Ch168 – Greyfinch (iv)

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The crack between the elevator doors shut at that split second.

By the time they recovered and rushed over, the digits had already started ticking down. 

“You couldn’t have caught it; you should have called out so Amy could’ve held the lift for you.” Another nurse at the nurses’ station assumed that they wanted to catch the elevator and warmly consoled them, “Just wait a bit.
The lifts here are pretty fast.”

While Gu Yan nodded at her, his hands swiftly put out a comms request.

 

 

Yan Suizhi immediately pressed hold of his wrist, saying in a low voice, “Who are you calling? Are you getting someone to stop her?”

“Of course not,” said Gu Yan. 

After the shock receded, both of them instantly regained composure.

 

The last time at the research institute, they were fully decked out in isolation suits with headgear.
The supervising lady wouldn’t have seen what they looked like at all, and hence naturally wouldn’t know that these two lawyers had been there.

In other words, this lady was now completely unguarded, still under the illusion that she was well hidden.

“Since she’s working here, as long as Horace Lee remains at Spring Ivy Hospital, she wouldn’t have accomplished her objective and would have to clock in regularly under this persona as a nurse,” Yan Suizhi softly said.

 

It was easy to capture her like this, but it wasn’t worthwhile to startle the enemy.

Gu Yan, “I know, I’m making a small request to Joe.”

The other elevator quickly stopped in front of the two of them, and they stepped inside.

 

At this hour, the elevator was devoid of anyone else but them.
Gu Yan’s call was soon picked up. 

“Hello, Gu?” Young Master Joe said.
“I’m still on the road, I haven’t gotten on the space shuttle yet.”

“Can you obtain the database of active staff at Spring Ivy Hospital for me?” Gu Yan asked.

Joe was puzzled.
“Isn’t it available on the query kiosks at every main lobby?”

Gu Yan, “Browsing on it would leave a trail.
Moreover, they only have the doctor’s consultation times, but not the nurses’ roster.” 

“The nurses’ roster comes out week by week depending on when the head nurse gets it done.
It doesn’t come out on any fixed day, so it’s not searchable on the query kiosk,” Joe said.

The elevator speedily reached the ground floor, and the metal doors opened.

Yan Suizhi lifted his gaze and looked past the glass doors, quickly finding the figure they were looking for.
He arched his brows.
“Besides, this young lady’s got some real nerve.
She’s getting on the staff bus now.”

Gu Yan’s hovercar had already slid over on autopilot, coming to a silent stop at the entrance. 

Joe quietened down for a few seconds, saying to Gu Yan, “Done.
I got someone to open back-door access for you.
The link has been sent over; you can check it directly there.
But you still haven’t said what this is for?”

Gu Yan said coolly, “Catch a spook.”

 

Joe was immediately pumped up.

The staff bus started to move punctually at seven, rounding the curve at the hospital entrance. 

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While Gu Yan was on the comms, Yan Suizhi went over to the other side of the car and sat in the driver’s seat.

Gu Yan lifted his brows watching him, sitting in the front passenger seat.

“Only police can activate the car tracking function.” Yan Suizhi fastened his seatbelt as he fixed his gaze on the bus, unruffled.
“Tailing has to be done manually.
With our Lawyer Gu’s upstanding character, I’m afraid that he might not have much experience in this area.”

Gu Yan, “And you do?” 

Yan Suizhi considered it.
“Fairly rich indirect experience.”

“What do you mean by indirect experience?”

“I’m more skilled in shaking off tails,” Professor Yan leisurely said.

Gu Yan, “…Isn’t this association a bit far?” 

Though he said so, he still didn’t exchange positions with Yan Suizhi, allowing him to take the wheel.

Joe was faintly worried.
“You’re going to tail someone? Who?”

“Your hospital’s staff bus,” Gu Yan said.

“Why don’t you share your live location with me? I’ll keep an eye on it.” Joe couldn’t ease his mind.
“In case you run into trouble, I can still remotely get someone to help.” 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Abf qgffwqalnfis boofgfv mjreji mbwqilwfcar.
“P erfv ab tfjg lc Zjhf atja atf vfjc tjr jwjhlcu vglnlcu rxliir.
Pc atja mjrf, tlr rxlii ja ajlilcu mjgr rtbeiv jirb yf gjatfg lcmgfvl—”

Before the last syllable was uttered, the hovercar accelerated sharply.

The dot representing them on the map took off as soon as they left the compound, making a sharp turn and galloping north. 

“…”

Joe swallowed down that last bit, gingerly asking Gu Yan, “Err… did the dean go in the wrong direction? Spring Ivy’s staff bus should have went south, right? Or is my memory glitching?”

 

Gu Yan watched the rear-end of the staff bus scamper into the distance in the rearview mirror, falling silent for a few seconds.
“It isn’t.
We are getting further away from it.”

Lawyer Gu contemplated it, turning his head to ask Yan Suizhi, “Is this a… habit of dumping tails?” 

To hell with your habit of dumping tails.

Yan Suizhi eyed the road ahead, snickering.
He asked.
“You don’t get carsick, do you?”

Gu Yan said, “No I don’t.”

With that said, he glanced at the rapidly climbing car speed, adding calmly, “At least, not up to date.
I hope that today won’t prove to be an exception.” 

 

A matte black space hovercar whistled down the high-speed hover lane.

Thanks to the convenience of the hover lane, he crossed two overpasses, and after going around a wide bend, streaked onto another hover byway.

With utter composure, Yan Suizhi held the steering wheel, occasionally glancing at the map on the driver’s dashboard. 

A few minutes later, he sped up again.

The hovercar climbed the hover lane, then swooped down past the peak down a long slope.

The end of this lane joined up with a ground-level overpass.

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Yan Suizhi slowed the car, merging perfectly into the traffic on the overpass.
After a hundred metres or so, he pointed at the rearview mirror with his chin, saying, “There.
Isn’t this catching up with it?” 

In the rearview mirror, the Spring Ivy staff bus which had left ahead of them was driving along ignorantly.

Young Master Joe called out in an afterthought.
“Eh? You’re on the same road as the staff bus now?”

Gu Yan, “Yes.”

“Did you find it yet?” Young Master Joe asked. 

Gu Yan deliberated before saying, “We’re slightly ahead of it.”

Joe, “…”

 

“Ahead.” Joe digested this word.
“Aren’t you tailing it?”

“Following from the front can’t be considered tailing it?” 

Joe, “…”

His brain churned.
He asked out of concern, “Has the other side noticed?”

Gu Yan, “What do you think?”

Joe, “…Oh.” 

Was it possible for them to be noticed? Who the hell would expect that the car that converged from some fork in the road, even calmly driving ahead of you, was actually tailing you?

Joe was completely won over.
“Alrighty.
C’mon then, spill, who are you trying to catch?”

Gu Yan smoothly connected the call to the hovercar, changing his interface to the database that Joe provided.
“Do you still remember that time when Laura hitched a ride on a freight space shuttle to Wine City?”

“Of course, it was that time when the Manson brothers smuggled their drugs in.
What’s up?” 

“The supervisor on board was a young lady; she was overseeing the handling and transport of drugs and liaising with people,” Gu Yan said.
“After that, we saw her at the treatment centre’s research institute lobby.
Laura recognised her.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned that to me.” Joe said, “So you saw her again?”

“She’s disguised as a nurse at Spring Ivy,” Gu Yan said.

“Fuck,” Joe swore.
“Why are their minions everywhere!” 

But his mood quickly picked up again.
“Someone who watched over the drugs, liaised with others, entered the research institute, and has high authority.
She can’t possibly be any low-level oblivious small fry.”

“But she might not necessarily be high-level either.” Gu Yan said, “Or she wouldn’t be handling these personally.
But no matter, whichever authority she has, at least we can get evidence of the drug smuggling, contacts, and research institute activity from her.”

“Right! Bringing her down would be able to string many loose pieces of evidence together.” The more Joe thought about it, the happier he became.
“Which department is she hiding in?”

Gu Yan’s fingers flew as he searched the database for information.
“She works on the special ward floor, the nurse in charge of Horace Lee’s daily IV and care.
Her name is… Amy Borro, though it’s most probably an alias.” 

He sent Amy Borro’s profile over to Joe.

Amy Borro’s profile showed that she was employed at Spring Ivy Hospital since the previous year, initially stationed at Wine City before being transferred to the headquarters in De Carma early last year due to standard procedure.

 

The nurses at Spring Ivy rotated on a shift system, changing departments every other month.

Amy Borro was rotated to the genetics building last month.
When the infection broke out a while ago and with the shortage of staff, she jumped around the departments before finally being assigned to the special wards. 

And within days, Horace Lee was admitted to the hospital.

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“From the timeline, she should have been prepared for this.” Joe said, “This client of yours, Horace Lee… did he come across the Manson brothers doing their shady business and know some inside stories? Or else why would he have gotten on their radar.”

Gu Yan recalled what Horace Lee said.
“It isn’t as simple as coming across it or knowing some inside stories.
I’m more inclined to think that he was involved in part of it.”

“What?” Joe was astonished.
“What makes you say so?” 

“He finally loosened his tongue during our last meeting,” Gu Yan said.
“He selectively divulged some truths, saying he knew that this case touched on medical experimentation and also expected this to befall the affected elderlies sooner or later.
The reason he was present at the crime scenes was that he went over to validate his speculations.”

At that time, Horace Lee was standing next to the windowsill, his fingers softly tapping the glass, thinking back, “I walked through each scene.
Those oldies in the cages looked so wretched, shaking their heads, muttering to themselves, immersed in their own world.
When they saw me pass, some of them pounced over—”

He clicked his tongue, seeming to linger on it.
“Not really human anymore.
More like dogs? No, that’s not quite apt either…”

As he spoke, a flock of common greyfinches happened to perch on the windowsill.
One of which, mayhaps silly in the head, didn’t brake in time, colliding into the glass.
It fluttered its wings and thumped against the windowpane. 

“Ho.” Across the glass, Horace Lee flicked the bird’s head, startling it so much that it whammed even harder into the glass.
“Look, just like this silly bird.
Dull and wretched and unremarkable.
It clearly can’t get me, but it still insists on butting the glass.
It’s fierce but too insolent.”

Horace Lee’s gaze on those greyfinches turned disdainful and cold.
“What’s the point of living like that? It’s as good as being dead.”

After uttering such discomfiting words, he was silent for a moment, then sighed, lost in thought.
“It’s a bit pathetic.”

When Horace Lee spoke of this, some genuine sadness actually leaked into his gaze.
This sadness wasn’t faked; it was very real, yet it was hard to explain why it seemed so unsettling. 

It was only after leaving the ward that day that Gu Yan realised why he felt that way.

His pity and sorrow wasn’t for the elderly victims, but more as if he was talking about himself through them.

Gu Yan told Joe, “I’m more inclined to think that he was once on the Manson brothers’ side, but maybe there was a day or incident that made him realise that it was only a matter of time before they disposed of him, and there wouldn’t be anything good that awaited him.
The Elderly Bobblehead case drove this in for him, so…”

“So he wants to get off the pirate ship?” Joe carried on, “It does make sense if that’s the case.
Look at all the usual infected patients in the hospital; which one didn’t immediately choose to transfer to the treatment centre? Instead, he was particularly resistant against it, as though he knew that something would happen to him if he went over.” 

Over at Spring Ivy, even with someone like Amy Borro planted amidst them, it was inconvenient to move too overtly.

She could pester Horace Lee until he transferred over to the Manson brothers’ watch, but she couldn’t kill him.
Her every step had to be discreet or she would be too easily outed.

 

And Horace Lee was very aware of this, which was why he refused to move his hidey-hole at all costs.

After mulling it over, Young Master Joe said irritably, “These vermins are so darned annoying! They go in circles every day, calculating this and that, isn’t it tiring? I’m about to bald from exhaustion trying to sniff out their traces.
May they be executed soon.” 

Yan Suizhi had been focused on the route of the staff bus in the rearview mirror, and laughed hearing this, his tone relaxed.
“We’re getting there.
Look, isn’t there a little Miss Evidence in our net now? Gu Yan, pull up Miss Evidence’s registered address.”

“12 Pine Hazel Avenue, Oak Apartments Block C, Unit 3011.” While reading the address, Gu Yan marked it out on the shared map.

Not long later, Spring Ivy’s staff bus made its third stop.

Yan Suizhi deliberately picked a red light, naturally stopping before it. 

This time, they saw Amy Borro in their rearview mirror.

About five people alighted together, and Amy Borro was among them.
She waved at her other colleagues, chatting with them for a bit before turning around and walking towards an apartment complex a short distance away.

A large captioned sign was erected above a block—Oak Apartments.

The place where Amy Borro alighted aligned neatly with the address registered in the Spring Ivy system. 

If unaware of her background, one would really believe that she was an ordinary woman from this scene and that this was just another regular day for her.

When the red light turned, Yan Suizhi made a turn and stopped at a parking lot on the other side of the apartment complex.

There was a shopping mall on the other side of the car park with a large terrace on the second floor where many restaurants had alfresco dining.

“What? You’re at her location now?” Joe heard the noise on their side and asked, “Are you going to follow her in?” 

“No.” Yan Suizhi said, “We’re going to have breakfast.”

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Joe, “???”

These apartment buildings would surely be full of surveillance inside.
When even the greening and perimeter walls had cameras installed, it would be even more conspicuous if they were to enter, leaving behind unnecessary traces.

Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan cut off the call for the time being, went up to the second floor of the mall, and picked an outdoor seating area with a good view, ordering two breakfast sets. 

From where they sat, they could see the front and rear exits of Block C.

At 8:15 a.m., a figure with a handbag emerged from the rear exit.

 

The two of them were virtually able to recognise her at first sight after having seen the way she dressed up at the research institute.

She changed her skirt and wore a wig. A white space hovercar slid downstairs just as she came out, and she immediately got into the car, which thereafter rounded the corner and drove to the southwest gate. 

Yan Suizhi opened a map and briefly studied it.

“Where to now?” Gu Yan set down his coffee cup.

“No hurry,” Yan Suizhi said.
“We can give her another five minutes.”

Gu Yan raised his brows.
“How did you come to this conclusion.” 

Yan Suizhi pointed at the map.
“I calculated the route.
She’s going out of the southwest gate, and it’s a straight road ahead all the way until the intersection at Blue Whale Street.”

He then pointed to a few more routes that went in completely different directions and said, “I’ll be way ahead of her if I drove through these roads to get to the intersection at Blue Whale Street.”

With a map in hand, the directionally hopeless Professor Yan could cruise around the whole planet.

He held the steering wheel and once again converted the hovercar into a shuttle, zipping to Blue Whale Street, then smoothly dropping his speed about a hundred metres from the intersection, turning to the slow lane. 

This guy was always astonishingly accurate when it came to such calculations.

Shortly after, a white hovercar sped out from the second fork. Yan Suizhi unhurriedly made a turn.

Again lacking any consciousness of tailing someone, he didn’t even enter the same road as Amy Borro but veered into lane 3 instead.

The general direction of lane 3 was the same as lane 2, simply that it was an old road that was much worse for wear. 

On lane 3, they didn’t charge ahead this time, but fell a little behind.
Through the windows, they could see lane 2 which was a little closer to ground level, and the white hovercar was always within their field of vision.

Nearly half an hour later, there were more trees lining the road and fewer tall buildings sighted.

Yan Suizhi glanced at the map.
They had travelled to the outskirts of Fa Wang District.

Amy Borro stopped at a highway rest stop, got out of the car, and walked in her high heels to the store at the rest stop. 

Yan Suizhi found an emergency pullover area and stopped the car behind the cover of the trees.

Gu Yan cooperatively carried a warning sign from the boot, standing it behind the car, then turning on the indicator lights.

 

They had originally planned to survey the area for a while over here and then pick a suitable time and excuse to enter the rest stop.

But just as Yan Suizhi was about to move, Gu Yan pulled him back. 

“Hold on.” He frowned and pointed at the rest stop.

A tall and lanky silhouette emerged from the store.

It was a young man in casual everyday clothes.
Actually, Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan were unable to see clearly his features from such a distance, but his curly hair and familiar gait easily linked a name to this person.

The curly-haired doctor working with Lin Yuan, the foster son who had fallen out with Yan Suizhi’s landlord years ago.
Jack White.