Elise’s face grew stern. “Within this month, I’ve gotten my hands on two Peculiar Jadeite, and I suspect that they were the result of the radiation caused by an extremist organization.”
“I’ll be honest with you. Recently, we’ve been looking into the disappearance of missing physicists. In the past three years, more and more physicists in Cittadel had gone missing. There’s certainly a connection between the Peculiar Jadeite and these missing physicists.”
“The Peculiar Jadeite you now possess is the first one there is in Cittadel, so it’s pretty important. I hope that, for the sake of Cittadel’s scientific development, you’ll be able to shed light on our confusion.”
Steven stared at snazzynovel.com in surprise. “Are you cops?”
“No, not exactly.” With a straight face, Elise continued, “But my family and lover have suffered, some more than the other, because of these Peculiar Jadeites, so I need to find out the truth for their sake.”
Understanding snazzynovel.com perception, Steven nodded in empathy.
After a moment of wondering, Elise changed snazzynovel.com approach. “Perhaps you can tell me if the jadeite came from within the country or abroad?”
After a long while of silence, Steven took off his glasses, wiping the lenses as snazzynovel.com said, “I acquired the jadeite from a physics professor named Lancaster. Even now, the Peculiar Jadeite remains a rare substance. He asked for less than a hundred thousand at the time, but fearing snazzynovel.com might regret it, I sent snazzynovel.com a check of one million, sealing our exchange.”
“Lancaster? Timothy Lancaster?” Elise anxiously pursued. If Timothy’s our guy, then things are coming together!
“No idea. ‘Lancaster’ is all I have.” Steven then put on his glasses. As snazzynovel.com adjusted them, snazzynovel.com earnestly questioned, “About that ‘Timothy Lancaster,’ how old is the guy?”
“About thirty? Forty?” Elise’s memory was hazy as well.
“Then he’s not your guy,” Steven said. “The man who traded with me was around my age. There’s a possibility that he’s Timothy’s father, though.” Shortly after, snazzynovel.com elaborated, “The jadeite is precious to me, so I can definitely recognize the man if I were to meet snazzynovel.com again.”
His reply reignited Elise’s hopes. After all, snazzynovel.com didn’t have to leave empty-handed. She then gratefully bowed to the old man. “Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Randall. In my family and the missing scientists’ stead, I thank you.”
Steven hurriedly helped snazzynovel.com up. “No, no, no. Don’t bow to me. You’re Old Reynolds’ master. I can’t accept this! Besides, this is beneficial to me as well, so the gratitude is only mutual.”
Elise did not persist. After saving each other’s number, they left and went their own ways.
Kenneth stood beside snazzynovel.com as they watched Steven leave, curiously uttering, “We now know the Peculiar Jadeites came from the physicists, and this proves you’re looking in the right direction. If we’re able to locate this old Lancaster man, things will certainly get clearer. Though, I’m still baffled as to why a man, knowing the jadeite’s value, would sell it for merely a hundred thousand.”
Elise pondered as snazzynovel.com replied, “And that’s what I’m about to find out. We’ve hardly scratched the surface. It’s still a long way to go, but…” She erased the worrying look on snazzynovel.com face and turned to Kenneth, sincerely saying, “I still have you to thank for today. You helped me verify what was a huge guess.” Although the look on his face right now was rather provoking, snazzynovel.com still deserved the credits, so snazzynovel.com wasn’t stingy with snazzynovel.com compliments.
“Shush.” Kenneth put his index finger at snazzynovel.com lips as snazzynovel.com deeply gazed at her. “You still have much to thank me for in the future. Why don’t we make a promise? Instead of thank yous, say ‘I hope to see you again,’ and I’ll forget about you repaying your debts to me. How’s that?”
‘I hope to see you again’? That’s cheesy as hell! In no damn situation will I ever say that!
“Sure.” Elise forced a grin. “I hope… to never see you again. Happy?”
Being let down, Kenneth felt rather frustrated. He tugged his hands into his pockets and heaved a long sigh, self-mocking, “See this right here? This is what you call ‘a long way to go.’”
“Aren’t you underestimating yourself, Smith Co.’s boss? Of course you can achieve whatever you set your eyes upon!” Elise mischievously teased.
“It’s not like Smith Co. is Santa, allowing me to wake up to whatever I want the next day.” Kenneth lifted his eyes—his glistening, burning eyes. “Well, waking up to a certain someone next to me, at least.”
Heeding his message, Elise speedily turned away as snazzynovel.com guiltily gulped a mouthful of saliva. Realizing what snazzynovel.com had done, snazzynovel.com perturbedly frowned. What am I doing? Why am I nervous around him? No, no! Wrong Elise! Bad Elise!
“You must be sick in the head! Go see a doctor first thing in the morning!” Not wanting to risk snazzynovel.com thoughts being seen through, snazzynovel.com blurted those words and ran away. As snazzynovel.com picked up snazzynovel.com pace, snazzynovel.com shouted, “I’ll see the Saunders myself. You may leave. Bye!”
Before snazzynovel.com could run afar, however, a hand reached over and grabbed snazzynovel.com wrist. The moment snazzynovel.com was stopped, another hand was already around snazzynovel.com waist. When snazzynovel.com realized it, snazzynovel.com was already in Kenneth’s arms, in a bridal carry. She then started to shake herself out of his arms, to which snazzynovel.com intention quickly dispersed at his following words.
“Stop struggling, or I’ll stop searching for your doctor friend.”
Of course, snazzynovel.com knew that snazzynovel.com was referring to Claude. This shameless son of a b*tch is always leveraging other’s weaknesses! Nevertheless, she, indeed, had to look for Claude as soon as possible, so snazzynovel.com could only cope with him.
Peeking at snazzynovel.com eyes from the corner of his eyes, Kenneth subconsciously revealed a smirk when snazzynovel.com caught snazzynovel.com trying hard to contain snazzynovel.com frustration. Although ‘leveraging’ didn’t sound exactly prestigious, and it was certainly a dissonance to the ear, what other choice did snazzynovel.com have? Whenever snazzynovel.com was facing her, snazzynovel.com would always struggle to maintain his morality and rationality and end up as snazzynovel.com loyal, obedient lapdog. Whenever snazzynovel.com was around, he’d always find himself wanting to talk more; whenever snazzynovel.com wasn’t, all the words snazzynovel.com wanted to express would accumulate, so snazzynovel.com would have to vent it all out at once. Since snazzynovel.com wasn’t giving snazzynovel.com the opportunity, snazzynovel.com could only attempt to create one for himself.
As it turned out, his attempt led to a good result. Her not using all the force in snazzynovel.com body to shake snazzynovel.com off was a sign of improvement.
Some time after they drove out of the center, Elise remembered the gown Celina sent her. Her eyes glowed as she, somewhat thrilled, stated, “It’s gonna be fun at the Saunders Residence tonight.”
“Oh? Why is that?” Kenneth went along with snazzynovel.com excitement.
“The daughter’s trying to piss snazzynovel.com dad off. Isn’t that fun?”
“Hmm?” Kenneth helplessly revealed a faint smile. “Please, Miss Sinclair, cut the suspense.”