The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

He just wanted to do something.

He really wanted to help with something. Even if he fell into oblivion, he would be able to hold onto the traces of his own struggling existence.

Even if it was briefly, he could help others using his own ways.

Even if he was surrounded by disappointed gazes, he did not mind.

When one chose to sink into the mud once more, it was not because of the desire to fall again, nor the desire to flee again.

However, the final result was still not what he had wished for.

His open palms were crimson.

His closed fists were crimson.

What he had obtained was truth, so he knew:

No matter how he left, he would not feel any regret.

***

“Do you know their location?”

It was late at night when Yu Xia hurriedly rushed back to the police station to ask his twin brother this question.

Yu Tong shook his head. Since picking up that final call, he had not been able to connect to Yu Yin’s and Yu’s phones.

“Boss, should we ask for people to help search?” Jiu Shen stammered out, similarly anxious.

“Wait, I’ve recorded the lost dog at the local station before. Let’s ask there first and see if the owner has contacted them before.” Yu Xia placated his worried brother and called the local station to ask. Fortunately, the other party had reported that the dog had been found before and had even left their contact information. “Got the address, let’s go!”

Jiu Shen watched the brothers leave in a rush. He glanced at the time and saw that it was already past two at night. “I’ll just head over with Boss and the others.” He was extremely concerned and wanted to go after them to take a look. They were already off work anyways, so going out to work overtime voluntarily wouldn’t make a difference.

“Be careful.” Ah Liu tossed a jacket at the other person.

“Ah, the name Ye Huan En sounds so familiar. Ah Liu, could you check and see if there’s any news about this person? I keep getting the feeling that I’ve heard it from some case recently…” After saying this, Jiu Shen ran out to chase after the others.

Fortunately, when he caught up with them downstairs, they had just opened the car. He followed them onto the vehicle for a free ride, and they sped straight towards Yu Yin’s university.

The streets were completely silent this late at night, quiet to the point where the faintest sounds inside the car seemed extremely loud.

In this darkness, the yellow traffic light that was usually abided to did not have the same rules as it did during the day.

As they approached the address, a van whizzed past them on the dark road, moving ridiculously quickly.

Finally, they drove onto the remote path and found the gloomy little house.

He felt some kind of sharp object slide past his shoulders.

Through his daze, something seemed to shift his body. The sensation did not quite seem real, pushing and pulling him into a very narrow space.

He awoke in the darkness to directly face a pair of red eyes.

He did not react immediately. About two seconds later, he jolted in shock and wanted to shrink back to the side, only to bump into a very large, warm object.

Trembling with fear, he turned his head and saw Yu actually lying next to him, eyes tightly shut. It seemed he had not yet regained consciousness.

Yu Yin shifted his gaze back to see the thing that had practically been stuck to his face just now had disappeared. In its place was what he could just barely discern as a wooden board in the darkness. Next to him was a piece of cloth, with stitches at the very bottom end. When he looked out, he could see a floor…Under a bed?

Yu Yin’s mind instantly cleared.

We were shoved underneath a bed?

He moved his hands and feet and found that he was not tied or restricted by anything. However, there seemed to be a few scrapes on his body that would occasionally send stabs of pain as he recovered his senses.

Just as he was about to roll out, Yu Yin suddenly heard footsteps. Thinking it was Ye Huan En, he was just about to call out to him before noticing that these were not a single person’s footsteps, but multiple people. It sounded like someone was stepping across the floor with their shoes on, unlike someone that would live here.

He stopped and carefully listened to the people walking around and quickly found that it was just two people. They were currently moving back and forth around different locations, seemingly searching for something.

“Fuck, that dog and cat were such a pain to deal with.” After pacing around for a while, one of the people let out a low curse.

“Lower your voice, or else we’ll get found again.”

“Who would notice in the middle of the night?”

After grumbling and swearing to each other, the two people continued looking around. Soon afterwards, another person’s footsteps entered the room they were in. Yu Yin could see through the crack a pair of black, hard-soled shoes and a flashlight beam on the ground.

Yu Yin slowly controlled his breathing and tightened his fists. He shifted so that he blocked Yu and waited for the other party [to act].

After some more sounds of things being flipped upside down, someone pressed down forcefully on the bed and the light suddenly flashed on them.

At almost the exact same time, Yu Yin threw a punch straight at the person’s face, using all his strength without holding back in the slightest. The strike immediately made the person cry out in anguish. He grabbed this chance to roll out from under the bed and grab the dropped flashlight to get a clear look at their appearance.

“It’s you!”

Yu Yin immediately recognised the person in front of him was one of the three men that had run out earlier in the evening. He quickly glanced around. They were in an ordinary bedroom that only contained a bed and a small dresser. There was nothing that could be instantly used as a weapon…He swiftly picked up the other person’s flashlight. While the man was holding his nose and struggling to stand back up, he slammed the butt of the flashlight down to strike the man’s nose again.

Yu Yin shook his still slightly dizzy head and ran over to close the bedroom door before the other person could run over from the disturbance. After locking the door, he moved the small dresser over to block the way.

He had not yet figured out what exactly the current situation was. In short, this bedroom was not one he recognised. When he carefully thought back, he recalled losing consciousness after calling Yu Tong…Could it be that Ye Huan En had put something in their food?

Whatever, either way, these people aren’t the friendly type. I’ll think about other things after I deal with the current situation first.

The person that had been locked outside was clearly furious, loudly banging on the door and even kicking it. It seemed like the somewhat flimsy door would soon be useless.

The man that had taken two hits from Yu Yin stood up in a terrible state while covering his nose, the blood all over his face. He viciously glared at Yu Yin in absolute fury and pulled out a knife from his pocket. “Go die—”

Although the nasally threat was quite hilarious, Yu Yin really couldn’t laugh under these circumstances. He did not possess Yu Xia’s supreme skills of grabbing a blade with his bare hands, so he could only narrowly dodge the tip of the blade that slashed towards him before using a pillow to block it. “Who the hell are you guys!”

With a boom, the door was kicked open. As expected, the person that entered was the other infiltrator they had seen earlier. Yu Yin looked at the window, contemplating whether or not to jump out and have them chase after him. At least he could draw the people away from the bedroom that way and keep Yu safe.

“Hand it over.” The piercing gaze of the tall man that had barged into the room probed Yu Yin’s face, then saw his bent over companion. The man then waved his own flashlight as he said, “If you do, you’ll have a better death.”

Yu Yin subtly shifted towards the window as he narrowed his eyes and flashed his own light at the other person. “Who exactly are you people?”

“Cut the act. You know the guy named He too, don’t you? Where did you guys hide his things!” The man coldly stated as he stopped his companion from charging forwards to throw another slash.

Guy named He?

Yu Yin did not know who this person was talking about. From the landscape outside the window, he was certain that they were still at Ye Huan En’s home. This bedroom should be his guest room. Which means the person they should be looking for Ye Huan En or his friend? “Go ask someone that knows, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t worry, that guy named Ye is about to go meet his friend. If you don’t speak now, you can go down with them.” The man gestured for his companion to walk over. Before Yu Yin could reach the window, a knife was held up against his neck, forcing him to stop moving entirely.

“I only know Ye-dàgē. I really don’t know what you are referring to,” Yu Yin calmly replied as he felt a sharp stab of pain come from his neck.

“You—”

A faint cough stopped the man’s words before he could finish speaking. A cold blade suddenly appeared from behind him and sliced a shallow cut on the side of his neck, right next to the artery.

Yu Yin’s flashlight beam illuminated the other face behind the man.

“Let him go or die.” Yu flatly stated as he gripped the butterfly blade, his face void of expression.

With the tip of the blade already jabbing into his neck, it was now the man’s turn to not make any careless movements. He had not imagined that he would get approached silently from behind. For a moment, both sides were deadlocked.

The knife began to press down against the neck, but Yu Yin was more concerned about Yu’s actions. He did not want to get killed, but he definitely did not want Yu to hurt someone. Yu Yin had previously just barely managed to persuade Yu to give up on killing. He could not let Yu turn back now in this kind of situation.

However, as a blade was pressed against his own neck, he was in no position to persuade both sides to peacefully let go.

Amidst his distress, the sound of a gun being loaded rang out from the darkness, resolving the predicament.

“Police. None of you move.”

***

The living room was filled with a harsh atmosphere.

Yu Yin scratched the band-aid on his neck and glanced at Yu Tong, who was currently contacting the police for support, and glanced at Yu Xia, who was wrapping up the two invaders. He then silently shrank back to Jiu Shen, who was untying the dog.

“Jiu Shen-gē, how did you guys know to come here?” Yu Yin very quietly asked the person that did not dare to utter a single word. Actually, Yu Yin just wanted to just run immediately, since his uncle had been fiercely glaring at him since the beginning, which really terrified him.

“Boss looked it up.” Jiu Shen replied extremely quietly as well, while carefully tearing away the tape wrapped around the dog’s head. He was afraid that Yu Xia would charge over and beat him as well.

Yu was next to them, having already removed the tape from the cat. Chicken Jerky let out a displeased cry before swiftly jumping up the highest place, warily scanning everyone there.

“Ah Yin, get your ass over here!” Yu Xia finished securing the infiltrators and then cracked his joints, narrowing his eyes at the child that had run off once again.

Yu Yin nervously wet his lips as he walked over, trembling in fear. To his surprise, he wasn’t immediately met with an iron fist. Yu Xia simply glared at him before bending down to pat one of the infiltrator’s faces with the police ID he had found on their body. “You know that forging an ID is illegal, don’t you? Seems like you’ve also invaded another person’s home and inflicted bodily harm. You can either cooperate or be imprisoned for longer, make your choice.”

The two invaders kept their mouths tightly shut, refusing to speak a word.

Yu Tong scanned the living room and picked up a photo in the cabinet. “Everyone, come take a look at this.”

Jiu Shen let go of the anxious dog to walk over as well, with Yu following behind.

It was a photo of two people standing in front of a mountainous backdrop. One of the people was leaning against a stone plaque that said “Mt. Gehuan’s Peak”. Although it was many years ago, Yu Yin and Yu instantly recognized that it was Ye Huan En.

“Isn’t this person He Shi Jun? Looks a lot like the sculpture.” Jiu Shen pointed at the other person and hurriedly added, “Judging from the date of the photo, this should have been taken while they were in senior high.”

“Who?” Yu Yin asked in confusion.

“That rotted-away dead person of yours.” Yu Xia sighed in response. He then noticed a cross necklace hanging from Ye Huan En’s neck, identical to the one they had found at the scene. However, it looked much newer in the photo.

“Huh? They know each other?!” Yu Yin stared at the photo in astonishment. He had not expected such a coincidence. When he turned his head, he spotted that thing previously crawling on the ground now slowly standing up outside the dark window. Although it was still a tragic sight, it was starting to slowly return to a human form.

The red eyes watched them from outside the glass, then the arm with bones sticking out was raised with extreme difficulty to knock the window.

“…What happened to the other person?!” Yu Yin ran over to grab one of the men by the collar, sensing that something very wrong.

The man only chuckled coldly, still refusing to speak.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Tong pulled his son away.

“Jiu Shen-gē, was the deceased wearing black casual pants and sneakers?” The deceased hadn’t been hung to death. He had gotten his neck wrung with a rope, not hung, which meant they were completely unrelated. Yu Yin had the sudden realisation that he had probably been mistaken about something extremely critical.

“No, jeans and sneakers.” Jiu Shen was startled from being abruptly called out, but he reflexively voiced the answer.

“The ghost was wearing casual pants when it appeared…” Yu Yin stopped speaking and exchanged a look with Yu as he immediately recalled that Ye Huan En had been wearing black casual clothing while preparing their late-night snacks earlier today.

“Oi! Where’s the other person?!” Yu Xia grabbed the person tied up on the ground and dragged him upwards. “Where did you take the owner of this house?”

“What do you think?” The man gazed back at them with a mocking expression and turned to speak to Yu Yin and Yu. “Count yourselves lucky. If that Ye guy hadn’t hidden you two, you would both be together with him right now.”

“What does that mean?” Yu Xia twisted the other person’s collar.

“You guys were the ones that ate it.” The man coldly chuckled and said, “The drugged stuff had originally been for the Ye guy. It’s thanks to the fact that he helped save you guys first rather than escaping for his own life that we were able to finally capture him.”

“The last time you entered Ye-dàgē’s house was to drug the food?” It was no wonder they had lost consciousness so quickly back then. Yu Yin had originally thought there was something wrong with the house’s owner, but it now seemed like Ye Huan En himself likely had not known, only seeing Yu Yin and Yu collapsed upon returning. Knowing there wasn’t much time, Ye Huan En had quickly hid them upstairs, and was then captured before he could even put the dog and cat in a safe place.

This meant that their inability to make any calls on the house phone or their cellphones hadn’t been caused by the ghost; it had been a trap set by humans.

…Maybe being able to make a call afterwards had actually been the ghost’s doing.

With an annoying, cold smile on his face, the man fell silent again.

Yu Xia tossed the person aside and went to forcefully interrogate the other one. The response was the same; he was completely ignored.

Police sirens rang out from the distance, slowly alarming the nearby residents so late at night.

Before Yu Xia could give these people a painful beating, he was stopped by his brother. Yu Tong crouched down to meet the man’s eye level. “You’re sure nothing will happen to you, hm? You have someone backing you with very strong connections, am I right?”

“If you know, then don’t get involved.” The man stuck out his tongue with a disgusting grin.

“I’m not the same as my brother. I only told him that he shouldn’t act recklessly and leave any visible injuries or else he’ll get targeted by the media…So I think it’s best if you cooperate obediently.” Yu Tong smiled warmly back at the man, then pressed down on the other’s shoulder. “We’re tight on time.”

Yu Xia understood what his brother wanted to do. He smirked and crouched down, patting the man’s face somewhat sympathetically. “Who asked you to make a move on children? Let me just say this, you still have one last chance to repent and confess. It’s better if you behave.”

“Idiot.”

The next second, the man’s smile suddenly transformed into a miserable howl.

Yu Yin suddenly sympathized with the tied-up man as he felt his own shoulder start to hurt. Having your shoulder forcefully dislocated must really hurt…a ton!

Yu Xia shoved the shoulder back in place and stated again, “You still have another chance.”

“Idiot…Ahhhhh—”

After this repeated another three or four times, the man confessed the address while weeping bitterly.

“Cooperating earlier is a good thing.” Yu Tong smiled and stood up, clapping his hands together. He turned his head to look at the other three behind him and the light from the police cars that had arrived. “Isn’t that so?”

“It’s a good thing.” Jiu Shen and Yu Yin nodded furiously.

Several uniformed officers arrived, and Yu Tong handed the people and animals over to them to handle. He and Yu Xia then proceeded to walk out.

“I want to go too,” Yu Yin insisted as he directly made his way onto the backseat of the car. Yu then followed in to take a seat as well.

Before Yu Xia could start scolding them, Jiu Shen also squeezed in to take the last spot. “Boss, I’ll watch them.”

“…When we get there, you’re not allowed to get off the car!” Yu Xia huffed angrily before starting the engine and quickly racing out onto the main street to turn towards the address that bastard had provided.

The dim, yellow streetlights flew by in a flash. Yu Yin glanced up to see that pair of red eyes appear in the rearview mirror. It was right behind them, plastered to the back window of the car.

He hoped they would make it in time.

Amidst the quietness of the car, some music rang out.

Jiu Shen jolted from his sleepiness and hurriedly fumbled for his phone. “Oh, it’s Ah Liu.” As he said this, he put the call on speaker.

“Are Boss and the others there too?” Ah Liu’s voice came from the other end once the line connected.

“Yep, Boss is driving right now.” He’s just driving a bit too quickly. Jiu Shen only just now noticed that the car’s speed had already reached a point where one could get flagged down for a ticket, so he immediately looked away. “Is something the matter?”

“I looked up that person. Ye Huan En is the same as us.”

“Huh?” Jiu Shen was stunned for a few seconds before he recalled having asked Ah Liu to investigate this before he had left.

“Simply put, Ye Huan En is also a police officer. However, he’s currently in self-recuperation. I checked his records and he’s been on leave for nearly two months already.” There were some indistinct noises on the other end before Ah Liu continued to say, “He was one of the personnel related to Wang Ke Zhi’s case. You know how there were two officers that had been severely wounded? He’s one of them.”

“Is he from Wang Ke Zhi’s group?” Yu Tong turned around and grabbed the phone to ask this question.

“No, he’s not. He was actually on break that day, and just happened to appear at the scene. When the gangsters appeared, he helped evacuate the ordinary citizens. He was shot three times while protecting a passerby. One of the bullets hit the side of his waist while the other two struck his leg, so he should still be resting and recovering at the moment. In addition, the other injured officer has already returned to his post.”

“Could you do another favour for me…Please investigate whether Ye Huan En and He Shi Jun were schoolmates, starting from senior high.” Yu Tong informed the other person of the photo’s date that he had committed to memory.

“Oh yeah, Xiao Yu memorised a license plate number from earlier.” Yu Yin pushed at the person next to him and had Yu rewrite the numbers. He then passed it over.

“…” From the opposite end of the line, Ah Liu was suddenly starting to regret making this call. However, he still repeated the date and license plate number once more before ending the call and leaving for a late-night drive.

At this moment, the car had already driven into a somewhat remote industrial area. The address was at a factory building a decent distance away. It was so isolated that there weren’t even streetlamps. All they could see was the faint, cold glint of a steel building standing in the pitch-dark space.

There was a van parked inside the tightly shut front entrance, its license plate identical to the one that Yu had provided.

“You must not leave the car.” After carefully warning them once more, Yu Tong and Yu Xia got off the car and locked its doors before silently infiltrating the factory building.

Jiu Shen turned his head to look at the somewhat restless Yu Yin, so he could only repeat once again what Yu Yin’s guardians had stated.

Just as Jiu Shen was about to move to the driver’s seat to be prepared for any sudden needs, he spotted a sketchy silhouette on the other side of the factory and hurriedly pushed the children down as much as possible.

From the darkness, the figure snuck around in a circle around the other car. After completing one round, it suddenly noticed the side where Jiu Shen and the others were.

For some reason, Ju Shen felt like the other person’s figure looked somewhat familiar the more he stared at it.

Before Jiu Shen could prepare himself to subdue the other party at any given moment, three gunshots abruptly rang from inside the factory, sounding particularly clear and loud in the darkness. The person that had originally wanted to approach Jiu Shen’s side was also startled and immediately spun around to run off in the opposite direction.

“I’m going to go check on the situation. You two stay in the car and keep the doors locked.” Once Jiu Shen confirmed that person really had left, he immediately opened the car door. But before he could head over, he saw Yu Xia appear at the entrance in the distance and signal that it was safe.

Not waiting for Jiu Shen to speak, Yu Yin and Yu charged out from the car like a wisp of smoke, sprinting straight towards the factory.

Jiu Shen actually had not intended to stop them. He let out a sigh and silently started the car to drive it over.

“There are only two people inside.” Yu Xia held his phone up with his shoulder to call an ambulance while shooting a sideways glance at Yu Yin and Yu. He then gestured for Jiu Shen to park the car next to the entrance. “They both carried guns. Right when Tong and I entered, they had just finished hanging Ye Huan En up from the ceiling, so we simply shot once at each person to put everything under control.”

Two people, so two shots?

Jiu Shen’s suspicions were answered the moment he entered the factory building.

It was evident that Yu Tong had shot the rope down, as Ye Huan En was collapsed off on one side. The other side had two men writhing around on the floor, clutching their legs.

“Are you alright?” Yu Yin and Yu ran over and asked in slight concern.

Ye Huan En’s condition was not very good. There were clearly injuries all over his face and body, and that wasn’t including the rope mark on his neck. It seemed that Ye Huan En had suffered quite a bit before they had arrived.

“We fortunately found him just in time. He’s just lost consciousness.” Yu Tong carefully moved Ye Huan En, then handed the two detained guns over to Jiu Shen for temporary keeping.

Yu Yin glanced over and saw that, as expected, one of the two people was the final member from the trio they had encountered earlier. The other stranger did not seem very old, possibly even younger than himself. The boy had a head of dyed, blonde hair, and his left arm was covered in needle bruises.

Then, he spotted the shadowy lump slowly support itself up into a standing position from where it had been lying in a dark corner. The face that had been beyond rotten was surprisingly now partially discernable, red eyes watching them. The lump seemed to loosen in relief and slowly turned around, vanishing just like that.

Right as they heard the ambulance sirens, Ye Huan En began to cough fiercely.

“Looks like he’ll be fine.” Yu Xia crouched down next to Ye Huan En and sighed. “What the hell were you guys up to?!”

Once the coughing subsided, Ye Huan En barely opened his eyes and murmured a few sentences. Yu Tong bent closer to listen more closely. Although somewhat doubtful, he waved for Jiu Shen to go over as well and let Ye Huan En check the bottoms of the grips from the already emptied guns.

He seemed to confirm something and pointed at a spot on the grip to show Yu Tong as well. He then fainted again.

“What?” Yu Xia cocked his head to the side as he watched his brother turn the guns over. Yu Xia then noticed that the bottoms of both guns bore red scratches of similar length in nearly the exact same position. “They’re from the same batch.”

“They aren’t limited to only having two. They might have more than these.” Yu Tong passed the guns back to Jiu Shen and moved to make way for the medics to rush over immediately and perform emergency treatment.

“What does that mean?” Yu Yin earnestly glanced at Jiu Shen next to him.

“Oh, it means that some gangs will leave the same mark on all their weapons before distributing them. They’re not always scratches, sometimes there are special symbols. It’s to symbolize that they’re a group…ah…” Jiu Shen reflexively answered the boy, but when he looked up, he was met with Yu Xia’s fierce glare pointed at him and he immediately shut up.

“Looks like we’ll need to try our best to receive their cooperation.”

In response to Yu Tong’s affable words, the others only felt a chilly breeze seem to blow over their heads.

“In any case, let’s head back first.”

***

He could not even remember when he had fallen asleep.

It was very likely that he had been too tired while reading the case files and had meant to lie down and rest for a moment, then unknowingly went to sleep.

He faintly heard a noise that seemed to come from the sofa’s direction. Someone lightly sat down, and the sofa slowly released a faint noise as the air was squeezed out from it.

There were a few similar occasions where s person coming to disturb him would notice there were too many files on his desk and then have enough self-awareness to restrain themselves a bit. Sometimes they would bring some snacks and late-night meals and place them next to him, waking him up half the time. The other half of the time when he continued sleeping, he would wake up later and end up speechless at the sight of trash all over the table, while the bastard that had created the mess had already walked off.

Since he was truly exhausted, he decided to ignore the other person and continue resting for another five minutes.

He was not sure if the person really noticed how tired he was or not, but they unexpectedly did not make any strange or loud noises again. He would only occasionally hear the sound of them standing up to wander around and rummage through things.

After a while, he rubbed his throbbing forehead and crawled up blurrily. “…How long have you been here for?”

There was no response. There wasn’t even a single sound.

Only then did he discover that his office was completely dark. Aside from the desk lamp still on next to him, all the lights had been shut…He remembered that they had been on before he had rested. The other personnel should have all left work ages ago. The office was filled with a strange scent.

Just as he was about to stand up and switch the lights back on, Li Zi Hong suddenly sensed someone behind his seat. The office chair unmistakably hit something that should not have been there when it was shifted backwards.

“If I were you, I would choose not to turn your head at this time.”

A foreign voice came from behind. Then, a shove slammed the office chair forwards, forcing Li Zi Hong to sit back down. He was restrained in place, an icy, sharp object resting on his nape. He then saw an arm reach over the desk to dim the light as much as possible so that he could only see a tiny bit of the space in front of the desk.

“Who are you?” Li Zi Hong calmly asked the person behind him as he recalled that he had indeed sensed he had been followed several times recently. However, each time he had looked around, he had never found anyone in the end. “Did you investigate my daily schedule?”

“No, not for the time being.” The possibly lowered voice rang out from the space behind the chair. “It’s not yet time.”

“Who exactly are you?”

Following this question, a sharp pain stabbed from behind as the tip cut through the skin just a bit. Warm drops of blood slowly dripped out, leaving trails behind.

“I don’t think it matters if you continue using the name Su Zhang.”

The person lightly shifted the tip of the blade and leaned against the back of the chair to chuckle coldly.

“That is a fake name you fabricated. No such person exists.” They had checked the records from the part-time job and apartment rental the man had left behind last time. All of them had been fake. Li Zi Hong stared at the desk lamp and indifferently asked, “Your so-called ‘Su Zhang’ is nothing, non-existent. Who are you really?”

“I won’t say it anyways, so it’s all the same if you use Su Zhang or another name. You can just save yourself some effort by continuing to use Su Zhang as a case name.”

A gloved finger pressed against his nape, fiddling with the cut wound and parting the split skin to cause more bleeding.

“As someone that believes the case is a work of art, you do not dare to use your real name to leave a signature?” Li Zi Hong endured the sharp pain that practically made his entire body go numb. He continued asking questions, clenching his teeth to force himself from expressing weakness.

“It’s not yet time.”

Before Li Zi Hong could attempt questioning from a different angle, the cellphone placed on his desk suddenly rang, the lit-up screen indicating that the time was currently 4:30 AM, nearly dawn.

“You can answer the phone. Even begging for help would be fine.”

The person behind the chair leaned over his shoulder, the butterfly knife sliding over the side of his neck, leaving a faint stab of pain. “Turn on the speaker.”

After a second of silence, Li Zi Hong answered the call and placed the cellphone on the desk. The incoming call was from an unknown number. He had no idea who would be calling at this sort of time, but he really hoped it was not Yan Si.

Once the call connected, there was a light cough from the other end before the voice grew clear. “Senior? Are you resting?”

“…Junior?” He did not directly state the other person’s name, as he rationally did not want to the person behind him to drag more people in. “I’m still at the office, is something the matter?”

“That bastard Yan Si isn’t there, is he?”

“No, I am the only one here.” Li ZI Hong did not know why the other person had immediately inquired about Yan Si, but he cautiously replied, “If nothing is wrong, I would like to continue working, so let’s just leave it at this for now.”

“Wait, about Song Hui Chun’s case.” A bunch of noise came from the other end. It was clearly the strange sound that the computer made. The other person finally continued after a moment, “Although there is no way to inspect the house using the suspicion of murder, you can still investigate on the basis of searching for drugs.”

“Kang Zhe Chang has drugs in his home?” Li Zi Hong was stunned for a second, then furrowed his brows.

“You still remember that thing I gave you, right? Don’t tell me you still haven’t sent it out for analysis?” The voice on the opposite end suddenly grew colder.

“After the sun rises. If possible, I can inquire about the analytical results…”

“Shut up.” Dong Feng interrupted Li Zi Hong’s words and from the distant other end of the line, he coldly stated, “Even though I don’t know who the person next to you is, I have already notified the police station closest to you as well as the security guards. Either you do what’s best and leave my senior’s office right now, or you’ll be taken into custody by the police officers that will appear at every exit in a minute.”

As if confirming his words, police sirens echoed in the distance, quite a few in number.

Li Zi Hong heard a chuckle. The person behind him reached out to take the phone. “Interesting. Are you not afraid of me killing your senior this instant?”

“You let him answer the phone, so it’s clear that he isn’t in immediate danger. As I said, all the exits will be completely sealed off in a minute. Do you want to use that minute to kill, or use that minute to escape?” The amplified voice paused, then frigidly rang through the air, “But you probably don’t have absolute certainty in being able to completely kill a person within a minute, am I right? Since you didn’t prepare to do so, you might as well not waste your time to do something unnecessary.”

The alarm bells went off inside the office, and there was the sound of officers running through the corridor.

“Alright, that’s quite reasonable.”

The call was ended, and the phone was tossed back onto the desk.

“Then let’s stop here for today. If you want to know the creator’s name, then come and capture me. If you catch me, I’m yours.”

Before Li Zi Hong could open his mouth, the other person suddenly grabbed him by the hair and slammed his forehead hard into the desk. He instantly felt dizziness and an intense pain. Through his blurred vision, he saw the figure disappearing from the office. Then, the bailiffs and security guards on shift rushed inside.

“Prosecutor Li…” The instant the lights were switched on, the security guards gasped sharply and hurriedly rushed over to hold him up.

It took quite a while before Li Zi Hong slowly raised his head. What appeared before his eyes were bloody handprints. There was a very, very large number of bloody handprints covering his office walls, his sofa, his desk, his gear—the odor he had sensed earlier must have been from those handprints.

“Do not damage this scene. First help me out.” Li Zi Hong lifted his cellphone and had the security guards support him as they circled around to leave the office.

Then, several officers swarmed around him. He endured the pain and asked his questions, finally learning that Dong Feng had directly called the police station and reported that a hoodlum had invaded and seized him.

As he sat on the ambulance and let the medics treat his wounds, he dialed Dong Feng back. “How did you know someone broke in?”

There were a few seconds of silence from the other end before Dong Feng eventually replied, “Your cellphone was on speaker…the voice was too far. You wouldn’t be in a rush to hang up my call, which meant there was an abnormal issue in front of you, yet it wasn’t that bastard Yan Si. Moreover, you said ‘if possible’…It’s best if you get a body examination and see if you were drugged for you to not have known someone had broken in.”

The corners of Li Zi Hong’s lips silently tilted upwards. He shook his head in amusement. “Thank you, though calling at four in the morning is truly too early.”

“…I didn’t know it was four just now.”

“Huh?”

The line was instantly cut by the opposite end.

Knowing that even if he called back, the call would not be answered, Li Zi Hong sighed and lifted his head.

It was dawn.