Chapter 194: Little Zhu, Ask You Something

Zhu Shuqing felt like he might not have woken up yet.

Ever since Chen Ling had smashed half his teeth with a single punch in the Outer Ring, that calm and indifferent face had become his nightmare. Not to mention the toothache that kept him awake, basically every time he fell asleep, he would dream of the day he was struck by Chen Ling's [Fist of Justice]...

Under the influence of recurring nightmares, Chen Ling's face had become increasingly filtered through fear in his subconscious, to the point where it was now almost synonymous with "demon."

He had finally managed to sleep a little better last night, only to walk into the office today and see the face from his nightmares suddenly following him to his own workstation. The shock was no less than seeing a ghost in broad daylight.

"You two know each other?" Feng Man looked at Chen Ling in surprise.

"Met once, not close." Chen Ling shrugged. "Where is my workstation?"

"That one is your desk. When you aren't out on field assignments, you'll write your drafts here."

After saying this, she paused and added, "However, since you'll be following Wen Shilin, I doubt you'll have much time to sit still... we'll see how it goes."

The spot Feng Man pointed to was the empty desk right next to Zhu Shuqing.

Chen Ling glanced at Zhu Shuqing, a playful smile curling the corner of his mouth. "Alright, I understand."

"I've left your things on the desk. The camera is with Wen Shilin; just ask him for it later. If there's anything else you don't understand, ask Zhu Shuqing—you two know each other anyway." Feng Man glanced at the time. "I have a meeting in a bit, I'm off."

Feng Man seemed to be a quintessential career woman, always busy. Having just finished showing Chen Ling around, she immediately dove into other work without a hint of hesitation.

As Feng Man left, Zhu Shuqing still hadn't recovered. He stared blankly at the approaching Chen Ling, as if in a dream.

Chen Ling walked up to Zhu Shuqing unhurriedly, flashing a harmless smile:

"Please take care of me from now on... Zhu... what was it again?"

"This is impossible..." Zhu Shuqing snapped out of his shock, speaking in disbelief. "You became a reporter?"

"What do you think?"

Chen Ling sat down at the desk next to him and began flipping through the items on the table, which were mainly some relevant manuals, notebooks, a fountain pen, and so on.

Chen Ling picked up the fountain pen and was about to shake off the ink. As soon as he moved his hand, Zhu Shuqing turned pale with fright, instinctively covering his face.

Seeing this, Chen Ling couldn't help but find it amusing:

"What are you afraid of? There are so many people here, you think I'd hit you?"

Zhu Shuqing's expression turned incredibly ugly. He thought to himself, *There were even more people around when you hit me last time...* He didn't dare glare at Chen Ling, so he just let out a cold snort and turned away.

Chen Ling tested the pen's ink and found it fine, then began to scan his surroundings. A dozen desks were arranged in a staggered pattern in this office area, two-thirds of which were empty... Most of the people working on this floor were reporters, and at this time of day, many were likely out on field assignments.

"Little Zhu, ask you something." Chen Ling said naturally.

Zhu Shuqing didn't want to deal with Chen Ling and was about to get up to pour himself a glass of water when a powerful hand pressed down on his shoulder, pinning him back into his seat like Mount Tai.

Immediately after, those five fingers gripped his bone like iron pincers. A wave of pain instantly shot through Zhu Shuqing's mind, and at the same time, a cold voice rang in his ear:

"I have something to ask you... do you have time?"

Zhu Shuqing turned deathly pale and nodded immediately. "Yes, yes!"

"Do you know A-Cheng? Which one was his workstation?"

Zhu Shuqing swallowed hard, trembling as he spoke. "A-Cheng... you're sitting in his old spot."

A flash of surprise crossed Chen Ling's eyes, and he released his grip on Zhu Shuqing's shoulder.

Although it only lasted a few seconds, Zhu Shuqing felt like his shoulder was about to fall apart. He jumped up from his seat, put on his press pass, and walked out as if fleeing for his life...

The reason he was still hanging around the office at this hour was because he was lazy, and since people paid him to do things outside, he naturally didn't want to go out on field assignments and suffer... But now that Chen Ling was sitting next to him, Zhu Shuqing would rather go out and work like a dog every day than stay here and slack off.

Chen Ling didn't stop him. Instead, after he left, his fingertips began to grope around the desk drawers.

According to A-Cheng, he had copied the article about the "Hand of Redemption" and hidden it in the interlayer of his desk. Chen Ling had expected to have to search for a while after infiltrating the Aurora Newspaper, but he hadn't expected it to be so effortless.

Soon, his fingertips touched a barely perceptible bump.

As Chen Ling applied a little pressure, a few thin sheets of paper were pulled out from the gap in the wood on the inside of the drawer. Chen Ling scanned them quickly, catching a glimpse of the words "Hand of Redemption?"

With so many eyes around, Chen Ling naturally couldn't unfold the documents here. Instead, he flicked his finger, and like a magic trick, he tucked the pages away, as if they had never existed.

Chen Ling sat in the office for a while longer. About ten minutes later, Wen Shilin returned to the office and walked over to Chen Ling's desk.

He seemed surprised to see that Zhu Shuqing at the next desk was gone, but upon turning to see Chen Ling, who was bored enough to start spinning his pen, he seemed to understand something...

"How does it feel?"

"Not bad," Chen Ling replied. "The atmosphere isn't as bad as I imagined, and the colleagues are unexpectedly interesting..."

"Have you met Feng Man?"

"I have."

"She's my superior, a pretty good person... If you have any trouble in the office later, you can ask her for help."

Chen Ling nodded slightly. "What about that corpse?"

Wen Shilin's expression turned serious. He looked around and said to Chen Ling, "Come with me."

Chen Ling followed Wen Shilin out of the office and walked along the street. As the number of pedestrians increased and the environment grew noisy, Wen Shilin lowered his voice and said:

"That corpse came from Shuangye Hospital."

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment. He looked at Wen Shilin in confusion. "How did you find that out?"

In his view, Wen Shilin could only have determined the corpse's age, cause of death, or other physiological aspects, as those were the only clues left on the body... He didn't understand how Wen Shilin could accurately pinpoint the hospital where the victim died based on a corpse.

"The condition of the body is about what I thought—the organs were removed using professional means. Plus, my friend found traces of medical anesthetic in his system. There's nothing much to say about that..."

Wen Shilin paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly. "The key lies in the sheet wrapped around him."