The Yu Brother’s Case Book - S2: Book 3: Chapter 10

He had just wanted to help with something.

Disappearing like this wasn’t bad either.

His final struggle was this gift.

***

“There’s no one inside.”

It was late at night. Yu Xia stood outside Kang Zhe Chang’s residence. His unit had gone in but had not made any discoveries.

“Nothing found at his company either. We’ve already gone and checked the video cameras.” Xiao Wu cut the communications and jogged over to say, “Boss, we also couldn’t find that student named Lin Zi Lei. That student ID you mentioned doesn’t exist. The school checked its past records and it isn’t there – there isn’t even a person with the same surname.”

“When Jiu Shen arrives later, have him go investigate the baby room first.” Yu Xia commanded for several people to interrogate the nearby neighbours, then glanced at his watch and began to walk towards the wide-open garage.

It was much larger than a typical home’s, something that he had noticed during his previous visit. The garage could fit at least five cars, which indicated that there was a high likelihood of Kang Zhe Chang requiring a large number of cars. There had been someone here that needed this amount of cars, or [this amount of] visitors. Currently, only a sports car worth millions remained in the garage. There was an extremely large scratch on its side, and what he could not comprehend was the fact that the garage seemed to have been involved in some kind of car accident; there was a rack for parts that had been smashed into a mess. Yet it appeared as though the car had left without a hitch, as curved marks stretched out through the front.

Yu Xia bent down to evaluate some small, inconspicuous stains. The more he stared at them, the more suspicious he became. “This seems to be blood.” He remembered that when they had come here in the afternoon with the main force inside the house, there had undoubtedly been three of four cars parked inside here, so he had not paid any particular attention to anything underneath the vehicles.

“Boss, look at this.”

Yu Xia followed the shout and entered the car to look at the navigation system the officer was pointing out to him. “It seemed to have already been set before I opened the door just now…Weird, we didn’t touch the car…”

“Notify the administrative team to come inspect this place.” Yu Xia noted down the address and did a quick search through the inside of the car to confirm that there were no other abnormalities aside from the navigation system that had somehow turned on. Just as he was about to go look around outside, his cellphone rang. He checked it and saw that it was from the hospital. “Xiao Wu, I’m leaving first. Prosecutor Li will be here in a bit.”

“Is something the matter?” Xiao Wu was stunned for half a second. As it was very rare to hear Yu Xia leave a crime scene first, Xiao Yu felt somewhat caught off guard.

“Ye Huan En is missing.” Yu Xia sighed, feeling slightly annoyed. “My brother said that he went to grab a file, but when he went back, the man had run off. According to the nurses, an acquaintance came, so Ye Huan En requested to get some fresh air on the balcony. Then he ended up disappearing.” The most troublesome part was that the nurse’s description of the guest sounded much like Wang Ke Zhi no matter how he thought about it. Yu Xia then recalled that Ye Huan En, who had been recuperating at home, would not have immediately seen the photos they had not yet distributed. When Ye Huan En had made the anonymous call, that photo still had not appeared in the media; it had just been allocated away.

Yu Xia’s attention had shifted after the incident of ghosts climbing up the windows, but now he suddenly realised that Wang Ke Zhi had taken a file out of the station at the time. And the person he had met with had possessed a figure very similar to Ye Huan En’s.

Ye Huan En’s appearance at the scene of the shooting incident was too coincidental as well. Moreover, this incident had just so happened to be caused by an information leak.

He did not know what Kang Zhe Chang’s people were searching for, but judging by how they had handled He Shi Jun and Ye Huan En, this object was undoubtedly very important, to the point where they wanted to silence any related persons.

This group definitely has some kind of connection.

The person that had attacked Li Zi Hong back then had unquestionably been concerned about them finding clues from He Shi Jun’s body and leading the police to finding whatever object they desired from the inspection of the corpse.

Up until now, at least six hired lackeys related to the case had already appeared. Lin Zi Lei could be counted as well. Connecting everything together, the scope of the shooting incident in the northern district was even larger than they had thought. Furthermore, the opposite party was in a hurry to hide it…There was a possibility that it was more complicated than the senior official at the time merely cutting the investigation from eagerness to show off his meritorious service.

Then the question now is, are Wang Ke Zhi and Ye Huan En our people or the enemy?

“Boss, do you know where to look for him?” Xiao Wu asked in a puzzled tone.

“They left in a taxi.” Yu Xia had already clarified the situation before hanging up the call. The person that had brought Ye Huan En away had taken a taxi to the hospital and left on it as well, so the drivers lined up outside in wait had provided a car number and a direction. The other party was registered with a company and had wireless communications, so they were not hard to chase after. They were just a bit far away.

Once they found the location, Yu Xia decided to immediately pursue after them.

That location was identical to the destination set in the navigation system.

***

“We actually survived the ride.”

This was Yu Yin’s first impression when the car came to a stop.

They had bumped into who knew what as they had followed the gradually fading light. However, they had not encountered a single patrol nor residence along the dark path. The entire route had been black, completely silent, and without any trace of people to be seen.

The only thing they had been able to rely on had been the locked navigation system and the constantly vanishing glow, as well as their beating hearts that had not yet collapsed from terror.

Yu Yin and Yu were both cowered in the backseats, trembling in fear. When the car finally halted, Yu Yin suddenly felt that one really had to properly treasure life; otherwise it could just end without even knowing how.

Fortunately, Dong Feng had seemingly been very concerned about things being more disastrous at faster speeds, so he had never surpassed 50 [kph] throughout the entire journey. Everything they had bumped into had been a light collision, which had offered some comfort.

Dong Feng surveyed their dark surroundings and let out a breath as he turned off the engine and rested his head on the wheel. “You guys go down first and see what exactly that ghost wants us to do.”

“Wait another five seconds…my legs have gone a bit soft.” Yu Yin unfastened the seatbelt and patted his chest, still in a state of fright. After a while, he finally left the terrifying car with Yu, then realised Dong Feng did not seem to have any intention of getting off the car. “Are you not coming down?”

“…You expect me to walk down this kind of road with you?” A cold voice replied from the wheel.

Yu Yin scanned the area around them and agreed with the reasonable response.

They had stopped on a slope next to some mountain in an extremely remote location. It seemed like a place where they would get haunted by millions of ghosts. Yu Yin had never come to this place before while going on night rides with friends; it was undoubtedly difficult to walk. It was probably even more strenuous for someone like Dong Feng, who would collapse by the side of the road at the drop of a hat. “Alright, then keep the doors and windows locked, and be careful by yourself. If a stranger knocks, please don’t—”

“Are you a mother goat? Hurry up and scram.” Dong Feng instantly slammed the doors shut and rolled up the windows, directly cutting off the other person’s good intentions.

After taking the sharp blow, Yu Yin could only shrug at Yu and turn around. He saw the blood-soaked woman standing on the other side of the hill, waiting for them.

In the darkness, her face appeared even colder, void of expression. Dark red blood dripped down from her chin, falling into the endless dark space.

Since Yu Yin did not know what kind of dangerous unknown destination they would arrive at, Yu Yin made Yu stand behind him, particularly wary and cautious. He did not even dare to shine the flashlight outwards, only aiming it downwards at the necessary range for movement. He also quieted his footsteps, trying his best to avoid making noise.

After walking for a while, he heard a faint sound.

He dragged Yu over to hide somewhere and turned off the light. Once he got used to the lack of light, Yu Yin gradually recognised the figures standing on the opposite end of the darkness. Judging from their position, it seemed to be like the entrance to another path. The woman that had led them here circled around across them, not alarming these people that would hide and protect themselves before all else.

He then noticed that these people were Kang Zhe Chang’s group. Though he could not see their faces, he could discern their voices.

The breeze carried over the baby’s quiet crying and the woman’s coaxes, followed by Kang Zhe Chang’s angered shouts. It was mostly complaints about how the child had caught the police’s eye, how they were now doomed to wait here for their deaths.

Woken by the quarrel, the baby began to sob louder and louder.

They soon began to fight. From the distance, Yu Yin saw Kang Zhe Chang grab the baby and throw it hard into a nearby thicket. The woman that had been carrying the baby let out a scream but was stopped in place by Lin Zi Lei. The girl with the appearance of a university student burst out angry curses, not letting the woman go to dredge out the baby.

A fierce ringing went through Yu Yin’s ears, and his head spun, his vision blacking out for a moment. At the same time, he felt a sudden surge of a fury-like emotion directed at those people on the other side.

Yu grabbed him by the shoulders and hurriedly lowered his body to prevent the slightest noise from drawing attention.

“What are you doing here?”

While they were holding their breaths to carefully listen in on what the other end was fighting about, a voice sharply cut in, greatly startling both Yu Yin and Yu. Yu Yin turned his head and immediately recognised the person; it was the old stranger he had met previously in the police station basement. Thus, he loosened up slightly. “Noth—” His voice stopped when he saw that there was blood on the other person’s sleeve.

Wang Ke Zhi emotionlessly walked out of the bushes to head straight towards Kang Zhe Chang’s party.

Not daring to take even a huge breath, Yu Yin tightly clutched Yu and slowly shifted their positions, afraid the other person would turn around without warning.

For some reason, he felt that Wang Ke Zhi’s back walking away looked extremely familiar in the darkness. A figure with a style of movement that seemed to practically blend into the dark…

“That person,” Yu quietly said with narrowed eyes.

Almost instantly, Yu Yin realised why it seemed so familiar. When Ye Huan En had been captured yesterday, they had seen a silhouette outside the factory building that was identical to Wang Ke Zhi’s…He was there back then too!

Why?

Could they be accomplices?

Wang Ke Zhi did not particularly hide his movements. Kang Zhe Chang soon noticed someone had arrived, thus pushing aside Lin Zi Lei and the woman trying to pick the baby back up.

Yu Yin gestured for Yu to stay quiet as he silently tiptoed through the darkness towards the place the baby had fallen while Wang Ke Zhi drew everyone’s attentions.

Fortunately, Kang Zhe Chang had ditched the baby into the bushes so it was not seriously injured. It was still bawling quite energetically.

Once he assessed it and found that it was in no immediate danger, he steeled his heart to quietly and carefully hook it over and cradle it in his arms. Afraid that moving noise would lead to being discovered, he did not dare to leave immediately, instead silently placating the child and trying his best to quiet it down.

Since he was significantly closer now, he could clearly hear the conversation between the two men.

“Huh, still spirited, Officer Wang? You touched the god’s land in the northern district, and you still want to overstep your boundaries and try to grab us too?” Kang Zhe Chang sneered as he stepped forwards, completely ignoring the baby. Dried leaves crinkled underneath his feet. “Better be careful. He Shi Jun is still waiting for you guys to go keep him company.”

“…There’s no use in waiting here. Your supporter is already gone.” Wang Ke Zhi raised his arm and shone a flashlight beam on his bloodstained sleeve. “You should not have punished He Shi Jun.”

“He wouldn’t have died if he’d just obediently handed the object over.” Kang Zhe Chang’s voice was still devoid of any warmth.

“Are you joking? You think I don’t know things like autopsy reports exist?” Wang Ke Zhi sneered back in reply. He waved the beam of light to sweep over the other people present. “You didn’t plan on letting him live from the beginning. It would’ve been the same regardless of whether he’d handed it over or not.”

“That trash’s bones were even tougher than I expected. You also know that it’s best if you just hand it over on his behalf. Otherwise, don’t blame us if we continue making moves on your people.”

“Why do you think I came here by myself?”

The baby stopped crying.

Yu Yin lowered his head to see a pair of round, bright eyes staring at him. Even in the darkness, he seemed to feel the kindness and warmth in those eyes.

He gently patted the baby’s small torso, and a finger the size of a bean grabbed him. The little face covered in snot and tears began to smile, the tiny body instinctively cuddling against the adult’s warmth.

Then, a gunshot pierced through the peacefulness.

***

Wang Ke Zhi collapsed onto the ground.

Yu Yin saw a fourth person walk out next to Lin Zi Lei with a gun raised. There was a lit up car behind.

“If you didn’t want to die, you shouldn’t have come alone.” Kang Zhe Chang stepped onto Wang Ke Zhi’s hand and took away the gun that the other person had not yet been able to use. After fiddling around with it for a bit, he passed it to Lin Zi Lei behind him and had the girl hold the gun up to point it at the other person’s head. “I heard you’re retiring soon. Is there really a need to help these people get revenge? Why not just properly enjoy the retirement life of doing nothing? Even if you want to fool around, is there a need to drag others down with you? You have a wife and a kid, don’t you? You can’t slip up and end up causing an accident…Ahhh, how pitiful one becomes upon growing old, being all alone with no support. If you’re unlucky and you end up with a broken limb, it would be even more tragic.”

Wang Ke Zhi gripped his shoulder, his face completely twisted as scarlet blood gushed out between his fingers.

“Sorry, but our rule is that those who deserve death will die.” Kang Zhe Chang had both the man and woman next to him point their guns at Wang Ke Zhi’s head. Kang Zhe Chang chuckled and patted the other person’s face with a somewhat regretful expression. “Despite my words just now, I still think it’s better if you go down and help pave a path for your wife and kid first. People like you, man or woman, never choose to walk the road to Heaven and instead force your way through to the gateless Hell. That stupid woman could’ve just taken the money and disappeared; who asked for her to be indecisive and unresigned? Actually, it’s perfect now; you can go down now and get to know her. Becoming neighbours wouldn’t be bad at all.”

Yu Yin clutched the baby tightly and turned his face away, not wanting to watch what would happen next.

However, there was no gunshot like he expected. Instead, a different faint noise came from another direction, striking the gun and shifting it from Lin Zi Lei’s fingers before she pressed the trigger. The next two sounds were of the car’s lights suddenly turning off accompanied with a shattering sound.

Frightened by the noise, Yu Yin instinctively turned his head to see what had happened before the lights had gone out, spotting a pale face appearing behind the fourth man with a gun. Then everything was instantly engulfed in darkness.

Before his eyes could readjust, he felt someone touch him, making him jolt in alarm. However, he immediately realised it was Yu. After stuffing the baby into Yu’s arms, Yu Yin dragged Yu to run a decent distance away while everything was still in chaos, and they hid once more.

A thick stench of blood wafted over, followed by a woman’s sharp scream and Kang Zhe Chang’s furious roar.

Then, the sound of footsteps stepping on dry twigs gradually approached them.

Yu Yin immediately threw out his arm protectively in front of Yu and the baby.

He also sensed almost immediately that the person was already standing before them. However, the darkness was even thicker than before, so despite knowing that the other person was close enough to hear their breathing, Yu Yin could not discern their identity.

An ice-cold point sliced across his cheek, bringing with it a slight, sharp pain. A voice quietly stated next to him, “You should be grateful of your age, or else I would’ve killed you this time.”

The person left, the footsteps on dry leaves gradually growing more distant until he could no longer hear them.

Everything seemed to happen practically all at once. A light from somewhere flashed on, completely changing the scene.

Wang Ke Zhi lay on the ground, and the fourth person with a gun had also collapsed with a gaping laceration that had somehow appeared across his neck. It was bleeding profusely, creating the heavy stench.

Kang Ze Chang was also on the ground, and it was clear to see that both his knees had been shot, directly cutting off his mobility.

A bit further away, the woman that had originally been carrying the baby was lying down too, crimson spreading from the side of her abdomen.

The only person that had vanished was Lin Zi Lei, with no trace to be seen.

Once Yu Yin confirmed that no more of Kang Zhe Chang’s people would appear, he swung the flashlight around. When he spotted Song Hui Chun standing next to the people scattered across the ground, he carefully began to walk over.

With the baby in his arms, Yu directly passed by the crawling Kang Zhe Chang and placed the baby down off to the side to apply pressure on the source of Wang Ke Zhi’s bleeding.

Yu Yin went the opposite direction to tie up Kang Zhe Chang with a jacket before going to examine the other two. The one with the gun was clearly dead, his face purple and bloodstained, body lying motionless in a pool of blood. The other woman’s stomach was dyed scarlet, seemingly having been shot at the waist area from behind. She had completely lost consciousness.

Yu Yin turned the male corpse over onto its side and saw the two cuts that had been slashed on the back of the neck. These knife marks were extremely familiar; deeply sliced into the flesh, as if punishing the imposter accordingly.

“Did you think I would come looking for death by myself?” Wang Ke Zhi let Yu help him up and spat out blood as he smirked at Kang Zhe Chang on the ground. “He Shi Jun’s only friend is the one with the highest shooting success rate at our station. His greatest strength is being able to accurately strike his target even in the dark. I actually have to thank you for your liason’s gun.”

Kang Zhe Chang let out a low roar as he glared furiously at everyone.

“Huh? So Ye-dàgē is here too?” Yu Yin surveyed the dark surroundings but was unable to spot the other person.

“He’s on top of that tree.” Wang Ke Zhi pointed in the direction, then coughed several times before slowly continuing, “It took a lot of effort to get him up there. He probably can’t come down by himself. I’ll have to trouble xiǎodì to go help him.”

Yu Yin recalled the severity of Ye Huan En’s injuries and could only silently search for the other person. After walking quite a bit, he spotted a light moving about on top of the trees and immediately found Ye Huan En hanging out on top.

In the end, the police arrived.

“The same batch of guns.”

Yu Xia handed the marked gun over to the investigation officer and sent out personnel to search for Lin Zi Lei’s whereabouts nearby to the best of their ability, as well as retrieve any evidence that might have been left behind.

Once everything had been mostly addressed, he turned to walk back to the parking lot to glare fiercely at the people in one of the cars.

Wang Ke Zhi and Ye Huan En had been forced to the hospital. There were still three others and a baby crammed in the car, as well as a completely smashed up car parked next to it. No matter how one looked at it, this car seemed like it had been driven out from Kang Zhe Chang’s home. The most bizarre part was that there had been no signs of collisions along the way here, and there had been no reports from civilians, nor any scenes of the car randomly crashing into things caught on the street cameras. Even the patrols and the officers stationed here had all said they hadn’t seen this car when Yu Xia had questioned them earlier…Just looking at it made Yu Xia’s head feel on the verge of exploding. He had no idea how he was going to finish writing the report this time.

“Who was first?” Yu Xia asked while massaging his temples.

“Erm…Ye-dàgē and the other dàshū came themselves and have nothing to do with us,” Yu Yin cowered back with sunken shoulders as he replied while gently patting the deeply sleeping baby in his arms.

Despite having a strong urge to punch Yu Yin, Yu Xia could only hold back for the time being because of the baby trapped in the middle. He tried his best to ask in his calmest possible tone, “Was the dead one killed by Su Zhang?”

“Should be.” Although Yu Yin had not seen a face in the darkness, he recognised the voice. “I didn’t see it with my own eyes; it was too dark at the time. But I’m pretty sure it was him.”

Yu Xia rubbed his face, then told the others not to say this to others. He went to sit in the driver’s seat while glancing at Dong Feng, who had curled up asleep in the front seat. “I’ll bring you guys back to the station first.”

“What about the kid?” Yu Yin asked, more concerned about the baby.

“Song Hui Chun’s sister and a social worker have already been notified to come here. They will properly handle things.” Yu Xia drove the car onto the street and turned on the air conditioning. He then glanced at the two gloomy and exhausted faces in the backseat through the rearview mirror. “Ah Yin, your matter has been resolved already, hasn’t it?”

“Think so.” When he had cradled the baby, he had seen Song Hui Chun’s smiling face before she had vanished. He was not quite sure whether this counted as completing her request or not.

“That’s good then. From now on, you don’t need to care about the rest of this case.” He was slightly relieved. At least Yu Xia could be certain that his children would likely not touch the more dangerous core of this case, which finally put him at ease. “Have them go wash up and eat, then get some proper rest. I’ll bring you all home after you wake. Don’t run around anymore.”

“Ok…ah, then can I go see Ye-dàgē?” Yu Yin was worried about the matter of the other ghost, and after some more thought, felt like there was some part that was not yet complete. It seemed as if it would be best to make another trip.

“Stop trying to ask for a mile each time you’re given an inch.”

“Ahaha….”

The rest of the trip was silent.

Yu Xia could see from the rearview mirror that both the one next to him and the ones behind him were deep in sleep. In the end, he decided to purposely slow down, while also taking a detour to buy some food at a restaurant.

When he returned back with the hot food, Yu Xia heard the baby’s happy giggles even when he was still a distance away from the car. He could vaguely see his nephew standing outside the car, playing with the baby in his arms. Before he could go over and scold the boy, he felt an indistinct, but powerful sense that something was wrong for some inexplicable reason. The person standing there did not seem like he usually did, whether in stance or in actions.

Yu Xia glanced at the inside of the car, where both Yu and Dong Feng were still fast asleep. It looked like Yu Yin had taken special care to leave the car without making noise.

Yu Xia walked a few steps forwards and placed the bag on the roof of the car before breaking the silence. “It’s a bit cold this early in the morning. The child will be at lower risk of catching a cold in the car.”

The person did not even turn their head while playing with the laughing baby. They simply kept their gaze locked onto the child while slowly asking, “Will he be taken good care of?”

“Someone will arrange and lead the process, there is no need for you to worry.” Yu Xia crossed his arms and leaned against the car as he stared out at the empty, dark street.

“Do you want to raise another one?”

“There are too many children in my family. We have no energy to take care of a new one. Moreover, it might not work in the system. Your child requires a better family environment. There will be suitable people properly watching him; he will grow up without any problems.”

The person carrying the child smiled faintly and tilted their head. “I’ve known him for over two years now. I knew from the beginning that he already had a wife…I didn’t mind. He said that his wife had a congenital condition that made it impossible for her to have children, but he urgently wanted one. This was also why her mental state was never good and needed to be controlled. It vexed him greatly, but even so, he could not part with her. As a result, he wanted me to help give birth to a child for him, then would give me a large sum of money to help completely resolve my family problems. Everyone was to part with no hard feelings.”

“So he took extremely good care of you, even sending someone to take care of you at your home. And he let you into his.”

“Yes. But I regretted it later. I wanted to pass down my parents’ bloodline. I had already lost two very important people to me, and I wanted to keep the new life they had given me. So I regretted it. I didn’t want to give the child to him.” She lovingly tugged the baby’s clothes and dully continued, “They wouldn’t let me see the child, refusing to let me even step through the door. His wife was ill and could not raise a child. Fortunately, his wife did not recognise me at all. In those past ten months, she had not even known what I’d looked like. I would occasionally stay in their guest room, but she had never once come to see me. She just wanted the child, rejecting the knowledge of what the person that had given birth to it looked like. I took advantage of when he wasn’t there and posed as a servant to enter the room.”

“In the end, you were killed.”

“Mn. He only wanted the child originally. I was too bothersome and knew too much. While I was at his home, I saw too much of what I was not meant to see. That’s why he simply killed me, and even made my child watch everything happen with his own eyes. He was truly a horrible person. But this kind of end result for someone that wanted to exchange a child for money at first seems to also be a type of retribution.” The person gently kissed the baby’s cheek, watching the flushed face let out a tiny yawn. The person once again fixed the baby’s clothing, then placed the child into Yu Xia’s arms. “I must leave. I can go at ease now that I’ve confirmed he is fine and I have carried him in my arms again.”

“Do you not want revenge?” Yu Xia carefully hugged the baby inside his jacket and furrowed his brows. “Do you not care about what ultimately happens to the ones that killed you?”

“Officer Yu, they still cannot touch him. The other person knows this too.” She smiled and replied, “So, we only want you to help those most important to us and hope that you can protect them to the best of your abilities.”

“Including my son?”

“It is not a coincidence that we found him. It is because he already gave consent that we could seek him out.”

“But you all should know as well that involving him will only bring him into more and more danger. I don’t want the matters that we should be dealing with to be pushed onto him. He’s merely a student.”

“This is not something you can handle. We must protect everyone. Everyone.”

Yu Xia was quiet for a moment. He stared straight at the person and asked, “What will happen in the future?”

“I don’t know. This was something that many people wished for me to pass onto you, many people that have been helped before. That is why I am here.” They paused for a moment before continuing, “One cannot save every person. But every person has some type of choice. Now, I must leave.”

“You…”

“Although you won’t be able to touch this person for the time being, you will have the chance to help others.” Finally, they smiled and said, “Evidence will soon return to you.”

“Wait…”

As if they did not hear him, they turned away without speaking and opened the car door to return to the backseat before falling back into deep sleep as if nothing had occurred.

The night turned tranquil once again.

***

And then, the sun rose.

“I say…do none of the people on this side really follow protocol?”

It was afternoon when Ye Huan En somewhat speechlessly stared at the crowd of people that had suddenly filled his ward. After resting for majority of the morning, his voice was mostly working. The others also seemed to have gotten proper rest, now having replenished energy themselves.

“No, we do follow protocol,” Yu Tong smiled in friendly reply as he placed a fruit basket down next to the bed.

“This is my first time seeing a policeman, prosecutor, forensic investigator and investigation officer appear in a hospital ward all at once together, even bringing civilians too.” Ye Huan En really wanted to add, “What kind of protocol are you following,” but remained silent.

“We actually just gathered for afternoon tea. You can relax, Ye-dàgē.” After sleeping his fill and escorting Dong Feng back home, Yu Yin had told Yu to stay at home to watch over the dog and cat while he followed the others here.

“Hurry up and talk. We’re going to head out to a really great place for afternoon tea later.” Yan Si, who had invited the others, had already reserved places over at Yang De Cheng’s far in advance. He cheerfully quipped, “We’re working overtime just for your sake. We’d probably be on vacation and letting loose today otherwise. Aren’t you touched?”

“…” Ye Huan En did not feel touched in the least. He just thought these people were really quite odd, completely different from his colleagues at his original workplace. This extent to which these people simply continued on in their own ways was bizarre. “Alright, I’ll say everything this time.”

Li Zi Hong opened the report files and glanced at the person in front of him. “I’ve already contacted your senior officer. He said you had submitted a resignation, but it had not been approved, and you were only allowed to take recuperation leave.”

“I asked my amazing senior – the one that did your surgery, no need to be suspicious – and my senior said that if you properly finished rehabilitation, you would be able to completely recover your mobility, where even jumping through flaming loops or over steel pipes wouldn’t be an issue. Your resignation shouldn’t have been related to your injuries, am I right?” Yan Si had investigated the person’s medical records through private connections. He crossed his arms to study the person lying in bed. “Come on, just quickly say your true objective. Or else I’ll have a good talk with my senior to see what the most convenient way to deal with you would be.”

Jiu Shen silently chewed on a chocolate bar he had brought with him with the sudden sense that his job really was very dangerous – super dangerous, incomparably dangerous. He then wondered why he had even been forced to come visit the patient in the first place. Today had been his day off, and he should have been lying in bed at home to sleep through today. He had simply gone back to the labs to shut off the devices and ended up getting dragged over by the passing by Yu Xia.

“Got it, I’ll just cut to the point.” Ye Huan En sighed. With this kind of gathered assembly, he knew he couldn’t respond as vaguely as he had the previous day. As a result, he laid down and adjusted himself so that he was in the most comfortable position. “He Shi Jun was a good friend of mine.”

“We saw a photo at your home.” Yu Xia thoughtfully asked, “You two met in senior high?”

“Even earlier than you think. Honestly speaking, we’ve known each other since preschool…he was my neighbour. But our relationship wasn’t quite the same type of friendship that you would expect.” Ye Huan En paused, a somewhat vexed expression on his face. “Ah Jun’s parents were both drug addicts, since the first day they moved in next-door to my family. So there was a very long period of time when his parents would get arrested in turn, and he would frequently stay at our home. This was also how we got to know each other so well.

“But as you all know, sometimes getting too familiar will cause a dependence to form. Back then, I didn’t know what he was up to. In short, I looked after him closely as a brother. For some time, we would do everything together, like going up to hike in the mountains in that photo. It was fun, but the pressure also increased, especially when I later found out that he had stolen his parents’ drugs. I decided to break things off with him.”

“And you didn’t keep in touch with him after entering the police academy?” Jiu Shen asked in slight surprise.

“No, not at all. I only entered the police academy because I didn’t want to keep contact with him. About one or two years later, my family moved away, and I later heard the news that his parents had died of drug overdose. He then joined a gang and ended up turning into a seller of the goods.I didn’t know the details of the situation, not until a few more years passed when I happened to see his file on a case. At the time, the circumstances had already become disastrous. That’s why, after I had finished handling that case, I took personal leave to privately search for him. In the end, I was miserably beaten…not by Ah Jun, but by a gangster with a grudge against him that I’d bumped into by chance. I was assumed to be an accomplice and beaten. This matter also later caused the senior officer to monitor me closely for a long time after.

“I later asked around several of the places he had stayed it and tried to persuade him to stop. The result wasn’t a good one. Originally, I was just going to give up, but then during my last trip, I unexpectedly encountered a female guest at his home urgently picking up drugs while her addiction caused her to flareup. At the time, Ah Jun wasn’t home, and I was waiting at his front door. When I wasn’t paying attention, she attacked me with a knife and stabbed me a total of six times. Fortunately, Ke Zhi-dàgē’s unit just happened to be monitoring another case nearby, and I was only saved because they sent me to the hospital just in time.” Ye Huan En let out a light sigh as he looked up at the white ceiling and continued sadly, “After being released from the hospital, I heard that he had started abstaining from drugs. I then helped him rent a place and introduced him to some temporary jobs. One of his former comrades taking care of him also gave him a small sum of money to help him start a stand. Unfortunately, he became depressed over his failure and started to severely overdrink, causing him to mess everything up.”

“So Wang Ke Zhi and He Shi Jun also knew each other to some degree?” Li Zi Hong furrowed his brows.

“They knew each other. Ah Jun and Ke Zhi-dàgē reached some type of agreement for the former to provide the latter quite a bit of intel to come clean himself.” Ye Huan En glanced at the prosecutor next to him and said, “I only found out about these matters two months ago after that incident. Ke Zhi-dàgē’s group had been pursuing a certain case, and Ah Jun assisted them as an informant. During that time, I saw him start to take drugs again, and assumed he had regressed. I had heard rumors that Ke Zhi-dàgē’s case had a mole that leaked their movements, and that Ah Jun had been involved in it as well. I rushed over to see if I could help, only to unexpectedly end up getting shot. He only told me about the informant matter afterwards. Everything that happened after was as I told you before. I came down specifically to find him and receive the body. The only thing I didn’t tell Officer Yu was that I had also come for revenge.”

“You were looking to pay yourself up?” Yan Si grinned as he pensively studied the person that had just claimed to want to separate himself from this type of friend. “Dàgē, judging from what you just said, your friend doesn’t seem to be worth the cost of your entire future?”

Ye Huan En smiled in reply and closed his eyes before answering, “Some things don’t need a reason. You just know they must be done when the time comes, no matter the price. Because he was my brother…Even though I had attempted to break away from him in the past, I discovered in the end that he really was very important.”

Yu Yin glanced at the male that nobody could see standing in the corner. The man was no longer an unbearable sight as before, now looking like a very ordinary person. He had arms and legs, and even his face was completely undamaged. He simply stood there with a smile, quietly watching everything occurring in the room.

Then, seemingly noticing Yu Yin’s gaze, the person turned towards him to give him a nod.

And finally vanished into thin air.