The Yu Brother’s Case Book - S2: Book 6: Chapter 4

“Make way! Please let us through!”

The sharp siren of an ambulance pierced through the clamour of the ER at night.

Scrambling for time, the emergency personnel never stopped performing heart resuscitation on the unconscious patient lying on the stretcher, maintaining this position while pushing them into the ER. The doctors that ran in hurriedly shouted orders and began to perform rescue aid as quickly as possible.

Although this was not Jiu Shen’s first time seeing such a scene, he still trembled slightly every time he heard the sirens, silently praying that the person being delivered would be safe and sound. He turned into the break room with a warm drink in hand.

“Boss, drink something first.” They had been running all over the place for the entire night without a chance to eat. Jiu Shen himself was half-starving to death, let alone Yu Xia, who had been on standby since noon and had likely skipped two meals in a row. After finishing work procedures, Jiu Shen had used his spare time to circle around nearby, only to find that all the convenience stores were closed. Luckily, he had found a drink shop that sold red bean and purple rice drinks, which could fill the stomach a bit.

Yu Xia absentmindedly thanked him and put on his shirt as he grabbed the cup. “If you’re free, go back with the others first. My brother will come over in a bit.”

“Um, I drove…” Actually, Jiu Shen had been done with work since their task had just ended. He stammered out at his colleague, “Since Boss just got stitches, driving probably isn’t possible…”

“Even with one hand, I can drive more steadily than you,” Yu Xia eyed the bandages underneath his sleeve and scoffed.

“That’s dangerous driving…” Jiu Shen replied in a low tone.

“If you have a complaint, say it louder.”

Ugh, even if I had a complaint, I don’t dare to say it loudly. Jiu Shen had seen too many tragic cases of people turning into pigheads after speaking too loudly. It was especially dangerous when his friend was in an extremely bad mood! That would literally be like going up to a pacing lion and being loud…no, even if quiet, the ending wouldn’t be pretty.

As Jiu Shen was struggling to figure out how to tactfully convince his friend, the sound of the door opening cut off his internal dilemma. The person that strode in was Ye Huan En, who had gone through the effort of avoiding each layer of obstruction to sneak in.

“How’s the situation?” Yu Xia asked while chewing on his straw.

“It’s ok. Right now, the news reports are mostly leaning towards it being a coincidental report from nearby residents. After the police and gangsters crossed fire, it was unexpectedly discovered that there was a large amount of drugs hidden inside the home that is currently being investigated.” Ye Huan En had rushed over only after confirming the broadcasts. Since there were also plenty of media surrounding the police station, he had arrived at the hospital as low-profile as he could. Fortunately, he had not drawn any attention.

The hospital with the “shot officer” on the news had a large amount of media waiting outside as well. However, there were people standing guard and keeping them out, while providing the representative statement from the station.

Yu Xia nodded and figured that this would probably prevent the higher-level people from noticing. The media would find out later that the police had found a list of names in the drug dealer’s home, including some actors and even some government representatives. Once the media proceeded to report this without restraint, they could start turning over the other major locations that they had been monitoring for a very long time now.

That’s right, this incident was not a coincidence.

When they had received this list of locations long ago, they had targeted a few main sites and placed staff to monitor the area. After using various methods to break through the small strongholds, the location from today had been determined to be an important base.

In the last few months, they had gotten a grasp on the number of people here and their lifestyle habits, including how they would occasionally break out into violent fights. Taking advantage of the fact that all the regional cadres were at a meeting here today, they had planned this “citizen report” to launch a powerful attack while the opponent had their guards lowered. However, they hadn’t imagined that someone inside would suddenly open fire.

At the time, Yu Xia had been uniformed and disguised as security and he had instinctively protected the elder. While he had not been wounded by the bullet, he had gotten a dozen-centimetre long cut from the shattered glass.

Then their support arrived…actually, these were units that had been placed nearby waiting for orders. They had very swiftly captured the cadres trying to flee.

The veteran reporter with them had been an acquainted friend who had promised not to leak their movements before it was time. That’s why the first independent report had been written as a coincidental raid of the drug den. The subsequent media [reports] had then built off this basis and begun broadcasting the news.

In reality, the amount of drugs they had found from the residence was not a small number, so everything seemed to make sense on the surface.

The only part that didn’t make sense was the ages of these gangsters.

The arrested cadres were extremely young. These so-called cadres totaled at five people comprised of young boys and girls below the age of twenty. The oldest was nineteen and the youngest was an astonishing fifteen. Each one of them had carried guns with identical markings. The first one to open fire at Yu Xia had been the fifteen-year old boy.

In contrast, the people managing the residence had instead been more like cadres—adults in their twenties and thirties. As a result, the adults were considered to be drug dealers, while the children were described as young buyers. The reports muddled through the facts in this way for the time being. Moreover, it was evident that they wanted the police to believe this as well. The adults continuously roared out that the police should just wait and see what happened…

“The five cadres haven’t uttered a single word.” Ye Huan En briefly described the situation at the station. “They’ve already been isolated from each other, but they’ve maintained silence.”

“…I guessed as much.” Even if they did speak, it would probably be lies. The bike gang they had previously seized had behaved the same way. But those people had not matched their stories, so they had quickly been broken through. The children this time had clearly undergone long-term training, so making them speak could take a bit of effort.

Ye Huan En patted Yu Xia’s shoulder. Yu Tong and Li Zi Hong were likely concentrating on the five cadre’s personal backgrounds now. “Go on back and rest first. Jiu Shen is probably tired too.”

“Mhm.” With more people, it was harder for Yu Xia to give excuses. Jiu Shen quickly gathered their belongings. But right as he pushed the door to go out, he suddenly discovered that the door was completely stuck and could not be pushed open at all. “Huh…huh?”

Ye Huan En similarly discovered the unusual situation. He attempted to open the door a few times to no avail, and the two exchanged a suspicious look.

Right then, the bright light faintly buzzed, then instantly went out with a pop. The room immediately sank into an eerie, complete darkness.

“!” Jiu Shen reeled in fright and nearly shouted. However, someone suddenly covered his mouth and yanked him to the side.

“There’s someone outside.”

Ye Huan En’s voice quietly rang out. The sole light source in the dark room was the crack under the door. The narrow, short beam of light that extended through the darkness carried a shadow that indicated someone stood outside.

Then they heard the doorknob being turned.

The door was pushed open without a sound to reveal a spy’s eyes that slowly swept through the room using the light from outside. Then they reported—

“No one here, they’ve left.”

The door shut closed again, and the lights switched back on. However, it was now quite dim.

Yu Xia and the other two walked out from where they had been hiding. Without even talking, they were well aware of what had happened, and they immediately confirmed that they had to leave the hospital as soon as possible.

They were undoubtedly still being watched.

***

He woke up with a start to pitch-blackness all around him.

Yu Yin took off the comforter and sat up. His mind was still a bit of a mess; he had no idea when he had returned to the room and fallen asleep. Yu and Dong Feng were in deep sleep on either side of him, seemingly having not been startled awake.

Yu Yin pressed a hand against his forehead that was covered in cold sweat. He automatically turned to glance at the clock, which indicated that it was 3:10, identical to last night.

“What exactly do you want…”

He walked on the carpet that had no hair or anything else. There were no noises, and nothing could be seen behind the curtains or on the window. The room was so silent that he couldn’t even hear the sounds of breathing from the people sleeping.

Yu Yin confirmed that Yu was indeed still asleep before feeling a rush of relief. Then he turned to look at Dong Feng. However, when he lifted the other side of the comforter, he discovered that no one was there. The ice-cold mattress and the wrinkles indicated that the owner of that spot on the bed had already been gone for a long time, to the point where there was no trace of warmth left remaining.

“…Dong Feng?”

He was not in the room. When Yu Yin pushed open the bathroom door, it was similarly vacant.

Yu Yin did not see his own big coat he had hung on the wall, so he grabbed a random jacket and flashlight before walking out to the courtyard.

The courtyard in the darkness had practically no light, which gave the misleading feeling that he was in an indiscernible space. It was like he had walked into another realm. Even the stones underneath his feet felt like they were floating in the unknown.

The sound of waves crashing against the shore came from the distance.

Yu Yin was drawn through the courtyard to follow the noise of the waves. Even amidst the darkness, he could make out the white bubbles that rose with the foaming waves tumbling around…but there was nothing there.

The night should have been cold, but he could not sense any hint of chilliness for some reason. It was like there was no temperature at all.

Yu Yin walked for a stretch but did not see anyone. As a result, he could only turn back towards the guesthouse in the night.

There were still no lights inside the guesthouse. The rooms belonging to Li Lin Yue, Ah Guan, and their other friends did not have any illumination, whether it was from bed lamps, nightlights, or even the faint glow from electronic devices. There was only uniform darkness.

He did not sense anything wrong, and he subconsciously wanted to return to his room. However, when the flashlight shone on the ground, the refracted beam revealed the shocking sight of damp footprints crookedly pointing towards his room.

It was like someone had dragged their feet to walk to the room with great difficulty. The line of footprints did not stop even upon running into a door. Half of them were outside, and half of them were inside.

Yu Yin turned the doorknob and discovered that the door was somehow locked. Moreover, it was locked from the inside, so the key he had on him was no use.

He walked back out to the courtyard. Right as he was considering waking up Yu from the window, he noticed someone’s back facing him from the window. For some reason, the person’s long hair was completely drenched. When the head leaned against the glass, many strands of hair stuck fast to the pane with a layer of vapour. The condensation droplets slid down the smooth window surface, leaving behind wet streaks.

Then, “he” slowly—

“Ah Yin! Wake up!”

When Yu Yin was shaken awake, he finally realised that he had fallen asleep in the car, and he had actually only slept for 10-20 minutes.

Li Lin Yue next to him patted his face and said in amusement, “You sleep as soon as you finish eating your fill. You really are suited to be raised as a pig.”

Oh yeah, we just finished eating dinner at a place a friend recommended for Miao-style food and sour hotpot. Then after we ate the hot foods, we drove into the urban district on our way back to buy some other tasty foods.

Yu Yin guessed that he must have fallen asleep on the way, though he had no idea when it had happened. In the adjacent seat, Yu was still awake.

“What’s the matter? Your complexion is weird.” Li Lin Yue had originally wanted to tease her friend, but she quickly discovered there was something a bit off with her friend’s silence. “Did you have a nightmare? You manage to have nightmares within only ten minutes?” Should I be praising him for reaching the next level, or telling him that he should hurry back down here?

“Only you’d have nightmares.” Yu Yin did not know what in the world that thing wanted to do either. He dodged the person trying to seize this chance to sexually harass him and retorted, “Go touch your boyfriends instead.”

“Hey, hey, wedid grow up together, after all. There’s no need to draw such a fine line between us.” Li Lin Yue hadn’t expected him to have pretty sturdy muscles. Looks like his recent training has made a difference. She clicked her tongue as she thought this to herself.

“Stop fooling around.” Yu Yin directly shoved her face away and spotted Meng Pin Si covering her mouth and laughing in amusement at their antics from the front seat.

“Do you guys want to go buy some mochi?” Meng Pin Si noticed the gaze directed at her and pointed to a large sign to hurriedly change the topic. “Although I don’t know which place is better, we can use the chance to buy some of the Hualien yams that Wei Jun and the others mentioned too.”

“Since we’re already talking about it, let’s just stop.” The boy driving didn’t care at all what the passengers in the back thought, and he directly pressed the hands-free telephone system to notify the other cars. “This is the second ship. The ship will anchor in the mochi area at the place in front, direction: one-o’clock, OVER.”

Laughter came from the other end of the phone and multiple cars soon found places to stop near the specialty shops.

Since they were close to the train station, the entire street was practically filled with different yet similar-type local specialty shops. The dazzling lineup was somewhat blinding. There were even some shops that opened several locations, as though striving to tell tourists that they were the best option.

“Which one do you want to go to?” Yu Yin wanted to send some back to the police station for everyone to eat, though he personally did not have any particular preferences. “Or should we buy some of everything and then ship them all back?”

Yu nodded to express his agreement to this suggestion.

This way, they might even be able to actually run into the mother-and-son pair at a specialty shop like Dong Feng had brought up.

After their group decided on a time to reconvene, they scattered off separately.

Yu Yin strolled through several shops with Yu, buying quite a few souvenirs and delivery packages too. Although Yu Yu Yin made sure to keep an eye out, he did not see the mother-and-son duo. He figured that such coincidences were more likely to not exist.

It would have been great if he had asked them where they were staying. However, considering the circumstances at the time, she might not have told him either. Perhaps he even would have received a terrible tirade or something.

Yu suddenly stopped next to him and tugged at his jacket.

“It’s fine, I’m not going to fall into things headfirst. I just think there’s something weird about it all.” If that ghost did not want them to intervene, it might as well have not come looking for him. Yet it had, making it so that they were quite bothered too. Yu Yin originally did not find it particularly strange, but now he was starting to sense there was something very off.

Could it be a random wandering ghost?

No, it shouldn’t be random. That ghost is clearly following the mother-and-son pair.

Sometimes, I’m really not intentionally trying to be meddlesome…

As Yu Yin was thinking this, he lifted his head and abruptly spotted the black shadow in the night. It was on the opposite street, also standing in front of a specialty shop. It did not have the malice from before, only quietly standing still. Even when the street lamps and the various store lights illuminated the road, the shadow’s original appearance was not visible.

A few seconds later, the shadow gradually faded away in thin air like smoke.

Then came the sharp screech of car brakes—

“Fuck! Are you trying to scare people to death?!”

A shout came out from a minibus that had instantly braked to a stop. It was directed towards a little boy standing in the street. Ah Guan had been loitering nearby, and had dashed out in front of the bus, causing it to stop right in front of his knees.

“You would’ve only died if you had hit him. Both you and he are very lucky; it’s a good thing that everyone’s fine.” Ah Guan directly picked up the dazed boy and waved his hand. The bus driver got over his shock and saw that nothing was wrong, as they had indeed been lucky. There had been no incoming cars behind him either. As a result, he scolded a few more words out of anger and bemusement before leaving.

“Are you alright?” Yu Yin quickly ran over to Ah Guan. Their other nearby classmates circled around as well, including Meng Pin Si, Li Lin Yue, and Xiang Zhen Rong. Wei Jun was a bit further away, but he had noticed the unusual situation and was running over too. Yu Yin crouched down and patted the still completely stunned boy, only to discover that this was the boy from the pair that the ghost was after.

“Seems like he got a fright.” Meng Pin Si came up to them and scanned around but did not find the mother. Then Xiang Zhen Rong and Wei Jun went to ask some nearby shops to no avail.

“Eh, you’re still in this world; you weren’t turned into paste,” Ah Guan casually commented as he waved a palm in front of the boy’s face. “Bring your soul back into your body, and remember to summon your mom to come over with you.”

“Stop fooling around.” Li Lin Yue struck Ah Guan’s head.

“Where’s your mom?” Meng Pin Si squatted down next to Yu Yin and softened her voice while placatingly rubbing the boy’s cheek. “We can bring you to find your mom. Do you remember where you came from?”

Seeing as the boy’s face was still blank. Yu Yin stood to look around for any place to temporarily sit and rest. However, he instead caught the shocking sight of the shadow standing right behind Ah Guan. The ash-coloured eyes bulging out from the sockets were peering straight at the boy.

“…Let’s leave this place first.” Yu Yin noticed that the boy was similarly staring at the shadow, and he firmly declared, “Quickly.”

Meng Pin Si gave him a puzzled look, but right as she was about to say something, Li Lin Yue pulled her up. “Don’t ask, just go. I just saw a place that sold drinks, let’s head over there first.”

Meng Pin Si had heard of the rumours regarding Yu Yin before, so after some thought, she nodded without a word. Ah Guan directly picked up the boy and swiftly followed behind Li Lin Yue.

The shadow remained in place rather than following after them. Yu Yin continued to glance back at it while they walked away, and the shadow once again disappeared on the street.

He could vaguely sense a gaze actually vanish along with that thing. Before they arrived at the drinks place, Yu Yin heard the boy in front speak up.

“Mom…”

The boy was clearly very suspicious of being carried by a stranger. He timidly pushed at Ah Guan and began to show a restless anger on his face. Then he glanced around and said, “Mom…”

They all stopped in their tracks, and Ah Guan easily placed the child down onto the ground. “Where’s your mom?”

The boy fearfully shook his head and did not speak.

Xiang Zhen Rong came over. After a beat’s thought, he squatted down so that he was eye-level with the boy and asked, “Were you buying candy just now?”

“No…” The boy shook his head.

“Was your mom eating something?”

“No…Mom was fighting with Dad…”

“Fighting over the phone?”

“Yeah.” The boy nodded and gestured, “They kept fighting. We were supposed to go out and buy candy…but Mom kept saying to wait and wait.”

“Is your mom still at the hotel?” Yu Yin had gotten an idea of what was going on. He furrowed his brows and asked, “Did you come out with a dàgēge or a dàzǐzi?”

“Dàgēge!” The boy’s eyes lit up as he turned towards Yu Yin. “He’s right behind you.”

In that instant, Yu Yin felt a sudden buzz fill his ears, the intensely painful ringing directly blocking off all other sounds. A wave of dizziness nearly made him stumble and fall, but Yu hurriedly grabbed hold of his arm next to him. Someone else nearby promptly helped support him too; after a while, his vision finally cleared enough to see that it was Li Lin Yue.

Yu Yin shook his head. Once the uncomfortable sensation faded a bit, he glanced behind him. However, there was nothing to be seen.

“Are you alright?” Li Lin Yue was no longer smiling. She did not let go, keeping her grip steady like Yu was on the opposite side.

“Should we find a temple first?” Ah Guan whipped out his cellphone to try searching for any place nearby where they could pray.

“It’s fine.” Yu Yin confirmed that everything was fine, then withdrew his own arms. Xiang Zhen Rong and a few others that he was not as closely acquainted with seemed to be a bit frightened. However, they did not express it too obviously; instead, they stood in place and watched them with contemplative expressions. “It’s nothing, just treat it as anemia flaring up.”

“That’s how Mom was just now too.” The boy pointed at Yu Yin and tugged at a corner of Xiang Zhen Rong’s clothes. “Dàgēge said it was alright, so I came out with Dàgēge.”

“You…”

Right before Xiang Zhen Rong could voice a question, a disturbance cut him off.

A loud bang that sounded very much like a heavy object smashing into the ground rang out not far from them.

Then a second sound followed, causing other pedestrians to stop in their tracks and curiously look as well.

While everyone’s attention and eyes were drawn away, Yu Yin saw the boy smile coldly at him. All the colour immediately disappeared from his face, and harsh crimson wisps of blood swiftly spread throughout both his eyes. Then he opened his mouth to silently utter:

That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is That’s just how she is—

***

He woke up with a start to pitch-blackness all around him.

Dong Feng picked up the book on his body and finally remembered having fallen asleep while reading on a chair. However, he recalled that the lights had been on while reading, yet all that surrounded him was darkness.

“Did you guys come back?”

No one responded.

Dong Feng scratched his head and suddenly noticed that his hand was a bit damp. When he turned on the desk lamp, he realised that a part of his hair was wet for some reason. He moved his gaze and spotted white mist covering the window. There were wet tracks next to where he sat, as though someone had left behind marks as they dragged their drenched hair across

“…Pulling these tricks on me is no use. I’m not someone that treats everyone well like Yu Yin is; I don’t have that patience. If you want help, speak, otherwise get lost.” Dong Feng was not afraid of these trivial things, but he could sense his body responding to whatever existed in the space. The temperature gradually dropped so low that the joints of his hands began to hurt from the cold. He placed the book on the table and drew the half-open curtains. Then he grabbed his jacket and wrapped himself inside the cloth. However, the effect was limited, and he was unable to truly attain warmth.

He turned his head and spotted a human print on the mist-covered glass window. It seemed to have suddenly appeared in the brief moment it had taken for him to put on the coat. It looked like someone was sprawled across the window outside to look in. He wiped away the vapour on the glass and gazed out at the courtyard; it was still very dark, though he could faintly glimpse the glow from some equipment in the rooms across.

Dong Feng switched on all the lights inside the room and was shocked to discover that the curtains were pulled up. His focus had been on the glass just now and he had completely forgotten that the curtains had been drawn closed already. Aside from this, the room had not changed.

Once the room was lit up, the outside seemed even darker.

He shone a flashlight through the silhouette and spotted a track of wet footprints along the courtyard. They slowly snaked in from somewhere distant in the night, crossing through the courtyard to seemingly make its way towards his room.

There were no water tracks inside. After a brief contemplation, Dong Feng simply grabbed the flashlight and went to open the door…then he discovered that despite unlocking it, the door could not be opened. It was like someone had blocked the door outside; even when he used all his strength, he could not budge it open even a sliver.

He had no idea what was going on, so he decided to turn around and grab his cellphone to ask Yu Yin. But just then, he saw that the curtains had been let down again, covering the window so well that there wasn’t a single visible crack.

At nearly the same time, the desk lamp flickered. Then all the lights in the room went out, sinking the brightly-lit room into darkness.

Dong Feng was not particularly panicked. Although he could not see the surroundings, he followed his memory to accurately walk over to the bed and grab his cellphone. Then he sat down on the floor next to the bed and opened his phone. That was when he discovered Yu Yin had sent a text to him, mostly to say that they had run into the mother-and-son pair. However, there had been some friction due to a misunderstanding—the mother had kicked up a huge fuss at the hotel because her child had gone missing. Then when they had followed the child back to the hotel, the mother had blamed them for kidnapping the child, and the argument had resulted in calling the police. As a result, they would be late returning.

The news had been sent a bit earlier. The time displayed on the phone was around 1 AM.

Based on his estimations, they would probably be able to eat breakfast by the time they returned after dealing with everything.

With this, Dong Feng decided to forget the notion of calling to ask questions. Instead, he simply buried his head on the mattress and waited for something else to possibly happen.

He was not afraid; he did not feel much of anything. He would not run away either.

It had just made him recall a memory from very long ago. Back then, the only thing he had to learn was to quietly wait until everything passed.

Like this, he waited and waited. His eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and he could vaguely see silhouettes. Then he continued waiting, not knowing exactly what he was wasting so much time for.

…There’s seriously something wrong with Yu Yin’s head for him to kill time with these things.

Dong Feng did not know how long he waited for. When his consciousness was starting to fray as he bordered between consciousness and unconsciousness, he suddenly heard a noise outside the door.

The locked doorknob gently rotated, as though someone was trying to open the door. However, they were not using the appropriate key, but some kind of pick instead.

That thing wouldn’t pry its way in, would it?

Considering how it could fool around with the curtains, Dong Feng was certain that it would not enter by breaking through a door.

He narrowed his eyes at a faint silhouette swaying with a dim light outside the window. It was definitely the sneaky actions of a human. The other party attempted to fiddle with the window, but as it had an iron grating outside, they quickly gave up.

Then the person circled back to the door to continue battling the old lock that should have been easily breakable.

Before reading his book, Dong Feng had assumed that Yu Yin and Yu would return quickly. As a result, he had not fastened the inside chain on the door; as long as the other party pried open the lock, they could immediately enter the room.

So it’s a thief?

He switched his phone to silent mode and turned on the video function before placing it between the pillows. Then he slowly crawled on all fours over to where the door was and sat in the far corner.

He tilted his head to listen to the noises outside to surmise that the opposite party was a male, possibly a bit shorter than Yu Yin. While they were fiddling with the door, they would accidentally bump into things, allowing Dong Feng to gain this information.

Like how Dong Feng was trapped inside the room, the opposite party clearly could not open this door either. As time went on, Dong Feng could even hear low angry curses. The voice confirmed Dong Feng’s guess on gender; the person was indeed male, and a bit on the older side. However, the voice was indistinct, likely due to something covering their face like a mask.

Thieves undoubtedly needed to cover their heads and faces.

Dong Feng waited for the other to break through the door while internally calculating the time. Approximately ten minutes passed before the defeated thief eventually gave up. However, he did not turn to head towards another room; he paced back and forth outside for some time, then continued to attempt going through the window a few more times. Finally, he left through the courtyard.

As soon as the thief left, the temperature inside the room suddenly was not as cold as before.

A few minutes later, the desk lamp switched back on, and the lights inside the room slowly flickered awake to bring a warm glow.

Dong Feng stood and waited for the numbness in his body to pass. Then he opened the door.

This time, it gave way without any resistance. The ice-cold night wind assailed him, dropping the temperature around him once more.

There was nothing outside; no thief, and no footprints in the courtyard either.

He had no idea who that thing was going up against, but it was very clear that if the thief really had charged in just now, Dong Feng would have been the one suffering.

Despite having ways to defeat a thief, Dong Feng naturally did not want to forcibly abuse himself if possible.

He shut the door once more and secured the safety chain. When he raised his hand, he saw several strands of hair sticking to his palm. They were identical to the ones he had sent out, and even had droplets of water on them.

“…Thank you.”

He had no way of knowing where that thing was. He could only speak out on the situation just now.

A noise like something walking away came from the other side of the door. No other unusual sounds followed.

***

Li Lin Yue yawned.

“Wonder how much longer this will go on for.” She eyed the clock on the wall; the hands indicated it was 2 AM. When they had kindly sent the child back, they had been grabbed by the mother, who had stubbornly accused them of kidnapping and then called the police station. In the end, all the people involved had been brought in. Their other classmates had followed over in concern, so the entire station had instantly become very lively, to the point where reporters waiting for other cases ran over to snap photos.

Meng Pin Si had started nodding off a while ago. Exhausted by the hassle that had lasted through the entire night, she leaned against Li Lin Yue to rest. A sympathetic female officer decided to just lend them a blanket.

On the other side, Yu looked quite comfortable. He had borrowed a book from somewhere unknown and was flipping through it, quietly waiting for Yu Yin and the slightly older Xiang Zhen Rong to deal with the farce.

The police had already verified their statement with the hotel concierge, who had seen the boy run out by himself. Out of concern, one of the ladies at the counter had run out to try bringing the boy back. However, the boy had left super quickly for whatever reason, and had disappeared after turning into an alley. When she had turned back to notify the customer, the mother had already stirred up a commotion.

Then the police had spent some time interrogating the nearby shops, whose statements all matched the concierge lady’s—they had seen the boy run out by himself. The footage from the surveillance cameras also allowed them to find the driver who had nearly hit the child. The driver, who had sounded like he had just been woken up, confirmed that Ah Guan had rushed out to rescue the child, making it unlikely for him to be a kidnapper.

After spending a good majority of the night clarifying the situation, the woman that had started the argument – Lai Hui Chun – finally began to let go of her anger.

“If you continue insisting that they abducted your child, they can actually sue you, you know,” said the officer responsible for the case. It was possible that he had started feeling annoyed by the woman’s constant arguing. “Think about it carefully. Continuing to argue is meaningless, and it won’t do you any good either.”

The woman seemed to realise that she was in the wrong, and finally snorted, “Ok, ok, it’s my mistake, alright? Who asked them to gather together and grab my child? With such a large group of people that don’t look like they’re up to any good, who’s to blame for the misunderstanding?”

“You—”

Ah Guan was about to charge forward and throw punches when Xiang Zhen Rong grabbed him and dragged him back to avoid another disaster from occurring.

“In that case, are we free?” Yu Yin finally felt some relief after seeing that there were no issues. Fortunately their parents hadn’t been notifed, or else who knew what method his uncle would murder him with?

“Just sign your names here and you’re good.” Actually, these students could have left from the beginning, but they were wrongly forced to stay here. They’re really quite unlucky.

“Wait, then why can’t I leave yet!” The woman immediately cried out in discontent when she saw the group of students about to leave.

“You destroyed the hotel’s property…”

“Isn’t it just money? I can pay whatever amount they want! Do they even have the nerve to ask for it? That hotel is such trash; they don’t have anything and the food is absolutely horrid. I haven’t even asked them to compensate me for the harm to my psychological health. Coming all this way to such a place is seriously frus—”

“How amazing do you think you are! What compensation to your psychological health!” Ah Guan could not listen any further. He exploded in fury and slammed the table, then pointed at the woman and screamed uncontrollably. “So what if you have money! Did you spend millions to stay at that hotel? Huh?!”

“Ah Guan, ignore her!” Several classmates frantically grabbed hold of Ah Guan, who was ready to beat the woman up.

“Now what?! Is there no law here? I can tell from your moral conduct that you didn’t have any decent upbringing! If you have the guts, come and hit me. Mark my words, I’ll sue you to death!” The woman shot up to her feet and shrilly screamed back, “Come on! What do you want?!”

“What do you want?!”

“Stop arguing with her!”

Under the police’s meaningful look, Xiang Zhen Rong and several other guys directly pulled Ah Guan out of the police station to go as far away as possible. Yu Yin and the others stayed behind to rush through the procedures. Yu Yin then thanked the officers and left with Yu in tow.

After stepping outside, they spotted Ah Guan and the others outside the entrance. Ah Guan indignantly shook off Xiang Zhen Rong’s grip, though he did not charge back in to fight with the woman.

“There’s no benefit in arguing with that kind of person. Don’t make life more difficult for yourself.” Xiang Zhen Rong shook his head. “Getting yourself worked up isn’t worth it. Everyone’s tired after tonight too. I’ll treat everyone to a midnight snack, and then let’s go back and sleep.”

Indeed, everyone was exhausted and sleepy, so they immediately agreed to Xiang Zhen Rong’s suggestion.

After inquiring with the officer outside, they confirmed the location of a tea shop and their party headed towards their destination.

Yu Yin walked at the very back of the group. As he yawned, he sent a text to Dong Feng back at the guesthouse. At this time, the other person should be fast asleep, and a call would easily wake him up. If he wasn’t asleep, Yu Yi would immediately know from the text.

Right as he was about to put his phone away, a text jumped out on the screen. Then he noticed Li Lin Yue wink at him from where she was walking in front.

A friend saw the video I uploaded. They recognised that woman and sent me a few websites. Take a look at them.

Below this short message were two video links.