Chapter 365: Decisiveness, Trading is Fate

The office door was gently pushed open, and the female secretary, wearing high heels, walked in with light steps.

Her figure was especially eye-catching beneath her professional attire, her collar slightly open, revealing a hint of snow-white skin.

However, when she caught sight of Lou Duan's cold profile, she immediately composed herself, raised a hand to tighten her collar, and put on a serious, businesslike expression.

"Have you found out?" Lou Duan asked in a flat voice.

The secretary stood at attention, her hands clasped before her:

"Divine Detective Captain Li Shang of the Patrol Bureau has intervened, at Hou Wendong's behest. Also, the person involved, Feng Mu, is the son of another captain, Feng Ju, who has recently been promoted and valued by the Special Commissioner."

Lou Duan's brow furrowed slightly, like a shallow ravine carved into his forehead.

His fingers continued to tap lightly on the desktop, the rhythm changing slightly.

Chen Yang's death, Feng Mu's acquittal—these were nothing more than insignificant dust to him.

Even the names of Li Shang and Feng Ju were no more than a few dry leaves drifting in the wind; he couldn't even be bothered to glance at them again.

The only useful piece of information in what the secretary had just said concerned Hou Wendong, because Hou Wendong was Councilor Wang Xinfā's most trusted secretary.

And Councilor Wang Xinfā was someone Lou Duan knew well and feared.

Lou Duan waved for the female secretary to withdraw; she showed some disappointment on her face and left the office gracefully.

Silence returned to the office, only Lou Duan's fingers still tapping on the desktop, like some silent countdown.

Suddenly, he stopped moving, his fingers suspended in midair, and muttered to himself:

"The Second Prison is now caught in a whirlwind of public opinion. Wang Xinfā, a man so fond of his feathers, would he actually order his subordinates to step into a mud pit?"

"The dead man is an insignificant ant, and the people involved are all nobodies."

Lou Duan's voice grew lower and lower, as if speaking to himself, and as if speaking to an opponent hidden in the dark:

"But things cannot be interpreted this way. Looking through the phenomenon to the essence, this is Wang Xinfā covertly backing the Second Prison."

His complexion gradually turned iron-blue, as if covered by a layer of frost, and from it he smelled an unusual danger:

"When things are abnormal, there is something fishy. The Second Prison affair may take a turn; behind this may be hidden a greater collusion of interests unknown to me. Only thus would Wang Xinfā tolerate having filth splashed on his shoes."

Liu Bo's earlier hint, plus the corpse obtained from this probe, made Lou Duan completely abandon his remaining illusions, and a ruthless decisiveness appeared in his eyes.

He reached out and pulled open the drawer, the metal slide making a slight scraping sound.

Inside the drawer lay a black U Disk, with no markings on its surface, smooth as a piece of cold obsidian.

The moment it was plugged into the computer's USB interface, the screen flickered slightly, as if contaminated by something dirty; the image distorted briefly, then returned to normal.

A few seconds later, the webpage automatically jumped, transferring to a bottomless Dark Web Platform.

The page was black as ink, like a bottomless abyss, with only a few lines of dark red symbols rolling in a cycle.

Those symbols were twisted and eerie, like symbols carved in some evil sacrifice ritual, exuding an ominous aura.

Beneath the symbols, a scale outlined by shadows slowly appeared.

On both ends of the scale, one side was piled with glittering gold coins, dazzling as if they could penetrate the screen; the other side pressed down a heap of twisted humanoid corpses. Those petty figures were gruesome to behold, limbs disjointed, faces twisted into silent screams, as if being tormented by some invisible pain.

Below the scale, a blood-red input box hovered silently, like a door to the abyss, coldly displaying:

Nickname——;

Password——.

Lou Duan's fingers flew across the keyboard, his movements so practiced as if they had been repeated countless times.

He entered the nickname: Decisiveness, then entered a complex string of password.

The screen flashed once, the dark red page began to load slowly; after a moment, a new window popped up, and his gaze fell on the chat box in the center of the screen.

He contacted an administrator with the ID 【Clown】.

The other's avatar was a deep darkness, without outline, without color, as if even light could not reach it.

The personal information column was empty, with only a simple signature lying there quietly:

"Trading is Fate."

The other's avatar was a void of darkness, without any personal information, only a short signature—"Trading is Fate."

The two characters "Fate" made Lou Duan's brow furrow slightly, a hint of taboo rising in his heart, but it was soon dispelled by himself.

Don't associate the characters "Fate" with 【Destiny】 just because you see them; that would be too sensitive.

【Clown】: Quantity to weigh?

Decisiveness: Three.

【Clown】: Quality assessment for weighing.

A scale popped up in the center of the screen, exactly like the scale on the website logo.

Lou Duan dragged the mouse and clicked on the side with the petty figures' corpses.

Soon, an evaluation template popped up, requiring him to enter relevant information and data about the target.

Just as he was about to enter, the screen suddenly flickered, and a crimson eye emerged from the depths of the page.

The eye was huge and eerie, its pupil filled with intersecting crimson patterns, the patterns slowly rotating, like a constantly changing Mangekyou Sharingan.

It seemed to have life, staring straight at Lou Duan before the screen, its gaze evil and seductive, as if it could penetrate the screen and directly see his soul.

Lou Duan's heart tightened involuntarily, and a layer of cold sweat broke out behind him.

He tried his best to keep calm, but his hands unconsciously gripped the mouse tightly.

At the same time, a line of blood-red warning text slowly appeared at the bottom of the page:

"Evaluation information must not be maliciously falsified or intentionally concealed; otherwise, misfortune will take from you the insufficient amount."

The text seemed written in fresh blood, with faint traces of liquid flowing at the edges, as if it might seep out of the screen and fall down at any moment.

"No matter how many times I log into this website, every time I see this eye, I feel as if there really is someone peeping at me in the room; it's eerily strange."

Lou Duan's fingertips paused, and the corner of his eye swept toward the shadows in the corner; there was no one there, nor any eyes.

Lou Duan took a deep breath, shook off the inexplicable unease in his heart, and began to enter the target's information.

With every line of characters typed, that crimson eye would shift slightly, the deep red patterns in its pupil slowly unfurling as if scrutinizing every word and punctuation mark he entered.

Lou Duan could feel that gaze carried a living pressure, like a silent threat constantly reminding him:

Do not deliberately lie!

(End of Chapter)