Cheng Gui softly smiled as she looked at him. "Xiao Chen, is there anything else?"
Gu Bichen hesitated for a mont before slowly raising his head.
Cheng Gui noticed the boy’s pitch-black eyes, so deep they seed bottomless, and inexplicably felt a tinge of nervousness.
This Xiao Chen felt unfamiliar to her.
"Aunt Gui, how long have you been with the Gu family?"
Cheng Gui wasn’t sure why he suddenly asked this, but she still replied honestly, "Xiao Chen, you’re fifteen this year, so naturally, I’ve been with the Gu family for fifteen years."
"You’ve been here since I was born, right?"
Cheng Gui seed to think of sothing and hesitated slightly.
Gu Bichen noticed her hesitation and asked softly, "Aunt Gui, what did you think of?"
Cheng Gui shook her head. "N-nothing... nothing. Xiao Chen, hurry and finish your milk. I should get going."
"Aunt Gui." The boy’s voice was severe yet icy, making Cheng Gui feel an unshakable unfamiliarity.
Her feet were like they were nailed to the floor; she couldn’t take a single step forward.
Gu Bichen walked around to stand behind her. "Aunt Gui, could you tell everything you know? Please?"
The boy’s gentle voice carried an irresistible allure.
Cheng Gui spoke softly, "Xiao Chen, actually... actually, I’m not entirely sure. When I arrived, you were already three months old...."
"Did sothing happen when I was born?"
Cheng Gui cautiously glanced around before lowering her voice. "When I arrived, there was another nanny taking care of you. But she made a big mistake while looking after you, so the old madam brought in to replace her. I t her once; she kept saying she was tricked by Zhou Rong...."
Cheng Gui sank into her mories. "Yes, Zhou Rong, that was her na. I asked Feng Gu once who Zhou Rong was, but Feng Gu scolded harshly. She told not to ever ntion that na again in the Gu family, else I could lose my job."
Gu Bichen narrowed his eyes. "That nanny, do you have her contact information?"
Cheng Gui shook her head. "I only t her that one ti."
Gu Bichen continued asking, "Was Yao Huia around when I was born?"
Cheng Gui thought for a mont. "She should’ve been. At that ti, the old madam had just formally welcod her back into the family. She was very affectionate with her. Back then, she wasn’t married yet and was practically staying at the Gu house constantly."
"Aunt Gui, I hope that everything we just discussed remains only between the two of us."
The boy’s voice was cold and authoritative, causing Cheng Gui’s heart to tighten instinctively. She hastily nodded. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone."
After Cheng Gui left, the room returned to silence.
"Zhou Rong...." The boy slowly mouthed the na.
Gu Bichen sat back at his desk, turned on his computer, and after so thought, typed "private investigator" into the search bar.
Several advertisents for private investigation agencies imdiately popped up.
Gu Bichen carefully browsed through them one by one when his finger accidentally clicked on a link at the bottom of the page, which instantly opened a vulgar, obscene ad.
He hastily tried to close the page but caught sight of an icon at the very bottom of the page.
It was a black skull logo with the letters "BS" beneath it, on a dark red background that looked like dried blood. The unnerving image was rather chilling at first glance.
Almost as though under a spell, Gu Bichen clicked on it.
The page redirected, showing several seconds of explicit pop-up ads that made Gu Bichen’s face flush as he averted his gaze.
Finally, the ad ended, and the page began loading. Suddenly, a massive skull appeared on the screen, almost as if it were about to leap out, startling Gu Bichen.
The skull, in 3D animation, moved slightly, and above it appeared two words: Black Seven.
So BS stood for "Black Seven"—Black Seven?
A progress bar appeared below the skull, indicating that the page was still loading.
The process was lengthy. Normally, Gu Bichen hated wasting ti, but several tis, when he considered leaving the page, sothing compelled him to stay.
When the progress bar finally completed, the page changed entirely, transforming into a minimalist forum interface.
To access the forum, one needed to register an ID. Gu Bichen used Cheng Gui’s phone number to create an account.
He had a gut feeling that this wasn’t so harmless place. To be cautious, he decided not to use his real identity. He even took asures to conceal his IP address—sothing he had learned in his earlier studies of computer programming. Masking an IP wasn’t hard for him.
Browsing through the forum, Gu Bichen quickly discovered this wasn’t an ordinary forum; it was a shadowy corner of the dark web.
Nearby, there was a "bounty board" where one could post high-paying offers for the "Hunters" to fulfill any request—yes, any request—including murder and arson, as long as the price was sufficient to satisfy a Hunter.
At the bottom of the page, he noticed the BS logo again and clicked on it. After loading, he was taken to a live-chat-like interface.
A user with the ID "666" sent a ssage.
"Greetings, esteed guest. Custor Support 666 at your service. How may I assist you?"
Gu Bichen lightly tapped his fingers on the keyboard. "I want to investigate soone."
——
Thousands of miles away in Yunzhou, inside an underground casino.
An unkempt man was running desperately while a group of burly n chased him down, causing an uproar in the gambling den.
Eventually, the man was cornered against a wall, with no escape route left.
"Run! Keep running!" One of the burly n, wearing a sleeveless shirt that revealed tattoos covering his chest and arms, looked like soone no one would dare provoke.
After speaking, the tattooed man landed several heavy kicks on the man, forcing him into a curled-up position as he let out miserable cries.
"No money, but you still co here to gamble? You must have a death wish. Grab him and bring a knife!"
Two n in black grabbed the fallen man from both sides, dragging him to a table and pressing one of his hands onto its surface.
The tattooed man took a cleaver handed to him by a subordinate and tested its weight against the man’s wrist.
"Here in our place, if you can’t pay your debts, then you pay with a hand instead."
The man’s pupils shrank as his body trembled uncontrollably with fear. "Brother Qiang, I’ll pay—I’ll pay! Please don’t cut off my hand!"
The tattooed man sneered. "Look at you. Where would you get the money to pay back? I think cutting off one hand is the easiest solution. Maybe next ti, you’ll think twice before coming here to lose my mood."
With that, he raised the cleaver high, ready to strike.
The man scread, "Brother Qiang, I have a son! He’s a big celebrity! He has tons of money! He won’t abandon his father!"
The cleaver froze mid-air, stopping just half an inch from the man’s wrist. He was drenched in cold sweat.
"A bum like you has a celebrity son? Who the hell are you trying to fool? Do I look that gullible to you?"
The man scrambled to explain, "It’s true! My son really is a celebrity, and he’s famous right now! I might not look like much, but my wife is beautiful. My son takes after his mother. Brother Qiang, you have to believe !"
The tattooed man squinted, sizing up the man in front of him.
Even though he was shabby and had put on weight, his facial features in his pri were probably not bad at all.
"You really have a celebrity son?"
The man grabbed onto this sliver of hope like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline, nodding fervently. "If I’m lying, may I be struck down by lightning!"
The tattooed man gestured for his subordinates to release him and handed him a phone. "Call your son."
The man quickly took the phone and dialed a number, but no one answered.
The tattooed man narrowed his eyes. "You trying to fool again?"
The man hurriedly explained, "My son’s a big celebrity. He’s busy with work and probably can’t answer his phone right now. Let call his boss. I know his manager very well."
The tattooed man snorted coldly. "What’s your son’s na?"
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