The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

“There’s definitely something Boss Yan isn’t saying.”

As they waited for the elevator, Yu Yin glanced at Xiao Yu next to him and grumbled, “I can’t believe there’s someone that actually thinks they’re playing a game with a ghost.”

Xiao Yu blinked his violet eyes and remained silent.

“I think that ghost of his female junior came pretty fiercely. It really doesn’t seem good. If she’s the one that pushed Yan-dàgē down, then it’s getting dangerous…” Although Yan Si wanted to fight back, Yu Yin was still quite worried; after all, Yan Si was someone Yu Yin was well acquainted with. While Yu Yin had personally encountered situations like these multiple times in the past, he was at least able to see everything; Yan Si, on the other hand, was not the same.

Shouldn’t someone that’s never seen these things before have an easier time…?

Should I try finding Fang Yi Xun? Maybe her side has a way to resolve this. Or I could try asking Yi Tai…he was the one that dealt with the stage incident last time, so he might know something too.

But why is that junior bothering Yan Si for no reason? Wasn’t she from the location of the beverage supplier incident? And that other one as well – don’t tell me it appeared at the same time?

Yu Yin pondered over this with crossed arms and began to wonder if he should make a trip to the crime scene to see if he could discover anything.

Just as he was contemplating how to find a chance to sneak out, Xiao Yu suddenly pulled on him.

“What’s wrong?” My plans to escape just now can’t have been seen through, right? Yu Yin had been planning to come up with a way to make Xiao Yu stay at home, or else Yu Xia would definitely make Yu Yin pay later.

Xiao Yu gave him a look, then glanced at the elevator.

Yu Yin finally realised that at some point, one of the two hospital elevators had already opened its doors. The odd part was that despite the fact that it had been open for a long time while he had been immersed in his thoughts, the doors had not shut. The elevator stayed stopped at their floor, the girl standing inside stared at them unmovingly.

“Do you see it?” Yu Yin quietly asked as nudged Xiao Yu, the latter shaking his head in response. Yu Yin figured that it was likely because of the bad experience from the elevator incident before that Xiao Yu instinctively refused to enter the elevator after seeing the doors open for so long.

Yu Yin studied the girl inside whose gaze was still locked onto them. Aside from the bitter experience of being trapped by ghost walls earlier today, Yu Yin really had no clue what she wanted. “…May I inquire what exactly is it that you want?” It could not just follow them forever, right? Plus, he had no idea if this ghost was good or evil yet. What if it was not much different from a certain forensic investigator’s junior?

The girl did not answer. All she did was slowly raise a hand to point towards another direction. Then, the elevator doors slowly shut.

Yu Yin looked in the direction she had been pointing at and only saw a completely empty hallway. He had no idea what she meant.

She had already pointed to the hospital several times in a row. Could it be that her body was hidden in here?

In his brief daze, the elevator opened once again, this time revealing several chatting and laughing hospital staff inside. They walked out as they discussed about where they would gather to eat after work, passing by the brothers.

“Ugh, I still don’t get it.” Yu Yin threw an arm around Xiao Yu. With still no explanation, they could only get onto the elevator first to head downstairs. Fortunately, nothing happened along the way.

As Yu Yin was mulling over other things, Xiao Yu suddenly tugged at him again. “Going to the scene?”

Yu Yin raised a brow at the soft voice, instantly realising that the other person had indeed guessed what he was thinking. However, as the older brother, he could not admit this. “No, Uncle said we can’t.”

“Don’t you want to?” Xiao Yu gave him a sideways look.

“I don’t.” Yu Yin felt slightly guilty, but he denied it all the same.

“Liar.”

“Sigh…”

After going back upstairs with a bag of snacks, drinks, and books, Yu Yin immediately discovered someone else standing inside the hospital ward when he opened the door. Xiao Yu also froze behind him, somewhat puzzled.

“Huh? Aren’t you the one from yesterday…”

Su Zhang, who had been standing next to the bed, panicked when he saw them walk in as he quickly turned around. “Hello, Student Y-Yu?

“It really is you. Why are you here?” Yu Yin had no idea what this person’s relationship with Yan Si was. After eying Yan Si, who seemed to actually be asleep, Yu Yin carefully lifted the bag to silently place it on the table.

“Um, I originally wanted to come with the ambulance, but Yan-dàgē’s friend said there wasn’t a need to. So I came after I borrowed a ride.” Su Zhang spoke with a lowered voice as he chuckled dryly, “I just got here and saw that Yan-dàgē seemed to be resting…”

“Let’s chat outside.” Yu Yin and Xiao Yu pointed outside the door and directly walked out.

As Yu Yin questioned Su Zhang in the hallway, the latter managed to stammer out a general explanation of what had happened when he had bumped into Yan Si in the morning. “I wanted to mention that…the Mr. Lai from downstairs also seemed to be Yan-dàgē’s friend, so I didn’t go down to check. But because I heard a really loud sound in the back soon after, I quickly called the ambulance.”

“So you didn’t see anything strange….?”

“Anything strange?”

Yu Yin waved his hands. “Forget I said that, don’t pay it any mind.” Just as he was thinking about sending this unrelated person away, Xiao Yu suddenly gave him a little shove, then showed the words he had typed on the cellphone screen. After reading it, Yu Yin also raised his brows, then turned back to the person that was a university student like him. “Excuse me, but could I ask you what the Mr. Lai that lives below you is usually like?”

“Huh? He-he’s an unreasonable person.” Su Zhang furrowed his brows as he pondered over this carefully. “It’s been a bit over half a year since I moved into there, and I’ve rarely ever seen him talk with his neighbours or other people…Ah, but he seems to argue often with his girlfriend or his wife.”

“Girlfriend?”

“Mm, a Ms. Liao.” Su Zhang paused in thought before continuing, “Keep…keep this a secret, but those two would often argue even in the middle of the night. Th noise has woken me up several times. But it seems like the girl is the one that screams and shouts more…I think she said things like…get revenge and make sure those people can’t mock them anymore.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but did she mention who she wanted to get revenge on?” It seemed like this now-ghost junior was truly one to be fearful of.

Su Zhang shook his head. “They didn’t mention who exactly, although it sounded like more than one person. Plus, that Ms. Liao doesn’t seem to work. It seems she’s always at home, although Mr. Lai does go out to work. I’ve bumped into him a few times outside; he’s always helping people do odd jobs, and I’ve seen him work with a cleaning crew before too. But he’s never done any one job for a long time…That Ms. Liao is really weird though. She seems to be a bit psychotic. Most of the other residents living nearby dislike her; she’s probably offended lots of people before. I’m sure you’d be able to see it if you just asked around.”

Yu Yin crossed his arms as he considered all this. “I understand, more or less. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Then-then I guess I’ll just go home first. It seems like Yan-dàgē is fine now anyways,” Su Zhang said awkwardly as he scratched his head.

“Oh, they might just monitor him for a night. Have a safe trip back.”

***

It was evening when Yu Yin and Yan Si signed off their testimonies at the hospital with an officer they both knew. Afterwards, Yu Yin abandoned the others with Yang De Cheng, who came with dinner. Before any others came back to the hospital, he and Xiao Yu escaped.

Relying on memory, Yu Yin took a few wrong turns on the way before finally arriving at the scene of the beverage supplier’s incident, with Xiao Yu in tow.

To his surprise, he did not see anything after circling around outside twice.

Yu Yin was slightly suspicious. Logically speaking, this kind of place should have unsightly things, yet he discovered nothing. He told Xiao Yu this, who did not have any other ideas either. As a result, the pair decided to turn and head towards Lai Chang An’s residence instead.

It actually was not difficult to locate. Yu Xia’s work efficiency was ridiculously high, as he had already brought people over to investigate after requesting a search permit. The instant Yu Yin turned out of the alley, he saw many officers running in and out of the small apartment complex, so he immediately knew he had arrived. The nearby residents were also standing around the area chatting and occasionally pointing in the direction of the apartment.

He asked around a bit, claiming to be Lai Chang An’s relative. The results were pretty much identical to what Su Zhang had said; the older women that lived in the area had a pretty strong impression of Liao Xue Yi, a mostly negative one.

“A while ago, my son wanted to introduce that Mr. Lai to a job in the southern district. In the end, Ms. Liao got overly suspicious and declared us as having ill intentions if we were trying to ask him to work such an inferior job…I told my son to just not bother with them since kindness would just get him struck down.”

“That’s right, my daughter-in-law had the same experience. She said that since they didn’t seem to have the best living conditions, she used to always send fruits to their home to share. But she was framed as trying to lure that Lai person instead. For heaven’s sake…it was only because my son was better looking and is a high-ranked manager that everyone just took it as a joke. Otherwise, what could have happened with my daughter-in-law’s reputation?”

“Yeah, yeah. My husband also…”

As Yu Yin listened to the neighbour’s stories, he suddenly felt some pity towards this Lai Chang An person. Because the more he heard, the more terrible that now-ghost junior seemed to be. Yan Si’s senior just seemed to be a turtle hiding in its own world, the type that did not cause or care about any problems.

Was that why Yan Si had not held onto any grudges against this senior?

After having a round of conversations with several people, Yu Yin noticed that the number of officers around the apartment had more or less dispersed. They would probably continue again tomorrow.

The sky was starting to darken by the time Yu Yin finished waiting for everyone else to leave. He directly ran into the small apartment and stealthily climbed up to the second floor, almost bumping into the person walking out.

“Huh? Ah Yin?” Jiu Shen clutched his work bag that he had nearly dropped from shock. “Didn’t Boss forbid you from coming near our work spaces?” Caught you in the act! You snuck over!

“I came to look for a friend.” Yu Yin pointed at the third level and quickly said, “I was just passing by. It’s a coincidence, an extremely timely one.”

“Everyone stopped believing bullshit like that ages ago.” Jiu Shen, who had already heard such claims multiple times before, seriously replied, “Even Ah Liu wouldn’t believe that. You’ll have to start coming up with a new excuse in the future. If you keep using the same defense for too long, there won’t even be a need to try poke holes in it.”

“…Then just don’t try to poke holes in it.” Yu Yin glanced at the half-open door behind Jiu Shen. With no desire to banter any further, he directly voiced his target. “Is Lai Chang An not here?”

“When we arrived, there was nobody inside; we requested a locksmith to open the door. Moreover, it seems like he never returned. His wallet and money are all missing. I think he probably realised he was being tracked, so he fled.” Jiu Shen eyed the empty home behind him and shrugged. He had just gathered a bunch of objects [from inside]. “Those footprints really were made from human blood. I have to go back now and test it to determine whose blood it is. Boss suspects it’s the beverage distributer’s.”

“So after killing the beverage distributer at the time, he ran straight home?” Are there actually murders like that? Even if he lives nearby, isn’t that too brazen?

“Not sure yet. All that can be said is that it’s a possibility. But everything depends on the analysis results.” Jiu Shen knew that the other person had come to this specific home. After thinking it over, he decided to candidly inform, “Also, that female co-resident by the name Liao was just confirmed to have been missing for a while already. The people in the area haven’t seen her for a month…”

“She’s already become something unscientific.” Although Yu Yin chose the least horrifying descriptor, the investigator in front of him still shuddered and stared at him with a bitter expression, begging for him not to continue on the topic. “Plus, Yan-dàgē said he already forwarded the ghost’s photo to you.”

“…Damn it.” Jiu Shen resolved not to open any texts from Yan Si.

“Can I go in and take a look?”

“Do you think you can?” Jiu Shen, who was currently thinking of blocking Yan Si’s messages, eyed the university student. “Ah Yin, it’s better if you just be good and go home.” He also knew about Yu Yin getting attacked, so from both professional and personal perspectives, he did not want the other person to get involved.

Yu Yin’s gaze locked onto the officer blocking the way and hurriedly clapped his hands together to beg, “Jiu Shen-dàgē, I’m just going to take a look at the unscientific part. Or would you rather me describe it for you while you help me look?”

“Nope!” Jiu Shen immediately jumped to the side, afraid to glance back at the home behind him. “There’s nothing like that there!” He had just come out! Trying to scare me from going back in?

“That unscientific thing has attached itself to Yan-dàgē.” Yu Yin paused as his brows knit together. Attempting to inform the other of the situation’s severity, he said, “This time it’s not just me; Yan-dàgē is also being targeted. Also, it’s very malicious. No matter what, I have to figure out what exactly is up with that thing. At the very least, I need to personally take a look.” Yan Si regarded it as nothing and couldn’t see it either. They could not wait until it inflicted even more harm.

“Huh? Ah Si is wrapped up in this too?” Jiu Shen did not know of this; all he knew was that Yan Si was injured. He glanced back at the house, then refocused on the two youths in front of him. After a moment of internal struggle, he finally nodded. “Fine, ten minutes. Do not touch anything inside. I’ll stay here to keep watch for you. As soon as you take a look, immediately come back out. Otherwise, I won’t be able to do anything if you get caught.”

“Thanks!”

Yu Yin grabbed the offered gloves, then he and Xiao Yu carefully walked into the messy home. The instant they entered, they nearly stepped on a fat and shiny cockroach. How in the world was the owner living in here?

The dark footprints on the ground had already been marked, and all the junk had been cleared so it was easier to move around. Xiao Yu walked along the vacant space and circled around the inside by himself once.

Yu Yin turned on the light and rolled his shoulders. Just as he was about to go take a look at the alleged window, the front door behind them suddenly closed with a loud bang and automatically locked itself, catching him off guard. Both he and Xiao Yu stood there, stunned as they reflexively stared at the tightly secured door…While this was not the first time encountering such a situation, the two of them had been pretty frightened by the sudden sound.

Yu Yin took a few deep breaths, then turned to smile at the also frozen Xiao Yu. “At-at least the lights are still on…”

Before he could even finish his sentence, the lights in the room immediately made an unnatural noise and then died out with a pop. The entire residence was instantly submerged in absolute darkness.

Yu Yin inwardly wondered why he had to run his big mouth to remind the ghost about the lights.

As he was regretting his actions, he spotted something sway nearby, then a small glow lit up. An expressionless Xiao Yu stood in the same place as before with a flashlight shining at Yu Yin.

“Why do you carry around a travel-sized flashlight?” Yu Yin let out a bated breath when he saw the light.

Xiao Yu stared at him for two seconds before letting out a sigh.

“What! Don’t make it seem like carrying around a flashlight is because of me!” What’s that sighing at me supposed to mean! Does going out with me require bringing a flashlight?

Before Yu Yin could voice his complaints, he suddenly stopped. A rustling sound came from an un-illuminated part of the room. It was as if something heavy was being dragged over the trash.

Xiao Yu bounded over, directly flashing the light behind Yu Yin and not forgetting to stuff the torch into Yu Yin’s hands.

Yu Yin grabbed the flashlight although his entire body had gone stiff. After shining the flashlight around the entire room, there was nothing to be seen, yet the noise remained. Moreover, it seemed to be heading towards the window.

The moment he shone the light at the source of the noise, he spotted a face outside the window, pretty much identical to the one he had seen on Yan Si’s phone. Suddenly seeing those blood-filled eye sockets and the hair floating in the darkness was a truly horrifying sight. Yu Yin instantly went rigid where he stood, unable to react immediately.

He had seen rotten things before, even more terrifying than this one. But this was still unlike others. The eyeballs in those bloody sockets stared fixedly at him, the clouded eyes reflecting the glow from the flashlight.

Then, the upside-down face maintained its posture and slowly rose upwards.

What does that mean?

The sound of heavy knocking snapped Yu Yin out of his blank daze. He heard shouting outside as Jiu Shen, who had been locked out, banged on the door and frantically shouted their names.

Then, he saw the girl that had been following them this whole time stand outside the window and point upwards.

Xiao Yu grabbed him from behind, and the girl vanished in the darkness. When Yu Yin turned his head, he saw that the lock on the door had opened. Jiu Shen, whose face was pale in shock, stood outside. “Are you two alright? What was that just now…Forget it, don’t tell me anything! I don’t want to hear about anything unscientific!” He was afraid his mind would not be able to take it.

Soon after Jiu Shen opened the door, the lights in the room all flashed back on. The investigator standing outside jumped backwards at this, stubbornly refusing to step inside.

“Could we go take a look at the third floor?”

***

“Lai Chang An was caught.”

“Pfft—”

Yan Si, who was currently eating, nearly spat his food out. He stared in shock at his former roommate standing next to him, the latter having just calmly got off the phone.

“Huh? Didn’t you say he was missing?” Yang De Cheng, who was sitting nearby and flipping through notes also turned around in confusion.

“Apparently they caught him on the third floor. Student Su was out at his part-time job, and it seemed Lai Chang An had taken that chance to climb up from the window, hiding on the third level to avoid the police searching there,” Li Zi Hong indifferently stated the news he had just received. His eyes landed on his friend that was now wiping his face. “Jiu Shen, who just happened to also be at the scene, discovered the person on the third floor. Just as he was about to question Lai Chang An about the situation, the latter attacked and has been restrained for the time being…It seems that Lai Chang An’s mental state is not very good.”

“I already kind of suspected that before.” Yan Si tossed aside the napkin and after a moment of contemplation, asked, “Is Jiu Shen-xiǎodì injured?”

“Just some minor bruises, nothing serious. However, Yu Yin and Xiao Yu were also present.” It was not unexpected, but Li Zi Hong could easily imagine Yu Xia’s reaction to the fact that the pair had walked in behind an adult.

“Hmph, I already told them I could handle it myself. Student that was ganged up on is too nice.” The reason why he always ends up with a bleeding head is because he’s always like this. Yan Si instantly knew why the other person had gone and could only let out a sigh.

“What else have you not said?” Li Zi Hong furrowed his brows as he stared straight at the subject who was still very relaxed. He shifted so that he was sitting right across from Yan Si and asked, “Why is Liao Xue Yi attached to you? Logically speaking, if she was killed, there’s no reason to come looking for you unless you were the murderer.”

“Oh, maybe that really is a possibility.” An expression of understanding unfurled on Yan Si’s face. “All the answers to the riddles have come to light!”

“Ah Si, stop fooling around.” As a certain prosecutor lifted the chair to strike, Yang De Cheng earnestly warned the patient in the sickbed.

“Cough, cough. Calm down a bit, no need to get too worked up.” Seeing as there was nobody else present, Yan Si decided he should concede for his own safety. “The reason she’s attached herself to me is undoubtedly because of that rooftop incident.”

“The one that Senior Zhao and the others talked about?” Yang De Chen narrowed his eyes, having heard of this in passing before.

“Mmm, yeah. I doubt there’s any other time.” Yan Si propped his chin as he recalled the event. Everything had started from that junior sister’s invitation: that night, those people that had gathered, the organisers, and everything that had happened afterwards. “In the fourth year, after you left school, a junior sister suddenly invited me one day. It seemed that because of the pressure, they wanted to hold a party to grill meat and drink on the dorm rooftop. They invited many people, including Senior Zhang.”

“Slow down, when was this?” Li Zi Hong had already roomed with this person for a long time by the fourth year, yet he had never heard of this incident before.

“Oh, back then you were attending some kind of life release ¹ activity organised by the law school, and you were up in a mountain for a week.”

“…The law school’s joint youth self-improvement event.” Li Zi Hong coldly glared at the friend that had thought he had gone up to a mountain for a life release, his expression deadly. “Also, I thought you didn’t drink?”

“That’s right, so when I woke up, I was already at a hospital ER.” Yan Si gave a thumbs-up in response as he chuckled, “That was the first time I had ever been sent to an ER in the middle of the night. Plus, the person there was a senior sister I knew. That was when I suddenly realised how amazingly wide my friends circle was.”

“Wait, why were you sent to the ER?” Li Zi Hong frowned as he directly ignored the superfluous blabber. When he had returned from the self-improvement event, he had not heard of the other having gone to the ER.

“Sigh…that would be…”

“Injury.” Yang De Cheng coldly stated, “Injury and alcohol poisoning. It wasn’t just him. There were two others that had been sent to the hospital, all sporting knife wounds. One of the seniors was in critical condition, nearly dying from excessive blood loss. Fortunately, he was fine since he was discovered early.”

Yan Si waved a hand in easy dismissal. “Actually, it wasn’t that serious, so I was fine after some treatment.”

“…You did not mention this at all.” Li Zi Hong recalled that after returning from the self-improvement event in his fourth year, this person had been the same as usual, laughing as Li Zi Hong spoke of the activity. Yan Si had even asked for a local product. He had never spoken of an injury.

“I probably forgot?” Yan Si scratched his head and said with a carefree smile, “There’s no need to debate over it, it’s not like this is the only thing I’ve never told you.”

Li Zi Hong seriously wanted to punch the person still speaking in such a self-righteous tone, yet he could not make a move on an injured patient. He could only suppress his anger as he asked, “Then what exactly happened?”

“I also really want to know. The seniors only brought it up briefly; they never went into detail.” Yang De Cheng also scrambled near the bed to listen carefully, and he whisked the bento box away as he said, “Hurry up and spill!”

Yan Si glanced at the two stormy faces. With lack of other option, he could only describe the events from that night.

***

He honestly had always felt that the invitation had been strange.

By his sixth year, Lai Chan An had already offended everyone he could possibly offend; even the professors had started to dislike their group. As a result, he became even more isolated than before. That was when he invited a bunch of people to a party.

Although it was odd, Yan Si went for fun since he knew the people invited. That night, everyone was playing around quite happily, and in that moment, putting aside their bad blood with Lai Chang An. After all, grudges and parties were two separate things to students. With a few drinks, some things were no longer bickered over as they were before.

When Yan Si returned with drinks, he saw that they were starting to make cocktails already under someone’s suggestion. The strong alcohol and juice were mixed together with ice cubes and fruits; they put in quite a bit of effort.

As they enjoyed themselves into the depth of the night, his seniors and classmates pretty much ended up dead drunk. As Senior Zhao had requested of him ahead of time, Yan Si dragged the senior back first. He then turned and headed back to the rooftop to bring the rest down as well so that they wouldn’t die up there.

Besides, it would be a sticky predicament if the RA found out they had partied the entire night.

When he returned to the roof and was just about to push open the door, he saw through the transparent, glass door a scene that shocked him.

“I saw that junior sister strip everyone from their clothing.”

“…” Yang De Cheng was silent for three seconds. “Was she planning to gang rape everyone while they were all dead drunk, and destroy everyone in one fell swoop?” Being completely drunk was actually not like in the movies where people could still have sex as they pleased. If one really drank a ton of hard alcohol, they would be drunk enough to seem dead, with absolutely no ability to move. This was something even he, who would often retreat midway, understood.

“That was my guess as well, so I instantly realised her motive for inviting everyone. There was probably some problem with the alcohol, they found faint traces of sleep medication in my blood later.”

“Holy crap, good thing I left school early.” Yang De Cheng suddenly felt like he had successfully escaped; otherwise who knew what suffering he would have endured from that junior sister’s schemes?

“Anyways, when I was certain about what she was thinking, I decided to burst her bubble by pushing open the door and shouting loudly, which did scare her. But suddenly someone clapped my shoulder, and I don’t remember anything that happened after. By the time I woke up, I was already in the ER. That was when I found out that I’d been injured. However, I have no memory of how I was attacked.” Yan Si had also only been informed after waking. After a pause, he continued, “Later, another injured senior told me that they had actually been shocked awake while their clothes had been stripped, but only managed to recover their strength to retaliate after I fell. Then our junior sister went crazy or something, grabbing a fruit knife to slash them. Just as she was about to stab me, Senior Chang An and Senior Zhao charged over to stop her.

“I spent a few days recovering before returning to school and discovered that the school had hidden the entire matter. Because the hospital was also affiliated with the university, scarcely anyone knew about the event. De Cheng only found out later when he was chatting with the seniors. In short, it ended just like that.” That was why Yang De Cheng and some of the seniors from back then had always held opinions regarding Lai Chang An. Yan Si had never brought this matter up with others after the incident either.

After all, the university had its own position. If the news had been spread, the media would have definitely blown it up, causing a stain on the school [reputation]. Thus, he understood why the university had concealed it rather than announce it. Later, the school had privately requested for him not to publicise the event. Like this, everything had passed over smoothly. Aside from two students that had quit school and disappeared, everyone else had continued their lives as usual, completely unaffected.

“So the celebration you mentioned before referred to this?” In reality, it had not been a celebration at all. Li Zi Hong believed it was a premeditated murder from the beginning. He could not agree with the way the school had patched the disaster up.

“It’s not as serious as you think, you know.” Yan Si could tell that his former roommate was overthinking. He shook his head and chuckled, “Anyways, I don’t think Senior Chang An wants to kill me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been to the one to dial 119 to have us all sent to the ER that time.” That was also why even now, Yan Si was willing to meet this senior.

“Lai Chang An was the one that had called?” Yang De Cheng was stunned; this was his first time hearing this.

“Yep, I asked someone I knew afterwards, who said that the one to report the case that night had been Lai Chang An.” Yan Si had investigated after the incident and had also been quite shocked to find out this information back then.

“Probably didn’t want to be responsible for murder.” Yang De Cheng realised that this person definitely could have called. Lai Chang An only wanted to feel respected; he did not have the guts to commit a crime. Otherwise, he would not have indulged Liao Xue Yi back in university; rather, he would have done it himself.

“…There is something that I find odd.” After hearing the entire story, Li Zi Hong had a sudden thought. “Is that Senior Zhao also a friend of Lai Chang An?”

“Not really, he had a falling out with Senior Chang An pretty early on.” Yan Si tilted his head to look at his friend. “What’s odd?”

“You said that you brought him back to his room after he was drunk, yet he was the first to run out and rescue you.” The more Li Zi Hong thought about it, the more he found it strange. “It seemed that he was also the first to bring up the fact that Lai Chang An had been looking for you this time too. If he was someone that had experienced a falling out with the other party, why maintain communications? He should have been like De Cheng, especially since he had also experienced the rooftop incident.” Logically speaking, anyone that would have gone through such an ordeal would have cut all connections.

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Did Senior Zhao say anything else to you?” Yang De Cheng also found it strange as he turned to look at the involved person sitting thoughtfully in the bed.

“He didn’t say much else.” Yan Si wrinkled his brows, unable to come up with any connection. “Isn’t it just a coincidence?”

“Nothing is a coincidence. Think carefully about whether there were any other correlations.” No matter how Li Zi Hong pondered over it, he felt that there was something off about the situation. “I doubt Senior Zhao had a falling out like you said. Perhaps on the surface, he seemed to be enemies with Lai Chang An like the rest of you, but it was not the case in private. It would be too much of a coincidence if one of them saved you and the other called the hospital back then. And now, one of them brought up the other, resulting in you getting targeted.”

“When Xiao Li puts it that way, I also think something isn’t quite right.” Yang De Cheng recalled back to their gathering last time; he had not sensed anything unusual from the other person back then. But now that the events had all come together like this, it was definitely strange. “Didn’t Senior Zhao call you afterwards? Maybe he was trying to find out information. He rarely contacted you before that, right? He said that there wasn’t much to chat about because of the difference in fields.”

“Senior Chen and the others also rarely contact me.” Yan Si smiled at his two anxious friends, then lay down on the pillows behind him. “Plus, Senior Zhao has no reason to harm me. Don’t overthink it.” He and Zhao Jun Xi had never had any disagreements; even back then, they had always been part of a typical friend circle.

“Who exactly do you think is responsible for our anxiety?” Yang De Cheng pointed at the person on the bed and unhappily grumbled, “The main subject should act his part! Yet you’re not worried at all! How odd, I’m pretty sure you’re the one whose life is being threatened!”

“…Ok, ok, I’ll be more cautious.” Yan Si hurriedly sat up when he saw the other two seriously about to explode in anger. With an expression of 200% seriousness and sincerity, he said, “For the time being, I’ll be careful of Senior Zhao and Senior Chang An, and I’ll also quickly find a way to shake off that junior sister. You two still need to go to work tomorrow, so don’t hang around here for too long. The earlier this matter is resolved, the easier it’ll be for me to escape from trouble.”

“If you’re aware then it’s fine.” Although Yan Si did not appear [to be aware] at all, Yang De Cheng could not be bothered to continue scolding him. “Are you being released from the hospital tomorrow? I’ll come back to pick you up when the time comes. Don’t do anything rash.”

“Eh, no need. Student that was ganged up on said that he hasn’t had any homework recently since it’s almost summer break, so he can bring me back. You guys can just obediently go to work; don’t skip.” Yan Si had already made the arrangements with a certain university student earlier, so he added, “Skipping work is unacceptable behaviour.”

Yang De Cheng stared at his friend, seriously convinced that this person must be protected by his ancestors to have lasted so long without getting beaten to death.

If he didn’t listen as much, then it might save him from dying of excessive anger.

^{1. Life release is a Buddhist practice; you can google it. ↑}