Chapter 168: Ghost in the Lake

He had not heard any news from Blackwater Lakeside over the last two days. As usual, Barty would circle around Sunset Villa once every day after he knocked off work and return to the home he shared with Zhou Yuqing, not even visiting Bliss Club. Everything looked like it was business as usual.

The second team that Thuram had sent was already in position, working with the Ling brothers on this operation. Ling Feng was back to join his two brothers after a night’s rest, and no one could stop him from doing so. The bonds they shared in life would be all the more reinforced in fights, which was why this sibling trio could tap onto their fullest potential when they were together.

Presently, Xia Fei had seven powerful warriors at his beck and call, and all of them were very accustomed to fighting together in a team. Additionally were the veterans with considerable combat experience and Pang Xing’s men. Their overall strength was impressive. As long as they discovered any trace of clues, all these people would immediately follow down the trail and kill what needed to be killed. They definitely had the strength to go head-to-head with the mysterious Plumagers.

Avril knocked on the door to Xia Fei’s room, bringing in a pot of tea. Xia Fei, who had been lying in bed these past two days, poring over the activity logs and details of Barty’s past year, hoping to find any useful clue, had not slept a wink as he speed-read everything that he was given.

“Come on in.” Xia Fei turned off the microcomputer and called in the door’s direction.

Avril came in holding a tray. The curtains were shut, making the room unusually gloomy. Including the countless cigarettes that Xia Fei had smoked, the moment Avril opened the door, she was assaulted by a thick billow of smoke and started coughing.

Xia Fei hurriedly came over to take the pot of tea and placed it to the side before escorting Avril back to the corridor.

“Sorry about that; the smell of cigarettes in the room is too stifling.” Xia Fei lightly patted Avril back as he apologized.

Avril was on the verge of tears as she placed her hand on her chest, coughing several times. “It’s fine. I saw how busy you were, so I decided to brew a pot of tea for you. Do you wanna have dinner with us together?”

Xia Fei shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t. I haven’t got the time.”

Avril managed to eke out a smile, though her eyes gave away hints of loneliness. Xia Fei had very clearly been a lot more distant these past few days, locking himself in the room, not even taking a step out. Even if he occasionally exchanged a few words with her, it would only be the simplest of conversation. It was very obvious that Xia Fei had hardly been paying any attention to her.

Girls liked being taken care of, and Xia Fei’s attitude made Avril feel very uneasy. This was her first time dealing with affairs of the heart, and all she hoped was for Xia Fei to be able to spend every moment accompanying her, not even taking a step apart from each other, yet he was so busy that Avril was actively beginning to worry about Xia Fei forgetting her existence.

Nonetheless, she knew very well that Xia Fei was busy all for her sake, so feelings of gratitude filled her heart. In this man, who was only a few years older than her, Avril had found a sense of security that she had never felt before with anyone, and it was a feeling that she had not once received from her parents.

“Okay, then. I’ll let you get back to your work; I’ll wait for you,” Avril very considerately said.

Xia Fei nodded and went back inside his own room, not even saying a word.

Avril sighed, slowly making her way back to her room. Her head was downcast, all alone by herself.

This one scene was of course seen by the bodyguards who were positioned in that corridor, and they suddenly felt a strong urge to beat Xia Fei to death.

“That rascal’s too cocky, actually treating our young mistress so coldly.”

“That’s right! Just what kind of joke is this? Our young mistress is practically royalty; just who does he think he is? What right does he have to act like that?”

Once Avril returned to her room, these bodyguards could no longer stand it and privately discussed what they had witnessed in hushed voices, most of them throwing words of their dissatisfaction toward Xia Fei.

“All of you, shut it.” Pang Xing’s eyes swept across everyone dispassionately. Though he was wearing shades, that chilling sensation he gave easily penetrated the very bones of these men.

Clenching his jaw, Pang Xing continued to stand guard by that corridor. He knew better than anyone else that Xia Fei was working so hard all for Avril’s sake, so he found it especially grating seeing these bodyguards misunderstand Xia Fei’s actions.

“There are still no problems.” Xia Fei lit a cigarette and crumpled into the sofa, accepting that heavy cloud of smoke in the room wreathe himself.

Phantom curled his lips. “Perhaps we’ve truly misunderstood Barty.”

Xia Fei got up to his feet and began pacing in the room. “Even though all the evidence points away from Barty, my intuition is still telling me that I can’t totally dismiss him. He is the most suspicious, so is there some problem elsewhere?”

The information Pang Hai had given to Xia Fei was very detailed, including the surveillance camera and audio recording of what had happened then, as well as the report from the man who was responsible for monitoring Barty’s every movement. After comparing everything, there was no doubt that all the evidence was real.

It must be stated that only a handful of hours had passed from the time Pang Hai discovered that Xia Fei was tailing Barty to when he met up with him to hand over the information. Unless this information had already existed beforehand, there was simply no way Pang Hai could create a whole set of evidence that would prove Barty’s innocence in such a short time.

“Or is it that our focus has been in the wrong direction from the start?” Phantom shook his head and muttered.

Xia Fei was silent. He remained sprawled on that sofa with his both eyes shut. He was playing all the information in his head as if he were watching a movie, taking in all the clues and reexamining everything.

Just like how it was easy to miss a tree in a forest, Xia Fei had been busy delving into the evidence given to him in these last few days that everything else had taken the backseat in his mind. Though this made things more efficient, it was also somewhat limiting, such that once Xia Fei had affirmed that there was nothing suspicious of Barty, he was left bereft of any other leads to follow.

Now that Xia Fei had thrown Barty’s name to the side, he trailed his way back to the origin and began deliberating, and only then did the suspicious points in his mind finally cleared up.

“That’s right!” Xia Fei abruptly leaped off the sofa, appearing to be very excited. “Barty won’t be the one to benefit from getting Avril killed.”

Phantom asked, puzzled, “What have you come up with?”

Xia Fei did not answer him but immediately tried to get in touch with Ling Xiao, who was tasked with monitoring Barty, instead.

“Something the matter, Xia Fei?” Ling Xiao asked through the screen.

Dark circles were visible under his eyes. It was evident that Xia Fei had not been the only one who had gone without any sleep these past few days.

“Any movement on Barty’s end?” Xia Fei asked.

Ling Xiao shook his head helplessly. “Nothing at all. Everything is as per normal, and I can’t tell if there’s anything off.”

Xia Fei smiled. “Brother Xiao, get the others to keep their eyes on Barty. We’ve got a more pressing matter to do.”

“What ‘matter’? This bastard is the most suspicious, so we definitely can’t let him go,” Ling Xiao insisted.

He was extremely disgusted by Barty’s behavior, taking pleasure from murdering others. That was why his entire focus had been on Barty, never giving up on seeing his end.

“I know you really hate Barty, and so do I, and this caused our eyes to be clouded by the hate, not realizing that there’s someone else who’s even more suspicious than Barty,” Xia Fei very emotionlessly stated.

Ling Xiao’s expression changed. What Xia Fei had said was right on the money. Everyone had all been circling around Barty, so none of them had managed to investigate much of anyone else. If there was truly another suspect, that person would be able to use this time to plan another attack on Avril.

“I guess we’ve made a mistake with our investigation angle,” Xia Fei said with a gloomy look on his face.

……

Morning, somewhere at Blackwater Lake Villa.

Barty, who was dressed, navigated his hoverchair out of the villa, while Zhou Yuqing handed him his briefcase and escorted him into the hovercar waiting outside.

Barton’s hovercar had already been specially modified so that its door was much wider than the average hovercar out there. The backseat was also removed to make it more convenient for him to ride his hoverchair.

Handing the briefcase to Barty, Zhou Yuqing smiled and asked, “I’ll head over to the pier by the lake to buy some fresh fish and prawns; are you coming back for dinner?”

Barty gave it some thought. “That’s nice. The white prawns of Blackwater Lake are very delicious. Buy some more and we can share a drink or two tonight.”

Zhou Yuqing seemed overjoyed, smiling as she watched Barty leave. However, she did not immediately head back into the house but stood by the front yard and looked at a small path far away.

…

A small minivan bearing the logo of Noble Lotion Incorporated followed Barty’s hovercar as it drove to the city, which was precisely the one the Ling brothers were using to monitor Barty. The corner of Zho Yuqing’s mouth curled, revealing a satisfied smirk.

Heading back into the house, Zhou Yuqing went to her son’s bedroom. Presently, Pan was sprawled on the bed zoning out, his two hands propping his chin as he drooled all over his pillow.

Seeing Zhou Yuqing walk into the room, Pan dully turned to grin foolishly at her. The lady emotionlessly reached out to shut the door and locked him in the room.

It was as if she did not care about Pan one bit, not at all concerned if her son had eaten breakfast or any such things.

Changing into her housewife getup, Zhou Yuqing wore a hat and sunglasses. She then found a basket in the kitchen to straddle on her arm, opened the back door, and began to make her way to the Blackwater Lakeside.

The villa was built near the lake, and there was a small jetty behind it. A small hovercraft was docked at this jetty, and it seemed like all the villas had a similar hovercraft so that it would be convenient for the wealthy gentries to go to the middle of the lake and fish or play whenever they got bored.

Untying the cable, Zhou Yuqing hopped aboard the hovercraft and headed toward the pier on the opposite side of Blackwater Lake. There was a seafood market there, where fishermen would hawk their harvests in the early morning.

The many wives would all do their purchases in this pier, while the morning catch was still fresh, so there were plenty of similar hovercrafts floating on the surface of the lake. Zhou Yuqing was dressed very plainly, and the hovercraft she drove was the most common sort. Nobody paid any attention to her as she made her way across the lake.

The hovercrafts were being driven very slowly, hardly in a rush at all since everyone wished to enjoy the beautiful morning scenery and have fun.

The hovercrafts were all automatic, not requiring anyone to manually drive them. Zhou Yuqing set down her basket and sat at the side of the boat. With one hand reaching into the crystal-clear water.

If nobody came near, nobody would discover that Zhou Yuqing was actually rhythmically creating ripples with her thin and supple fingers, stirring the lake water quite rapidly. Water resistance still existed, so if someone had not had any training, there was simply no way they would be able to move their finger at such a fast rate in the water.

The average human would completely be unable to sense this signal because it was created by a finger touching the lake water as it slowly transmitted a message through it.

The lake water was so deep that no light penetrated to the bottom. A single black shadow was lying at the bottom as it slowly neared Zhou Yuqing’s hovercraft like a ghost.