The Case

"Not there? Where? In a street? At School?" Han Mingxia curiously asked. She thought it must be in the Han Family's main house as her uncle knew about it. But Han Meixiu continuously shook her head.

"I don't think this kind of image is something that stands out. If I see this in the street, I'm sure I won't take notice of it at all. It looked so common. But if I see this in a special circumstance, then it's an entirely different story." Earlier when she was drawing it, aside from following the unclear instructions of Han Mingxia, she incorporated the image she remembered and asked her cousin if the details she added were correct. They were indeed correct.

"You're right. The first time I saw this I also didn't think it was important. Only until I saw it again that I remembered it's existence and realized that this might give me answers."

Han Meixiu carefully folded the paper as she started to speak. "I once helped a friend look for a good case study. We somewhat encounter a file containing information about dark web."

"Dark web? Isn't it illegal to access?"

"Not really. You can access it if you have the means. The illegal is not about accessing it, it's about the activities it offered."

"It's the same as deep web?"

"No. It's different. It's just a portion of the deep web." She's fully aware that only less than 5% of the internet is accessible to the general public. The rest's made up of the deep web.

"So what does this 'company' offer?"

"That.. I don't know. I only saw the image on the file but I didn't read the content. I only helped to access it secretly. It wasn't me who needed it so I didn't read it."

"Secretly? It was a classified information?" To answer her question, Han Meixiu simply nodded. "Can you access it again?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then let's ask that friend of yours! For sure she has information we could use."

"She's currently in a closed door training, I think. I can't contact her." Han Meixiu dejectedly answered. She really wanted to meet Li Xiaozhi but it seemed impossible these days.

"Training? Hold on, that friend your talking about is Li Xiaozhi?" How could she forget that her cousin has very limited social circle. She might only have one friend.

"Yes."

"Then the file was from her brother?" She met Li Xioazhi couple of times as the two were like pea in a pod, they were almost always together during breaks. She knew that her cousin's best friend came from a military family and she has only brothers that's why she was exceptionally close to Han Meixiu.

"Yes."

"Wow, you guys got guts! Her brother didn't find out?"

"I think so." Based from what her best friend told her, nobody found out about what they did.

"You must be good." Ever since she met Han Meixiu in that party, she knew she's been trying not to stand out despite being talented. As for the reason why, she didn't know.

"I'm not sure. But I tell you, I didn't access it remotely. So if you ask me to get that file again, we have to infiltrate their residence. Which is, i.m.p.o.s.s.i.b.l.e."

"Why do I feel like you're mocking me when you mentioned the word 'impossible'?"

"You simply don't have the talent to infiltrate a place. And don't count me in."

Han Mingxia knew it was because she got easily caught earlier. "I wasn't fully prepared, okay? Besides why do you have excessive guards in here? You just moved in."

"It's normal. That's why I told you it's impossible to sneak out."

"Fine. Then what are we going to do? We only know that it's from dark web but for what they're offering we have no idea."

"We can search it."

"Would it be easy?"

"It won't be hard. We just need a special software to access most of the dark web's sites. This one might not be an exemption."

"Special software?"

"Uh-huh. We just need a good Virtual Private Network also known as VPN. Then we'll use TOR as a browser. It's the most common browser for Dark Web."

"Right, then we could try to avail their service once we found it!" Han Mingxia started to have hope.

"That would be dangerous. Why don't you visit the Han Family's main house to check if there's similar image there. You could try to sneak in. You grew up there so you mostly know the way. Their security isn't that tight, I think."

Han Mingxia looked at her cousin as if another head grew on her shoulder.

"What's wrong? You like sneaking in, anyway. I'm just giving you suggestion." She felt weird the way her cousin stared at her. Although it might not give a fruitful result, it's worth a shot and less dangerous.

"You seriously didn't know?" She asked with an unbelieving tone on her voice.

"What?" She confusedly answered.

"There's no more Han Family in Q City. I never thought you'd be this detached to your paternal family that you're not even aware of what happened to them."

"Huh? No more? What do you mean?"

"They were prosecuted. Their crimes were extremely detailed giving no leeway to even bail. It was as if someone wanted to wiped them out legally."

"Crimes?"

"Yes, like crimessss, many, much, numerous. Most of their assets were confiscated and the main company was bought by someone. The remaining branches also somewhat disappeared. Maybe they went into hiding because of shame or they killed themselves off."

"All? Grandfather, too?"

"All that committed a crime, including the old Han. In short, there's only me, you and uncle. But since you're already married, you're not a Han anymore. You belong to a more powerful family. "

Han Meixiu didn't utter a single word for a time. She was slowly absorbing the news she just heard.

"Right, why don't you ask your husband's help?" Han Mingxia perked up when she blurted the idea.

"About this image?"

"Yes. Don't tell me you also don't know how powerful the Liu Family is?"