Chapter Forty-Two: Deliberate Sabotage

After listening, Ning Shuyi gave Huo Yan a thumbs-up.

It turned out that their successful communication hadn't relied on any remarkable skills; it was merely a bit of good luck combined with his own past experiences.

"Where are we going now?" Ning Shuyi asked Huo Yan. She had assumed that after dropping the elderly gentleman off, they would return to the original location, but it was clear from the route that Huo Yan had other plans.

"To your place," Huo Yan said, glancing at the time on the screen. "We’ll go back there later to see if there’s any movement the old man might have missed. Since it’s neither early nor late, there’s no point in staking out the place now. Better to drop you off first so you can change your locks, lest you worry about inconveniencing the locksmith later."

Exhausted and sleepy, Ning Shuyi had almost forgotten about that task. Although it seemed the people upstairs had already vacated the premises, changing the locks was the prudent choice. Officially, their lease was expiring within the next couple of days anyway. Personally, given their blatant and malicious vandalism and the fact that they were now unreachable, reclaiming the property in advance was perfectly justifiable.

It was rush hour, and after sitting in traffic for quite some time, they finally arrived at Ning Shuyi’s building. They headed straight for the rental unit upstairs, but the moment they stepped out of the elevator, Ning Shuyi sensed something was wrong. The small door to the utility shaft in the stairwell landing, which she had previously closed tightly, was now slightly ajar.

A wave of foreboding washed over her as she hurriedly pulled out her keys to open the apartment door.

The moment the door swung open, water was visible everywhere, and the sound of splashing filled her ears. Huo Yan was a step ahead of her; seeing the flooded room, he immediately went to shut off the water valve, then stepped straight into the water without a word.

Ning Shuyi tried to follow, but he stopped her.

"Go downstairs and check on your place. I’ll take care of the cleanup here," he said in an unquestionable tone. "There’s no point in both of us getting our feet wet working on this."

Since he was already standing in the water, she didn't insist. She hurried downstairs to inspect her home. Fortunately, the efforts she had made the previous night hadn't been in vain; although the damp patches on the ceiling had expanded and more water was dripping down, the furniture remained largely unaffected, and since she had proactively cut the power, there were no electrical shorts.

After a quick assessment, she called a locksmith to come and change the locks, then returned upstairs. By then, Huo Yan had already repaired the sabotaged faucet and cleared the standing water from the living room. Everything was drenched, including himself.

"The faucet was ruined, and the drain was plugged. It’s fortunate they didn't try to tamper with the main water valve outside, or who knows what the situation would be now," Huo Yan told her. "Those people must have come back after you left for work today. This kind of malicious destruction shouldn't be swept under the rug. I don't know why you tolerated their antics before, but this time, they’ve gone too far."

Ning Shuyi’s expression was grim. She had initially thought they were just making noise to be a nuisance. Seeing her home turned into a water feature yesterday had already infuriated her, but the fact that they dared to return after she had already secured the place was an act of blatant provocation.

"Don't worry," she said, pointing toward the neighbor's door. "The neighbor across the hall has a smart peephole with a security camera. It records automatically whenever there’s movement. I contacted them this morning, and they agreed to save the footage from the past few days. The noise was hard to pin on them, but this act of willful destruction is a solid case. When the time comes to settle the score, none of them will escape."

Seeing that she had the situation under control, Huo Yan didn't say anything more. They tidied up the room further, and soon the locksmith arrived. Once everything was finished and the door was securely locked, Ning Shuyi finally let out a sigh of relief, feeling as though a heavy weight had been lifted now that she no longer had to worry about those people returning to cause trouble.

However, the energy she had regained from her nap in the car earlier seemed to have vanished, and she felt profoundly exhausted. Huo Yan’s shoes were soaked through, and his clothes were drenched from fixing the faucet. They still had to return to the crime scene later, and she couldn't let him stay in wet clothes and shoes.

Fortunately, his shoe size was identical to her father’s. While her father wasn't as tall as Huo Yan, his age had given him a bit of a belly, so he preferred buying clothes that were loose and comfortable. They should fit well enough.

Ning Shuyi took Huo Yan to her apartment downstairs and found a pair of her father’s sneakers and a tracksuit for him to change into. Huo Yan wasn't one for modesty; he thanked her, grabbed the collar, and nimbly peeled off his wet clothes.

Ning Shuyi caught sight of a scar on his left pectoral muscle. The scar itself wasn't large, but its location was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat. She recalled what the Captain had told her about how, before Huo Yan transferred out, he had taken on a more dangerous task during a mission to protect a comrade who had a family. She didn't know when this scar had been earned, but seeing its position, she could imagine just how perilous the situation must have been.

"I’ll wash and dry the clothes and shoes before I return them to your father," Huo Yan said, not noticing her change in expression. He put on the clothes, packed his wet gear into a plastic bag she had provided, and glanced around the apartment. "Should you tell your parents about the situation here?"

Ning Shuyi shook her head. "I don't plan to. They’re staying at my sister’s place, safe and sound, so I won't give them anything to worry about. I’ll just clean up the place before they get back in a week. Besides, even if I don't tell them, I doubt they won't notice something is off when they return. Someone will eventually slip up and reveal themselves. As things stand, I’m just waiting for them to make their move."

Huo Yan looked at her without speaking, then silently picked up the bag of wet shoes and headed out. Once they were downstairs and back in the car, he suddenly said, "You are, in fact, much more mature than you look."