Chapter 1575: One More, And One Less
Gu Nianzhi patiently started from the beginning. She had only caught a glimpse of it, so she hadn’t paid attention to many details.
As she watched the video on her laptop, Gu Nianzhi began chatting with He Zhichu.
“Young Master He, what did you guys think of this?”
He Zhichu sat comfortably on the sofa next to her. He bent over and picked up a mango from the coffee table in front of him. He cut it open with a knife and drew a cross on the fruit as he said, “Aren’t you angry that I said so?”
“Why should I be angry?” Gu Nianzhi tilted her head to look at him and smiled. “As long as it’s the truth, I won’t be angry.”
“Okay.” He Zhichu nodded. His hand holding the fruit knife paused, as if he was thinking about where to start.
His eyebrows were very dark and neat, and his eyelashes were long and thick. From the side, they covered his pair of s.h.i.+mmering almond-shaped eyes, making him especially suave.
After a while, he slowly began to speak, “On the surface, seven seconds is enough to make you disappear from the heavily guarded hall filled with guests. In the entire country, or perhaps in the entire world, there is only one person who can do such a difficult thing — your father, Gu Xiangwen.”
Gu Nianzhi subconsciously wanted to nod, but quickly realized that she shouldn’t. She smiled sheepishly.”… Is that so? So without any evidence, you’re just going to guess?”
“Am I the type of person who would convict someone based on a guess?” He Zhichu glanced at her and placed the sliced mango on a small china plate before her. “If you still remember the contents of the video, you’ll know that Gu Xiangwen’s note will be here soon, and only Gu Xiangwen is good at hypnosis.”
Gu Nianzhi lowered her head silently and ate the mangoe He Zhichu had peeled for her with a small fork.
He Zhichu stroked her head and continued, “After we chased after her, we did see a car leave. We heard from pa.s.sers-by that there was indeed a man who got into the car with a little girl.”
“But even so, how did he disappear in seven seconds and leave the He family’s mansion in ten minutes to get into the car at the intersection?” Gu Nianzhi swallowed a mouthful of the sweet mangoes. Her taste buds were soothed and she narrowed her eyes. She was as obedient as a cute little Scottish fold.
He Zhichu scoffed and said, “At the time, we didn’t understand this either, but from the results of our investigation, the only way to make you suddenly disappear was probably through the magnetic resonance machine.”
“We found the magnetic resonance machine at Gu Xiangwen’s hiding place. At that time, we saw him laughing hysterically in the fire. There was a car in the fire, and you were in the car.” He Zhichu’s eyes dimmed. “… I saw you and the car being engulfed by the fire with my own eyes. Do you know how I felt then?”
Gu Nianzhi: “…”
She pursed her lips and brought the china plate with the mangoes to He Zhichu. She blinked her big, bright eyes and said,”… For you to eat? Would you feel better?”
He Zhichu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He rubbed her head. “I don’t eat such sweet things. You can eat it yourself.”
Gu Nianzhi’s lips curled into a smile. She put down the china plate and said with a smile, “What you said makes sense, but there are a few loopholes.”
“First of all, the magnetic resonance machine is a channel that connects two parallel dimensions. It cannot transfer s.p.a.ce in the same dimension.”
“If I had immediately gone to the opposite world from the He family’s birthday party, it would have made sense to explain it with the magnetic resonance machine.”
“But according to your account, I went to the opposite world more than a month after the birthday party.”
Gu Nianzhi took a tissue to wipe the juice from her hands and said thoughtfully, “So the option of directly using the magnetic resonance machine to leave the He family can be ruled out.”
He Zhichu frowned. “The magnetic resonance machine cannot transfer s.p.a.ce at the same time? Who told you that?”
Gu Nianzhi’s big eyes rolled around. Of course, she didn’t say that Lu Jin had told her..
She had been recovering from her injuries with Lu Jin for more than a month. When she was bored, Lu Jin would tell her about high-energy physics.
He also enthusiastically used the book Quantum Physics for Cereus as a bedtime story and read a few pages to her every day.
Gu Nianzhi had been recovering from her injuries for more than a month, and her knowledge of high-energy physics had improved by leaps and bounds.
Although she still did not understand it, she could still memorize it by rote.
“It’s very simple. Think about it. The principle of a magnetic resonance instrument is to find the same frequency between two magnetic fields. When the two fields are aligned, the magnetic resonance is used to form a spatial channel. And in the same s.p.a.ce-time, who does it resonate with?”
Gu Nianzhi said Lu Jin’s theory guiltily.
He Zhichu was also puzzled. “Then if it’s not a magnetic resonance machine, how can you disappear from my side in seven seconds, reappear at the gate, and then follow someone into the car?”
He lowered his eyes and said indifferently, “Even if it’s not a magnetic resonance machine, only Gu Xiangwen can do such a difficult thing.”
Thinking that if she hadn’t known about the twists and turns from Lu Jin, her first reaction would have been the same as He Zhichu and the others, Gu Nianzhi shrunk her neck.
Only Lu Jin, Gu Xiangwen, could do this kind of difficult task.
His image as a scientific genius was too deeply ingrained in people’s minds. Whenever an unexplainable incident happened, he would always be the first suspect. Moreover, this incident involved his most beloved daughter. It was a perfectly normal deduction.
From this perspective, faking his death and concealing his ident.i.ty was still the right choice.
Gu Xiangwen had been “burned to death” in broad daylight in front of everyone. What blame could he bear in the future?
Moreover, Gu Xiangwen had indeed interfered in this matter. Therefore, even he himself probably felt that this accusation was not unjustified, so he had no intention of explaining at all.
Moreover, Gu Xiangwen had a social disorder, so it would probably be difficult for him to explain his actions to others.
Therefore, he did not tell anyone about the twists and turns.
If Gu Nianzhi was not his daughter, he would not have said a word.
Under such circ.u.mstances, the culprit behind Gu Nianzhi’s disappearance was Gu Xiangwen.
Everyone thought so, and the results later confirmed everyone’s suspicions.
How should they put it?
This wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t entirely right either.
What Gu Nianzhi wanted to do was to arrest everyone involved in her disappearance and make them bear the legal responsibility.
Gu Xiangwen was her father. Although he had done wrong, he had already used his actions to atone for his sins. She had long forgiven him.
However, the others, thinking that no one knew what they had done, were still at large.
They harmed her, Gu Nianzhi, yet still wanted to escape unscathed? There was no such thing.
Gu nianzhi calmed herself down and calmly watched the virtual hologram again.
This time, she used her camera-like memory to memorize all the guests’ faces. She also counted the number of people present.
There were a total of 237 people in the living room, and 185 of them were children around her age. They were all wearing cartoon costumes, including the invited guests and the children who served as waiters.
There were 52 adults, including the He family’s servants.
Because most of the waiters were children, there were not many adult servants. There were only seven or eight people who were responsible for maintaining order in the living room.
The video played slowly, and finally, it was time to turn off the lights and blow out the candles.
After the lights were on, Gu Nianzhi decisively pressed the pause b.u.t.ton, and her eyes scanned the computer screen inch by inch.
When her gaze scanned the still screen twice, Gu Nianzhi’s heart skipped a beat, and she realized that something was wrong.
She narrowed her eyes and looked up at He Zhichu. “Young Master He, do you still have a list of everyone who was present at my birthday party eight years ago? I mean everyone present, including your servants.”
He Zhichu glanced at her. “Of course, I’ve seen it more than once. What’s wrong? Do you think there’s something wrong with them? But I’ve investigated every single one of them, including the servants in the living room, and I didn’t find anything wrong.”
Gu Nianzhi thought to herself that by then, her father, who was a genius, had probably already succeeded in intercepting He Zhichu. Of course, He Zhichu couldn’t find anything wrong with these people…
She was a lawyer, so she knew that without evidence, she couldn’t easily suspect people.
He Zhichu was also a lawyer, so naturally he understood this.
But even if he couldn’t find anything wrong after that, what about before that?
Gu Nianzhi felt that this was the “blind spot” of the whole thing.
Gu Nianzhi smiled slightly. “I want to see it again. After all, they were all witnesses at the scene.”
He Zhichu would not refuse such a request. He immediately pulled the information from the backup on his computer and sent it to Gu Nianzhi’s email. “See for yourself when you have time.”
Gu Nianzhi opened the email and saw that the hundreds of pages of information were already lying in the email. She nodded and said to He Zhichu, “There’s something wrong with this video.”
He Zhichu was surprised. “What’s wrong with it? Everyone has checked…”
“I know you have.” Gu Nianzhi nodded quickly. “But, look here.”
Gu Nianzhi’s mouse pointed to a spot on the screen. “Right behind you, there’s a child wearing a cloak and a mask.”
He Zhichu was standing in the same direction as He Zhichu. From where he was standing, it was also his blind spot.
Just like when driving, there was a fixed blind spot in the driver’s field of vision.
He Zhichu’s frown deepened. “Wasn’t this child here a long time ago?”
“No.” Gu Nianzhi shook her head and quickly rewound the video. “I counted. Before the lights went out, there were 237 people. After the lights went out, there were still 237 people. Do you understand the problem?”
He Zhichu was stunned for a moment, but his face quickly turned pale.”… You mean, you didn’t leave the hall at all!”
“Yes.” Gu Nianzhi closed her eyes. “As for the exact number of children, before the lights went out, there were a total of 186 children, including me.”
“Among them, there were 185 children in cartoon uniforms. I was the only one who didn’t wear a cartoon uniform.”
“When the lights went out and the lights came back on, I was gone, but there were 186 children in cartoon uniforms. You can count them again.”
He Zhichu stared at the child in the video behind him, who was wearing a cloak and a mask. He gritted his teeth and punched the coffee table. “This is outrageous!”
He suddenly realized that they were not the only ones who had found out about Gu Nianzhi’s disappearance eight years ago.
“… Are you saying that when you disappeared eight years ago, there was someone else involved besides Gu Xiangwen?!” He Zhichu stood up in a flash and couldn’t wait to make his move.
Gu Nianzhi placed the mouse on the two adults next to the child, she said calmly, “And these two people, do you recognize them? Judging from their attire, they should be the He family’s servants. Their posture is to encircle the child on either side.”
The child in the cloak and mask was her, right?
But why was she standing there obediently without crying?
He Zhichu glanced at the two people Gu Nianzhi was pointing at with the mouse, and his face darkened. “They are Wen Shouyi’s parents.”
Gu Nianzhi’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t help saying, “Oh my G.o.d, what kind of grudge do I have with their family… What are they doing? ! Oh right, Wen Shouyi’s mother insisted on sending flowers to my room just now, but I kicked her out and locked her up!”