At noon, on a highway along the west side of the Hudson River in New York, a car was slowly moving forward.
"Luo An, things might get very messy."
Hearing Mona's words on the phone, the driving Luo An remained unruffled, his face calm, smiling as he said:
"Trouble is normal, if there wasn't any trouble, this matter wouldn't have dragged on till now."
Last night, after breaking into Trian's house and finding the laptop, Luo An immediately plugged in the USB drive he had been preparing for a long time, which contained a remote control program made by Mona.
Luo An had sent the clues obtained from interrogating Trian to Mona right away, asking for her help to investigate.
As for Trian's ultimate fate, Mona did not ask nor wanted to know, she and Luo An only wanted to uncover the truth of the past years.
"The phone number given by that tracker, just as you expected Luo An, indeed comes from a disposable phone, I can't find out who the buyer is."
Mona, sitting beside her computer with a furrowed brow, spoke:
"However, through that underworld crime website, I managed to find the identity of the person who commented under the post, his IP address, and then traced his identity."
Luo An squinted his eyes, asking:
"Who is it?"
Mona swallowed, hesitated for a few seconds and spoke in a low voice:
"This person… Luo An, you should see it yourself when you get back."
"OK."
Luo An slightly frowned and agreed, hung up the phone, and the next second, the car suddenly shot out, speeding towards the distance like an arrow released from its bow.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, Luo An returned to Washington D.C., arriving at his own villa.
Entering the study on the left side of the third floor, Mona had been waiting for a long time, and upon seeing Luo An push the door and enter, she didn't speak, just silently moved aside, revealing the laptop screen to Luo An.
Luo An looked down at the screen, which displayed a half-body photo of a Caucasian male, alongside his identity profile.
The man had black hair, a very sharp hooked nose with a high bridge, sporting a slicked-back hairstyle, his face bearing a standard federation fake smile showing eight teeth, dressed in a suit, and giving off a very amiable appearance.
The identity information next to the photo read:
Leiden Perelman, 55 years old, former President and CEO of the Illinois Nuclear Energy Company, now one of the chiefs at a renowned federal nuclear research institute.
Viewing this guy in the computer who had very distinctive Jewish features, Luo An furrowed his brows slightly, feeling somewhat astonished:
"Nuclear energy company?"
Mona nodded, her expression very grave, and said solemnly:
"Yes, and it's one of the largest nuclear energy companies in the Federation.
It accounts for approximately 20% of the Federation's total nuclear power generation, and about 70% of the nuclear power generation on the Federation East Coast.
As for Leiden Perelman, both his parents are Jews, so he is a standard Jew.
Additionally, his family belongs to 'Old Money', so Leiden Perelman's personal network is very extensive, even including acquaintances within the White House."
"Old Money", as known in federal culture, generally refers to wealth accumulated over several generations by the family, allowing them to 'enjoy it freely' without needing to work.
Some creators of the Federation's social media platforms and heads of electric car companies are quite wealthy too, but they are considered "New Money" or "Young Money"
Luo An folded his arms across his chest, his expression unpleased, he wasn't intimidated by Leiden Perelman's identity but puzzled about something:
"Does this guy have any connections with my father?"
When Luo An initially took Mona back to Boston to buy that old villa, during the renovation period of the old villa, they had visited relatives and friends of his parents from their lifetime.
On one hand, it was to fulfill social obligations, and on the other, Luo An took the opportunity to investigate the personal network of his parents from those people.
Leiden Perelman, this person never appeared in the words of father Charles' friends and relatives.
Suddenly, Luo An's expression changed slightly—if it's not related to father Charles, could it be related to mother Beverly?
Mother Beverly's photo was still there, and in her youth, she was definitely a woman who could rival those movie stars.
If it involved emotional entanglements of the older generation... Countless possibilities flashed through Luo An's mind, but before he could continue guessing, Mona began tapping the keyboard, saying:
"I found some information that might help you."
Shaking his head to temporarily dismiss those messy thoughts, Luo An refocused on the computer screen and asked:
"What information?"
"Mainly some records."
With fingers dancing on the keyboard, Mona quickly pulled up several electronic documents, displaying and explaining them to Luo An:
"Your father Charles, two years before his death, had visited a university in Pennsylvania.
At that time, Leiden Perelman, this guy, was recruiting talent at that university for his company, and it's very likely they met.
One year before your father Charles' death, several nuclear power plants under the Illinois Nuclear Energy Company managed by Leiden Perelman had serious radiation leaks, causing severe environmental pollution in several areas."
Luo An pondered carefully, frowning slightly:
"I don't recall hearing about this?"
"That's normal, because I found this message in the deep archives of the FBI."
Mona snorted coldly, a flash of chill passing through her eyes, and said:
"Back then, Leiden Perelman's energy company bribed the media to suppress the news, and the local people were uninformed.
The investigators who went to examine this, some issued reports stating there were no significant problems, I suspect they were also paid by Leiden Perelman.
As for those investigators who didn't take the money, a few died in various car accidents, and others were blatantly shot in the back and committed suicide."
Looking at the information in Mona's computer, Luo An's expression darkened.
Being shot in the back and committing suicide, this kind of thing is a traditional art of the Federation, and Luo An wasn't too surprised.
Bribing the media to suppress news, this is also common practice among various companies in the Federation. The professionalism of the Federation's various media is unquestionable, after all, it's journalism.
What really made Luo An solemn was another matter; he patted Mona on the shoulder and said:
"Mona, check out Jemor Miller."
"Jemor Miller?"
Mona was somewhat puzzled, but still began typing on the keyboard, asking for more specific information about this person as she asked:
"Who is he?"
"He was a friend of my father before he passed away."
Luo An briefly described the person's identity, and Mona quickly located him, her brows tightly knit as she explained:
"Jemor Miller, one of the missing persons, FBI's internal database shows no specific leads, the case has been categorized as indefinitely pending.
The file shows his disappearance location is... on his way home from work at a nuclear power plant?!"
Reading to the end, Mona suddenly widened her eyes, she turned her head in astonishment towards Luo An, who with his arms crossed in front of his chest, expressionlessly said:
"When exactly did his disappearance occur?"
"The timing was in April... exactly three months before your father Charles was shot dead!"
Mona continued tapping on the keyboard, quickly confirming the time, seeing Luo An's grim expression, she swallowed and asked:
"Luo An, what exactly is going on?"