Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1182: Against the Wind

As usual, Miss Maid carried her cleaning tools to the Boss’s study and pushed open the door.

In truth, with the club’s peculiar nature, there was no chance of dust ever appearing—perhaps even after the end of time, not even a thin layer of it would gather here.

She simply kept the habit of doing certain things.

But today, Luo Qiu was inside the study—and Miss Maid hadn’t sensed her master’s presence. That could only mean he had concealed it intentionally.

Sitting in his chair, Luo Qiu leaned back naturally, letting the seat bear his weight, the backrest bending slightly under it. His eyes were closed—he might have been asleep, or deep in thought.

The sound of the door opening was unavoidable; Miss Maid couldn’t help it since she hadn’t known her master was inside.

“I was just thinking about something and didn’t want to be disturbed.” Luo Qiu slowly opened his eyes, smiling faintly. “Every time I come back, there’s always a bit of noise. It’s not as quiet here as it used to be.”

Aside from Tai Yinzi, who was plugged into the main server, both Da Zhe and Nero were staying here today. Even Luo Ya, who rarely left her room, was around. If one also counted Adam, the AI assisting with the ‘Lord God Plan,’ it was indeed quite different from the old days when only the maid and the Boss occupied the shop.

“I’ll make some tea for you, Master.”

“No need.” Luo Qiu waved his hand. “I bought some soy milk on the way here. It’s been years—I used to drink it often when I was a student. The lady who sells it must have been doing it for over a decade. The taste hasn’t changed at all after all these years… that’s not easy. Try some too.”On the desk, a cup of soy milk slowly appeared. No one knew when he had bought it, but since the Boss brought it back, it was naturally still warm.

Miss Maid walked to Luo Qiu’s side. As she approached, she noticed two upright bullets placed neatly on the desk before him.

She didn’t drink the soy milk. Instead, she stepped behind Luo Qiu, gently sliding her hands into his hair, touching his scalp, and massaging lightly.

No matter when, such a massage always felt relaxing.

“Two bullets,” You Ye murmured softly. “Master… are you thinking about Chen Mingming?”

“Partly.” Luo Qiu replied while enjoying the massage, his gaze resting on the two bullets. “He gave away the gun.”

“Do you plan to continue observing Chen Mingming like before?” Miss Maid asked suddenly.

“Not necessarily.” Luo Qiu answered casually, closing his eyes and leaning further back, clearly ready to enjoy the massage fully.

But then, he suddenly opened his palm. A wisp of black mist slowly rose from his hand—Miss Maid’s movements stopped immediately.

She could sense an evil will within that wisp of darkness.

However, Luo Qiu merely closed his fingers, and the black mist dispersed easily in his grasp. He said calmly, “I ran into something irritating a couple of days ago. Seems like something within me was trying to stir again.”

So long as he hadn’t turned into what the previous owner had become, negative emotions were inevitable. Miss Maid knew this well. Although she had only served in the club for about three hundred years, she had existed long before that in another form.

The previous owner had destroyed several Main Worlds due to such negative emotions. So, Luo Qiu showing faint traces of it now didn’t surprise her.

“Master can now suppress negativity at will?”

That was what surprised her most—even she had once silently fallen under the influence of such negativity without realizing it. If not for Luo Qiu’s timely action, it might have left lasting trouble.

“I’ve done it once before,” Luo Qiu said indifferently. “The last time was a bit louder. But I wanted to see how far it could go. Later, it got boring, so I dispersed it. This time, it’s much weaker than before.”

“This proves the negativity can barely affect you anymore,” Miss Maid said with a pleased smile.

Looking at his palm, Luo Qiu suddenly said, “The new expansion for that game has been released, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not going out today.” Luo Qiu stood up and took Miss Maid’s hand. “Come on, let’s go inside for a walk.”

Her master seemed to be in good spirits… and so was she, especially since that date night they’d shared.

“Oh, and bring Luo Ya too. She might find the in-game world more comfortable.”

“I’ll create an account for her first, then.”

…

In the new expansion of the Lord God Plan, deep within the thunder-wrapped lands of the Demon Earth Continent, Tai Yinzi—who was leading a group of skeletons dancing wildly—suddenly sneezed.

“Damn it! Who’s bad-mouthing your grandpa Tai?!”

…

…

Cellphone.

—I’ve finished your withdrawal paperwork. You don’t need to go to school for now. Take a good rest at home. I have something to do tonight, so get yourself some dinner.

—Okay.

A transfer notification popped up on the screen. The note read: for dinner.

He didn’t accept it. Instead, he put the phone aside and went back to reading the book in his hands.

It was one he’d borrowed from the library. He hadn’t finished it before and planned to do so over the next few days.

No one else was in the classroom.

Suddenly, noise came from outside the window, breaking the silence.

Chen Mingming closed the book, went to the window, pulled aside the curtain, and looked down.

A few boys were running wildly and laughing in the corridor below. One of them held a pair of pants, waving them in the air—students along the sides burst into laughter.

Behind them, another boy wearing only his underwear was chasing them in rage—Zhao Le.

“Give them back! Give me my pants!!!”

“Here you go!”

The boy holding the pants sneered and threw them—not toward Zhao Le, but into a nearby tree. The pants got hooked on a branch.

Zhao Le wanted to rush forward but hesitated when he saw the pants hanging up there. The other boys laughed a few more times before slipping into the crowd.

Students watched, some laughing, some filming. The looks of amusement far outnumbered those of sympathy; the phones raised to record outnumbered the hands that might have helped.

Chen Mingming’s face flushed red. The world suddenly felt like a massive vortex, squeezing and twisting everything in it.

He didn’t look anymore. Quietly, he returned to his seat, put on his earphones, reopened his unfinished book, and continued reading word by word.

…

…

“Captain Zhou.”

“Captain Zhou, good evening!”

Along the way, Zhou Yusheng nodded to his greeting colleagues as he hurried back to the Special Cases Division meeting room—almost dinner time.

Last night, after being sent home by his coworkers, he had broken down emotionally. He couldn’t tell if he’d fainted or just fallen asleep from exhaustion.

He had slept deeply, long enough to think through countless things, until the afternoon of the next day. When he woke, he didn’t even bother tidying up at home before rushing back to the precinct.

Perhaps because of the rest, he looked better now.

“Old Zhou—looks like you finally got some proper sleep,” said Ma Houde, his red-eyed superior, as Zhou Yusheng came in briskly.

“How’s it going?” Zhou Yusheng sat down directly.

“Perfect timing. Lin Feng just got back—listen to what he’s found.” Ma Houde gestured toward a figure setting up the projector.

Lin Feng gave an OK sign, dimmed the lights, and turned on the projector. Several sets of photographs appeared on the screen.

Lin Feng said seriously, “According to Captain Ma’s orders, another colleague and I went to Wu Rong’s hometown. With the help of the local police, we quickly found the house she had rented… this is the freezer we discovered inside.”

The photos were very clear—what was inside the freezer could be seen in disturbing detail.

Lin Feng took a deep breath. “The deceased, Wu Rong, had her body dismembered with a sharp weapon after death. But unlike Wang Liang’s case, the degree of dismemberment wasn’t as severe. Her head, limbs, and torso were separated into thirteen pieces, but when reassembled, there were no missing parts. The killer either didn’t have time to finish or didn’t plan to do more dismembering.”

“How did you find it?” Zhou Yusheng frowned.

Lin Feng replied, “Pretty much the same as with Wang Liang’s body. It seems that the power outage a few days ago caused a short circuit—not with the freezer itself, but with the house wiring. That whole area is an old urban village, messy wiring everywhere, so shorts happen often. When we arrived, we smelled a terrible stench. Once we opened the door, the freezer was right there in the middle of the room—hard to miss.”

“Did you question the landlord?” Ma Houde asked, rubbing his thumb against his finger.

“Yes,” Lin Feng nodded quickly. “But the situation is almost identical to Wang Liang’s case. After signing the rental contract, all payments were done through mobile transfers—no in-person contact. We also checked Wu Rong’s family and some friends. It turns out she had been active on her social media right up until seven days ago.”

Ma Houde exchanged a glance with Zhou Yusheng.

“Wang Liang’s last update was also seven days ago,” Zhou Yusheng said. “Judging by the method, the killer is likely the same person.”

Ma Houde nodded, then asked Lin Feng, “Did you check Wu Rong’s social circle?”

“Yes,” Lin Feng said. “Wu Rong had a bad temper and didn’t get along well with her family. She quit her job in the city before leaving. I stopped by her former workplace before coming back—she hadn’t really made any serious enemies. Still, most of her colleagues disliked her, so she was often alone.”

“First Wang Liang, now Wu Rong…” Sir Ma rubbed his reddened eyes, his mind a mess.

Zhou Yusheng tapped his pen on the table.

The meeting room fell silent.

After a while, Zhou Yusheng asked slowly, “What about Zhao Le? How’s his investigation going?”

Another officer stood up—he had taken over the follow-up work after Lin Feng was temporarily reassigned for field duty.

“We checked. During Zhang Xiaoqin’s hospitalization, Zhao Le went to the hospital almost every day, sometimes even staying overnight to care for her. On nights he didn’t show up, he said it was because of exams, but he didn’t miss a single test. After Zhang Xiaoqin was discharged, Zhao Le continued taking care of her at home—neighbors can all confirm this. Oh, and Sir Lin had me check his travel records. From the day Zhang Xiaoqin’s incident occurred up to now, Zhao Le has had no record of leaving the city.”

Ma Houde sighed. “Assuming it’s the same killer—and let’s suppose Zhao Le is that killer—Wu Rong’s hometown is at least a four-hour high-speed train ride from here. A plane would be faster, but there’d be a record. Add travel time and preparation—it’s at least a full day’s trip. But the kid has no travel record. Even if he took some unregistered ride, it’d take at least three days round trip. Meaning… the theory doesn’t hold?”

Indeed, later forensic reports also mentioned that no usable traces were found at the crime scene—not even fingerprints. The murderer had clearly been cautious and meticulous.

The investigation seemed to have hit a dead end.

“Go re-investigate the other women connected to Wang Liang,” Zhou Yusheng said after a sigh. “Those women were also deceived by him—both financially and emotionally—and Wu Rong’s meddling caused further conflict. There’s at least some motive there.”

“Understood, Captain Zhou,” Lin Feng nodded.

Zhou Yusheng continued, “Push the local police to send us the full forensic report as soon as possible. Also, compare the photos on Wang Liang and Wu Rong’s social media accounts—find out where they were taken. The murderer knew how to use their posts to fake proof of life; that means he’s calculating and organized. If not for that power outage, the bodies might’ve stayed hidden for who knows how long. But since so much time has passed, many clues may already be gone, and the killer’s had plenty of time to destroy evidence. Still, the sky net is vast and unbroken—I’m sure there’s a flaw somewhere. Let’s work harder, everyone. Meeting adjourned.”

“Let’s work harder” — everyone knew that was Captain Zhou’s way of saying you’re all working overtime tonight.

After the others left, Zhou Yusheng turned to Ma Houde. “Old Ma, go home and get some rest.”

“Yeah… okay, I really can’t take it anymore,” Sir Ma said, nodding tiredly.

But just then, Little Bao rushed over, holding a document in his hands. He placed it in front of the two. “Captain Ma, Captain Zhou—bad news.”

“What is it?”

“This is Chang Xiao’s preliminary autopsy report,” Little Bao said gravely. “The cause of death is the same as that suspect who died in the detention center—gunshot wound. But the bullet is missing!”

“What?” Zhou Yusheng shot to his feet.

Ma Houde dropped his head into his hand, rubbing his forehead and groaning, “I just want to go home…”

…

…

When Zhao Le arrived home, he took a deep breath. The expressionless face finally broke into a smile.

He opened the door, lifted the bag in his hand, and said cheerfully, “Sis, I’m home! The supermarket had a sale today, so I bought your favorite—pork knuckles! Let’s have braised pork knuckles tonight!”

Zhang Xiaoqin’s room remained silent.

Zhao Le exhaled softly, forcing another smile. “I’ll start cooking now—it’ll be ready soon.”

(End of Chapter)