corner of the parking lot——

Shen Zhuo sat in front of the monitor, the fluorescent light on the screen reflected on his cold side profile, without showing any joy or anger.

All the team members in the carriage held their breaths, only hating themselves for being opaque.

“Based on his age, how did he climb to the position of the first director of the Central Research Institute back then? Who would believe there’s nothing dirty about it..”

Shen Zhuo finally pressed the mic, his voice was calm and clear, without any fluctuation, as if he wasn’t the one who was being lusted upon by a group of men in the nightclub at the moment:

“Stop meaningless discussions and turn the topic to the evolution source transaction.”

In the booth of the nightclub, the young boy swallowed hard.

Zhao Jun didn’t notice it, and he still crossed his legs: “It’s because of Fu Chen’s death that everyone in the Central Supervision Department can’t wait to kill Shen Zhuo to vent their anger.

He was demoted and kicked out of the research institute…”

“Ah!”

With a shout, the young boy accidentally knocked over the wine glass and the champagne splashed on Zhao Jun’s clothes.

“Brother Zhao, I’m sorry. Brother Zhao, I’ll wipe it for you right now!”

Zhao Jun obviously has a special taste, and he is more patient with the young and beautiful “bar master”.

Just at this time, the “accompanying wine girl” snuggled up tacitly, and quickly picked something up from Zhao Jun’s neck with sharp eyes: “Hey, brother Zhao, what is this?”

Zhao Jun wore a leather rope around his neck, hanging a metal case that looked like a pocket watch, but when she opened it, it was not a watch.

It was a stone, the size of a bottle cap, with a faint blue light.

Zhao Jun’s expression changed immediately, he grabbed the stone and pushed the hostess away with his hands: “What are you touching! Get down!”

With a bang, the hostess fell to the ground, her face turned pale with fright, several people around got up one after another and their faces changed: “What are you doing? Hold her down!”

“How did the boss teach people, do you not know any rules?!”

Someone hurriedly persuaded: “It’s okay, brother Zhao, the gene that can evolve is one in a thousand, even if she touches this stone, she’ll be fine…”

There were a lot of voices and the environment was chaotic, and the hostess took the opportunity to stare at the stone, but Zhao Jun stuffed it into his collar and disappeared in an instant.

At the same time, the image was simultaneously transmitted to the monitoring screen in the command vehicle through her transparent cosmetic contact lenses.

With a snap, Shen Zhuo pressed the pause button, staring at the bright blue stone on the screen.

“Can you identify the real source of evolution?” He frowned and asked Chen Miao for a while.

Chen Miao went up to look at the screen carefully, and shook his head in embarrassment for a while: “Senior, you specialize in this and even you can’t tell. Wouldn’t I be more…”

It is a felony to hold evolutionary sources privately but, because of the huge profits on the black market, counterfeiting evolutionary sources has become a new industry chain.

In the early years, they used low-quality fluorescent iron stones, and real evolutionists could recognize them as knockoffs at a glance. But then technology developed to the purification of radioactive material and biological carbon sources, even a top-level expert like Shen Zhuo can’t tell the real from the fake with the naked eye.

“The Zhao family is powerful and rich. I’m inclined to think that he will not use the fake evolution source to make profits, but it is best to bring it back to the Supervision Office to test it with our instruments.” Chen Miao frowned, “But we haven’t figured out who his buyer is yet, we’d better wait for Zhao Jun to meet with the buyer and then catch them all at once.”

Unexpectedly, at this time the noisy voices in the booth came from the microphone, and it sounded like they were dissuading: “Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, please don’t go!” “It’s only ten o’clock!”

But Zhao Jun’s interest has obviously been spoiled: “I have an appointment with someone, so let me go first, you guys can play.”

“——What? Leaving? According to the information, Zhao Jun’s appointment time with the buyer is eleven o’clock!” Chen Miao looked down at his watch, and immediately became anxious: “No, the detective team responsible for tracking is not in place yet!”

No one expected that Zhao Jun would leave the venue early because of his disappointment. The change came unexpectedly, and everyone in the command car became nervous. Shen Zhuo ordered in a low voice: “Contact the investigation team, the plan has changed, immediately arrange manpower to follow up.” Then he pressed the headset connected to the scene: “1002, try to keep the target on the spot or move with him, now!”

The “Master Accompanying the Wine”, action number 1002, is a fresh graduate who has just joined the Supervision Office, disguising himself as a money boy1 already made him want to cry, but he was more afraid of Shen Zhuo than being a mb, so he had to endure the discomfort and put on a cute little white flower act. He reached out to pull on the corner of Zhao Jun’s clothes pitifully: “Brother Zhao is leaving now, why don’t you stay with me, I won’t pick up anyone except Brother Zhao tonight…”

Normally, Zhao Jun would not be able to resist such a delicate young boy but, at this moment, he had no interest at all, only thinking about the next deal, and waved the boy away perfunctorily: “Next time, I will come to see you next time, be good.”

There will be no next time! If I don’t stop you today, Supervisor Shen will seriously eunuch me and send me to be an mb tomorrow!

The boy rushed forward and hugged Zhao Jun’s thigh, his teeth were trembling: “Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, don’t go, Brother Zhao, take me with you! I miss you!”

The surroundings were full of people murmuring, “this kid is so clingy” while laughter took the opportunity to drown out the sound.

Zhao Jun glanced at his watch, and there was still more than an hour before the agreed trading time—but, at this moment, his appetite had indeed been spoiled by that little episode, and he waved his hand uninterestedly: “Be obedient, I have business tonight, and I will take you out to play tomorrow night, ah.”

Zhao Jun walked out immediately, and the boy was in a panic: “Take me with you, Brother Zhao! I don’t want anything, I just want to follow you! Don’t go, don’t go!!”

“Hey, what are you pestering about!” Zhao Jun was also anxious, and kicked the young boy, “Let go!”

At the same time, the command car.

“No team leader, it’s too late!”  A member of the Supervision Office raised his head anxiously, holding the phone: “The public security in the jurisdiction is planning to send more reinforcements, but it will take half an hour to arrive!”

Chen Miao almost said “Fuck”, but he swallowed it abruptly, “Senior, what should we do now—senior?!”

Shen Zhuo took off the command microphone with one hand and quickly took off his suit jacket. Underneath, he was wearing a white shirt, tailored to outline his straight shoulders and thin waistline, tucked into black suit pants:

“Everyone is on standby, and the technical team is ready to locate me.”

Everyone in the car: “?”

Shen Zhuo got up and opened the car door, loosened his tie with one hand, and walked quickly to the crowded nightclub in the distance.

All the team members behind were stunned: “——Supervisor!”

As soon as the door of the nightclub opened, a wave of explosive sound rushed inside, almost instantly engulfing people.

Men and women indulged in dancing and their young faces shone with fascinated luster under the colorful lights. Shen Zhuo’s face sank, heavy like water, striding across the dance floor, he picked up the remaining whiskey when he passed by an unoccupied table, raised his head and took a sip from the bottle, and poured the rest on himself.

The spirits flowed in along the open collar, soaked the white shirt, stuck to his chest and back, and even outlined the thin lines of his abdominal muscles.

“Does the handsome guy make friends?”

“Does the handsome guy drink?”

The carnival atmosphere swarmed in from all directions, Shen Zhuo pushed away a few drunken young people, turned around and walked into an aisle, facing Zhao Jun walking out with an unhappy face and who was about to leave.

Boom!

The two collided head-on, Zhao Jun was caught off guard and staggered, and his mood was even worse:

“Do you have eyes, you—”

Shen Zhuo didn’t lift his head, as if he was shaken from being drunk, his hands shook hastily before he managed to stand still.

Half of Shen Zhuo’s upper body was dripping wet, his slightly drooping eyelashes formed a slender shadow, and the messy lights of the nightclub hit his side cheek, there was a thrilling tension at that moment, which caught him off guard.

Zhao Jun felt his heart skip a beat.

But that was only in the blink of an eye, Shen Zhuo let go of his hand without hesitation, and staggered past him.

Zhao Jun couldn’t help turning around: “You are…”

At this moment, the “Master Accompanying the Wine” chased after him desperately, and before Brother Zhao had time to say it, he bumped into this scene head-on, as if struck by lightning: “Supervisor—”

The brave and scheming “accompanying wine girl” rushed forward desperately, covered the boy’s mouth tightly, and almost strangled her stupid colleague to faint on the spot with such force.

Zhao Jun’s eyes were staring straight, he couldn’t see anyone else at all and he couldn’t hear other voices.

He could only watch Shen Zhuo push open the bathroom door, probably because he was in a drunken daze, turn around and smile at him, the corners of his lips soaked in strong alcohol curled into an arc.

Then he opened the door and walked in.

Accompanying boy: “…”

Hostess: “…”

Thunder crashed, and the two detectives froze in place.

After a long while, the young boy trembled and nearly pinched himself to death.

If Zhao Jun’s heart just stopped beating just now, then it was beating wildly now, and he had already started to move before he could even react. As a result, he followed him into the bathroom in hot pursuit.

Shen Zhou washed his face under the rushing cold water, the black marble sink making his fingers startlingly white, and there seemed to be an indescribable halo on his cheeks soaked in water which made people unable to look away.

Zhao Jun straightened his collar reflexively, pulled a few pieces of paper, and involuntarily adjusted to the most gentle and magnetic tone, even though even he could hear that the end result was still unstable due to his excitement:

“You… how are you? Did you come with friends? Shall I wipe it for you?”

Shen Zhuo held the sink with one hand, looking very confused.

Zhao Jun stammered: “Beauty, beauty, add my WeChat? My car is parked outside, how about I take you out for a drive…”

There was a crash, it was Shen Zhuo, who seemed to want to stand up straight but fell down unsteadily, and was supported by Zhao Jun.

The aroma of wine rushed to his face in an instant, making Zhao Jun drunk immediately, and he  was short of breath due to excessive excitement, only to hear the “beauty” pressing his hand on his shoulder and whisper in his ear with drunkenness:

“Where are you taking me, huh?”

The bathroom door opened, and the two detectives panicked at the same time. 

They saw Zhao Jun helping Shen Zhuo come out with great graciousness, the latter seemed to have completely lost consciousness.

In an instant, there was lightning and thunder in the hearts of the two of them. The young boy almost stumbled with his left foot and fell over his right foot, rushing up: “Oh, isn’t this our foreman? Let me come! Let me come!” 

Zhao Jun immediately said, “What are you doing, go away!”

“Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, our foreman, he can’t go out,” the girl accompanying the wine was quick to think, and pretended to make a phone call: “I’ll call our boss right now to come over and apologize to you…”

Zhao Jun said angrily: “How many years have I been with your boss, why are you being troublesome now? Someone take her away!”

The female detective was shoved by him, and the phone fell to the ground with a thud.

This movement attracted attention not far away, and several nightclub security guards looked over.

There was nothing they could do in the chaos, and the two watched helplessly as Zhao Jun supported the unconscious Supervisor Shen, walked away across the dance floor, and went straight out the door of the nightclub.

The melody of the dance floor is explosive, but this square inch of land was shrouded in terrible silence.

Both of them saw their terrified faces in each other’s trembling pupils. After a while, the young boy shivered and pressed the headset, crying: “…Chen, Team Leader Chen it’s not good…”

The team members in the command car were afraid and Chen Miao said anxiously: “Report the situation on the scene immediately! Where is the target now?!”

“Target…target,” the young boy said mournfully, “—the target took the drunk inspector out to rent a room!”

“Pfft!” Chen Miao spit out his water like an arrow all over the screen.

Everyone’s expression was blank, looking at the nightclub in the distance, the death-like suffocation enveloped the entire car.

“Mr. Zhao, why did Mr. Zhao come out early?” By the door of a black Bentayga outside the nightclub, the driver hurriedly got out of the car and came out to open the door. Seeing Zhao Jun gently supporting a man who was deeply drunk and unconscious, he couldn’t help but take a second look, and asked wittily: “Should we go directly to the place where the transaction is made or…”

The driver was Shenhai’s confidant that Zhao Jun specially brought for this transaction, and he didn’t hide it, and while helping Shen Zhuo to get into the car, he ordered: “Go directly to the place of transaction. Anyway, the buyer is also in the hotel. You can also help me find a room at this time.”

“Oh!”

Zhao Jun was full of joy, and the driver also laughed along with him. While starting the car, he set the navigation in the GPS——

In the dark back seat, where no one was paying attention, Shen Zhuo opened his eyes and glanced at the navigation.

Baifu Jinjiang Hotel.

A newly opened super five-star hotel less than 20 minutes away by car.

Shen Zhuo closed his eyes and suddenly felt a slight movement in his heart. He inexplicably felt that the name of the hotel was a little familiar, as if he had glanced at it in a recent work report.

…Baifu Jinjiang?

Shen Zhuo frowned. The mobile phone positioning system in his trouser pocket was running silently, sending a signal to the command vehicle of the Supervision Office as he was brought into the bustling night scene of Shenhai City.

– end of chapter four –

1Moneyboy: (slang, LGBT, especially in China and Thailand) A rentboy; a (usually young) male who earns money by offering sexual services.