Light Barrier

The rain pittered down, pattering against the ground.

The shadow under the umbrella slowly revealed a delicate and handsome side profile. Unexpectedly, the refined man had a pair of eyes as gentle as the night under his gold-rimmed glasses.

But only those who knew his true identity understood the danger concealed under the gentleness of his eyes.

When Gu Chen caught sight of the man’s face on the roof, his hair stood on end. Han Dang!

This was an extremely dangerous man.

Thirteen days ago, he had arrived in Oto City. During this time, he had been secretly investigating the fire case!

Why is he here?

The gust of wind swept across the roof, blowing the slanting raindrops and swaying the flower branches.

A burst of fragrance filled the air.

“Ma’am, I really like the flowers here.”

The man in the suit smiled and nodded at Gu Shen, his expression and bearing so natural that they didn’t seem like strangers meeting for the first time but old friends who had known each other for years.

He took a deep breath of the air and said, “There are air purifiers everywhere in big cities, but no matter what fragrance they add, it can’t compare to the scent of real flowers. This roof is too old. These flowers deserve a better roof.”

Hearing this, the matron laughed, her eyes crinkling with joy. She was delighted and praised, “Indeed, Mr. Han, you have a good eye. I’ve spent a lot of effort taking care of these flowers.”

Gu Shen knew that the matron would be very happy to hear this.

Because she really loved gardening and growing plants, she meticulously cared for all the flowers on the roof and the vegetables and fruits in the yard alone, just like caring for the children of the orphanage.

“This is…?” Han Dang smiled at Gu Shen, pretending not to recognize him.

“Little Gu, this is the philanthropist I told you about, Mr. Han. He’s young and promising.” The matron smiled as she introduced the two of them. “Mr. Han, this is Gu Shen, a child who grew up in our orphanage. He’s very smart and has an excellent memory.”

Han Dang nodded with a smile. He put his briefcase under his armpit and elegantly extended his hand.

“Gu Shen, nice to meet you. Please take care of me.”

Gu Shen braced himself and extended his hand.

Suddenly!

“Meow!”

A flash of orange shot out from the rooftop staircase and knocked down a tall flower vase. The vase happened to fall toward Han Dang.

The refined man under the umbrella furrowed his brow.

His instinctive reaction made him want to dodge. But in the nick of time, Gu Shen stretched out his hands to catch the vase and grumbled, “Oh, you silly cat, why are you so naughty? What if you hurt our guest?”

The orange cat curled up in a corner and licked her paws, meowing softly with an expression full of innocence.

“It’s slippery on rainy days.” Gu Shen placed the vase back and said sincerely, “Mr. Han, why don’t you go inside?”

“That’s right.” The matron was startled by the near accident. She clutched her chest and said, “Mr. Han, why don’t you go inside to chat? Gu Shen, accompany him. I’ll go downstairs and brew a pot of hot tea.”

“…” Han Dang was silent for a moment before smiling. “I will respectfully oblige.”

The matron hurried downstairs.

The rooftop became very quiet.

Gu Shen and Han Dang were left alone.

“Gu Shen,” Han Dang said softly. “What a coincidence.”

“… Hmm, what’s the coincidence?”

Taking a deep breath, Gu Shen slowly relaxed from his tense state. He could even hear his heart beating, but every movement was incomparably calm and stable.

Some people could always tap into their potential in high-pressure environments.

Gu Shen was such a person.

Since Han Dang had already found out about him, it was best to meet the challenge head-on. They were both in the Adjudication Bureau, so they were bound to cross paths sooner or later. Today’s confrontation might not be a bad thing.

Gu Shen had pored over Han Dang’s files countless times and knew them by heart.

And Han Dang was unaware that Gu Shen knew about him.

He wanted to test Gu Shen, but little did he know that… this was also an excellent opportunity for Gu Shen to test him.

“Before you came, the matron kept praising you, saying that you’re intelligent, outstanding, and independent. You left here at sixteen. I didn’t expect us to meet so soon.” Han Dang smiled leisurely. “And… on such a beautiful rooftop.”

Han Dang emphasized the word ‘rooftop’.

Gu Shen’s heart skipped a beat, but he smiled and said, “That’s indeed quite a coincidence, Mr. Han. I didn’t come alone. My senior sister is downstairs.”

Gu Shen directly brought up his senior sister… although he didn’t know if Nan Jin’s identity could deter him.

But at this juncture, he had to ensure his safety as much as possible.

“Oh?” Han Dang raised his eyebrows, still smiling. “Then, I must meet her later…”

Encountering Gu Shen during this investigation was actually beyond his expectations.

After arriving in Oto City, Han Dang had been diligently pursuing the clues of the fire case and conducting a thorough investigation around Gu Shen’s files. On the Parliament’s side, it was likely that his teacher’s impeachment against Mr. Tree would come to nothing.

But there was still room to make use of the pardon order!

After his Profile, he seriously suspected that Gu Shen was not a transcendent at all.

He believed that the truth of the fire case was that Gu Shen had used an astonishingly powerful ‘transcendental sealed object’, which should have been under the stack of unburned wooden boards.

The shape should be rectangular and slender.

However, despite searching through the Deep Sea database and even borrowing the access permissions of his teacher, Zhu Wang, to search for records of relevant sealed objects, he found nothing.

He didn’t think that his deduction was wrong. Rather, he felt that the transcendental sealed object he was looking for was not documented in the records. Following this clue, he placed his investigation focus on Gu Shen’s background and came to this orphanage to find clues about the sealed object. Perhaps it was a ‘family heirloom’ that had accompanied Gu Shen for many years.

Unfortunately, after some investigation, this clue turned out to be a dead end.

Gu Shen had come empty-handed and left empty-handed.

There was no family heirloom or relic from his parents.

Today, the assessment team officially landed in Oto City.

With only two days before the final assessment, his time was running out.

Fortunately, as luck would have it, he had run into Gu Shen here. It seemed that this kid had heard the news of the assessment team’s arrival. He had likely come here to avoid the assessment team. It seemed that he had something to hide and didn’t want to come into contact with the assessment team prematurely.

Since they had met, things became very simple.

“Gu Shen.” The gentle voice echoed on the rooftop.

The moment his eyes under the gold-rimmed glasses met Gu Shen’s, a faint wisp of deep black ink spread.

In this instant, Han Dang’s voice became extremely dignified. “… Dream!”