Release that Man

Shirking off the responsibility was actually a small problem; the real trouble came much later. Cedrick was too famous internationally. His slip up was almost instantly known across the world within specific circles.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the name Cedrick was at the top of the watch list for most of the countries that knew about the master thief. The whole world… no, that was not true, but at least more than ten countries had called to congratulate China on its recent development in economics, politics, resources, agriculture, and so on. Then, after exchanging pointless pleasantries—well, there were those who cut right to the chase—they would move the topic eventually to Cedrick.

“The gentleman?” The leader of the national security department was confused. “Who is this kid? How come so many country leaders have called to bring up his name today?”

The agent wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. “He’s a very famous thief… Er, in any case, he has become quite famous over the last few years. I hear he has managed to avoid detection and arrest even though he has stolen many high-profile items, so everyone is having a headache over it. Since they heard our country has managed to arrest the man, they quickly called to ask about it.”

“Well done! Finally, something to make our country proud!” The leader raised his brow and slapped the table, and he nodded with great satisfaction. “Who did it? Pay special attention to the person who did it. If they are really talented, then we should focus on cultivating such rare talent.”

The agent wiped his sweat again. “It was not done by anyone from the national security department. I hear it was a local traffic officer in San Lin City who caught the man…”

Thankfully, he had pulled up the information earlier, or else he definitely would have had no answer to give. After all, who would have thought the master thief Cedrick would fail at a place like this?

The leader was silent for about half a minute. “…Then so be it. Have the people in San Lin City detain the man for several more days while we discuss what to do with the culprit. Whether we should extradite him or not will depend on the conditions given by the other countries.”

The leader knew that this was a valuable chip that he had gained. Even though it was not his department that caught the guy, it did not affect the fact that it could be used to form trades with other countries.

Sweat cascaded from the agent’s head like a waterfall. “But… but the case has been settled in private already.”

“Oh, then… Wait a minute, what did you say‽” The leader suddenly widened his eyes.

The agent felt like his bladder was about to explode. “I… I hear it’s because the owner of the car came over and said it was just a misunderstanding. Then, Brother Han also made a call to say that they have a special guy for this guy…”

The leader was stunned speechless.

“Boss.” The agent was panicking. “If you really think it’s not right, should we send out someone to go and investigate? After all, we have the address…”

Investigate your head!

…

After dinner, before they had the chance to discuss what had happened that day, Han Chu already went out to the balcony to answer a call. When he returned from the balcony, the first thing he did was stare silently at Cedrick, who was sitting on the sofa.

Cedrick moved from openness to confusion and finally discomfort. He could not resist the urge to change his posture on the seat, and then he coughed and asked, “Is there a problem.”

Han Chu nodded calmly and rattled off a long list of countries. While Cedrick was looking at him in confusion, he concluded, “These are the names of all the countries that have called China’s national security department today.”

Cedrick understood it immediately.

Brother Shuang was coming out from finished washing the dishes. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows to reveal the toned lines of his muscular arms. Due to the high weather and the work that dealt with water, keeping his shirt buttoned up to the top appeared much too formal, so Brother Shuang raised his hand to remove the top button to make him feel more comfortable… As the tapered finger moved to undo the button, it exposed the man’s clavicle and the great muscles underneath the shirt. It made the man look so seductive and delicious.

It was fine for most of the males who were presented, but Su Zheng, who represented the thief collective from China, had a hard time focusing. She looked at Brother Shuang with a blush but did not say anything for a long time. Her pair of eyes was eerily bright, and her expression that said ‘lick, lick, lick’ was too embarrassing for other people to take a second look at her.

With the face, the cooking skill, and the body, jumping over to this team was the best decision that she had ever made in her life! The best, not one of the best!

“Is there a problem?” Brother Shuang sat down on the other side of the sofa after he removed two buttons. He raised his hand, wanting to grab a glass of water, and then realized he forgot to take a glass for himself. Before he could stand up, Su Zheng already tagged her immaterial tail while she happily pushed the entire water jug toward him .

Han Chu’s attention was pulled over, and he looked Su Zheng, who was waiting for a compliment. Then he turned to look at Brother Shuang, who was spreading his pheromones indiscriminately. He eventually pulled his gaze away and suddenly changed the subject by saying, “I hope there will not be any tedious relationship problems among my agent’s teams.”

Ye Shuang felt a sudden ache in her knees. She thought about it but still could not understand, so in the end, she gave up dwelling on it.

She patted Su Zheng’s head to show her gratitude, and then Ye Shuang turned the topic back to serious ground. “Actually, as long as Cedrick stays in China, there will eventually be a problem. After all, so many parties are paying close attention to his movement… Currently, I don’t even think those things are that important, as long as we can settle the problem within us as soon as possible.”

At this point, Ye Shuang suddenly frowned and looked at Cedrick with hesitation. “…I suddenly realized you actually have no use for us at all, right?”

The man had mainly come over for Anthony, and there was no cooperative or business relationship between them. Yet, she had extended her neck out to help the guy—this was truly finding problem for herself. When he heard Ye Shuang say that, Cedrick’s heart instantly skipped a beat.

Still, Han Chu added more oil to the fire. Perhaps purposely, he changed to English and said in a calmness that seemed like he had not even blinked, “He is indeed of no use to us. Shall we release him to the crowd? Or we can send him to Yao Zhixing as present. That is not bad either.”

Everyone there turned their gaze to Cedrick. Even Su Zheng, who did not understand any foreign languages, also followed along. After all, it was easier to follow the majority. Cedrick felt the giant pressure on his shoulders. and then he turned his blinking eyes to Anthony and asked in a hopeful tone, “…Anthony?”

“We don’t know each other, buddy.” Anthony shrugged and stated his position of just watching from afar.

“Ignoring me again!” Su Zheng, who did not have a translator, was angered. She had thought that this should be a good show, but the sad thing was that she did not understand a single word at all.

“No matter what,” Ye Shuang sighed as she turned her head to Anthony, “Tony, why don’t you have a chat with Cedrick first? If you really don’t want him here, we’ll figure out a way to send him away. After all, he has a criminal record, so kicking him out of the country should not be too hard.”

“Actually, I just came here to meet Anthony, but it looks like my presence is not so welcomed here after all…” At this point, Cedrick sighed, and he raised his eyes with some disappointment. “Anthony, can you really not remember that Halloween Party at all?”

“Hmm… To be perfectly honest, I really have no memory of you at all.” Anthony went for the assault and then turned to help fill in the blanks for Han Chu and the rest. “But I did investigate the gentleman. This Cedrick is quite a famous magician, and he comes from a good school. I’ve studied his theft records, and the items he stole are mostly not that expensive, so I don’t think he’s doing this for the money… maybe for some kind of spiritual satisfaction?”

“Let me see that research.” Han Chu asked Anthony directly for Cedrick’s personal profile.

When Han Chu got it, Ye Shuang naturally leaned over to look. Then, Anthony was left behind to continue shooting questions at Cedrick. ” So, if we start from the assumption that what you’re doing is for personal satisfaction, you came to find me due to something bad that happened to you at this Halloween party, and this bad thing was caused by me, so you came to me to seek revenge?”

“That doesn’t sound likely.” Han Chu skimmed through the information very fast. He only selected the important points to read and skipped over the details. He paid special attention to what happened to Cedrick three years ago, and he softly interrupted him. “If this is his attempt to seek revenge from you due to something that happened three years ago, then he should have been very hostile toward you. But from Xiao Shuang’s report and the previous conversation that you two have had, he doesn’t seem to have that kind of emotion toward you… Even though this is nothing conclusive, it can at least help us speculate that Cedrick does not care that much about winning or losing. That way, he would not have cared so much about what happened before.”

“I do mind!” Cedrick corrected the record, but then he sighed in a helpless tone. “But what you said isn’t wrong either. It is not because I want to show off my thieving skill that I started my career. However, it is not as you said because I want to pursue some kind of spiritual satisfaction either… To be honest, I actually want to reach out to Anthony because I need a favor from him.”

Han Chu raised his eyes to look at him and then added an emotionless ‘hmm’ before lowering his eyes once more to say, “Hand in the money and take your place in line.”

“Don’t reject me first, listen to my… Hmm?” Cedrick was stunned.

Han Chu closed the laptop and tossed it aside. “What I mean is, we are not interested in your reason for looking for Tony, but if you want to ask Anthony to use his skills to do something for you, then you have to follow the procedure and sign a headhunting contract. Whether he decides to take the case or not, or how much payment is required, that is something that has to be decided after we assess the difficulty of the case.”

Don’t think you can jump the queue simply because you are internationally famous. If you need help from us, of course, you have to pay first.

Anthony was actually not as hard to deal with as many people thought. He normally did not like to lend a hand because, one, there was really no reason for him to go out of his way to help others, and two, others had a really hard time even meeting Anthony in person… Therefore, Cedrick had really overthought it. Actually, he did not even need to come to China—he only needed to get an appointment through Sister Shuang…

Cedrick was surprised by how distinctly Han Chu separated his business and personal life. After being stunned for quite some time, he finally recovered his power of speech. “Er… You mean you are willing to help me?”

“Technically speaking, we are willing to accept a case from you… as long as the case is valid and the demands aren’t too high,” Brother Shuang corrected with a smile. “Therefore, you don’t need to use the Halloween party to bring up your shared past with Anthony. No matter what happened that night, the payment that you have to give is not going to be discounted.”

“…” Cedrick was silent for quite some time. “I still need to talk about the Halloween Party that night… No, no, no! Please let me finish first!”

Afraid that Han Chu or some people might cut him off again, Cedrick spoke very fast like a machine-gun. “Since you already know my background, then you should know that I was living with my mother and stepfather before the age of thirteen. After that, they got into a car accident… This is an unimportant detail, so there is no need to talk about that. The important thing happened before my real parent’s divorce. At the time, I was just a baby… I have three older sisters, and they went to live with my father after the separation. So, I have no memory of them at all because it has been my mother and myself since I can remember. It was not until I found my mother’s diary after her death that I realized these things.”

Cedrick stopped to catch his breath. He took a gulp of water before continuing. “Since I found out that I still have other family, I have been trying my best to find them… Oh, and also him. When I was fifteen, I chose to not go to university and continue my study but started my thieving career. Sometimes, it was for survival, and other times, it was to find the clues that were mentioned in my mother’s diary. That time in Kansas, one of the men who were chasing after Anthony carried this tag with him…”

Then, Cedrick took out a chain from inside his collar and hanging at the end of that chain was a custom-made dog tag… no wait, a gold tag!

“Just like this tag.” Cedrick gripped the metallic tag around his neck and tried to appear calm, but one could still hear the nervousness in his voice. “Aresa, that should be the name of one of my sisters. The tag that I saw that night was similar to this one, so I am sure that guy knew my sister, but he escaped before I could ask him about it… I just want to know who the people chasing after Anthony that night were.”

This was a sad story. On the FBI watch list, Anthony’s name was much higher up than Cedrick’s, and he had gained his fame earlier than Cedrick as well, so no matter what, Anthony should be more famous than Cedrick. However, due to the special skill of the man, things were different. At least Cedrick would still show up on the surveillance camera at the crime scene, but when it came to Anthony, the man had no trace.

There was no trace of him leaving or entering country. And tracing him via an electronic trail was almost impossible. Unless one looked through all the record one by one, finding any clues on Anthony was practically impossible. His bank card, driver’s license, social security number and phone number… Even if FBI have gained access to all the documents and contacts related to Anthony, they would definitely be unable to find a channel to break through to him.

For example, if Anthony took a plane from the US to China to meet up with Han Chu… Everything related to his flight—his plane ticket, visa, passport—had an official record. No matter the record, it was all legal and clear. It could be pulled out, looked at, but could not be investigated…

Every day, there were so many who took their visa and flew in and out of America. If one did not have a warrant, how did one expect to find the man amid the sea of data and information? Which date? Which flight and which seat?

Yes, all the agents at the FBI were undeniably elites, but the other meaning of elites was that there were only a few of them. To have to forfeit the convenience of technology and return back to the stone age to trace Anthony’s movement using human knowledge and not store it in the computer, no matter who it was, they would have surrendered easily.

Therefore, even though Cedrick, at the lowest point of his career, thought about ‘should I just surrender myself to the FBI to ask them for help’, he had heard about the legendary status Anthony had obtained, and he had quickly opted out of that thought…

Ye Shuang listened to Cedrick’s painful past quietly. She laid her arms on the armrest and then was silent for a while before asking, “So, after you confirmed that I… my partner has access to Anthony’s exact location, you insisted on coming along because you wanted to ask Anthony about what happened that year?”

Cedrick nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Okay.” Ye Shuang nodded back. “I can understand your feeling, but if you don’t mind, I want to ask a question… Even if FBI does not have a way to find Anthony, do you think they really cannot help you find your three older sisters? I think with the current reputation of the gentleman, using this condition to ask them to help you find your family shouldn’t be something too difficult, right? Assuming you have really considered aligning yourself with the FBI so that you can track down Anthony…”

After Ye Shuang said that, she looked over and saw Cedrick who appeared like he had been struck by lightning. She waited for a pause and then asked, “…Wait, have you seriously not considered that before?”

Yes, no, I mean, I really have not! Cedrick’s expression was blank. “All I had in my mind was the tag and the desperation to find Anthony to get the answer. It has become a fervor in my head, so…”

Ye Shuang was speechless. So, your brain was stuck on a single mode, and it didn’t know how to turn anymore?

Anthony titled his head to think about it and then sighed. “Looks like you’ll need to go and talk to the FBI, thankfully, it is still not too late… Besides, I really cannot remember something that happened at a Halloween party three years ago.”

Han Chu chimed in to help his friend explain. “Normally, when Tony is present, things are going to get complicated. As long as it doesn’t directly affect him, he doesn’t take things to heart, and they are recycled out of his mind… Go and seek help from the FBI!”

Leaning against the sofa lazily, Anthony provided a serious suggestion. “I think you should wait for a while first. I feel like he has dropped his reputation from what happened today. If you go now, you might not have all the chips that you normally would have.”

That’s right… Cedrick was already starting to plan his next move, but when he heard Anthony, he slowly and silently delayed his plan as he thought about what had happened that morning with sadness… After a long time, the saddened Cedrick turned to Anthony to ask, bearing one last piece of hope, “Can you really not remember anything at all?”

“Yup, zero impression, perhaps I should start writing a diary…” Anthony shrugged irresponsibly like it had nothing to do with him.

Han Chu scoffed darkly. “Other people write diaries to record their memories, but your diary is to record your criminal history… Furthermore, what kind of content can you write since you sit before the computer screen all day? Are you going to write about the new virus that you have developed?”

Anthony pouted with displeasure, and he continued to speak to Cedrick. “You see, this is why I’m not keeping a diary.”

No one cares about that!

…

The impact that Cedrick received that day was huge. First, it was psychologically—he was arrested, taken into the station, and then released on a favor. Then, it was another psychological assault—his hope was destroyed and then relit with another avenue and then destroyed again…

He was so tired that he did not have the energy to remain at Ye Shuang’s home anymore. Therefore, after a simple conversation, Cedrick left the apartment with wandering steps. He planned to return to his hotel to adjust and arrange his emotions.

Su Zheng finally had time to listen to Brother Shuang translate the full story of Cedrick’s past. When she heard half of the story, her eyes were already glistening with interest. When she heard the full story, she was feeling a ton of regret for missing out on such great gossip simply because she was not good in foreign language. “Such a shame. I should have paid more attention in English class when I was studying.”

Brother Shuang smiled lightly and patted Su Zheng on her head. “It is not too late to start now. As long as you insist on learning thirty new words every day…”

“Brother Han! Brother Han! Can I bring Anthony to go play with Cedrick tomorrow?” Su Zheng could not wait to bounce away.

“Ask your boss,” Han Chu answered without raising his head.

The boss, Brother Shuang, smiled but did not say anything. She glanced at Su Zheng, who looked so innocent, for about ten seconds. “…How did you manage to survive when you left the country before this?”

“There’s Ol’ K!” Su Zheng said confidently.

As a hacker, knowing English was a must. Since there was a translator in the group already, spending the time to learn a new language would be a waste. Therefore, after Su Zheng had the inspiration of learning some basic English to prepare for an overseas trip, she gave up after three minutes. Therefore, she set a new target for herself instead… to practice on the street.

How much she had stolen was how much she would spend; it could not have been more motivating.

Brother Shuang sighed. “If there’s a chance, you have to study it, or do you plan to have Ol’ K tied to your waist at all times?”

Su Zheng blushed and then pounced on the chance. “Brother Shuang, Brother Shuang, do you need any attachment? I eat very little and very easy to maintain!”

Han Chu interrupted it quickly and very naturally led the conversation away. “If Cedrick isn’t lying, then we can put his issue aside for now. For now, there is no conflict of interest between us, and under the condition of not affecting our principle, if something happens that we need his help, getting his aid is not impossible. Furthermore, he might become our client in the future…”

Then, Han Chu turned to look at Anthony. Anthony quickly raised his hand to counter. “I still have the job from Xiao Shuang that I need to finish.”

Han Chu scoffed and closed the laptop. “You are now eating my food, wearing my clothes, and living at my place. Do you think you have the right to negotiate conditions with me?”

It was not that Anthony did not have his own money, but he rarely thought about using his own money… Even though the Morgan Bank was global, China was ultimately a rather closed-in country. Getting an international transaction to work was too problematic, so it was much more convenient to just live off Han Chu.

Therefore, Anthony could only use a pitiable baby face to say, “But where is the love that you’ve promised me.”

Han Chu looked at him calmly for half a minute and then he turned to ask Ye Shuang, “Have you been letting him watch soap operas again?”

“…” Ye Shuang.