bayedsolid Chapter 444 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (50)
Chapter 444 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (50)
Lu Liruan pinched her nose and walked out of the house, dodging the cockroaches that were running around on the floor again, and darted to Liao Tingyuan's side.
The key was on her.
"Where there!"
Lu Liruan shook her keys, making them rattle.
Then you see Liao Tingyuan squatting next to a suitcase that he has opened.
This suitcase also has a combination lock.
When Liao Tingyuan saw Lu Liruan, he sighed softly and made a joke with a half-smile: "The male master is quite devoted in some things."
Lu Liruan immediately understood what he meant.
The combination lock on the suitcase should be the same as the password on his computer.
Lu Liruan nodded, then shook her head.
"Maybe it's because having too many passwords makes them easier to mix up, anyway, all of mine..."
Lu Liruan stopped speaking halfway through her sentence, her eyes darting around as she looked at Liao Tingyuan.
Liao Tingyuan found it amusing: "Okay, now I know that everything you have is a password."
Lu Liruan pouted: "So what? You still don't know what my password is."
Liao Tingyuan revealed a rather profound expression as he scrutinized Lu Liruan from head to toe. In the dim light, his handsome yet pale face made Lu Liruan feel a little uneasy under his gaze…
"Can you please stop making that face at a time like this? It's scary!" Lu Liruan shrank her shoulders.
“Right now, there are only the two of us living beings here. We living beings should stick together... Don’t scare people, okay?” Lu Liruan waved her hand in front of him and said to him very seriously.
Liao Tingyuan neither nodded nor shook his head, but simply continued to look at her.
"What exactly do you mean?" Lu Liruan raised an eyebrow.
"If we spend more time together, maybe I can figure out your password just like I figured out the master's password?" he murmured softly.
Lu Liruan got goosebumps all over her arms.
Liao Tingyuan really has a talent for scaring people; if he wanted to, he certainly had a knack for it.
"You reminded me! When I get back, I'll change all the passwords to a string of random characters, which won't make any sense at all. Let's see how you guess. If you can guess it, you should go buy a lottery ticket. If you win the grand prize, neither of us will have to work anymore, and we can just split the winnings and live like couch potatoes." Lu Liruan bluffed.
Suddenly, Liao Tingyuan narrowed his eyes and smiled gently, completely dispelling the sinister aura he had deliberately projected earlier.
"Be careful, or you might not even remember it yourself."
"Don't compare your old-fashioned memory to mine! I'm young and strong, and my memory is at its peak!" Lu Liruan was speechless with embarrassment and anger.
He slapped Liao Tingyuan on the back: "Hurry up and open the box! Don't you know we're pressed for time and have a heavy mission?"
"You've really gone astray... You're not kind anymore! You're not as forgiving and warm as your mother anymore!" Lu Liruan muttered, "Hand me the box!"
What Liao Tingyuan found was a metal box about the size of a palm.
Lu Liruan took it from his hand and examined it carefully from all angles.
No wonder the key is so small; the box is mini too…
Lu Liruan couldn't believe what could be inside that was so important to the male homeowner.
Lu Liruan pinched the small key and tentatively reached it into the seemingly sturdy lock.
With a "click," it really fits!
This is the key to this lock.
The box was opened, and inside was...
Lu Liruan looked at the two little things inside, which didn't even fill half of the small box.
Somewhat puzzled, I reached out and took them out.
These two things, one is a USB flash drive, and the other...
Lu Liruan fiddled with it for a moment.
Liao Tingyuan took it, pressed a spot, and a small screen on the pen-shaped object lit up.
It's a voice recorder.
"A voice recorder?"
Lu Liruan thought to herself that she had never seen this thing before.
I usually only hear about this kind of thing in suspense dramas or stories.
Surprisingly, there are actually people who buy it in real life.
"Let's check what's on the USB drive first, since the computer is on."
Lu Liruan suggested.
The two returned to the master bedroom and plugged the USB drive into the computer.
The USB drive contains very little data.
It's just some videos and some pictures.
Lu Liruan initially thought it was the same animal abuse videos they had found that had been sold.
That is indeed part of it.
But as the two of them scrolled down further, they noticed something was amiss...
In the videos and photos that were sold, the voices of the two people were altered using voice changers.
Moreover, only the gloved hands and rain boots are shown in the video.
It was impossible to tell who the two of them were.
But these photos clearly show a face.
It doesn't belong to the male homeowner.
Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan both knew what the male homeowner looked like; he was a refined, bespectacled middle-aged man.
The man in the photo is someone else, much younger than him, slovenly, with greasy hair hanging down his shoulders, and a darker complexion.
From the moment Lu Liruan first saw him, she felt that he must be the owner of this place.
Because he looked so unhygienic!
The clothes I'm wearing have stains here and there...
Inside my fingernails, there was also black grime.
But what's strange is that this person seems... unaware that there's a camera filming them.
He never looked directly into the camera, and the angles were always low or showed his back or profile.
There's a very strange sense of incongruity.
Lu Liruan thought for a moment, frowned, and tentatively asked, "Was it taken secretly?"
“Yes, these are not angles for shooting portraits from the front, and the fact that the other person didn’t notice proves that these were all taken by the male homeowner secretly.” Liao Tingyuan agreed.
"Damn it!" Lu Liruan shrank her neck.
I picked up the mouse, put a tissue on it with a look of disgust, and then continued to scroll up.
Scroll to the earlier photos, then click on the details of the photos, and you'll find that the date the photos were taken is very close to the date the male homeowner used as his device password.
It's almost like a matter of days.
He's been secretly filming this person since so early on!
Liao Tingyuan nodded, his expression cold.
"It's likely that from the very first time he contacted this person, he was already on guard against them and prepared to push them out to take the blame later."
Lu Liruan finally realized what was happening.
The male homeowner took these photos not only to protect himself from the other party, but also to use the photos to threaten them in this situation.
Because the male homeowner never believed that his misdeeds would be exposed.
Knowing that he would be discovered for doing such a thing, the most likely reason he took these photos was that if one day the matter were exposed and people found out, it would provoke public outrage.
He simply handed the person over, thus allowing him to escape unscathed.
Anyway, the other party didn't have any evidence to use against him.
She's incredibly cunning, ruthless, and antisocial...
From Lolita's and Liao Tingyuan's perspectives, these two are accomplices.
They were doing these shady things together and profiting from them.
But in the eyes of the male homeowner, that person was not even considered his accomplice.
Because they're simply not qualified!
He even thought that person was so stupid that he only deserved to be a scapegoat, to be manipulated, deceived, and discarded by him.
He was far superior to that person in every way—knowledge, intelligence, social status, and so on.
He looked down on that person from the bottom of his heart.
As for why I did these things with that person...
Perhaps because...
Liao Tingyuan said dismissively, "Because that person started this even earlier than him. He never dared to do it from childhood to adulthood, and only after his father passed away did he finally indulge himself. He needs a guide, someone to lead him to start doing these things."
"In fact, he is a cowardly, vicious, twisted and perverted narcissist who thinks too highly of himself."
Lu Liruan often felt that as long as Liao Tingyuan wanted to, or when he was angry and willing to reveal his sharpness, he could get what he wanted.
He always speaks very incisively.
Moreover, the summary is very accurate.
Liao Tingyuan seems to be able to see through everyone he wants to observe...
Lu Liruan sometimes wondered how he really saw her, and whether he actually knew her completely.
But sometimes, this thought would flash through Lu Liruan's mind, and then she would suddenly think: What do I have that the other party can see through?
So what if he sees through me?
Those who see through me will only find that I am just an illiterate person who is genuinely kind-hearted and consistent in his words and deeds...
Thinking of this, Lu Liruan felt much more at ease.
"So, if the male homeowner had planned this all along, in the end, he would push this accomplice out," Lu Liruan pondered.
“He’s not the kind of person who’s soft-hearted, and he’s definitely not indecisive. If he finds anything wrong, he’ll definitely strike first.”
Lu Liruan couldn't figure it out; she felt that something was still off...
This story doesn't make sense!
Although it's generally acceptable, it just doesn't flow smoothly; it seems like some details are causing the problem.
"You're saying this is a sudden event?" Liao Tingyuan quickly caught up with her train of thought.
Lu Liruan was struggling with how to express her feelings.
Liao Tingyuan had already accurately expressed her thoughts.
Lu Liruan gave him an approving look, thinking that Liao Tingyuan was really too understanding!
That's what it feels like!
It seems like the whole thing happened suddenly and very quickly.
For example, normally it takes about a week for a matter to be disseminated...
However, it seems that the male homeowner's story unfolded one after another without any gaps, from the time it was exposed to the time it became known to the public, to the time he was found at his workplace, and then he disappeared and went into hiding.
It's like stringing beads...
One by one they are threaded in, and finally they become a bracelet that connects end to end.
So, who ended up wearing this bracelet?
It was neither the male homeowner nor the accomplice, because both of them were already dead.
Lu Liruan had heard a saying before, but she didn't know which book she had read it in.
It's as if you're trying to find the truth about something, like finding the end of a thread in a tangled mess.
And as you follow this thread forward, you will eventually find the person who benefits from it.
Nothing happens without a reason. In 99% of cases, when there is conflict or death, there is an underlying interest.
The benefits can be large or small, and can be clearly perceived by others, or they may be incomprehensible to outsiders.
Let's see if everyone can figure out what the hidden interests are...
Lu Liruan, mimicking a detective, passionately explained her views to Liao Tingyuan.
Liao Tingyuan gave him a thumbs up: "Well said, very clever!"
“That’s what they say… but I also feel that besides them satisfying their own fetishes and profiting from it, I don’t see anything else that’s actually profitable.” Lu Liruan scratched her head: “Could this be the remaining 1%?”
"Don't jump to conclusions too quickly." Liao Tingyuan looked through the contents of the USB drive again from beginning to end.
We have confirmed that nothing has been missed.
Suddenly Liao Tingyuan paused, seemingly hesitating whether to tell Lu Liruan.
But Lu Liruan had already noticed his unusual behavior: "What's wrong?"
"What did you find?" Lu Liruan narrowed her eyes slightly, raised her hand, and carefully peered through her fingers...
I was afraid that I might suddenly see something too shocking.
Liao Tingyuan's expression was also not good.
Before Lu Liruan even saw the computer screen, she saw his expression and immediately tensed up!
Even with such preparations, when Liao Tingyuan turned the brightness down to the lowest setting on the computer screen, his gaze still fell on it.
Lu Liruan felt that nauseous feeling surge up again...
The image shows the dead body of a kitten.
And those bodies were placed in the freezer of the refrigerator!
That refrigerator...
The two of them just saw each other in the kitchen!
Lu Liruan felt a chill run through her body.
She subconsciously leaned against Liao Tingyuan.
This time, it wasn't just a pretentious act of coquetry. Lu Liruan wasn't content with just pulling on his sleeve; she practically sank her entire body into half of Liao Tingyuan's arm.
"You mean... those kitten corpses... could they still be there now..." Lu Liruan heard her own voice trembling.
The two of them slowly turned their gazes toward the living room.
Even now, all they can see is the door to this bedroom.
"Really?" Lu Liruan murmured, "Do you think that everything we see in this space, whether it's people, cats, or cockroaches... died here, and their bodies are right here?"