Chapter 64 – A Test on the Road

Under the cover of night, Cheng Xiaomei drove Su Lifeng, who had just come out of the furniture market, silently merging back into the sparse flow of traffic.

“Um… that place may be safe, but won’t it cause her a lot of trouble?” Cheng Xiaomei couldn’t help asking.

Su Lifeng was silent for a moment before replying, “Su Lian said she was her friend, but she didn’t say I couldn’t punish her.”

Yes. Exactly.

“So she’s Xiao Lian’s friend,” Cheng Xiaomei said. For some reason, her mood suddenly improved a little. Strangely enough, she hadn’t felt this way when it came to Jiang Yushi. Maybe it was because, in her mind, Jiang Yushi was still a survivor who had come back from the island just like her. Or maybe it was because, facing Jiang Yushi, she was simply too embarrassed to admit to any jealousy.

Cheng Xiaomei couldn’t be bothered to think too deeply about it.

“All right, then. Let’s go home.”

But as the car accelerated past a patrol car parked by the roadside, Su Lifeng felt as if a pair of eyes inside had glanced in his direction.

“Was it just my imagination?”

Patrol cars like that had long existed in the city. Though these days there did seem to be more of them, almost everywhere, in fact, and often clustered together in groups-it was hardly anything unusual.

With the threat of the Xenospecies around, it would be stranger if public security hadn’t changed at all.

Just then, however, one of the patrol officers up ahead suddenly picked up his walkie-talkie, listened for a couple of seconds, and then looked toward their car.

As he stepped out and waved for them to stop, Cheng Xiaomei’s entire body tensed at once.

“Don’t be nervous,” Su Lifeng said, quickly glancing at her.

At the same time, he looked in the rearview mirror. From the patrol car they had just passed, several plainclothes officers were walking toward them. The man in the lead still held his walkie-talkie near his mouth.

The moment Su Lifeng saw him, he had an immediate gut feeling.

That was the man who had been watching them just now…

With his current eyesight, it wasn’t hard to tell that these people were no ordinary police officers.

They radiated a kind of pressure that was different from the Xenospecies, yet just as nerve-racking. The way their hands stayed inside their jackets also made it look as if they were ready to draw and fire at any moment.

“Act natural,” Su Lifeng added quietly.

Cheng Xiaomei had no time to nod, because nearly ten officers had already surrounded the car from the front and back.

They kept a safe distance while one of them called out, “DUI check. Step out of the vehicle.”

The corner of Su Lifeng’s mouth twitched. Since when did a DUI check involve making people get out from almost ten meters away? And looking like they’d execute them on the spot if they refused? That excuse was way too flimsy…

Still, they hadn’t openly shown any hostility, which allowed Su Lifeng to relax a little.

It seemed they had merely been chosen for a random inspection, not that they had truly aroused suspicion.

The only thing that made Su Lifeng uncomfortable was that ever since that man had drawn closer, he had been staring at him the entire time.

Click.

Cheng Xiaomei took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and was the first to step out.

Su Lifeng straightened up at once as well, pretending there was nothing unusual about his body as he jumped out of the car.

As soon as he got out, he looked at the man. To his slight surprise, the other party met his gaze calmly for a moment before turning to Cheng Xiaomei. “Driver’s license. And both your IDs.”

As Cheng Xiaomei lowered her head to dig through her wallet, she tried her best to squeeze out a trace of displeasure and muttered, “If it’s a DUI check, then just test for DUI. Since when do you need IDs too…” Despite what she said, she quickly took out the documents, then reached a hand toward Su Lifeng. “Lifeng, yours too.”

“Was I overthinking it after all?” Su Lifeng withdrew his gaze as well, took out his ID, and handed it over.

“Where were you driving so late at night?” the officer checking their documents suddenly asked.

Cheng Xiaomei’s heart jolted, and she instinctively began searching for an excuse. But before she could say anything, Su Lifeng said, “Late? What’s late about it? It’s not even midnight. Are we not allowed to drive around?”

The police officer frowned, apparently displeased by Su Lifeng’s attitude. His patience visibly thinned. “Take your IDs. In the middle of the night, it’s best not to wander around for no reason. You, come over here and blow into this.”

Seeing that the other questions the man had seemed to have been skipped over, Su Lifeng secretly let out a breath of relief.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of being interrogated. In fact, he knew very well that as long as he acted like he had a distinct personality, the odds of them suspecting him of being a Xenospecies would drop considerably.

Sure enough, after that, the other officers relaxed a little. Even so, they showed no intention of lowering their guard completely.

Only that one man showed no obvious change in expression. Just as Cheng Xiaomei passed the breathalyzer test and returned to the car with Su Lifeng, Su Lifeng was walking toward the car door when a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Black Thread.”

Su Lifeng’s heart gave a violent leap.

In that brief second, his expression shifted sharply. Then he turned and looked at the man who had walked up behind him.

“What else do you want?” Su Lifeng asked impatiently, doing his best to keep his face looking normal.

The man was middle-aged. His expression was calm, and in the face of Su Lifeng’s questioning, he suddenly gave a faint smile. “Nothing. Young man, temper that temper of yours a little.”

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Su Lifeng on the arm.

“Ah!” Su Lifeng immediately let out a pained grunt and clutched his arm.

When he moved his hand away, two bloody cuts had appeared on his arm, and blood was slowly seeping out.

The man narrowed his eyes and looked at the wounds. Then, before Su Lifeng could lose his temper, he said apologetically, “I’m sorry. Looks like my nails are a bit too long. I’m willing to compensate you…”

“No need!” Su Lifeng glared at him viciously, turned around, and got into the car. “What a psycho… Just my luck today!”

Only after the sedan belched out a cloud of exhaust and sped off did the middle-aged man open his palm, revealing the razor blade pinched between his fingers.

“Captain Lv, that kid didn’t look like one. Why did you still test him? Judging by the result, he really isn’t, right?” the officer who had checked their IDs came over and asked.

Lv Zifeng stared at the razor blade and did not answer. Instead, he asked, “That was Su Lifeng, wasn’t it?”

“Um… yes,” the officer said with a surprised nod.

“As I thought. I still remember him. My daughter once mentioned him. She said he was the youngest graduate student at the School of Life Sciences, that he had great potential and might become a biologist in the future. He was just a little cold, and she didn’t really have much interaction with him…” A trace of reminiscence appeared in Lv Zifeng’s eyes. Then his fingers abruptly tightened again around the razor blade. “I never expected to meet him ahead of time, in such an unexpected place at such an unexpected moment.”

Only after the car had driven quite a distance did Cheng Xiaomei finally let out a breath of relief and look toward Su Lifeng. “Are you okay?”

The anger on Su Lifeng’s face had already vanished, replaced by complete calm.

He glanced at his arm. The two cuts were already gone.

“I’m fine. I didn’t expect them to already know how to test for it. If I hadn’t happened to be injured today and physically exhausted…” Even so, the instant he felt his skin being sliced open, to be safe, he had immediately used the chance to clutch his arm and pressed hard against the wounds again.

“I’ll have to be even more careful from now on. Especially with that man just now. He won’t be easy to deal with. But the way he looked at me felt strange somehow… Have I met him somewhere before?” Su Lifeng thought. He had a feeling that cut hadn’t been some sudden whim… Maybe from the moment they were stopped, the police’s real target had been him all along…

But why? Where had something gone wrong? Or could it be…?