The Yu Brother’s Case Book - S2: Book 4: Chapter 3

“Any news yet?”

They had noticed something was wrong on the seventh day, when Yan Si had returned to be stood up and had been unable to contact the other person. At that point, everyone finally had the sudden realisation that something bad might have happened.

“We’ve asked several hiking friends that Ah Si had told us about, they all said they hadn’t seen him.” Yu Xia reported this to the female prosecutor before him and shook his head. Originally, they had honestly assumed he had gone hiking, and everyone had believed it was a hard-to-come-by chance for a long break of proper rest. Thus, nobody had disturbed him, not imagining that there would be any issues. They had visited his residence, but his car, wallet, keys, and ID were still at home. Only the person was missing. “We’ve also contacted some of his previous university classmates – no information.”

“We haven’t received any kind of application notice on our side, and other colleagues don’t know where he went either.” Sitting at the office desk, Prosecutor Gu Wen Ying massaged her slightly aching temples. “Prosecutor Li doesn’t usually eat meals together with us after work, so there are limits to how much we know of his private life. We can only rely on you guys to inquire on all sides. On our end, we’ll continue filtering through the possibility of revenge from any cases as well.”

“Prosecutor Gu doesn’t interact much with Prosecutor Li aside from after work?” Yu Xia was somewhat surprised, but when he thought it over more carefully, he recalled that Li Zi Hong would spend most of his resting time being dragged around everywhere by Yan Si or playing video games at their homes. Yu Xia had indeed never heard of Li Zi Hong attending colleague gatherings. However, Li Zi Hong had handed all the work he had been responsible for over to the female proxy here; Yu Xia had assumed that Li Zi Hong would only be at ease with doing so if the person was a close friend.

“This is private, but honestly speaking, Prosecutor Li’s off-work hours are frequently irregular, making it hard to arrange anything with him. He also often runs out to the field, so aside from work matters, we are not very close on a personal level.” Gu Wen Ying smiled awkwardly, then coughed and added in slight embarrassment, “Prosecutor Li is very reliable, but even if our tacit understanding is good at work, we usually don’t try to force any exchanges about personal lives if undesired. After all, there aren’t many that can talk so in-depth about video games.”

“That’s true.” Yu Xia thought about how the reason he had started getting familiar with Li Zi Hong at the beginning was because the latter would often come over to play video games. Yu Xia could not help but nod in agreement. “In that case, we’ll continue searching for his whereabouts. I ask that Prosecutor Gu continues assisting with the He Shi Jun case.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll properly work on anything Prosecutor Li has left in my hands.”

After leaving the office, Yu Xia headed straight to his car with various complicated emotions.

During these past two days, nobody’s mood had been very good. Even Yu Yin had started blaming himself for not asking more on that last day despite sensing something strange. When Yu Xia sat inside his car, he somewhat powerlessly leaned back in the seat.

He had never imagined that there would come a day when something like this would happen to Li Zi Hong.

To be accurate, there was a very high chance that Yu Xia, or someone like Yan Si, would get sought for revenge. Even his brother had a greater probability [of being targeted]. However, Li Zi Hong did almost everything in a strictly business-like manner, not inciting anything after leaving work. He would obediently hole up at home or not move from a specific location. Thus, they had never believed anything too serious would happen to him.

In some ways, Li Zi Hong’s lifestyle was too disciplined. After spending these last two days asking Yan Si and a few others, Yu Xia discovered the Li Zi Hong lived like he devoted himself to perfecting his craft; not getting involved with or talking about wine and women. He also had no other forms of amusement aside from playing video games, running, and hiking. Just as he had found out from Prosecutor Gu just now, everyone questioned had said that they did not have any overlap with Li Zi Hong in their private lives nor any gatherings for entertainment either. Aside from resting, Li Zi Hong basically used all his time on work.

Per Yan Si’s description, it was like seeing a wind-up robot that would just clatter forwards after one crank, then stop a moment before it was cranked again to continue clattering forwards without much change.

And it was because of this that they had no idea where he would most likely be now that he had gone missing.

Yu Xia sighed and started the car.

Just as he was about to leave, his cellphone suddenly rang. When he turned it on with hands-free mode, he immediately heard Xiao Wu’s excited voice—

“Boss, we found it!”

***

Yu Xia rushed back to the station, grabbing several files along the way as he beelined straight for the office.

This search had been kept a secret from both the inside and the outside. For unknown reasons, Prosecutor Li’s chief had specifically requested for them not to speak of it and to not let anyone externally find out about it before they received any information. He had appointed Yu Xia to be responsible for organising the search work.

Since they were still doing the follow-up procedures for Ye Huan En’s incident last time, Yu Xia’s unit had already been busy to the point of their brains vaporizing. They could only try their best to split up as people to investigate separately.

Yu Xia opened the door, and Xiao Wu and Dong Feng were both sitting inside.As soon as Dong Feng had received news of the disappearance, he had immediately come over to request for surveillance footage. Thus, Yu Xia had given the more computer-skilled Xiao Wu the responsibility of handling this part together with Dong Feng.

Dong Feng looked up to glance at Yu Xia, then shifted aside to let the other person get a close look at the freeze frame on the screen.

“The last time my senior left his residence was three days ago, and he has not returned since. This matches what that bastard Yan Si had mentioned about not receiving any text replies starting from three days ago.” Dong Feng moved the office chair and turned to another screen nearby that had multiple video footage cut out. “It’s pretty clear to see that someone arrived to find him. My senior walked out of the door in a rush, then turned into a nearby alleyway and disappeared. The cameras in that area were broken.”

“The chief said the cameras have not yet been dealt with after being broken by some rotten brats throwing stones at it last month.”

Xiao Wu hurriedly added in clarification, “Apparently it was a group of bike-racing children that smashed all the surveillance cameras in that area. Combining the public and private ones, there were dozens in total that were broken, and fixing them would require quite a bit of money.” Honestly speaking, even if they hadn’t been smashed, some of those cameras had only been decorations anyways. While these seemed to be filming on the outside, they actually weren’t. This situation was not the only example of this.

As a result, the only thing caught on film was Li Zi Hong going into that alley at the very end.

Yu Xia looked down to see street maps on the table. There were quite a few places marked with red Xs, which seemed to be the locations of the destroyed cameras. It wasn’t just the alley; a street camera connected at the opposite end had also been destroyed. It seemed that this bike-racing gang really had damaged many things. However, the marks along this road were disjointed. Although this critical position might have offered a rushed repair, it was still not enough for them to find this person.

“Male, around thirties or forties. Nearly 190 centimetres, approximately 85 kilograms.”

Yu Xia turned his face with narrowed eyes as he looked at the paper being passed over with the details already written on it by Dong Feng as the latter continued, “From his external appearance, it seems like his financial situation isn’t good, but he might be holding some money. It may not be actual cash, since things like bank deposits and real estate can be used to retrieve money during certain periods. The specific method of spending money is what made him appear to be poor despite not lacking in money. I tracked back to the footage from three days ago and found that my senior had gone to visit nearby supermarkets to meet with this male several days in a row. However, that bastard Yan Si just confirmed that my senior doesn’t have any friends like these around him.”

“The tape has already been sent to Senior Jiu Shen’s group to process.” Having been tied to this person for most of the day to watch these videos while already knowing that Dong Feng’s viewing method was terrifying, Xiao Qu quickly added, “Some places more or less caught part of the face.” Since Dong Feng wanted to focus entirely on the cameras, they had assembled some together to send to Jiu Shen and the others first to go through.

Yu Xia patted Xiao Wu on the shoulder before turning back to the screen which Dong Feng had set to show the scenes he had been looking into. Within the three different days, Li Zi Hong had indeed walked to different convenience stores nearby to meet with a male of unknown identity. Moreover, they had sat at a store’s outside veranda for a while, and Li Zi Hong had even voluntarily bought drinks or food for the other person. It seemed as if this male did not have an aggressive nature.

However, the man wore a baseball hat and kept his head lowered to avoid the camera from beginning to end, making it impossible to retrieve a clear facial verification.

From the clips, the supposed male wore a slightly dirty T-shirt and exercise pants. On his feet were hiking shoes that were already severely worn out. It truly did look as if his financial situation was not good, and the fact that Li Zi Hong had taken the initiative to pay for the food and drink purchased during these few days confirmed this point too.

However, Dong Feng clicked the shoes to zoom in, and it was clear to see that the hiking shoes and exercise pants were special brands. The shoes in particular were even of a limited edition. This was not something that a typical poor person could afford.

“What about communication records?”

“The other person avoided using a cellphone.” Having already gone through the procedure, Dong Feng passed over a folder next to him. “My senior received quite a few public calls during those three days. Almost every time, the location of the caller was different, with extremely few repeats. There were a few times when, after ending the call, my senior would go to the supermarket. After his disappearance, there were no other calls. Obviously, I’ve also requested the surveillance footage from the areas around the public phones used, but it hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Mn…Xiao Wu, in a bit, go back to the convenience store and related shops to ask the shift workers if they have any impression of this man. I’ll go drop by Jiu Shen’s side.” Yu Xia checked his watch as he thought about how he would still need to clear time to find the people responsible for handling the follow-up from Ye Huan En’s incident. “Dong Feng, do you want to come with me?”

“I’ll go find you guys myself later.” Dong Feng still had quite a few records he had to check. He preferred to finish watching all the tapes in one breath before continuing onto the next step. “Bring this over to them to save.” As he said this, he pulled out a few maps of the roads covered in many identical marks. While this could also be done using a computer, the fluctuations and changing shifts of a computer screen were too frequent, and staring at it for too long would make it really easy to get eye pain and headaches.

Yu Xia opened the maps to take a glance. The marks were very detailed, a portion of them indicating the roads that Li Zi Hong had been seen on, a portion of them indicating the path the male had taken. There were handwritten dates, times, and meeting locations on top.

“There are a few more behind there too,” Dong Feng said to Yu Xia.

“Thank you.”

***

Afternoon time.

Ah Liu was carrying the materials he had gotten from a female colleague. Just as he was about to return to the workshop, he turned his head to see a face squashed against the inside surface of the glass.

“What are you doing?” Ah Liu raised a brow as he stared at the person sneakily moving outside to scrutinise him with a strange expression.

“Did Prosecutor Li’s case pass through your hands?” Jiu Shen squinted his somewhat pained eyes to stare at the bag of documents in the other person’s hands. He then yearningly said, “If you’re a friend, then hand that over to give me a look.”

“What? Boss said that the Chief Prosecutor won’t let us touch it. They need to have a fair internal investigation. Why won’t you give up yet?” Ah Liu patted the other person’s face with the bag of documents and then shot his colleague an exasperated look. “This is Officer Ye’s case, the stop in Taichung that Boss is investigating. He gave some to Xiao Huan to handle. I just went over to borrow some to look through.”

“Oh…I really want to take Officer Li’s case!” Jiu Shen pushed the bag of documents back towards his friend and rushed back into the workshop with head cradled in hands.

“Don’t shout so loudly outside, didn’t they say this matter needed to be handled with a low-profile?” Ah Liu followed into the workshop and shut the door in annoyance. “How’s your progress on the footage that Dong Feng sent over?”

“Almost done. I was just going to call Boss for him to come and see.” Jiu Shen rubbed his eyes and yawned. “The man’s stature and age are pretty much as he said…Ah Liu, Ah Liu, don’t you think that If we encouraged him to go test to be an investigator, he might end up even more formidable???” Being able to immediately visually assess a target based on the surrounding environment was truly not easy.

“You’re better off finding some time to go sleep. Maybe he’ll take the test in your dreams.” Ah Liu patted Jiu Shen’s head and eyed the man on the screen. From different angles, they could piece together a general image of the face and would quickly be able to find this person. “…Xiao Huan told me that there shouldn’t be any major problems with Prosecutor Li’s case. It should end in the next few days; they’re currently waiting to finish all the procedures.”

“Really?! That’s great then.” He was slightly relieved. This should have originally been something worth rejoicing over, but now that such a thing had happened, Jiu Shen instead looked anxious. “Hopefully Prosecutor Li is alright.”

“We can only hope so.” It had already been three days, only starting the search now was truly a bit late. Ah Liu turned his head just in time to see Yu Xia walking over with a map in hand.

“Seems like they really were targeting Prosecutor Li.” As soon as he stepped into the workshop, Yu Xia tossed the map at Jiu Shen then stared at the footage on the screen that had already been processed. “Before making the appointments, this person would circle around Prosecutor Li’s residence beforehand. He would linger around the area for a very long time everyday, and after their meetings, would continue staying in the vicinity rather than leave.” The map that Dong Feng had marked up indicated that the man’s tracks had always revolved around Li Zi Hong’s home. After meeting at the convenience store, the man would continue to walk around in circles several times. During these three days, he would always arrive in the morning and not leave until evening.

If they were not mistaken, this man should have arrived long ago. If the tapes on Dong Feng’s side had saved records from further in the past, they might be able to find footage of the other person following Li Zi Hong. It had to have been going on for a period of time already. Based on this approach, it truly did not seem like this man had only been tailing for a few short days.

“We’ve mostly gotten a useful facial image now, but can we send it out?” Ah Liu asked worriedly.

“Let our own people bring it with them when they go search around the related locations. Dong Feng should be able to soon find where this guy came out from.” With that kind of review speed, it was likely that Dong Feng could quickly determine this as long as the other tapes could be sent over soon and there were no critical obstacles. Yu Xia massaged his temples, feeling slightly exhausted.

“…Is it alright to let an unrelated child do these things?” Ah Liu was more concerned that bringing out another resolute person would end up inciting more trouble.

“If something happens, I’ll take full responsibility.” Yu Xia couldn’t care less about being dragged down by people outside or inside. He only wanted to find back his own people as soon as possible, especially at a time like this when their manpower was severely lacking.

Ye Huan En’s opponent had exceeded their expectations. Yu Xia had not only found an account book and list of names at the Taichung location, but a few historical records of raw material transactions and some photos. However, there were a few people on the list of names that were extremely difficult to touch, so it was possible that the bureau chief and director in charge would not be able to take it on. The prosecutor side also did not have anyone that dared to support this case now without stronger evidence. And at the moment, the north sector that had similarly found two other locations a while ago had stopped their correspondence. They had likely encountered the same dilemma, or it had been deliberately suppressed by someone.

Where should we start from?

It was definitely impossible to force their way through the current situation. They would need to come up with another way to find a breakthrough point.

And it was right at this time that something had also happened to Li Zi Hong. Being forced to take a vacation was fine, but now he had even gone missing. Not long ago, even Kang Zhe Chang had been bailed out due to lack of direct evidence. The prosecutors had raised a counterappeal, but the conclusion had not changed. The man had pushed everything off himself so that he was completely clear, with someone willingly confessing or twisting [facts] for him in every aspect. This had given their lawyer plenty of space to refute, and there had even been people from within the legislative assembly and court that had helped him.

The relatively younger Xiao Wu that had joined only recently had been absolutely furious, shouting over there for half a day. Yu Xia and the other unit members were already used to such matters, and simply felt powerless about it. They could only gather their energy to continue dealing with the case, trying their best to find more evidence.

Staying in this place for too long meant having to soon get accustomed to evil people not necessarily getting immediate retribution. Sometimes, one would clearly know this, yet when seeing the perpetrator be released after a few trials while smiling like it was not a big deal, one could only keep self-questioning if there had been failure somewhere that they hadn’t thought of. How would they explain to the victim’s family? What would they use as justification? Why was it impossible to justify? Then another case would be chewed out by time, forgotten by the media and crowds.

However, learning to get accustomed to these things was still better than growing numb to them. At least, those that were used to it would pursue it further, while those that became desensitized would only learn to close the case.

“Boss, did you get any sleep these past two days?” Ah Liu stared at Yu Xia’s poor complexion, truly worried about these guys around him that not only burned the candle from both ends, but even lit them like sparkler fireworks. “You should get at least some rest. Still operating like this at your age?”

“I will find time to rest by myself, don’t worry.” Yu Xia looked up and suddenly spotted Jiu Shen snatching the map next to him. Yu Xia stared at Jiu Shen with a strange look. “…Are you asking to be punched?”

“No, no…” Jiu Shen quickly shook his head and retreated several steps before carefully asking, “Um…about Prosecutor Li’s case…did Prosecutor Gu say anything? After the internal investigation, did they…”

“She didn’t say anything, but it isn’t a big deal. You should just focus on doing this right now. You’ll hear the conclusion when it’s out.”

To the outside, Li Zi Hong had been said to be on break. However, Yu Xia had heard on the second day from the prosecutor’s side that it was because he needed to leave for a period of time while the department was investigating, mainly how Su Zhang had infiltrated the office and done a bunch of bizarre things. Not only had he stolen away some data, he had also found some information from the investigation group and was currently purging [people] away at full strength.

Since it was thought that they were too close with Li Zi Hong, this [case] had been given to someone else, and the related people had been requested to stay silent.

Ah Liu had seen some of the data when one of his closer female colleague friends had been organising it on the first day. The several bags of documents taken back from Li Zi Hong’s office had mostly had words like, “Thank you very much for your help”, “I will come back”, “While busy, everyone should remember to rest” written by Su Zhang. They seemed to have found something else as well, but per the chief prosecutor’s request, the female colleague had not let Ah Liu see it.

However, it was because everyone knew of Li Zi Hong’s personal integrity that they were 100% certain that Su Zhang had intentionally wanted to mess with them. Thus, they could only carry out the necessary investigations to determine where that bastard had come from, why he had done these particular things to Li Zi Hong, what the relationship between them was, etc. Relatively speaking, Yu Xia was more worried that Li Zi Hong might have been targeted by Su Zhang.

Before the matter of Li Zi Hong’s disappearance had been heard, the one most concerned about this matter had probably been Jiu Shen, while Yan Si, who had gone off to a research study, did not know about this. However, it seemed like Yan Si would find out very soon too…They would never know how many damned channels Yan Si had.

“Let me know if there’s any progress,” Jiu Shen persistently said, unable to feel at ease.

“So annoying, hurry up and go do your work!”

***

“Yin…Ah Yin!”

Yu Yin abruptly returned to his senses and stared at the glass in front of them, his mind completely blank for three seconds.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going? Don’t go walking into electric poles like Yi Tai did last time. The swelling didn’t go down for days.” Ah Fang, who had run over from behind, clapped a hand on Yu Yin’s shoulder and then leaned on him while turning them around. “Weird how Yi Tai suddenly wanted us to see him for some reason.”

Ah Fang had received the call while eating lunch outside campus, rushing to school after arranging a time [to meet]. Otherwise, he would have met up with others to play ball, as he had no classes today, though that had now been called off.

It was pretty normal for Yi Tai to look for Ah Fang, but summoning Yu Yin together was a bit odd. Moreover, it looked like there was clearly something wrong with Yu Yin at the moment. Just now, Ah Fang could tell even from a distance how absentminded this person was, and upon closer look, Yu Yin’s expression was completely gloomy. It looked like Yi Tai mainly wanted to find him this time.

“Where’s Yi Tai?” Yu Yin asked, seeing that only Ah Fang had come.

“We’ll meet him outside the drinks shop. He said he’s grabbing something from a friend nearby that seems to be for you. I don’t know what it is either.” Ah Fang shrugged and retracted his hand as he led them both to leave the library. “Xiao Hai’s mood has been pretty bad recently. I’ve asked her multiple times about it, but haven’t gotten any answers. Did something happen on your side?”

“Huh? Xiao Hai knows?” Yu Yin was taken aback for a moment. He had thought that Li Zi Hong having gone missing had not been spread outside. Yu Xia had told him that the situation was currently being contained, so only their unit knew. It had practically been sealed off in every way.

This decision had been made by the chief prosecutor. It appeared that an issue had occurred, so no outsiders knew of this matter. Only a few critical people knew of and carried out the search.

Yu Yin had found this decision to be very strange, but when he’d inquired further about it, Yu Xia had been unwilling to say anything more.

That was why Xiao Hai knowing was totally unexpected to Yu Yin. He did not believe his dad would have told her, and Xiao Hai had rarely visited their home recently.

“Did something really happen? Has it been for a long time? I think she’s already been unhappy for a while now, around two or three weeks? Or maybe it was even longer. Either way, it’s been a while now.” The reason Ah Fang had noticed was because he had recently seen Xiao Hai beat people up, and the victim’s face had been at least two times more swollen than usual. His younger sister was clearly venting her anger, but he had no idea what had upset her.

Two or three weeks?

Looks like we’re talking about different things.

Yu Yin shook his head. “I don’t know about Xiao Hai’s end.”

That night Li Zi Hong had come over bothered him. That whole time, Yu Yin had felt that there had been something with Li Zi Hong, something not right. However, Yu Yin had been busy with his own matters that night and had not asked further…If he had spoken more that evening or even made Li Zi Hong stay for longer, perhaps it could have changed things?

They had been the last people to see Li Zi Hong.

Whenever Yu Yin thought of this, he could not let it go. Even when others said it had nothing to do with him, he still felt as though he shared some relation. If only I had paid more attention that time.

As expected, when they stepped inside the drinks shop, they saw Yi Tai already sitting there waiting for them. The waiter just happened to be dropping off three drinks at that moment too.

Already very used to his friend mysteriously ordering drinks for others, Ah Fang did not find this strange and took a seat, pushing one of the cups towards Yu Yin next to him.

Once his friends had sat down, Yi Tai smiled at Yu Yin. “Did something happen on your end?”

“Li-dàgē is missing.” Yu Yin touched the condensation covered ice-cold glass as he directly cut to the main point with no intention of circumventing it.

“…You’re talking about the very serious Prosecutor-dàgē?” Ah Fang raised his brows, somewhat surprised. “Was he sought out for revenge?”

“The details of the situation aren’t known yet. It’s only been a few days since we found out.” Dong Feng had texted this morning to say he was currently at the police station. However, Yu Yin still had not received any news of progress.

“I understand. Xiao Hai and I will check and see if there have been any movements underground.” It was pretty clear why his friend had specifically come looking for him. There were some means that undoubtedly needed them to carry out. As Ah Fang pulled out his cellphone to contact Xiao Hai, Yi Tai suddenly stopped his movements next to him.

“I don’t think it is related to that side.” Yi Tai had the vague feeling that this direction wasn’t quite right. He tilted his head in thought for a while. “It seems to be unrelated to problems at work as well.”

“Then what do you think it is?” Ah Fang asked back.

“It’s currently unknown.”

Sometimes, Ah Fang felt like his friend’s intuition was like playing with an Ouji board. Without receiving cosmic waves, there would be no direction unless a critical term was provided. Ah Fang shot a somewhat apologetic look towards Yu Yin. “Are there any other clues?”

“Li-dàgē had originally planned to go hiking, but none of his hiking friends have seen him, and Li-dàgē didn’t contact them either. They seemed to have gone to an ancient path or something last week…” The moment Li Zi Hong had been discovered as missing, Yan Si had asked everyone in the circles he knew, though there had been no results.

“Not there.” Yi Tai shook his head. “I don’t think it’s in that direction.”

“Still on level ground?” Ah Fang immediately pursued a choice.

“Level ground feels stronger.” Yi Tai pulled out a kraft paper envelope from his backpack and pushed it over towards Yu Yin. “I’ll give this to you. Although I do not know if it will be of any use, it seemed like I should pass it to you when I previously saw it at a friend’s. It was quite difficult to have them collate it, and they just sent it over.”

Yu Yin briefly opened it to take a peek. There were several pieces of paper inside. Despite not know if they had any relation, Yu Yin still accepted them. After all, Yi Tai taking the initiative to call them out here was likely not simply to give him more paper to recycle.

“I believe that Xiao Hai and Ah Fang will not be able to help with this matter. Perhaps I won’t be able to intervene either. However, if you have any questions about the matter covered in that material after you read through it, you can talk to my friend about it. I included his contact information inside.”

Following these words, Yu Yin pulled out a name card inside. There was a restaurant from the eastern district written on it, though it was unknown if it had any connection to the matter.

Ah Fang stared at the words printed on top and furrowed his brows in suspicion. “Wait, was your previous trip to the eastern district related to this?” He recalled that a while ago, Yi Tai had run out there without warning and ended up staying there for a few days before returning without a word. At the time, they had been busy looking for Yu Yin, running around frantically. Who would have thought that they would be searching for the prosecutor now? This bunch of people go missing much too easily.

“Perhaps it is. It felt as if the moment had not yet arrived at the time. Moreover, it was not something I could get involved with, so I could not easily handle it. Maybe it’s about time now.” Yi Tai smiled faintly as he looked at the person sitting across from him. “Well then, that’s basically it.”

After seeing off the very dejected Yu Yin, Ah Fang eyed the basically untouched drink before turning to his friend with a slight frown. “Why can’t Xiao Hai and I help?”

“I said it earlier. This isn’t something I can intervene with. Of course, you guys are the same. I don’t think we are suited to follow them this time.” Yi Tai smiled and shrugged. “Besides, we have other things we must do. If we attend to matters there, then the matters here will not reach a conclusion, and will turn worse.”

Ah Fang stared at Yi Tai for a moment before saying somewhat emotionally, “Sometimes, I feel like you really are pretty terrifying.” And amazing in all respects!

“Is that so?” Yi Tai’s smile remained unchanged as he responded with words that nearly made the other person spit out their tea. “It’s fine once you’re used to it.”

“Oi-oi-oi….”

It’d be great if I could get used to it!

***

Yu Yin left the drinks shop and walked for quite a while before remembering that he had not paid for the drink.

Just as he took out his cellphone to call and apologise, he discovered that Yi Tai had already sent a text that simply said, “It’s fine, just treat me next time.”

Yu Yin could not describe the various complicated emotions he was feeling, and simply smiled bitterly as he texted back thanks in reply. He then somewhat weakly leaned against the fence next to him as he subconsciously checked his other messages. Yu had also sent a text that basically said he would be later tonight since he had just headed out from Fang Yi Xun’s, and not to worry because he would get home himself.

Yu Yin felt that he was not the only one feeling uneasy. He knew without even thinking the reason why Yu had gone to go find Teng Qi and Fang Yi Xun.

“What am I doing.” It clearly felt like something would happen, yet I didn’t notice what was right in front of my eyes.

Yu Yin scratched his head gloomily and sighed as he pulled out the paper envelope that Yi Tai had just given him. It was a bunch of paper clippings that did not seem to be from the newspaper or social media. Rather, they looked more like short stories or magazine op eds.

He briefly skimmed through them to see that they were a few supernatural incidents in the mountains, the kind that one would get a whole bunch of results for an online search. There wasn’t anything special about them. Yu Yin had read quite a few on the internet before too, since starting from a young age, he had encountered a bunch of defective, bad friends that, upon knowing he could see things, would often grab some random things for him to appraise. Most were hoaxes, like how majority of haunted houses were just a result of what people perceived. An originally empty house could turn into a violent haunted house by simply ramping up a story.

He decided to read through the papers more carefully after going home, and carefully placed them back in his bag. Just as he thought about heading back to wait for news, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow flash past the right side behind him.

Yu Yin turned his head but did not see anything.

He had experienced various scenarios too often recently, so he had a fixed sense of calm. It was probably a new dear friend or older sister that had appeared out of nowhere to right a wrong. However, he truly was not in the mood right now, as the matter he was worried about was more important than the idea of locating that shadow. Thus, without much further consideration, Yu Yin directly began to walk towards where he had parked.

Just as he turned around the corner of the alley, an object abruptly slammed heavily into his back.

Before Yu Yin could figure out what was going on, he was sent stumbling forwards from the strike before being immediately pressed against the nearby wall by whatever was behind him. This was when he finally realised that it was a person as a blade was held up to his neck.

“I just want to say first that I have nothing to do with this incident.”

The familiar mocking tone came from behind. Yu Yin immediately tried to turn his head, but was immediately obstructed by the sharp blade pressed against him. He could not shout out loudly to attract attention either. “What exactly are you trying to do?!”

“I was just passing by, so I wanted to say this has no relation to me and give a warning while I was at it.”

The relaxed tone behind him infuriated Yu Yin. “If you want to kill, just kill me. Don’t just spout empty words. If you’re not going to kill, hurry up and go away!”

“I’ve said before that I don’t intend to kill you. Although I already confirmed that I would not, you should still be grateful that you just happen to be within my scope. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, you would have already become a corpse based on your previous behaviour.”

“What does that mean?” In relation to this question, Yu Yin had already lost track of what this bastard really wanted to do. He could not understand this person’s so-called reason for not killing. “Within what scope?”

“I’ve seen your data. You’re a biological child of your parents, aren’t you? In that case, you are not the person I’m looking for, and within the scope of those I will not make a move on. Despite that being the case, ultimately, you really should not provoke me and make me angry enough to make an exception. There won’t always be another opportunity. With a few more instances, there will eventually come a day when you won’t even know how you died.”

“What…”

Before Yu Yin could finish speaking, he felt someone kick the back of his shins, forcing him to crash into the ground. When he miserably crawled back up, the person that had just secretly attacked him had already vanished without a trace.

He rubbed his neck. There was a shallow cut that left some blood on his hand, but it was not serious.

“Bastard.”