Genius Club

Chapter 69: Chapter 69 Trust

Currently, although there is no concrete evidence to prove that the Genius Club is definitely the murderer of Big Face Cat’s father and Xu Yun.

But based on the known intelligence, it has the greatest suspicion and is most likely the Black Hand behind the scenes.

After all…

The Genius Club is a known organization that has spanned 600 years; if it has remained true to its original mission for 600 years, and used the same methods to cause the deaths of Big Face Cat’s father and Xu Yun, it would be logically reasonable.

So, Lin Xian decided to play it safe—

[First assume the Genius Club is the Black Hand behind all this, and build the reasoning and investigation on this basis.]

“If the Genius Club indeed are just caught in the crossfire, innocent, contradictions will surely be unearthed during the investigation, and they will naturally be exonerated,”

“Actually, a temporary misunderstanding is not a big deal, after all, the fact that someone murdered Xu Yun and Cat Dad is true. The existence of a murderer is certain; it’s merely a question of what they’re called.”

With that as a foundation.

The invitation to the Genius Club in the drawer of Zhao Yingjun’s office becomes the only clue to further the investigation, and the only breakthrough point.

No matter whether Zhao Yingjun has joined the Genius Club or participated in murdering Xu Yun…

As long as one can see the content of that invitation, one might be able to follow the trail and find all the answers.

“There’s no choice but to do so.”

Lin Xian carefully placed the wax block back in the drawer, cautiously hiding it.

He began to plan—

How could he take a peek at the content of that invitation without exposing his intentions or alerting Zhao Yingjun?

His own safety and secrecy had to be his primary consideration.

Since the Genius Club might be Xu Yun’s killer, if his motives were exposed and Zhao Yingjun realized he intended to investigate the Genius Club… the odds were more likely to be against him.

If Zhao Yingjun had not joined the Genius Club, that would be a different story.

But if she had already become a member, then any exposure of his actions would be akin to gifting oneself to the enemy.

“So, I must investigate all this with utmost caution and leave no trace behind,”

Lin Xian stood up.

He fetched a large baking tray from the kitchen.

Then he crumpled the paper where he had jot down his deductions, placed it in the tray, and set it alight with a lighter.

Whoosh…

The flames danced, casting Lin Xian’s shadow eerily on the wall.

And that wasn’t all.

Lin Xian opened the drawer and put all the previously written deductions, plans, and anything else related to the dreams and the Genius Club into the baking tray to burn.

He watched until they turned to black ash.

Then he flushed it down the toilet.

Accompanying Zhao as one would accompany a tiger, one must be extremely cautious.

Looking at the current situation.

He should be safe.

Professor Xu Yun always thought that the manuscript was of unknown origin and possibly even dangerous, so he was fearful it might bring trouble to him, and he protected himself very well.

None of the research materials had Lin Xian’s name on them, and the original manuscript was destroyed.

He also never told anyone about the manuscript, nor did he mention the relationship between the two.

Lin Xian didn’t know whether Xu Yun did this intentionally or unintentionally, but he certainly showed care, and indeed, he had protected Lin Xian in this matter.

The only two private contacts between them were Lin Xian’s visits to the lab to deliver manuscripts to Xu Yun… If he had been exposed back then, he probably would have met the same gruesome end in the streets as Xu Yun.

“I must be really careful in the future. If I wasn’t exposed this time, then it’s really just good luck,”

“To get Zhao Yingjun to tell me the password, I probably need enough trust from her…”

“But with what right?”

Lin Xian laughed at himself.

What merits and abilities did he possess for Zhao Yingjun to trust him enough to reveal the password?

At the very least, they would need to have a very close relationship, wouldn’t they?

Charming a female boss like this is an unrealistic thought, not to mention Zhao Yingjun, the workaholic who has eyes only for her career.

By comparison, it might be easier to earn her trust.

“Let’s take it slow.”

Lin Xian tidied up and prepared for bed.

Lying in bed, he browsed the latest news about Xu Yun on his smartphone again.

[Donghai City officials have announced that a memorial service for Professor Xu Yun will be held tomorrow morning at Donghai Funeral Home.]

[China Aerospace Research expresses its deep condolences for Professor Xu Yun and now, in accordance with his last wishes, has made public all the data on the new hafnium alloy.]

[East Sea University is currently receiving and sorting through Xu Yun’s research data, as well as his unfinished papers, and will publish them to the world in subsequent moves, following Xu Yun’s last wishes.]

Fortunately.

Although Xu Yun is dead, his research findings have still been preserved.

According to his plans, the first generation Hibernation Pods should appear in about two or three years. By then… Xu Yiyi will be able to live in a Hibernation Pod and be sent to the future for treatment.

“That’s somewhat of a silver lining amongst the multitude of bad news.”

Lin Xian turned off his phone and stared at the ceiling.

He had thought that if the Genius Club really killed Xu Yun, then they would certainly also tamper with Xu Yun’s unpublished papers.

If they were scared of the success of hibernation technology research, why didn’t they stop the publication of the papers?

For example… burning Xu Yun’s lab? Stealing his computer?

But after careful thought, Lin Xian felt that the real goals of the Genius Club were not so easy to guess.

Not only Xu Yun.@@novelbin@@

In fact, for Academician Gao Wen and Dr. Mikerson, although it isn’t known if they were murdered, their research results were also successfully published without any hindrance, everything went smoothly.

This means… the murderers (assuming it’s the Genius Club) only disguised the deaths of the scientists as [accidental], and didn’t interfere with their research results, which was quite surprising.

Lin Xian closed his eyes to think.

If he put himself in the shoes of the Genius Club, the purpose of only killing people, yet not destroying research results, seemed only to have one explanation—

“[Concealment].”

Lin Xian opened his eyes.

If what he suspected was true, then the Genius Club’s goal had indeed been achieved.

Just imagine.

If someone now set fire to Xu Yun’s lab or found a way to stop the publication of her paper.

Everyone would see that it was a conspiracy, a premeditated murder.

The actions and objectives would be too obvious; no one could fail to guess.

Even if such incidents happened more frequently, the existence of the Genius Club could not remain hidden—everyone would start to take notice of them.

But now it was different.

Xu Yun was dead, but her research results would be published as scheduled, and not many people would think in the direction of a “conspiracy theory.”

As a result, the Genius Club could continue to hide in the mists of history… in the current era, it was very likely that no one but himself was aware of their existence.

Lin Xian sighed.

“Hopefully the police will catch the criminal soon; maybe we can find out something from them.”

He went back to bed and continued to sleep.

…

The next day, as soon as he went to work,

Lin Xian was called to Zhao Yingjun’s office, where the head of the finance team was also present.

“Lin Xian, this is the authorization fee and the bill for the first batch of product sales commissions,” President Zhao said. “Please check them.”

Zhao Yingjun pushed two forms across the desk.

Lin Xian picked them up for a closer look.

One was a lump sum authorization fee of 26 million paid off at once.

The other was a sales commission of 15 million.

Lin Xian looked at the trailing zeros, somewhat surprised.

The authorization fee was the price previously set by MX Company for Xu Yun, which Lin Xian knew about.

But the fact that the sales commission had exceeded ten million was unexpected—the sales from the moisturizing cream presale livestream a few days ago had been that good…

“You won’t actually receive this much.”

The head of finance pointed to the figure of 15 million, explaining,

“This income is taxable. We will withhold and remit the personal income tax for this sales commission for you, then transfer it to your bank account.”

“However, the 26 million from the authorization fee will be deposited directly into your account, and you’ll need to declare it on the personal income tax APP in March of this year.”

“The sales commission is indeed a lot, mainly because the preorder numbers at our release event were frightening. It will probably take two or three months to clear them all. Once the market stabilizes, the commissions might not be as high, but it will be a steady income. Lin Xian, you’re already financially independent.”

After the finance chief finished explaining, he looked at Lin Xian with a smile:

“When the various toys and licensed products of Rhein Cat are released… your income will be incalculable. You could retire already.”

Retire?

Lin Xian quickly waved his hand when he heard that word:

“It’s too early to retire; I still want to make progress.”

Progress was a pretense; what he really wanted to see was that invitation from the Genius Club… He couldn’t just blurt that out, though. What if Zhao Yingjun stopped giving him work? How would he then get close to her, gain her trust, and find a way to get the office password?

“Lin Xian, go and get ready.”

Zhao Yingjun stood up, waved them away,

“This morning is Professor Xu Yun’s memorial service. All the company executives will go together, and you’ll come with us. Go change into appropriate clothes and wait for my signal.”

Rustle, rustle, rustle—

Just as Zhao Yingjun picked up her coat and turned around, the sleeve swept the pile of documents on the desk, scattering papers all over the floor…

A familiar scene indeed.

All three of them bent down to pick up the documents and placed them neatly back on the desk.

Lin Xian took a few extra looks, but alas, there were no treasures to be found this time.

“President Zhao, aren’t you considering hiring a secretary?”

The head of finance laughed,

“Find a secretary to organize your files, clean your office and so on. You won’t have to do everything yourself, and it could save you a lot of time.”

“If you’re really not comfortable with hiring someone from outside, you could promote one from our longstanding employees. After working together for so long, you must have someone reliable.”

After hearing this, Zhao Yingjun chuckled,

“Forget it. Once bitten, twice shy. I’ve become afraid.”

“If there’s nothing else, you can leave. I’m going to change clothes.”

…

Bang!

The heavy password-protected door closed, and Lin Xian rode the elevator down with the head of the finance team.

Indeed.

Lin Xian thought that becoming Zhao Yingjun’s secretary would certainly be the safest and most convenient way to see the Genius Club invitation, to investigate the Genius Club.

Although Lin Xian didn’t really want a secretary’s job…

It was undeniable.

A secretary would often have to enter and exit her office, and would definitely be informed of the password for the door.

And although the secretary might not monitor Zhao Yingjun twenty-four hours a day, they would certainly be aware of her various schedules, actions, and phone calls—not to the point of knowing every detail, but at least they could understand the patterns and recognize any unusual behavior.

And these unusual actions and details might well be related to the Genius Club…

Anyway,

to continue investigating the Genius Club and to follow the vine to the melon, getting closer to Zhao Yingjun was definitely the better approach.

“Sis, I’m really curious, and I want to ask.”

Lin Xian looked down at the finance team leader in the elevator:

“I’m new to the company, so I’m not really sure what you just mentioned means.”

“What exactly did President Zhao go through before?”

“Why is she so resistant to hiring a secretary?”