Chapter 1078: I Call It Fate, Like Meditation Without Words...

.........Bai Hemen listened from behind.

He pulled out his phone and searched for the name on the screen.

"She's about to have a concert soon—want to come back and watch it when the time comes?"

Chu Gexiao's heart tightened just hearing that.

Come back again?

Fortunately, Lu Ding shook his head: "No need, we're busy."

Besides, running back and forth like this all the time would only put Director Chu in a difficult position once they returned to the Third Circle. Lu Ding didn't like causing trouble for others.

Bai Hemen nodded.

He continued scrolling through entertainment news on his phone.

Director Chu's car drove straight through the city.

At the entrance to the ring road expressway.

Traffic jam.

Director Chu lowered his window, pulled out his special-issue cigarettes, and handed one to Lu Ding. "I saw everything just now. If we're assigning blame for this traffic jam, you're ninety percent responsible."

Lu Ding took it, lowered his window, lit it, and blew a puff of smoke outside.

"It's about the atmosphere."

The line of cars crept forward slowly. Director Chu pressed the accelerator, disengaging the auto-hold, and let the car idle forward.

"Ah, youth."

As he spoke, they happened to pass a fully curtained van.

Lu Ding turned his head.

He locked eyes with someone inside the van, the smoke from the special-issue cigarette curling at the corner of his mouth.

A smile spread across Lu Ding's face, and he gave a slight nod.

The person in the van looked utterly stunned.

"Quick, chase them! Catch that car passing us!"

The driver heard the girl's words and instinctively glanced over.

Holy crap. 00000. White plate, black letters, reflective!!!

This is NOT something you chase!!!!

He had no choice but to steel himself and say, "Miss Qi, the traffic is too bad. We can't move."

The girl ignored everything, directly yanking at the car door. When it wouldn't budge, she shouted, "Unlock it!"

The door unlocked.

She didn't care about the rain.

She jumped straight out of the car and sprinted forward to catch up.

But the ETC fast lane on the far left had smoother traffic, and all she could do was watch helplessly as that 00000 license plate drove farther and farther away. Yet the rain had stopped.

At that moment.

In Director Chu's car, the system had already auto-switched to the next song.

"Under the lamplight, sighing as beauty fades into dusk..."

"I call it fate, like meditation without words..."

Lu Ding glanced back.

With his hearing, he could clearly make it out.

"Lu Ding... I hate you... You clearly acknowledged me..."

Lu Ding crushed his cigarette butt and rolled up the window.

The girl had also returned to her car.

She hugged a towel.

Her eyes were bloodshot.

She picked up the code-locked notebook beside her and opened it. The pages inside had yellowed and curled at the edges.

A glamorous paradise on earth, a sea of resentment she couldn't escape.

The car heading out of the city.

It arrived directly at the residential compound of Su Yun's parents.

Lu Ding carried the urn.

He thought it over again and again in his mind.

Finally, he settled on his words.

He got out of the car, went upstairs, and knocked on the door.

The moment the door swung open.

Lu Ding saw two gaunt figures.

Skinnier than in the video call... more exhausted...

Su's father recognized Chu Gexiao, and his first words were, "Chief, do you have any news about my Su Yun?"

Chu Gexiao glanced at Lu Ding beside him.

Lu Ding stepped forward.

Before he could even speak.

The urn in his hands caught Su's father's attention.

Like a bolt from the blue.

Unbelievable.

Su's father's eyes turned bloodshot, tears brimming.

"Come in, come in, please sit, Chief. I'll go make some tea."

Walking into the room.

Su's father kept talking, kept busy.

"The house is a mess. Sorry to make you laugh, Chief."

"Chiefs, you haven't eaten yet, have you? You should stay and have a meal here."

"What heavy rain today. I was planning to go out and post more missing person notices..."

"But it looks like it's stopped now..."

The man's words were gradually losing all logical coherence.

Lu Ding couldn't bear it: "Mr. Su..."

That one call.

Made Su's father, who was just picking up scattered missing person notices from the floor, instantly collapse.

Bai Hemen stepped forward to help him up.

Lu Ding spoke: "Su Yun was... tricked into going abroad under the pretense of a part-time job or job hunting... An accident happened to him over there. Through our tireless efforts, we successfully captured the criminals, but..."

Lu Ding didn't continue.

He simply handed over the ceramic urn in his hands.

Su's father took it, unable to say a single word. Though his entire body was weak and limp, he still clutched the still-warm urn tightly.

As if he could feel Su Yun's lingering warmth on its surface.

After a long while, Su's father slowly raised his head.

"Did they bully him?"

Lu Ding shook his head: "No, he died from an accident. The kidnappers were planning to demand a ransom, but no one expected Su Yun to suddenly have a cerebral infarction."

Hearing this, Su's father glanced at the confused woman beside him.

"His mother has that too..."

He wiped away his tears, staggered, and bowed to Lu Ding and the other two: "Thank you, Chiefs."

Lu Ding helped him up: "Mr. Su, life... has to go on..."

Su's father looked at his wife, then at the urn in his hands: "Yeah... life has to go on..."

As the head of the household, he still had a wife—he couldn't collapse...

Though his son was gone, the undeniable truth was that they were also freed.

Now Su's father had to worry about his wife's illness...

Lu Ding could easily heal Su's mother's condition with a flick of his hand.

But such a result would be nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst.

If Su's mother got better, they would lose all hope of living, all motivation to keep going.

At that point, they might...

Sigh...

Lu Ding could only secretly leave behind a tiny, tiny, tiny spell to ensure that Su's mother's illness could be cured by modern medical means without too much expense—since the Su family had no money left.

A long time later.

The three of them stepped out of the Su household.

Walking down the hallway without an elevator.

Chu Gexiao said, "Sometimes I think you're pretty heartless. You were right there, but you didn't even get out of the car to take one more look at her."

"Other times, I feel like you empathize too much."

Lu Ding descended the stairs: "Other people's business and my own business are always different. With others, I have a whole set of routines. With myself, if it's too much trouble, I just loop a little rope around my neck and laugh, hahaha..."

He cracked a joke.

But Chu Gexiao could see the clear-headedness beneath Lu Ding's humor.

Bai Hemen: "Hahahaha..."

The abrupt laughter made Chu Gexiao and Lu Ding both turn to look at him.

Bai Hemen instantly clamped his mouth shut.

"Not... funny?"

The somewhat heavy atmosphere was broken by Bai Hemen.

Lu Ding looked at the exit of the stairwell just ahead, with the residential compound outside.

He said, "Director Chu, let's leave it here. We have to go now—there's something else to handle. We'll leave this matter to you."

He still had to take Bai Hemen to see Elder Shui.

With that.

Lu Ding pulled a pill out from his body.

He had plenty of these things, but he didn't like eating them—they had artificial additives. He preferred pure, natural, pollution-free rare natural treasures. Eating them raw tasted best.

Chu Gexiao quickly declined: "This won't do. I can't accept it."

Lu Ding: "Hey, you're my elder. What's wrong with me showing you some respect? You've helped me plenty—it's only right. Just treat it like a candy pill and take it quietly on your own."

Chu Gexiao: "No, no, really no. If I take this, I won't be able to suppress myself anymore. I'm doing fine as Bureau Chief—you don't expect me to go back to being an investigator, do you?"

Lu Ding: "Don't worry. It's something that fortifies the foundation and nourishes the origin. It improves quality, not quantity. Do you think I don't understand these things?"

Chu Gexiao rubbed his fingers together, but in the end, he chose to accept it.

This kid was really damn good.

All the kindness Yunhai had shown him back then really wasn't wasted.

He knew how to repay.

Out of all the Bureau Chiefs in the entire Third Circle, so many had sent up geniuses, but not one had enjoyed treatment like Chu Gexiao's.

He was still remembered to this day.

It wasn't about necessity or anything.

But having that kind of heart truly moved Chu Gexiao.

"Then I won't see you off?"

Lu Ding: "You'd have to be able to keep up with us."

Boom!!!

[Celestial Shift]

They vanished on the spot.

Chu Gexiao looked around the empty space.

"Heh, this kid just leaves the moment he says so. Showing off his skills to me, huh?"

He thought for a moment, then added one more comment: "Yeah, it's pretty damn awesome."