Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 836: The Fool

After "Big Cousin" left the school building, a man who had been hiding under a tree smoking quickly approached.

"Big Cousin" casually said, "Delivered the goods, let's go back. Don't keep the boss waiting too long."

Shortly after, a plain yellow TAC car drove out of the university. It didn't take long before the car entered a bustling downtown area.

It stopped in front of an old building.

"Big Cousin" was very cautious, carefully surveying the surroundings before heading upstairs with his companion. They entered a mid-level apartment.

The door was opened by a man with a full beard. "Big Cousin" casually tossed something to him. "Antibiotics, bought it on the way. Give it to Will."

(Note: )

The bearded man nodded and glanced back. On a worn-out sofa, a man lay weakly.

His shoulder was wrapped in bloodstained bandages—if the police were there, they would recognize the wounded man as the criminal who had caused chaos by firing shots during the theater memorial and later escaped.

"Where's the boss?" "Big Cousin" asked.The bearded man casually replied, "Boss Boston is in the room. You can go in."

"Big Cousin" nodded and quickly entered the room the bearded man pointed to. When he opened the door, Boston was counting stacks of cash.

Seeing "Big Cousin" enter, Boston called out and then tossed him a roll of bills (U.S. dollars). "A tip from the boss for your hard work."

"Big Cousin" smiled, accepted the roll of cash, and looked at a young man in front of Boston who was reading a book. "Thanks, Boss Arnold."

Arnold, the boss.

He was sitting with his head down, holding a ballpoint pen, writing formulas in a book, with a thick stack of reference books beside him.

"You work for me, and you should be paid," Arnold calmly said, adjusting his glasses. "And what you get will only increase."

Boston shrugged and said, "Boss, I just don't get it. We're doing great, making money fast, getting any girl we want. Why do you still go to school?"

"Boston, once you're done counting the money, you can leave." Arnold still didn't lift his head. "And make sure someone keeps an eye on that lawyer, Carlo. Caroline sent us so much money, we have no reason to refuse."

"That's a job I like!" Boston laughed, grabbed a stack of bills, and kissed it!

"And keep looking for Caroline. Don't let her get away," Arnold instructed.

Boston stuffed another stack of cash into his pocket and left. "Big Cousin" was about to leave too, but Arnold called him back.

"Any issues during the delivery?" Arnold asked.

"Big Cousin" replied, "No, everything went smoothly. It's just... just that Hailey isn't cooperating much. He said he doesn't want to do this anymore."

"I don’t keep useless people," Arnold said calmly. "If he doesn’t want to do it, let him sit in jail."

"Big Cousin" replied, "I told him the same thing, and he didn’t say anything in the end... By the way, boss, are we going to keep selling these ‘zombie bath salts’ for that mysterious woman?"

Arnold looked up. "Why not sell them? This woman has managed to consolidate so many small gangs in the area, which means the force behind her is terrifying. We can't keep doing small-time work forever. If we want to grow, we need more funds. Selling for her is a good source of that."

"Big Cousin" nodded. "It's better to let smart people handle these things. All I know is that ever since I started following you, I haven’t been broke."

Arnold waved his hand. "Beyond the university market, tell everyone to avoid interfering with the big players’ business."

"But won’t we end up with too much unsold stock?"

Arnold replied, "Then we’ll stockpile it. Right now, all the big players have a lot of product, and their customers are mostly fixed. They’re all fighting a price war to grab more market. I can’t afford to compete in that. Besides, we didn’t get much product anyway—it was just what Boston get in advance. So we need to sell at the best price possible."

"I got it." "Big Cousin" nodded and left.

After he walked out, Arnold removed his glasses and rubbed his temples, looking a bit tired.

But he understood one thing deeply: if you’re born without the same advantages as others, you can only catch up through several times the effort.

Arnold rested for a moment, then regained his energy.

He suddenly opened a drawer and took out a bank card—this type of card had a written password on it. He had already checked the numbers on it at an ATM.

"Where exactly did this come from... just an ordinary prostitute?" Arnold furrowed his brow. "There must be a secret... Was that act last time for nothing?"

Arnold fell into deep thought.

...

"Arnold is the real boss?"

Caroline looked in disbelief at the disfigured man in front of her, listening to his words filled with hatred. "But Arnold, isn’t he just a top student?"

"Being a student is just one of his covers," the man said as he sat down. "But in reality, he's the one pulling the strings, even behind Boston."

"That’s impossible! I saw Arnold myself that day—Boston had him tied up and kept beating him!"

The man responded calmly, "Did you see it with your own eyes? Or did you see Boston's men beating Arnold with your own eyes?"

"But his injuries..."

"I’m asking you—did you actually see it? How long did they beat him, and where?" The man sneered. "Miss, don’t you know there’s such a thing as makeup in this world?"

"But why... why would he stage this?" Caroline frowned.

The man shook his head and said, "That’s what confuses me. Arnold probably used this method to deceive you, trying to get something from you... I know his personality all too well. He thinks he's smarter than everyone else, believes he can manipulate everyone in the palm of his hand. Hmph... he's always been like that. You probably don’t know, do you? These two brothers grew up in the slums. The older brother, Hailey, has been a fool all his life, while the younger brother, Arnold, seems to have stolen all his intelligence from the moment he was born. Over the years, no matter what evil Arnold has done, it’s always been under Hailey’s identity."

The man’s sneer deepened. "At school, he’s the model student. Outside of school, he’s the troublemaking, good-for-nothing Hailey. Since childhood, Arnold has been forcing Hailey to play this identity-swapping game with him."

"That... impossible... how could that be..." Caroline felt utterly disoriented, leaning against the wall. "So now... who’s at the school? Is it Hailey or Arnold?"

"Of course, it’s Hailey now," the man said coldly. "Arnold would never put himself in danger. Except for exams and a few necessary occasions where he has to be present, Arnold lets Hailey play the student Arnold most of the time, afraid Hailey will expose him."

Caroline was silent for a long time, suddenly feeling an odd sense of irony... She had been involved in this identity game between the Arnold brothers all along.

"You... how do you know all of this?" After the self-mockery passed, Caroline became even more curious about the origin of this disfigured man.

He said he lived in dorm room 403 and blamed his current condition on the two brothers, his voice full of hatred... Was he seeking revenge?

The man sneered. "Of course I know. After my incident, I barely survived. Once I recovered, I started secretly tracking the two brothers."

"Following them all along..." Caroline was startled, suddenly remembering something. Her voice grew excited. "You... do you know how Livia died? Who the killer really is?"

The man calmly replied, "It was Hailey, of course. Let me put it this way: Hailey is deeply insecure, always living in Arnold’s shadow. A violent side is hidden within his personality, although it rarely surfaces. His years of inner conflict have given rise to a peculiar fetish. He enjoys torturing and killing prostitutes. Livia wasn’t the first. Arnold had covered up most of the earlier cases."

He sat down again. "I don’t know the exact details of why Hailey suddenly acted that night, because I wasn’t there. But I suspect something triggered him. Afterward, Hailey made a panicked phone call, and not long after, Arnold showed up. That’s when they switched identities. Arnold must have come to clean up the scene. By morning, Hailey left the school as usual, following Arnold’s instructions, and returned to their rented place. Then they swapped identities again, with Arnold putting on his clothes and pretending he had just come back from school."

Caroline was incredulous. "So at that time... Hailey was still there?"

The man nodded. "Yes, he was hiding. He didn’t leave until he saw you climbing out of the drainage pipe."

Suddenly furious, Caroline rushed forward and glared at the man. "If you knew all this, why didn’t you come forward and expose Hailey and Arnold? Didn’t you say your current condition is because of them?"

The man replied calmly, "First of all, I have no reason to help you. Secondly, simply proving Hailey is the killer isn’t what I want."

His eyes, visible beneath the bandages, were filled with bloodshot veins—a pair of eyes filled with vengeance.

All at once, Caroline had a realization... This man wanted to take revenge on the Arnold brothers—his own way.

That thought sent a chill through her, and she recalled the scene she had "witnessed."

She wasn’t sure if it was ‘Arnold’ or ‘Hailey,’ but she vividly recalled the moment when one of them was stabbed in the chest by a mysterious man in the woods.

Could that man be the terrifying figure standing in front of her now?

"Caroline, I need your help," the man suddenly said, turning off the projector in the screening room. The film slowly came to a halt, making Caroline feel as if time itself had frozen. "When I finish what I need to do, I can prove your innocence."

"I..."

"I’ve looked into you. Like Livia, your profession isn’t exactly respectable, but at least you could walk freely out in the open," the man sneered. "Unlike now, hiding, branded a suspect, with Boston’s people after you. Listen, all of this misery you’re in is because of those two brothers. I can’t understand why you’d refuse to help me."

When Caroline didn’t respond for a while, the man frowned and said, "What? Are you okay with being a victim?"

Unexpectedly, Caroline reached out and grabbed his arm, gripping it tightly. She stared at him intensely.

"What are you doing?" the man asked, puzzled by her actions.

"What’s your name?" Caroline suddenly asked. "Since we’re going to be working together, I should at least know what to call you."

The man gave Caroline a suspicious glance before shaking off her hand and casually saying, "The old me is dead. Just call me 403."

"So, what should I do now?" Caroline asked.

403 replied, "For now, nothing. Go back to room 403."

Caroline frowned. "I’ve already left. If I go back now, won’t Arnold—no, Hailey—suspect something?"

403 said, "Don’t worry about that. He hasn’t returned yet. Right now, Hailey’s off venting his frustrations. He hired a prostitute and is probably in a nearby hotel. You’ll still make it in time if you go back now."

As he spoke, 403 handed something to Caroline.

"What’s this?" she asked.

"A stun baton. Be careful with it," 403 replied as he placed a leather mask over his face. "I’ll be in touch. If you notice anything, write it on a piece of paper and throw it in the trash bag. Oh, and here’s the key to room 403. When you come back next time, check if there’s anything slipped into the doorframe."

...

Caroline carefully opened the door to room 403 and, just as 403 had said, Hailey wasn’t there. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

Alone in the room, she paced, reflecting on everything that had happened that night.

If the scene she had ‘seen,’ where one of the Arnold brothers was brutally murdered by 403, then did that mean she was somehow going to help bring it about?

And then... what about the scene she had ‘seen’ of her own death? Did helping 403 mean she was sealing her own fate?

Caroline nervously bit her fingernails, restless and visibly terrified. She suddenly realized that being able to "see" the future wasn't something to be happy about, especially when it involved witnessing the moment of her own death.

"It won't happen... it can be changed!"

Caroline’s eyes snapped open as she remembered the moment she had pulled the woman pushing the baby stroller to safety.

Because of her actions, that woman and her baby had been spared from the car accident.

It can be changed!