Stealth

Mo Yunwan sat at the desk, eyes downcast as she reorganized the documents she was processing. Her expression was different from usual; her lowered brow actually gave off a very gentle and friendly illusion.
The A4 papers were neat, their corners all aligned on the same horizontal line. It was truly a scene that would make someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder feel comfortable. However, Lu Yao, standing beside Mo Yunwan, inexplicably sensed an unusual aura in the air, while also seeing Mo Yunwan immersed in her own world, as if detached from the temperament of the world.
Therefore, she wanted to speak but hesitated.
The stagnant atmosphere lasted for a long while. Finally, Lu Yao couldn't help but open her mouth, asking cautiously.
"Sister, Brother Jiang has already left. According to Captain Liang's instructions, I don't need to stay here and watch. You are currently..."
Mo Yunwan raised her eyes, looking at Lu Yao's hand on the table, seemingly very puzzled as to why she didn't leave on her own.
"Then you go."
"But you're in the records room now, and everyone saw me bring you in." Lu Yao stiffened her neck, her expression very helpless. "This is really too suspicious. You even intentionally sent Brother Jiang away just now..."
Trouble stems from curiosity. Lu Yao, who always took the initiative, wasn't someone who looked for trouble for no reason, but when she did, she didn't seem like an ordinary person.
Mo Yunwan's face was strange as she tilted her head: "Based on the records of the same day, along with the forensic findings on air humidity and temperature, the times of death for Zhao Xiaohe and Li Chunsheng should be about a few minutes apart. As an investigating officer, you should understand that this is very important information. I told your Consultant Jiang to promptly report this important information to the wise and divine Captain Liang. Is that such a strange thing?"
There seemed to be some logic to it.
But coming from Mo Yunwan—who clearly always wanted to pull Jiang Qiu away from Team 3, making this Consultant Jiang, whose level of criminal behavior theory currently remained at the stage of talking on paper and accurate understanding in practice, return to his original position—it was indeed hard not to overthink.
On a normal day, let alone actively telling Jiang Qiu to run an errand to find Captain Liang—the person at the top of Mo Yunwan's grudge list—Mo Yunwan would have hurriedly done it herself, fearing that Liang's words would cause some earth-shattering change.
Today Jiang Qiu was in and out. If he frequently did that kind of work for several days in a row, Mo Yunwan's attempt to stop it might already be too late.
"Sister Mo, I'm not stupid." Lu Yao pulled at her collar to hide her embarrassed expression and continued, "A single phone call could have solved what you intentionally told Brother Jiang to go do in person. Isn't this just wanting to send him away? Besides, I've never seen you sneak into the records room alone like this before..."
"...Is that so?" Mo Yunwan was very surprised; she didn't remember having such an upright personality.
"Because you've always been finding Brother Shao or Brother Liang, using both threats and bribes to openly snatch documents from their desks." Remembering having seen scenes of internal strife like a palace drama, Lu Yao was momentarily terrified. "Sister, you're being so secretive, it always makes me feel like... is the world ending?"
Mo Yunwan put down the stack of documents, no longer repeating the action of aligning their corners.
"Then why do you think it is? Why did I come to find documents, and why did I tell you to stay here?"
"I feel there's no need to ask that question back." Lu Yao replied dryly. "Besides, you didn't even tell me to stay here..."
Hearing this, Mo Yunwan shrugged, as if she had expected it: "But in fact, you did stay here."
Lu Yao's eyes widened for a moment.
"Want to guess why?"
After going around in circles for so long, Lu Yao also understood.
"Don't think I'm someone who looks for trouble for no reason; I know what your little head is thinking." Mo Yunwan gave a snort of laughter. "If you didn't ask me, how would I have the chance to talk to you properly? You're the spy that guy arranged. Tsk, you don't even cover it up."
Lu Yao thought to herself, *Am I the kind of person who acts as a spy but doesn't talk properly?*
Today Mo Yunwan seemed extremely strange—although her usual temperament was already hard to predict, today it was particularly incomprehensible.
"I have a purpose for finding you." Mo Yunwan glanced over. "You might feel my request will make things difficult for you, but it actually won't. I just want you to tell me promptly in the future to what extent Jiang Qiu is participating in these cases, and when Liang An will call him to investigate cases with you all. If it's just the level of awareness, it shouldn't count as too much of a secret."
At this moment, she didn't even call him "Senior," clearly her attitude was very rigorous and her expression was correspondingly serious.
"That's all?" Lu Yao blurted out.
Mo Yunwan's expression didn't have much of a ripple; clearly, she had expected this and nodded.
"You could ask Brother Jiang about that yourself," Lu Yao was truly itching with curiosity but couldn't help advising, "Sister, you're not arrogant; didn't you say you and Brother Jiang were very close before? Besides, I don't think Captain Liang would feel this level of detail needs to be hidden. He's not exactly puffing out his chest with pride, and he even let you come back naturally..."
"Something so simple, he will definitely predict that I might want to investigate. If there's no precaution, it proves this information is useless, right?" Mo Yunwan followed up herself.
Lu Yao nodded vaguely.
"Let me make it clear first. I want to investigate things I don't want Jiang Qiu to know himself, because this is Liang An's strategy. Randomly exchanging information with Jiang Qiu might ruin his plan, and without knowing the full picture, I don't intend to do that;
but what Liang An is doing, I need to be clear about in my heart, and I don't intend to fully trust his methods like Shao Zi does."
Lu Yao was momentarily confused.
It seemed like she wanted to help Jiang Qiu, but said she wanted to hide it from Jiang Qiu himself;
she was clearly very dissatisfied with Captain Liang, yet claimed she wanted to maintain his plan.
Knowing her words indeed seemed not to fit logic, Mo Yunwan sighed and turned her gaze to the clock above the records room door.
Her eyes were dark and unclear, as if she were remembering something again.
"Little Lu, let me remind you of one thing. Liang An's ability as a police officer is unquestionable; you can certainly learn case-solving methods from him. But absolutely do not imitate his way of doing things, and do not follow his way of being a person."
"Huh?" Lu Yao was even more bewildered. Every sentence Mo Yunwan said now seemed to be attacking herself.
Mo Yunwan also saw her thoughts and declared loudly: "Except for me, I have a sense of propriety."
This was truly a classic double standard.
"Sister, can you tell me why you're suddenly so concerned about these cases?" Lu Yao's curiosity was about to explode. "Isn't Brother Jiang fine? Is it really just because you feel Brother Jiang's combat value is too low, and solving cases with us makes it easy for him to encounter danger he can't resist?"
"Who did you hear that from?"
Lu Yao simply sold out her teammate: "Brother Song's random guess."
"Tell him that having a brain grow on muscles might be a possible evolutionary form for ancient organisms, but this form hasn't been implemented in humans. Therefore, it's ridiculous for someone like him to expect to rely on muscles to remember textbook knowledge." Mo Yunwan was as sharp-tongued as ever. "Ridiculous. If Liang An didn't even have the ability to protect a witness like that, even if he wasn't dismissed, he would have been dealt with long ago."
"Witness?" Lu Yao discovered the key factor.
Mo Yunwan looked up at her, but her gaze suddenly changed, as if she had other plans and was deep in thought.
"...If you really want to understand the situation, you can go look for old cases related to Jiang Qiu. Then come find me again."