SFS Chapter 1348: Yun Rui Enchen: Both Imprisoned
Chapter 1348: Yun Rui Enchen: Both Imprisoned
As the iron door of the London Detention Center closed behind her, Gu Yunxi's leather shoe heel got stuck in the gap between the floor tiles. She stumbled and held onto the wall, and when her fingertips touched the cold cement surface, she was shocked to realize that her hands were shaking violently.
Today was already her seventh day incarcerated here. The inspector from Scotland Yard had just finished the third round of interrogation, and the dull thud of the folder falling on the table was still buzzing in her eardrums.
"Miss Gu, what have you thought about?" The inspector's voice was like sandpaper scraping against steel. "Old Zhang said that the encryption key you gave him was a code made from the Cambridge Library's book number. We checked..."
Gu Yunxi leaned against the wall in the corridor, staring at the cracks between his fingernails. There were still traces of fluorescent agent from the laboratory there, a faint blue color like a scar.
Seven days ago, she could refute all the accusations clearly and coherently, but now, it has become difficult for her to even speak a complete sentence.
"It's not me." Her voice was hoarse as if it had been soaked in water, and each word had a broken ending.
These three words were repeated countless times in the interrogation room, from the initial firmness to the subsequent exhaustion, and then to the current emptiness, even she herself almost didn't believe it.
Footsteps were heard around the corner. Gu Yunqian was escorted by two police officers. His shirt collar was askew, and his usually carefully groomed hair was stuck to his forehead. When he saw Gu Yunxi, a flash of panic flashed in his eyes, but he only had time to utter half a word: "Yun..." before he was roughly shoved and taken away by the police.
This was the first time they met after being interrogated separately. Although they were only three meters apart, it felt like there was an insurmountable chasm between them.
Gu Yunxi looked at the marks on his wrists—those were the bloody marks from the handcuffs when he resisted. Suddenly, she remembered how he had scratched his hand on the branch when he was picking a kite from a tree for her when they were little, and he had also been so stubborn and refused to cry...
At the end of the seventh interrogation, Gu Yunxi's watch read 11 p.m. The police escorted her back to the cell. When she passed Gu Yunqian's cell, she saw him standing with his back to the door, his hands tightly gripping the iron bars, his knuckles white as if they were about to break.
"Brother." She called softly, her voice so soft it sounded like a sigh.
Gu Yunqian turned his head suddenly, his eyes were bloodshot and his eyes were cloudy as if covered with a layer of dust.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just shook his head and turned to face the wall again, his shoulders trembling slightly.
This was the first time Gu Yunxi had seen him so vulnerable. The brother who always had the upper hand, the "GStar" who could stir up trouble on the dark web, now felt like a child trapped in a maze, unable to offer even a word of comfort.
When the iron door of the cell closed, Gu Yunxi found that his nails were digging deep into his palms.
The pain made her sober up a little - they not only wanted to destroy the "Nightingale Project", but also wanted to completely tear her and Gu Yunqian apart.
Lao Zhang's accusations were just an introduction; his real killer move was to make them collapse under endless interrogation and suspicion.
At three o'clock in the morning, Gu Yunxi was awakened by the noise from the cell next door.
It was Gu Yunqian. He seemed to be having a nightmare, repeating over and over, "It wasn't me," "Don't trust him." She sat down against the cold wall, listening to her brother's mumbling. Suddenly, she remembered that when they were little, he was afraid of the dark and always asked her to sing for him.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, howl, howling like a beast with its mouth covered," she hummed softly, her voice trembling. Halfway through the song, the noise from next door stopped, and a suppressed sob could be heard, like the howling of a beast with its mouth covered.
Gu Yunxi covered her face, tears finally falling. It wasn't because of fear, but because of powerlessness - they were clearly the closest people, but in this conspiracy, they couldn't even speak a complete sentence.
On the morning of the eighth day, the lawyer was finally allowed to visit. Gu Yunqian sat in the meeting room, his coffee, untouched and now cold, before him. He looked at the document his lawyer handed him, his fingers repeatedly rubbing over the words "Lao Zhang's Additional Testimony." Suddenly, he laughed, his laughter hoarse as a worn bellows.
"He said I used Bitcoin to transfer half a million yuan to an offshore account in October five years ago?" His tone was thick with sarcasm, but his eyes were frighteningly empty. "At his age, he still remembers something from five years ago so clearly. Is there something wrong with him or me?"
The lawyer's face turned grim. "They said the transfer was made using an anonymous wallet, so the source couldn't be traced. And... Lao Zhang said you have a secret account in your father's name."
Gu Yunqian's laughter died down. His father's name was his Achilles' heel, and it was also the softest spot between him and Gu Yunxi. The other party even knew this, clearly knowing their details thoroughly.
"Who?" he suddenly asked, his voice so low it seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "Who hates me so much?"
The lawyer shook his head. "I don't know. All the clues point to overseas organizations, but the methods are too familiar to us, like..."
"Looks like one of our own." Gu Yunqian took over the conversation and pinched his palm with his fingertips.
He recalled that every time before he made a big move, Gu Mingcheng would warn him: "The Gu family attracts attention, so be careful of the people around you." At that time, he thought he was referring to his business rivals, but now he understands that the most deadly knife is often hidden in the closest place.
The door to the visiting room was pushed open, and the police officer indicated that the time was up. Gu Yunqian stood up, took a last look at his mother's name on the document, and suddenly said to the lawyer, "Tell Yunxi not to wait for me."
The lawyer was stunned: "Mr. Gu..."
"Tell her that the key Lao Zhang mentioned is fake." His voice was soft, but it was filled with unquestionable determination. "The real code is hidden in her doctoral thesis, in the formula in Chapter 3, Section 4."
This was their childhood secret, a message conveyed in a way that only they understood. Gu Yunqian didn't know if Gu Yunxi still remembered it, he only knew that this was the only thing he could do now.
Gu Yunxi was undergoing his ninth interrogation when he received the message. The inspector pushed a voiceprint identification report over to him: "This is the recording of your call with the overseas account. The voiceprint is consistent."
She looked at the waveform graph on the report and suddenly smiled. It was a recording of her lab session last year, discussing the stability of memory materials. Someone had maliciously edited and spliced it into a "transactional conversation." The other party had even analyzed her voiceprint characteristics clearly. The meticulous arrangement gave her a chill.
"I admit it." Gu Yunxi suddenly spoke, his voice as calm as a pool of stagnant water, "I admit all the charges."
The inspector was obviously not expecting her to suddenly confess. He was stunned for a moment before reacting: "Are you sure?"
"Sure." She raised her head, the light in her eyes completely extinguished, "But I have one condition, let my brother go."
The interrogation room fell into a dead silence, with only the clock on the wall ticking. Gu Yunxi looked at the inspector's stunned expression and suddenly found it ridiculous.
If only one of them was destined to be free, she was willing to sacrifice herself as a way of repaying the Gu family for raising her since childhood.
In his cell, Gu Yunqian was watching the rain outside the window when he heard the news of Gu Yunxi's confession. Raindrops pounded on the glass like countless fingers knocking on the door. He remembered his mother teaching them how to play chess when they were young, saying, "Sometimes taking a step back isn't about admitting defeat; it's about getting a better chance to win."
But this time, he knew that they might really lose.
The other party's plan was so complex that it made it difficult for them to even breathe. Gu Yunqian closed his eyes, and countless faces flashed through his mind - business rivals, family elders, and even those seemingly loyal old subordinates.
Who on earth could have known their weaknesses so clearly? Who on earth hated them so deeply that he was determined to kill them?
The sound of rain grew louder and louder, as if playing a tragic elegy for this war without the smoke of gunpowder.
Gu Yunqian leaned against the cold wall and felt the chill that penetrated so deeply into his bones for the first time.
He knew that the real storm had just begun. He and Gu Yunxi had been sucked into the center of the vortex, and they almost had no strength to struggle...