Chapter 50: Honest and Reliable_1

Jiang Yu exited the game, his mood unable to settle for a long time.

Although he knew the Trisolarans were no good, he still admired the spirit with which they sought a way out for their civilization.

They were a respectable adversary, yet also an unlucky one.

The sudden ring of the phone brought Jiang Yu back to his senses, "Hello."

"I am Pan Han." A cold, indifferent voice came from the other end, "First, I want to thank you for leaving your real phone number when registering your game account."

Remembering Kong Xiang's warning, Jiang Yu didn't respond, preferring to first hear out Pan Han's intentions.

Pan Han continued, "Your performance in the Three-Body Game has already earned you an invitation to an Adventist meeting.

"However, I think you don't need it, and it's better to leave this precious opportunity to someone else."

He said with a laugh, "Kong Xiang has been protecting you, refusing to give me your contact information, and he probably never dreamt that I would find you this way."

Jiang Yu still didn't speak.

After a few seconds of silence on the other end, Pan Han said again, "Hey, are you listening?"

Jiang Yu retorted, "If I were you, I wouldn't waste my breath on such nonsense when the other party could hang up at any time."

"Just like Kong Xiang, such unpleasant talk," Pan Han wasn't angry, "I need to meet with you in person."

"Sure," Jiang Yu agreed very readily, "Come to the artificial lake at our school."

After he hung up, he pondered for a while what Pan Han could possibly want with him, but he came up with nothing.

Jiang Yu then stopped thinking about it and dialed Yang Dong's cell phone.

Yang Dong had indeed received a call from the so-called "Three-Body Game administrator," asking her to attend a meetup with netizens the next day.

Jiang Yu joked, "Meet what netizens? What if all the netizens are old geeks? That would be boring, wouldn't it?"

"But..." Yang Dong seemed keen on attending the meetup.

In his mind, Jiang Yu thought, "As long as Madame Ye beside you agrees, you meeting all the creators of 'Three-Body' would be like child's play."

Out loud, he said, "Let's talk about the birthday gathering tomorrow night, save me some time, or I won't let you celebrate your birthday!"

Yang Dong laughed, "I'm scared of you, aren't I!"

After chatting idly for a bit, Yang Dong ultimately decided not to attend the netizen meetup.

After hanging up, Jiang Yu took a cold shower, shot the breeze with his roommate who had just finished evening study, and his phone rang again.

It was still Pan Han calling, saying he had already arrived by the school's artificial lake.

However, Jiang Yu feigned a yawn, "Sorry, I'm sleepy today, let's meet tomorrow at noon."

There was a pause of a few seconds on the other end, Pan Han evidently did not expect such "treatment," "You... you son of a... you're acting like a scoundrel!"

"Don't slander my character! Who doesn't know my nickname as the honest and reliable young gentleman!" Jiang Yu argued righteously:

"Just now on the phone, you didn't specify when we should meet, and now you want to put the blame on me!"

"You, just you wait!" Pan Han hung up the phone, thankfully not using a landline. If it had been a landline, he probably would have smashed it.

Jiang Yu simply turned off his cell phone, hosted a little "bed meeting," and went to sleep.

Early the next morning, Jiang Yu turned on his cell phone and found dozens of missed calls.

There were calls from his counselor, his class leader, Kong Xiang, Pan Han, and many unknown numbers.

Jiang Yu yawned and replied to Kong Xiang.

It turned out that last night, Pan Han made a fuss at the school, insisting on meeting Jiang Yu in the evening.

Pan Han was a renowned scholar of the day, and his tantrum alarmed several deans.

However, in the end, Kong Xiang, on the pretext of "avoiding disruption to the students' rest and studies", blocked all the requests from the deans and directors.

The principal even tried to contact Jiang Yu's counselor but was explicitly ordered by Kong Xiang: faculty and staff of the School of Social Sciences are not to disturb students' rest due to demands of miscellaneous people.

It's said that Pan Han nearly spat blood in anger when he heard the phrase "miscellaneous people".

Eventually, Kong Xiang asked, "How do you plan to settle this matter?"

"I still need to meet Pan Han; otherwise, this issue will probably not be resolved properly," Jiang Yu answered:

"Pan Han should also give it some thought himself. He's not a beautiful woman, so why would he want to meet by the lake in the middle of the night?"

"Let's make it this noon, still by the lake," Kong Xiang said, laughing twice, clearly pleased with his protégé's handling of the situation.

He added, "I'll talk to Pan Han, you don't need to step in. Just show up at noon."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yu called Shi Qiang and asked for his help to ensure his safety.

By morning, the sky was already a bit overcast, and by noon, it finally started to rain.

The temperature also dropped, and the time for "one autumn rain, one cold spell" had arrived.

Sheltering under an umbrella, Jiang Yu complained again, "Lake scenery in the rain, such a romantic setting, wasted on Pan Han."

He guessed Pan Han would deliberately be late to recover his dignity from the previous night, so Jiang Yu arrived an hour later than the agreed-upon time.

And he was still early.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, a sullen-faced Pan Han finally came, umbrella in hand.

He was in his thirties, with sharp facial features and an expression that suggested he was not easy to get along with.

Jiang Yu smiled and said, "Sorry, I have a habit of going to bed early. I'm afraid I made Teacher Pan make a fruitless trip last night."

He shouldn't have mentioned it, as it set off the powder keg inside Pan Han, who exploded, "You..."

"Let's talk about why you're looking for me," Jiang Yu cut in, wanting to irritate him, not giving him the chance to lose his temper:

"Since you've come so late, I have class in ten minutes, so please make it quick."

Pan Han, after all, was someone used to facing tough situations. He took several deep breaths and managed to swallow his anger: "I have a handgun for you, to assassinate Ye Wenjie."

Jiang Yu was stunned for a moment before reacting: "Are you crazy!"

Pan Han laughed, "The police are already watching me. I reckon I won't be far behind Jiang Shuo, so while I still have some freedom, it's best to clear traitors from our organization quickly."

Jiang Yu sneered, "Then why don't you just take the gun and kill her yourself!"

"I might get stopped by the Commander's guard as soon as I enter the community gate," Pan Han replied with a cold laugh:

"My actions at the school last night have already aroused suspicion from the Commander.

"If you don't kill the Commander, sooner or later he will kill you!"

It was then that Jiang Yu realized, Pan Han's near roof-raising ruckus at the school last night wasn't solely out of anger; there was a deeper strategy at play.

Unfortunately, his attempt to intimidate was doomed to fail. Being valued by another leader of the Adventists in the China Region, the last thing Jiang Yu would want is to exploit Ye Wenjie, who was keen on stealing information for the Adventists.