The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

Yan Si was released from the hospital in the following afternoon.

As a result of the doctor’s strong persuasion, he finally agreed to bring with him a bag filled with an inexhaustible amount of painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicines. Yu Yin, who just happened to be free, brought him home.

“I heard Senior Chang An apparently confessed to killing our junior sister.” Yan Si voiced the news he had just heard from somewhere else in the morning as he stood outside his home, waiting for the university student to lock their ride next to the street.

“Huh? He’s the one that killed her?” Yu Yin paused where he was crouched near the ground to fasten the lock. “Weird…I didn’t see anything behind him. If the ghost wanted revenge, you would be more likely to be the culprit, Yan-dàgē.” He had witnessed several occasions where the deceased latched onto their murderers, typically harboring an extremely intense resentfulness. According to logic, he would have seriously suspected Yan Si as the perpetrator if he did not know the other party personally.

“Hm, I also wonder why I’m not the culprit.” Yan Si touched the bandages around his neck and he chuckled evilly, “There’s a high probability that I split the corpse into hundreds of sections within a short span of time, then got rid of them bit by bit using different methods every day so that they vanished without a trace.”

“…Yan-dàgē, it’s really good that you’re a forensic investigator.” Much better than being a murderer. For some reason, Yu Yin felt that if this person did kill someone, he would definitely not be caught. Then the victim actually would vaporize in such a way.

“I think so too,” Yan Si earnestly replied. “Going down the wrong path in life would be pretty terrifying.”

“I beg of you, please never go down the wrong path.” In multiple respects, Yu Yin absolutely refused to make enemies with the people he knew, especially when it came to a certain bunch.

“We’ll see.” Yan Si shrugged and walked into the building complex to press the elevator [button]. “Oh yeah, is Xiao Yu at home today?”

“Oh, he’s at a friend’s place.” Since Yu Yin had needed to pick up Yan Si, he could not bring a third person. Xiao Yu had likely been aware of this himself, so he had run off to Fang Yi Xun’s place a while ago doing who knew what.

“Want to send him to my place tomorrow?” Yan Si casually asked. He had nothing to do except lie around anyways.

Yu Yin shook his head.

“Huh? He doesn’t want to play with me for an entire day? What a shame.” Yan Si immediately showed a hurt expression.

“Ah, I arranged to eat with classmates. Apparently the restaurant has really good dessert, so Xiao Yu also wants to come along…” Yu Yin chuckled in embarrassment. After some thought, he asked, “Does Yan-dàgē want to join as well? You actually know them too; it’s that woman Li Lin Yue and Yi Tai’s group.”

“Pass. I’ll just wait at home for food delivery.”

Yan Si had no desire to join a bunch of university students for a meal. He laughed, “But if student that was ganged up on will have his girlfriend there too, that’s another story.” He would definitely go in that case, and make sure everything was videotaped to keep as a memento.

“There’s nobody like that,” Yu Yin huffed back in exasperation. He clearly knew the forensic investigator’s love for watching a good show. He then smirked back, “Speaking of which, Yan-dàgē should have one, right?”

“Sigh…I’ve seen more dead beauties than live ones. It’s really quite depressing.” Yan Si leaned on the university student’s shoulders and spoke in a heavy tone that seemed to be experienced, “Student that was ganged up on, life is bitter and short. If you see any good women, you should grab them as quickly as possible. Or else it will be too hard when you wait until you discover that dead people might be better than live people in this world.”

“What are you even going on about?” Yu Yin slapped the other person’s arms away and jokingly scolded, “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Hmph, it’s wisdom from your elder.”

Children will one day understand my words. Everyone is bound to mature eventually; then they’ll know the other side of life.

Sometimes, facing the dead was truly better than facing the living. Because willfulness was something that stiff corpses lacked.

When the elevator doors opened, they both fell silent.

Yan Si stared at the door of his home that was open again. He wordlessly walked out of the elevator and saw that the door had indeed been broken into once more.

“Is it that robber from last time?” Yu Yin frowned as he eyed the opened front door. Then he took out his cellphone to call Yu Xia.

Yan Si pushed the door open completely to see that the black shoeprints on the ground had increased in number compared to the last time he had left his house. Moreover, they seemed to have a direction, disappearing midway after reaching the living room.

He noticed that the direction in which the prints vanished was pointed towards his bedroom.

“Uncle said he’d call someone over to handle it later and that we shouldn’t do anything rash.” Yu Yin hung up the call, somewhat speechless when he saw the marks on the ground. “It’s not a ghost, is it?”

“Do you know any ghosts that can break doors?” Yan Si thought that ghosts just passed through them. He walked around in a circle. There were no traces of the inside having been touched. The addition of the shoeprints was the only thing visible. He placed his things in the room then walked back out.

“I’ve met ones that open, close, and lock doors.” Although this would honestly be the first time Yu Yin had ever seen one break open a door, Yu Yin did not think a normal robber would be able to leave marks that were so profoundly dark; that would just be excessively showing off. Plus, nothing had even been stolen.

“Then it’s done by a human.” This person was clearly targeting him, and using such distasteful methods at that. Yan Si narrowed his eyes as he considered the fact that the surveillance cameras outside the building likely had blindspots. He guessed this person used those to hide, then climbed up the staircase directly to the second floor. Since this was the only building of the complex and the elevator did not have cameras, the person would not have been caught on tape after arriving to the second level. Perhaps this was the reason why Yan Si’s former roommate had yet to find any related traces of this thief.

“Yan-dàgē, have you offended anyone else recently aside from a ghost?” That means ghosts are not the only things coming at him; there’s people too? Yu Yin shot a look at the owner of the house, seriously convinced that this fellow could get on anyone’s wrong side.

“If I really wanted to count them, I would need more than a day.” Yan Si heavily patted the university student as he stated the reality. “Anyways, nothing should have been touched inside the house. You go sit down first, I’ll boil some tea.”

“You’ll get scolded by Jiu Shen-gē like this.” Because you’re not preserving the crime scene.

“That’s probably true…”

Yan Si shrugged. Just as he was about to say he could just go to Yang De Cheng’s place for a free meal, he suddenly heard a faint noise come from the kitchen. It was a clattering sound, as if something just touched his tea set.

“Is there someone inside?” Yu Yin raised his guard as he grabbed the injured person next to him.

“We can’t be lucky enough to encounter the culprit still lying in ambush inside the house.” Especially when it was a thief that had broken the door to get in. However, he had just checked the entire place earlier and had not seen anyone. There was no reason the person would suddenly appear now. As Yan Si pondered over the strange situation, he strode directly into the kitchen. Yet, there was nothing there aside from some tea cups that had for some reason fallen in the cabinet from the rack they had been hung on.

Yan Si fixed them as he grumbled about the bit of dirt now on the cups. Suddenly, the white porcelain cups gave out a faint crack under his touch, and violently exploded. The pieces shot outwards from the force, instantly shattering.

Yu Yin, who had followed Yan Si and had just been about to step inside, also jumped in shock. Then he heard something from the front door, so he swiftly turned to run over and check the situation there.

Yan Si did not pay any mind to the university student’s actions. He stared blankly at his cut fingers, then turned in disbelief to poke at the other intact cups. However, they did not explode this time. “Really, anything can happen when your luck is bad enough.” He rinsed off the blood under running water, roughly wiped the cuts with some tissue paper, then stuck on some band-aids to stop the bleeding. Finally, he turned back to the wreckage.

Since the broken cup pieces had all fallen to the ground after exploding, he naturally crouched down to clean up.

As Yan Si wiped the ground and pondered whether he should go out to buy some cups, he realised all of a sudden that someone was standing in front of him. Two purple-grey and slightly swollen legs distinctly approached him, practically walking into his face. The feet were covered in filth.

Typically speaking, a normal person would be frightened by the abrupt approach. However, Yan Si’s first reaction was instead to grab the other person’s ankles. The instant he touched the unusual coldness and stiffness, his hands were suddenly empty.

He immediately looked up to see nothing there. The legs had vanished as well. It was as if whatever he had just seen had simply been a hallucination. However, the realistic feeling that lingered on his hands was definitely not fake.

Yan Si knit his brows together as he stared at his palms. After hurriedly wiping the floor, he tossed aside the cloth and grabbed his cellphone to call Li Zi Hong. As soon as the other person picked up, he cut in before they could ask anything. “Look into whether they’ve found Junior Liao’s body the past few days…Don’t ask why, it was just a sudden burst of insight…”

He instantly yanked the phone away as the rare sound of yelling came from the phone. The voice was so loud that Yan Si could clearly hear the other person shouting, “Stop fooling around, do you want to die?” even with the phone at arm’s length.

“No-no need to be so loud. Anyways, that’s all. Bye.” Before he got another scolding, he quickly cut the line, saving his ears from being blasted again. “Honestly, it’s just a minor cut. Is there really a need to get so upset?” He raised his hand and clicked his tongue when he saw dark splotches of blood appearing on the bandages again.

Alright, it’s a relatively serious minor cut.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Yin had circled back after not seeing anything at the front door. He just happened to see Yan Si hang up the phone.

“Nothing.” Yan Si waved his cell as he quickly stood up. “Come on, let’s go. We’ll head over to De Cheng’s and leave this place for the others to deal with.”

Yu Yin raised his brow. “Yan-dàgē, you’re acting weird.”

“You’re overthinking things.”

***

Jiu Shen’s eyes were wide as he gaped in stunned horror at the prosecutor that had just burst out roaring in anger.

This was the first time he had ever heard this person speak so loudly, with extreme fury at that. It wasn’t just him that was shocked either; Ah Liu, who was next to him, had also been frightened, the hand that holding a tool shaking so hard that the object was nearly dropped.

“Is something wrong?” Yu Tong pulled the yellow tape up to enter the perimeter after finishing his discussion with another officer.

“No.” Li Zi Hong sharply snapped his phone shut as he stiffly responded, “Any clues?”

“None. This place is too remote, so it’s rare for the residents to notice it.” Yu Tong had been dispatched over last minute. He surveyed the surroundings as he replied, “Honestly speaking, if Lai Chang An had not confessed himself, it would have been very difficult to find the body.”

This was an abandoned drain, the surrounding area filled with weeds as tall as a person. The entrance had been covered, the location in a remote mountain area. The only place with people walking around was a small sand and stone factory at the bottom. Normally, there would not be anyone in this area. Jiu Shen and the others had nearly gotten bitten by snakes earlier, which appeared to be common here.

They had bought personnel over to look for the corpse after receiving Lai Chang An’s confession earlier in the morning.

Jiu Shen had been planning to run away since he was still on vacation but had ended up being dragged over to help. The incident with Yu Xia letting the murderer escape had practically blown up, so the bureau chief had kicked his twin brother out as a labor replacement. Since everyone was busy at the moment, temporary substitutes were inevitable.

After a night’s silence post-arrest, Lai Chang An had finally admitted to killing his female roommate, Liao Xue Yi, this morning while being interrogated by an officer. They had then brought officers over to the desolate area in search of the body.

Actually, Li Zi Hong had not expected the other person to confess so straightforwardly. They only knew about what Yu Yin had seen, as well as the bloody footprints that had not yet been analysed and the stains. If Lai Chang An had wanted to feign ignorance, they would not have been able to do anything about it except wait for the test results to come out.

Yet he had admitted it.

Li Zi Hong crouched down in the somewhat dim drain, pulling aside the white cloth covering the corpse.

It was a very clean crime scene, with no traces of struggling or large-range movements. The woman wearing a red, Western-style dress quietly lay in eternal sleep in this place that seldom had people. There was some dirt and gravel on her bare feet, her crimson high-heels piled on the side. Both her arms were crossed in front of her chest. There were two large holes dug out from her swollen, dark face; only the eyeballs remained. The eyelids and the surrounding flesh had been cut out. It was truly a terrifying sight at first glance.

Yu Tong sighed as he glanced at where the body had been tossed and recalled Lai Chang An claiming that he had purposely changed the clothes, since Liao Xue Yi had always blabbered about having to wear red clothes if she died one day.

He believed Lai Chang An knew what the red clothing symbolized. But the strange part was that, despite having been dead for a period of time, the body did not have any maggots, which was extremely unlikely if it had been lying in this wilderness. Moreover, there was clearly still some blood on the face.

“Her known relatives have already been notified. They will come later to identify the body.” Yu Tong looked down at the already burned out incense sticks that had been lit by the officer that had arrived first. He quietly asked, “Should we ask Ah Si to come and help?” It had been too chaotic recently. Although Yan Si could not use his hands, he could still provide some support. Having his analyses on the side would already be a great help. The junior brother that had come to fill his place in the interim was lacking in ability compared to Yan Si, so a lot of the work had not progressed as smoothly.

“Do not go looking for him.” Li Zi Hong glared at the white cloth, gritting out through clenched teeth, “He cannot be allowed to get involved with this incident.”

Seeing Li Zi Hong’s negative reaction, Yu Tong did not ask further. It had just been a casual suggestion anyways, since Yan Si was still recuperating from his injuries after all. Yu Tong had heard the gist of Lai Chang An’s situation from his brother, so he figured this was the reason that Li Zi Hong did not want Yan Si to touch this case.

While the two of them were mulling over their own differing thoughts, Jiu Shen suddenly let out a shout from where he had been taking photos of the surroundings, attracting everyone’s attentions.

“Did that…corpse just move?” Jiu Shen was gripping his camera, having planned on taking some photos but had frozen in place from shock upon seeing the white cloth suddenly move up and down. He then quickly backpedaled, retreating to a spot under the sunlight outside of the drain. “I didn’t see anything-I didn’t see anything—” Had he been refused protection from God again this year?

The corpse obviously could not move, especially considering it had been dead for a while now.

As Jiu Shen panicked, Li Zi Hong tore the white cloth off. Sharp gasps could be heard from several terrified officers on the scene.

The previously blank face of the deceased was suddenly twisted, an intense stench coming from dark bodily fluids flowing out from each hole: the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were now crawling black masses as maggots that had magically appeared at some point were dancing around it.

“The co-co-corpse…changed—” Jiu Shen, who had already fled far away, instantly saw the dead body’s changes with his sharp eyes. He was so terrified that the only thing he wanted to do was to run away as far as possible.

“It’s a damn corpse! This is a normal change for a dead body. Get your ass back over here!” Despite also having been taken aback, Ah Liu’s shock was not as severe. He pointed at his partner for the day. The other person had not run too far away, but clearly did not plan on coming back. As a result, Ah Liu tossed his tools aside and charged over to forcibly drag Jiu Shen back. “It’s just the gas coming out from inside. What’s there to be so afraid of?”

“That’s clearly not normal at all—”

Li Zi Hong paid no mind to the investigator group arguing outside. He frowned as he put the white cloth back on and stood up, standing blankly for a moment before walking out from the area that was now filled with an unbearably horrendous stench.

For some reason, he found it somewhat amusing, because Yan Si had encountered a similar case in the past before. Back then, Yan Si had instantly decided to cover the body with the cloth again, then pull it off, then repeatedly pull it off and cover it again, extremely excited to see any new changes. The prosecutor for that case eventually would not stop grumbling about how very disrespectful this was to the deceased. That prosecutor had also just happened to be an old acquaintance from Li Zi Hong’s school days, so he had later heard of the story, uncertain of whether to get angry or start laughing over the incident.

But regardless, such changes were extremely unnatural.

Li Zi Hong subconsciously glanced at what remained of the incense. The burned sticks had snapped in half from the middle, none of them intact.

He shifted his gaze over to the group of officers still working and, after some thought, grabbed the incense sticks that had mysteriously snapped in half and went to find another more experienced local officer to have them pay their respects again.

“We’re almost finished here. The corpse will be transferred over later. Is something wrong with the incense?” Yu Tong asked in confusion as he saw the officer paying respects once more.

“Not really.” Li Zi Hong had the others all go off and down their own work as he walked out from the drain and exited the yellow tape perimeter to sit in one of the police cars.

Lai Chang An sat inside the car, indifferently shooting him a glance before shifting his attention away.

Li Zi Hong crossed his arms without saying a word either. The inside of the car fell into a dead silence, which made the officer sitting in the front seat feel awkward; the atmosphere was just too intimidating. Five minutes later, the officer said he would get some fresh air and hurriedly fled outside.

The moment the car door closed, Lai Chang An finally opened his mouth slowly.

“She was very noisy.”

***

After being forced to leave school, there had been a period of time where Lai Chang An felt that his life had been destroyed.

He, who had grown up being applauded everywhere he went, had never imagined such a day. Of course, the possibility had never occurred to his family either. When his parents found out that he been expelled as a suspect of murder, they had been so furious that they had kicked him out and directly cut all ties, forbidding him from ever stepping into the household again.

Liao Xue Yi had very naturally moved in with him. Both of them had fallen away from the rest of the world. They had also been lovers, so there was nothing wrong with this.

“Then, I went to serve in the army. She kept such a close eye on me, always appearing at the entrance of the camp every day I had a break and talking about how she had already perfectly planned our amazing future.”

Originally, Lai Chang An had also believed his future was bright. But after leaving the army and starting his job search, most bosses would instantly reject him upon discovering that he had left school and contacting the campus.

Or perhaps bad rumors had been spread after being hired [each time].

“Xue Yi was always anxious about such situations; she believed those people would start trying to harm us.”

Lai Chang An pressed a hand against his face and stared at his palm. “I clearly have the capabilities, my academic performance was better than others, and my background was also superior. Why do others have better lives than me? Their aptitudes were obviously lower than mine, yet why was I forced to leave school…the one that should have graduated as a top-ranked student should have been me. I was diligent, I was more amazing than everyone else, and even worked the hardest. And I also sacrificed more…”

“What did you sacrifice?” Li Zi Hong interrupted the other person’s murmurs as he glanced at the people working outside.

“I went all out every day until one or two in the morning, even giving up on sleep…”

“Although Yan Si looks very laid-back, he would also study until morning if there were things he really did not understand; during his residency, he would often go twenty or thirty hours straight without sleep.” Li Zi Hong expressionlessly recounted in a flat tone, “When Yang De Cheng started his business, he would also only get one or two hours of sleep a night, or none at all after boiling sauces, taste-testing foods, and having to get the best ingredients at the harbor fish market before daybreak. When on duty, Senior Chen’s group would often have entire crowds of people nagging them in their homes for several nights in a row, even breaking into fights due to differing opinions.”

“That’s all because they’re not as smart, so they have to spend the extra time. I can understand things after seeing them only once or twice, so I don’t need to waste that time,” Lai Chang An let out a low roar as he sharply turned towards the person next to him and vented in frustration, “Everyone else should have noticed me instead! I’m more outstanding than they are, yet why was I ignored and pushed aside? Was it not just because they thought of themselves as better than me that they crowded me out?”

“If that is the mindset you are harboring, then I do not think there is any point in discussing this anymore.” Since this had nothing to do with him, Li Zi Hong was not going to take on the role of straightening this person out and had no interest in such things. He flipped open the binder in his hands and directly went straight into business. “According to your testimony, you lost control and killed Liao Xue Yi because the two of you fought.”

The upset Lai Chang An slid his hands down his face and gradually calmed down before serenely saying, “That’s right, she was too noisy, always arguing. She never stopped screaming at me and I really couldn’t bear it anymore…Whenever I went out, I had to deal with her following tightly behind. Whenever I touched anyone else, I had to deal with her belief that they had ill intentions. She would get into disputes with me every day about how vicious the people around me were. I just couldn’t handle it; I would always think about how great it would be if only she wasn’t there.”

Then, he had killed her. That was what had been written in the record.

Li Zi Hong closed the binder and contemplated this. After killing Liao Xue Yi, Lai Chang An had changed her into red clothes, brought the body out here to discard it at night, then announced to others that they had broken up and gone separate ways.

Because the residents around them hated them, they had not paid it any mind.

Just as Yu Tong had said, if Lai Chang An had not taken the initiative to confess, it was likely the body would not have been found. It could possibly have turned into a skeleton here without anyone knowing.

Everything seemed rational, yet also very odd.

“You were formerly Yan Si’s roommate.” As Li Zi Hong was frowning in deep thought, Lai Chang An suddenly spoke up without being prompted. “Like the other students, he must have also formed [bad] opinions of me after the rooftop incident.”

“…I am not sure.” In reality, Yan Si’s attitude was quite nonchalant. Rather than having an opinion on the situation, it was more like he had not taken the matter seriously at all. However, Li Zi Hong did not want to tell the other person this.

“The rooftop incident had nothing to do with me, whether anyone believes it or not. I never thought of killing nor injuring anyone there. I just wanted to teach them a little lesson…Although I hated that they had stolen my position from me, I wanted to seize it back with my own ability. I never wanted to dirty my own hands.” Lai Chang An wrung his handcuffed hands together and flatly continued, “I was not like Liao Xue Yi. I didn’t want to kill the people she wanted to, because they were clearly inferior to me, winning and crowding me out with cheap tricks. There was no way I would want to become a murderer just because of that when I would definitely be stronger than everyone else one day.”

Li Zi Hong turned his head to face the person next to him. “Who did she want to kill?”

“Did Ah Si not tell you?” Lai Chang An paused, then a cold sneer unfolded on his face, sending chills through the other person’s heard. “Every person on the roof that day was her target, including Ah Si. Those were all people that had mocked us. She always told me that she could get rid of those people for me, that she could punish the others for me to get the justice I deserved.”

That’s why after dying, she found the closest person first, which was Yan Si at the beverage supplier’s home?

Li Zi Hong narrowed his eyes as he quickly realised where that thing had come from.

“The person I hated the most was Ah Si. If I really did kill a person one day, I would definitely choose him. His attitude always seemed to be ridiculing my efforts. He wasn’t a friend at all, just a nasty hypocrite—”

“What do you know about others!” Li Zi Hong interrupted the other person, practically shouting as he felt fury build in his heart. “Aren’t people unable to see others’ strengths even nastier?”

After yelling this, Li Zi Hong got off the car and slammed the door shut before the other person could argue back. On the way, he caught sight of the officer panicking nearby.

After sending the officer away, he let out a sigh. It was no wonder that the seniors had advised not to get involved with Lai Chang An.

Li Zi Hong shook his head. Just as he was about to go look for Yu Tong to discuss the situation, he heard a faint sound come from the grass across from him. When he reflexively raised his head, he saw Liao Xue Yi standing there, the eyes in those bloody sockets glaring at him venomously in hatred. Dark blood flowed out from her partially open mouth, making the hissing sound.

It was a warning. The deceased person was currently giving him a malicious warning.

Then, she immediately vanished into thin air.

Li Zi Hong stood motionless. He heard voices come from the taped-off area where several people came out carrying the corpse. The body that had been stuffed inside a bag was still emitting the stench of rot that could not be blocked.

She was already dead, but her murderous intent remained.

***

Before they even got close, Yan Si realised something was wrong.

“Did something happen to your friend’s restaurant?” Yu Yin already knew the address of Yang De Cheng’s restaurant, and he had driven them from the apartment. Even from a distance, they could see the street the shop was on was swarming with people. The police and firefighters were currently maintaining order. There was a firetruck and an ambulance outside, the sirens ear-piercingly loud.

When they approached, they discovered that the center of the crowds was indeed Yang De Cheng’s restaurant. It was an absolute mess, as if it had been bombed. There were even burn marks left behind. A few female workers stood outside with red eyes while the male workers were currently being interrogated by the police.

“What happened?” Yan Si quickly pushed aside the people crowding around to stride forwards but was stopped outside the yellow tape.

“Gas explosion. Fortunately, it wasn’t too severe.” One of the officers instantly recognized Yan Si, swiftly walking over and pulling them off to the side. “It seems that nobody noticed there was an issue with the gas stove. When the staff turned on the stove as the shop was opening, it instantly exploded. Luckily, the gas wasn’t leaking too much and the person only suffered minor injuries. They have already been sent to the hospital.”

“…What else?” Yan Si instinctively knew that was not everything as he watched the firemen running in and out mixed together with the police officers.

“The restaurant owner seems to have been attacked. The fire brigade only discovered him in the back room after extinguishing the fire, though the room’s state was already unrecognizable by then because of the shock from the explosion. However, the owner sported wounds…” The officer lowered his voice as he gestured, “A cut on the shoulders from behind and a cut on the side of the neck.”

Yu Yin immediately pressed his own injured shoulder, recalling the ambush he had encountered in the alleyway previously. “The one that killed the beverage supplier?”

“We think it’s pretty likely…since the injuries were not too deep this time, the owner simply fainted. It was a good thing that he was discovered soon after the explosion, or else he might have been in danger of excessive blood loss.” The officer looked up with an uneasy expression on his face and began to push them away. “The reporters are here. This incident will not be made public for the time being; hopefully these reporters will keep their mouths shut more tightly.” Otherwise, it would definitely incite panic among the citizens.

“Which hospital was the owner sent to?”

As Yan Si got the address from the officer, Yu Yin aimlessly scanned the crowds and abruptly spotted a girl standing amidst the sea of people. Her deathly-pale face was turned towards their direction, although her fingers were pointing to the opposite end of the crowd.

When Yu Yin’s gaze followed over, he only saw a person he did not recognise.

“What are you looking at…Senior Zhao?” After receiving the address, Yan Si discovered Yu Yin currently staring off in a specific direction. When he looked over as well, he unexpectedly spotted an acquaintance.

Zhao Jun Xi noticed their gazes from where he stood in the back of the crowd and casually waved at them as he walked over.

“What a coincidence.” Zhao Jun Xi arrived before them and smiled before the others could speak. “I had been planning on coming over to Junior Yang’s to eat, then ended up hearing about the gas explosion instead. I wonder if he’s alright?”

“…He’s lightly injured and has been sent to the hospital. I was just about to head over and check on him.” Yan Si stowed his notebook away and turned to face the other person. “Does Senior Zhao want to join along too?”

“No need, I still need to rush over to work. I just ran over during a short break. Help me confirm if Junior Yang is okay. I’ll drop by the hospital to visit him later.”

Yu Yin guessed this person’s identity from his discussion with Yan Si. From the form of address used, it sounded like this person was one Yan Si’s seniors. But why had that girl pointed at him?

By the time Zhao Jun Xi had left, Yu Yin still had not come up with an explanation.

“What’s wrong, did he have a ghost behind him?” Yan Si casually asked, noting that Yu Yin had been staring steadfastly at the senior’s retreating figure.

“Nah, it just feels a bit weird that…Senior Zhao can still smile like that when Mr. Yang’s been injured. Wouldn’t most people be very worried?”

“Probably occupational disease. Senior Zhao is used to always smiling.” Yan Si saw the onlookers and media gradually increase in number, so he towed Yu Yin away, leaving the area for the police to handle.

Before the two of them left, another person squeezed out from the mass of people and hurriedly chased after them.

“Yan-dàgē.” Su Zhang was panting as he caught up.

Yu Yin was somewhat surprised to see this person here, and he spoke first. “Why are you over here?”

“Um, I wanted to return the money borrowed last time…” Su Zhang frantically pulled out his wallet. As he was tugging at it, a passerby bumped into him and caused him to drop it.

“I already said there’s no need.” Yan Si bent down to pick up the wallet and tossed it back at its owner. He said in a somewhat sharp tone, “Also, don’t come here again…Return De Cheng’s business card to me.”

“Huh…ah…business card…” Su Zhang stared blankly for a moment before fishing through his wallet.

“Yan-dàgē?” Yu Yin shot a puzzled glance at Yan Si next to him. It was rare to see Yan Si act so unfriendly, so Yu Yin was taken aback by it.

Yan Si took the business card passed to him, stuffing it directly into his pocket without even looking at it. “Let’s go, student that was ganged up on.”

“Excuse us.” Yu Yin said in parting before quickly catching up to the person ahead of him that had pulled out a phone to call someone. After Yan Si put the cellphone away, Yu Yin said, “Uh…”

Before he even voiced his thoughts, he instantly noticed an abnormality. He strode forward to quickly support the other person, having seen that Yan Si’s face was completely drained of colour. “Yan-dàgē, are you alright?”

Yan Si, who had nearly collapsed just now, shook his head. He did not know the reason for the sudden bout of dizziness either. “I’m fine.”

“I think I should bring you back home first; I’ll call Xiao Yu over to watch over you. Then I’ll head over to where Mr. Yang is to check on his condition.” Yu Yin tugged the other person, narrowing his eyes at the bandage around Yan Si’s arm that was now dyed a dark colour from the dark red blood seeping out. Yu Yin’s tone subconsciously hardened as he declared, “We can discuss other things tomorrow. If you refuse to go back, I’ll call Li-dàgē.”

“…I didn’t say that I refuse.” Yan Si was not certain if it was just his imagination, but it felt like everyone had started using this means to threaten him recently: to call his former roommate over.

It was a truly discouraging turn of events.

“Let’s head back then!”