CHAPTER 515: CHAPTER 487: IT’S FINE AS LONG AS HE DOESN’T KNOW.

Hong was buried among a pile of equipment, with tall servers and some devices that Xiao Lin couldn’t name. He was rapidly typing on the keyboard with his fingers, his eyes fixed on the screen. "Almost done, just wait a moment."

Xiao Lin found a random spot to sit down. "You treat your guarded territory like your own home!" Seeing the room filled with items gradually encroaching on the defended space made it evident how indulgent the guardian was towards Hong.

"Yeah, it’s comfortable living here." After the keyboard clattered, Hong finally lifted his head from the pile of equipment. "Come take a look, there’s a startling discovery." Xiao Lin walked over to Hong’s side. "It’s a bit tricky to work on this. The original footage has been erased, but judging by the time distribution structure, it should have been during the period after you left, before the guard entered." Hong pointed out the problem with the original footage on a display. "This is the original video you brought back. Now let’s look at this." With that, after he input a string of characters, a new image appeared on another monitor. "Looks like there’s no difference, right? I’ll play it back using two machines and see if you notice any changes." Xiao Lin nodded, glancing at the screen on the left and then the one in the center, seeing no difference.

"The playback speed in the center is slower than the one on the left!" After observing for a while, Xiao Lin pointed out the difference he noticed. "Obviously, the footage in the center is longer than what I brought to you."

"Exactly, that’s the issue." Hong rewound the footage on the two machines to the time period when Xiao Lin left. "There was no change before, but let’s start watching from here." Hong pointed at the screen on the left with a bamboo stick. "Here, the footage directly cuts from the time you left to when the guard returned, which is five minutes, whereas the time on the middle screen is nearly fifteen minutes."

"You’re saying that the total time from when I left until the guard arrived at the location was fifteen minutes." Xiao Lin was confused about one point. "How did you restore the edited footage?"

"Normally, it’s not possible, once it’s cut, it’s cut. But the person who edited the footage took an extra step, presumably to prevent an accident. Before editing, they performed a friction process, leaving a record in the backup."

"If there’s a backup, can the footage be restored?"

Hong shook his head. "This isn’t the original machine, there’s no way to find the source, but even if found, it’s likely been destroyed by now."

"Hong, did you do something you shouldn’t have again?" From Hong’s expression, Xiao Lin immediately knew he hadn’t been up to any good. "Since this isn’t the original machine, where did you get this backup from?"

"I didn’t expect it to be so troublesome. The guardian wouldn’t let me steal, so I had to break into their internal network."

"Internal network?"

"Yeah, cracking from the external network to the internal network is a bit complicated, and finding this original footage from all those files is challenging, but I managed to swipe a bit."

Not feeling any wrongdoing, Hong wrinkled his nose at Xiao Lin. He even had the nickname "Little Thief" without any negative connotation. It’s purely because he liked to gather some information from each household and then sell it to those who needed it, which was his job.

"But I think this is enough to prove your innocence." Hong’s innocence prompted Xiao Lin to pat his head. Merely relying on the time difference can’t prove anything, but it shows that the video was tampered with, which can give him a slight advantage, though it depends on who uses Liu Sheng’s situation to make an issue out of it. For an ordinary person, he wouldn’t need to worry.

"Young Master Xiao, why do you still look unhappy?" Coming out from behind the table, Hong retrieved milk from the fridge and placed it in the microwave to heat.

"It’s fine, what about Guard?" Today he wasn’t in the mood to wait for the guardian. After entering the underground hideout from the underground garage, he had been there for quite a while without any movement from above.

"He said he was going out for a few days, told me to watch the house, and if you guys came, to leave a message saying not to look for him." With a ding from the microwave, Hong took out the milk, mixed a packet of medicine into it, and drank it with a frown.

"How many days has he been gone?"

"About four or five days by now!"

The day Guard left happened to be a few days after he had met Ye Liqing, a time when he was dealing with the ’inone’ case and had no time to pay attention to the dark matters.

"Make a copy of the video for me. If you can restore the footage, even better. If you need anything special, I’ll get it for you."

"If it’s possible to get the original footage from the camera at that angle, there’s a chance of restoring it."

"Original tapes? How would cameras have tapes now, aren’t they all stored on heavy servers?"

"No, the reason I was able to extract this fifteen-minute process wasn’t just because I found the backup. The crucial point was the tool used to record this video. Although the footage is saved in common AVI or RM formats, it was actually recorded through a tape recorder, something most people wouldn’t know." Hong bounced over to Xiao Lin’s side. "Give me a piece of candy, and I’ll tell you why."

"No candy, but I can give you two slaps, your choice."

"One piece of candy wouldn’t hurt." Hong pouted in grievance. "Currently, not many people use tape recorders, but maybe the City Police Department was established early on, so the surveillance design is old and hasn’t been upgraded. So you’re quite lucky; if you can get the tape from this time, even if the computer video has been tampered with, the tape will still retain it. Unless..."

"Unless this person also knows about the recorder and has taken or destroyed the master tape."

"Hmm, that’s right! It’s just been almost a week, the recording time of the recorder and the storage time of the master tape, I don’t know how the police department is handling it. It might be reused."

"Got it." Time was tight. Xiao Lin grabbed the USB drive that Hong gave him and hurriedly left. As he left, he gave a glance upstairs with a sigh, hoping this guy wouldn’t do anything that would worry him.

"Guard, deceiving Young Master Xiao like this will get you in trouble!" Listening to the engine squeal before humming, Hong slowly walked up to the second floor. "He doesn’t want to help Guard deceive Young Master Xiao, but with how things are, Guard will just add worries for Young Master Xiao."

Guard sat up from the bed, and the sheet was stained with blood. He picked up the bandages and medicinal cotton beside him to wipe his wounds again.

"You’ve got more wounds this time!" Seeing that Guard couldn’t reach to apply medicine to the wound on his back, he came over, took the medicine from his hand, applied it to his wound, and then continuously wrapped the wound with bandages.

"Just don’t let him find out." Guard hissed as Hong tied the bandage tightly.

"Looks pretty painful, what on earth are you up to outside? Your clients have asked several times how their orders are coming along."

"Fighting with a bunch of rats, they’re all unprofessional scum." Guard put on his clothes with Hong’s help and got angry thinking about those bastards. That old woman too, always making snide remarks, not a bit of movement.

"Fighting with rats, huh? I’d like to join, I haven’t moved in a long time, my whole body feels lazy, take me with you!" Hong started nudging Guard, being playful was a privilege of his as a younger friend.

"No way!" Guard backed to the side and started filling a sink with water.

"Are you gonna keep working while you’re hurt?"

"If I don’t work, what would I eat? I plan to rest today; doing this every day would kill a person. That damn woman, just you wait! Once I get that damn position, you’ll all see."

"Even if you don’t work, I can totally take care of you." Hong crouched next to Guard. He loved seeing the freshly made glass emit smoke when it hit the water; while others liked the finished product, Hong liked the vibrant orange glow right out of the furnace.

"You want to take care of me, huh? Wait till you’re taller than me, and can beat me, then we’ll talk!"

Guard had grown immune to Hong’s words. Among them, Hong was the one who could make the most money, earning a large sum with just a flick of his fingers, unlike him and Zimu, who relied on physical labor to earn a living.

"Guard always says that, it’s boring." Hong took the sheets off the folding bed, replaced them with clean ones, then fetched some herb from downstairs and lit it nearby. "I think you can’t hide it from Young Master Xiao, his nose is so sharp, how could he not smell the heavy scent of blood."

"Anyway, he didn’t press on the issue, so let’s just leave it for now. Careful, you might get burned." He put a blown glass piece from the high-temperature kiln into the water, making Hong giggle as smoke wafted up. "Has anyone ever told you you’re a pervert?"

"Yes, you have."

Guard rolled his eyes at him and set the finished product aside. He picked up a cigarette and lit it. "This time, Young Master Xiao is up against the Third Young Master, who do you think will win?"

"Of course, it’ll be Young Master Xiao, do you even need to ask?" Hong cleared a space and waved away the smoke with his hand. "Isn’t Guard also working hard for Young Master Xiao? We’re all working hard, so Young Master Xiao is sure to win."

"What you just told him, it isn’t a lie, right?"

"Of course not." Hong had intentionally withheld some information; even if we get the master tape, it may not be fully restored, ninety percent is the truth, and the other ten percent is luck. "I just think the Third Young Master’s goal isn’t Young Master Xiao’s position."

"Hmm, I feel the same." Guard took a drag on his cigarette and once again fell into a bout of pain, as the unhealed wounds got worse with last night’s strenuous activity.

"Guard, better come up with an excuse, Young Master Xiao will eat you alive if he gets angry."

"What I’m doing now is the best excuse." He wasn’t going to make up any excuse; he didn’t think what he was doing was wrong to begin with, and he had the ability to handle it. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)