《Hidden Blade》

Chapter 29: The Fourth Person

The arraignment of Liu Zhengxiong had been the earthquake, but as the dust began to settle over Kuala Lumpur, Su Nian realized that the tremors were far from over.

She spent the following weekend entombed in the attic of the old house. The air was thick with the hum of her laptop’s cooling fan and the faint, bitter scent of cold jasmine tea. Outside, the world was celebrating the fall of a legal titan, but inside the blue-lit sanctuary of her screens, Su Nian was looking for a ghost. She was looking for the thread that pulled Liu Zhengxiong’s strings—the 'Architect' who had remained silent while the law firm crumbled.

Lu Tingshen was her silent anchor. He didn't ask if she was tired. He didn't tell her to sleep. He simply appeared at regular intervals, setting a fresh cup of tea beside her, his hand lingering for a fleeting second on her shoulder—a silent, physical tether to the reality she was fighting to protect.

On Sunday afternoon, at exactly 3:14 PM, the thread finally snapped taut.

"There you are," Su Nian whispered, her voice a dry rasp in the quiet attic.

It was a single line in a bank record she had bypassed a dozen times before. A transfer from Liu Zhengxiong’s private account to a numbered account in the Cayman Islands. The amount was small, almost insulting—two hundred thousand ringgit—easy to overlook among the millions that had flowed through the Su Family Trust. But the date was the smoking gun. It had been executed three days before her father’s death.

She cross-referenced the account number. It appeared three more times in nineteen years: Once after her uncle’s 'suicide.' Once when Liu Zhengxiong was promoted to Senior Partner. And once, just last month, the day before the investigation into Su Feining had been officially reopened.

This wasn't just a payment. It was a tithe. A tribute paid to a master.

"Lu Tingshen!" she called, her voice sharp with a sudden, icy clarity.

He appeared in the doorway instantly, his dark eyes scanning the room for a threat before settling on her. "You found the head of the snake."

"I found the shadow behind the lawyer," Su Nian said, turning the screen toward him. "Liu Zhengxiong wasn't the one who ordered the hit. He was the one who paid for it. This account... it belongs to someone who doesn't need money. They need silence. They need the Su wealth to stay in the hands of people they can control."

"Can you trace it?"

"I need a scalpel," Su Nian said, reaching for her phone. "I need Li Mo."

Li Mo arrived within the hour, his eyes bloodshot but his fingers steady. He sat at Su Nian’s desk, bypassing layers of shell companies, offshore trusts, and digital firewalls with the cold efficiency of a ghost. The trail led from the Caymans to a private vault in Switzerland, and finally, back to a domestic holding company in a private bank in Singapore.

"The beneficial owner is hidden behind three layers of Nominee Directors," Li Mo muttered, his screen flashing with lines of red code. "But they made one mistake. A recurring maintenance fee for a luxury yacht in Langkawi was paid from the same source. The registration for that yacht is public record if you know which port authority to hack."

He hit a final key, and a name flickered onto the screen in stark, white letters.

Dato' Sri Ahmad Farid.

The silence that followed was absolute. Even the birds in the garden seemed to go quiet.

"A former Minister," Lu Tingshen murmured, his jaw tightening until a muscle pulsed. "A man who sat in the Cabinet for two decades. He didn't just know the law; he helped write it."

"He was the Minister of Finance when my father was killed," Su Nian said, her mind racing through the political archives. "He was the one who oversaw the National Development Fund. My father wasn't just investigating a family embezzlement; he had found the leak that led straight to the heart of the government. Su Feining wasn't just laundering money for herself—she was laundering it for him."

"This is deep, Su Nian," Li Mo said, his voice dropping into a tone of professional dread. "Deeper than anything we’ve found before. This isn't a legal battle anymore. This is a state secret."

Su Nian picked up her phone. "I need to call Puan Haslinda."

The prosecutor listened in a silence so long that Su Nian thought the call had dropped. When Haslinda finally spoke, her voice sounded twenty years older. "Su Nian, listen to me very carefully. Ahmad Farid is not Liu Zhengxiong. He is a man with a thousand allies and a thousand more enemies. People who look into his shadow tend to vanish from the face of the earth. If you bring this evidence to me officially, I have to act. And the moment I act, the 'Hidden Blade' won't be enough to protect you."

"I’m not afraid of his shadow, Puan," Su Nian said, her voice like tempered steel. "I’ve lived in it for nineteen years. I’m quite comfortable in the dark."

"Then we move quickly," Haslinda warned. "But we move with absolute secrecy. If he finds out we’re coming before the warrants are served, he will burn the city down to hide the ashes."

Su Nian hung up and looked at the name on the screen. Dato' Sri Ahmad Farid. For nineteen years, this man had walked the halls of power, protected by his title and his connections. He had likely forgotten the name of the girl he had orphaned. He had likely assumed that the Su family was a closed chapter in his ledger of crimes.

He was wrong.

"Li Mo, I want to know everything," Su Nian commanded. "Where he sleeps, who he pays, what he eats for breakfast. I want to know the name of the man who held the umbrella for him when he attended my father’s funeral."

"Already on it," Li Mo said, his fingers returning to the keyboard. "He has a residence in Damansara Heights that’s a literal fortress. He also has a private estate in Langkawi. He’s currently splitting his time between the two, likely preparing for his next political move."

"Keep tracking him. Don't let him breathe without us knowing about it."

Lu Tingshen stood in the doorway, watching her with an expression she couldn't quite read. "You're going after him. Even though you know it’s a death sentence."

"It’s only a death sentence if we lose," Su Nian said, standing up and walking toward him. She looked him in the eye, the fire in her soul burning brighter than ever. "Are you going to try to stop me?"

Lu Tingshen didn't hesitate. He reached out and hooked his finger around her sleeve—the same tethering gesture he had used a thousand times, but this time, it felt like a vow.

"No," he whispered. "I'm going to make sure you're the one who survives to tell the story."

"That’s practical of you," she said, a small, fierce smile touching her lips.

"It’s not practical, Nian," he countered, pulling her slightly closer. "It’s the only reality I’m willing to accept."

That evening, Su Nian gathered the group in the living room. The atmosphere had shifted. The celebration of Liu Zhengxiong’s arrest had been replaced by a grim, focused intensity. Than sat on the sofa, his wooden elephant clutched in his hand. Lin Wei leaned against the doorframe, her neon hair looking like a beacon in the dim light.

"The fourth person has a name," Su Nian said, her gaze sweeping the room. "And it’s a name that can end us all. Dato' Sri Ahmad Farid."

The room was silent. Even Lin Wei didn't have a witty comeback. They all knew the weight of that name.

"I won't ask any of you to stay," Su Nian continued. "This is no longer a search for justice; it’s an insurgency. If you want to leave, if you want to take the money I’ve recovered and disappear to another country, I will help you. No questions asked."

Lin Wei was the first to speak. She walked over to the bar and poured a shot of whiskey, tossing it back in one go. "Leave? And miss the chance to take down the man who’s been bleeding this country dry? Not a chance, honey. I’m a bartender. I know how to handle poisonous snakes."

Than looked up, his eyes reflecting his sister’s fire. "I did not cross borders to run away from a name. I am staying."

Li Mo cracked his knuckles. "I’ve already found his mistress’s offshore accounts. I’m too deep in the code to stop now."

Su Nian turned to Lu Tingshen. He didn't say a word. He simply tightened his grip on her sleeve.

"Then let’s finish this," Su Nian said, her voice echoing through the old house. "Together."

Outside, the night had fully fallen over Damansara Heights. Somewhere in a mansion filled with stolen art and blood-stained secrets, a former minister was going about his evening, unaware that a girl from an attic had just written his name on the wrong side of history.

The fourth person had been found. The final battle was no longer a distant hope. It was a destination. And they were already on their way.