Chapter 986: A Quiet Night

Jianna’s spirit tensed instantly; she decided to soothe Lumiana and prevent her from going to Mushu Hospital until Lu Mi’an returned tomorrow evening around seven or eight.

She looked at Lumiana and said sincerely:

“The investigation into the hot pot restaurant shooting isn’t over—if you go to Mushu Hospital, you’ll likely be taken to the police station. Even if they eventually prove you had nothing to do with Zarathustra’s death, it’ll take a long time, and you’ll be detained for at least several days, which means you’ll lose your job.”

Upon hearing the phrase “lose your job,” Lumiana showed a faint expression of fear:

“Mm, I should hide for two days. After that, pretending to be a man for work should be fine.”

She had already been conditioned by Jianna to believe she was working as a security guard in male disguise.

Jianna didn’t dare relax; she glanced at the curtain blocking the bright moonlight and said to Lumiana:

“You can’t go to Mushu Hospital, but we can go up to the rooftop to catch some wind and calm down.”

“Okay.” A radiant, uncontrollable smile appeared on Lumiana’s clear, pure face.

Jianna first repaired the door lock, then led Lumiana out of Room 2303, taking the elevator and stairs to the rooftop.

Throughout the entire process, she concealed a mirror in each hand, reflecting light to create illusions that concealed both her and Lumiana’s figures from surveillance cameras.

Feeling the cool, gentle night breeze that had dissipated the day’s heat, Lumiana half-closed her eyes and took two deep breaths.

She then walked to the railing at the rooftop’s edge, pointed upward, and asked Jianna’s opinion:

“Can I sit on top?”

“Normal people can’t—it’s too dangerous—but you’re fine. Your balance is excellent, even better than an acrobat.” Jianna wasn’t worried Lumiana would fall; she had sufficient ability to rescue her. So she wanted to test whether, if the loophole hadn’t yet been patched, and she continuously suggested Lumiana possessed abilities beyond ordinary humans, Lumiana might truly acquire extraordinary powers.

Lumiana placed her hands on the top of the railing and leapt up lightly, preparing to sit.

Suddenly, her hand slipped, and she lost balance, about to plummet a hundred meters below.

At that moment, she felt multiple invisible ropes tugging at her, steadying her form.

“Phew, that scared me to death…” She turned her body, looked at Jianna who had already sat beside her, and patted her chest.

She believed Jianna had pulled her back.

Jianna, who had lightly entwined Lumiana with invisible spider silk for protection, realized she had overlooked something:

This person was still under the negative effect of the “Ring of Binding,” cursed with misfortune—even if she truly gained excellent balance from Jianna’s suggestions, she’d still fail due to overwhelming bad luck.

“Be careful,” Jianna specifically warned.

Lumiana murmured “Mm,” and nodded gently.

She gazed for several seconds at the illuminated internal roads of the residential complex below, then lifted her head and fixed her eyes on the bright moon high above.

The moon’s glow and urban light pollution had erased all the stars.

Lumiana rested her hands on the top of the railing, silently staring at the moon, utterly absorbed.

After an indeterminate length of time, she suddenly spoke as if to herself:

“I remembered a poem.”

She didn’t turn her head or look at Jianna; she kept her gaze fixed on the bright moon high above.

“What poem?” Jianna savored the current peace and stillness.

Lumiana maintained her gazing posture, her voice slightly ethereal as she said:

“I raise my head to gaze at the bright moon, I lower my head and think of home.”

…………

Police Headquarters, a conference room, still brightly lit in the deep night.

Ryan Cos stood before the whiteboard, pointing at two photographs:

“We can make a judgment: this case involves supernatural forces—the killer or killer group can use mirrors and the mirror worlds behind them.”

The two photos were one of the shattered mirror in the changing room, and the other of the broken glass window in the deceased’s private room.

Officer Deng En sat below, nodded slightly, signaling Ryan Cos to continue:

“Therefore, anyone who was not in the hot pot restaurant’s main hall during the corresponding time period, and not captured by surveillance, is a suspect and requires further screening.

“They likely went to blind spots, used mirrors they carried, and slipped back into the restaurant’s main hall, waiting for the victim to return from the mirror world. If he returned, they delivered a fatal blow; if he didn’t, it meant their accomplices had already succeeded.”

Deng En raised his hand, pointing out a flaw in Ryan Cos’s reasoning:

“They might have been hiding behind a mirror or a glass window the entire time, never appearing in the main hall of Shujin Renjia Hot Pot Restaurant.”

“Given how thoroughly this group exploits the mirror world, they had no need to send someone ahead to wait in the main hall by eating hot pot. They could simply wait until the right time—or received a signal—then enter the mirror world from afar and arrive at the designated assassination spot. Look, the woman who emerged with Zarathustra from the screen also never appeared in the main hall.”

After speaking, Deng En lifted his hand and sniffed the tobacco packed in his pipe.

“Yes,” Ryan Cos admitted his captain was correct, “but we still need to re-screen those who left the main hall during that time but weren’t recorded by surveillance cameras in their corresponding state during the crime.”

“Remove the second condition,” Deng En said after two seconds of thought. “Those who can manipulate the mirror world can also deceive surveillance cameras. Remember, surveillance cameras rely on optical principles to record, and those who control mirrors excel at manipulating light and creating optical illusions.”

After Ryan Cos nodded, Deng En turned to Li En:

“Tell us your preliminary screening results.”

Li En stood up, taking Ryan Cos’s place:

“We’ve used dream interrogation on seventeen individuals without them noticing any anomaly.

“Ruo Shan: deeply shocked and couldn’t believe Zarathustra’s death.

“Zhou Mingrui: wary of Zarathustra, but equally didn’t anticipate his death.

“Luo Fu: left the main hall and went to the women’s restroom—no surveillance there—but she was also visibly startled and surprised by Zarathustra’s death.

“We initially listed these three as key suspects because they were all employees of Indus Group and might have been ordered by certain powerful figures within Indus who opposed the merger to assassinate Zarathustra at Shujin Renjia and sabotage ongoing business negotiations. But none of them knew Huang Tao and Zarathustra were also inside Shujin Renjia, and Ruo Shan and Zhou Mingrui never left the main hall throughout…”

“Preliminary conclusion: they’re not involved.”

Deng En agreed; Ryan Cos said nothing.

After thoroughly discussing the case, Deng En stood and addressed his subordinates:

“Two priorities now: one, screen the remaining suspects, including those Ryan Cos mentioned and those with concrete motives; two, identify the woman who emerged with Zarathustra from the screen. Though she didn’t attack him, the fact that she came out of the screen itself is highly significant.”

“Yes, Captain,” Ryan Cos, Li En, and other officers rose in response.

Deng En smiled, then said seriously:

“This involves a foreign guest and a major commercial event—you’ve worked hard. I’m going to report to Deputy Director Ya now.”

…………

After watching the moon for half an hour and breathing the night wind for half an hour, Jianna led Lumiana back to Room 2303.

“Rest now. Your body hasn’t fully recovered,” Jianna said, pointing to the bedroom.

Dressed in a nightgown, Lumiana opened the door and entered the bedroom to find Franca, who had been ill, awake—she had stirred sometime during Lumiana’s absence.

“Do you feel better now?” Franca already knew from Jianna’s WeChat message what the two had done.

Lumiana looked at Franca and nodded with complex emotions:

“Much better.”

Her emotions were complex because she remembered Ruo Fu was her girlfriend.

And yet that didn’t interfere with her being Jianna’s girlfriend.

I thought I was just an ordinary lesbian… how did the lesbian circle get so messy? Am I really a slut? Lumiana sat on the edge of the bed and said to Franca:

“Go to sleep. I have to work tomorrow.”

Security guards work on rotating shifts.

Franca looked at Lumiana and smiled:

“You forgot? You took two days off—Friday and Saturday. Your supervisor, Green, approved it.”

Lumiana blinked:

“Oh right… I forgot. No wonder I didn’t have to work the evening shift today—I could go straight to Shujin Renjia…”

Watching Lumiana like this, Franca suddenly thought she seemed a little clueless and endearing.

After the two in the bedroom fell back asleep, Jianna also lay down on the sofa, closed her eyes, and sank into deep sleep.

After a while, her astral body arrived in Ruo Shan’s shamanic realm and saw the girl still guarding the semi-transparent barrier, having just repelled another wave of monsters.

Jianna’s peripheral vision caught Franca’s astral body, wandering aimlessly like everyone else around her, dazed and confused.

This meant Franca, due to illness, had entered the realm but then retreated.

Then Jianna noticed Lumiana’s astral body—she, too, lacked clear consciousness.

“She’s definitely not an extraordinary being…” Jianna had just formed this thought when suddenly she realized something.

Ruo Shan must have known!

It was hard to hide anything from her within the shaman’s “territory.”

The next second, Jianna saw Ruo Shan partially turn her body and say to her:

“You really killed Zarathustra.”

Ruo Shan had seen Lumiana’s astral body—the beautiful woman who had emerged with Zarathustra from the screen.

“Yes. I didn’t tell you earlier because I feared the police might have special methods to confirm whether you were lying,” Jianna explained.

Ruo Shan asked in confusion:

“But what about Ruo Fu? Isn’t she afraid of being caught lying?”

“She underwent preemptive hypnosis,” Jianna didn’t conceal it.

Ruo Shan fell silent. After several seconds, she asked in a low, painfully strained voice:

“Is this… really just a dream?”

(End of Chapter)