Genius Club-Chapter 174 - 17 Good and Evil

"You also just arrived in Donghai City not too long ago, do you understand so much about the things around Lin Xian?" Tang Xin looked at Zhou Duanyun and asked.

Zhou Duanyun lifted some food from the white plate with his fork and put it into his mouth:

"No matter if it’s Donghai City or anywhere else... In the business circles, idle chatter after drinking is all about the same men and women issues. Although I haven’t been in Donghai for long, I had heard quite a bit about it from others beforehand."

"Lin Xian is quite famous in Donghai’s business circle now, of course... The reason for his fame isn’t because he is outstanding, but because of the women around him."

Seeing that Tang Xin was listening seriously, Zhou Duanyun slightly smiled, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and continued:

"Lin Xian’s boss, the President of MX Company, Zhao Yingjun, is the sole daughter and heiress of Zhao Corporation in the Imperial Capital. Although the two seem worlds apart in status... according to everyone’s speculation, their relationship is definitely not ordinary."

"They danced together at the New Year’s dinner before the end of the year... A woman with Zhao Yingjun’s personality would definitely not dance with others, but Lin Xian was an exception, it’s not hard to guess why."

"After I saw you took an interest in Lin Xian that day, I even made a point of inquiring specifically for you, and as it turned out, I indeed found some interesting news."

Zhou Duanyun looked up at Tang Xin:

"Lin Xian is currently serving as Zhao Yingjun’s personal secretary, and before this, it had been a long time since she employed a secretary. Everyone inside MX Company secretly feels that their relationship is extraordinary... There is no smoke without fire, and although the two probably haven’t established a clear romantic relationship, I think it’s quite obvious that President Zhao is interested in and has plans for Lin Xian."

...

Tang Xin did not speak.

She indeed had not heard Lin Xian mention these matters, and, of course, she had not specifically asked.

"That’s Lin Xian’s own business."

Tang Xin turned her head to look at the neon night view of Donghai City outside the window.

"But actually, I think that Lin Xian doesn’t have that kind of romantic feeling for Zhao Yingjun," Zhou Duanyun said with a smile.

"Do you know Lin Xian very well?" Tang Xin turned her head and looked at Zhou Duanyun:

"I feel that you two don’t seem to know each other that well."

"That’s true," Zhou Duanyun nodded:

"But after all, we were high school classmates for three years, and I also chatted with him quite a bit when I was sending Gao Yang home yesterday, so I do understand Lin Xian’s situation quite well."

"Actually, the biggest strength of Lin Xian is his kindness and warm heart, which is the same for the high school Lin Xian and the current Lin Xian. But at the same time, this is also his biggest weakness—"

He paused and then, squinting his eyes, Zhou Duanyun said:

"Lin Xian is a person who easily gives in to persuasion and is not good at refusing others."

"He tends to agree to most requests from others, even if some matters are very troublesome, but Lin Xian’s innate kindness and warm heart often compel him to reluctantly agree."

"That doesn’t seem like a drawback," Tang Xin smiled.

In this regard, she indeed agreed with what Zhou Duanyun had said:

"Was Lin Xian also often helping others in high school?"

Speaking of Lin Xian, Tang Xin became more talkative.

"Yes."

Zhou Duanyun answered with a smile:

"In high school, Lin Xian was like this. To tell you the truth, he also helped me a lot back then. Not to hide it from you, my family was not well off in high school, and I sat in the back corner of the classroom, feeling somewhat inferior and isolated, with few paying any attention to me."

"But Lin Xian would often notice me... especially in many moments when I felt overlooked and ignored, he would always kindly think to include me."

After hearing this, Tang Xin giggled:

"Then you must be quite grateful to Lin Xian, right?"

"That kind of thing... it’s hard to say,"

Zhou Duanyun picked up his glass of red wine, drank half of it in one gulp, swirled the blood-red liquid, and put it back on the table:

"Looking at it from my current age, I am definitely quite thankful to Lin Xian. But at that teenage age... I actually really disliked people like Lin Xian."

"Why?" Tang Xin was puzzled.

"It’s kind of hard to explain that feeling."

Zhou Duanyun crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back on the sofa cushion as he slowly said:

"Back then, Lin Xian was very popular, good-looking, and excelled in sports, a legendary figure throughout the school, always surrounded by a crowd of both boys and girls, with a close friend like the class president Gao Yang... I believe every teenage boy wanted to be someone like Lin Xian."

"And I was far from that, only able to shrink into a corner of the classroom, not daring to raise my head, even afraid to make eye contact when talking with my classmates."

"Under these circumstances, I felt it was better for everyone to ignore me, overlook me, disregard me. Back then, the classroom felt like a prison to me; I did not want to stay there for a second."

"But sometimes, Lin Xian would show good intentions and try to include me in activities with other students. Unfortunately, at that time, this kindness only made me feel embarrassed and hypocritical, and the goodwill turned into a blade, forcibly dragging me into the light for execution."

...

Zhou Duanyun’s words stopped there abruptly.

There was a long silence between the two.

Tang Xin could actually understand Zhou Duanyun’s feelings quite well, since she herself had switched schools midway through...

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In a way, she felt she could relate to Zhou Duanyun’s experience.

"But that’s all in the past now, and I am still very grateful to Lin Xian."

Zhou Duanyun’s demeanor shifted, and he smiled again:

"That’s why I’m so interested in the matter between Lin Xian and you. If I can really bring you two together, it would be my belated way of repaying Lin Xian."

"Actually, I wouldn’t normally talk about these things with others. They’re all embarrassing juvenile incidents and dark thoughts. Bringing them up is quite shameful."

Tang Xin shook her head:

"I’m quite surprised that you would tell me these things. You always look so dazzling and successful at class reunions. You’ve never mentioned such matters before."

As Zhou Duanyun spoke about these things, Tang Xin genuinely felt that Zhou Duanyun had become much more real, and she felt the distance between them shorten.

"Because I really want to help you, to give you both a hand," Zhou Duanyun said with a smile, raising his glass for the first time that evening to invite Tang Xin to drink together:

"How about it? Want to hear my plan?"

Tang Xin smiled shyly, straightened up, and also picked up the wine glass to raise it slightly:

"Although it’s a bit embarrassing... I suppose there’s no harm in listening."

The two clinked their glasses evenly, and drank the red wine.

...

In the dreamscape of the night.

Over the past few days, Lin Xian’s exploration of New Donghai City had deepened further.

The latest achievement was that CC had perfectly cracked the door opening code of the giant chain bookstore.

As long as the correct password was used to open the door, the alarm wouldn’t be triggered, and Lin Xian could stay in the bookstore all night without any issues.

In any era, books are the most direct treasure. With no clues on the safe for the time being, it would be wise to spend more time in the bookstore looking for useful leads.

Although the bookstore didn’t have the historical books Lin Xian urgently needed.

However, history is a broad concept; it always exists in various traces within all kinds of books. Even if major events are erased, one could still deduce the course of history from the descriptions of minor details.

But after all, Lin Xian wasn’t an artificial intelligence capable of quantum reading. Searching for information book by book would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He also tried to move further into the center of New Donghai City, very curious about what was inside the towering Limit Building and what kind of power ruled over New Donghai City.

But unfortunately, he encountered two difficulties...

First, the closer to the center, the stricter the security patrols became, with even a large number of human police on patrol.

This was truly bothersome.

Due to differences in appearance, demeanor, and attire, Lin Xian, this "outsider," was immediately distinguishable from the "native residents" of New Donghai City.

It’s a hard sensation to describe.

Just like a country bumpkin entering the city, even if dressed in the same clothes, and with hair styled in a trendy fashion, one could still tell at a glance they weren’t a local.

Having been isolated from the outside world for hundreds of years, New Donghai City had already formed its unique cultural temperament and customs. Fooling robotic dogs and robots was one thing, but real human police were not so easily deceived.

At least not currently, as Lin Xian’s imitations frequently gave him away.

The second difficulty was in the deeper access to New Donghai City.

He thought of stealing a flying motorbike to fly directly in… but he always inexplicably triggered an alarm. Each time, as he flew into a certain fixed area, he would expose himself.

Lin Xian suspected if there was some kind of regional detection mechanism?

Then on the ground, there were also many high walls separating different city zones, and Lin Xian couldn’t pass through them on foot.

"I’m a bit stuck."

Lin Xian scratched his head, feeling like he was playing a video game where he was stuck at an impassable level, or in a maze where he couldn’t find the right path and so his progress was halted.

And there were no guides to check, only through countless attempts, failures, and piling up corpses might he find the correct route to get through.

But that approach was still too dumb and foolish. He only had one chance to die each day, and it was very possible that after dying hundreds of times, after a year or two, he might still not be able to reach the central city area.

So...

"I might as well spend some more time in the bookstore for now."

There were many books about New Donghai City in the bookstore, covering various aspects. It would be better to start by understanding the details about security from them and see if he could find any loopholes.

As for CC...

The two basically went their separate ways as soon as they left the checkpoint, each doing their own things. Lin Xian had tried bringing CC with him to crack the identity verification gates of the city wall, but that equipment was too advanced. CC’s "Bluetooth headset" couldn’t even connect, let alone crack the password.

...

That afternoon.

Lin Xian was slacking off in the MX Company office.

Ding-dong.

A WeChat message from Tang Xin came in:

"Are you free tonight, Lin Xian? I have something I want to give you~"