Chapter 217: It’s a Trap!
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Tik tok, tik tok…
The grandfather clock on the wall in the hotel room moved slowly, and the air in the entire room seemed to have frozen. The ticking of the second hand of the clock sounded particularly crisp.
The sense of hearing became extremely sensitive under this condition. In fact, Han Chu could even hear the quiet snoring of the person sleeping on the coach. The person… the woman?
Han Chu frowned slightly. He subconsciously leaned back to look down the corridor that was outside the hall. After making sure that no one was around to see this, he picked up the room card and shoved it back into his pocket. Then, he closed the room door and walked toward the coach as the thing that he had just seen earlier crossed his mind. The small details that he had not been paying attention to before flooded his mind, increasing the confusion that was festering inside his heart.
“What skills do you know?”
“…I know everything my girlfriend knows.”
When Han Chu had been interviewing the male Ye Shuang, he had already been confused. Horse training, racing, foreign languages, cooking, and martial arts—of course, it was possible for two distinct individuals to master these skills at the same time, but there had to be a difference in the level of mastery. Or it was more likely the case where one of them mastered a part of the skill that the other was not that familiar with. However, this pair of ‘partners’ had turned this concept on its head. They were in such tandem that it felt like they were the same person.
Furthermore, they announced to the world that they were a couple. Fine, perhaps this was just a cover-up. However, they should at least be partners that worked very well together, but they had never appeared side by side before.
If these two individuals were one person, this could easily be explained.
Han Chu stopped at the side of the couch and looked down on the woman that was sleeping soundly with a frown on his face. One minute ago, she had still been a he. How could something this impossible be happening before his eyes? How was he going to explain this?
Perhaps because the air in the room was too weird or the presence of a second person that should not be there had disturbed the airflow in the room. It ruined how the atmosphere in the room was supposed to be. In her dream, Ye Shuang felt like there was someone observing her, and her eyes flew open as she woke up. When she did, she saw Han Chu, who was sitting on the edge of the couch with a face filled with consternation and contemplation.
Stifling a big yawn, Ye Shuang scratched her head and sat up. “Mr. Han? Is there anything else?”
Jesus Christ, did I forget to close the door? But that doesn’t sound right. The rooms in this hotel has the auto-lock feature.
Mr. Han… That was how the male Ye Shuang normally referred to him. The female Ye Shuang normally preferred to call him Brother Han. Han Chu’s eyes moved slightly, but he did not say anything.
Sister Shuang initiated gentleman mode, and her lips curved into a smile that Han Chu was weirdly familiar with. The meaningful smile that Han Chu had always seen appear on Brother Shuang’s face. She lifted her head to ask, “Why are you visiting so late…”
The rest of her sentence got caught in her throat, and Sister Shuang, who was moving into her habitual pose, finally realized that something was wrong.
Wait a minute, why did the shirt become bigger?
When did the pants become so long?
What’s up with this long, chest-length hair‽
Ye Shuang moved her head robotically to the side, and she could see her own reflection clearly on the glass door that led to the balcony. Soft, exquisite, gentle… Yes, she was in her female form while wearing Brother Shuang’s clothes!
“…” Ye Shuang.
“…” Han Chu.
What the f*ck‽
Shots of thunder erupted in Ye Shuang’s mind. The poor Sister Shuang felt like she was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. What about theory of the kiss? Shouldn’t that have delayed her transformation for another twenty-four hours‽ She had done that kiss that afternoon, hadn’t she‽ What had happened to the science? Did it die‽
Han Chu looked at the girl who was in the middle of a meltdown. The blank face seemed to be written with the shock of ‘fate has abandoned me’ and total disbelief. For some weird reason, Han Chu suddenly felt that the situation was rather humorous. The sense of disbelief that he had experienced when he first saw this was softened quite a bit.
“You…” Han Chu cleared his throat and was about to say something when he saw that the girl on the couch had been yanked back to reality by his voice. Then, before he could react, the expression on the girl’s face changed. Han Chu felt there was a blur before his eyes, and only a shadow was left of the girl who was lying on the couch. Then, there was a force that originated around his collar. His sight turned and blurred. When he came to, he felt a dull pain coming from his back, and his whole person was knocked off the couch. He was pressed against the carpet next to the couch, and his hands were rapidly tied and fastened above his head.
He groaned involuntarily from the pain, and when he opened his eyes to examine what was happening, Han Chu saw Ye Shuang straddling him wearing a shirt that was much too big for her. With one hand, she grabbed both of his arms and held them above his head, and with the other, she pressed against his chest. She looked so slender and slight, but it felt like a mountain was sitting on him. He tried so hard, but he was unable to struggle free. He felt like a small animal that had fallen into the claws of a beast.
The long hair fell to cover up the expression on her face, and Ye Shuang asked in a surprisingly calm voice, “What have you seen?”
“Everything.” Han Chu also began to slowly calm down. He suddenly realized that no matter how humorous he might think this whole situation was, this transformation that he had just witnessed could not be described as funny. It was not that there was no example of the male and female sharing the same form in nature. There were examples of creatures in nature changing sex as well, one of the more famous examples being the clown fish. However, this only happened to specific species, and normally, it only happened once in their life. The thing that Ye Shuang was experiencing was definitely not something like that.
If the appearance of the two ‘Ye Shuang’s in the past could be taken as the rate of her changing transformation, then there was one thing that he could confirm—the transformation of the genders was not an isolated event but had been happening quite regularly.
At the same time, Anthony had been to the female Ye Shuang’s family. The girl had been raised in that neighborhood and had her own social circle there. This meant that the female form had been existing there for a long time already; she had her life built there. Thus, at least her original form should be female, and she had grown up as a female. The appearance of the male form should be something recent. At the very earliest, it should be around when she reached puberty. So, what had initiated such a dramatic change‽
Han Chu connected all the dots almost instantly. These minor details might not have been that conspicuous, but it was enough for him to come up with part of the truth. No matter the reason, at least Han Chu knew that no one would be happy with this type of anomaly to one’s growth. She would only be conflicted and annoyed… as well as the fear of being discovered.
When that thought crossed his mind, Han Chu frowned and was silent for several seconds. Then he swapped out a severe tone. “What do you plan to do‽”
If only I knew what I want to do! Ye Shuang’s lips twitched, and her grasp tightened subconsciously. Her lips stretched into a thin line, and she asked seriously, “I’m planning to… what do you think about murder‽”
“If that is really what you’re planning to do, you wouldn’t have detained me.” Han Chu slowly lowered his eyes and he continued to analyze everything calmly like he did not hear the threat to his life. “There are normally two types of crimes. One is the premeditated crime. This type of person has strong mobility or mental training. When the time is right, they will strike instantly and without holding back.
“The other is the crime of passion. The criminal temporarily loses their rationality due to some kind of shock or dramatic event or rage. You would not commit the premeditated crime because you are not antisocial. However, I don’t think you are capable of committing crime of passion either. This is because it has already been so long. Even if you had such desire at the beginning, the desire should have been exhausted by now.”
After realizing the girl’s first reaction was to detain him, which was the most reserved action, this went to show that Ye Shuang also did not know what to do with him. She was afraid that he might reveal her secret, so she acted on instinct and apprehended him. However, she did not have the heart to deal with the witness, so they had ended up in this standstill.
Han Chu suddenly frowned, and he raised his gaze to look at Ye Shuang’s face. He coughed with dissatisfaction. “My collar!”
Ye Shuang blinked several times. She lowered her head and then released the grasp with an “oh”. One of her arms reached into his back to pull on his shirt, and then her other arm very naturally helped him to button up the suit jacket. “Don’t change the subject, do continue.”
The originally tense atmosphere in the room dissolved following this very natural action by Ye Shuang.
“Continue with that?” Han Chu moved his head to the side, and with gritted teeth, he tried to ignore the weird sensation of a girl sitting on top of him. “First, this issue might be important to you, but it is of no importance to me. Second, I am not a researcher or a gossip column reporter—selling your secret out is not going to bring anything positive. Third, I will not purposely make things difficult for females… are you satisfied now‽”
Ye Shuang was silent for a while and seriously studied the micro expression that appeared on Han Chu’s face. After she had confirmed that the man was not lying to him, she quickly analyzed the possible consequences that could occur from this situation, and she came to the conclusion that the man could be trusted.
Realizing that the worst scenario was not going to happen, Ye Shuang sighed greatly in relief, and she turned back to smile happily. She released her grasp with loads of embarrassment and quickly helped the man to smooth out the shirt that she had ruffled. “Yes, I’m satisfied now.”
Brother Han, you’re such a good man.
Actually, after she gave it some serious thought, it was just as Han Chu had said. This might be something important to Ye Shuang, but other people might not think too much of it. The only problem that the transformation of her sex brought Ye Shuang was the possibility of criticism and the curious gazes that others might toss her way after they found out.
Since they did not know about the alien DNA, while the chance of her being captured to be experimented on due to the her ‘uniqueness’ was not zero, but were there even that many human experiments in today’s society‽ If it was immortality that she had experienced, then perhaps the chance would be higher, but how many people would be interested in unlocking the secret of gender swapping?
Of course, public clamor could melt gold. If she did not want to have the world pointing at her or be made into a display, it was best if she did not announce such news to the world. With that in mind, the only difficulty was how to make sure that those in the know would help her keep the secret. Ye Shuang still had quite a high level of trust toward Han Chu.
Han Chu sighed helplessly and rubbed his wrists that were finally free. He pushed himself up with his arms, and he looked at the girl, who seemed to be content just sitting on him. He looked around and coughed. “Aren’t you going to get off yet‽”
Ye Shuang quickly climbed off the man. Han Chu was finally able to get up from the ground. After he stood upright, he went to inspect the laptop that had been thrown to the floor alongside him. When he saw the state that the laptop was in, he frowned patiently. Ye Shuang followed Han Chu’s gaze and coughed drily, pretending that she did not see anything.
“In any case…” Han Chu picked up the laptop, and his tone was so normal like nothing out of place had just happened earlier. “Is this why you have not returned to San Lin City lately? Albert staying there has given you some concern?”
He activated the laptop to examine it. Thankfully, the laptop was quite sturdy, and the carpet at the hotel was rather soft. At least the laptop had not been picked up from the couch and slammed to the ground. Based on these few points, Han Chu sighed in relief when he found out he probably would not have to invest in a new laptop any time soon.
“Albert doesn’t have the power to carry out an arrest in our country. In fact, it is the complete opposite. If he steps just slightly over the line, he is in danger of breaking the law of this country.
“However, Albert is still a professional. Certain things cannot be guaranteed. He must have some kind of method that will enable him to escape the discovery of the local police force. I cannot guarantee that I am one hundred percent out of Albert’s surveillance circle.” Ye Shuang nodded in admission. “And there is one very important thing. Albert is an experienced profiler with the US government. Even if he is not conducting some underground surveillance, just overly constant interaction between the two of us might lead him to suspect certain things.”
Han Chu’s fingers hung over the laptop’s keyboard for a while before he closed the device. “That is not a big problem. When did your transformation start to occur?”
“Last year.” Ye Shuang raised her eyes to look at Han Chu. “But I cannot tell you the exact reason.”
Han Chu thought about it. “When I called you before, the appearance of your two genders seemed to be rather uniform, but that rhythm has been disrupted. Is it because your body has been acting up?”
“No, I’ve found a method that I can use to extend the current gender that I am in, but the exact method, it is too soon to share with you.”
Han Chu nodded. “Fine, then is it possible for you to recover from this situation?”
“Yes!” Ye Shuang said with sure confidence. “But I’m sorry, I don’t think I can share the solution with you yet.”
“Then what exactly can you share with me?” Han Chu grumbled with dissatisfaction.
Ye Shuang was conflicted. “Who told you to keep going for these sensitive questions? Can you ask me about simpler things? Like my star sign, blood type, height, hobbies, and the like. Those I can answer just fine.”
Han Chu put his laptop away and silently stood up. “Good night.”
“Wait a minute!” Ye Shuang reached out to grab Han Chu. “Before you leave, tell me how you got into my room.”
Han Chu stared into Ye Shuang’s eyes for half a minute. “There are two room cards to every room at this hotel.”
“So, you went to steal the other card to my room?” Ye Shuang could not believe what she was hearing.
Han Chu looked at her with his chest puffed out. “How would I know you are a woman?”
In his eyes, male employees had no private time. If they wanted to be an agent, they had to be prepared as a case could come at any minute of the twenty-four hours. Furthermore, if there was an emergency, was he supposed to stand at the door to shout or call the front desk to ask for an emergency room card‽
After resolving that question, the two went their separate ways to resolve the chaos that night. After watching Han Chu leave and seeing the man place the room card on the table next to the door, Ye Shuang sighed in relief. She wiped the sweat from her head and jumped into the shower and changed. Then she crawled under the covers. No matter what, she was not going to let herself fall asleep on the couch ever again. She thought the things that had happened that morning were already the worst of the worst, but who would have thought that something even worse would happen that night?
Her secret had been discovered by someone outside of her family, but thankfully, that person was Han Chu, so she was able to convince herself to accept that reality somehow. To her surprise, other than the initial panic, after the dust settled, she realized that having someone to share her secret with was not really that bad. At least if she needed a secret for her gender change in the future, she would have another person to help her come up with an alibi!
Ye Shuang was a naturally optimistic person. If the sky fell, there would be something bigger and taller to hold up the sky. If that person failed, then they would just all die together. Things had already happened, and based on her observation, there were more positives than negatives. Since that was the case, why should she worry about it‽ Therefore, after a brief moment of conflict, Ye Shuang managed to fall back into her sweet dreams.
At the same time, Han Chu, who did not look as calm as he was on the surface, was in a greater turmoil than Ye Shuang was. Why would the gender swap happen? What was the reason? What was the science behind it? What was the solution to help her return to normal? There was a method to delay the transformation, but what was that method? He was really curious, but there was no one he could share it with. He could not have been more distressed.
Therefore, he called the front desk of the hotel to order a large cake. Han Chu spent the rest of the night munching on the cream cheesecake, trying to fill in the blanks in his mind.
…
When they woke up the next morning, Ye Shuang’s fresh look was a big contrast to Han Chu’s haggardness. Albert was surprised that he would be able to see Sister Shuang there, and soon after, he was surprised at how devastated Han Chu looked.
“Oh, beautiful lady, I’m so glad to be able to see you again so soon. By the way, did Mr. Han not have a good sleep? You did not look so good.” Han Chu glanced at Ye Shuang and then turned to nod at Albert. “An emergency came up that I needed Mr. Ye to do, so I called Xiao Shuang to come earlier. Today, you can discuss the plan that will happen after we get on the cruise tomorrow.”
Ye Shuang was touched and grabbed a large piece of ham. It felt nice knowing that she had someone to watch over her back now. She was no longer that worried about her gender swapping. Since Sister Shuang was ‘personally’ there already, Albert naturally was willing to share the more detailed part of his plan, which they did not have chance to go over the day before.
Based on the files provided by Zuo Yuanhang on the six people as well as the data from Han Chu and the first hand observations provided by Ye Shuang, Albert had drafted an approach that was specifically designed for these six people. As long as he was allowed to interact with them for more than a set period of time, he would be able to come up with his analysis on whether they were the suspicious target or not. After that, he would approach the suspects again.
Even though Ye Shuang was also good at reading faces, her skill was more passive. To put it simply, currently, Ye Shuang could only analyze the results based on the actions and words of others. However, she was unable to direct the person into situation that she wanted and, from there, bait out the reaction that would help confirm or deny her speculation. After all, Ye Shuang’s experience in this field was less than Albert’s. Leaving the problem to the professional, after all, she only needed to know what she was supposed to be doing.
While she was listening to Albert, Ye Shuang looked around the restaurant and observed the other diners to brush up on her experience. In the corner sat a family of three, a pair of young parents and a little boy in a suit.
There was nothing that was so extraordinary about this family, but when the little boy jumped down from the chair to go and grab himself a plate of pudding, and his face turned…
What the fuck‽ Was the girl in the pink dress from the day before his twin sister‽
While Ye Shuang was in shock, she heard the young father criticize the young mother. “That dress is a gift for our niece. Why would you dress our son in it? Now that the packaging is open, how are we going to gift it? On top of that, you have even already cut the tags off.”
The young mother giggled and tried to brush it off. “Well, I saw how cute our son was, and since we were at the beach, of course, I had to take the chance to shoot some pretty pictures.”
At the side, Ye Shuang was brimming with fury. Cute your head!
…
Ye Shuang ended the breakfast in a very bad mood. With a drawn face, she returned to her own room.
So, in this world, it is not only the adults who cheat others—even kids these day can be totally fake!
She did not leave her room that afternoon, but she did receive a call from Lu Shaoyue. The man was calling to confirm the time that Ye Shuang would be boarding the cruise the next day. Lu Shaoyue was going to meet up with Ye Shuang at the pier. From a certain perspective, it was a good thing that Ye Shuang had changed back to her female form. At least she would not need to explain why it was Brother Shuang’s voice who answered the call.
The rest of the day was spent doing nothing. She watched some movies and played some games. Both Han Chu and Albert came to visit her that afternoon. They came at different times. Han Chu came to ask her more questions about the gender transformation and the possible consequence that might happen when she was on the cruise, and Ye Shuang comforted him. Albert came because he wanted to get some information on Anthony from Ye Shuang, so Ye Shuang ignored him.
The second day finally arrived. She woke up and checked out of the hotel. With Han Chu and Albert, she headed directly for the pier. At the entrance, when she got out of the car, it did not take long for her to spot Lu Shaoyue at the steps that led to the cruise.
“I’m going to go meet up with Mr. Lu. I’ll see you on the cruise.” Ye Shuang pointed at Lu Shaoyue.
“Lu Shaoyue‽” Han Chu frowned, but he quickly relaxed. He then turned to nod at Ye Shuang. “You did find yourself a good meat shield.”
“It’s far less eye-catching than coming alone.” Single women at parties were normally equal to people that could be pursued. Ye Shuang wanted to save herself the trouble from being hit on. Furthermore, Lu Shaoyue had helped her a lot when she was in Jing Hu City, so she could not have treated him like a stranger.
Waving goodbye to Han Chu and Albert, Ye Shuang left the carpark and headed for the cruise steps. Zuo Yuanhang’s family was already on the boat and chatting with the guests that were arriving.
“Miss Ye sure is punctual.” Lu Shaoyue saw Ye Shuang, and he smiled politely. He extended his hand toward her in a gentlemanly fashion. Ye Shuang very gracefully took his hand and smiled in response. “No one would not be punctual for Zuo Yuanhang’s cruise party. It is an annual event, and it’ll be sad to miss it.”
“Indeed.” Lu Shaoyue led Ye Shuang onto the ship. They greeted the few people that he knew on the deck.